the robin's glad music is heard.

I see my companions abroad on the plain,
But the beauties of spring, they are not for me.
Oh! when shall I leave my dull prison again?
I am pining to roam 'mid the wild flowers free.

O green is the turf in the wildwood now,
And my spirit flies from the dwellings of men,
Where the wind blows soft through the cedar's bough,
And the voice of the streamlet is heard from the glen.

This dim-lighted chamber I long to resign
For my cherish'd retreat, 'neath the wide-spreading tree.
Through the long, long hours of day I pine
For the breath of the flowers and the hum of the bee.

No, not for me are the beauties of spring,
Nor the zephyr that sighs in the cedar's bough;
The birds of the forest all sweetly may sing,
But not for my ear is their music now.

Yet, merciful Father! I will not complain;
My hopes are all centred on heaven and Thee;
I know that thy grace will my spirit sustain--
I ask not for more--'tis sufficient for me.

THE USE OF FLOWERS[1].

[Footnote 1: See the frontispiece.]

Just one moment longer, cousin Mary, I want to put this flower in your
hair. Now doesn't it look sweet, sister Aggy?"

"Oh, yes! very sweet. And here is the dearest little bud I ever saw. I took
it from the sweet-briar bush in the lane. Put that, too, in cousin Mary's
hair."

Little Florence, seeing what was going on, was soon, also, at work upon
Mary's hair, that, in a little while, was covered with buds and blossoms.

"Now she is our May Queen," said the children, as they hung fondly around
their cousin, who had come out into the country to enjoy a few weeks of
rural quiet, in the season of fruits and flowers. "And our May Queen must
sing us a song," said Agnes, who was sitting at the feet of her cousin.
"Sing us something about flowers."

"Oh, yes!" spoke up Grace, "sing us that beautiful piece by Mrs Howitt,
about the use of flowers. You sang it for us, you remember, the last time
you were here."

Cousin Mary sang as desired. After she had concluded, she said--

"Flowers, according to these beautiful verses, are only useful as objects
to delight our senses. They are only beautiful forms in nature--their
highest use, their beauty and fragrance."

"I think that is what Mrs Howitt means," replied Grace. "So I have always
understood her. And I cannot see any other use that flowers have. Do you
k