35 
with their trim rows of vegetables, their little border» 
of aromatic herbs, and bere and there tufts of tbe 
rich-tinted Sweet-Williams, tbe fragrant Pinks, tbe tall 
Lilies, and tbe showy Marigolds. Ail these flowers, and 
many others, the poor enjoy equally with the proudest 
in the land, and it makes one happy and thankful to 
feel that it is so. 
The Mezereon is one of the first treasures of the 
cottage garden, and I hâve often thought how gladly 
the inraates of the lowly dwelling near must hail the 
opening of its crimson buds. If we, to whom winter 
is rendered so enjoyable, whose in-door coinforts are so 
many, whose fire-sides are so endeared, can welcome 
with so much of glee the unfolding of the early 
blossoms, what must they feel to whom « chill penury” 
makes winter a season of additional privation, when 
the first gleam of sunshine cheers them with the liope 
of brighter times? 
Often hâve I marked, in early spring, the 
group assembled in some little plot of ground ; the 
mother with a shade the less of care in her face, 
slowly pacing the narrow path with the youngest child 
in her arms, and the elder children, enlivened by the 
sunshine, playing before the door. Presently the babe 
