€'jjf plural (Offering. 
Mezereon.... Coquetry—Desire to please. 
This shrub, clothed in its showy garb, appears 
amidst the snow, like an imprudent and coquettish 
female, who, though shivering with cold, wears her 
spring attire in the depth of winter. The stalk of this 
shrub is covered with a dry bark, which gives it the 
appearance of dead wood. Nature, to hide this de¬ 
formity, has encircled each of its sprays with a wreath 
of red flowers, terminating in a tuft of leaves. These 
flowers give out a peculiar and offensive smell. 
You oftentimes can mark upon the street 
The gilded toy whom fashion idolizes; 
Heartless and fickle, swelled with self-conceit, 
Avoiding alway what good sense advises. 
Who flutters like the butterfly while burns his sun, # 
Nor afterwards is missed when life is done. 
w'h. c. 
13 
