Hark! through the crowd The laugh runs loud, Beneath the sad, rebuking moon. God save the land A careless hand And o'er us bend, 217 Omartyrs, with your crowns and palms,Breathe through these throngs Your battle songs, Your scaffold prayers, and dungeon psalms! Look from the sky, Like God's great eye, Thou solemn moon, with searching beam; Till in the sight Of thy pure light Our mean self-seekings meaner seem. And smite away The hands we lay May shake or swerve ere morrow's noon! Profanely on the sacred ark. SMALL BEGINNINGS. A TRAVELLER through a dusty road strewed acorns on the lea; And one took root and sprouted up, and grew into a tree. Love sought its shade, at evening time, to breathe his early vows; And age was pleased, in heats of noon, to bask beneath its boughs; TUBAL CAIN. OLD Tubal Cain was a man of might In the days when Earth was young; By the fierce red light of his furnace bright The strokes of his hammer rung; And he lifted high his brawny hand On the iron glowing clear, Till the sparks rushed out in scarlet showers, As he fashioned the sword and spear. The dormouse loved its dangling twigs, And he sang, "Hurrah for my handi the birds sweet music bore; It stood a glory in its place, a blessing evermore. A little spring had lost its way amid the grass and fern, A passing stranger scooped a well, where weary men might turn; He walled it in, and hung with care a ladle at the brink; He thought not of the deed he did, but judged that toil might drink. He passed again, and lo! the well, by summers never dried, Had cooled ten thousand parchéd tongues, and saved a life beside. A dreamer dropped a random thought; 't was old, and yet 't was new; A simple fancy of the brain, but strong in being true. work! Hurrah for the spear and sword! Hurrah for the hand that shall wield them well, For he shall be king and lord!" To Tubal Cain came many a one, As he wrought by his roaring fire, And each one prayed for a strong steel· blade As the crown of his desire: And he made them weapons sharp and strong, Till they shouted loud for glee, And gave him gifts of pearl and gold, And spoils of the forest free. And they sang, "Hurrah for Tubal Cain, Who hath given us strength anew! Hurrah for the smith, hurrah for the fire, And hurrah for the metal true!" OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. But a sudden change came o'er his heart And Tubal Cain was filled with pain He saw that men, with rage and hate, In their lust for carnage blind. Is to slay their fellow-man." And for many a day old Tubal Cain And his furnace smouldered low. And the red sparks lit the air; "Not alone for the blade was the bright steel made"; And he fashioned the first ploughshare. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES. [U. S. A.] THE LIVING TEMPLE. NOT in the world of light alone, The smooth, soft air with pulse-like waves Flows murmuring through its hidden caves, Whose streams of brightening purple rush, 219 | No rest that throbbing slave may ask, But warmed with that unchanging flame See how yon beam of seeming white Then mark the cloven sphere that holds O Father! grant thy love divine DOROTHY Q. A FAMILY PORTRAIT. GRANDMOTHER's mother; her age, I guess, Lips that lover has never kissed, |