For, if the truth were known, Love cannot speak, But only thinks and does; Though surely out 't will leak Without the help of Greek, Or any tongue. A man may love the truth and practice it, Beauty he may admire, And goodness not omit, As much as may befit To reverence. But only when these three together meet, As they always incline, And make one soul the seat And favorite retreat Of loveliness; When under kindred shape, like loves and hates And a kindred nature, Proclaim us to be mates, Exposed to equal fates Eternally; And each may other help, and service do, Drawing Love's bands more tight, Service he ne'er shall rue While one and one make two, And two are one; In such case only doth man fully prove, Fully as man can do, What power there is in Love His inmost soul to move Resistlessly. * * * * * Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side Withstand the winter's storm, And, spite of wind and tide, Grow up the meadow's pride, For both are strong. Above they barely touch, but, undermined Down to their deepest source, Admiring you shall find Their roots are intertwined Insep'rably. CONVERSATION _April 15._ Thomas Fuller relates that "in Merionethshire, in Wales, there are high mountains, whose hanging tops come so close together that shepherds on the tops of several hills may audibly talk together, yet will it be a day's journey for their bodies to meet, so vast is the hollowness of the valleys betwixt them." As much may be said in a moral sense of our intercourse in the plains, for, though we may audibly converse together, yet is there so vast a gulf of hollowness between that we are actually many days' journey from a veritable communication. STEAMSHIPS _April 24._ Men have been contriving new means and modes of motion. Steamships have been westering during these late days and nights on the Atlantic waves,—the fuglers of a new evolution to this generation. Meanwhile plants spring silently by the brooksides, and the grim woods wave indifferent; the earth emits no howl, pot on fire simmers and seethes, and men go about their business. THE BLUEBIRDS _April 26._ In the midst of the poplar that stands by our door We planted a bluebird box, And we hoped before the summer was o'er A transient pair to coax. One warm summer's day the bluebirds came And lighted on our tree, But at first the wand'rers were not so tame But they were afraid of me.