Message or wish, may be ;-
Smooth the folds out and see.
Hardly the worst of us

Here could have smiled !-
Only the tremulous

Words of a child ;-
Prattle, that has for stops
Just a few ruddy drops.
Look. She is sad to miss,

Morning and night,
His-her dead father's—kiss;

Tries to be bright,
Good to mamma, and sweet.
That is all. “Marguerite.”
Ah, if beside the dead

Slumbered the pain!
Ah, if the hearts that bled

Slept with the slain !
If the grief died ;-But no;-
Death will not have it so.

THE GAME KNUT PLAYED.-Thomas Dunn ENGLISH.

A page who seemed of low degree,
And bore the name of Knut, was he;
The high-born Princess Hilga she.
And that the youth had served her long,
Being quick at errands, skilled in song,
To jest with him she thought no wrong.
And so it chanced one summer day,
At chess, to while the time away,
The page and princess sat at play.
At length she said, “ To play for naught
Is only sport to labor brought,
So let a wager guerdon thought."
He answered, “ Lady, naught have I
Whose worth might tempt a princess hign
Her uttermost of skill to try.”
“And yet this ruby ring,” she said,
“I'll risk against the bonnet red
With snow-white plume that crowns thy head.
“And should I win, do not forget,
Or should I lose, whichever yet,
I'll take my due, or pay my debt.”

And so they played, as sank the sun;
But when the game they played was done
The page's cap the princess won.
“ My diamond necklace,” then she cried,

I'll match against thy greatest pride,
The brand held pendent at thy side.”
“Not so,” he said—“that tempered glaive,
Borne oft by noble hands and brave,
To me my dying father gave.
“Fit only for a true man's touch,
I hold it dear and prize it much-
No diamond necklace mates with such,
“ But, though my father's ghost be wroth,
I'll risk the weapon, nothing loth,
Against thy love and virgin troth.”
Reddened her cheeks at this in ire,
This daughter of a royal sire,
And flashed those eyes of hers like fire.
“Thy words, bold youth, shall work thee ill:
Thou canst not win against my skill,
But I can punish at my will.
“ Begin the game; that hilt so fine
Shall nevermore kiss hand of thine,
Nor thou again be page of mine!"
Answered the page:

“Do not forget, Or win or lose, whichever yet, I'll take my due, or pay my debt. “And let this truth the end record : I risk to-day my father's sword To be no more thy page, but lord.” Down sat the pair to play once more, Hope in his bosom brimming o'er, And hers with pride and anger sore. From square to square the bishops crept, The agile knights eccentric leapt, The castles onward stately swept. Pawns fell in combat one by one; Knights, rooks and bishops could not shun Their fate before that game was done. Well fought the battle was, I ween, Until two castles and a queen Guarding the kings alone were seen. “Check!” cried the princess, all elate; “ Check!" cried the page, and sealed the fate Of her beleaguered king with “mate!"

ZZZZ

The princess smiled, and said: "I lose,
Nor can I well to pay refuse-
From my possessions pick and choose.
"Or diamonds bright, or chests of gold,
Or strings of pearls of worth untold,
These may be thine to have and hold:
"Or costly robes to feed thy pride,
Or coursers such as monarchs ride,
Or castles tall, or manors wide-
“Any or all of such be thine;
But, save he spring from royal line,
No husband ever can be mine."
“Nor jewels rich, nor lands in fee,
Steeds, robes, nor castles pleasure me;
Thy love and troth be mine," said he.
"Nor shalt thou lack of state and pride
When seated crowned thy lord beside,
As Knut, the King of Denmark's bride !"
Ring marriage-bells from sun to sun,
And tell the gossips, as they run,
How Sweden's princess has been won.

BURDOCK'S GOAT.

Last Monday afternoon the eleven Boblink boys surrounded and caught an enormous, shaggy, strong-smelling goat of the masculine gender, turned him loose in Burdock's garden, nailed up the gate, and then went home and flattened their eleven little noses against the back windows to watch for coming events.

Before his goatship had spent three minutes in the garden, he had managed to make himself perfectly at home, pulled down the clothes-line, and devoured two lace collars, a pair of undersleeves, and a striped stocking, belonging to Mrs. Burdock, and was busily engaged sampling one of Burdock's shirts, when the servant girl came rushing out with a basket of clothes to hang up.

“The saints preserve us !" she exclaimed, coming to a dead halt, and gazing open-mouthed at the goat, who was calmly munching away at the shirt.

Shew, shew, shew, there !” screamed the girl, setting down the basket, taking her skirts in both hands, and shaking them violently towards the intruder.

Then the goat who evidently considered her movements in the light of a challenge, suddenly dropped his wicked old head, and darted at her with the force of an Erie locomotive; and just one minute later by the city-hall clock that girl had tumbled a back somersault over the clothes-basket, and was crawling away on her hands and knees in search of a place to die, accompanied by the goat, who was butting her unmercifully every third second.

It is likely that he would have kept on butting her for the next two weeks, if Mrs. Burdock, who had been a witness of the unfortunate affair, had not armed herself with the family poker, and hurried to the rescue.

“Merciful goodness, Anne! do get up on your feet !" she exclaimed, aiming a blow at the beast's head, and missing it by a few of the shortest kind of inches. It was not repeated, owing to the goat suddenly rising up on his hind-feet, waltzing toward her, and striking her in the small of the back, hard enough to loosen her finger-nails, and destroy her faith in the blessed immortality.

When Mrs. Burdock returned to her consciousness, she crawled out from behind the grindstone where she had been tossed, and made for the house; stopping only once, when the goat came after, and butted her, head first, into the grape-arbor.

Once inside the house, the door was locked, and the unfortunates sought the solitude of their own rooms, and such comfort as they could extract from rubbing and growling; while the goat wandered around the garden like Satan in the Book of Job, seeking what he might devour; and the eleven little Boblink boys fairly hugged themselves with pleasure over the performance.

By the time Burdock returned home that evening, and learned all the particulars from his arnica-soaked wife, the goat had eaten nearly all the week's washing, half the grapevine, and one side out of the clothes-basket.

Why in thunder didn't you put him out, and not leave him there to destroy every thing ?” he demanded angrily.

66

“Because he wouldn't go, and I was not going to stay there to be killed; that's why,” answered his wife excitedly.

“Wouldn't fiddlesticks!” he exclaimed, making for the garden, followed by the entire family.

“Get out of here, you thief!” he exclaimed as he came into the garden, and caught sight of the shaggy and highlyperfumed visitor.

The goat bit off another mouthful of the basket, and regarded him with a mischievous twinkle of his eye.

You won't go, hey ?” exclaimed Burdock, trying to kick a hole in the enemy's ribs. “I'll show you wheth-"

The sentence was left unfinished, as the goat just then dropped his head on Burdock's shirt-bosom; and before he could recover his equilibrium, he had been butted seven times in seven fresh spots, and was down on his knees, and crawling around in a very undignified manner, to the horror of the family, and the infinite glee of the eleven young Boblinks next door.

“Look out he don't hurt you!" screamed Mrs. Burdock as the goat sent him flying into a sand-pile.

When Burdock had got his bald head out of the sand, he was mud all over his clothes, and tried to catch the brute by the horns, but desisted after he had lost two front teeth, and been rolled in the mud.

“Don't make a living show of yourself before the neighbors !" advised his wife.

“Come in, pa, and let him be!" begged his daughter.

“Golly, dad, look out! he is comin' agin !" shouted his son enthusiastically.

Mr. Burdock waxed profane, and swore three-story oaths in such rapid succession that his family held their breaths; and a pious old lady, who lived in a house in the rear, shut up her windows, and sent out the cook for a policeman or a missionary.

“Run for it, dad !" advised his son a moment later, when the goat's attention seemed to be turned away.

Burdock sprang to his feet, and followed his offspring's suggestion. He was legging it in superb style, and the chances of his reaching the house seemed excellent, when the fragrant brute suddenly clapped on more steam, gained