She look'd at it as if she fear'd it;
Still wishing, dreading, to be near it ;
Such heart was in her, being then
A little prattler among men.
The blessing of my latter years

Was with me when a boy.:

She gave me eyes, she gave me ears;
And humble cares, and delicate fears;
A heart, the fountain of sweet tears;
And love, and thought, and joy.

THE SAILOR'S MOTHER.

[WILLIAM WORDSWORTH.]

NE morning (raw it was and wet,

ΟΝ

A foggy day in winter time)

A woman on the road I met,

Not old, but something past her prime :

Majestic in her person, tall and straight;

And like a Roman matron was her mien and gait.

The ancient spirit is not dead;

Old times, thought I, are breathing there;
Proud was I that my country bred

Such strength, a dignity so fair:

She begged an alms, like one in poor estate,

I looked at her again, nor did my pride abate.

When from these lofty thoughts I woke,
With the first word I had to spare

I said to her, 'Beneath your cloak

What's that which on your arms you bear?'
She answered, soon as she the question heard,
A simple burden, sir, a little singing-bird.'

And thus continuing, she said,

'I had a son, who many a day

Sailed on the seas: but he is dead;

In Denmark he was cast away;

And I have travelled far as Hull to see

What clothes he might have left, or other property.

The bird and cage, they both were his; 'Twas my son's bird; and neat and trim

He kept it: many voyages

His singing-bird hath gone with him ;

When last he sailed he left the bird behind,

As it might be, perhaps, from bodings of his mind.

'He to a fellow-lodger's care

Had left it to be watched and fed,

Till he came back again; and there

I found it when my son was dead;

And now, God help me for my little wit!

I trail it with me, sir! he took so much delight in it.'

N

But in a stable low and rude,

Where white-horned, mild-eyed oxen stood, The gates of heaven were still displayed, For Christ was in the manger laid.

C

[JOHN BUNYAN.]

HRISTIANA and her children, with Mercy, on their pilgrimage towards the Celestial City, come to the door of the House of

the Interpreter, who thus welcomes them :-]

But why standest thou thus at the door?

Come in, thou daughter of Abraham; we were talking of thee but now, for tidings have come to us before, how thou art become a pilgrim. Come, . children, come in; come, maiden, come in.' So he had them all into the house.

So when they were within they were bidden sit down and rest them; the which when they had done, those that attended upon the pilgrims in the house came into the room to see them. And one smiled, and another smiled, and they all smiled for joy that Christiana also was become a pilgrim. They also looked upon the boys; they stroked them over the faces with the hand, in token of their kind reception of them; they also carried it lovingly to Mercy, and bid them all welcome into their master's house.

After a while, because supper was not ready, the Interpreter took them into his significant rooms, and showed them what Christian, Christiana's husband, had seen some time before. This done, and after these things had been somewhat digested by Christiana and her company, the Interpreter takes them apart again, and has them first into a room where was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake in his hand. There stood also one over his head with a celestial crown in his hand, and proffered to give him that crown for his muck-rake; but the man did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the small sticks, and dust of the floor.

Then said Christiana, ‘I persuade myself that I know somewhat the meaning of this, for this is a figure of a man of the world. Is it not, good sir?'

INTERPRETER.-Thou hast said the right,' said he, and his muck-rake doth show his carnal mind. And whereas thou seest him rather give heed to rake up straws and sticks and the dust of the floor, than to what he says that calls to him from above with