quite at home with its worthy inmates. He slept twice in the
haunted room. He went away, and came back often; was always welcomed
cordially, and always quartered in the same apartment. But, in spite
of all this, he had no clew, he had no means of lifting the vail of
mystery which hung round the fate of Ferdinand Hallberg and of Emily
Varnier.
* * * * *
FROM PUNCH.
OUR "IN MEMORIAM."
Not in the splendor of a ruinous glory
Emblazoned, glitters our lost Statesman's name:
The great deeds that have earned him deathless fame
Will cost us merely thanks. Their inventory
Of peaceful heroism will be a story,
Of wise assertion of a rightful claim,
And Commerce freed by sagely daring aim.
Famine averted; Revolution glory
Disarmed; and the exhausted Commonweal
Recruited; these are things that England long
Will couple with the name of ROBERT PEEL,
Of whom the worst his enemies can say
Is, that he left the error of his way
When Conscience told him he was in the wrong.
* * * * *
FROM THE SOUTHERN LITERARY MESSENGER.
TO W.J.R., WITH A MS.
A little common weed, a simple shell,
From the waste margent of a classic sea;
A flower that grew where some great empire fell,
Worthless themselves, are rich to Memory.
And thus these lines are precious, for the hand
That penned their music crumbles into mould;
And the hot brain that shaped them now is cold
In its own ashes, like a blackened brand.--
But where the fiery soul that wove the spell;
Weeping with trailing wings beside his tomb?
Or stretched and tortured on the racks of Hell
Dark-scowling at the ministers of doom?--
Peace! this is but a dream, there cannot be
More suffering for him in Eternity!
R.H. STODDARD
* * * * *
FROM THE KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE.
THE ACTUAL.
Away! no more shall shadows entertain;
No more shall fancy paint and dreams delude;
No more shall these illusions of the brain
Divert me with their pleasing interlude;
Forever are ye banished, idle joys;
Welcome, stern labor-life--this is no world for toys!
Blessed labor-life! victorious only he
Who in its lists doth valiantly contend;
For labor in itself is victory;
Yield never to repose; but let the end
Of Life's great battle be--the end of life:
A glorious immortality shall crown the strife.
|