ompare
Its golden heart to her sunny hair.

The perfume nestling among the leaves,
Or blown on the wind from the autumn sheaves,
Is her spirit of love, my soul believes;
And while my stricken heart still grieves
That gentle presence its pang relieves.

A shell is cast by the waves at my feet,
With its wondrous music low and sweet;
And in its murmuring tones I greet
The voice of my love, while its crimson flush
From her fair young cheek has stolen the blush.

Mid white foam, tossed on the pebbly strand,
I catch a glimpse of a waving hand:
'Tis a greeting that well _I_ understand;
But to those who see not the soul of things
'Tis only the spray which the wild wave flings.

The pearl's rare whiteness, the coral's red,
From the brow and the lip of my beautiful dead
Their soft tints stole when her spirit fled;
And it seems to me that sweet words, unsaid
By my darling, gleam through the light they shed.

Thus down by the sea, in the white sunshine,
While the winds and the waves their sighs combine,
I sit, and wait from my love a sign;
And a message comes to my waiting eyes
From under the sea where my treasure lies.

H. L. LEONARD.

ON SPELLING REFORM.

The agitation for "reform" in English spelling continues, but, so far,
without involving anything that can be properly called discussion.
Discussion implies argument on both sides--a striking by twos. Most of
the appeals to the public on this subject, whether through the
newspapers and magazines or on the platform, have been made by the
advocates of the movement. The other side, if another side there be, has
been comparatively silent, uttering occasionally only words of dissent.
I presume this follows a law of Nature: those who favor movement move,
and those who desire peace keep it and are still. But it ought not to be
inferred that the noise made by the "spelling reformers" is
representative of the scholarship of the country, or that the silence of
the conservatives indicates acquiescence in all the propositions
suggested and urged by the radicals. There is much that can be said that
has not been said. Some late announcements on the part of those who
advocate the evisceration of the English language and literature are of
a kind to call for some reply. I have no desire, at present, to enter
into an elaborate discussion of the merits or demerits of the