gher nobleness, and
for higher appreciation of it when enacted in their behalf!

* * * * *

GUERDON.

Every life has been a battle
That has won a noble guerdon--
Every soul that furls its pinions
In proud Fame's serene dominions,
Wearily has borne its burden.

Through long years of toil and darkness,
Years of trial and of sorrow--
Days of longing, nigh to madness,
Nights of such deep, rayless sadness,
Hope herself scarce dared to-morrow.

Therefore bear up, O brave toiler
In the world's benighted places!
Though Truth's glory light your forehead,
Purer souls than yours have sorrowed,
Tears have flowed on angel-faces.

Therefore, bear up, O ye toilers!
Teachers of the earth's dull millions.
_Keep_ Truth's glory on each forehead,
And the way so blank and sorrowed
Shall lead on to heaven's pavilions.

* * * * *

LITERARY NOTICES

LEISURE HOURS IN TOWN. By the Author of 'The Recreations of a Country
Parson.' Boston: Ticknor and Fields. 1862.

'The Country Parson' is one of those writers whose hap it generally is
to be overpraised by friendly reviewers, and unduly castigated by those
who appreciate their short-comings. Incurably limited to a certain range
of ideas, totally incapable of mastering the great circle of thought,
unpleasantly egotistical, jaunty, and priggish, he is any thing but
attractive to the large-hearted cosmopolite and scholar of broad views,
while even to many more general readers, he appears as a man whom one
would rather read than be. On the other hand, the generous critic,
remembering that small minds must exist, and that great excellence may
be developed within extremely confined bounds, will perhaps take our
Parson cordially for just what he is, and do justice to his many
excellencies.

And they are indeed many, the principal being a humanity, a
sensitiveness to the sufferings of others, and a tenderness which causes
keen regret that we can not 'just for once,' by a few amiable
pen-strokes, give him nothing but praise, and thereby leave him, by
implication, as one of the million _ne plus ultra_ authors so common--in
reviews. We can hardly recall a writer who to so much firmness and real
energy, allies such warm sympathy for suffering in its every form. The
trials and troubles of young people awake in him a pity and a noble
generosity which, could they be impre