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But never palm-tree straighter stood
Than Tell before them all.

"My knee shall bend," he calmly said,
"To God, and God alone:
My life is in the Austrian's hand,
My conscience is my own.

"Seize him, ye guards!" the ruler cried, While passion choked his breath;

"He mocks my power, he braves my lord,— He dies the traitor's death.

Yet wait. The Swiss are marksmen true,—
So all the world doth say;

That fair-haired stripling hither bring,
We'll try their skill to-day.”—

Hard by a spreading lime-tree stood,
To this the youth was bound;
They placed an apple on his head ;-
He looked in wonder round.

"The fault is mine, if fault there be,”
Cried Tell, in accents wild;
"On manhood let your vengeance fall,
But spare, oh, spare my child!"-

"I will not harm the pretty boy,"

Said Gesler, tauntingly;

"If blood of his shall stain the ground,

Yours will the murder be.

"Draw tight your bow, my cunning man,

Your straightest arrow take;

For know, yon apple is your mark,

Your liberty the stake."

A mingled noise of wrath and grief
Was heard among the crowd;
The men they muttered curses deep,
The women wept aloud.

Full fifty paces from his child,

His cross-bow in his hand,

With lip compressed, and flashing eye,

Tell firmly took his stand.

Sure, full enough of pain and woe
This crowded earth has been;
But never since the curse began,
So sad a sight was seen.

The noble boy stood bravely up,
His cheek unblanched with fear:

"Shoot straight," he cried; "thine aim is sure, It will not fail thee here."

"Heaven bless thee now," the parent said,

66

"Thy courage shames me quite;"

Then to his ear the shaft he drew,

And watched its whizzing flight.

"Tis done! 'tis done!-the child is safe!" Shouted the multitude;

"Man tramples on his brother man,

But God is ever good."

For, sure enough, the arrow went

As by an angel guided;

In pieces two, beneath the tree,
The apple fell divided!

""Twas bravely done," the ruler said,
"My plighted word I keep ;
'Twas bravely done by sire and son--
Go home and feed your sheep."-

"No thanks I give thee for thy boon,"

The peasant coldly said:

"To God alone my praise is due, And duly shall be paid.

Yet know, proud man, thy fate was near:
Had I but missed my aim,

Not unavenged my child had died,—
Thy parting hour the same!

For, see! a second shaft was here,

If harm my boy befell :

Now go and bless the heavenly powers
My first has sped so well."—

God helped the right, God spared the sin;
He brings the proud to shame;

He guards the weak against the strong, -
Praise to his holy name!

REV. J. H. GURNEY.

THE MOTHER PERISHING IN A SNOW STORM.

THE cold winds swept the mountain's height,
And pathless was the dreary wild;
And mid the cheerless hours of night

A mother wandered with her child:
As through the drifting snow she pressed,
The babe was sleeping on her breast.

And colder still the winds did blow,

And darker hours of night came on,

And deeper grew the drifting snow:

Her limbs were chilled, her strength was gone: "O God!" she cried, in accents wild,

"If I must perish, save my child!"

She stripped her mantle from her breast,
And bared her bosom to the storm,

And round the child she wrapped the vest,

And smiled to think her babe was warm.

With one cold kiss one tear she shed,
And sunk upon her snowy bed.

At dawn a traveller passed by,

And saw her 'neath a snowy veil;
The frost of death was in her eye,

Her cheek was cold, and hard, and pale:
He moved the robe from off the child-
The babe looked up and sweetly smiled!

SEBA SMITH.

NEVER GIVE UP.

NEVER give up! it is wiser and better
Always to hope than once to despair!
Fling off the load of Doubt's heavy fetter,
And break the dark spell of tyrannical Care.
Never give up! or the burden may sink you;
Providence kindly has mingled the cup,
And in all trials or troubles, bethink you,
The watchword of life must be, Never give up!

Never give up! there are chances and changes
Helping the hopeful a hundred to one,
And through the chaos High Wisdom arranges
Ever success-if you'll only hope on.
Never give up! for the wisest is boldest,
Knowing that Providence mingles the cup;
And of all maxims the best, as the oldest,
Is the true watchword of Never give up!

Never give up! though the grape-shot may rattle, Or the full thunder-cloud over you burst:

Stand like a rock, and the storm or the battle Little shall harm you, though doing the worst. Never give up! if adversity presses,

Providence wisely has mingled the cup; And the best counsel in all your distresses, Is the stout watchward of Never give up!

TUPPER,

TRUE NOBILITY.

ASK not for his lineage,
I ask not for his name;
If manliness be in his heart,
He noble birth may claim.

I care not though of world's wealth
But slender be his part,
If yes you answer when I ask,

66 Hath he a true man's heart?"

I ask not from what land he came,
Nor where his youth was nursed;
If pure the spring, it matters not
The spot from whence it burst.

The palace or the hovel

Where first his life began,

I seek not of; but answer this"Is he an honest man?"

Nay, blush not now; what matters it

Where first he drew his breath? A manger was the cradle-bed

Of HIM of Nazareth!

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HE is gone on the mountain,
He is lost to the forest,

Like a summer-dried fountain,
When our need was the sorest.

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