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THE WINTER ACONITE. 
TIIE NEW YEAR’S GIFT. 
Ere thy sisters fair are waking, 
Deep in earth’s dark bosom sleeping! 
Ere the chains of Winter breaking 
Loose the streams their might is keeping; 
With a smile that well had greeted 
Ligbt, and song and Summer bower, 
On tbe sbeltering calyx seated, 
Shines thy yellow-petalled flower. 
Gem of Winter 1 quickly faded 
Early loved, and early lost, 
Type of joy too quickly shaded ! 
Of earth’s children tempest tost! 
Still from thee a lesson leaming, 
Let us choose the fitting hour 
To soothe, to cheer,—nor less discerning 
Prove than winter’s simple flower. 
MS. Lines. 
Waked by tbe first simbeam of the opening year, 
the yellow Aconite reflects its pale lustre with a faint 
smile. She wears not the full golden tint of the 
crocus, whose blossom shall shortly expand beneath a 
c 
