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F'Jawtl'iofn. 
“Gentle Hawthorn, thrive, 
And, forever alive, 
May’st thou blossom as now in thy prime; 
By the wind unbroke, 
And the thunder-stroke, 
Unspoiled by the axe of Time.” 
— Ronsard. 
This is a shrub or tree, having deeply-lobed shining leaves, small, 
rose-like, fragrant flowers , and a fruit called haw. 
Hope and Confidence. 
IvtI HAT a very sensible and religious old man once wrote to a young 
-M- student, who seemed to him inclined to take trifles as well as sorrows 
too much to heart, was doubtless good advice : “Go forward with hope and 
confidence. This is the advice given thee by an old man, who has had a 
full share of the burden and heat of life’s day. We must ever stand 
upright, happen what may , and for this end we must cheerfully resign our¬ 
selves to the varied influences of this many-colored life. You may call 
this levity, and you are partly right—for flowers and colors are but trifles 
light as air—but such levity is a constituent portion of our human nature, 
without which it would sink under the weight of time. While on earth we 
must still play—as it were— with earth, and with that which blooms and 
fades upon its breast. The consciousness of this mortal life being but the 
way to a higher goal by no means precludes our playing with it cheerfully; 
and, indeed, we must do so, otherwise our energy in action will entirely 
fail.” 
