I think I loved my kind

And strove to serve it too, And in my secret mind

Adored the good and true. I know I never dipped

My pen in slime or gall,

Or wrote a sentence which the purest lipp'd
Would scruple to recall ;

I think my lyre gave forth a manly tone -
I know I never preached opinions not my own.

I found, as man or boy,

Delight in wild woods green, And reap'd perpetual joy

From every natural scene.

I nursed amid the crowd

My human sympathies;

To heart and brain they made appeal aloud,

With voice of mysteries.

And in the forest paths, or cities throng'd, Nature was in my soul and to my soul belonged.

In all my life I felt

God's presence evermore,

And reverently knelt

To love and to adore;

Such let the record be

I charge ye, friends of mine,

Add but a date to this life-history

Th' obituary line, —

Say that I lived and died, and did my best,

But spare my secret heart, and let my follies rest.

THE PRAISE OF WOMEN.

'My curse on those of women who speke-
I praye to God that their neckys doe breke.'

CHAUCER.

WOMAN may err
Woman may give her mind
To evil thoughts, and lose her pure estate;
But for one woman who affronts her kind

By wicked passions and remorseless hate,
A thousand make amends in age and youth,
By heavenly Pity, by sweet Sympathy,
By patient Kindness, by enduring Truth,
By Love, supremest in adversity.
Theirs is the task to succor the distressed,
To feed the hungry, to console the sad,

Το

pour the balm upon the wounded breast, And find dear Pity, even for the bad. Blessings on Women! In the darkest day

Their love shines brightest; in the perilous hour Their weak hands glow with strength our feuds to stay. them! and if Man would shower

Blessings upon

His condemnation on the few that err,

Let him be calm, and cease his soul to vex; Think of his mother, and for sake of her Forgive them all, and bless their gentler sex.

SERENITY.

A FANCY SUGGESTED BY JEAN PAUL.

STANDING alone, in vale or mountain-top,
Upon the grassy plain or ocean shore,
Or far away upon a ship at sea,

We are the middle of the Universe.
Around us as a centre, Earth and Heaven
Describe their mystic circles evermore.
We move; and all the radii shape themselves
To the one point and focus of our eyes.
But in our mental life we disobey

The law of circles: on the outer verge
We stand for ever, sometimes looking down
Upon extraneous evil far removed

Beyond the bound of Earth's circumference,
Adown dark tangents infinitely stretched,
Through gloomy Chaos, troubled by Despair.
At other times we seek the sunniest verge,
The amber and the purple blooms of Heaven,
And strive with yearning eyes, made dim by tears,
To pierce the secrets of a happier state.
Exulting are we now,—and now forlorn.

SERENITY.

141

Lord grant us wisdom! grant that we may stand
In the fair middle of the spiritual world,
Undarken'd by the glooms of utter night,
Undazzled by the noontide glow of day.
True wisdom and serenity of soul
Dwell in the centre, and avoid extremes.

THE BUILDING OF THE HOUSE.

I HAVE a wondrous house to build,
A dwelling, humble yet divine;
A lowly cottage to be filled

With all the jewels of the mine.
How shall I build it strong and fair?
This noble house, this lodging rare,
So small and modest, yet so great?
How shall I fill its chambers bare
With use

- with ornaments-with state?

My God hath given the stone and clay;
'Tis I must fashion them aright;
'Tis I must mould them day by day,
And make my labor my delight;
This cot, this palace, this fair home,
This pleasure-house, this holy dome,
Must be in all proportions fit,
That heavenly messengers may come
To lodge with him who tenants it.

No fairy bower this house must be,
To totter at each gale that starts,