CHILDHOOD. L185 
And the fir-trees down by the garden side, 
In their blackness towered more stately ; 
And the lower trees were feathered with snow, 
That were bare and brown so lately. 
And then, when the rare hoar-frost would come, 
*T was all like a dream of wonder, 
Where over us grew the crystal trees, 
And the crystal plants grew under! 
The garden all was enchanted land ; 
All silent and without motion, 
Like a sudden growth of the stalactite, 
Or the corallines of ocean! 
"Twas all like a fairy forest then, 
Where the diamond trees were growing, 
And within each branch the emerald green, 
And the ruby red were glowing. 
I remember many a day we spent 
In the bright hay-harvest meadow ; 
The glimmering heat of the noonday ground, 
And the hazy depth of shadow. 
R 3 
