plendor bright,
All hues of sapphire, red, and gold.

How strange the spell that mystified
Us all, and hushed our wonted glee,
As sadly her sweet voice replied,
"Why, don't you know I cannot see?"

Too true! those eyes bereft of sight
No blemish bare, no drop-serene,
But nothing in this world of light
And beauty they had ever seen.

A dozen years in gentle ruth
Their impress lent to brow and cheek,
When precious words of sacred truth
Led her the Saviour's face to seek.

Responsive unto earnest prayers
Commingling love and penitence,
A blessing came--not unawares--
In new and strange experience.

And all was light, as Faith's clear eye
A brighter world than ours divined;
For never clouds obscured the sky
That she could see, while _we_ were blind.

Oh, it must be an awful thing
To be shut out from light of day!--
From summer's grace, and bloom of spring
In gladness words cannot portray.

But haply into every heart
May enter that Celestial Light
That doth to life's dark ways impart
A radiance hid from mortal sight.

Revenge.

Beside my window day and night,
Its tendrils reaching left and right,
A morning glory grew;
With blossoms covered, pink and white
And deep, delicious blue.

Its care became my daily thought,
Who to the sweet diversion brought
A bit of florist skill
To guide its progress, till it caught
The meaning of my will.

When through the trellis in and out
It bent and turned and climbed about
And so ambitious grew,
O'erleaped a chasm beyond the spout
Where raindrops trickled through,

Then, in caressing, graceful way,
Around a door knob twined one day
With modest show of pride;
All unaware that danger lay
Just on the other side.

An awkward, verdant "maid of work,"
Who dearly loved her tasks to shirk,
While rummaging among
Unused apartments, with a jerk
The door wide open flung.

And lo! there lay, uprooted quite,
The object of my heart's delight--
I did not weep or rant,
And yet a grain or two of spite
My secret thoughts would haunt.

So when at night her favorite beau
Beside his charmer sat below--
That is, _dans le cuisine_--
Occurred, as all the neighbors