ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 



THE LILAC. 



THE sun shone warm, and the lilac said, 

 " I must hurry .and get my table spread, 

 For if I am slow, and dinner late, 

 My friends, the bees, will have to wait." 



So delicate lavender glass she brought 

 And the daintiest china ever bought, 

 Purple tinted, and all complete ; 

 And she filled each cup with hone\ r sweet. 



' Dinner is ready ! " the spring wind cried ; 

 And from hive and hiding, far and wide, 

 While the lilac laughed to see them come, 

 The little gray-jacketed bees came hum-m ! 



They sipped the syrup from every cell, 



They nibbled at taffy and caramel ; 



Then, without being asked, they all buzzed : " We 



Will be very happy to stay to tea." 



CLARA DOTY BATES. 



I 



THE RHODORA. 



OX BEING ASKED, WHENCE IS THE FLOWER? 



X May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes, 



I found the fresh rhodora in the woods, 

 Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook, 

 To please the desert and the sluggish brook. 

 The purple petals fallen in the pool. 

 Made the black water with their beauty gay: 

 Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool. 

 And court the flower that cheapens his array. 

 Rhodora ! if the sages ask thee why 

 This charm is wasted on the earth and sky, 

 Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing, 

 Then beaut}- is its own excuse for being. 

 Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose ! 

 I never thought to ask, I never knew; 

 But, in my simple ignorance, suppose 

 The self-same power that brought me there brought you. 



EMERSON. 



Who that has loved knows not the tender tale 

 Which flowers reveal, when lips are coy to tell. 



BfLWER-LYTTON. 



