taract
Into drifted snow-waves sink.

A father's eye
Looketh anxiously
On the freaks of his favour'd child,
Till her spirit appals
His soul, and he calls
"Antoinette" in accents wild.

A bolder heart
Loves the girl's free sport,
And he grasps her by the gown,
Then tosseth her high
In the twilight sky--
But, heavens! she falleth down!

She sinks in the wave;
He swimmeth to save!
Oh, never was mortal arm
More manfully braced,
As it grasps her slim waist,
And struggles in frantic alarm!

In vain does he strike--
The fresh waves break,
And the doom'd ones are downward borne!
Yet the swimmer's eye
Seemeth still to defy
The might of the merciless storm.

More loud than before
Is the cataract's roar,
And the furrow'd wave is bright
With many a pearl
From the shining swirl
Of the water's lucid light.

And down below
Is the woolly snow
Of Niagara's wrathful bed,
But the lip of the bold
Hath never told
The secrets that there lie hid.

A strong arm, press'd
Round a maiden's waist
On the doleful morrow is seen,
And her oozy hair
Laves his forehead bare
With the waft of the wavy stream.

ROBERT WILSON.

Robert Wilson was born in the parish of Carnbee, and county of Fife. He
practised for some time as a surgeon in St Andrews. He has contributed
many pieces of descriptive verse to the periodicals. In 1856, a
duodecimo volume of "Poems" from his pen was published at Boston, U.S.
His other publications are a small volume on "The Social Condition of
France," "Lectures on the Game Laws," and several _brochures_ on
subjects of a socio-political nature. He has latterly resided at
Aberdour, Fifeshire.

AWAY, AWAY, MY GALLANT BARK.

Away, away, my gallant bark!
The waves are white and high;
And fast the long becalmed clouds
Are sailing in the sky.
The merry breeze which wafts them on,
And chafes the billow's spray,
Will urge thee in thy watery flight:
My gallant bark, away!

Now, like the sea-bird's snowy plumes,
Are spread thy winged sails,
To soar above the mountain waves,
And scoop their glassy vales;
And, like the bird, thou 'lt calmly rest,