496 
MARY HOWITT. 
Then wherefore, wherefore were they made, 
All dyed with rainbow light, 
All fashioned with supremest grace, 
Upspringing day and night:— 
Springing in valleys green and low, 
And on the mountains high, 
And in the silent wilderness 
Where no man passes by ? 
Our outward life requires them not— 
Then wherefore had they birth? 
To minister delight to man, 
To beautify the earth ; 
To comfort man, to whisper hope, 
Whene’er his faith is dim, 
For who so careth for the flowers 
Will much more care for him. 
