A NAME IN THE SAND.

ALONE I walked the ocean strand;
A pearly shell was in my hand :
I stooped and wrote upon the sand
My name the year
the day.
As onward from the spot I passed,
One lingering look behind I cast:
A wave came rolling high and fast,
And washed my lines away.

And so, methought, 'twill shortly be
With every mark on earth from me;
A wave of dark oblivion's sea

Will sweep across the place
Where I have trod the sandy shore

Of Time, and been to be no more,

And yet, with Him who counts the sands,
And holds the waters in his hands,
I know the lasting record stands,

Inscribed against my name,

Of all this mortal part has wrought;
Of all this thinking soul has thought;
And from these fleeting moments caught
For glory, or for shame.

MY YOUNGEST.

THEY say my youngest is a pet,
And has too much her way;
It can't be so, I think; and yet
I would not dare say, nay.

For if my memory serve me right,
And truth must be confessed,

Each youngest that has blessed my sight
Has seemed to be loved best.

The youngest came my age to cheer,

On her my love did fall.

"Tis not that she is loved the most,

But she is loved the last;

The youngest may my fondness boast,
But so could all the past.

THE FATHERLESS.

"SPEAK Softly to the fatherless!
And check the harsh reply
That sends the crimson to the cheek,
The tear-drop to the eye.

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They have the weight of loneliness,
In this rude world to bear;
Then gently raise the fallen bud,
The drooping floweret spare.

Speak kindly to the fatherless!
The lowliest of their band
God keepeth, as the waters,

In the hollow of his hand.

""Tis sad to see life's evening sun
Go down in sorrow's shroud,
But sadder still when morning's dawn
Is darkened by the cloud.

"Deal gently with these little ones,

Be pitiful; and He,

The friend and father of us all,

Shall gently deal with thee!"

TWELVE GEMS.

I. FRIENDSHIP.

The union of sentiment and

affection existing between two generous and mag

nanimous minds. It fears no storm

-grows strong

by age grows and thrives in the rich soil of a refined and cultivated heart, and is the bond and cement of society and association.

II. LOVE. A fiercer flame than friendship, and, according to common acceptation, more fickle and less discriminating. But a true friend must love us; and if friendship may be called more constant, they are both lights in this dark, wicked world.

III. TRUTH. That which abominates and shuns a lie. "Above all things," says Sir Henry

Sydney, "tell no untruth no, not even of trifles." Love the truth; speak the truth; let "the truth make us free."

IV. HOPE. The compound of expectation and desire. A bright star on life's tempestuous ocean; the enchanted ground of the young; the staff of the old; our solace in adversity; the light that gleams above the storms of affliction and sorrow; the comforter that goes with us down "the dark valley." It is forcibly described by the figure

of an anchor; as that is the means for securing the ship, and holding it in a safe place, so hope is the security and refuge of the soul.

"Daughter of faith! awake! arise! illume

The dread unknown, the chaos of the tomb."

V. FAITH. The corner stone on which the fabric of a Christian life is reared; it receives and believes the truth, and produces corresponding action. Faith recognizes and adores God, and makes us godly -accepts and acknowledges Christ, and makes us Christians.

"O for a strong and lasting faith,

To credit what Jehovah saith!"

VI. JUSTICE. This has regard to the rights. and privileges of our fellow-men, and teaches us to hold these rights as sacred and unharmed. If it is inflexible and undeviating in the judge, absolute and rigorous in the king, so should it be in the plebeian and the peasant. It prevents power from becoming tyranny, love from degenerating into weakness, and requires every man to do his fellow no wrong.

VII. VIRTUE. The ornament of the young; the crown of the old; a name for all the moral graces which adorn humanity. "I am found in the vale, and I illuminate the mountain. I cheer the cottager at his toil, and inspire the sage at his meditation. I mingle in the crowd of cities, and