Leaving me, the darling hurried No one heard the little prattler, No one heard the front door open, Down the street the baby hastened "I'se a letter, Mr. Postman; Is there room for any more? "'Cause dis letter's doin' to papa, Papa lives with God, 'ou know, Mamma sent me for a letter, Does 'ou fink, 'at I tan do ?" But the clerk in wonder answered, "Not to-day, my little man." "Den I'll find anozzer office, "Cause I must do if I tan." Fain the clerk would have detained him, Suddenly the crowd was parted, No one saw the baby figure- 'Twas too late-a moment only Reverently they raised my darling, Not a mark the face disfigured, ST. AGNES' SHRINE. WHILE before St. Agnes' shrine Round his neck a silken string She, like one enchanted, pored To her heart her dove she drew, Back to sainted Palestine. To and fro, from hand to hand Swift her dove, on wings of light, Geo. P. Morris. THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS. He reaps the bearded grain at a breath, "Shall I have nought that is fair to see; He gazed at the flowers with tearful eyes, It was for the Lord of paradise He bound them in his sheaves. "My Lord has need of these flowers gay,' "They shall all bloom in fields of light, And saints upon their garments white And the mother gave in tears and pain But she knew she should find them all again O, not in cruelty, not in wrath, The reaper came that day; 'Twas an angel visited the green earth, And took the flowers away. Longfellow. 2 THE BOY OF THE ARCTIC. When the American steamship Arctic came in collision with another steamship at sea, in the autumn of 1854, there was a youth, named Stuart Holland, stationed at the gun, to keep firing it, in the hope of attracting the attention of vessels at a distance, that they might come to the relief of the sinking vessel. Nearly all the crew deserted, leaving the captain and most of the passengers without a boat. But Stuart Holland kept at his post, and sank with the ship. "I saw him," says an eyewitness, "in the very act of firing, as the vessel disappeared." THE thick fog baffled vision, But daylight lingered yet, A hole in her fore-quarter Let in a rush of water: The good ship's doom was sealed. And there were men and women And there were frightened seamen |