VIRTUE AND ORNAMENT.

THE diamond's and the ruby's rays
Shine with a milder, finer flame,
And more attract our love and praise
Than beauty's self, if lost to fame.

But the sweet tear in pity's eye

Transcends the diamond's brightest beams;

And the soft blush of modesty

More precious than the ruby seems.

The glowing gem, the sparkling stone,
May strike the sight with quick surprise;

But truth and innocence alone

Can still engage the good and wise.

No glittering ornament or show

Will aught avail in grief or pain: Only from inward worth can flow Delight that ever shall remain.

Behold, ye fair, your lovely queen!
"Tis not her jewels, but her mind;
A meeker, purer, ne'er was seen!
It is her virtue charms mankind!

TO MIMOSA.

O LADY, give thy fancy wings,
"Pour forth the flowing line;"

O, ne'er should lie untouched the strings
Of harp so sweet as thine.

Thy themes delight; to me they bring
A soothing melody;

And o'er my ruffled spirits fling

The charms of minstrelsy.

Awakes, to memory,

Some voice of that now severed throng,

That seemed the world to me.

Among them was a gifted one

O, sadly sweet the lay

She tuned- her harp was like thine own; But she was called away.

Thine is the power to call back days
That once were bright and fair,
And friends who trod with me the ways
Of youth devoid of care.

Then, lady, often wake the lyre,
With artlessness thine own;

Of thy sweet lays, O, none can tire,
So soft and pure the tone.

NINOMAH.

THE winds are whistling loud and shrill

The night is damp and dark;
I fear me 'twill go hard with him
Who dares to-night embark.

It is a stormy lake, and wide,

Ah! many have found it deep!— By which Ninomah waits for one Who has a vow to keep.

She trembles, as the winds grow strong,
And waves leap fast and high;

And like swift hosts that haste to war,
The dismal clouds move by.

In vain she listens-nought she hears,
Or sees, but of the storm,
That louder, fiercer, darker grows,

Around her trembling form.

"He's lost!" she cried, when long she'd faced

The dark and dreary shore;

"He's lost! and I with him will die,

For he can come no more!"

The storm went by the morning came ;

His heart was glad, I ween,

Who hastened now to mend the vow

He could but break last e'en.

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"O, come, my love, embark with me

O, where art thou, my bride?"

He called with joy-and then with fear-
And not a voice replied.

I SAW on the top of a mountain high
A gem that shone like fire by night;
It seemed a star that had left the sky,

And dropped to sleep on the mountain's height.

I climbed the peak, and I found it soon
A lump of ice in the clear, cold moon;
Canst thou its hidden sense impart ?
A cheerful look and a broken heart.

FRIENDS.

FRIEND after friend departs;
Who hath not lost a friend?
There is no union here of hearts
That finds not here an end:
Were this frail world our only rest, -
Living or dying, none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time,

Beyond this vale of death,
There surely is some blessed clime,
Where life is not a breath;
Nor life's affections transient fire,
Whose sparks fly upward to expire.

There is a world above,

Where parting is unknown,-
A whole eternity of love,

Formed for the good alone;
And faith beholds the dying here
Translated to that happier sphere.

Thus star by star declines,
Till all are passed away,
As morning high and higher shines

To pure and perfect day:

Nor sink those stars in empty night;

They hide themselves in heaven's own light.