ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
103 
PEACH BLOSSOMS. 
FOR RECITATION. 
C OME here ! come here ! cousin Mary and see 
What fair, ripe peaches there are on the tree- 
On the very same bough that was given to me 
By father, one day last spring. 
When it looked so beautiful, all in the blow, 
And I wanted to pluck it, he told me, you know, 
I might, but that waiting a fewmonths would show 
The fruit that patience might bring. 
And as I perceived by the sound of his voice, 
And the look of his eye, it was clearly his choice 
That it should not be touched, I have now to rejoice 
That I told him we’d let it remain ; 
For, had it been gathered when full in the flower, 
Its blossoms had withered, perhaps in an hour, 
And nothing on earth could have given the power 
That would make them flourish again. 
But now, of a fruit so delicious and sweet 
I’ve enough for myself and my playmates a treat; 
The);- tell me besides, that the kernels secrete 
What, if planted, will make other trees : 
For the shell will come open to let down the root; 
A sprout will spring up, whence the branches will shoot; 
There’ll be buds, leaves, and blossoms; and then comes the fruit- 
Such beautiful peaches as these! 
And Nature, they say, like a mighty machine, 
Has a wheel in a wheel, which, if aught comes between, 
It ruins her work, as it might have been seen, 
Had it not given patience this trial. 
From this, I’ll be careful to keep it in mind. 
When the blossoms I love, that there lingers behind 
A better reward, that the trusting shall find 
For a trifling self-denial. 
Hannah F. Gould. 
Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, 
Rock’d in the cradle of the western breeze.” 
Cowper. Tirocinium, Line 43. 
The church was beautifully decorated with sweet spring flowers and the air 
was heavy with their fragrance. As the service was about to begin, small 
Kitty pulled her mother’s sleeve : “ Oh, mamma, don’t it smell solemn ?” 
