MDCCCXLV.
NEW YORK:
J. C. RIKER,—129 FULTON STREET.
1845.
WEST BROOKFIELD, MASS.
C. A. MIRICK, PRINTER.
PREFACE.
We call our little book "The Hawthorn." We chose the name of a blossom for our young readers, in preference to that of a gem, because the cold glittering beauty of the latter has little in common with the affectionateness, and beaming freshness of the young, to whom the nature of flowers seems more analogous.
When the young man came to the blessed Saviour to inquire as to eternal life, he bade him keep the commandments, and being told "all these things have I observed;" it is then recorded that, "Jesus beholding him, loved him." We know too, that he "loved little children," for he "took them in his arms," in token of tenderness; we infer that he loved the flowers likewise, for he said, "consider the lilies of the field;" and we find the most beautiful illustrations of the Divine precepts of Jesus borrowed from the kingdom of flowers.
What wonder then that we should love these delicate creations; and that when we wish to appeal to the young and the trustful, the hopeful and the good, we should seek these, for appropriate utterance.