192 
Have ye ever watched it budding. 
With each stem and leaf wrapped small. 
Coiled np within each other 
Like a roimd and hairy ball ? 
Have ye watched that ball unfolding 
Each closely nestling curl. 
And its fair and feathery leaflets 
Their spreading forms unfurl ? 
Oh ! then most gracefully they wave 
In the forest, like a sea. 
And dear as they are beautiful 
Are those Fern leaves to me. 
For all of early childhood — 
Those past and blessed years 
To which we ever wistfully 
Look back through memory’s tears — 
The sports and fancies then my own, 
Those Fern-leaves dear and wild. 
Bring back to my delighted heart— 
I am once more a child — 
“ Oh ! cull the tallest, fairest branch, 
My banner it shall be. 
And twine a ch’clet for my brow,— 
Crown me all royally: 
A Foxglove sceptre my right hand 
So gi'avely shall sustain:” — 
Oh! blessings on the bonny Fern — 
1 am a child again I 
