BELINDA'S OAK.

Temuka Leader, Issue 163, 19 July 1879, Page 2

BELINDA'S OAK.

In a costly jar a little oak grew, And Belinda's breath fed it with dew ; In the morning she set it out iu the sun, At evening came when her work was done, ~- «""? And folded the Utile plant to her breast, And her beating heart rocked it to rest. As the young mother her first-born child Cradles to sleep, Belinda smiled, When she saw the growth of her little charge Spreading each tender leaflet at large. There were other oaks in the garden as fine, Some long wedded to the clambering vine, •But none of them, in Belinda's eyes, Seemed half such a rare or costly prize As this little one, or half so fair, For it was her own peculiar care. It soon became tall in jail And grew as strong as tnk jar was frail, Till when Belinda carfio.6nc morn To smile on her plant, she found the jar torn Rudely in twain by a spreading root That repaid her labor with blighted fruit. Oh cruel plant ! she had watched you for hours; And that beautiful jar should have borne only flowers, How could frail gems ever have stood The force of your lusty expanding wood ? Ungrateful nurseling is this your return. ? But cry not Belinda, the truant will burn In atonement for this, and the ashes Fil take And a second death I shall add for thy 3ake, For I'll go to the brook where the current is strong, And I'll drown them there to the words of a song. For it was a great sin to destroy your jar, But a greater sin remains by far, For the culprit has made youi heart quiver with fearsj And your little eyes are all red with tears, And it is the greatest sin I know To annoy my pretty Belinda so. Burn not the oak, the fault was mine, Ijjhad no right.its roots to confine, For freedom's a blessing that God has given To plants as to men ; both are cared for by heaven. So I'll plant the oak out by one of the bowers, And I'll fill the jar'with the sweetest of flowers; For with a .willow-wreath I'll bind it together, And I'm sure I'll like it better than ever. MORTAR-BOARD.