34.-PRIDE AND THE POPPIES.

"We little Red-caps are among the corn,
Merrily dancing at early morn;

They say the färmer dislikes to see
Our saucy red faces; but here are wē!

"Wē pay nō price for our summer coats,
Like thōṣe slavish creatures, bärley and oats;
We do not choose to bẽ ground and eat,
Like our heavy-head neighbour, Gaffer Wheat.

"And who'd thrash us, we should like to know?
Grind us and bag us and ūṣe us sō?

Let meaner and shabbiër things than we
Sō stupidly bend to utility!"

Sō said little Red-cap, and âll the rout
Of the Poppy-clan set up a mighty shout;
Mighty for them, but if yoû had heard,
You had thought it the cry of a tiny bîrd.

So the Poppy-folk flaunted it ōver the field,
In pride of grandeur they nodded and reeled;
And shook out their jackets till nought was seen
But a wide, wide shimmer of scärlet and green.

The Blue-bottle sat on her downy stâlk,
Quietly smiling at âll their tâlk;

The Marigold still spread her rays to the sun,
And the purple Vetch climbed up to look at the fun.

The homely Corn-cockle cared nothing, not shē,
For the arrogance, bluster, and poor vanity

Of the proud Poppy-tribe, but she flourished and grew,
Content with herself and her plain purple hue.

The sun went down, and rōṣe bright on the morrow,
To some bringing joy, and to others e'en sorrow,
But bliṭhe was the rich rōsy färmer that morn,
When he went with his reapers among the corn.

He trotted along, and he cracked his jōke,
And chatted and laughed with the härvest fōlk :
For the weather was settled, barometers high,
And heavy crops gladdened his practised eye.

“We'll cut this bärley to-day," qüỏth hẽ,
As he tied his white pōny under a tree;
"Next the upland wheat, and then the oats."
How the Poppies shook in their scärlet coats!

But shook with laughter, not fear, for they
Never dreamed they too should be swept away;
And their laughter was spīte, to think that âll
Their "useful" neighbours were doomed to fâll.

They swelled and bustled with such an air,
The corn-fields quite in commotion were,
And the farmer cried, glancing across the grain,

66

How these profitless weeds have come up again !"

"Hä, hä!" laughed the Red-caps, “hä, hä! what a fuss Must the poor weeds be in! how they're envying us."

But their mîrth was cut short by the sturdy strōkes They speedily met from the härvest fōlks.

And when low on earth each stem was laid,
And the round moon looked on the havoc made,
A Blue-bottle propped herself hälf erect,
And made a short speech-to this effect:-

"My dying kins-flowers and fainting friends,
The same dire fate alike attends

Thōṣe who in scärlet and blue are dressed;
And how silly the pride that sō lāte poṣṣessed

"Our friends the Red-caps! How low they lie,
Who were lately sō pert, and vain, and high!
They sneered at us and our plain array;
Are we now a whit mōre humble than they?

"They scorned our neighbours; the goodly corn
Was the butt of their merriment ēve and morn;
They lived on its land, on its bounty fed,
But a word of thanks they never have said.

"And which is the worthiest, now, I pray?
Have ye not learnt enough to-day?
Is not the corn sheafed up with care,
And are not the Poppies left dying there?

"The corn will be carried and gärner'd up,
To gladden man's heart both with loaf and cup;
And some of the seed the land now yields
Will be brought again to its native fields;

"And grow and ripen and wave next year,
As richly as this hath ripen'd here;

And we, poor weeds, though heeded not,
Perchance may spring up on this very spot.

"But let us be thankful and humble too,
Not proud and vain of a gaudy hūe;
Ever remembering, though meanly drest,
That USEFULNESS is of âll gifts the best."

35. THE USE OF FLOWERS.

1. God might have made the earth bring fōrth enough for great and smâll; the oak-tree and the cedar-tree, without a flower at âll. 2. We might have had enough, enough, for every wânt of ours, for luxury, medicine, and toil, and yet have had nō flowers. 3. The ōre within the mountain mīne reqüireth none to grow, nor doth it need the lotus flower to make the river flow. 4. The clouds might give abundant rain, the nightly dews might fall, and the herb that keepeth life in man might yet have drunk them all. 5. Then wherefore wherefōre, were they made, âll dyed with rainbow light, âll fashioned with supremest grace, up-springing day and night. 6. Springing in valleys green and low, and on the mountains high, and in the silent wilderness, where no man passes by. 7. Our outwârd life requireş them not, then wherefore had they bîrth? To minister

delight to man, to beautify the earth. 8. To comfort man, to whisper hōpe whene'er his faithis dim; for who sō careth for the flowers will much more care for him.

"Oh no, no," said the little Flỹ,
"To ask me is in vain;

For who goes up your winding stair

Can ne'er come down again."
"I'm sure you must be weary, dear,
With soaring up so high;

Will you rest upon my little bed?"
Said the Spider to the Fly.

"There are pretty curtains drawn around,
The sheets are fine and thin,

And if you like to rest awhile,
I'll snugly tuck yoû in!"