Sweet dreams of hope that fairer shone 'mid the clouds of gloom that bound them,

As stars dart down their loveliest light, when midnight skies are round them.

'Tis true that thou wert young, my child, but though brief thy span below,

To me it was a little age of agony and woe;

For, from thy first faint dawn of life thy cheek began to fade,

And my heart had scarce thy welcome breathed, ere my hopes were wrapt in shade.

We laid thee down in thy sinless rest, and from thine infant brow

Culled one soft lock of radiant hair-our only solace

now

Then placed around thy beauteous corse, flowersnot more fair and sweet

Twin rose-buds in thy little hands, and jasmine at thy feet.

Though other offspring still be ours, as fair perchance as thou,

With all the beauty of thy cheek-the sunshine of thy brow

They never can replace the bud our early fondness nurst,

They may be lovely and beloved, but not, like thee the first!

The first! How many a memory bright that one sweet word can bring,

Of hopes that blossomed, drooped, and died, in life's delightful spring ;

Of fervid feelings passed away-those early seeds of bliss,

That germinate in hearts unseared by such a world as this!

JESUS.
Bernard.

JESUS! the very thought of thee
With sweetness fills the breast,
But sweeter far thy face to see,
And in thy presence rest.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame,
Nor can the memory find

A sweeter sound than Jesus' name,

The Saviour of mankind.

O hope of every contrite heart!

O joy of all the meek!

To those who fall, how kind thou art!
How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah! this
No tongue nor pen can show;
The love of Jesus-what it is,
None but his loved ones know.

THE VITALITY OF HOPE.

Benry Sutton.

I'VE watched the pale flower entreatingly bending
Its withering leaves to the streamlet below,
A tribute of fragrance all silently sending,

Far off with the streamlet, to sweeten its flow-
The sunlight had shone too long on its folding,
And the spray of the streamlet had nourished it
not;

But still, in the cup of its delicate moulding,

There lay a rich perfume to gladden its lot.

I've stood in the forest, while darkly around me
The shadows of evening were gathering fast,—
I've stood all alone, while something had bound
me,

Which came to the present, but lived in the past-
It seemed like a spirit from out the dark shadow
Of dreams, that have slept on oblivion's sea;
And slowly it came, through the valley and meadow,
To keep its sad trysting in silence with me.

But though the pale spirit had woke from its slumbers,

And thought with its magic crept into my brain, Though many a dirge came on with its numbers, And sorrow was living within me again—

Still, like the dark embers when fanned into glowing,
A halo was shed o'er the gloom of my life,
As darkly and swiftly the current was flowing,
Light came in the gloom, peace lived in the strife!

The heart may grow cold in its winter of sorrow,
Or parched in the glow of a sunnier day—
The past may be dark; but the sky of to-morrow
Is never bereft of its promising ray.
Hope flits with a will-o'-the-wisp-ing before us,
Still pointing, and guiding, wherever we go,
If swelling life's current- its rainbow is o'er us!
If ebbing too fast-there is hope in the flow!

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS.

James Montgomery.

FLOWERS, wherefore do ye bloom?
-We strew thy pathway to the tomb.

Stars, wherefore do ye rise ?

-To light thy spirit to the skies.

O Sun, what makes thy beams so bright?
-The Word that said, "Let there be light."

Nature, whence sprang thy glorious flame?
-My Maker called me, and I came.

O Light, thy subtle essence who may know ?
—Ask not; for all things but myself I show.

What is yon arch which everywhere I see?
-The sign of omnipresent Deity.

Winds, whence and whither do ye blow?
-Thou must be born again to know.

Bow in the cloud, what token dost thou bear? -That justice still cries "Strike," and mercy, "Spare."

Rise, glitter, break; yet, Bubble, tell me why? -To show the course of all beneath the sky.

Ocean, what law thy chainless waves confined? -That which in reason's limits holds thy mind.

Time, whither dost thou flee ?

-I travel to eternity.

Eternity, what art thou,-say?

-Time past, time present, time to come-to-day.

Ye Dead, where can your dwelling be?
-The house for all the living ;—come and see.

O Life, what is thy breath?

-A vapour lost in death.