e blackened hook,
And hey! for the sweets of home!

But--curtains down and an elbow hug;
A maid that comes to a look;
A boy to carry a rimy log
From over the frozen brook--
And, a fig for the cawing rook,
Or ghosts in the ruddy gloam!
For the kettle sings on the blackened hook,
And hey! for the sweets of home!

_Envoi._

And yet--or I be mistook--
To a friend the cup should foam;
For the kettle sings on the blackened hook,
And hey! for the sweets of home!

_H. S. M._

A CATCH BY THE HEARTH.

Sing we all merrily
Christmas is here,
The day that we love best
Of days in the year.

Bring forth the holly,
The box, and the bay,
Deck out our cottage
For glad Christmas-day.

Sing we all merrily,
Draw round the fire,
Sister and brother,
Grandson and sire.

SALLY IN OUR ALLEY.

When Christmas comes about again,
O then I shall have money;
I'll hoard it up, and box it all,
I'll give it to my honey:
I would it were ten thousand pound,
I'd give it all to Sally;
She is the darling of my heart,
And she lives in our alley.

_H. Carey._

LITTLE MOTHER.

A GERMAN FANCY.

Little mother, why must you go?
The children play by the white bedside,
The world is merry for Christmas-tide,
And what would you do in the falling snow?

They sleep by now in the ember-glow,
Hushed to dream in a child's delight,
For wonders happen on Christmas night:
Little mother, why must you go?

The flakes fall and the night grows late.
Oh, slender figure and small wet feet,
Where do you haste through the lamp-lit street,
And out and away by the fortress gate?

It is drear and chill where the dear lie dead,
Yet light enough with the snow to see;
But what would you do with that Christmas-tree
At the tiny mound that is baby's bed?

A Christmas-tree with its tinsel gold!
Oh, how should I not have a thought for thee,
When the children sleep in their dream of glee,
Poor little grave but a twelvemonth old!

Little mother, your heart is brave,
You kiss the cross in the drifted snow,
Kneel for a moment, rise and go
And leave your tree by the tiny grave.

While the living slept by the warm fireside,
And flakes fell white on your Christmas toy,
I think that its angel wept for joy
Be