Away
Like to the summer's rain,
Or as the pearls of morning dew,
Ne'er to be found again.'

And Waller to the rose--

'Then die! that she
The common fate of all things rare
May read in thee.
How small a part of time they share,
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!'

"And Burns to the daisy," said Lois--

'There in thy scanty mantle clad,
Thy snowy bosom sunward spread,
Thou lifts thy unassuming head
In humble guise;
But now the share uptears thy bed,
And low thou lies!

'Even thou who mournst the Daisy's fate,
That fate is thine--no distant date;
Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives, elate,
Full on thy bloom,
Till, crushed beneath the furrow's weight,
Shall be thy doom!'"

"O, you are getting very gloomy!" exclaimed Mrs. Lenox.

"Not we," said Lois merrily laughing, "but your poets."

"Mend your cause, Julia," said her husband.

"I haven't got the poets in my head," said the lady. "They are not all
like that. I am very fond of Elizabeth Barrett Browning."

"The 'Cry of the Children'?" said Mrs. Barclay.

"O no, indeed! She's not all like that."

"She is not all like that. There is 'Hector in the Garden.'"

"O, that is pretty!" said Lois. "But do you remember how it runs?--

'Nine years old! The first of any
Seem the happiest years that come--'"

"Go on, Lois," said her friend. And the request being seconded, Lois
gave the whole, ending with--

'Oh the birds, the tree, the ruddy
And white blossoms, sleek with rain!
Oh my garden, rich with pansies!
Oh my childhood's bright romances!
All revive, like Hector's body,
And I see them stir again!

'And despite life's changes--chances,
And despite the deathbell's toll,
They press on me in full seeming!
Help, some angel! stay this dreaming!
As the birds sang in the branches,
Sing God's patience through my soul!

'That no dreamer, no neglecter
Of the present work unsped,
I may wake up and be doing,
Life's heroic ends pursuing,
Though my past is dead as Hector,
And though Hector is twice dead.'"

"Well," said Mrs. Lenox slowly, "of course that is all true."

"From her standpoint," said Lois. "That is according to my charge,
which you disallowed."

"From her standpoint?" repeated Mr. Lenox. "May I ask for an
explanation?"

"I mean, that as she saw things,--

'The first of any