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centre bed opposite the arbour, where we often spent 

 many pleasant hours. 



Of all the flowers of the Fall, the fringed Gentian is 

 the most lovely. I shall never forget the first time I 

 saw a large bed of it fully open in the sunshine, at the 

 Isle of Orleans : the soft bright azure blue, the beau- 

 tiful fringe, the immense mass of flowers and the unex- 

 pected way in which 1 suddenly came upon them, filled 

 me with surprise and delight ; I was not aware of my 

 ecstacies till they were commented upon. " 



TO THE FRINGED GENTIAN. 



Thou blossom bright with autumn dew, 

 And colored with the heaven's own blue, 

 That openest when the quiet light, 

 Succeeds the keen and frosty night. 



Thou comest not when violets lean, 



O'er wandering brooks and springs unseen, 



Or columbines in purple dressed, 



Nod o'er the ground-bird's hidden nest. 



Thou waitest late, and comest alone, 

 When woods are bare, and birds are flown, 

 And frost, and shortening days portend, 

 The aged year is near its end. 



Then doth thy sweet, and quiet eye. 

 Look through its fringes to the sky, 

 Blue — blue — as if that sky let fall 

 A flower from its cerulean wall. 



The hour of death draw near to me 

 Hope blossoming within my heart, 

 May look to Heaven as I depart. 



William Cullen Bryant.. 



