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The Noonday Lesson 

 OF THE Primrose 



Having learned the twi- 

 light lesson of the waiting 

 bud, go out now in the 

 hot, sunny noontime and 

 stroll among your with- 

 ered primroses, and see 

 what they can teach you. 

 These faded blooms, in which so few of us have 

 the slightest interest, may often be seen hanging 

 like a chime of bells on the drooping stems for. 

 twenty-four hours after they first bow their heads. 

 Who has guessed their pretty mystery ? 



Is this a mere withered, useless blossom that 

 droops upon its stem? Is it not rather the pret- 

 tiest luminous fairy tent that ever sheltered a day 

 dream? Last night, when its four green sepals 

 burst from their cone, and sprang backward to 

 release their bright, glossy petals, a small moth 

 quickly caught the signal and settled in quivering 



57. 



