I had not intended to slight or scorn the selection he had made, but I could not write upon it,--I could not help my thoughts flowing into rhyme.
Can the stream help gliding and rippling through its flowery margins?
Can the bird help singing and warbling upward into the deep blue sky, sending down a silver shower of melody as it flies?
Perhaps some may think I am swelling small things into great; but incidents and actions are to be judged by their results, by their influence in the formation of character, and the hues they reflect on futurity.

Had I received encouragement instead of rebuke, praise instead of ridicule,--had he taken me by the hand and spoken some such kindly words as these:-- "This is very well for a little girl like you.

Lift up that downcast face, nor blush and tremble, as if detected in a guilty act.

You must not spend too much time in the reveries of imagination, for this is a working-day world, my child.

Even the birds have to build their nests, and the coral insect is a mighty laborer.