122 FABLES OF FLORA. 
‘ Yon Cardinal Flower, whose brilliant state 
Appears far happier than thine own, 
Would win thy pity for its fate, 
Were all its hidden sorrows known. 
‘ No fragrance in its bosom reigns, 
To charm the weary sense of grief, 
But poison stealing through its veins 
Gives bitterness to flower and leaf. 
‘ Could we their inward feelings know, 
Whose lives with endless joy seem blent, 
How light would seem our heaviest woe, 
How worse than weak our discontent! ’ 
THE ASTER. 
The Aster, or Starwort, is among the pretti¬ 
est of our autumn wild-flowers. It is the latest 
lingerer upon the hill-sides, and is sometimes 
found surviving our earliest snow-storms. It sig¬ 
nifies confidence in God. 
‘ Near where yon rocks the stream inurn, 
The lonely gentian blossoms still i 
Still wave the Star-flower and the fern 
O’er the soft outline of the hill.’ 
Mbs. Whitkar. 
