CHILDREN AND FLOWERS. 
103 
or regret. He has no fears for the future, no 
ambitious longings, no unruly desires, that never 
can be gratified, to vex him ! So his physical 
wants be attended to, what cares he how the 
world wags; how thrones and empires totter; 
how misery and vice progress; how disease 
and death afflict nations and individuals. Does 
he wish to become a king ? straightway his 
(( cone-like head” bears a regal diadem, his tat¬ 
tered habiliments are changed to purple robes, 
blazing with jewelry, and the bough he (l twirls” 
is the sceptre, which symbolizes his command 
over half the globe. Does he wish ?—but it 
were useless to pursue this subject further ?—he 
is a poet, a philosopher,—aught which may 
suit the whim of the moment, yet free from the 
harassing cares, griefs, and anxieties, which but 
too often render miserable the lives of ihose who 
play such conspicuous parts in the great drama 
of mortality. Crabbe, who was a most faithful 
delineator of human life in all its phases, and 
under all circumstances, speaking of the inmates 
of the village poor-house, says— 
