in his sixteenth year.

MY MUCKLE MEAL POCK.

There 's some can be happy and bide whar they are,
There 's ithers ne'er happy unless they gang far;
But aft do I think I 'm an easy auld stock,
While I 'm joggin' about wi' my muckle meal pock.

Though noo I be auld, abune four score and aucht,
Though my pow it be bauld and my craig be na straucht,
Yet frae mornin' till e'en--aye as steady 's a rock--
I gang joggin' about wi' my muckle meal pock.

Just our ain parish roond, and nae mair I gang through,
And when at the end I begin it anew;
There isna' a door but wad blythely unlock,
To welcome me ben wi' my muckle meal pock.

There isna' a hoose but I micht mak' my hame,
There isna' an auld wife wad think me to blame,
Though I open'd the door without gieing a knock,
And cam' ben to the fire wi' my muckle meal pock.

As ony newspaper they say I 'm as gweed,
And better, say some, for they hinna to read;
The lads and the lasses around me a' flock,
And there 's no ane forgets that I hae a meal pock.

The gudeman he speaks about corn and lan',
"Hoo 's the markets," says he, "are they risen or fa'en?
Or is this snawie weather the roads like to chock?"
But the gudewife aye spiers for my muckle meal pock.

To be usefu' to her I haud sticks on the fire,
Or whan to the milkin' she gangs to the byre,
She 'll gie me a hand o' the cradle to rock,
And for that she 's aye gude to my muckle meal pock.

Though my friends a' be gane whar I yet hae to gang,
And o' followin' them noo I canna be lang,
Yet while I am here I will lauch and I 'll joke,
For I 'll aye find a friend in my muckle meal pock.

JAMES HENDERSON.

A poet of much elegance and power, James Henderson was born on the 2d
November 1824, on the banks of the river Carron, in the village of Denny
and county of Stirling. In his tenth year, he proceeded to Glasgow,
where he was employed in mercantile concerns. Strongly influenced by
sentiments of patriotism, and deeply imbued with the love of nature in
its ever varying aspects, he found relaxation from business in the
composition of verses. In 1848 he published a thin octavo volume,
entitled "Glimpses of the Beautiful, and other Poems," which was much
commended by the periodical and newspaper press. Having proceeded to
India in 1849, he became a commission agent in Calcutta.