Would follow the exiles, and float with its splendour To gild the far land where their homes were to be.

In the eyes of my children were gladness and gleaming: Their little prayer uttered, how calm was their sleep! But I in my dreaming could hear the wind screaming, And fancy I heard hoarse replies from the deep.

And often, when slumber had cooled my brow's fever,
A dream-uttered shriek of despair broke the spell;
'Twas the voice of the emigrants leaving the river,
And startling the night with their cries of farewell.

Adelaide Anne Procter.

A DREAM.

ALL yesterday I was spinning,

Sitting alone in the sun;

And the dream that I spun was so lengthy,
It lasted till day was done.

I heeded not cloud or shadow

That flitted over the hill,

Or the humming-bees, or the swallows,

Or the trickling of the rill.

I took the threads for my spinning,
All of blue summer air,

And a flickering ray of sunlight
Was woven in here and there.

The shadows grew longer and longer,
The evening wind passed by,
And the purple splendour of sunset
Was flooding the western sky.

But I could not leave my spinning,
For so fair my dream had grown,

I heeded not, hour by hour,

How the silent day had flown.

At last the gray shadows fell round me,
And the night came dark and chill,
And I rose and ran down the valley,
And left it all on the hill.

I went up the hill this morning

To the place where my spinning lay, There was nothing but glistening dewdrops Remained of my dream to-day.

William O. Peabody.

HYMN OF NATURE.

GOD of the earth's extended plains!
The dark green fields contented lie;
The mountains rise like holy towers,

Where man might commune with the sky; The tall cliff challenges the storm

That lowers

upon

the vale below,

Where shaded fountains send their streams

With joyous music in their flow.

God of the dark and heavy deep!

The waves lie sleeping on the sands,

Till the fierce trumpet of the storm

Hath summoned up their thundering bands; Then the white sails are dashed like foam, Or hurry, trembling o'er the seas, Till, calmed by thee, the sinking gale Serenely breathes, Depart in peace.

God of the forest's solemn shade!
The grandeur of the lonely tree,
That wrestles singly with the gale,
Lifts up admiring eyes to thee;
But more majestic far they stand,

When, side by side, their ranks they form

To weave on high their plumes of green,
And fight their battles with the storm.

God of the light and viewless air!
Where summer breezes sweetly flow,
Or, gathering in their angry might,

The fierce and wintry tempests blow;
All-from the evening's plaintive sigh,

That hardly lifts the drooping flower, To the wild whirlwind's midnight cry— Breathe forth the language of thy power.

God of the fair and open sky!

How gloriously above us springs
The tented dome of heavenly blue,
Suspended on the rainbow's rings !
Each brilliant star that sparkles through,
Each gilded cloud that wanders free
In evening's purple radiance, gives
The beauty of its praise to thee.

God of the rolling orbs above!

Thy name is written clearly bright
In the warm day's unvarying blaze,
Or evening's golden shower of light.
For every fire that fronts the sun,

And every spark that walks alone
Around the utmost verge of heaven,

Were kindled at thy burning throne.

God of the world! the hour must come,

And nature's self to dust return;

Her crumbling altars must decay,
Her incense fires shall cease to burn;
But still her grand and lovely scenes
Have made man's warmest praises flow;
For hearts grow holier as they trace
The beauty of the world below.

George Washington Doane.

SPIRIT OF SPRING.

SPIRIT of Spring! when the cheek is pale,
There is health in thy balmy air,

And peace in that brow of beaming bright,
And joy in that eye of sunny light,

And golden hope in that flowing hair :

Oh! that such influence e'er should fail,

For a moment, Spirit of Spring

Spirit of health, peace, joy, and hope, Spirit of Spring!

Yet fail it must-for it comes of earth,
And it may not shame its place of birth,
Where the best can bloom but a single day,
And the fairest is first to fade away.