For cooking and eating,
Preserved or raw,

Its virtues are priceless,
A gem without flaw !

Then, here's to the apple,
Green, golden, or red!

That graces the orchard
When summer has fled :

The joy of our childhood!

The pleasure of age!

The song of the poet !

The theme of the sage !

Composed at Brawby Lodge, January 4, 1897.

JEHOVAH-JIREH.

GENESIS xxii. 14.

THOSE strong, brave words of Abraham,
So full of faith and cheer!

Still shine from out the night of time
With lustre sweet and clear.

Though thrice a thousand years have flown,

Since that supreme event;

When, tested on the altar stone,

His faith through trial went,

Yet, still they speak as cheerful now,
From out the sacred page;

As they have done in days of yore,
To each successive age,

And tell us of abiding trust
Upon a Father's care,--
That teaches mortals of the dust,
To hope and not despair.

Then let us in temptation's hour,
Our need to God confide;
And say with faithful Abraham,
'Jehovah will provide !'

Composed at Brawby Lodge, January 4-5, 1897.

AMY.

AMY, beloved, sweet thy name !

Like music to mine ears!
And sweet thy memory has been,
Through many lonely years.

How womanly thy gentle love!
So tender and so true!
It seems to me but yesterday

Since I that rapture knew.

Yet years have sped away since then
In swift and silent flight!-
As morning heralds in the noon;
And noon the eve and night.

Still yet there lives the thought of thee,
As in the days gone by !-
And thus thy winsome influence,
Hath charms that cannot die ;

For love is such a sacred thing!
Unselfish and sublime!

And comes to us mysteriously,

A blessing for all time!

Composed at Brawby Lodge, January 9, 1897.

THE COMMEMORATION

DAY OF QUEEN

VICTORIA'S SIXTY YEARS' REIGN, JUNE

22, 1897.

HAIL, gentle lady, Britain's Queen!

Whom sixty years as monarch

The British race has seen.

On this historic morning,

Thy record reign adorning.

May blessings on thee beam!

*

For never such a Sovereign,

Sat on our throne before,
Though we have been a nation,

A thousand years or more!—
As mother and as ruler,

As matron, wife, and maid,
Thy wisdom, love, and honour,
A glorious path has made!
In family joys, and home life,
In Council, and in Court;
Therefore thy subjects love thee,
Thou Queen of good report !—
And children of thine Empire,
Who rest beneath thy sway,
Are gathered from all quarters,
Throughout the world to-day;
To do thee heartfelt homage!—

To praise thy royal worth!—
Victoria, Queen and Empress !-
The greatest Queen of earth!-

Then heartily, my brothers,

Join in the festal throng!

Throw out the arms of welcome

To those who've journeyed long, From Canada and India,

Australia and the Cape,

*

New Zealand and the Islands

Which help the Empire make ;Who gathered are to London.

On this eventful day,

The triumph of old England,
To witness and display.—
Up with the Royal Standard

For castle, court, and seat !-
Throw out a million banners
O'er every crowded street!
Flock to our grand Metropolis
The pageant bright to see!-
'Twill live for ever in your minds
A cherished memory!—

Our noble sailor laddies,—

The flower of all the fleet !

Will with their soldier brothers,— So handsome, brave, and neat! March in a grand procession,

In honour of our Queen, With bands of music playing At intervals between.

And princes to this triumph,

Their brilliant suites shall bring,

From Europe and from Asia;

Which round the day shall fling