And the bitter lesson

We learn from years.

The stars are gleaming

Upon her brow:

What is she dreaming

So calmly now?

By her side is the Angel With folded wings;

She smiles in her slumber

The while he sings.

He sings of a Bridal,
Of Love divine;

Of a heart to be laid

On a sacred shrine;

Of a crown of glory,
Where seraphs shine;

Of the deep, long rapture

The chosen know

Who forsake for Heaven

Vain joys below,

Who desire no pleasure,

And fear no woe.

The Bells are ringing,

The sun shines clear,

The Choir is singing,

The guests are here.

Before the High Altar

Behold the Bride;

And a mournful Angel
Is by her side.

She smiles, all content

With her chosen lot,—

(Is her last night's dreaming So soon forgot?)

And oh, may the Angel

Forsake her not!

For on her small hand

There glitters plain

The first sad link

Of a life-long chain;

And she needs his guiding

Through paths of pain.

The

THE ANGEL'S BIDDING.

SOT a sound is heard in the Convent;
The Vesper Chant is sung,

The sick have all been tended,

poor nun's toils are ended

Till the Matin bell has

rung.

All is still, save the Clock, that is ticking

So loud in the frosty air,

And the soft snow, falling as gently

As an answer to a prayer.

But an Angel whispers, "Oh, Sister,
You must rise from your bed to pray:
In the silent, deserted chapel,

You must kneel till the dawn of day;
For, far on the desolate moorland,
So dreary, and bleak, and white,
There is one, all alone and helpless,
In peril of death to-night.

"No sound on the moorland to guide him,

No star in the murky air;

And he thinks of his home and his loved ones With the tenderness of despair;

He has wandered for hours in the snow-drift,
And he strives to stand in vain,

And so lies down to dream of his children,
And never to rise again.

Then kneel in the silent chapel
Till the dawn of to-morrow's sun,
And ask of the Lord you worship
For the life of that desolate one;
And the smiling eyes of his children
Will gladden his heart again,

And the grateful tears of God's poor ones
Will fall on your soul like rain !—

"Yet, leave him alone to perish,

And the grace of your God implore, With all the strength of your spirit, For one who needs it more.

Far away, in the gleaming city,

Amid perfume, and song, and light,

A soul that Jesus has ransomed

Is in peril of sin to-night.

The Tempter is close beside him,

And his danger is all forgot,

And the far-off voices of childhood

Call aloud, but he hears them not; He sayeth no prayer, and his mother— He thinks not of her to-day,

And he will not look up to Heaven,
And his Angel is turning away.

"Then pray for a soul in peril,
A soul for which Jesus died;
Ask, by the cross that bore Him,
And by her who stood beside;
And the Angels of God will thank you,
And bend from their thrones of light,
To tell you that Heaven rejoices

At the deed you have done to-night."