ARBOR DA V MANUAL. 
35 1 
GEMS FROM EMERSON. 
TT seems as if the day was not wholly profane, in which we have given heed 
1 to some natural object. One look at the face of heaven and earth lays all 
petulance at rest and soothes us to wiser convictions. 
The tempered light of the woods is like a perpetual morning, and is stimulat¬ 
ing and heroic. The stems of pines, hemlocks and oaks almost gleam like iron 
on the excited eye. 
The reflections oftreesand flowers in glassy lakes, the musical, steaming, odoi- 
■ous south wind, which converts all trees to wind-harps—these are the music 
.and pictures of the most ancient religion. 
WE THANK THEE. 
F OR flowers that bloom about our feet; 
For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet; 
For song of bird, and hum of bee; 
For all things fair we hear or see, 
Father in heaven, we thank Thee! 
J 
For blue of stream, and blue of sky; 
For pleasant shade of branches high ; 
For fragrant air and cooling breeze ; 
For beauty of the blooming trees, 
Father in heaven, we thank Thee. 
THE ACORN AND THE PUMPKIN. 
A CO UNTRY lad, as he lay one day stretched out upon his back beneath a 
large oak, observed the runner of a pumpkin, with heavy fruit on it climb¬ 
ing upon a hedge near at hand. 
He shook his head at this, and said, "It is very odd to see such immense 
fruit on so slender a stem, and these tiny acorns up there on this great oak. I 
really think it would have been better if these big, yellow pumpkins, the size 
of a man’s head, had been made to grow upon the stout tree, and those small 
.acorns, not so large as my thumb, upon the creeping plant.” 
He had scarcely done speaking, when a good-sized acorn fell right upon his 
mose, and gave him rather a sharp rap. 
As he jumped up, rubbing the sore place, he could not help saying: “ But if 
that had been a pumpkin that fell just now, it would have been all over with 
any poor nose.” And this was not quite so stupid as what he said before. 
