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Floral Life


"Lord, what is life? 'Tis like a flower

That blossoms, and is gone!

We see it flourish for an hour,

With all its beauty on;

But death comes, like a wintry day,

And cuts the pretty flower away."





THE FLOWERING SEASONS.





"Say, what impels, amid surrounding snow

Congealed, the CROCUS' flowery bud to glow?
br /> Say, what retards, amid the summer blaze,

The autumnal bud, till pale declining days?



"The God of seasons, whose pervading power

Controls the sun, or sheds the fleecy shower;

He bids each flower His quickening word obey,

Or to each lingering bloom enjoins delay."

H. KIRKE WHITE.





As it will be impossible in a small volume to give instructions in all

Flowers, I shall endeavour to select such as will produce a pleasing

contrast of form and colour; at the same time, including flowers of

every season, commencing with Spring--and who does not hail the early

Flowers with delight? After a long and severe winter, the appearance of

the golden crocus and the modest snowdrop, peeping from the earth,

convey to the mind a glow of unspeakable pleasure.



"Then wherefore had they birth?

To minister delight to man--

To beautify the earth."



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