Page:The Romance of Nature; or, The Flower-Seasons Illustrated.djvu/368

234 That ye fancied a distant vesper hymn,

Borne o'er the plain

By the Zephyrs that rise on perfumed wing

When the sun's last glances are glimmering?

Have ye heard that music with cadence sweet,

And merry peal,

Ring out like the echoes of fairy-feet

O'er flowers that steal?

And did ye deem that each trembling tone

Was the distant vesper-chime alone?

The source of that whispering strain I'll tell,

For I've listened oft

To the music faint of the Blue Harebell,

In the gloaming soft.

'Tis the gay fairy-folk that peal who ring

At even-time for their banquetting.

And gaily the trembling bells peal out

With gentle tongue,

While elves and fairies career about

'Mid dance and song.

Oh! roses and lilies are fair to see,

But the wild Blue Bell is the flower for me!

None of our garden Campanulas approach this habitant of the heaths in delicacy and beauty. The small white Campanula is an elegant little gem, but its dwarfish growth renders it very inferior to the springy—pliant—waving and ever