CHILDEEK AND FLOWERS. 
103 
or regret. He has no fears for the future, no 
ambitious longings, no unruly desires, that never 
can be gratified, to vex him ! So his physical 
wants be attended to, what cares he how the 
world wags ; how thrones and empires totter; J 
how misery and vice progress; how disease ; 
and death afflict nations and individuals. Does 
he wish to become a king ? straightway his 
cone-like head” bears a regal diadem, his tat- ’ 
tered habiliments are changed to purple robes, ' 
blazing with jewelry, and the bough he twirls” 
is the sceptre, which symbolizes his command i 
over half the globe. Does he wish ?—but it ' 
were useless to pursue this subject further ?—he j 
is a poet, a philosopher,—aught which may 
suit the whim of the moment, yet free from the 
harassing cares, griefs, and anxieties, which but 
too often render miserable the lives of those who 
play such conspicuous parts in the great drama j 
of mortality, Crabbe, who was a most faithful 
delineator of human life in all its phases, and 
under all circumstances, speaking of the inmates 
of the village poor-house, says— 
