A ROSE IN A TUFT OF GRASS. 



A ROSE IN A TUFT OF GRASS.— There is every 



THING TO BE GAINED BY GOOD COMPANY. 



" One day,'' said the poet Sadi, " I saw a rose-bush sur- 

 rounded by a tuft of grass. ' What ! ' I cried, ' does that 

 vile plant dare to place itself in the company of Roses .'' ' 

 I was about to tear the grass away, when it meekly 

 addressed me, saying, ' Spare me ! I am not the Rose, it is 

 true ; but, from my perfume, any onfe may know at least that 

 I have lived with Roses.' " How anxiously should we seek 

 the company of those whose intellectual and moral character 

 surpasses our own, that we may drink in some of their 

 mind's wealth and moral worth, and so far be improved by 

 the association. 



A ROSE-BUD.— Young Girl. 



A YOUNG girl is to beautiful womanhood, what the Rose- 

 bud is to the Rose in the perfection of its charms. Burns 

 made use of the Rose-bud as the emblem of a favourite 

 young lady in a poetical address to " dear little Jessie," 

 whose father was a master in the Edinburgh High school, 

 he says, 



" Beauteous rose-bud, young and gay, blooming in thy early May, 

 Never may'st thou, lovely flower, chilly shrink in sleety shower. 

 May'st thou long, sweet crimson gem, richly deck thy native stem ;" 



and again, to the same, 



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