Page:Letters of Life.djvu/364

352 illustrated by the pencil of the late William Roderick Lawrence, the school-associate of my departed son. Should I speak of it with that frankness of criticism by which we lady writers have too seldom an opportunity of profiting, I should say that some of its poems are not simple enough for sailors, and others too simple for those in command, so that it falls short of both classes. Still, as a parting gift for the sea, it has been often welcomed, lighting the dim forecastle with a ray from the hearthstone, and a thought of the heavenly shore.

36 "The Voice of Flowers."

Fragrance and melody have native affinities, like the plumage and the song of birds. Having a variety of effusions called forth by the floral creation, I was per suaded by a publisher in Hartford, the late Mr. Henry S. Parsons, to gather them into a volume of one hundred and twenty-three pages, to which he gave the miniature form, as being at that time peculiarly popular. It contains forty-five articles, most of them brief, and all aiming to extract an enduring essence from beauties that fade.

37 "Myrtis, with other Etchings and Sketchings."

This book comprises, in two hundred and twenty-two pages, thirteen tales in prose. The scene of the one