To offer the Piper by word of mouth, And bring the children behind him. 11. But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor, And Piper and dancers were gone forever, They made a decree that lawyers never Should think their records dated duly, If, after the day of the month and year, These words did not as well appear : "And so long after what happened here On the Twenty-second of July, Thirteen hundred and seventy-six; And, the better in memory to fix The place of the children's låst retreat, They called it the Pied Piper's StreetWhere any one playing on pipe or tabor Was sure for the future to lose his labor. 12. Nor suffered they hostelry or tavern To shock with mîrth a street so solemn; They wrote the story on a column, 13. And I must not omit to say That in Transylvania there's a tribe The outlandish ways and dress On which their neighbors lay such stress, 1 1 Tra pǎnned', trapped; insnared. Out of Hamelin town in Brunswick land, 14. So, Willy, let you and me be wipers Of scores out with all men-especially pipers: SECTION XXIX. I. 109. CONFORMITY TO THE DIVINE WILL. OOK not to the matter of your actions, which may be contemptible in itself, but to the honor they possess in being willed by God, ordered in His providence, arranged in His wisdom. Purity of heart consists in valuing all things according to the weights of the sǎnctuary, which are nothing else than the will of God: do not love, then, any thing too ardently, not even virtue, which we sometimes lose by wishing for it beyond the bounds of moderation. 2. Our center is the will of God; God wishes that I should do this action now; God desires this matter of me: what mōre is necessary? While I do this, I am not obliged to do any thing else. O God! may Thy will be done, not only in the execution of Thy commandments, counsels, and inspirations, which we ought to obey, but also in suffering the afflictions which befall us; may Thy will be done in us, and by us, in ěvèry thing that pleases Thee! 3. Oh! if the hōly will of God reigned in us, how happy we should be! We should never commit any sin, or live according to our irregular inclinations, for that holy will is the rule of all excellence and sanctity. It is self-love, says Saint Bernard,1 'St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux and Doctor of the Church, born at Fontaines, in Burgundy, in 1091; died, in the Abbey of Clairvaux, Aug. 20, 1153. No man of his time exerted so profound an influence over his contemporaries. Through his efforts the claims of the antipope, Anicletus, were set aside, and a threatened schism averted. He that burns eternally in hell, for it ruins and destroys whatever it touches. If found in heaven, it is cåst out; for the angels were banished only because of self-will, because they wished to become like God, and were, on that account, precipitated 1 into hell. If found on earth, it robs man of grace, and subjects him to death, as happened to our first pârents in the terrestrial 2 paradise. 4. In a word, it brings nothing but misfortune; and, therefōre, when we discover any thing within us not conformed to the will of God, we should prostrate ourselves before Him, and say to Him that we detest and disown our own will, and every thing in us that could displease Him, or that is contrary to His holy love, promising Him never to wish for any thing but what will be conformable to His divine good pleasure. Let us open the arms of our will, embrace lovingly the Cross, and acquiesce in the most holy will of God, singing to Him this hymn of resignation and conformity: Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ST. FRANCIS DE SALES." II. 110. MY SISTER'S SLEEP. S HE fell asleep on Christmas Eve: At length, the long ungranted shade preached the second Crusade. He His feast is 1 Pre cĭp' i tā ted, cast down headlong. Visitation. His "Introduction to a Devout Life," his Letters, and his "Treatise on the Love of God" are perhaps the most widely read of all devotional works, excepting The Following of Christ." His writings have a peculiar charm, which attracts hearts and convinces minds as powerfully since his death as 2 Ter res'tri al, earthly; pertain his preaching and his example did ing to this world. 3 St. Francis de Sales, PrinceBishop of Geneva, and Doctor of the Church, was born in Savoy, Aug. 21, 1567; died Dec. 28, 1622. He founded the order of the in his lifetime. By his eloquence, holy zeal, and perseverance, he reconciled to the Church over seventy thousand souls who had been per verted by false teachers. His feast is celebrated on Jan. 29. 2. Our mother, who had leaned all day With work to finish. For the glâre 4. Without, there was a cold moon up, Was like an icy, crystal cup. 5. Through the small room, with subtle sound Of flame, by vents the fireshine drove And reddened. In its dim alcove The mirror shed a clearness round. 6. I had been sitting up some nights, And my tired mind felt weak and blank; Like a sharp, strengthening wine, it drank The stillness and the broken lights. 7. Twelve struck. That sound, by dwindling years Heard in each hour, crept off; and then The ruffled silence spread again, Like water that a pebble stirs. 8. Our mother rose from where she sat: Her needles, as she laid them down, 10. Just then, in the room over us, There was a pushing back of chairs, So late, now heard the hour, and rose. 11. With anxious, softly-stepping haste, Our mother went where Margaret lay, 12. She stooped an instant, cälm, and tûrned; And all her features seemed in pain 13. For my part, I but hid my face, And held my breath, and spoke no word: 14. Our mother bowed herself and wept: 15. Then kneeling, upon Christmas morn, We said, êre the first quarter struck, "Christ's blessing on the newly born!" III. D. G. ROSSETTI. 111. THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. HE Church is God's: Lords, were it ours, then might we traffic with it; At will make large its functions, or contract; Serve it or sell; worship or crucify. I say the Church is God's; for He beheld it, His thought, ere time began; counted its bones, Lives in its frame, and cleanses with pure pain |