420 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



returning to the earth from which they sprang. Only here 

 :md there, on a bright morning, do we see one of those 

 birds which, a few months ago, builded their nest, watched 

 their young, or taught the nestlings how to fly young and 

 old, with their grace of motion and sweet notes, are gone 

 to a fairer clime. These changes one cannot help noticing ; 

 and no meditative mind can avoid many thoughts which 

 flow out of them. Where are the harvests garnered which 

 grow in the soil of the human heart ? What thoughts and 

 generous purposes have been ripened and stored up like 

 fruit, and what ones have fallen and perished like leaves ? 

 Our vernal orchards never stood, within our remembrance, 

 in such a glory of bloom ; yet when the fruit' should have 

 set, most of the blossoms proved vain. And how many 

 good purposes and fair resolutions have so perished within 

 us ! Have we, like the trees which we love and care for, 

 made growth, of root and branch ? Everything in nature 

 has gradually assumed a preparation for winter. Those 

 frosts and that ice which would have sent such mischief 

 upon the leaves of summer, now lie, without harm, upon 

 orchard and garden. Are we ripe and ready, too, for such 

 a winter as adversity brings upon men ? 



THE END. 



