TREES FOR THE PILGRIM'S WREATH. Knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope; and hope maketh not ashamed. ROMANS, V., 3-5. TRIBULATION, if by loss, Or by thorny gain, the cross, Thou art not a barren tree, Seeds of Patience drop from thee. Patience, bitter from thy root, Broad Experience, rank and dark; Hope, we're not ashamed, with thee When thy branches shoot and bloom Trees, whereof the Pilgrim weaves, For his crown, the mingled leaves, Wreaths of you are rich and bright; Earth's the shade, and Heaven's the light. H. F. GOULD. SONG OF HOPE. THERE is a hope, a radiant hope, That warms the heart of youth; And bids it deem this vale of tears A Paradise of truth. It tells of firm, devoted love That knows not how to change; Of faithful and enduring friends, Who grow not cold and strange; Of sunny days and starry nights On life's untroubled sea: Such was the first delusive hope There is a hope, more dazzling still, That glads our riper years: With stirring, busy images The eager mind it cheers. It tells of scenes of courtly state, The coronal of flashing gems, The wreath of envied bays. Amid earth's great and gifted ones It bids us proudly be: Such was the second cheating hope That cast a spell o'er me. There is a hope divine and pure, It dwells upon a glorious land, Beyond the vaulted skies; And bids us lift our chastened thoughts Earth's vanities above: It aids us to support the loss Of human faith and love; It tells us of a future life With spirits blest and free: Such is my last, best hope, O Lord! A hope that rests on Thee. MRS. ABDY. THE SOLITARY MAN. He had not sought the joy sublime, His fondly-cherished hopes had fled; And peace to him was past recall, He lived, while those he loved were dead! His spirit bowed not in his grief For balm, before his Father's throne: From sympathy he shunned relief, And moved in crowds, but felt alone. He bent his footsteps to the tomb, A sad and solitary man ; And there, 'mid silence, death, and gloom, To kindred dust his plaint began: |