ral thing, but even the reverse, as her own mother is said to
have stated, who is no more, being a Christian woman and without guile,
as it were, or property, in consequence of the fire of 1849, which
destroyed every single thing she had in the world. But such is life. Let
us all take warning by this solemn occurrence, and let us endeavour so
to conduct ourselves that when we come to die we can do it. Let us place
our hands upon our hearts, and say with earnestness and sincerity that,
from this day forth, we will beware of the intoxicating bowl.

"FOREVER"
[Sidenote: _Calverley_]

Forever; 'tis a single word!
Our rude forefathers deem'd it two:
Can you imagine so absurd
A view?

Forever! What abysms of woe
The word reveals, what frenzy, what
Despair! For ever (printed so)
Did not.

It looks, ah me! how trite and tame!
It fails to sadden or appal
Or solace--it is not the same
At all.

O thou to whom it first occurr'd
To solder the disjoin'd, and dower
Thy native language with a word
Of power:

We bless thee! Whether far or near
Thy dwelling, whether dark or fair
Thy kingly brow, is neither here
Nor there.

But in men's hearts shall be thy throne
While the great pulse of England beats,
Thou coiner of a word unknown
To Keats!

And nevermore must printer do
As men did long ago; but run
"For" into "ever," bidding two
Be one.

Forever! passion-fraught, it throws
O'er the dim page a gloom, a glamour
It's sweet, it's strange; and I suppose
It's grammar.

Forever! 'Tis a single word!
And yet our fathers deem'd it two:
Nor am I confident they err'd;
Are you?

OPEN AIR
[Sidenote: _Thoreau_]

My spirits infallibly rise in proportion to the outward dreariness. Give
me the ocean, the desert or the wilderness! In the desert, pure air and
solitude compensate for want of moisture and fertility. The traveller
Burton says of it: "Your _morale_ improves; you become frank and
cordial, hospitable and single-minded.... In the desert, spirituous
liquors excite only disgust. There is a keen enjoyment in a mere animal
existence." They who have been travelling long on the steppes of Tartary
say: "On re-entering cultivated lands, the agitation, perplexity, and
turmoil of civilisation oppressed and suffocated us; the air seemed to
fail us, and we felt every moment as if about to die of asp