Night within its folding mantle
Hath the sleepers both beguiled,
And within its soft embracing

Rest the mother and the child;
Up she starteth from her dreaming,
For a sound hath struck her ear-
And it comes from little Willie,
Lying on his trundle near.

Up she springeth, for it strikes upon
Her troubled ear again,

And his breath, in louder fetches,
Travels from his lungs in pain,
And his eyes are fixing upward

On some face beyond the room;
And the blackness of the spoiler,

From his cheek hath chased the bloom.

Never more his, "Now I lay me,"

Shall be said from mother's knee,

Never more among the clover

Will he chase the humble-bee.

Through the night she watched her darling,

Now despairing, now in hope;

And about the break of morning
Did the Angels take him up.

E. H. Sears.

CHRIST AND THE LITTLE ONES.

"THE Master has come over Jordan,"
Said Hannah, the mother, one day;
"He is healing the people who throng him
With a touch of his finger, they say.

"And now I shall carry the children—
Little Rachel, and Samuel, and John,
I shall carry the baby, Esther,
For the Lord to look upon."

The father looked at her kindly,

But he shook his head and smiled: "Now, who but a doting mother

Would think of a thing so wild?

"If the children were tortured by demons,
Or dying of fever, 't were well,
Or had they the taint of the leper,
Like many in Israel."

"Nay, do not hinder me, Nathan—
I feel such a burden of care;

If I carry it to the Master,
Perhaps I shall leave it there.

"If he lay his hand on the children,
My heart will be lighter, I know,

For a blessing forever and ever
Will follow them as they go."

So over the hills of Judah,
Along by the vine-rows green,
With Esther asleep on her bosom,

And Rachel her brothers between,

'Mong the people who hung on his teaching, Or waited his touch and his word,

Through the row of proud Pharisees listening, She pressed to the feet of the Lord.

"Now, why shouldst thou hinder the Master,"

Said Peter," with children like these?
Seest not how, from morning till evening,
He teacheth, and healeth disease?"

Then Christ said," Forbid not the children--
Permit them to come unto me."

And he took in his arms little Esther,
And Rachel he set on his knee;

And the heavy heart of the mother
Was lifted all earth-care above,
As he laid his hands on the brothers,
And blest them with tenderest love;

As he said of the babes in his bosom,
"Of such is the kingdom of heaven;"
And strength for all duty and trial

That hour to her spirit was given.

Julia Gill.

YOUTH fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall;

A mother's secret hope outlives them all!

O. W. Holmes.

THE FISHERMEN.

THREE fishers went sailing out into the West—

Out into the West as the sun went down ;

Each thought of the woman who loved him best,

And the children stood watching them out of the town;

For men must work, and women must weep;
And there's little to earn and many to keep,
Though the harbor bar be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the light-house tower

And trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;

And they looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the rack it came rolling up ragged and brown;

But men must work, and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden, and waters deep,
And the harbor bar be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands,

In the morning gleam as the tide went down,

And the women are watching and wringing their hands,
For those who will never come back to the town;
For men must work, and women must weep,
And the sooner it's over, the sooner to sleep,
And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

Charles Kingsley.

SOWING IN TEARS.

STRAIGHT and still the baby lies,
No more smiling in his eyes,

Neither tears nor wailing cries.

Smiles and tears alike are done;
He has need of neither one-
Only, I must weep alone.

Tiny fingers, all too slight,

Hold within their grasping tight,
Waxen berries scarce more white.

Nights and days of weary pain,
I have held them close-in vain;
Now I never shall again.

Crossed upon a silent breast,
By no suffering distressed,
Here they lie in marble rest;

They shall ne'er unfolded be,
Never more in agony

Cling so pleadingly to me.

Never! Oh, the hopeless sound
To my heart so closely wound
All his little being round!

I forget the shining crown,
Glad exchange for cross laid down,
Now his baby brows upon.

Yearning sore, I only know
I am very full of woe-
And I want my baby so!

Selfish heart, that thou shouldst prove

So unworthy of the love.

Which thine idol doth remove!

Blinded eyes, that cannot see

Past the present misery,
Joy and comfort full and free!

O! my Father, loving Lord!
I am ashamed at my own word;
Strength and patience me afford.

I will yield me to thy will;
Now thy purposes fulfil;
Only help me to be still.