MORAL OF FLOWERS. 73 
call of poesy, to issue from their hiding places, I 
and irradiate the world of nature and imagina¬ 
tion with their divine effluence. Well has it 
been asked—by whom we know not—How 
can the poet better employ his genius, than in 
giving flowers a life as sweet, more lasting than 
their own !” and how, we would respond, can 
the moralist more faithfully perform the duties 
of his office, than by drawing lessons of wisdom 
and virtue from the most lovely objects in 
creation, and applying those lessons to the 
hearts and consciences of his fellow-creatures, 
endeavoring thus to make them happier and 
wiser ?— 
“ With holy awe I cull the opening flower, 
The hand of God hath made it, and where’er 
The flow’ret blooms, there God is present also.” 
These are the words of Lady Flora Has¬ 
tings, and in them we recognize a spirit akin 
to our own ; it is good to bear about with us 
ever a deep sense of the presence of the Creator 
in His works, from the mightiest to the meanest, 
and to be moved to devotion and praise, not only 
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