For a cloud had swept o'er the summer sky, And gathered the beam to its bosom gray, And wrapped in a mantle of sombre dye The glory and pride of the summer's day.

Thus cheated sore in his eager quest,

With a puzzled look that was sad to see, He laid his head on his mother's breast And gazed in the dear face wistfully.

The cloud swept by, and the beam returned, .But the weary child was slumbering now, And heeded it not, though it glowed and burned

Like a crown of flame on his baby brow.

And I thought, ah, babe, thou art not alone In thy bootless quest for a fleeting toy, For we all are babes, little wiser grown,

In our chase for some idle and transient joy.

We are grasping at sunbeams day by day,
And get but our toil for our weary pains;
For ever some cloudlet obscures the ray,
And naught in the sordid grasp remains.

But when the lures of our youth depart,
And our empty strivings are all forgot,
Then down in some nook of the peaceful heart
The sunbeam glows when we seek it not.

Dary Clemmer Ames Hudson.

1839-1884.

PEACE.

Peace, troubled heart! the way 's not long before thee,

Lay down thy burden; say to sorrow, cease; Be yon soft azure hand serenely o'er thee,

The blue, bright border to God's sphere of

peace.

Peace, troubled heart! the hasty word may fret thee,

The cruel word may coldly probe and pierce ; The Christ who suffered, loves thee, never leaves thee,

He

pours His balm upon the fever fierce.

Peace, troubled heart! though marred thy best behavior,

To thy deep longing, thine aspiring cry, Listens thy Heavenly Kinsman, thy dear Saviour Healeth thy life-hurt, wipeth thy tears dry.

Peace, lonely heart! Be patient. Thou 'lt see, waiting,

How perfect sympathy and love may meet; Be patient, praying; all earth's discord grating, Will melt at last to love divine, complete.

Peace, troubled heart! O coward, weakly shrinking

Back from the chalice! Saints' and martyrs'

meed,

The chrism of suffering. Earthward, poor souls sinking,

Yearn for the heavenly joy, through human need.

Peace, troubled heart! see yon strong ships all sailing

Through sun and storm, on to the solemn sea; Through summer calms, through wintry tempest •quailing,

Thus sailest thou, out to Infinity.

Peace, troubled heart! beyond these bitter breezes,

Mid Isles of Paradise, in airs of balm,

Where cruel wind or word ne'er wounds or freezes,

Thou 'It gain at last the everlasting calm.

Peace, troubled heart; go out beneath the ether, Rest in the marvellous sunshine of the sky; Watch the bees sail and sing in sunny leisure; List the waves laughing as they loiter by.

Peace, troubled heart! if minor notes of sadness Tremble through Nature's voices, every sigh

Quickens the anthem of her mightier gladness,
Foretells fruition perfect by and by.

Peace, troubled heart! life's ever-mocking seeming,

Life's weary dearth, life's aching sense of loss, Are fitful phantoms of its transient dreaming, While Faith stands steadfast gazing on the Cross.

William C. Gannett.

1840.

LISTENING FOR GOD.

I hear it often in the dark,
I hear it in the light,—

Where is the voice that calls to me
With such a quiet might?
It seems but echo to my thought,
And yet beyond the stars;

It seems a heart-beat in a hush,
And yet the planet jars.

Oh, may it be that far within
My inmost soul there lies
A spirit-sky, that opens with
Those voices of surprise?

And can it be, by night and day,
That firmament serene

Is just the heaven where God himself,
The Father, dwells unseen?

O God within, so close to me
That every thought is plain,
Be judge, be friend, be Father still
And in Thy heaven reign!
Thy heaven is mine-my very soul !
Thy words are sweet and strong;
They fill my inward silences
With music and with song.

They send me challenges to right,
And loud rebuke my ill;

They ring my bells of victory,

They breathe my "Peace, be still!
They ever seem to say: "My child,
Why seek me so all day?
Now journey inward to thyself,

And listen by the way."

Mary Bolles Branch.

1840.

THE PETRIFIED FERN.

In a valley, centuries ago,

Grew a little fern-leaf, green and slender,
Veining delicate and fibres tender;

Waving when the wind crept down so low;