What shall preserve thee, beautiful child?
Keep thee as thou art now?
Bring thee, a spirit undefiled,
At God's pure throne to bow?
The world is but a broken reed,
And life grows early dim;

Who shall be near thee in thy need,
To lead thee up to Him?

He who himself was undefiled,"

With him we trust thee, beautiful child!

Reb. Charles Kingsley.

Born 1819.
Died 1875.

A POET, theologian, and novelist, and one of the most remarkable and philanthropic men of his age. He is chiefly known by his prose writings but his poetical talents are considerable. He was bore near Dartmoor in Devonshire, in 1819, and was intended for the profession of the law His tastes, however, led him to take orders in the church, in which he obtained the rectory of Eversley, made famous by its connection with his name. In 1859 he was appointed Professor of Modern History in

Cambridge University.

THREE FISHERS WENT SAILING.

Three fishers went sailing out into the west,
Out into the west, as the sun went down;
Each thought on the woman who loved him best,
And the children stood watching them out of the town
For men must work and women must weep,
And there's little to earn, and many to keep.
Though the harbour be moaning.

Three wives sat up in the light-house tower,
And they trimmed the lamps as the sun went down;
They looked at the squall, and they looked at the shower,
And the night-rack came rolling up ragged and brown.
But men must work and women must weep,
Though storms be sudden and waters deep,
And the harbour be moaning.

Three corpses lay out on the shining sands

In the morning gleam as the tide went down, And the women are weeping and wringing their hands, For those who will never come back to the town. For men must work and women must weep, And the sooner it's over the sooner to sleep, And good-bye to the bar and its moaning.

Gerald Massey.

Born 1828

BORN at Tring, in Hertfordshire, in 1828. He was in early life an errand. boy. He fought his way to distinction amid the greatest discouragements, and in 1854 established his name as a poet by the publication of the bal lad of "Babe Christabel and other Poems," which met with great success In 1856 he published "Craigcrook Castle," a volume which sustained his reputation; he is also a contributor to literary journals, and has adopted literature as his profession.

FROM "BABE CHRISTABEL."

AND thou hast stolen a jewel, Death!
Shall light thy dark up like a star,
A beacon kindling from afar

Our light of love, and fainting faith.

Through tears it gleams perpetually,

And glitters through the thickest glocms,
Till the eternal morning comes

To light us o'er the jasper sea.

With our best branch in tenderest leaf,

We've strewn the way our Lord doth come:

And, ready for the harvest home,

Ilis reapers bind our ripest sheaf.

Our beautiful bird of light hath fled:

Awhile she sat with folded wings-
Sang round us a few hoverings—

Then straightway into glory sped.

And white-winged angels nurture her;

With heaven's white radiance robed and crowned,
And all love's purple glory round,

She summers on the hills of myrrh.

Through childhood's morning-land, serene

She walked betwixt us twain, like love;
While, in a robe of light above,

fler better angel walked unseen,

Till life's highway broke bleak and wild;
Then, lest her starry garments trail
In mire, heart bleed, and courage fail,
The angel's arms caught up the child.

Her wave of life hath backward rolled

To the great ocean; on whose shore
We wander up and down, to store
Some treasures of the times of old:
And aye we seek and hunger on

For precious pearls and relics rare,
Strewn on the sands for us to wear
At heart for love of her that's gone.

O weep no more! there yet is balm

In Gilead! Love doth ever shed
Rich healing where it nestles-spread
O'er desert pillows some green palm!

Strange glory streams through life's wild rents.
And through the open door of death
We see the heaven that beckoneth
To the beloved going hence.

God's ichor fills the hearts that bleed;

The best fruit loads the broken bough;
And in the wounds our sufferings plough,
Immortal love sows sovereign seed.

Alexander Smith.

Born 1829

Died 1867

BORN in Kilmarnock, on 31st December 1829, has earned a reputation as a poet. He was originally employed as a pattern-drawer in a Glasgow factory, till in 1853 appeared "A Life Drama," which was so well received that the public attention was directed to the author, and in 1854 he was elected Secretary to the Edinburgh University. The situation gave him good opportunities of cultivating his literary talents, and in 1857 appeared "City Poems." He was also a contributor to seve ral periodicals. He died in 1867 at the early age of thirty-seven years. FROM "A LIFE DRAMA."

As a wild maiden, with love-drinking eyes,
Sees in sweet dreams a beaming youth of glory;
And wakes to weep, and ever after sighs

For that bright vision till her hair is hoary;
Ev'n so, alas! is my life's passion story.
For Poesy, my heart and pulses beat;
For Poesy my blood runs red and fleet: