If rivers are but seeking rest,

Ev'n when they climb from ocean's breast

To plant on earth the rose;

If good for good is doubly bless'd;

Oh, let the sever'd east and west

In action find repose!

Yes, let the wilderness rejoice,

The voiceless champaign hear the voice
Of millions long estranged;

That waste, and want, and war may cease!
And all men know, That Love and Peace
Are-Good for Good Exchanged!

GRACE BEFORE MEAT.

WE thank Thee, Lord, for this our food,
By honest, useful efforts won:
Requite us still with good for good!
So let thy will on earth be done.

GRACE AFTER MEAT.

LORD, Thou hast given, oh, ever give
The food by which thy children live!
Blessings to them who blessings earn,
Not ill for ill, wilt Thou return.

EPITAPH ON A SKILFUL WORKMAN.

No column's capital lies shatter'd here; Reader! a column's base demands thy tear.

HE IS NOT HERE.

I FOUND him in his sleep unending,
And could not shed a tear;

I kiss'd his lips, long o'er him bending,
And sobb'd, "He is not here."

Men bore him to the home of sleepers;
I walk'd behind the bier;

Around him many were the weepers;
I sobb'd, "He is not here."

I sought the place where he was sleeping,
When none but we were near;

I knelt upon his grave-stone weeping,
And sigh'd, "He is not here."

BEWARE OF DOGMAS.

Two pilgrims, broiling in the sun,

Did once to Glasgow come.

Each had but twopence. James bought rum,

With all his cash; and Charles a bun—
Of his two pennies saving one.

Charles died of fever in a week!

James lives and thrives, is stout and sleek,

And keeps, abjuring rum and gin,

A Temperance inn.*

* While Temperance is practised by all freetraders, Teetotal is preached by almost every advocate of the monopolists. To the latter, anything but the right thing is the one thing needful. Their legislation prohibits hope; and as a rule, scarcely admitting an exception, it may be said that drunkenness is despair. I never met with a teetotalist who could fathom the profundity of their stock argument, "That strong liquors would not be drunk if nobody drank them;" nor with one who could give a good reason why alcohol should not be sold without license, as other poisons are. Few persons take aquafortis in excess; I am a waterdrinker because I find that alcohol is injurious to me; but I am not an interdicter of alcohol to those whom it blesses; and they are many! Even to me, after much toil, a chrystal of it, melted in a calm cup of rest, is a great blessing.

WHO HATH A DEVIL?

WRONGS, in themselves, are feeble weeds,
And yet how fast they grow!

For slaves make tyrants, and the seeds
Of all that tyrants sow.

Weeds, tyrants know, wherever sown,
Will clothe in weeds the sod:

Therefore they say, "Man, mind thy own,
And leave the rest to God."

But God hath will'd that wretched man
Shall work while it is day,

And help his brethren, if he can,

Along their painful way;

Nor fail to plant, as on he goes

From humble door to door,
Soul-featured Beauty's pink or rose,
To bless and raise the poor.

LET ME REST.

He does well who does his best:

Is he weary? let him rest:
Brothers! I have done my best,

I am weary-let me rest.

After toiling oft in vain,
Baffled, yet to struggle fain;
After toiling long, to gain
Little good with mickle pain;
Let me rest-But lay me low,
Where the hedgeside roses blow;
Where the little daisies grow,
When the winds a-maying go;
Where the footpath rustics plod;
Where the breeze-bow'd poplars nod;
Where the old woods worship God;
Where His pencil paints the sod;
Where the wedded throstle sings;
Where the young bird tries his wings;
Where the wailing plover swings
Near the runlet's rushy springs !
Where, at times, the tempest's roar,
Shaking distant sea and shore,
Still will rave old Barnesdale o'er;
To be heard by me no more!
There, beneath the breezy west,
Tired and thankful, let me rest,
Like a child, that sleepeth best
On its gentle mother's breast.