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is another, the smallest Forget-me-not, with small, but bright blue flowers.

8. Primroses--how many a hedge-bank and burn-side is made gay with these "earliest nurslings of the spring!" They have been blooming sparingly on sheltered banks, perhaps for weeks, but now the thick tufts of their blossoms give real evidence that spring is come at last. Companions of the primrose

"Gleaming like amethysts in the dewy moss,"

the sweet-scented Violets, the most welcome flowers perhaps of an English spring, are now scattered in lavish profusion.

9. The welcome flowers are blossoming,

In joyous troops revealed;

They lift their dewy buds and bells
In garden, mead, and field.

They lurk in every sunless path
Where forest children tread;
They dot like stars the sacred turf
Which lies above the dead.

10. They sport with every playful wind
That stirs the blooming trees,
And laugh on every fragrant bush,
All full of toiling bees;

From the green marge of lake and stream,
Fresh vale and mountain sod,

They look in gentle glory forth,

The pure sweet flowers of God.

Questions on the lesson:-What is said of the number of the flowers of April? What four pioneer flowers are named? How may the cuckoo-flower be discovered? What white flower is seen on the

hedgerows? Which flower is described as a jewel among field flowers? What other flowers are mentioned? Where are they found? What is said of each?

conspicuous, easily seen.

delusive, deceptive.

keen, sharp.

notched, cut into.

petal, the leaf of a flower.

pioneer, one who goes before to prepare the way.

profusion, abundance.
provender, food for beasts.
pungent, biting to the taste.
relish, agreeable taste.

sloe, the blackthorn, its fruit is
the small, sour wild plum.
toilette, operation of dressing.

MAY DAY.

1. While from the purpling east departs
The star that led the dawn,

Blithe Flora from her couch upstarts,
For May is on the lawn.

2. A quickening hope, a freshening glee, Foreran the expected power,

Whose first-drawn breath, from bush and tree,
Shakes off that pearly shower.

3. All Nature welcomes Her whose sway,
Tempers the year's extremes;
Who scattereth lustres o'er noon day,
Like morning's dewy gleams;

4. While mellow warble, sprightly trill,
The tremulous heart excite;

'And hums the balmy air to still The balance of delight.

5. Time was, blest Power! when youths and maids peep of dawn would rise,

At

And wander forth, in forest glades

Thy birth to solemnise!

6. Though mute the song-to grace the rite
Untouched the hawthorn bough,

Thy spirit triumphs o'er the slight:
Man changes, but not thou!

7. Thy feathered lieges bill and wings
In love's disport employ;

Warmed by thy influence, creeping things
Awake to silent joy.

8. Queen art thou still for each gay plant
Where the slim wild deer roves:
And served in depths where fishes haunt
Their own mysterious groves.

9. And if, on this thy natal morn,
The pole, from which thy name
Hath not departed, stands forlorn
Of song, and dance, and game:

10. Still from the village green a vow
Aspires to thee addressed,
Wherever peace is on the brow,
Or love within the breast.

11. Yes! where love nestles thou canst teach
The soul to love the more;

Hearts also shall thy lessons reach
That never loved before.

12. Stript is the haughty one of pride,
The bashful freed from fear;
While rising like the ocean-tide
In flows the joyous year.

13. Hush, feeble lyre! weak words refuse
The service to prolong!

To yon exulting thrush the Muse
Entrusts the imperfect song:

14. His voice shall chant in accents clear,
Throughout the livelong day,

Till the first silver star appear,

The sovereignty of May.

Wordsworth.

Queen of the May. Formerly it was usual on the morning of the first of May for the young people to go out early into the country and gather flowers and hawthorn branches. They brought them home about sunrise, and decorated the doors and windows in the village with them. The fairest maid of the village also was crowned with flowers as the "Queen of the May.' She was placed in a bower made of flowers, near the May-pole, round which they danced nearly the whole day.

aspire, to breathe after.

disport, to move in gaiety or sport.

Flora, goddess of flowers.

forlorn, forsaken.

lieges, subjects.

lustre, brightness.

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mellow, soft, ripe.

mysterious, obscure, secret. quickening, life-giving. sprightly, airy, full of life. sway, influence, government. tremulous, trembling, shaking.

WHY AN APPLE FALLS.

1. "I have somewhere read," said Willie, "that Sir Isaac Newton was led to make some of his great discoveries by seeing an apple fall from a tree.

But I do not see

anything wonderful in the fall of an apple. not an apple fall when its stem is broken?"

Why should

"Let me ask you in return," said Uncle John, "if you see any reason why an apple should fall when its stem is broken? Can you tell why anything falls to the ground?"

2. "I suppose an apple falls from a tree when its stem is broken," said Willie, "because-because-there is nothing to hold it up any longer. It is forced to fall. cannot help it."

It

"Just so, just so," said Uncle John; "it is forced to fall. It cannot help it. But what is it that forces the apple to fall? Do you think the apple has any power to move itself?"

3. Willie thought a while, and then said that he did not suppose the apple could move itself. "But I should

like to know," said he, "what makes it fall."

"That is the very question that Newton asked himself," said Uncle John. "And when he could answer that question he could answer a great many more questions that had long puzzled all the philosophers before him."

4. "But I do not see yet what makes the apple fall," said Willie. "There must be something that pulls it down to the earth.”

"Just so, just so," said Uncle John. "The earth pulls the apple to it."

5. "But I do not see the earth pull it," said Willie; "and I do not see how the earth can pull it."

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