THE

WILD-FLOWER ALPHABET,

OR,

FLOWER VERSES FOR THE NURSERY.

The costly crowns that monarch's wear
Are richly decked with jewels rare,
But I a simple child, would choose

A wreath of wild flowers gemmed with dews.

A

ANEMONE.-White Wood Anemone.

The Anemone blooms in those cheerful bowers
Where the thrush and the cuckoo sing,
And gaily opens its silvery flowers

In the earliest days of spring.

Then to the green wood let us go,

To see where the pretty Anemones grow.

B

BLUE BELLS.- Scilla nutans.

Bright Blue-bells of England, in woods and green dells,
How I love to behold your beautiful bells!
The Blue-bells of Scotland more famous may be,
But the Blue-bells of England for ever for me.

C

COLUMBINE.-Aquilegia vulgaris.

Here's the graceful Columbine,

'Tis a favorite flower of mine,

And the name we bid it bear,

Well describes its blossoms fair;-
Like doves upon a vessel's brink,
Clustering round to stoop and drink,*

D

DAFFODIL.-Pseudo-narcissus,

Who does not love the Daffodil,
That comes before the Swallow will;
So early seen on grove and hill,
The pretty golden Daffodil ?

Who does not love the Daffodil ?

The winds of March, its flowers may chill,

But gaily does it blossom still,

The pretty golden Daffodil !

* If my young readers will examine a flower of the Columbine, they will see that it is formed of several parts, each of which resembles a dove stooping over the edge of a vessel to drink; from whence the flower has received its name of Columbine, from Columba, a dove.

E

EYE-BRIGHT.-Euphrasia officinalis.

Here's the little lively Eye-bright,

The simple, modest Euphrasy; They say it strengthens failing sight, And makes the dim-eyed shepherd see.

It likes on pleasant downs to be,
And gaily blossoms on the lea;
I love its cheerful face to see,
The pretty modest Euphrasay!

F

FOXGLOVE.-Digitalis purpurea.

Foxglove, in thy purple bells

The busy bee is often found,

Honey for his waxen cells,

Gathering in his airy round.

Hid within the pendent flower,
Safe as in a sheltered bower,
Every drooping bell he tries,

Then spreads his little wings and flies.

G

GORSE.-Ulex europœus.

The Gorse is for a winter's wreath,
It grows upon the barren heath,
And waving in the winter's wind
Its golden blossoms we may find.

Other flowers in Spring are gay,
But in the winter fade away;
Then let the yellow Gorse be dear,
Because it blossoms all the year.