Peace! Peace! Orestes-like I breathe this prayer! Descend with broad-wing'd flight, The welcome, the thrice-pray'd for, the most fair, The best-beloved, Night! -American. H. W. LONGFELLOW, 1807 BLESSED BE GOD FOR FLOWERS. BLESS'D be God for flowers! For the bright, gentle, holy thoughts that breathe Lightly upon thine eye Hath fallen the noontide sleep, my joyous bird! One rosy hand is thrown Beneath thy rosier cheek, the other holds A group of sweet field-flowers, whose bloom unfolds A freshness like thine own. Around the fragrant prize With eager grasp, thy little fingers close; What are the dreams that haunt thy sweet repose, What radiance greets thine eyes? For thou art smiling still; Art thou yet wandering in the quiet woods, Or does some prophet voice, Murmuring amidst thy dreams, instinctive say— "Prize well these flowers, for thou, beyond to-day, Shalt in their spells rejoice!" Yes! thou wilt learn their power, When, cherish'd not as now, thou stand'st alone, Compass'd by sweetly-saddening memories, thrown Round thee by leaf or flower! "Twill come! as seasons come, The empire of the flowers, when these shall raise Round thee once more the forms of other days, Warm with the light of home! Shapes thou no more mayst see; The household hearth, the heart-enlisted prayer; All thou hast loved, and lost, and treasured there, Where thy best thoughts must be! Ay, prize them well, my child; The bright, young, blooming things that never die; Prize them, that, when forgot By all, their old familiar tints shall bring Sweet thoughts of her whose dirge the deep winds sing, And whose love earth holds not! Prize them, that through all hours Thou hold'st sweet commune with their beauty there; And, rich in this, through many a future year, Bless thou our God for flowers! MRS C. TINSLEY, 1848 THE TIME FOR PRAYER. WHEN is the time for prayer? With the first beams that light the morning sky, Lift up thy thoughts on high: Commend thy loved ones to His watchful care :— And in the noontide hour, If worn by toil or by sad cares opprest, And He will give thee rest :— Thy voice shall reach Him through the fields of air :- Noon is the time for prayer! When the bright sun hath set,— Whilst yet eve's glowing colours deck the skies ;- : For those who in thy joys and sorrows share :- And when the stars come forth,— When to the trusting heart sweet hopes are given, Kneel to thy God-ask strength, life's ills to bear :Night is the time for prayer! When is the time for prayer? In every hour, while life is spared to thee- Thy thoughts should heavenward flee. At home-at morn and eve—with loved ones there, Bend thou the knee in prayer! ANONYMOUS. A HYMN OF THE SEA. THE sea is mighty, but a mightier sways His restless billows. Thou whose hands have scoop'd His boundless gulfs and built his shore, Thy breath, That moved in the beginning o'er his face, Moves o'er it evermore. The obedient waves Gliding from cape to cape, from isle to isle, But who shall bide Thy tempest? Who shall face The blast that wakes the fury of the sea? O God! Thy justice makes the world turn pale, |