spirit would be free,
Each wish would then be gratified, each longing have a home,
And joy and peace would fill my heart wherever I might roam.

Y. S.

ERIN WAKING.

BY WILLIAM H. C. HOSMER.

Light streams through a rift in the cloud
That hangs over green Innisfail--
While voices of millions are shouting aloud
The satraps of Tyranny quail:
The collar of Shame hath been worn
Through ages of folly and wo--
Too long hath thy neck, O Hibernia! borne
The yoke of a merciless foe,
Whose creatures, while Perfidy sharpened the dart,
Like vultures have crimsoned their beaks in thy heart.

Hot winds from the waste of Despair
On thy blood-bedewed shamrock have breathed,
But the leaves, growing verdant in Liberty's air,
Again round her brow shall be wreathed:
And chisel of Art on the stone
Shall name of that martyr engrave
Who prayed for a sepulchre, noteless and lone,
While foot of one heart-broken slave
Polluted the green of that beautiful shore,
By steel-harnessed champions trodden of yore.

Gone forth hath the gathering word,
And under Hesperian skies
Fond exiles the call of their mother have heard,
And homeward are turning their eyes:
They send o'er the murmuring brine
In answer a shout of applause,
And drops, that give warmth to their bosoms, like wine,
Are ready to shed in a cause
That cannot march on with a faltering stride
While Truth wears a buckler, and God is a guide.

Land of the valiant! at last
The brow of thy future is bright;
In return for a shadowed and comfortless past
Is dawning an era of light:
The Lion of Britain in vain

Is baring his teeth for the fray--
Thy children have sworn that dishonoring stain
Shall be wiped from thy forehead away:
The bones of thy martyrs have stirred in the tomb,
And glimmers the starlight of Hope through the gloom.

Invaders thy valor have rued--
To deeds that will aye be admired
Bear witness, Clontarf! where the Dane was subdued,
And Bryan, the dauntless, expired:
Thy sons on the scaffold have died,
The block hath been soaked with their gore,
And long ago banished thy splendor and pride;
But idle