Came a youth with noiseless footsteps;
Ambient shone his floating hair,
And upon her pale, pale forehead

Laid the crown which seraphs wear.

"Earth's no longer ours forever!”
Sang he this exulting strain,
And our darling's tiny numbers
Mingled with the sweet refrain.

Now each heart is bowed in anguish, But amid the sorrow dim

Feel they that our Lord hath spoken,

And they yield her back to Him.

NURSERY SONG.

Sleep, gently sleep, my baby boy,
For happy dreams are thine;

I know it by the token old.

Then sleep, sweet baby minc.

Thy head is pillowed on my breast,
In passive slumbering it lies:
The shadow of an angel's wing
Enfolds thy dreamy eyes.

"Tis sweet to press thee closely thus, And note the beating time

With which thy little throbbing heart

Responds each pulse of mine.

Then gently sleep, my baby boy,

In happy visions blest.

While softly rests thy golden head

Upon a mother's breast.

TO S. M. R.

My sister friend, 'tis joy to think
That in thy far off city home
These simple lines may wake a thought,
A memory of your absent one.

And when you read, perchance will say-
Ah me! I wish that, as in days of yore,

I could by glancing o'er the street,
Just see her standing at the door.

How often, just as day-light closed,
We met for converse grave and gay,
My children playing at your feet,

We passed a happy hour away.

I always met a welcome kind,

I always felt your clasped hand,

Your love and time hath proved it well,

Was ever free at my command.

We reveled with the poets old,

Roamed in their dreamland far away,

Then laughed and said, the brow may sere And yet the heart be young alway.

Another one, I mind me well,

With soul from all but us apart,

Is fauning now through time and space, The smouldering embers of my heart.

Our past hath had its sombre clouds,
But oftentimes the glorious blue,
With silver lining, would shine out,

And burst the murky darkness through.