THE YOUNG NATUEALIST. 



39 



young man, when a child was often sick, and 

 sometimes the sickness was of long duration, 

 but his mother was kind and loving, and 

 when anything ailed him she always tended 

 him with her best care. Once he was very 

 low. He had been ill for months, and had 

 been several days and never tasted food. But 

 in time the tender care of his parents brought 

 him round again to a state of comparative 

 health, As he grew up to boyhood his taste 

 seemed to tend to a literary direction, and 

 any book or paper which fell in his 

 way was eagerly perused and thought over. 

 Even his dreams were of books and learning, 

 and as years passed on he became connected 

 with Sunday schools, debating classes, and 

 other institutions of an intellectual kind. He, 

 in short, stuck too close to one class of work, 

 his constitution demanded exercise in the 

 wooded country, and less close application to 

 book study. When age demanded that he 

 should find some kind of manly employment, 

 books were still his uppermost thought. He 

 obtained a situation as book-keeper, but, as 

 another misfortune, the office where he had 

 to do his work, and where he of Course spent 

 the greater part of the day, was in a cellar 

 beneath the ground floor. Sometimes, for a 

 few fleeting raomgnts, a happy sunbeam would 

 shed its refulgent ray through one of the small 

 window panes or gratings ; but it was only a 

 momentary token of the bright July sky, the 

 verdant fields and the sweet song of warblers 

 hat existed elsewhere. But to him it was no 

 grief to be shut up there, nay, it was his 

 pleasure, and, without knowing it, he was 

 taking days from off the end of his life, 

 Morn, noon, and night, in passing from his 

 house to the office, and from the office to his 

 house, he almost invariably would have a 

 book or a newspaper, and he became so 

 habituated to it that he could thread his way 

 among the people, and go about his business 

 without ever taking his eyes from the page. 

 His name was John Brummet. 



And now let us return to the fair young 

 female we saw with him at the garden gate. 



I She is busy trimming the flowers in the 

 garden, and the two younger girls are assist- 



| ing her to make them beautiful. Her name 

 is Spring ; she comes every year to spend 



| three months in this delightful place, and 

 when she comes a new life seems given to 

 all around. She is so amiable, so kind, 

 that everyone seems inspired when 



; she is there. She always comes on the 21st 

 of March, and for some years John had 

 watched for her coming with great anxiety. 



: Through the long dark days he had con- 

 stantly thought of her, and the time seemed 

 to get on so slowly, it seemed as if she would 

 never come. In truth he loved her, and he 

 to her had become something more than a 

 mere friend. Her two sisters always came 

 with her, the two that are now with her in 

 the garden : one of them we shall know as 

 Sunshine, and the other as Shower. 



Spuing was fond of Nature, she loved to 

 ramble, in the months of April and May, 

 through the woods and fields, to watch the 

 buds peep from the ends of branches, or up 

 from the earth, and expand into beautiful 

 leaves and flowers. Her voice was that of 

 the sweetest music, and her song was the 

 signal for merriment throughout the animated 

 world. Indeed, she was a delightful creature, 

 and admired by everybody with whom she 

 came in contact. 



" Say, ye that know, ye who have felt and seen, 

 Spuing morning smdes, and soul enlivening 

 green, 



Say, did ye give the thrilling transport way ? 

 Did your eyes brighten when young lambs at 



play 



Leap'd o'er your path with animated pride ? 

 Or gaz'd in merry clusters by your side ? " 



A w r alk with Spring was something never 



to be forgotten. Every step had a new joy, 



every flower, or bird, or moss, or plant 



brought from her lips a new story, full of 



life and interest, and clothed in w 7 ords of the 



kindest friendship, and whether accompanied 



by Sunshine or Shower, they too had the 



same kindly life-giving disposition. 



(To be continued ) 



