n Meagher's left, was met by
a portion of the Sixty-Ninth New York Regiment, which advancing,
repelled the attack and captured many prisoners."]

Leo XIII. has sent to the Emperor of Germany and to Prince Bismarck
copies, specially printed and bound, of the Encyclical. His Holiness
adds to the present to the Chancellor a copy of the _Novissima Leonis
XIII. Pont. Max. Carmina_. A note of very emphatic and reverent praise
of the poems has been communicated to the official German press.

A Christmas Carol.

Ah, weep not, friends, that I am far from ye,
And no warm breathed words may reach my ears;
One way is shorter, nearer than by sea,
Prayers weigh with God and graces wait on tears;
As rise the mists from summer seas unseen,
To fall in freshening showers on hill and plain,
So prayer sent forth from fervent hearts makes green
The parched bowers of one whose life was vain.

Pray for me day and night these Christmas hours,
This the one gift I value all beyond;
Aid me with supplication 'fore those powers
Who have regard for prayer, th' angelic bond--
All ye who love me knock at Jesus' gate,
As for one standing outside deep in snow,
Tell him a sorrowing soul doth trembling wait,
And none but He can ease its load of woe.

Ah, friends! of whom I once asked other things,
Refuse me not this one thing asked again;
Shield me, a naked soul, with sheltering wings,
From rush of angry storms and bitter rain--
I cannot stand the gaze of mine own eyes;
That I escape myself implore our Lord--
Ah, me! I learn he only's rightly wise
Who seeks in all th' exceeding great reward.

From self that I be freed, O Father will!
Lord Jesus from the world protect me still,
Spirit paraclete, over the flesh give victory,
And o'er the devil a lasting crown to me!

JAMES KEEGAN.

The _Catholic Review_: Irish-America contributes to the new Parliament
one of the strongest members of the Nationalist party, Mr. T. P. Gill,
for some years past assistant editor of the _Catholic World_, and
previously a prominent journalist in Ireland, where, during the
imprisonment of Mr. William O'Brien, he took the editorial chair of
_United Ireland_ until Mr. Buckshot Forster made it too hot for him. In
the cooler climate of New York he still did good service to his party,
in disabusing numbers of many ill-grounded misapprehension