Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE ALPINE RHODODENDRON. 27 THE ALPINE RHODODENDRON. [raffles alludes to thU beautiful shrub " mingling its little crimson blossoms with the scanty herbage which clothes th mountains, rising almost perpendicularly from the sides of the glacier on the summit of Montanvert. "3 Gem of the Alps ! 'tis strange to trace Aught beautiful as thou, Glad'ning the " solitary place" With unexpected glow. Yet, bright one ! cold thy bed must be, And harsh thy evening lullaby; Would thou wert planted in the bower Which summer weaves for bird and flower! And rocked to slumber by the gale She breathes in yonder sunny vale! " Oh, tell me not of valley fair, Where sweeter flow'rets bloom, I too have sun and healthful air In this my mountain home ; Yet stranger, doth thy sympathy Demand some poor return from me; And what if I, frail lowly thing, Such lesson to thine heart might bring, That thou in after hour should'st bless The flow'ret of the wilderness. 28 THE ALPINE RHODODENDRON. Deem'st thou these snows scarce fitting bower For aught so fair as I ? O know, that One, whose will is power, Has shaped my destiny; He spake me into being,—shed His sunshine on my alpine bed, Bade the strong blast which shook the pine Pass harmless o'er this head of mine, And gently reared my early bloom, 'Mid snows which else had been my tomb. View in this mountain's frozen breast An emblem true of thine, So cold, so hard, till on it rest A beam of light divine. Feel'st thou this life-inspiring ray ? If not, then upward look and pray That he who made these mountain-snows A cradle for the opening rose, Would deep within thine heart embower A brighter far than earthly flower. MORAL OF FLOWERS.BEGABD DUE TO THE FEELINGS OF OTHERS. 29 REGARD DUE TO THE FEELINGS OF OTHE... --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.