O YE, who so lately were blithesome* and gay, No longer the flies and the emmets advance To join with their friends in the grasshopper's dance; And the grasshopper mourns for the loss of his friend. And hark to the funeral dirge of the bee, And see, where so mournful the green rushes wave, The dormouse attended, but cold and forlorn, The corpse was embalmed † at the set of the sun, In weepers and scarfs § came the butterflies all, *Blithesome, happy, merry. + Embalmed, prepared with drugs and spices so as to prevent decay. Bier, a sort of carriage on which the dead are carried. § Weepers and scarfs, parts of dress, made of black crape, and sometimes worn at funerals. || Pall, a black cloth thrown over a coffin. The grub left his nutshell to join the sad throng, EPITAPH. At this solemn spot, where the green rushes wave, 'Twas here the last tribute to beauty we paid, And here shall the daisy and violet blow, While under the leaf, in the evenings of spring. XXXIII. THE VOICE OF SPRING. MARY HOWITT. I AM coming, little maiden, With the pleasant sunshine laden; With the honey for the bee; With the blossom for the tree; With the flower and with the leaf; Till I come the time is brief. I am coming, I am coming! XXXIV. - GEORGE AND HIS LITTLE SISTER. A LITTLE boy asked his mother to let him lead his little sister out on the green grass. She had just begun to run alone, and could not step over any thing that lay in the way. His mother told him he might lead out the little girl, but charged him not to let her fall. I found them at play very happy in the field. I said, "You seem very happy, George. Is this your sister?" "Yes, sir." *Catkin, a sort of imperfect flower, hanging from trees like ropes, or cats' tails. "Can she walk alone?" "Yes, sir, on smooth ground." "And how did she get over these stones which lie between us and the house?" "O, sir, mother charged me to be careful that she did not fall, and so I put my hands under her arms, and lifted her up when she came to a stone, so that she need not hit her little foot against it." "That is right, George; and I want to tell you one thing. You see now how to understand that beautiful text, 'He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.'* God charges his angels to lead and lift good people over difficulties, just as you have lifted little Anna over these stones. Do you understand it now?" "O, yes, sir; and I shall never forget it while I live." XXXV.-TO A CHILD TIRED OF PLAY. WILLIS. TIRED of play! tired of play! What hast thou done this livelong day? The birds are silent, and so is the bee; The sun is creeping up temple and tree; And the nests are dark with the drooping leaves; Twilight gathers, and day is done How hast thou spent it - restless one? 66 "Playing?" But what hast thou done beside, What promise of morn is left unbroken? * Matt. iv. 6. What hast thou learned by field and hill? Well for thee if thou couldst tell From the creeping worm to the brooding dove – XXXVI. —THE CITY GIRL IN THE COUNTRY. MRS. CHILD. LITTLE Emma lived in New York. She had an uncle in the country, who was a farmer. Emma loved nothing better than a run in the fields, where in two minutes she could fill her apron full of buttercups and clover blossoms. In the early spring time, she watched to see when the grass on the Battery began to look green; and the very first dandelion she saw, she ran to her mother, and said, "The sunshine has come now, mother. When shall we go into the country to see uncle?" In August she had her wish. As they rode along, she saw the trees loaded with fruit, and the gardens full of flowers. She was so impatient to run in the fields, that she could hardly be contented to sit still in the chaise. At last, they arrived at her uncle's farm; and every body was glad to see little Emma and her mother. The little city girl could hardly stop to take her bonnet off, she was in such a hurry to run to the barn, with her cousins, to see the cows, and the calves, and the sheep, and the hens, |