We marked upon the self-same spot
A crowd of veterans talking.

They shook their trembling heads and gray
With pride and noiseless laughter;
When, well-a-day! they blew away,

And ne'er were heard of after!

TO A WIND FLOWER

BY MADISON CAWEIN

TEACH me the secret of thy loveliness,

That, being made wise, I may aspire to be As beautiful in thought, and so express Immortal truths to earth's mortality;

Though to my soul ability be less

Than 'tis to thee, O sweet anemone.

Teach me the secret of thy innocence,
That in simplicity I may grow wise,
Asking from Art no other recompense
Than the approval of her own just eyes;
So may I rise to some fair eminence,

Though less than thine, O cousin of the skies.

Teach me these things, through whose high knowledge, I —

When Death hath poured oblivion through my veins,

And brought me home, as all are brought, to lie

In that vast house, common to serfs and Thanes I shall not die, I shall not utterly die,

For beauty born of beauty-that remains.

TO A WITHERED ROSE

BY JOHN KENDRICK BANGS

THY span of life was all too short

A week or two at best

From budding-time, through blossoming,
To withering and rest.

Yet compensation hast thou-aye

For all thy little woes;

For was it not thy happy lot
To live and die a rose?

MARIGOLDS

BY JOHN KEATS

OPEN afresh your round of starry folds,

Ye ardent marigolds!

Dry up the moisture of your golden lids,

For great Appollo bids

That in these days your praises shall be sung

On many harps, which he has lately strung;
And then again your dewiness he kisses -
Tell him I have you in my world of blisses:
So haply when I rove in some far vale,
His mighty voice may come upon the gale.

A HOLLYHOCK

BY FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN

SERAGLIO of the Sultan Bee!

I listen at the waxen door,

And hear the zithern's melody

And sound of dancing on the floor.

WITH A SPRAY OF APPLE BLOSSOMS

BY WALTER LEARNED

THE promise of these fragrant flowers, The fruit that 'neath these blossoms lies Once hung, they say, in Eden's bowers, And tempted Eve in Paradise.

O fairest daughter of Eve's blood,
Lest her misprision thine should be,
I've nipped temptation in the bud
And send this snowy spray to thee.

FOUR-LEAF CLOVER

BY ELLA HIGGINSON

I KNOW a place where the sun is like gold,
And the cherry blooms burst with snow,
And down underneath is the loveliest nook,
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

One leaf is for hope, and one is for faith,
And one is for love, you know,

And God put another one in for luck—

If you search you will find where they grow.

But you must have hope, and you must have faith, You must love and be strong and so

If you work, if you wait, you will find the place
Where the four-leaf clovers grow.

And hold the sunshine in its lap,

And bow to everything;

And thread the dews all night, like pearls,

And make itself so fine

As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.

And then to dwell in sovereign barns,

Он, THE green things growing, the green things growing,

The faint sweet smell of the green things growing!
I should like to live, whether I smile or grieve,
Just to watch the happy life of my green things
growing.

Oh, the fluttering and the pattering of those green things growing!