Be gather'd like a scroll within the

tomb

Unread forever.

This is life to come,

Which martyr'd men have made more glorious

For us who strive to follow. May I reach

That purest heaven, be to other souls The cup of strength in some great

agony,

Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love,
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty,
Be the sweet presence of a good diffus'd,
And in diffusion ever more intense!
So shall I join the choir invisible,
Whose music is the gladness of the
world.

-George Eliot.

I

DAFFODILS

WANDERED lonely as a cloud

crowd,

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a

A host of golden daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I, at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;
A poet could not but be gay

In such a jocund company;

I gazed-and gazed-but little thought What wealth the show to me had

brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.

-William Wordsworth.

D

UP HILL

OES the road lead up hill all the way?

Yes, to the very end. Will the day's journey take the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a restingplace?

A roof for when the slow dark hours

begin?

May not the darkness hide it from my face?

You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before.

Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?

They will not keep you standing at the door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

Of labor you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who

seek?

Yea, beds for all who come.

-Christian G. Rossetti.

BELIEVE ME, IF ALL THOSE ENDEARING YOUNG

B

CHARMS

ELIEVE me, if all those endearing young charms,

Which I gaze on so fondly

to-day,

Were to change by to-mor

row, and fleet in my arms,

Like fairy-gifts fading away!

Thou wouldst still be adored as at this moment thou art,

Let thy loveliness fade as it will, And around the dear ruin each wish of my heart

Would entwine itself verdantly still. It is not while beauty and youth are thine own,

And thy cheeks unprofaned by a tear, That the fervor and faith of a soul may be known,

To which time will but make thee more dear!

O the heart that has truly loved never forgets,

But as truly loves on to the close, As the sunflower turns to her god when

he sets

The same look which she turned when

he rose.

-Thomas Moore.