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Faith, Hope, and Energy.

DESPAIR thou not! droop not thy wing,
however dark thy fortunes are;
Beyond the desert is a spring,
Behind the cloud a star!

The time must come for all to fail;
Tie after tie breaks fast apart;
The oil consumes; the light grows pale;
The ice forms round the heart.

But then despair thou not! But keep

A steadfast soul-on thee shall stream The light that God hath given in sleep, The teachings of a dream.

There, Death and Health appeared to me
To struggle for a noble form,
Too young, too beautiful, to be
The birthright of the worm.

But Death was winning! On the arched,
High brow great agony was shown;
And from the pale lips, fever-parched,
Broke the half-stifled moan.

When lo! two beings toward him trod,
Whose look told innocence of sin:

With woman forms-those forms which God
Hides angel-spirits in.

They laved the fever from his brow,

They chafed the numb'd limb free from pain, And Health beheld her roseate flow

Exulting in each vein.

And, till the eternal portals ope,

That dream shall never fade from meThose angel sisters, FAITH and HOPE, Nursing young ENERGY.

C. DONALD MACLEOD.

The Past Year.

THE stars of the old year shone last night,
And bright were the beams they cast,
But my spirit likened each burning ray,
To the torch-light of the Past;
For methought that many a heart would chill,
To gaze on that glowing sphere,

Should Memory's chords that evening thrill,
To the dreams of the olden year.

MISS LUCY HOOPER.

GIFT FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

The Heart.

WHO has robb'd the ocean cave,
To tinge thy lips with coral hue?
Who from India's distant wave,
For thee, those pearly treasures drew?
Who, from yonder orient sky,
Stole the morning of thine eye?

Thousand charms, thy form to deck,
From sea, and earth, and air are torn;
Roses bloom upon thy cheek,

On thy breath their fragrance borne.
Guard thy bosom from the day,
Lest its snows should melt away.

But one charm remains behind,
Which mute earth can ne'er impart ;
Nor in ocean wilt thou find,
Nor in the circling air, a heart;

Fairest, would'st thou perfect be,
Take, O take that heart from me.
DR. SHAW.

The Sunshine of an Eye.

IF I am doomed to waste my passing days
Amid the city's tumult, far away

From the sweet music of the wilderness,

Its

merry waters, and its laughing winds, And leaves, and reddening blossoms-let me have

The sunshine of a bright and gentle eye
To cheer me in my bon lage. So my life
Shall glide away in perfect quietude,
And when the hairs are gra, upon my head,
And my voice falters, I shall deem it well
That I have passed my life in this sweet mood;
Nor when I go down to the sepulchre,
Shall I need friends to soothe me in the hour
Of my departure.

H. W. ROCKWell.

Woman's Tear.

OH! too convincing, dangerously dear,
In woman's eye, the unanswerable tear.

BYRON.

GIFT FOR THE HOLIDAYS.

Memory.

THE day will come when Memory lingers
Sadly o'er her sweetest dream,
Weaving for aye, with fairy fingers,
Semblance of joys that once have been;
And in our age we fain would see
In that vain dream, reality.

While waiting for that sober time,
With pleasure's tempting path before us,
Gayly pass on, nor feel the ills

Fast-fleeting Time may scatter o'er us;
But lay up Memory's joyous store
To glad the heart when young no more.

MRS. G. NORMAN.

Affection.

O! there is one affection which no stain Of earth can ever darken ;—when two find, The softer and the manlier, that a chain Of kindred taste has fastened mind to mind. PERCIVAL.

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