Maclauchlan,
Stereotyper and Printer, 56, 58 and 60 Park Street, New York.
To
Frank Leslie, Esq.,
One of the Best-tried and Most Valued Friends I Have,
THIS VOLUME,
THE LIGHT AMUSEMENT OF MY LEISURE HOURS,
IS
Respectfully Dedicated.
ANN S. STEPHENS.
St. Cloud Hotel, }
New York, March, 1874. }
PREFACE.
Thistle down, thistle down, cast to the wind
So lightly and wildly, you scarcely can find
A glimpse of it here, or a gleam of it there,
As it trembles, a silvery mist, on the air.
Like the wide thorny leaves whence the mother root threw
Up its crown of rich purple, bejewelled with dew,
These feathery nothings, barbed, sparsely, with seeds,
Must struggle for life with the brambles and weeds.