The half-blown moon is limned against the west,
A lingerer to witness this pure day;
Who knows, when she pursues the stars to rest,
What sweeter smiles may charm her night away!
This is a day when joy flows to the brim,
The stately echo of a summer hymn.

OCTOBER SNOW.

THE east glowed like a blush rose fair,
As Phoebus' wheels drove up the air;
But murky banners trailed behind,
Blown like a full sail by the wind.

At noon a gust of feathered rain
A hornpipe danced without the pane,
Then nestled blithely 'mid the leaves,
Whose gold and garnet brushed the eaves.

The green grass took a daintier shade
As the gay phantoms on it played;
Gray vistas with their mirth grew dim,
And earth and sky blent at their rim.

As day declined the storm waxed brave;
The blast a wintry warning gave;
A thickening sheet earth's bosom spanned,
And moonless night crept o'er the land.

IN THE DELPHIC CHAMBER.

As when the buds of oak and maple swell, We look for early glimpse of emerald spray Thick-set with blooms, and signs begin to tell Of daisied valleys bringing in the May,

So the fresh youth, the laugh, the dewy eye, The pride of mothers and of nature, bring The promise of rare manhood by and by, Whose fragrance of kind words and deeds shall swing

Like censers o'er the brown, dry fields of life.

Into new pastures in the realm of thought, And vineyards where the wine of wisdom grows, Bend your young feet; for never deeds are wrought

Worthy a man, save as his whole face glows

With highest reach of knowledge in his sphere; With purpose grand, and utmost exercise

Of gift with which his God endowed him. Here Pluck the full ears of learning, for the prize Of truth in jewels overturn the soil With shares thrice tempered by a pliant will To mould to greatness all the petty toil With book and pen, and fashion good from ill.

To buy, and sell, and gain; to write a book; To build a house, or sail upon the sea;

To play the master's music, or to cook; To be well skilled in all the arts that be Were poor attainment, if above it all No sense of human brotherhood held sway As pilot of the craft. The words that fall Like gracious raindrops on an April day

Drop from the sky for you; the faithful tears Which water other lives, nor guerdon ask, Shall bring full harvest in the sunless years Where God is light and love the only task.

ON THE BEACH.

A SOFT September twilight draped the sea;
In pensive monotone, among the piers
The breakers roared, and dashed their briny tears
Back on its bosom; silence fell on me,
Standing alone upon the sands; the free,
Wide water with an anthem filled my ears,
Ringing a prelude to the eternal years
That, boundless, deep and grand, in heaven shall be.

Along the dim horizon swept a sail

That vanished soon; a flock of gulls flew by Catching my transient notice; ceased the moan Of rushing wave one instant, while a trail Of moonlight quivered o'er it; then the sky Was blank; the sea and I held tryst alone.

ETUDE.

My love sings like the mavis
All in tune;
Her voice trills thro' the gamut
Of all June.

Her eyes are star-time sapphires
Set in dew;

I think the brook's low laughter Brims them too.

Her ears like ocean shell pinks

Brightly blush;

She hears the choirs of cloudland At eve's hush.

Her tresses fling defiance

To the sun;

She's blossom, bird and fairy Blent in one.

Her lips, like trim carnations
But half-blown,

I've pressed, in love's emotion,
To my own.

Her hand is like a leaf-touch,
But a thrill

Enchains me, when I feel it
Speak her will.

Her soul is like the Alpine
Edelweiss;

Her steel-true heart is to me
Shield from vice.

My love's the contemplation
Of my life;

I lay all gifts before her;—
She's my wife!

WHEN COMES THE CROWN?

THE morn breaks gloriously; refreshed with sleep,
The lithe form pauses at the brink of day
With mind all set for manly toil; we say
He's worthy, but he goes bare-browed to reap.
He's bronzed; the sun has climbed the midday
steep;

The field is treeless; briers line the way
To cooler places; yet no wreath of bay
Garlands his head; he still must work and weep
Till evening folds its silken garments round

His bruised and wearied limbs, and all the spheres

Break into silent singing; angels bend Anear to see him by the Father crowned; "Thus shall it be to him who wrought with tears And loved and prayed and trusted to the end."

RETROSPECT.

The yesterdays are risen

All ruthless from their tomb, And rob the young to-morrow Of all its hopeful bloom.

-Routine.

A

ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON.

29

LFRED TENNYSON, England's beloved poet laureate, and one of the sweetest singers the world has ever known, passed peacefully away, full of years and honors, to unknown. realms, early in the morning of October 6th, 1892. The announcement of such a sad event could not help being received by all who speak the English tongue with a deep sense of personal loss, for he was not only a poet's poet, but he was also the people's poet, pleasing, alike, all tastes, and appealing as he did, to the better nature and sympathies of the masses.

He was born in 1809, the same year in which Oliver Wendell Holmes and Gladstone first entered this world, at Somersby, in Lincolnshire, England. His father was the Rev. George Clayton Tennyson, LL. D., a man of noble birth and fine character, while his mother was a sweet, gentle woman, possessing great imaginative powers and much ability. His home was picturesquely situated and abounded with beauty mingled with the utmost refinement. It was partly there and partly at the village school that Tennyson received his early education, and at this early period in his life he showed signs of possessing a strong poetic vein, writing verses on a slate for pleasure and recreation. He loved the sea passionately and when its inspiration was upon him he poured out verse after verse. But it was not until 1827 that any of his efforts appeared in print, and then it was in the form of a small volume, of which almost nothing has been preserved, and which was entitled: "Poems by Two Brothers."

In 1828 Alfred joined his two brothers at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained the distinction of carrying off the Chancellor's medal for a poem in blank verse on "Timbuctoo," in which one can trace the impress of his rare genius, that was by degrees developing.

His first volume of poems known by, "Poems, Chiefly Lyrical," appeared in 1832, and it was severely criticized as being weak and immature; but, ten years hence, when he had completely revised the former volume, to which had been added many new poems, he gained for himself a position of absolute supremacy which has never since grown less, but has steadily increased.

While at Cambridge he formed an acquaintance with Arthur Henry Hallam, son of the eminent historian, which afterwards ripened into a strong and exceedingly warm friendship, and at whose death, Tennyson wrote a tribute of affection to his memory, the world renowned "In Memoriam."

In 1847 Tennyson wrote "The Princess, A Medley," which was written in rather a novel style, being a combination of an epic and a series of lyrics.

On the death of Wordsworth, Tennyson succeeded him as poet laureate, in which capacity he wrote many praiseworthy poems commemorating great events of national interest. Not long after this, "Maud, and Other Poems," appeared, but they lacked the enthusiastic admiration that was wont to be showered upon his efforts; however, "The Idylls of the King," which appeared a few years later more than compensated, in every way, for any deficiency on the part of the other. It is difficult to over-estimate the value of Tennyson's works, and it is not an easy matter to criticize them dispassionately, as one is apt to become enamored with their beauties. His verse exemplifies the ornate in poetry; nothing can excel the delicate chiselling, the chaste coloring, and the exquisite polish of his lines and stanzas, and there is such a delicious blending of sound and sense pervading the whole.

He was much beloved by a circle of intimate friends, among the number are included Carlyle and Gladstone-but for the most part, he lived a quiet and retiring life, always shrinking from the public gaze, and bearing his honors and wealth as simply and as sweetly as he had done his poverty and neglect, without the least suspicion of vanity. He was the first commoner who was ever raised to the House of Lords for literary eminence alone, being neither a politician nor a statesman.

The cordial relationship which existed between Tennyson and the United States was greatly strengthened by his attachment with Longfellow.

After his marriage with Emily Sellwood, a niece of Sir John Franklin, the great Arctic voyager, he resided for some time at a romantic spot in the Isle of Wight, where he and his family spent many of the happiest years of their lives.

The following is the description given by Carlyle to Emerson, of the poet:

"One of the finest looking men in the world. A great shock of rough, dusty dark hair; bright, laughing hazel eyes; massive, aquiline face; most massive, yet most delicate; of sallow brown complexion, almost Indian looking; clothes cynically loose, free and easy; smokes infinite tobacco. His voice is musical metallicfit for loud laughter and piercing wail and all that may be between; speech and speculation free and plenteous; I do not meet, in these late decades, such company over a pipe."

E. M. K.

LADY CLARA VERE DE VERE. LADY Clara Vere de Vere,

Of me you shall not win renown; You thought to break a country heart For pastime, ere you went to town. At me you smiled, but unbeguiled I saw the snare, and I retired; The daughter of a hundred Earls, You are not one to be desired.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

I know you proud to bear your name, Your pride is yet no mate for mine, Too proud to care from whence I came. Nor would I break for your sweet sake

A heart that doats on truer charms. A simple maiden in her flower

Is worth a hudred coats-of-arms.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

Some meeker pupil you must find, For were you queen of all that is,

I could not stoop to such a mind. You sought to prove how I could love, And my disdain is my reply. The lion on your old stone gates Is not more cold to you than I.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

You put strange memories in my head; Not thrice your branching limes have blown Since I beheld young Laurence dead. Oh! your sweet eyes, your low replies; A great enchantress you may be, But there was that across his throat Which you had hardly cared to see.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

When thus he met his mother's view,
She had the passions of her kind,
She spake some certain truths of you.
Indeed I heard one bitter word

That scarce is fit for you to hear;

Her manners had not that repose

Which stamps the caste of Vere de Vere.

Lady Clara Vere de Vere,

There stands a spectre in your hall; The guilt of blood is at your door; You changed a wholesome heart to gall. You held your course without remorse, To make him trust his modest worth, And, last, you fix'd a vacant stare, And slew him with your noble birth.

Trust me, Clara Vere de Vere,

From yon blue heavens above us bent The grand old gardener and his wife

Smile at the claims of long descent. Howe'er it be, it seems to me,

'Tis only noble to be good. Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood.

I know you, Clara Vere de Vere;

You pine among your halls and towers; The languid light of your proud eyes

Is wearied of the rolling hours.

In glowing health, with boundless wealth,

But sickening of a vague disease, You know so ill to deal with time,

You needs must play such pranks as these.

Clara, Clara Vere de Vere,

If Time be heavy on your hands, Are there no beggars at your gate, Nor any poor about your lands? Oh! teach the orphan-boy to read, Or teach the orphan-girl to sew, Pray Heaven for a human heart,

And let the foolish yeoman go.

THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE.

HALF a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! "Charge for the guns!" he said; Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Light Brigade!" Was there a man dismay'd? Not tho' the soldier knew

Some one had blunder'd.

Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.

Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd.
Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd.
Plunged in the battery-smoke,
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd. Then they rode back, but not, Not the six hundred.

Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them

Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell.
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wonder'd.
Honor the charge they made!
Honor the Light brigade!
Noble six hundred.

THE SISTERS.

We were two daughters of one race;
She was the fairest in the face;

The wind is blowing in turret and tree. They were together, and she fell, Therefore revenge became me well.

O, the Earl was fair to see!

She died; she went to burning flame;
She mix'd her ancient blood with shame.
The wind is blowing in turret and tree.
Whole weeks and months, and early and late,
To win his love I lay in wait;

O, the Earl was fair to see!

I made a feast; I bade him come;

I won his love, I brought him home.

The wind is roaring in turret and tree.

And after supper, on a bed,
Upon my lap he laid his head.

O, the Earl was fair to see!