How the slipping feet of sinners fell
Quick on the downward road to h----,
To suffer for sins when they are dead;
And the hollow voice answered, "_Give us bread!_"

Then he spoke of a land of love and peace,
Where all of pain and woe shall cease,
Where celestial flowers bloom by the way,
Where the light is brighter than solar day,
And there's no cold nor hunger there.
"Oh," says the voice, "_Give us clothes to wear!_"

Then the good man sighed, and turned away,
For such depravity to pray,
That had cast aside the heavenly worth
For the transient and fleeting things of earth!
And his church that night, to his content,
Raised his salary fifty per cent.

THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED.

BY C.B. SOUTHEY.

Tread softly--bow the head;
In reverent silence bow;
No passing bell doth toll,
Yet an immortal soul
Is passing now.

Stranger! however great,
With lowly reverence bow;
There's one in that poor shed,
One by that paltry bed,
Greater than thou.

Beneath that beggar's roof,
Lo! Death doth keep his state;
Enter--no crowds attend;
Enter--no guards defend
This palace gate.

That pavement, damp and cold,
No smiling courtiers tread;
One silent woman stands,
Lifting with meagre hands
A dying head.

No mingling voices sound--
An infant wail alone:
A sob suppressed--again
That short, deep gasp, and then
The parting groan.

Oh! change!--Oh! wondrous change!--
Burst are the prison bars--
This moment there, so low,
So agonized, and now
Beyond the stars!

Oh! change--stupendous change!
There lies the soulless clod!
The sun eternal breaks--
The new immortal wakes
Wakes with his God!

A HORSE-CAR INCIDENT.

No matter what horse-car, but it happened that I had to go a mile or
two, and held up my cane to attract the attention of the driver or
the conductor of one of them, which I did, after some difficulty. I
am bound to say it was not on the Touchandgo road, for the officers
employed there have an instinctive knowledge whether a man wishes to
ride or not, and indeed often by the magic of the upraised finger they
draw people in to ride who had hardly any previous intention of it. I
have been attracted in this way, and found myself to my astonishment,
seated in the car, confident that I had signified no disposition to do
so. In this instance, however, I would ride, and got