Neglected, dying in despair,
They lay till woman came
To soothe them with her gentle care,
And feed life's flickering flame.
When wounded sore, on fever's rack,
Or cast away as slain,
She called their fluttering spirits back
And gave them strength again.
'Twas grief to miss the passing face
That suffering could dispel;
But joy to turn and kiss the place
On which her shadow fell.[4]

When words of wrath profaning rung,
She moved with pitying grace;
Her presence still'd the wildest tongue,
And holy[5] made the place.
They knew that they were cared for then,
Their eyes forgot their tears;
In dreamy sleep they lost their pain,
And thought of early years--
Of early years, when all was fair,
Of faces sweet and pale.
They woke: the angel bending there
Was--Florence Nightingale!

FOOTNOTES:

[4] She would speak to one and to another, and nod and smile to many
more, but she could not do it to all; but we could kiss her shadow as it
fell, and lay our heads on the pillow again, content.--_Soldier's Letter
from the Crimea._

[5] "Before she came there was cussin' and swearin', but after that it
was as holy as a church."--_Ibid._

JOSEPH MACGREGOR.

The writer of several good songs, which have been published with music,
Joseph Macgregor, followed the profession of an accountant in Edinburgh.
Expert as a man of business, he negotiated the arrangement of the city
affairs at the period of the municipal bankruptcy. A zealous member of
the Liberal party, he took a prominent interest in the Reform Bill
movement, and afterwards afforded valuable assistance in the election of
Francis Jeffrey as one of the representatives of the city in Parliament.
He latterly occupied Ramsay Lodge, the residence of the poet Allan
Ramsay, where he died about the year 1845, at a somewhat advanced age.
The following songs from his pen are published by the kind permission of
Messrs Robertson & Co., musicsellers, Edinburgh.

LADDIE, OH! LEAVE ME.

Down whar the burnie rins whimplin' and cheery,
When love's star was smilin', I met wi' my dearie;
Ah! vain was its smilin'--she wadna believe me,
But said wi' a saucy air, "Laddie, oh! leave me;
Leave me, leave me, laddie, oh! leave me."

"I 've lo'ed thee o'er truly to seek a new dearie,
I 've lo'ed thee o'er fondly, through li