nded train,
Soothing all passions, redeeming all errors,
Sheathing the saber and breaking the chain.

Born on the deluge of old usurpations,
Drifted our Ark o'er the desolate seas,
Bearing the rainbow of hope to the nations
Torn from the storm-cloud and flung to the breeze!

God bless the flag and its loyal defenders
While its broad folds o'er the battle-fields wave,
Till the dim star-wreaths rekindle its splendors
Washed from its stains in the blood of the brave!

--_Oliver Wendell Holmes._

[33] Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by
permission of the publishers.

LIFE.[34]

Forenoon and afternoon and night--Forenoon and afternoon and night,
Forenoon, and--what!
The empty song repeats itself. No more?
Yea, that is life: Make this forenoon sublime,
This afternoon a psalm, this night a prayer,
And Time is conquered and thy crown is won.

--_Edward Rowland Sill._

[34] Copyrighted by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reprinted by
permission of the publishers.

EIGHTH GRADE

HYMN TO THE NIGHT.

I heard the trailing garments of the Night
Sweep through her marble halls!
I saw her sable skirts all fringed with light
From the celestial walls!

I felt her presence, by its spell of might,
Stoop o'er me from above;
The calm, majestic presence of the Night,
As of the one I love.

I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight,
The manifold soft chimes,
That fill the haunted chambers of the Night,
Like some old poet's rhymes.

From the cool cisterns of the midnight air
My spirit drank repose;
The fountain of perpetual peace flows there--
From those deep cisterns flows.

O holy Night! from thee I learn to bear
What man has borne before!
Thou layest thy finger on the lips of Care,
And they complain no more.

Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer!
Descend with broad-winged flight,
The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair,
The best beloved Night!

--_Longfellow._

THE BUILDERS.

All are architects of Fate,
Working in these walls of Time;
Some with massive deeds and great,
Some with ornaments of rhyme.

Nothing useless is, or low;
Each thing in its place is best;
And what seems b