I saw the green gnome sitting, with his cheek | And we saw the kirk before us, as we trotted upon his hand. down the fells, Then he started up to see me, and he ran with And nearer, clearer, o'er us, rang the welcome of He clasped me round the middle small, he kissed me on the cheek, He kissed me once, he kissed me twice, - I could not stir or speak; He kissed me twice, he kissed me thrice, but when he kissed again, I called aloud upon the name of Him who died for men. Sing, sing! ring, ring! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, rhyme! chime, rhyme! thorough dales and dells! Rhyme, ring! chime, sing! pleasant Sabbath bells! Chime, sing rhyme, ring! over fields and fells! O faintly, faintly, faintly, calling men and maids to pray, So faintly, faintly, faintly rang the bells far A pensive light from Faëryland still lingered on his cheek, His voice was like the running brook, when he began to speak ; "O, you have cast away the charm my step-dame put on me, Seven years I dwelt in Faëryland, and you have set me free. O, I will mount thy palfrey white, and ride to kirk with thee, And, by those little dewy eyes, we twain will wedded be!" Back we galloped, never stopping, he before and I behind, And the autumn leaves were dropping, red and yellow, in the wind: And the sun was shining clearer, and my heart was high and proud, As nearer, nearer, nearer rang the kirk bells sweet and loud, "The wind to the waves is calling, The moonlight is fading away; "The wind to the waves is calling, "The ocean is heaving and sobbing, The sea-mews scream in the spray ; And thy heart is wildly throbbing, Thou beautiful water-fay!" "My heart is wildly swelling, And it beats in burning truth; For I love thee past all telling, Thou beautiful mortal youth." HENRY HEINE (German). Translation of CHARLES G. LELAND. חח Comes he not forth more fresh and bright Where thine own face is beckoning thee The waters purled, the waters swelled, His heart a nameless transport held, She spake to him, she sang to him; Then all with him was o'er, Half drew she him, half sank he in, Some of these may be broken, and some may be rotten; But if twenty for accident should be detached, "Well, sixty sound eggs, Of these some may die, -we 'll suppose seventeen, "But then there's their barley: how much will Why, they take but one grain at a time when GOETHE. Translation of CHARLES T. BROOKS. So that's a mere trifle; now then, let us see, THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. A NIGHTINGALE, that all day long "Did you admire my lamp," quoth he, WILLIAM COWPER. "O, but stop, three-and-sixpence a pair I must sell 'em ; Well, a pair is a couple, -now then let us tell 'em ; it is That I can't reckon up so much money as this! guess, I'll say twenty pounds, and it can't be no less. "Twenty pounds, I am certain, will buy me a cow, Thirty geese, and two turkeys, -eight pigs and a sow; Now if these turn out well, at the end of the year, Forgetting her burden, when this she had said, descended, And so all her schemes for the future were ended. A temple for ages entombed, to disclose, The roll which this reptile's long history records, The sense by obscure hieroglyphics concealed, Half opened the other, but could not tell why; use; Awoke the next summer, and lo! it was loose. Crawled forth from the stone when completely awake; Crept into a corner and grinned at a snake. In the pleasant moist shade of a strawberry-bed. The gray moss and lichen creep over the mould, Lying loose on a ponderous stone. Now within this huge stone, like a king on his throne, A toad has been sitting more years than is known; And strange as it seems, yet he constantly deems The world standing still while he's dreaming his dreams, Does this wonderful toad, in his cheerful abode In the innermost heart of that flinty old stone, By the gray-haired moss and the lichen o'ergrown. Down deep in the hollow, from morning till night, Turned a ruined old mill-wheel around: Long years have passed by since its bed became dry, And the trees grow so close, scarce a glimpse of the sky Is seen in the hollow, so dark and so damp, Where the glow-worm at noonday is trimming his lamp, And hardly a sound from the thicket around, Where the rabbit and squirrel leap over the ground, Is heard by the toad in his spacious abode In the innermost heart of that ponderous stone, By the gray-haired moss and the lichen o'ergrown. Down deep in that hollow the bees never come, And the world's standing still with all of their | Up flew the endowment, not weighing an ounce, And down, down the farthing-worth came with a bounce. kind; Contented to dwell deep down in the well, Or move like the snail in the crust of his shell, Or live like the toad in his narrow abode, With their souls closely wedged in a thick wall of stone, By further experiments (no matter how) He found that ten chariots weighed less than one plough; By the gray weeds of prejudice rankly o'ergrown. A sword with gilt trapping rose up in the scale, MRS. R. S. NICHOLS. THE PHILOSOPHER'S SCALES. A MONK, when his rites sacerdotal were o'er, Perhaps it was only by patience and care, SCALES. Though balanced by only a ten-penny nail; Last of all, the whole world was bowled in at the grate, "What were they?" you ask. You shall pres- With the soul of a beggar to serve for a weight, ently see; These scales were not made to weigh sugar and tea. O no; for such properties wondrous had they, That qualities, feelings, and thoughts they could weigh, Together with articles small or immense, From mountains or planets to atoms of sense. Naught was there so bulky but there it would lay, The first thing he weighed was the head of Voltaire, When the former sprang up with so strong a rebuff That it made a vast rent and escaped at the roof! THE CALIPH AND SATAN. VERSIFIED FROM THOLUCK'S TRANSLATION OUT OF THE PERSIAN. IN heavy sleep the Caliph lay, The angry Caliph cried, "Who dare Then, from the corner of the room, One time he put in Alexander the Great, weight; And though clad in armor from sandals to crown, A long row of almshouses, amply endowed chest: "My name is Satan. Rise! obey Mohammed's law; awake, and pray." "Thy words are good," the Caliph said, "But their intent I somewhat dread. !" For matters cannot well be worse |