d churchyard, in the valley, Ben Bolt,
In a corner obscure and alone,
They have fitted a slab of the granite so gray.
And Alice lies under the stone!

II

Under the hickory tree, Ben Bolt,
Which stood at the foot of the hill,
Together we've lain in the noon-day shade,
And listened to Appleton's mill.
The mill-wheel has fallen to pieces, Ben Bolt,
The rafters have tumbled in,
And a quiet that crawls round the walls as you gaze,
Has followed the olden din.

III

Do you mind the cabin of logs, Ben Bolt,
At the edge of the pathless wood,
And the button-ball tree with its motley limbs,
Which nigh by the door-step stood?
The cabin to ruin has gone, Ben Bolt,
The tree you would seek in vain;
And where once the lords of the forest waved,
Grows grass and the golden grain.

IV

And don't you remember the school, Ben Bolt,
With the master so cruel and grim,
And the shaded nook in the running brook,
Where the children went to swim?
Grass grows on the master's grave, Ben Bolt,
The spring of the brook is dry,
And of all the boys who were schoolmates then,
There are only you and I.

V

There is change in the things I loved, Ben Bolt,
They have changed from the old to the new;
But I feel in the depths of my spirit the truth,
There never was change in you.
Twelve-months twenty have past, Ben Bolt,
Since first we were friends--yet I hail
Thy presence a blessing, thy friendship a truth,
Ben Bolt, of the salt-sea gale!

* * * * *

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRITIC:--

In your columns of "Trilbyana" I have seen no mention of the fact that
George W. Cable, in his "Dr. Sevier"--a thousand times better novel and
better work, in every way, than "Trilby,"--has introduced the old song
"Ben Bolt" with wonderful effect. It is strange that the old melody
should have appealed to the two men, so widely apart, and it is but fair
that the American's first, and most skilful, use of it should have due
recognition.

PHILADELPHIA.

JOHN PATTERSON.

* * * * *

TO THE EDITORS OF THE CRITIC:--

Du Maurier says that there is but one verse of the little French song,
which Trilby sings with so much effec