g leaves;
It was for the Lord of Paradise
He bound them in his sheaves.

4. "My Lord has need of these flowerets gay,"
The Reaper said, and smiled;
"Dear tokens of the earth are they,
Where he was once a child.

5. "They shall all bloom in the fields of light,
Transplanted by my care,
And saints, upon their garments white,
These sacred blossoms wear."

6. And the mother gave in tears and pain
The flowers she most did love;
She knew she should find them all again
In the fields of light above.

7. O, not in cruelty, not in wrath,
The Reaper came that day,
'T was an angel visited the green earth,
And took the flowers away.

DEFINITIONS.--3. Sheaves, bundles of grain. 4. To'ken (pro. to'kn), a
souvenir, that which is to recall some person, thing, or event. 6.
Trans-plant'ed, removed and planted in another place.

XXIX. THE TOWN PUMP.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (b.1804, d.1864) was born in Salem, Mass. He graduated
at Bowdoin College in 1825. His earliest literary productions, written for
periodicals, were published in two volumes--the first in 1837, the second
in 1842--under the title of "Twice-Told Tales," "Mosses from an Old
Manse," another series of tales and sketches, was published in 1845. From
1846 to 1850 he was surveyor of the port of Salem. In 1852 he was
appointed United States consul for Liverpool. After holding this office
four years, he traveled for some time on the continent. His most popular
works are "The Scarlet Letter," a work showing a deep knowledge of human
nature, "The House of the Seven Gables," "The Blithedale Romance." and
"The Marble Faun," an Italian romance, which is regarded by many as the
best of his works. Being of a modest and retiring disposition, Mr.
Hawthorne avoided publicity. Most of his works are highly imaginative. As
a prose writer he has no superior among American authors. He died at
Plymouth, N. H., while on a visit to the White Mountains for his health.

[SCENE.--The corner of two principal streets. The Town Pump
talking through its nose.]

1. Noon, by the north clock! Noon, by the east! High noon, too, by those
hot sunbeams which fall, scarcely aslope, upon my head, and almost make
the water bubble and smoke in the trough under my nose. Truly, we public
characters have a tough time of it! And among all the town officers,
chosen at the yearly meeting, where is he that sustains, for a single
year, the burde