Stanza 6. The columbine is the graceful little flower we so often hear called honeysuckle. Five deep curved nectar-bearing tubes project backward from the flower itself. By opening the blossom in the right way the child of fanciful ideas may see shapes that remind her of turtle doves. The cuckoo-pint (by the way, the _i_ is short as in _pit_) does not grow in the United States. It has spotted leaves, large and triangular, and the "bell" is an upright green cup in which stands a tall column, the "clapper." It is called cuckoo-pint because it blossoms about the time the cuckoo returns to England. Our nearest approach to the flower is the "Jack-in-the-Pulpit" or Indian Turnip. It is perfectly safe for the columbine to unfold its wrapper and the cuckoo-pint to toll its bell in the presence of a maiden so old. She will not destroy them. Stanza 7. In the United States we have no wild linnet, though we sometimes hear song-birds called by that name. The English linnet is a little sparrow with striped back and a purple crown and breast. He resembles our purple finch and our redpoll. He is one of the famous songsters of the English lanes and fields. No young lady of seven would be so thoughtless as to steal away the young linnets, so the old bird may freely point out the nest. At what time of the year does the little girl's birthday come? _The First Snowfall_ (Volume II, page 403) A. _The Author._ For a sketch of the life of James Russell Lowell, see Volume VII, page 411. B. _The Meaning._ Words and Phrases: "Gloaming"; early evening. "Silence." The snow is called a silence, because it hushes noise, or prevents it. "Pine and fir and hemlock"; three evergreen trees. "Ermine"; the fur from a northern animal of the same name. It is very soft and white. Earls, nobles of rank, wore ermine on their robes to show their high birth. "Pearl"; a white, lustrous jewel, or the beautiful lining of some sea shells. "Carrara"; a town in Italy, whence comes the finest white marble. Here Carrara means _costly marble_. "Swan's down." Swans have fine soft down between their feathers. It protects them from cold in winter, and in summer they line their nests with it. "Noiseless work"; covering everything with snow. "Mound"; grave. "Auburn"; a beautiful cemetery near Boston. "Babes in the Wood"; an allusion to the old story of the children who were lost in the woods, and whom the robins covered with leaves to protect them. "All-father"; God, the Father of all. "Leaden"; gray and heavy, lead-colored. "Arched"; curved. "Deep-plunged woe"; a sorrow that plunged us deep in misery. "Eyes that saw not." His eyes were so filled with tears that he could not see "Mabel," who is really his daughter Rose. "_My_ kiss was given to her sister." He was thinking so deeply of his lost daughter, that it seemed almost as though he kissed the dead lips. "Folded close." The soft, downy snow made him think of a soft, warm covering for the form of his little one.