'A PURE HEART.' (From the German.) GIVE me a new heart, Lord, and pure, Its gates I open wide to Thee, Ah! come, and dwell Thyself with me: Make it Thy temple, Lord, to-day. Give me Thy Spirit's light and grace, The treasures of Thy house impart, So that, abroad, I may proclaim Thus consecrated unto Thee. X. X. AUTUM N. "Young spring has fled with her early flowers, ITH what a glory comes and goes the year! 'There is a beautiful spirit breathing now, Its mellowed riches on the clustered trees.' The herbage becomes embrowned over the landscape; the orchard boughs bend beneath their weight of rosy apples and freckled pears; the crimson haws and scarlet hips glitter in the hedgeway; seeds are ripening as 'the sere and yellow leaves' are falling; and autumn in her gorgeous bounty, and beautiful decays, spreading her golden light upon the waving corn-field, late to be gathered in, dyeing the faint fruit of the trees in brightest hues, comes crowned with the sickle and the wheaten sheaf.' The lark is silent now, the thrush and blackbird voiceless; but the cheery robin still pipes his little song of trust and content, as we wander through the wood, where our feet sink deep in the mossy pathway, and many a fair green fern is springing. We grieve to behold the beauty of the summer decaying: "The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, Because the spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.' We are reminded that 'we all do fade as a leaf;' that 'here we have no continuing city.' But let us remember that soon a spring-time will come round,—a resurrection for the flowers and trees; and to us also, is not the promise of a spring-time given a beauteous spring-time' that fadeth not away?' What God has told us in His word, we may read in His works, even in the simplest little flower that blooms in spring, and sheds the good seed to be nourished in the bosom of autumn, to sleep beneath the hoary grass, until the rays of God's own glorious sunshine call it forth to rise and bloom once more. 'Learned men have learned books, Which they ponder day and night: Though the beautiful spring flowers are all passed away, and "The primrose to the grave is gone, yet many summer blossoms still linger, and a few fresh autumn ones may be gathered, not, however, in such profusion as during our summer months, for autumn is more perfectly the season of fruits, berries, and seeds; but it still produces flowers peculiarly its own, and we know that 'Pleasures newly found are sweet, When they lie about our feet.' Perhaps the most singular of all autumn blossoms is the meadow saffron, which flowers in September and October, its leaves and fruit appearing in the following spring. It resembles greatly in shape and colour the purple crocus, and is most frequently found in pasture land. The most of blossoms ripen and disperse their seeds before winter; but the meadow saffron flowers so late, that its seed is allowed to lie buried in the bulb during winter, protected from all frosts, and only appears when the sun can ripen, the wind disperse them. What a striking mark does this beautiful arrangement afford of the skill and wisdom of a beneficent Creator! Another September flower is the common fleabane, often called wild marigold. It is a star-shaped golden flower, with pale-green woolly leaves, and grows about a foot high. The small fleabane, which flourishes in moist sandy ground, greatly resembles the common species. The name is derived from the belief that its odour is repulsive to fleas. In the wood we shall likely find the handsome golden rod, a tall plant, with bright clustering blossoms of brilliant yellow colour; and under the spreading trees be able to gather a few purple violets in their second bloom. In the woods this simple flower But from out her grassy bower, The hairy dwarf green-weed also flowers again at this time, and very pretty are its yellow, pea-shaped blossoms. The ploughman's spikenard flowers in this month. Its dark-green leaves are hairy, its stunted-looking blossoms yellow, and star-shaped, gathering in clusters on a stem often a yard high. It is supposed, perhaps from its smell, to be the camphor mentioned in the Bible. 'The ploughman's spikenard's spicy smell.' In the hedgeside we may gather the pale wild mignonette, very like the cultivated species, but lacking its sweet fragrance; the purple-lilac blossoms of the field gentian; and that little orchis called fragrant lady's tresses, a twisted spike of greenish-white flowers. But many of our autumnal blossoms are to be found by the seashore, and perhaps the gayest and handsomest of all is the yellow-horned poppy, with its beautiful showers of golden flowers. Its leaves are hairy, of a delicate green; its pods, several inches long, start out like horns, and from these it is named. Near it we may gather the southernwoods with their green blossoms; the samphire, so often brought to table as a pickle; the pretty little sea pimpernel or sandwort, which grows in patches, has small white flowers and succulent leaves; the thrift, so called from its thriving anywhere, with its pink tufts hanging from every crevice or cliff; and the pretty seaside convolvulus, with its short-lived rosecoloured blossoms, flowering all summer. There also we shall find the Michaelmas daisy, or the camomile, a tall plant with large leaves, and clustering, pale lilac flowers; and the marsh-mallow, so useful for its healing properties. Its rose-coloured blossoms are very pretty, its leaves soft, thick, and velvety. Amidst the seaside plants are many grasses to be found; one, the sea-reed, being most serviceable, in matting its roots together in the sand, and thus proving a formidable barrier against the encroachments of the sea, as is often seen on the shores of England, and the greater part of the coast of Holland, where the Dutch have turned to advantage the peculiar growth of this grass, in forming their dykes. But the grasses are too numerous for us to enter upon; though those of the field, springing up in September and October, add greatly to the beauty of the autumn landscape, 'grow |