HARRIET O. NELSON.

They say that the sculptor wrought from Some craving for an unknown good, That in the spirit fluttered,

the face

Of his youth's lost love, of his promised bride,

And when he had added the last sad grace

To the features, he dropped his chisel and died.

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Our footsteps sought the humble house
Unmarked by cross or towering steeple,
Where for their First-day gathering came
God's plain and simple people?

All fail to raise my sluggish sense
To higher thought and feeling,

My mind goes back the winding track

Of years whose flight hath left me lonely, Once more my soul is upward drawn, And hears the spirit only.

W. J. LINTON.

MIDWINTER.

MIDWINTER comes to-morrow
My welcome guest to be;
White-haired, wide-winged sorrow,
With Christmas gifts for me.
Thy angel, God!-I thank thee still,
Thy will be done, thy better will!

I thank thee, Lord!-the whiteness
Of winter on my heart

Shall keep some glint of brightness,
Though sun and stars depart.
Thou smilest on the snow; thy will
Is dread and drear, but lovely still.

DEFINITIONS.

WISDOM.

THE perfect sight of duty; thought which moulds

A rounded life, and its true aims beholds.

REVERENCE.

Obeisance unto greatness understood;
The first step of a human life toward good.

DOUBT.

The mountain's image trembling in the lake:

DESPAIR.

The shadow of a slave who turns his back On the light, and cries, "The universe is black!"

Look up. Perhaps the mountain does not quake.

DEFEAT.

One of the stairs to heaven. Halt not
to count
Look up,

What you have trampled on.
and mount.

FAILURE.

Who knows?-Each year, as does the wheat-seed, dies;

And so God harvests his eternities.

FORGIVENESS.

The condonation of a wrong. What

then?

Even the wrong-doers are our brothermen!

OBSTINACY.

A mule with blinkers. Ay, he goes quite straight,

Runs at the gate-post, and will miss the gate.

PRUDENCE.

The saddle-girth of valor. Thou art wise
To gird it well, but not around thy eyes.

PATRIOTISM.

Not the mere holding a great flag unfurled,

But making it the goodliest in the world.

NARROWNESS.

SERVICE.

Be narrow! -as the bud, the flame, the Think what God doth for man; so mayst But narrow in thy aim, not at thy heart. dart;

thou know

How godlike service is, and serve also.

WEALTH.

Cornelia's jewels; blind old Milton's
thought;
Job's patience; and the lesson Lazarus
taught.

DESTAIR

The stew of a slave w to tu ms hi, back On the light, sa cris, “The unverse is black?

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REVFLENCE.

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The first step of a humaale toward good.,

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