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I



^vorite autlior. I have bronglit along 'The I
Idiss TbuTSton : ytm have certaioly heard of it ?'

" Oh ycB," said she, " I saw sevenil critical notioes of it
when it was first pabliglied, and have always wished U
read it."

" It gives a poetical view of a subject wo bsTO somfitimeH
discussed," he added playfully, " and I am not quite sure ihst
yoa will be satisfied with the olose. It sbonld uot be read,
however, as a serioiu argument cu either ude. TeanyMmr I
suspect, chose the subject for its picturesquo effects, ratb«f
tlian from any intentioual moral purpose. I confess I think he
is rightr We may find sermooa in poems as we find Uiem lu
stones, but one should be as niioonacioua of the fact aa t
oiiier. It seems to me that all poetrj which the author dOuM
sii^ns, in advance, to be excessively moral or pious, is
less a failm-e,"

"Mr. Woodbury I Do yoo really think so?" exclaimed
Hannah Thurstoo, in surprise.
" Tfts ; bat the idea b not original with me. I picked it op
somewhere, and finding it true, adopted it as my own. Theia
was a fandful illustration, if I rscoUeut rightly — that poetry ia
the blossom of Literature, not the fruit ; therefore tiial while
it saggesta the fruit — white iia very odor foretells the futura
flavor — ii must be content to be a blossom and nothiag more.
