ASH-TREE. 129 



and peace, and gentle admonition were bodied forth. Trees 

 cluster round, and from amidst their branches birds sing 

 merrily, while beside the greensward murmurs a clear 

 stream, with rushes and wild flowers, which the children 

 gather on a summer holiday. 



" The pastoral cowslips are their little pets, 

 And daisy stars, whose firmament is green ; 

 Pansies, and those veiled nuns, meek violets, 

 Sighing to that warm world from which they screen ; 

 And golden daffodils plucked for May's queen, 

 And lonely harebells quaking on the heath ; 

 And hyacinth, long since a fair youth seen." 



Hood. 



And often, in the stillness of that lone place, when 

 nought is heard but the rippling of a clear stream in 

 unison with birds and winds, sound the voices of young 

 children from the hollow tree, singing the evening hymn, 

 that sweetest of all sounds, when as yet the heart is full 

 of love, and rejoices in the gladness of its being. 



Strange fantasies were associated with my leaves and 



