sUlqTIMgN?&L THE FORCE OF NATURE. 'TwAs on a el:if' whose rocky base . Baffled the briny wave: �Whose eultur'd heights their verdant stem, To many tenants gave. A mother led by rustic estes, Had wanc?0r'd with her ehiM; Unwean'd, the babe, yet on the grmm He �roliek'd and he smil'd.. With what delight the mother glow'd To mark her/nfant boy. v How off would Pou? amid her toil, To oontempJate her joy.* Yet soon by other cares estrang'd, Her thoughts the child f'orsoo?r; (?aroless he wanton'd o'er the pla/n, ?Nor caught his mother's look. Cropp'd was each flower that caught his eye, Tdl scr?rnbling o'er the green, He gain'd the cJitT's' unsheiter'd edge, And pleas'd survoy'd the seem.
- Twas now the mother from her toil,
Turn'd to behold her child:-- The infant gone ?her cheek was flush'd, Her wand'ring eye was wild-- She s?w him on the elifF's rude brink Now careless peeping o'er; He turn'd and to his mother smil'd, Then sported as before. Sunk was her voice, 'two] vain to fly; 'Twas vain the brink to brave!-- O, ?qature, it was thine alone T.o prompt the moans to save*. 501
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