In peace the calf and bear,

The wolf and lamb, reposed together there.

As shepherds watched their flocks by night, An angel, brighter than the sun's own light, Appeared in air,

And gently said,

"Fear not; be not afraid

For lo! beneath your eyes

Earth has become a smiling Paradise!

A CHRISTMAS HYMN.

ALFRED DOMMETT.

It was the calm and silent night!
Seven hundred years and fifty-three
Had Rome been growing up to might,

And now was queen of land and sea.
No sound was heard of clashing wars-
Peace brooded o'er the hushed domain;
Apollo, Pallas, Jove, and Mars

Held undisturbed their ancient reign
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago.

'Twas in the calm and silent night,
The senator of haughty Rome
Impatient urged his chariot's flight,
From lordly revel rolling home;

Triumphal arches, gleaming, swell

His breast with thoughts of boundless sway; What recked the Roman what befell

A paltry province far away,
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago?

Within that province far away,
Went plodding home a weary boor:
A streak of light before him lay,

Fallen through a half-shut stable-door
Across his path. He passed-for naught
Told what was going on within ;

How keen the stars, his only thought, -
The air how calm and cold and thin,
In the solemn midnight,

Centuries ago!

O strange indifference! low and high
Drowsed over common joys and cares;
The earth was still-but knew not why;
The world was listening unawares.

How calm a moment may precede

One that shall thrill the world forever! To that still moment none would heed Man's doom was linked no more to sever In the solemn midnight,

Centuries ago.

It is the calm and solemn night:

A thousand bells ring out and throw

Their joyous peals abroad, and smite

The darkness-charmed and holy now!
The night that erst no name had worn,
To it a happy name is given:
For in that stable lay, new-born,

The peaceful Prince of earth and heaven,
In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago.

THE GLORIOUS SONG OF OLD.

EDMUND H. SEARS.

IT came upon the midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth
To touch their harps of gold,
“Peace on the earth, good-will to men,

From heaven's all-gracious King".

The world in solemn stillness lay

To hear the angels sing.

Still through the cloven skies they come,

With peaceful wings unfurled, And still their heavenly music floats O'er all the weary world;

Above its sad and lowly plains

They bend on hovering wing, And ever o'er its Babel-sounds The blessed angels sing.

But with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong.
And man at war with man hears not
The love-song which they bring;
Oh, hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing!

And ye beneath life's crushing load,
Whose forms are bending low,
Who toil along the climbing way
With painful steps and slow,
Look now! for glad and golden hours
Come swiftly on the wing:-
Oh, rest beside the weary road
And hear the angels sing!

For lo! the days are hastening on
By prophet-bards foretold,
When with the ever-circling years
Comes round the age of gold;
When peace shall over all the earth
Its ancient splendors fling,

And the whole world give back the song
Which now the angels sing.

UNDER THE HOLLY-BOUGH.

CHARLES MACKAY.

YE who have scorned each other,
Or injured friend or brother,
In this fast-fading year;
Ye who, by word or deed,
Have made a kind heart bleed,
Come gather here!

Let sinned against and sinning
Forget their strife's beginning,
And join in friendship now.
Be links no longer broken,
Be sweet forgiveness spoken
Under the Holly-Bough.

Ye who have loved each other,
Sister and friend and brother,
In this fast-fading year:

Mother and sire and child,

Young man and maiden mild,

Come gather here;

And let your heart grow fonder,
As memory shall ponder

Each past unbroken vow;
Old loves and younger wooing
Are sweet in the renewing
Under the Holly-Bough.

Ye who have nourished sadness, Estranged from hope and gladness