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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



A FIELD-FLOWER FOR " MY LOVE ! 



Let me choose a wilding blossom, 

 Ere we quit the sunny fields ; 



Fittest for my true Love's bosom, 

 Hill, or brake, or meadow yields. 



Flag or Poppy we'll not gather, 



Briony or Pimpernel ; 

 Scented Thyme or sprouting Heather — 



Though we like them both so well. 



Purpling Vetches, crimson Clover, 

 Pea-bloom winglets, pied and faint, 



Bluebell, Windflower — pass them over; 

 Sober Mallow, Orchis quaint. 



Striped Convolvulus in hedges, 

 Columbine, and Mountain Pink ; 



Lily-nymphs among the sedges, 

 Violets nestling by the brink. 



Creamy Elder, blue Germander, 



Betony that seeks the shade ; 

 Nor where Honeysuckles wander, 



May that luscious balm persuade. 



Sad Forget-me-not's a token 

 Full of partings and mishaps ; 



Leave the Foxglove spire unbroken, 

 Lest the fairies want for caps. 



Crimson Loose-strife, Crowfoot, Pansy, 

 Golden Gowan, golden Broom ; 



Eyebright cannot fix my fancy, 

 Nor the Meadow-sweet's perfume. 



Azure, scarlet, pink, or pearly, 

 Rustic friends in field or grove, — 



Each although I prize full dearly, 

 None of you is for " my Love." 



Wild Rose ! delicately flushing 



All the border of the dale, 

 Art thou like a pale cheek blushing, 



Or a red cheek turning pale ? 



Do not shed a leaflet slender, 

 Keep awhile thy fragant zest ; 



Fair and sweet, bring thoughts as tender 

 To a balmier, fairer breast ! 



From " Household Words." 



GENIUS. 



Genius is lord of the world. Men labor at the 

 foundation of society ; while the lonely lark, unseen 

 and little prized, sits, hard by, in his nest on the 

 earth, gathering strength to bear his song up to the 

 sun. Slowly rise basement and monumental aisle, 

 column and architrave, dome and lofty tower ; and 

 when the cloud-piercing spire is burnished with 

 gold, and the fabric stands perfect and wondrous, 

 up springs the forgotten lark, with airy wheel, to the 

 pinnacle — and standing poised and unwondering 

 on his giddy perch, he pours out his celestial music 

 till his bright footing trembles with harmony. And 

 when the song is done, and mounting thence, he 

 soars away to fill his exhausted heart at the foun- 

 tains of the sun, the dwellers in the towers below 

 look up to the gilded spire and shout — not to the 

 burnished shaft, but to the lark — lost from it in 

 the sky. 



AN ENCHANTED VALLEY. 



In a former number, we gave some very 

 interesting extracts from Mrs. Meredith's 

 " Home in Tasmania." "We had marked 

 others to follow; but want of space pre- 

 vented us, at that time, giving them inser- 

 tion. We must not, however, any longer 

 delay to make room for the following graphic 

 description of certain scenes and certain 

 discoveries in Van Diemen's Land. 

 Mrs Meredith commences thus : — 

 " We rode on horseback for two miles of 

 forest, and then arriving at a ' scrub' so 

 thick and close that our horses could go no 

 further, we left them with the servant, and 

 proceeded on foot. "We soon struck into a 

 cattle path, which was a beaten, though 

 very narrow track underfoot, and so far a 

 passage above, that the shrubs gave way on 

 being pushed, but instantly closed again. 

 Long pendulous streamers of tangled grey 

 lichen, hung like enormous beards from the 

 trees; and on horizontal branches formed per- 

 fect curtains of some feet in depth. Fun- 

 guses of all kinds protruded from the dead, 

 damp, mossy logs and gigantic fallen trees 

 that lay in our path ; and the deep soft beds 

 of accumulated decaying leaves and bark 

 that one's feet sank into, were damp and 

 spongy and chill, even on a warm summer 

 day. 



" The nettles of this colony are the most 

 formidable I have ever encountered, both 

 in size and venom; and in this primeval 

 scrub they flourished in undisturbed luxu- 

 riance, often rising far above our heads, and 

 forming quite a tree-like growth, armed with 

 a fierce array of poisoned spears, with which 

 they ruthlessly attacked my arms and an- 

 kles ; a thin print dress being a poor de- 

 fence against their sharp and most painfnl 

 stings, from which I suffered severely for 

 some days after this scramble. A friend of 

 ours once rode after some cattle into a 

 mass of these nettles, which spread over a 

 large space of ground. His horse became 

 so infuriated by the pain of the nettle- 

 stings, that he threw himself down amongst 

 them to roll, which of course increased the 

 poor animal's torture, and his master could 

 neither lead nor drive him out. The crea- 

 ture was rendered mad and furious by pain , 

 and in a short time died in convulsions. 



" Our cattle-track at length brought us 

 into the enchanted valley Mr. Meredith 

 had discovered ; and not in my most fan • 

 tastic imaginings had I ever pictured 

 to myself anything so exquisitely beautiful ! 

 "We were in a world of fern trees, some 

 palm- like and of gigantic size, others quite 

 juvenile ; some tall and erect as the col- 

 umns of a temple, others bending into an 

 arch, or springing up in diverging groups, 



