69 
and that greater changes are sometimes known than 
the substitution of a Tulip for a Hyacinth. 
But the Hyacinth, after a moment’s pensive 
thought, resumed: “ I believe my friend Tulip 
afterwards experienced the same vicissitudes of for¬ 
tune that I did. She and her sisters were for a time 
the favorite of princes, and more valuable than pre¬ 
cious gems, but now she is even more humbled than 
I am ; for Hyacinths are still considered worthy 
ornaments of the bower of beauty. But I believe 
these reverses do not hurt her feelings so much as 
O 
they do mine. It is true that I had rather live under 
the blue sky, and drink the waters of heaven pure 
from the beloved clouds, than to reside under the 
most splendid roof made by the hand of man,—but 
in this foreign soil, a slight neglect destroys my 
health and vigor, and often I have not strength to 
open my bosom to the blessed sun. 
