MAY.

THE FIR-TREE AND THE LILY.

"How comforting and invigorating is this bright May sunshine," said a lily, who reared its tiny white bells at the foot of a tall fir-tree. "And how happy everything is, now that the spiteful frosts, and those savage blasts of March are over and gone from the land. At length, I can venture to raise my head, without the fear of being rudely knocked about by an ill-natured blustering north-easter, or smothered by a party of deceitful snow-flakes. As for the frost, he is gone to his long account at last, I am thankful to say, and a pretty heavy one, I am sure, it must be. It makes one shiver to think of all the grievous maimings and woundings, murders, and other villanies, of which he has so long been guilty. Under the influence of these soft sunshiny days everything is changed. The birds sing out their songs of joy up in the tall fir-tree,

instead of sitting shivering under the wall, while the flowers are putting forth their gay blossoms all around. I can look up now into the depths of the clear blue sky, gleaming through the dark fir-spines, and watch the sun gilding the brown branches as he sinks in the calm unclouded west.

And sometimes I feel such a strange sensation of joy all through me, that I long to break out into a burst of love and praise, like the thankful little birds. 1 wonder why it is not always May, it surely would be much better. I can quite understand why it should not be always sunny and bright, and how much good the soft rains do, when they gently descend upon the earth, while the dark clouds cover the beautiful sky. That, to be sure, is not pleasant, but then it is useful, and one feels so much fresher and stronger afterwards; but the east winds and frosts are very different, they are only a grief of mind to every living thing."

"Spoken like a feeble and short-sighted

creature," said a clear sonorous voice, far above the lily, up among the topmost branches of the fir-tree. "Your views of life, allow me to say, are extremely limited and purposeless. You look at everything in relation to a selfish state of enjoyment; but there are far more important things in heaven and earth, than birds and flowers-things that will endure long after such transient and useless lives have faded away into merited oblivion. Had you boldly faced the winter storm and cold, instead of shrinking cowardly under the earth, you would have grown erect and strong; and then, instead of hanging your head with that languid air, you might have held it up bravely, and looked forth into the wide world as I do. The clear frosty air, and the fresh winds blowing from the hardy north, give energy and strength, whilst the warm airs of May and the burning sunbeams, enfeeble and wither up the life, rendering it useless for any great and important purpose. Did but

the bracing winter endure all the year round what a different world this would be!"

"Oh! what a sweet little flower," exclaimed a child's voice, close beside the lily. "Where did it come from? A few weeks ago the old fir-tree was the only living thing in this corner of the garden."

"The little lily," answered her father, was safe beneath the ground as long as the cold winds from the north, and the frosts continued. If it had ventured to peep out before they were gone, it would have been killed immediately. Therefore, it is carefully sheltered during the winter by the kindly earth, and when the time arrives for it to come forth, its brief life is one of unclouded sunshine. The tall fir-tree, on the other hand, is strengthened and invigorated by the cold. It needs the sharp frost, and the bleak north winds, to prepare it to answer the various purposes of its creation. They cause it to grow up erect and strong, and make