PADDY'S CONTENT.

Paddy McShane had no shoes to his feet-
Sorra a shoe!-divil a snoe!

And his houghs they looked red as he tramped in the street,
Och, wirrahoo!

But he said: "Is it shoes that ye'd stick on me toes?
How'd me feet feel the ground, sorra one of ye knows;
And who'd pay for mendin' 'em, do you suppose?
Go off wid ye-do!"

Paddy McShane had no hat on his head-
Sorra a hat!-divil a hat!

And the rain it came down on his red scratch, instead-
Och, think of that!

But he said: "It is God's blessed sunshine and air That ye'd shut from me head? Och, would one of ye dare For a trifle of rain or av wind, who would care? Shtop botherin' Pat.

Paddy McShane had just nothing at all—
Sorra a thing!-divil a thing!

But he thought: "When I'm down, there's no distance to fall;"

And he would sing:

"Faix, the merciful Master is good to his poor;
What is man, whom He made, if he cannot endure?
Troth, it's little I want, but that little is sure,
For it comes from the King""

Lawrence Kyrle Donovan, in The Earth.

THE ANSWERED PRAYER.

The way is dark and the road is long;
Help me, dear Lord, for I cannot see!
Give me a light to guide me on;

Teach me with patience to follow Thee!

My prayer Thou hast answer'd, O Lord, in Thy might

And my sadness is drearier still today,

For my little lad with the golden hair,
With eyes so blue and a face so fair,
Has gone before me to light the way.

I can see him journeying up the height
Over that narrow path and straight,
Which all must tread toward that mystic bourne;
Leaving his dear ones to sigh and mourn,
He journeys alone toward the pearly gate.

I can see him, not as when strong and light
Of foot, he played with the children here,
But radiant with heavenly life and joy,
For the loving eyes of my angel boy

Can never grow dim with pain or tear.

I shall meet him again on that heavenly height. For his light shall lead me along the way; When the task that is given to me is done, When the strife is ended, the battle won,

I shall greet him there in the perfect day. "Margaret Holland."

3. LENOX

FOUNDATIONA

"The day is fixed when there shall come to me

A strange, mysterious guest."

MY GUEST: Anna J. Grannis.

MY GUEST.

The day is fixed that there shall come to me
A strange, mysterious guest;

The time I do not know-he keeps the date—
So all I have to do is work and wait,

And keep me at my best,

And do my common duties patiently.

I've often wondered if that day would break

Brighter than other days,

That I might know, or wrapped in some strange gloom, And if he'd find me waiting in my room,

Or busy with life's ways;

With weary hands and closing eyes that ached.

For many years I've known that he would come,
And so I've watched for him,

And sometimes even said, "He will come soon,"
Yet mornings pass, followed by afternoon,
With twilight dusk and dim,

And silent night-times, when the world is dumb,

But he will come, and find me here or there,
It does not matter where,

For when he comes I know that he will take
In his these very hands of mine that ache
(They will be idle then)

Just folded, may be, with a silent prayer.

Yes, he whom I expect has been called Death,
And once he is my guest,

Nothing disturbs of what has been or is;