roke
All over her face, and she took my hand
And drew me near and spoke:

"_The Highlanders!_ Oh! dinna ye hear
The slogan far awa--
The McGregor's? Ah! I ken it weel;
It's the grandest o' them a'.

"God bless thae bonny Highlanders!
We're saved! we're saved!" she cried:
And fell on her knees, and thanks to God
Pour'd forth, like a full flood-tide.

Along the battery-line her cry
Had fallen among the men:
And they started, for they were there to die:
Was life so near them then?

They listen'd, for life: and the rattling fire
Far off, and the far-off roar
Were all:--and the colonel shook his head,
And they turn'd to their guns once more.

Then Jessie said--"That slogan's dune;
But can ye no hear them, noo,--
_The Campbells are comin'?_ It's no a dream;
Our succours hae broken through!"

We heard the roar and the rattle afar
But the pipes we could not hear;
So the men plied their work of hopeless war,
And knew that the end was near.

It was not long ere it must be heard,--
A shrilling, ceaseless sound:
It was no noise of the strife afar,
Or the sappers underground.

It _was_ the pipes of the Highlanders,
And now they play'd "_Auld Lang Syne_:"
It came to our men like the voice of God,
And they shouted along the line.

And they wept and shook one another's hands,
And the women sobb'd in a crowd:
And every one knelt down where we stood,
And we all thank'd God aloud.

That happy day when we welcomed them,
Our men put Jessie first;
And the General took her hand, and cheers
From the men, like a volley, burst.

And the pipers' ribbons and tartan stream'd
Marching round and round our line;
And our joyful cheers were broken with tears,
For the pipes play'd "_Auld Lang Syne_."

A BALLAD OF WAR.

BY MENELLA BUTE SMEDLEY.

(By permission of Messrs. Isbister & Co.)

"Oh! were you at war in the red Eastern land?
What did you hear, and what did you see?
Saw you my son, with his sword in his hand?
Sent he, by you, any dear word to me?"

"I come from red war, in that dire Eastern land;
Three deeds saw I done one might well die to see;
But I know not your son with his sword in his hand;
If you would hear of him, paint him to me."