From the neighbouring school Come the boys, With more than their wonted noise And commotion; And down the wet streets Sail their mimic fleets, In the country on every side, Where far and wide, Like a leopard's tawny and spotted hide, To the dry grass and the drier grain In the furrowed land The toilsome and patient oxen stand; The clover-scented gale, And the vapours that arise From the well-watered and smoking soil. For this rest in the furrow after toil Their large and lustrous eyes Seem to thank the Lord, More than man's spoken word. Near at hand, From under the sheltering trees, The farmer sees His pastures and his fields of grain, As they bend their tops To the numberless beating drops Of the incessant rain. He counts it as no sin That he sees therein Only his own thrift and gain.-Longfellow. LESS. XCVII.—EARTH'S VOICES. The leaf-tongues of the forest, and the flower-lips of the sod, The birds that hymn their raptures in the ear of God, The summer-wind that bringeth music o'er land and sea, Have each a voice that singeth this sweet song of songs to me: "This world is full of beauty, as angel-worlds above, And if we did our duty it might be full of love." Night's starry tendernesses dower with glory evermore, Morn's budding-bright melodious hour comes sweetly as of yore; But there be million hearts accurst, where no sweet sunbeams shine, And there be million hearts athirst for love's immortal wine. This world is full of beauty, as angel-worlds above, And if we did our duty it might be full of love. Gerald Massey. LESS. XCVIII.-LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS. The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against a stormy sky LESS. XCVIII.] LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS. And the heavy night hung dark The hills and waters o'er, When a band of exiles moored their bark On the wild New England shore. Not as the conqueror comes, They, the true hearted, came, Not as the flying come, In silence and in fear They shook the depths of the desert's gloom Amidst the storm they sang, And the stars heard and the sea! And the sounding aisles of the dim wood rang The ocean-eagle soared From his nest by the white waves' foam, There were men with hoary hair Why had they come to wither there, Away from their childhood's land? There was manhood's brow, serenely high, What sought they thus afar? T 205 The wealth of seas, the spoils of war? The soil where first they trod! They have left unstained what there they found— LESS. XCIX.-A BIRD'S NEST. It wins my admiration To view the structure of that little work A bird's nest. Mark it well, within, without; No glue to join ;-his little beak was all; LESS. C.-MORNING HYMN. Oh! timely happy, timely wise, New every morning is the love Our wakening and uprising prove; Through sleep and darkness safely brought, New mercies, each returning day, New perils past, new sins forgiven, New thoughts of God, new hopes of heaven. If on our daily course our mind New treasures still, of countless price, The trivial round, the common task, Seek we no more: content with these, Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love, LESS. CI.-EVENING HYMN. 'Tis gone, that bright and orbéd blaze, In darkness and in weariness The traveller on his way must press Sun of my soul! Thou Saviour dear, |