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MIRTHFULNESS. . 197 
ROSE VERSICOLOR. 
Rosa Mundi. 
Language — MIRTHFULNESS. 
The merry heart, the merry heart, 
Of Heaven’s gifts I hold thee best; 
And those who feel its pleasant throb, 
Though dark their lot, are truly blest. 
From youth to age it changes not, 
In joy and sorrow still the same ; 
"W hen skies are dark, and tempests scowl, 
It shines a steady beacon flame. 
It gives to beauty half its power, 
The nameless charms worth all the rest; 
The light that dances o’er a face, 
And speaks of sunshine in the breast: 
If Beauty ne’er have set her seal, 
It well supplies her absence too, 
And many a cheek looks passing fair, 
Because a merry heart shines through. 
Anon. 
A little of thy merriment, 
Of thy sparkling, light content, 
Give me, my cheerful brook, 
That I may still be full of glee 
And gladsomeness where’er I be, 
Though fickle fate hath prisoned me 
In some neglected nook. 
J. R. Lowell. 
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