BEAUTY EVERY WHERE.

Is it not strange how beauty springs
From germs where men no beauty trace?
How rugged shapes, chaotic things,
Grow into forms of grace?

One would not think there were concealed
Such beauty in the lily's root,
As blossoms forth upon the field
What time the lilies shoot.

And when the clouds collect on high,
Like battle chariots of the storm,
See how the darkness of that sky
Gives forth a rainbow form.

Then think that when the rainbow fades,
Its beauty liveth in the shower;
First strewing pearls amongst the blades,
Then blending with the flower.

Thus every where, on earth or sea,
Wherever wandering man may go,
Doth beauty so mysteriously
Around his pathway grow.

It blossoms upwards from the earth,
It plays amongst the heights of air;
The wide old ocean gives it birth
Amongst the waters there.

O

A LADY'S HAND.

A LADY'S HAND.

63

My dear little lady, that very white hand,
Which fondly you cherish, with sorrow I scanned;
I knew by its fairness, and baby-like skin,
A stranger to labor it ever had been.

It sweeps o'er the harp with magical sway,
Producing sweet music, which e'er can allay :
Employments like these, though they give you delight,
Are poor preparations for poverty's night.
Could you hem a cravat, or gather a skirt,
Or stitch round a collar, or cut out a shirt?
Have you yet attempted to handle a broom,
To wash up the teacups, or dust out a room,
To stir up a pudding, or roll out a pie,
To season a sauce, or marketing buy?
Though these occupations for you are quite new,
For delicate hands there is something to do;
The brow of the sufferer they softly can bathe;
The limb of the wounded they gently can swathe ;
The child and the aged can tenderly lead,

And give the relief that the indigent need;

The tears they can wipe of affliction and care,
And, fervently clasped, be uplifted in prayer.

NEATNESS

I LOVE to see thy gentle hand
Dispose, with modest grace,
The household things around thy home,
And each thing in its place.

And then thy own trim, modest form

Is always neatly clad;

Thou sure wilt make the tidiest wife

That ever husband had.

No costly splendors needest thou,
To make thy home look bright;
For neatness on the humblest spot
Can shed a sunny light.

THAT SAME OLD GIRL.

THERE doth she sit- that same old girl
Whom I in boyhood knew ;
She seems a fixture to the church,

In that old jail-like pew!

Once she was young

So do the aged say;

a blooming miss

Though e'en in youth, I think, she must

Have had an old-like way.

How prim, and starched, and kind she looks,

And so devout and staid,

I wonder some old bachelor

Don't wed that good old maid!

She does not look so very old,
Though years and years are by
Since any younger she has seemed,
E'en to my boyhood's eye.

That old straw bonnet she has on,

Tied with that bow of blue,

Seems not to feel Time's changing hand, "Tis " near as good as new.

The old silk gown—the square-toed shoes

Those gloves that buckle's gleam,

That silver buckle at her waist,

To me like old friends seem.

Live on-live on ; and may the years
Touch lightly on thy brow;
As I beheld thee in my youth,
And as I see thee now,

May I, when age its furrows deep
Has ploughed upon my cheek,
Behold thee in that pew, unchanged,
So prim, so mild, so meek!

LAKE AND RIVER.

"They also serve, who only stand and wait."

Lake. RIVER, why dost thou go by,
Sounding, rushing, sweeping?
River. Lake, why dost thou ever lie,
Listless, idle, sleeping?

Lake.

Nought before my power could stand,
Should I spring to motion!

River. I go blessing all the land,
From my source to ocean!

Lake.

I show sun, and stars, and moon,
On my breast untroubled.

River. Ay! and wilt thou not as soon
Make the storm-clouds doubled?

I'll no more reprove thee.

River. Lake, from pride and censure cease; May no earthquake move thee!

Lake. I a higher power obey,

Lying still, I'm doing!

River. I for no allurement stay,

My great end pursuing.

Lake. Speed thee! speed thee, river bright! Let not earth oppose thee!

River. Rest thee, lake, with all thy might, Where thy hills enclose thee!