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Aster. 
Aster corpmbosus. Naturat Orver: Composite —Aster Family. 
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UR native Aster grows about two feet high, and is found 
frequently in dry, open woodlands in the Northern and Mid- 
dle States. The'name is derived from the Greek word aster, 
signifying a star, as the petals spread out like rays of light 
lA: CL from the center. There are none of our native plants that 
e are equal to the Chinese Asters, though the same assiduity 
‘* 2 in culture would undoubtedly improve them. On the western prairies 
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there are some whose colors are really handsome in their exquisite 
tints, standing tall among the grass; in some places so abundant that 
it would seem that a rose or purple glory had settled down over the. 
fields for the birds to sing in. 
Cheerlulness in Ol Age. 
LIKE all ages. Dames of ancient days 
Have led their children through the mirthful maze; 
And the gay grandsire, skill’d in gestic lore, 
Has frisk’d beneath the burden of threescore. 
—Goldsmith. 
H, no! I never will grow old, Wwe grieve that time has brought so soon 
Though years on years roll by, The sober age of manhood on? 
And silver o’er my dark brown hair, As idly should I weep at noon 
And dim my laughing eye, To see the blush of morning gone. 
—Sara Fane Clarke. —Bryant, 
H® look’d in years, yet in his years were seen 
A youthful vigor and autumnal green. 
—Dryden, 
M* days pass pleasantly away, My foes are impotent and shy, 
My nights are blest with sweetest sleep, My friends are neither false nor cold; 
I feel no symptoms of decay, And yet, of late, I often sigh, 
I have no cause to mourn or weep; I'm growing old! —Yohn G. Saxe. 
"THE spring, like youth, fresh blossoms doth produce, 
| But autumn makes them ripe and fit for use. — sir % Denham. 
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