The glad school boy!
From Parley’s Picture Book.
Clouds.
How beautiful are the clouds at morn! they look like ruby gems set round with gold; and the lark mounts towards them, and sings as if he were at heaven’s gate.
How bright are the clouds at midday, when high in the sky they hang, and show their pearly whiteness in the azure sky!
At sun-set they again are beautiful, and in the far west they take all hues and forms. Sometimes they look like towers and castles, high thrones and lofty palaces, of topaz and of gold.
At night, when the moon shines on them, they look fair and white, and pure; and when all is hushed and still, they seem like a flock of little lambs asleep.
Yet what are clouds but vapors?—soon they pass away, soon they change: now they become dark with tempest; now they swell in storm; but then the bow of mercy is seen, and nature, in the midst of showers, is cheered.
Life is like a cloud, fleeting and changeable: to-day it is gay and bright, to-morrow it is dark and full of gloom; yet again the sun shines upon it, and it sinks to its rest in peace.
What gives to the clouds their brightness and their beauty? it is the sun that lights them, gilds them with his beams, and paints them with his smiles.