Lead her from the festive boards, By your truth she shall be true,— Shall be Yes forevermore. -Elizabeth Barrett Browning. NEATNESS. I love to see thy gentle hand The household things around thy home, And then thy own trim, modest form Is always neatly clad; Thou sure wilt make the tidiest wife No costly splendors needest thou, THE LARGESS OF THY LOVE. The lark that nestles nearest earth Doth mount on lark-like wings. All measure, in its blessing, is Merry as laughter 'mong the hills, The queen-moon, in her starry bower, A dewier splendor fills the flower, My heart may sometimes blind mine eyes Yet feels no pang for thee, beloved, But all the more endears; And if life comes with cross and care, I know thou'lt half the burden bear, And I am strong once more. LUCY. Lucy is a golden girl; -Gerald Massey. But a man, a man, should woo her! They who seek her shrink aback, When they should, like storms, pursue her. All her smiles are hid in light; All her hair is lost in splendor; But she hath the eyes of Night, And a heart that's over-tender. Yet, the foolish suitors fly (Is't excess of dread or duty?) From the starlight of her eye, Leaving to neglect her beauty! Men by fifty seasons taught Leave her to a young beginner, Who, without a second thought, Whispers, woos, and straight must win her. Lucy is a golden girl! Toast her in a goblet brimming! May the man that wins her wear On his heart the rose of women! -Barry Cornwall. CHERRY RIPE. Cherry ripe, ripe, ripe! I cry, They do grow ?-I answer, There, -Robert Herrick. ALEXIS CALLS ME CRUEL. (FROM THE SPANISH OF IGLESIAS.) Alexis calls me cruel : The rifted crags that hold When even the very blossoms I would that I could utter My feelings without shame, Alas! to seize the moment If man come not to gather The roses where they stand, They fade among their foliage,They can not seek his hand. |