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distil' rorumbosus. Natural Order: Comftositce — Aster Family. 
UR native Aster grows about two feet high, and is found 
frequently in dry, open woodlands in the Northern and Mid¬ 
dle States. The'name is derived from the Greek word aster, 
signifying a star, as the petals spread out like rays of light 
from the center. There are none of our native plants that 
are equal to the Chinese Asters, though the same assiduity 
in culture would undoubtedly improve them. On the western prairies 
there are some whose colors are really handsome in their exquisite 
tints, standing tall among the grass; in some places so abundant that 
it would seem that a rose or purple glory had settled down over the 
fields for the birds to sing in. 
m 
A LIKE all ages. Dames of ancient days 
^ ^ Have led their children through the mirthful maze; 
And the gay grandsire, skill’d in gestic lore, 
Has frisk’d beneath the burden of threescore. 
— Goldsmith. 
TAH, no! I never will grow old, 
^ Though years on years roll by, 
And silver o’er my dark brown hair, 
And dim my laughing eye. 
—Sara "Jane Clarke. 
TT7HY grieve that time has brought so soon 
* * The sober age of manhood on? 
As idly should I weep at noon 
To see the blush of morning gone. 
— Bryant. 
H 
E look’d in years, yet in his years were seen 
A youthful vigor and autumnal green. 
MY days pass pleasantly away, 
My nights are blest with sweetest sleep, 
I feel no symptoms of decay, 
I have no cause to mourn or weep; 
—Dry den. 
My foes are impotent and shy, 
My friends are neither false nor cold; 
And yet, of late, I often sigh, 
I’m growing old! —John G. Saxe. 
'THE spring, like youth, fresh blossoms doth produce, 
But autumn makes them ripe and fit for use. —Sir J. Denham. 
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