MORTALITY. Yea; hope and despondence, and pleasure and pain, And the smile, and the tear, and the song, and the dirge, "Tis the twink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath, Grief was sent thee for thy good. KNOX. SOME there are who seem exempted Checks her infant's wayward mood, Wisdom lurks in ev'ry trial Grief was sent thee for thy good. In the scenes of former pleasure, Let no impious thought intrude, Grief was sent thee for thy good. THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY. The Land which no Mortal may know. THOUGH Earth has full many a beautiful spot, As a poet or painter might show, Yet more lovely and beautiful, holy and bright, To the hopes of the heart, and the spirit's glad sight, Is the land that no mortal may know. There the crystalline stream bursting forth from the throne, Flows on, and for ever will flow; Its waves, as they roll, are with melody rife, And its waters are sparkling with beauty and life, In the land which no mortal may know. And there, on its margin, with leaves ever green, Of the land which no mortal may know. There, too, are the lost! whom we loved on this earth, There the pale orb of night, and the fountain of day, But the presence of HIM, the unchanging I AM! Light the land which no mortal may know. ફો THE LAND WHICH NO MORTAL MAY KNOW. Oh! who but must pine, in this dark vale of tears, From its clouds and its shadows to go? To walk in the light of the glory above, And to share in the peace, and the joy, and the love, Of the land which no mortal may know. Life. BERNARD BARTON. We are born; we laugh; we weep; We love; we droop; we die! Why do we live, or die? Who knows that secret deep? Alas, not I! Why doth the violet spring Unseen by human eye? Why do the radiant seasons bring Sweet thoughts that quickly fly? Why do our fond hearts cling To things that die? We toil-through pain and wrong; We fight-and fly; We love; we lose; and then, ere long, Stone-dead we lie. O life! is all thy song "Endure and-die?" BARRY CORNWALL. Human Life. How long shall man's imprison'd spirit groan And all that can be known, alas! is nothing worth. Untaught by saint, by cynic, or by sage, And all the spoils of time that load their shelves, We do not quit, but change our joys in age— Joys framed to stifle thought, and lead us from ourselves. The drug, the cord, the steel, the flood, the flame, Turmoil of action, tedium of rest, And lust of change, though for the worst, proclaim How dull life's banquet is: how ill at ease the guest. Known were the bill of fare before we taste, Who would not spurn the banquet and the board Prefer the eternal, but oblivious fast, To life's frail-fretted thread, and death's suspended sword? He that the topmost stone of Babel plann'd, And he that braved the crater's boiling bed Did these a clearer, closer view command Of heaven or hell, we ask, than the blind herd they led? + HUMAN LIFE. Or he that in Valdarno did prolong The night her rich star-studded page to read— Could he point out, midst all that brilliant throng, His fix'd and final home, from fleshy thraldom freed? Minds that have scann'd creation's vast domain, And secrets solved, till then to sages seal'd, Whilst nature own'd their intellectual reign Extinct, have nothing known or nothing have reveal'd. Devouring grave! we might the less deplore The extinguish'd lights that in thy darkness dwell, Wouldst thou, from that last zodiac, one restore, That might the enigma solve, and doubt, man's tyrant, quell. To live in darkness-in despair to die Is this indeed the boon to mortals given? Is there no port-no rock of refuge nigh? There is to those who fix their anchor-hope in heaven. Turn then, O man! and cast all else aside: Direct thy wandering thoughts to things aboveLow at the cross bow down-in that confide, Till doubt be lost in faith, and bliss secured in love. C. C. COLTON |