3° 
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66 THE FLOKAL GIFT. 
HELIOTROPE. 
Seliolropium Peruvianum ,—Class 5, Order 1. 
Exquisitely scented, pale purpel flowers. —Peru. 
DEVOTION. 
She rose from her untroubled sleep. 
And put aside her dark brown hair, 
And in a tone, as low and deep 
As love’s first whisper, breathed a prayer. 
0 God ! if souls unsoiled as these, 
Need daily mercy, at thy shrine, 
If she, upon her bended knees, 
Our loveliest, and our purest one, 
She, with a face so clear and bright, 
We deem her, some stray child of light, 
Tf she, with those soft eyes in tears, 
Day after day, in her first years, 
Must kneel and pray for grace from the«, 
What far—far deeper need have we ! 
How hardly if she win not Heaven, 
Will our wild errors be forgiven. 
J. O. Whitier. 
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