Nature seems not to have bestowed all her favors on spring or summer, but to have reserved this one of her most unique productions, for dull and sober autumn. The bright blue color of its petals, their delicately fringed edges, and the fairy-like twist of its buds, always render it one of our favorites. Other species of gentian are found with it, in cold, damp places, but they resemble it only in its rich blue color.

And now, kind friends, as we gather these last flowers of autumn, how changed are our emotions from those which we felt, as full of hope and joy we culled the first blossoms of spring. It is with a kind of melancholy satisfaction, that we prolong the pleasures of summer, by collecting these last delicate productions of nature, even while the rude blasts of autumn are sweeping by, and remind us of coming winter, in which all vegetation must sleep until its frosts are dispelled by the genial breath of spring, again to cheer us with their varied forms of life and beauty. How plainly typical of our final rest and journey hence to the spirit land, where, with new powers, we hope to spend a blest eternity in admiring and praising the perfect works of our Creator. T. S. Gold.

Cream Hill, Ct., March 3,1851