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<h1>MOTHER NATURE.</h1>
<br/>
Nature, the gentlest mother,<br/>
Impatient of no child,<br/>
The feeblest or the waywardest, —<br/>
Her admonition mild<br/>
<br/>
In forest and the hill<br/>
By traveller is heard,<br/>
Restraining rampant squirrel<br/>
Or too impetuous bird.<br/>
<br/>
How fair her conversation,<br/>
A summer afternoon, —<br/>
Her household, her assembly;<br/>
And when the sun goes down<br/>
<br/>
Her voice among the aisles<br/>
Incites the timid prayer<br/>
Of the minutest cricket,<br/>
The most unworthy flower.<br/>
<br/>
When all the children sleep<br/>
She turns as long away<br/>
As will suffice to light her lamps;<br/>
Then, bending from the sky<br/>
<br/>
With infinite affection<br/>
And infiniter care,<br/>
Her golden finger on her lip,<br/>
Wills silence everywhere.<br/>
<br/>
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