rew a little fern-leaf, green and slender,
Veining delicate and fibres tender;
Waving when the wind crept down so low.
Rushes tall, and moss, and grass grew round it,
Playful sunbeams darted in and found it,
Drops of dew stole in by night, and crowned it,
But no foot of man e'er trod that way;
Earth was young, and keeping holiday.

Monster fishes swam the silent main,
Stately forests waved their giant branches,
Mountains hurled their snowy avalanches,
Mammoth creatures stalked across the plain;
Nature revelled in grand mysteries,
But the little fern was not of these,
Did not number with the hills and trees;
Only grew and waved its wild sweet way,
None ever came to note it day by day.

Earth one time put on a frolic mood,
Heaved the rocks and changed the mighty motion
Of the deep, strong currents of the ocean;
Moved the plain and shook the haughty wood,
Crushed the little fern in soft moist clay,--
Covered it, and hid it safe away.
O the long, long centuries since that day!
O the agony! O life's bitter cost,
Since that useless little fern was lost!

Useless? Lost? There came a thoughtful man
Searching Nature's secrets, far and deep;
From a fissure in a rocky steep
He withdrew a stone, o'er which there ran
Fairy pencilings, a quaint design,
Veinings, leafage, fibres clear and fine,
And the fern's life lay in every line!
So, I think, God hides some souls away,
Sweetly to surprise us, the last day.

AN EXCITING CANOE RACE

_By_ J. FENIMORE COOPER

The heavens were still studded with stars when Hawkeye[79-1] came to
arouse the sleepers. Casting aside their cloaks, Munro[79-2] and
Heyward[79-3] were on their feet while the woodsman was still making his
low calls at the entrance of the rude shelter where they had passed the
night. When they issued from beneath its concealment, they found the
scout awaiting their appearance nigh by, and the only salutation between
them was the significant gesture for silence made by their sagacious
leader.

"Think over your prayers," he whispered, as they approached him; "for He
to whom you make them knows all tongues; that of the heart, as well as
those of the mouth. But speak not a syllable; it is rare for a white
voice to pitch itself properly in the woods. Come," he continued,