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CHILDREN AND FLOWERS. 
breathe all the freshness and sparkling vivacity 
of early youth:—are redolent of sunshine, and 
fragrance, and vernal melody. Long may he 
live to delight the readers of Maga with the 
outpourings of his joy ous spirit, transporting them 
in fancy to the wild solitudes of his native hills; 
where the cares and vexations- of the busy 
world are all forgotten, and the heart holdeth 
commune with the Great Invisible, purified 
from aught that is gross and unworthy by the 
blessed influence of natural piety, which teacheth 
man to know himself for what he is,—a worm 
crawling upon the face of the earth,—a grain of 
dust liable to be swept away by the slightest 
breath ; yet, withal, gifted and endowed with 
powers and faculties, which if rightly employed, 
will place him but il a little lower than the 
angels where 
“ The inner spirit keepeth holiday 
Like vernal ground to Sabbath sunshine left.” 
Wordsworth. 
And we, reflecting on the wondrous attributes 
wherewith the beneficent Creator hath invested 
