er to sleep nor wake,
But have for ages just this _conscious_ bliss,
That perfect rest I take."

The soul grows often weary, like the flesh:
May rest pervade her long,
While she shall _feel_ the joy of growing fresh
For heavenly work and song!

CHARLOTTE F. BATES.

LETTERS FROM SOUTH AFRICA.

BY LADY BARKER.

MARITZBURG, February 10, 1876.

In the South African calendar this is set down as the first of the
autumnal months, but the half dozen hours about mid-day are still quite
as close and oppressive as any we have had. I am, however, bound to say
that the nights--at all events, up here--are cooler, and I begin even to
think of a light shawl for my solitary walks in the verandah just before
bedtime. When the moon shines these walks are pleasant enough, but when
only the "common people of the skies" are trying to filter down their
feebler light through the misty atmosphere, I have a lurking fear and
distrust of the reptiles and bugs who may also have a fancy for
promenading at the same time and in the same place. I say nothing of
bats, frogs and toads, mantis or even huge moths: to these we are quite
accustomed. But although I have never seen a live snake in this country
myself, still one hears such unpleasant stories about them that it is
just as well to what the Scotch call "mak siccar" with a candle before
beginning a constitutional in the dark.

It is not a week ago since a lady of my acquaintance, being surprised at
her little dog's refusal to follow her into her bedroom one night,
instituted a search for the reason of the poor little creature's terror
and dismay, and discovered a snake coiled up under her chest of drawers.
At this moment, too, the local papers are full of recipes for the
prevention and cure of snake-bites, public attention being much
attracted to the subject on account of an Englishman having been bitten
by a black "mamba" (a very venomous adder) a short time since, and
having died of the wound in a few hours. In his case, poor man! there
does not seem to have been a chance from the first, for he was obliged
to walk some distance to the nearest house, and as they had no proper
remedies there, he had to be taken on a farther journey of some miles to
a hospital. All this exercise and motion caused the poison to circulate
freely through the veins, and was the worst possible thing for him. The
doctors here seem agreed that the treatment of ammonia and bra