"Deuce take it!" he exclaimed, and rubbed his ear, 'Work for your bread' to mites like those? No doubt They fairly bother me,-go fetch them, wife, At evening they will play about our knees, Brothers and sisters all. When the Lord sees That we have got to feed and clothe two more, He'll send more fish into our net. Besides I can drink water, and work double tides, That's settled-run and fetch them-'tis not far, What! vexed? I never saw you move so slow before!" She turns and draws the curtains-"There they are!" VICTOR HUGO. (Translated by L. C. S.) [By kind permission of Messrs. Daldy, Isbister, & Co.] MIDNIGHT MASS FOR THE DYING YEAR. Yes, the Year is growing old, And his eye is pale and bleared! There he stands in the foul weather, The foolish, fond Old Year, Crowned with wild flowers and with heather, Like weak, despised Lear, A king,-a king! Then comes the summer-like day, Bids the old man rejoice! His joy! his last! Oh, the old man gray Loveth that ever-soft voice, Gentle and low. To the crimson woods he saith, To the voice gentle and low Of the soft air, like a daughter's breath, And now the sweet day is dead! No stain from its breath is spread No mist or stain! Then, too, the Old Year dieth, "Vex not his ghost!" Then comes, with an awful roar, The storm-wind! Howl! howl! and from the forest For there shall come a mightier blast, And the stars, from heaven down-cast, Kyrie, eleyson! Christe, eleyson! H. W. LONGFELLOW. ABOU BEN ADHEM AND THE ANGEL. Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel, writing in a book of gold :Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the presence in the room he said, "What writest thou?"-The vision raised its head, And, with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow-men.” The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. LEIGH HUNT. THE BELLS. Hear the sledges with the bells- What a world of merriment their melody foretells! While the stars that oversprinkle Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme, To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells From the jingling and the tinkling of the bells. Hear the mellow wedding-bells, What a world of happiness their harmony foretells! What a liquid ditty floats To the turtle-dove that listens, while she gloats Oh, from out the sounding cells, How it dwells On the Future! how it tells Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells! Hear the loud alarum bells- What a tale of terror, now, their turbulency tells! How they scream out their affright! |