"You may whiten, Oh, cold ashes!
For I see in your midst a flame
Kindled by some good Christian,
I wish I but knew the name.

You may cover the windows, Oh, frost king!
You may sleep, my babies, in peace,
For my heart is as warm as the sunshine,
And my faith has found release

From the cold, and the hate, and the terror,
Into the blessed light,

And I wait with a new, sweet longing,

For the coming of Christmas night."

MARY A. DENNISON.

THE NATIONAL ENSIGN.

I have said

SIR. I must detain you no longer. enough, and more than enough, to manifest the spirit in which this flag is now committed to your charge. It is the national ensign, pure and simple; dearer to all our hearts at this moment, as we lift it to the gale, and see no other sign of hope upon the storm-cloud which rolls. and rattles above it, save that which is reflected from its own radiant hues; dearer, a thousand-fold dearer to us all, than ever it was before, while gilded by the sunshine of prosperity, and playing with the zephyrs of peace. It will speak for itself far more eloquently than I can speak for it.

Behold it! Listen to it! every stripe is articulate. speech where their voices

Every star has a tongue; There is no language or are not heard. There's

magic in the web of it. It has an answer for every question of duty. It has a solution for every doubt and perplexity. It has a word of good cheer for every hour of gloom or of despondency.

Behold it! Listen to it! It speaks of earlier and of later struggles. It speaks of victories and sometimes of reverses, on the sea and on the land. It speaks of patriots and heroes among the living and the dead : and of him, the first and greatest of them all, around whose consecrated ashes this unnatural and abhorrent strife has so long been raging-" the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not." But before all and above all other associations and memories-whether of glorious men, or glorious deeds, or glorious places-its voice is ever of Union and Liberty, of the Constitution and the Laws.

THEN AND NOW.

EN years ago, when she was ten,
I used to tease and scold her;
I liked her, and she loved me then,
A boy some five years older.

I liked her she would fetch my book,
Bring lunch to stream or thicket,
Would oil my gun, and bait my hook,
And field for hours at cricket.

She'd mend my cap, or find my whip;
Ah! but boys' hearts are stony ;
I liked her rather less than Gyp,
And far less than my pony.

She loved me then, though Heaven knows why;
Small wonder had she hated,

For scores of dolls she's had to cry,
That I decapitated.

I tore her frocks, I pulled her hair,
Called red the sheen upon it;

Out fishing I would even dare
Catch tadpoles in her bonnet.

Well, now, I expiate my crime;
The Nemesis of fables
Came after years-to-day old time
On me has turned the tables.

I'm twenty-five; she's twenty now;
Dark-eyed, pink-cheeked and bonny;
The curls are golden round her brow;
She smiles, and calls me Johnny.

Of

yore I used her Christian name, But now, through fate or malice, When she is by, my lips can't frame Five letters to make Alice.

I, who would joke with her, and tease,
Stand silent now before her;
Dumb, through the very wish to please―
A speechless, shy adorer.

Or, if she turns to me to speak,

I'm dazzled by her graces;

The hot blood rushes to my cheek,
I babble commonplaces.

She's kind and cool-ah! Heaven knows how

I wish she blushed and faltered;

She likes me, and I love her now

Dear, dear! how things have altered.

VIOLA VALENTINE

HORATIUS.

Abridged.

HE Consul's brow was sad,

THE

And the Consul's speech was low, And darkly looked he at the wall,

And darkly at the foe.
"Their van will be upon us

Before the bridge goes down;
And if they once may win the bridge,
What hope to save the town?''

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late,

And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds
For the ashes of his fathers

And the temples of his Gods.

Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,
With all the speed ye may;
I, with two more to help me,
Will hold the foe in play.
In yon straight path a thousand

May well be stopped by three:

Now who will stand on either hand, And keep the bridge with me!"

Then out spake Spurius Lartius;
A Ramnian proud was he:
"Lo, I will stand at thy right hand,
And keep the bridge with thee."
And out spake strong Herminius;
Of Titian blood was he:

"I will abide on thy left side,

And keep the bridge with thee."

"Horatius," quoth the Consul,
"As thou sayest, so let it be."
And straight against that great array
Forth went the dauntless Three.
For Romans in Rome's quarrels
Spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life,
In the brave days of old.

Then none was for a party;

Then all were for the State; Then the great man helped the poor, And the poor man loved the great; Then lands were fairly portioned; Then spoils were fairly sold: The Romans were like brothers In the brave days of old.

Now, while the Three were tightening Their harness on their backs,

The Consul was the foremost man

To take in hand an axe: