wilight hour
When stars their radiance o'er me cast,
With that benign mysterious power
Which calls up mem'ries of the past,
And brings anew the scenes of yore,
Like sacred perfume from some shrine
Whose hallowed influence ever more
Proves life and love of birth divine.
Sweet twilight hour! sweet twilight hour!
How blissful is thy magic power,
At thy return new strength is given
To lead me to the gates of heaven.

I love at such an hour as this
To hold sweet converse with my soul,
Anticipate a promised bliss,
Or memory's charmed page unroll;
To feel life's not alone for me,
But has some aim, some end, some plan,
Which to the soul gives dignity,
And leads toward heaven a fellow man.

I love at twilight hour to see
The lamps of heaven in glory shine
With beacon-light effulgency,
To guide me to that land divine,
Where dwell the loved of former years,
And where no sorrow e'er may come,
Where God shall wipe away all tears,
And I shall find abiding home.

Oh, twilight hour, how sweet thou art!
Thy coming oft relieves my pain,
Thy soft communings with my heart
Prepare me for life's toils again;
Drive thou away my sordid thought,
And give my soul augmented power;
Teach me to use thee as I ought,
Thou holy, blessed twilight hour.

* * * * *

Let us not lose the heritage
Our fathers did bequeath
To sons whose grasp should hold secure
The prize, till hour of death
Shall still the heart, and loose the nerve
Whose tension holds secure
The magic love of Liberty
And Justice, strong and pure.

THE HAIR.

Since the days of primal story
Of Eden's happy pair,
A woman's greatest glory
Is her glossy flowing hair;
It is a safe criterion
By which to judge her life,
To ascertain, if duly won,
She'd prove a worthy wife.

Its color and arrangement,
Its sunshine and its storm
Prefigure an estrangement,
Or friendship true and warm.
We dearly love the sunshine
Of locks with golden hue,
That bear this blessed combine--
Kind, tender, warm, and true.

We read volumes of character
In every lock of hair;
The life, the mind, the heart's prefer
Are plainly w