ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
37 
LESSON OF THE LEAVES. 
H OW do the leaves grow 
In spring upon their stem ? 
The sap swells up with a drop for all, 
And that is life to them. 
What do the leaves do 
Through the long summer hours ? 
They make a home for the singing birds, 
A shelter for the flowers. 
How do the leaves fade 
Beneath the autumn blast? 
Oh, fairer they grow before they die, 
Their brightest is their last. 
How are we like leaves? 
O children weak and small, 
God knows each leaf of the forest shade, 
He knows you each and all. 
Never a leaf falls 
Until its part is done. 
'God gives us grace like sap and dew, 
Some work to every one. 
Tou must grow old too, 
Beneath the autumn sky; 
•But lovelier and brighter your lives may glow, 
Like leaves before they die. 
■Brighter with kind deeds, • 
With hope and gladness given; 
Till the leaf falls down from the withered tree, 
And the spirit is in heaven ! 
U NDER the yaller pines I house, 
When sunshine makes them all sweet scented, 
An hear among their furry boughs 
The baskin’ west wind purr contented. 
Lowell, Biglow Papers. 
