65 
THE ASPEN. 
POPULUS TREMULA. 
“ I would not be 
A leaf on yonder aspen tree 
In every fickle breeze to play 
Wildly, weakly, idly gay, 
So feebly framed, so lightly hung, 
By the wing of an insect stirr’d and swung. 
Proudly spoken, heart of mine; 
Yet weakness and change perchance are thine, 
More, and darker and sadder to see, 
Than befall the leaves of yonder tree! 
Look to thyself, then, ere past is Hope’s reign, 
And looking and longing alike are in vain; 
Lest thou deem it a bliss to have been, or to be, 
But a fluttering leaf on yon aspen tree.” 
Poplars, to which genus die aspen belongs, are the 
most valuable, says Hunter, of all die aquatics, whether 
we consider the quickness of dieir growth or the magni- 
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