Mother dear, when you are giving
My cold clay a parting kiss,
Shed no tears: I shall be living
In a happier world than this.

Not through any good behaviour,
Not best deeds that I have gone;
But the merits of my SAVIOUR,
God the Father's only Son.

THE SOLDIER'S FUNERAL.

THE muffled drum rolled in the air;
Warriors with stately step were there :
On every arm was the black crape bound;
Every carbine was turned to the ground.

Solemn the sound of their measured tread,
As silent and slow they followed the dead:
The riderless horse was led in the rear;
There were white plumes waving over the bier;

Helmet and sword were laid on the pall;

For it was a soldier's funeral.

That soldier had stood on the battle plain,
Where every step was over the slain;

But the brand and the ball passed him by,
And he came to his native land to die.
'Twas hard to come to that native land,
And not clasp one familiar hand.

'Twas hard to be numbered with the dead,
Or ere he had heard his welcome said;
But 'twas something to see its cliffs once more,"
And to lay his bones on his own loved shore;

To think that the friends of his youth might weep O'er the green grass turf of the soldier's sleep. The bugles ceased their wailing sound,

As the coffin was lowered into the ground.

A volley was fired, a blessing said;
One moment's pause, and they left the dead.
I saw a poor and aged man,

His step was feeble, his face was wan,

He knelt him down on the new raised mound,
His face was bowed on the cold damp ground;
He raised his head-his tears were done;
The father had prayed o'er his much-loved son.

MRS. MACLEAN.

HUMILITY.

THE bird that soars with highest wing
Builds on the ground her lowly nest;
And she that does most sweetly sing,
Sings in the shade, when all things rest.
In lark and nightingale we see
What honour hath humility.

When Mary chose the better part,
She meekly sat at JESUS' feet;

And Lydia's gently opened heart

Was made for GOD's own temple meet.

Fairest and best adorned is she

Whose clothing is humility.

The saint that wears Heaven's highest crown,

In deepest adoration bends;

The weight of glory bends him down,

Then most, when most his soul ascends.

Nearest the Throne itself must be

The footstool of humility.

LIFE IN NATURE.

How dark, though fleeting, are the days of man!
What countless seasons crowd his narrow span!
For what is life? A groan, a breath, a sigh,
A bitter tear, a drop of misery;

A lamp just dying in sepulchral gloom;
A voice of anguish from the lowly tomb;
Or wept, or weeping, all the change we know-
'Tis all our mournful history below.
Pleasure is grief, but smiling to destroy:
And what is sorrow but the ghost of joy?

ANSWERED. LIFE IN GRACE.

THOUGH dark, though fleeting are the days of man;
Though countless sorrows crowd his narrow span!
Yet what is life? An hour in mercy given;
The dawn of purer, happier days in Heaven;
A quickly passing breath, a tear, a sigh,
Yet earnest still of immortality;

A silent echo from the lonely tomb,
The harbinger of life beyond the gloom.
Tears point to joy, and suffering to relief;
Pain yields to rest, love kindly flows from grief:
Earth's saddest night is merged in endless day;
Earth's darkness but reveals a brighter ray.

S. M.

BE NOT WEARY IN WELL-DOING.

2 Thess. iii. 13.

"BE not weary," toiling Christian; good the Master thou dost serve:

Let no disappointment move thee; from thy service

never swerve:

Sow in hope, nor cease thy sowing; lack not patience faith and prayer:

Seed time passeth, harvest hasteneth; precious sheaves thou then shalt bear.

"Be not weary," praying Christian; open is thy Father's ear,

To the fervent supplication, and the ardent, faithful

prayer.

Prayer the HOLY GHOST begetteth, be it words, or groans, or tears,

Is the prayer that's always answered: banish then thy doubts and fears.

"Be not weary," suffering Christian; scourged is each adopted child;

Else would grow, in sad profusion, nature's fruit, perverse and wild.

Chastening's needful for the spirit, though 'tis painful for the flesh :

GOD designs a blessing for thee: let this thought thy soul refresh.