134 fimprml. 
“Stay at home! quoth the flower?—In sooth, not I; 
I'll don my straw hat with a silken tie; 
O’er my neck so fair 
I’ll a kerchief wear, 
White, chequered with pink, 
And then—let me think, 
I’ll consider my gown, for I’d fain look well:” 
So saying, she stepped o’er the Pimpernel. 
Now the wise little flower, wrapped safe from harm, 
Sat fearlessly waiting the coming storm; 
/ Just peeping between 
Her snug cloak of green, 
Lay folded up tight, \ 
Her robe so bright; 
Though ’broidered with purple* and starred with gold, 
No eye might its bravery then behold. 
The fair maiden straight donned her best array, 
And forth to the festival hied away; 
But scarce had she gone 
Ere the storm came on; 
And, ’mid thunder and rain, 
She cried oft and again, 
“Oh ! would I had minded yon boding flower, 
And were safe at home from the pelting shower.” 
Now, maidens, the tale that I tell would say, 
Don’t don fine clothes on a doubtful day, 
Nor ask advice, when, lik'e many more, 
You had “made up your minds” some time before. 
Louisa A. Twamley. 
