The wondrous nature of that girl now dead.
Hast thou ne'er heard that they who once become
Faithful to death are masters over death?
And here and there on earth a woman lives
Whose eyes proclaim the mighty victory won.
Give me thy hand and lead me to the bier:
Thou know'st it is not all of death to die."

He took his hand and led him to the bier,
And they beheld the Beautiful in Death,
The perfect loveliness of Grecian form
Inspired by Egypt's solemn mystery.
A single pause in the eternity,
The Present, Past, and Future all in one.

Awhile they stood and gazed upon the Dead,
And then Spiridion spoke, as one inspired:
"O God! thou wert our witness,--make it known!"
He paused in solemn awe, for at the word
There came an awful sign. The dead white hand
Was lifted, and Irene's eyes unclosed,
Beaming with light as only angels' beam,
And from the cold white lips there came a voice:
"_The gems lie hidden in the garden wall._
_God bless thee, father, for thy constant love!_
_God bless thee, Syrian, for thy faith in me!_"

This is the story of Spiridion,
And of his daughter, faithful unto death.

A STRUGGLE FOR SHELTER.

Having, in "A Letter to a Young Housekeeper," held counsel with her
whose home is made by a noble husband, it is no less pleasant to recall
the claims of her whose home is made by herself; who, instead of keeping
house for two, keeps house for but one, and whose stars have not yet led
her on either to matrimony or to Washington Territory.

Mrs. Stowe, in a late number of the Atlantic, has discoursed admirably
on the woman question of how to get occupation; a point to be equally
anxious upon is that of how to get a shelter. It is often easier to get
a husband than either. Perhaps every one knows the exceeding difficulty
with which, in our large cities, the single woman obtains even a room
wherein to lodge; but only the victims can know the real distresses it
involves. In the capital, where noble women are chiefly needed, to begin
homeless is a positive peril; and to stand on the surest integrity is
only to fall at last. If one apply at the boarding-houses it is either
to be instantly rebuffed by learning that no rooms are let to ladies, or
more delicately parried by being told that the terms are forty dollars a
week! If one have attractions and friends, it is equivocal; if one have
them not