ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
281 
A WALK IN SPRING. 
J WANDER’D in a lonely glade. 
Where, issuing from the forest shade, 
A little mountain stream 
Along the winding valley play’d, 
Beneath the morning beam. 
Light o’er the woods of dark brown oak 
The west wind wreathed the hovering smoke, 
From cottage roofs conceal’d, 
Below a rock abruptly broke. 
In rosy light reveal’d. 
*T was in the infancy of May,— 
The uplands glow’d in green array, 
While from the ranging eye 
The lessening landscape stretched away. 
To meet the bending sky. 
’T is sweet in solitude to hear 
The earliest music of the year,. 
The Blackbird’s loud wild note'. 
Or, from the wintry thicket drear, 
The Thrush’s stammering throat. 
In rustic solitude’t is sweet 
The earliest flowers of Spring to greet',— 
The violet from its tomb. 
The strawberry, creeping at our feet, 
The sorrel’s simple bloom. 
Wherefore I love the walks of Spring,— 
While still I hear new warblers sing 
Fresh opening bells I see ; 
Joy flits on every roving wing, 
Hope buds on ever}' tree. 
Montgomery. 
MIDSUMMER. 
B EHOLD the flood-tide of the year. 
The glad midsummer time, 
When all things bright and fair are here 
And earth is in its prime. 
In fresh green woods the laurel hides 
Her blushing waxen bloom ; 
And pink azaleas by the brook 
Breathe spicy, faint perfume. 
Wild roses by the dusty roads 
Bud, blossom and decay, 
Content to be for joy of it, 
The pleasure of a day. 
This lovely world, how strangely sweet 
It is ! how wondrous fair 
The starry daisies at my feet ! 
How fresh the summer air ! 
They bring a message home to me. 
With tender meaning fraught: 
The lowliest flower our Lord has made- 
Is worth a tender thought. 
And each midsummer blossom-time 
I learn the lessons o’er,— 
This love of field, and flower, and vine. 
And love of God the more. 
Abbie F. Judd. 
Hence lastly springs care of posterities 
For things their kind would everlasting make ; 
Hence is it that old men do plant young trees. 
The fruit whereof another age shall take. 
Sir J. Davies. 
The birch, the myrtle, and the bay 
Like friends did all embrace ; 
And their large branches did display 
To canopy the place. 
Dryden. 
