ARBOR DA Y MANUAL. 
349 
CROCUS. 
W ELCOME, wild harbinger of spring! 
To this small nook of earth ; 
Feeling and fancy fondly cling 
Round thoughts which owe their birth 
To thee, and to the humble spot 
Where chance has fixed thy lowly lot. 
Longfellow. 
‘‘ Hark, where my blossomed pear tree in the hedge 
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover 
Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray’s edge — 
That’s the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over. 
Lest you should think he never could recapture 
The first fine careless rapture !” Browning. 
Around the pillars of the palm-tree bower 
The orchids cling, in rose and purple spheres, 
Shield-broad the lily floats ; the aloe flower 
Foredates its hundred years. 
Bayard Taylor. 
The monarch oak, the patriot of the trees, 
Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees ; 
Three centuries he grows, and three he stays 
Supreme in state, and in three more decays. 
Dryden. 
The rugged trees are mingling 
Their flowery sprays in love; 
The ivy climbs the laurel 
To clasp the boughs above. 
Bryant. The Serenade. 
The loveliest flowers the closest cling to earth. 
And they first feel the sun ; so violets blue ; 
So the soft star-like primrose — drenched in dew-— 
The happiest of Spring’s happy, fragrant birth. 
Keble. 
