ASPEN. 
( Lamentation.) 
“ And full of emotion, its fault doth deplore, 
Sigh, shiver, and quiver, and droop evermore.” 
Eleanor Darby. 
HE Trembling Poplar is now generally known as 
the Aspen. It is chiefly remarkable for the cease¬ 
less tremulous motion of its leaves—a natural 
phenomenon, to account for which many very diverse ex¬ 
planations have been proffered. Miss Darby, in her 
“ Lays of Love and Heroism,” has thus versified a German 
legend upon the subject: 
‘ ‘ The Lord of Life walked in the forest one morn, 
When the song-wearied nightingale slept on the thorn ; 
Not a breath the deep hush of the dawning hour broke, 
Yet every tree, even the firm knotted oak, 
The tall warrior pine, and the cedar so regal, 
The home of the stork and the haunt of the eagle, 
All the patriarchal kings of the forest adored, 
And bowed their proud heads at the sight of the Lord. 
“ One tree, and one only, continued erect, 
Too vain to show even the Saviour respect! 
The light giddy aspen its leafy front raised, 
And on the Redeemer unbendingly gazed. 
Then a cloud, more of sorrow than wrath, dimmed the brow 
Of Him to whom everything living should bow ; 
While to the offender, with shame now opprest, 
He breathed in these words the eternal behest: 
