Children of sweetest birth,
Why do ye bend to earth
Eyes in whose softened blue,
Lies hid the diamond dew?
Has not the early ray,
Yet kissed those tears away
That fell with closing day?
Say do ye fear to meet
The hail and driving sleet,
Which gloomy winter stern
Flings from his snow-wreathed urn?
Or do ye fear the breeze
So sadly sighing thro’ the trees,
Will chill your fragrant flowers,
Ere April’s genial showers
Have visited your bowers?
Why came ye till the cuckoo’s voice,
Bade hill and vale rejoice;
Till Philomel with tender tone,
Waking the echoes lone,
Bids woodland glades prolong
Her sweetly tuneful song;
Till sky-lark blithe and linnet grey,
From fallow brown and meadow gay,
Pour forth their jocund roundelay;
Till ‘cowslip, wan’ and ‘daisies pied’
’Broider the hillock’s side,
And opening hawthorn buds are seen,
Decking each hedge-row screen?
What, though the primrose drest
In her pure paly vest
Came rashly forth
To brave the biting North,
Did ye not see her fall
Straight ’neath his snowy pall;
And heard ye not the West wind sigh
Her requiem as he hurried by?
Go hide ye then till groves are green
And April’s clouded bow is seen;
Till suns are warm, and skies are clear
And every flower that does appear,
Proclaims the birthday of the year.
Though Canada does not boast among her violets the sweet purple violet
(_Viola odorata_) of Britain she has many elegant species remarkable for
beauty of form and colour; among these “The Yellow Wool Violet,” the
“Song Spurred Violet” and the “Milkwhite Wool Violet,” (_V. Canadensis_)
may be named. These are all branching violets, some, as the yellow and
the white, often attain, in rank shaded soil, to a foot in height and
may be found throwing out a succession of flowers through the later
summer months. They will bloom freely if transplanted to a shady spot in
the garden.
[Illustration: _PLATE I._]
3 ANEMONE NEMOROSA
(Wood Anemone)
2 UVULARIA PERFOLIATA
(Large flowered Bellwort)
1 HEPATICA ACUTILOBA
(Sharp lobed Hepatica)
4 CLAYTONIA VIRGINICA
(Spring Beauty)
* * * * *