FOR CHILDREN. 245

THE PLANE-TREE an THE VINE. .
FROM THE LATIN.
SEE yonder blushing vine-tree grow,
And clasp a dry and withered plane;
And round its youthful tendrils throw
A shelter from the storm and rain.

That hapless trunk, in former time,
Gave covert from the noon-tide blaze,

And taught the infant shoot to climb,
Which now the pious debt repays.

Thus for a mother’s fostering care,
Mayst thou a tender love return ;

Shield her when life’s rude tempests Jour,
And wreathe with flowers her sacred urn.

 

THE LAND OF CONTRADICTIONS,

THErg is a land in distant seas
Full of all contrarieties.
There beasts have mallards” bill and legs,
Have spurs like cocks, like hens lay eggs.
There parrots walk upon the ground,
And grass upon the trees is found ;
On other trees—another wonder—
Leaves without upper side or under.
There pears yon’'ll scarce with hatchet cut;
Stones are outside the cherries put;
Swans are not white but black as soot ;
There neither leaf, nor root, nor fruit,
Will any Christian palate suit;

¥2