do not mind the hurricane,
And biting winter rain;
I love to watch them sweep across
The woodland and the plain;
For as they roar the trees among,
I fancy I can hear
A whisper like a fairy's song:
'The spring is drawing near.'
I do not mind the gloomy days,
When clouds are dark and low,
And rough winds from the meadows tear
Their tattered sheets of snow;
For through those ragged holes I've seen
A sight the heart to cheer,
The face of some sweet flower that tells,
'The spring is drawing near.'
O children big, and children small,
This wisdom bear in mind:
Frown not on any rains that fall,
Nor grumble at the wind;
And when the gloomy winter's day
Is far from blithe and warm,
Look well, and think, and you will find
A promise in the storm.
A DANGEROUS TRAVELLER.
A True Anecdote.
'Cab, Madam?' said a driver; and a lady who wanted a cab got hastily in. But the driver had not proceeded very far before a loud scream from the lady startled him.
When he had recovered himself he got down, and opened the door of the cab. A strange sight met his eyes: the poor lady was huddled up in one corner, and a large and ugly snake reared its head angrily from the floor of the cab.
The driver helped the lady out, and shut the snake up in the cab, and drove as fast as he could to the police station. He remembered then how the keeper of a menagerie had that morning hired his vehicle. The keeper, while he took his drive, had placed the snake, for safe-keeping, under the seat of the cab, and, getting out at his journey's end, had forgotten the snake!
After some delay, a man was procured who killed the reptile; but it was a long time before the lady cared to enter a cab again without searching to see if there were any other travellers already in it.