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sweet season embodied: and the sight of it must have 
a tendency to awaken feelings of a hopeful and plea¬ 
surable nature. In the hey-day of youth, and health, 
and joy, the mind, as if by way of contrast to its gene¬ 
ral tone, is too apt to luxuriate in a sort of morbid 
melancholy, and “ in these sullen fits” it seeks such 
scenes and associations as are most likely to promote it. 
A fading flower, a tailing leaf, the sober sadness of an 
autumnal day, have then a charm far beyond the 
brightest and gayest trophies of spring. Not so in after¬ 
life : by that time the heart has generally become so 
well acquainted with real sorrow, that it has no room 
for such as is fictitious; and it rather turns from those 
objects which suggest images of gloom and decay, to 
such as resuscitate hope and gladness. 
Such were the feelings awakened in the mind of the 
author, when she received the spray of bird-cherry 
(whence the drawing is taken) from a kind contributor 
of botanical specimens for this work. 
