n the camel's-hair
pencil.

LIFE: A SONNET.

Whence? whither? where?--a taper-point of light,
My life and world--the infinite around;
A sea, not even highest thought can sound;
A formless void; unchanging, endless night.
In vain the struggling spirit aims its flight
To the empyrean, seen as is a star,
Sole glimmering through the hazy night afar;
In vain it beats its wings with daring might.
What yonder gleams?--what heavenly shapes arise
From out the bodiless waste? Behold the dawn,
Sent from on high! Uncounted ages gone,
Burst full and glorious on my wondering eyes;
Sun-clear the world around, and far away
A boundless future sweeps in golden day.

J. G. PERCIVAL.

TWO PICTURES.

'The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the
terrestrial is another.'--ST. PAUL.

LOVE CELESTIAL.

I see his face illumined by a beatific light,
That tells me he is dying fast; the shadows of the night
Are passing from his saintly brow and sunken eye away,
But he looks beyond them and beholds a never-ending day.

Nay, wonder not that I am calm; the fleeting things of earth
Are passing with the flight of time, to their eternal birth:
I feel that death will shed on him a halo like the sun,
And I shall share it with him, when my pilgrimage is done.

How quickly fades the earthly frame, and with it too, how fast
The agony and sorrow of our mortal doom are past;
And when the sight of worldly wo weighs heavy on the breast,
How welcome is the voice from GOD, that speaks to us of rest!

O! painfully the pangs of life his fading frame have worn,
But blessed be our FATHER'S love, that dwells with those who mourn;
And though the grave must rend apart our sweet affection's bond,
On this side is the night, but all is luminous beyond.

I know that more he loves my soul than its transitory shrine,
And did I prize the vase alone, when all it held was mine?
Let hallowed dust return to dust, give Nature what she gave,
For all that dearest was to me, is victor o'er the grave.

Triumphant will his spirit rise to the Eternal throne,
Triumphant wear a crown of light, by earthly trials won:
And mid the friends who went before, the angel, sin-forgiven,
Shall feel that they can part no more, when once they meet in heaven.

True, I shall look on him no more, but he w