
THE BOUQUET. 




ALOE, f 
ALOE. 

Religious Superstition, 
Ty climes beneath the solar ray, 
Where beams intolerable day, 
And arid plains in silence spread, 
The pale-green aloe lifts its head, 
Delighting most its shade to fling 
Where streams run not, nor fountains spring. 
Its mystic branch, at Moslem’s door, 
Betokens travel long and sore, 
In Mecca’s weary pilgrimage ; 
Or hangs, a visionary charm, 
To shield him from the secret harm, 
The spectre’s form, the demon’s rage. 
In frames adult, in fervid minds, 
Its root thus superstition finds ; 
Where’er that noxious growth is found, 
There spreads a moral desert round, 
Where charity’s sweet fount is dried, 
And only bitter waters glide. CRUSE. 
—— 
—<=<e See —— 


