nched will,
One quivering human sigh creeps windlike still?
That when my orisons in silence fail,
Lingers one tremulous note of human wail?
Dear lord--spouse--hero--martyr--saint! erelong
I think God will forgive my singing that poor song.

A year ago, I bade my little son
Bear on a pilgrimage a sacred load
Of alms; he cried out, fainting on the road,
'Mother, O mother, would that this were done!'
Him I reproved with tears, and said: 'Go on,
Nor feebly sink ere half thy task be o'er.'
Would not God say to me the same, and more?
I will not sing that song. Thou, dearest one,
Husband--no, _brother_--stretch thy steadfast hand
Across the void! Mine grasps it. Now I stand,
My woman-weakness nerved to strength divine.
We'll quaff life's aloe-cup as though 'twere wine,
Each to the other; journeying on apart,
Till at heaven's golden doors we two leap heart to heart.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] From Kingsley's _Saint's Tragedy_. Elizabeth, Princess of Bohemia,
the most sincere among the mistaken devotee saints of the middle ages,
renounced her royal state, her husband and children, and spent her
life in the sternest asceticism, and in the most self-denying acts of
charity.

A MAN-OF-WAR, OR A MAN OF PEACE.

It will probably be remembered that, a few years ago, a great
excitement was caused by the discovery of vast deposits of guano upon
the island of Ichaboe, situated on the west coast of Africa. The
remarkable fertilising qualities of guano gave it great value as an
article of commerce, and a large number of vessels were despatched
from various ports to take in cargoes at the island. It was computed
that at one time not less than 500 vessels were lying off Ichaboe, and
as there was no settled authority to regulate the trade of the place,
a scene of indescribable confusion and tumult soon presented itself.
The crews of several of the ships having established themselves upon
the table-land at the top of the island (the island being little more
than a huge rock, rising with almost perpendicular cliffs from the
ocean), a dispute arose between them and their captains, which soon
proceeded to open mutiny on the part of the men. The only access to
their position being by long ladders, the men set their masters at
defiance, and held possession of their stronghold, which was
inaccessible, except by permission of the mutineers. The captains
despa