ROSE OF SHARON: A RELIGIOUS SOUVENIER, FOR MDCCCLII. EDITED BY MRS. C. M. SAWYER. BOSTON: A. TOMPKINS AND B. B. MUSSEY & CO. 1852. Δ AL 8X817 (1852), 343 KD55922 (1852) Fine money Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1851, BY ABEL TOMPKINS, In the Clerk's office of the District Court of the District of WILLIAM A. HALL, PRINTER, 22 SCHOOL STREET, BOSTON. PREFACE. TWELVE years have elapsed since the fair and youthful hand, to whose skill and careful nurture the Rose of Sharon owes its bright existence, timidly tendered its first flowers to the glad acceptance of a sympathizing public. Twelve times has it opened its annual blossoms to the day, each year shedding a richer fragrance, and beaming with a more refined and graceful beauty. Its soil has been a genial one. The sun and the dews of an ever-increasing favor and affection have caused its roots to strike deep and its branches to spread wide. Another season of blossoming has now arrived, and the fair flower, shorn we modestly trust of no portion of its wonted attractions, once more opens its virgin heart, and, by its beauty and fragrance, woos its waiting friends to take it fondly to their bosoms. Accept it, dear friends! Ye who have tenderly watched its growth and expansion from year to year; who have loved it for its own sake, or for the sake of one departed, the echo of whose low, sweet music, we would fain believe, still lingers, as if loathe to leave so fair a dwelling, amid its charmed petals. Accept it; and may it be a charm to soothe the hour of despondency and sadness, a boon to make more beautiful the season of gladness and enjoyment! To those whose kindness and talents have rendered me such essential aid in my pleasant but arduous task, I would simply say "I thank you from my heart;" for by no labored phrase could I so well convey what I so deeply feel — my sincere gratitude. A few articles, in consequence of their late arrival and want of room, have been unwillingly laid aside. To one of these, a most interesting article from the pen of the Rev. W. S. Balch, I cannot forbear a particular allusion. In consequence of a miscalculation it was most unexpectedly found, when too late to make a new arrangement, that its length would exclude it. It will appear in the next volume. To readers and contributors I have now only to say- - Farewell! Clinton, July, 1851. C. M. S. |