— 
DECEMBER 25 
Wormwood .... 
Absence. 
Ye flowers that droop, forsaken by the spring; 
Ye birds that, left by summer, cease to sing; 
Ye trees that fade when autumn heats remove: 
Say, is not absence death to those who love? 
PoPE. 
Love reckons hours for months, and days for years; 
And every little absence is an age, 
Pryden, 
DECEMBER 26 
Rudeness. 
Xanthium 
Write on your doors the saying wise and old, 
ct Be bold ! be bold ! ” and everywhere—“ Be bold 
Be not too bold! ” Yet better the excess 
Than the defect; better the more than less; 
Better like Hector in the field to die, 
Than like a perfumed Paris turn and fly. 
DECEMBER 27 
Xeranthenum . Cheerfulness under adversity . 
O pusillanimous heart, be comforted, 
And like a cheerful traveller take the road, 
Singing beside the hedge. What if the bread 
Be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod 
To meet the flints ? At least it may be said, 
‘ Because the way is short, I thank thee, God. ’ 
p. p. PrOWNING. 
