Whence, all her weary journey done, 'Tis after ten! O, were she here, I could fall down upon her neck, I have not loved her half enough, MY LITTLE BROTHER. "Happy child! Thou art so exquisitely wild, I think of thee with many tears, For what may be thy lot in future years.” Wordsworth. THE goldening peach on the orchard wall, THE Soft feeding in the sun, Hath never so downy and rosy a cheek As this laughing little one. The brook that murmurs and dimples alone Through glen, and grove, and lea, Hath never a life so merry and true As my brown little brother of three. From flower to flower, and from bower to bower, In my mother's garden green, A-peering at this, and a-cheering at that, The funniest ever was seen ; Now throwing himself in his mother's lap, With his cheek upon her breast, He tells his wonderful travels, forsooth! And what may become of that brother of mine, Will the wee rosy bud of his being, at last Into a wild-flower blossom? Will the hopes that are deepening as silent and fair As the azure about his eye, Be told in glory and motherly pride, Or answered with a sigh? Let the curtain rest: for, alas! 'tis told That Mercy's hand benign Hath woven and spun the gossamer thread That forms the fabric so fine. Then dream, dearest Jackie! thy sinless dream, There's many a change in twenty long years, My brown little brother of three. Frederick Locker. ON AN OLD MUFF. T IME has a magic wand! Moth-eaten, mouldy, and Covered with fluff? Faded, and stiff, and scant; Prudence's Muff! Years ago twenty-three! Old Uncle Barnaby Gave it to Aunty P.— Laughing and teasing "Pru., of the breezy curls, Whisper these solemn churls, What holds a pretty girl's Hand without squeezing?" Uncle was then a lad Gay, but, I grieve to add, Sinful: if smoking bad Glossy was then this mink I see, in retrospect, Aunt, in her best bedecked, Psalm-book, and kerchief new, Pure was the life she led Then-from this Muff, 'tis said, Tracts she distributed : Scapegraces many, : Seeing the grace they lacked, Followed her-one, in fact, Asked for-and got his tract Love has a potent spell! Aunt's sweet susceptible Heart undermining, Slipped, so the scandal runs, Worse even, soon the jade After such shocking games Aunt is of wedded dames Gayest-and now her name's In female conduct flaw Sadder I never saw, Still I've faith in the law Of compensation. Once Uncle went astray Smoked, joked, and swore away— Sworn by, he's now, by a Large congregation! Changed is the Child of Sin, Blest be his fat form! Changed is the garb he wore, Preacher was never inore Prized than is Uncle for Pulpit or platform If all's as best befits A WISH. O the south of the church, and beneath yonder Το yew, A pair of child-lovers I've seen; More than once were they there, and the years of the two, When added, might number thirteen. They sat on the grave that has never a stone It was Life paying Death a brief visit—alone They tenderly prattled; what was it they said? Dear Little Ones, did ye know aught of the Dead, |