A MOTHER'S PRAYER

O MY lost darling, in thy new-found home,

God grant thou hearest not my sobbing

moan;

God grant thou thinkest not on me, alone;

Nor longest yet that I to thee shouldst

come.

Go, spread thy glittering wings before God's throne;

Go, veil thy face before the King of Kings;

But never heed my quivering earthly

moan,

Nor let my sighing thrill thy harp's gold

strings.

Yet think of me at times. I loved thee

SO.

And God is Love, and God alone doth

know

The depth and beauty of my love for

thee,

My darling, O, my darling, think of me!

META ORRED.

THE LOST CHILD

It was far to go for the little fellow, And I think it was dark out there, Away from the sunshine, warm and mellow,

That sweetened his earthly air.

It was far to go, it was dark I know, And it broke my heart that it should be so.

The distance between a joy and a joy,
Or between a star and a star,
Some measure like this we may employ,
Nor measure at last how far.

And they were not fleet, they were little

feet

That stumbled beside me in the street.

Oh, little fellow, dear little fellow,
Once, where the strange paths crossed
In magical woods of sunlit-yellow,

You, lagging behind, were lost-
Just a step aside; but I knew that wide
And terrified look, the day you died!

When it is day I can dissemble
And cover from sight my care,
But when it is dark, in tears I tremble,--
"What if he be lost out there?"

In my troubled sleep, I cower, I weep,
I am little and lost, and the dark is deep.

When the ghost moon steals down the mountain hollow

To glide through my window bars, I wake and pray to be dead, to follow His stumbles between the stars.

FANNY KEMBLE JOHNSON.

BEATI MUNDO CORDE

GOD's Angel passing o'er the world Saw one sweet poem well begun; And took it from this world of gloom To finish in an endless sun.

And though life's song was but half sung,
We knew that there, beyond the stars,

The song will finish at God's feet,
And grandest are the final bars.

ANONYMOUS.