KERGUELEN'S LAND.

"'Down in the deep, with freight and crew,
Past any help she lies,
And never a bale has come to shore
Of all thy merchandise.

'For cloth o' gold and comely frieze,'
Winstanley said, and sigh'd,
'For velvet coif, or costly coat,
They fathoms deep may bide.

'O thou, brave skipper, blithe and kind,
O mariners bold and true,
Sorry at heart, right sorry am I,
A-thinking of yours and you.'"

"WINSTANLEY" (JEAN INGELOW).

"Father Albatross had been out all day, and was come home to the
island which gives its name to this story. He had only taken a short
flight, for his wife was hatching an egg, and he kept comparatively
near the island where her nest was situated. There was only one egg,
but parental affection is not influenced by numbers. There is always
love enough for the largest family, and everything that could be
desired in an only child, and Mother Albatross was as proud as if she
had been a hen sitting on a dozen.

"The Father Albatross was very considerate. Not only did he deny
himself those long flights which he and his mate had before so greatly
enjoyed, but he generally contrived to bring back from his shorter
trips some bits of news for her amusement. Their island home lay far
out of the common track of ships, but sometimes he sighted a distant
vessel, and he generally found something to tell of birds or fish,
whales or waterspouts, icebergs or storms. When there was no news he
discussed the winds and waves, as we talk of the weather and the
crops.

"Bits of news, like misfortunes, are apt to come together. The very
day on which the egg hatched, Father Albatross returned from his
morning flight so full of what he had seen, that he hardly paid any
attention to his mate's announcement of the addition to his family.

"'Could you leave the nest for a quarter of an hour, my dear?' he
asked.

"'Certainly not,' said Mother Albatross; 'as I have told you, the egg
is hatched at last.'

"'These things always happen at the least convenient moments,' said
the father bird. 'There's a ship within a mere wing-stretch, untold
miles out of her course, and going down. I came away just as she was
sinking, that you might have a chance of seeing her. It is a horrible
sight.'

"'It must be terrible to witness', she replied, 'and I would give
worlds to see it; but a mother's first duty is the nest, and it is
quite impossib