ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
9 
Behold, what shelter in its ample shade, 
From noontide sun, or from the drenching rain. 
And of its timber stanch, vast ships are made, 
To sweep rich cargoes o’er the watery main. 
SOLILOQUY OF DOUGLAS—SOLEMNITY. 
T HIS place,— the centre of the grove :— 
Here stands the oak, the monarch of the wood ! 
How sweet and solemn is this midnight scene ! 
The silver moon unclouded holds her way 
Through skies where I could count each little star; 
The fanning west wind scarcely stirs the leaves ; 
The river, rushing o’er its pebbled bed, 
Imposes silence with a stilly sound. 
In such a place as this, at such an hour — 
If ancestry may be in aught believed — 
Descending spirits have conversed with man, 
And told the secrets of the world unknown. 
ARBUTUS. 
H AIL the flower whose early bridal makes the festival of Spring ! 
Deeper far than outward meaning lies the comfort she doth bring; 
From the heights of happy winning, 
Gaze we back on hope’s beginning 
Feel the vital strength and beauty hidden from our eyes before; 
And we know, with hearts grown stronger, 
Tho’ our waiting seemeth longer. 
Yet with Love’s divine assurance, we should covet nothing more. 
Elaine Goodale. 
How fair is the rose ! what a beautiful flower, 
The glory of April and May ! 
But the leaves are beginning to fade in an hour, 
And they wither and die in a day. 
Yet the rose has one powerful virtue to boast, 
Above all the flowers of the field; 
When its leaves are all dead, and its fine colors lost, 
Still how sweet a perfume it will yield ! 
Isaac Watts. 
