pt upon the grateful floor
In silent gladness evermore.

The ivy felt a tremor shoot
Through all its fibres to the root;
It felt the light, it saw the ray,
It strove to blossom into day.

It grew, it crept, it pushed, it clomb--
Long had the darkness been its home;
But well it knew, though veiled in night,
The goodness and the joy of light.

Its clinging roots grew deep and strong;
Its stem expanded firm and long;
And in the currents of the air
Its tender branches flourished fair.

It reached the beam--it thrilled--it curled--
It blessed the warmth that cheers the world;
It rose towards the dungeon bars--
It looked upon the sun and stars.

It felt the life of bursting Spring,
It heard the happy sky-lark sing.
It caught the breath of morns and eves,
And wooed the swallow to its leaves.

By rains, and dews, and sunshine fed,
Over the outer wall it spread;
And in the day-beam waving free,
It grew into a steadfast tree.

Upon that solitary place,
Its verdure threw adorning grace.
The mating birds became its guests,
And sang its praises from their nests.

Wouldst know the moral of the rhyme?
Behold the heavenly light! and climb.
To every dungeon comes a ray
Of God's interminable day.

THE GARDEN OF EDEN.

ONE day little Alice hung about her mother's neck covering her
cheeks with kisses, and saying in her pretty, childish way,

"I love you, you nice, sweet mother! You are good--so good!" But her
mother answered earnestly,

"Dear child, God is good; if I have any good it is from Him; He has
given it to me; it is not mine."

Then the little one unclasped her caressing arms, and putting back
her hair with both hands gazed with a look of surprise into her
mother's face.

Presently she said--"But if He has given it to you, it is yours."

"No, darling," replied the lady, "you do not quite understand.
Listen. Suppose your dear father had a great garden full of all most
beautiful things that ever grew in gardens, and he should say to
you--'Come and live in my garden; you shall have as much ground as
you are able to cultivate, and I will give you seeds of all fruits
and flowers you love best, as many as you want. Here no evil thing
can ever come to harm you, but every day you will grow happier and
stronger, and then I will give you more ground and more seeds, and
you shall live with me for ever!' Suppose you were so glad to hear
t