SECRETARY S REPORT. 



And breathes, througli lier eternal calms. 

 Her inarticulate, sweet psalms ! 

 She makes me earnest, grave, or gay. 

 As suits her mood ; and yet, alway 

 She ministers to mine ; she knows 

 I love all bright things ; so with shows 

 Of glittering gold and crimson sheen, 

 And purple, draped with richest green ^ 

 She lights for me her solitudes 

 And paints my way adown he^r woods- 

 She calls her scpirrels out to greet 

 My coming with their frisky feet ; 

 Her merry crickets, too, to stir 

 The silence Ynth their tuneful whirr. 

 She bids her birds with jocund song 

 Pipe music to me all day long ; 

 For me their prodigal, sweet notes 

 Leap, liquid, from their golden throats !; 

 Thus fare I st l^r hands, — and so. 

 With feast and song and royal show,. 

 She waits ob me wheiVer I go I 



E'en Winter pays his tithe of joy 



Into my lap. I love the boy I 



He comes with boisterous, honest mirth„ 



And lights the fire upon my hearth ; 



And wliile the blazing embers shine^ 



I crack my nuts and drink mj vdne 



Of sweet content, rejoicing still 



To let the urchin have his will. 



What though he piles ray path with &x^w^(- 



I take my shovel down and go 



To earn my meal of morning air ; 



(The veriest clown with me nsay share, 



Nor pay a farthing for bis fare.) 



And then I take it back in coin 



Of health and strength, — this toil of miiae- 



I get, in payment for my pains, 



A healthier flow tbrougji all my vems ; 



