TO THE SNOW-DROP.
Emblem of purity, gracefully lifting
Petals of beauty 'mid wintry snows drifting;
Brave little snow-drop, so fair and so hardy,
First flower to welcome the spring chill and tardy,—
Frost cannot wither thee, cold cannot frighten,
Patiently tarrying till skies may brighten;
Snow-piercer, cloud-gazer, wind-scorner, eye-cheerer, Bring to my heart thy dear message yet nearer. When age or sorrow is darkly impending, Snows of adversity thickly descending, Then, springing out of them, checked by no blasting, Let there bloom thoughts of the life everlasting. Coming, like snow-drops, amid our endurance, Bringing to each weary heart the assurance, To joy's frozen waste spring draws nigher and nigher, And death is the way to life higher and higher. EPES SARGENT. |
TURTLES.
LMOST every one thinks of turtles as exceedingly slow and stupid. Perhaps they may be rather slow, though you know who won the race in the fable of the turtle and the hare. As for their stupidity, I doubt whether they are so very stupid, for I once had one that seemed to me very bright.
When I put him on the floor or ground, he would stay quite still, and draw in his head and legs, until I turned away, or busied myself with something else; then he would make off as fast as his little legs would carry him.
I once lost one in that way: so, now that I know their tricks, I am more careful. But certainly that turtle must have had some sense to be able to tell when my back was turned, or even when I was not looking.