Then with a smile that filled the house with

light,

'My errand is not Death, but Life,' he said, And ere I answered, passing out of sight, On his celestial embassy he sped.

'Twas at thy door, O friend! and not at mine, The angel with the amaranthine wreath Pausing descended, and with voice divine, Whisper'd a word that had a sound like Death.

Then fell upon that house a sudden gloom,
A shadow on those features fair and thin;
And softly from that hush'd and darken'd room,
Two angels issued where but one went in.

All is of God! If He but wave his hand.
The mists collect, the rain falls thick and
loud,

Till with a smile of light on sea and land,
Lo! He looks back from the departing cloud.

Angels of Life and Death alike are his;

Without his leave they pass no threshold o'er;

Who then would wish or dare, believing this, Against his messengers to shut the door?

ON HEARING THE BELLS RING THE OLD YEAR OUT AND THE NEW YEAR IN.

HARK to the merry chime! they tell of olden time,

Of the sere and stern Old Year, with its joys and with its cares,

And the green and gay New Year, with its hope and with its fear.

Hark to the merry chime!

List to the merry bells! they open memory's cells,

And bid our hearts rejoice over mercies rich and rare,

And our sorrows and our trials they bid them not appear.

List to the merry bells!

Ring on, ye merry bells! ye act on me like spells Of youth's bright fleeting hours with their joyous tones of mirth,

And our pleasant communings with the loved ones of earth.

Ring on, ye merry bells!

Oh, cease, ye merry bells! ye sound to me as

knells

Of the sweet and fair young faces now rejoicing with the blest,

And the loved ones of our hearts now reposing and at rest.

Cease, cease, ye merry bells!

J. M. BURTON AND CO., PRINTERS, IPSWICH.