THE LESSON OF THE SEASONS.

    Written for a little girl on her eleventh birthday.

Fleeting time is on the wing—­
Surely Winter, joyous Spring,
Glowing Summer, Autumn sere,
Mark the changes of the year.

Late the earth was green and fair,
Flowers were blooming everywhere;
Birds were singing in the trees,
While the balmy healthful breeze,
Laden with perfume and song,
Health and beauty flowed along.

But a change comes o’er the scene;
Still the fields and trees are green,
And the birds keep singing on,
Though the early flowers are gone;
And the melting noon-day heat,
Strips the shoes from little feet,
And the coats from little backs;
While the paddling bare-foot tracks,
In the brooklet which I see,
Tell of youthful sports and glee. 
Hay is rip’ning on the plain,
Fields are rich in golden grain,
Mowers rattle sharp and shrill,
Reapers echo from the hill,
Farmer, dark and brown with heat,
Push your labor—­it is sweet,
For the hope, in which you plow,
And sow, you are reaping now. 
Corn, which late, was scarcely seen,
Struggling slowly into green,
’Neath the Summer’s torrid glow—­
How like magic it does grow;
Rising to majestic height,
Drinks the sunbeams with delight,
Sends its rootlets through the soil,
Foraging for hidden spoil;
Riches more than golden ore,
Silent workers they explore: 
With their apparatus small,
Noiselessly they gather all. 
When their work is done, behold
Treasures, richer far than gold,
Fill the farmers store-house wide—­
And his grateful soul beside.

But the scene must change again,
Hill and dell and spreading plain,
Speak so all can comprehend
Summer’s reign is at an end. 
Forests, gorgeously arrayed,
(Queens such dresses ne’er displayed)
Grace the coronation scene
Of the lovely Autumn queen. 
Birds, with multifarious notes,
Ringing from ten thousand throats,
Shout aloud that Summer’s dead,
And Autumn reigns in her stead. 
Now another change behold—­
All the varied tints of gold,
Purple, crimson, orange, green—­
Every hue and shade between,
That bedecked the forest trees,
Now lie scattered by the breeze. 
The birds have flown.  Faithless friends
Love the most when they’re best fed;
And when they have gained their ends,
Shamefully have turned and fled. 
Winter claims his wide domain,
And begins his frigid reign. 
Thus the seasons come and go: 
Spring gives place to Summer’s glow;
Then comes mellow Autumn’s sway,
Rip’ning fruits and short’ning day;
Gorgeous woods in crimson dress,
Surpassing queens in loveliness. 
Then the Frost King mounts the throne,
Claims the empire for his own;
Hail and rain and sleet and snow
Are his ministers that go
On the swift wings of the blast,
At his bidding, fierce and fast.