2 
INTRODUCTION. 
eyes, for a living inspiration of grace to his 
spirit, for a perpetual admiration. And ac¬ 
cordingly they seize on our affections the 
first moment that we hehold them. With 
what eagerness do very infants grasp at 
flowers. As they become older they would 
live for ever amongst them. They bound 
about in the flowery meadows like young 
fawns ; they gather all they come near; they 
collect heaps; they sit among them and 
sort them, and sing over them and caress 
them, till they perish in their grasp. 
This sweet May morning 
The children are pulling 
On every side, 
In a thousand valleys far and wide, 
Presh flowers. Wordsworth. 
“ We see them coming wearily into the 
towns and villages with their pinafores full, 
and with posies half as large as themselves. 
We trace them in shady lanes, in the grass 
of far-off fields, by the treasures they have 
gathered and have left behind, lured on by 
others still greater. 
“ As they grow up to maturity, they as- 
