From the bright eye of love! And then I sought
Thy Lilian-sought her not in vain! She bent
All meekly in her beauty at the feet

Of our dear Master, and their converse blent
With the soft tones of harps. O pure and sweet
The language of an angel! and I lent

Mine ear to it, and strove, O long! to hear
The kind responses of his lips. In vain!
Too soft and low for a dull mortal ear

The high discourse of heaven. But still the strain
Was most bewildering! and I saw a tear
Tremble upon the silken lashes of her eye,
Thy Lilian's eye! and o'er her dimpled cheek
A quick extatic blush of softest dye

Stole tremulous. How sweetly did they speak
Beatitude-such bliss as is not breathed

By even seraph lips, nor dreamed of here,

In this bleak land of wo. Smiles brightly wreathed
Her parted lips, and gentle forms drew near

To welcome her to heaven.
Sweet Lilian in their arms,
And loved so well on earth.

I saw them clasp

those she had known The cordial grasp

Of snowy hands, the tender eyes that shone
With starry beams of an eternal love,

The wavering lips that uttered thoughts as pure
As the still whispers of the Holy Dove:·

All these I saw, and felt how strong and sure
The anchor I had leaned on here below!
And then the fountain woke me, and I rose
To seek thee in thy solitary wo,

And lull once more thine agonizing throes
With the strange dream of beauty and of peace
That thou, in thy less bitter hours, hast said
Is faith's reality. Then, father, cease
To mourn thus fearfully the blessed dead!"

She gazed into his face with search so fond

It might have won a smile from deeper gloom. It had a mighty power, it brake the bond

That fettered down his spirit to the tomb;
And, lifting up his aged hands on high,
He blessed the bitter ministries of heaven,
That, while they brake his spirit's only tie,
They had all blissful ties to Lilian given!

WE HAVE BEEN FRIENDS TOGETHER.

BY MRS. C. M. SAWYER.

“Wie wir einst so glucklich waren.”

We have been friends together, through long and happy

years,

And scarce a cloud hath overpassed, to turn our smiles to

tears!

But now upon our friendship's sky thick clouds of darkness loom,

And life's serenest prospects lie enshrouded all in gloom.
I dare not trust my faltering lips to breathe the parting knell :
We have been friends together-how can I say farewell?

We have been friends together;-by stream, and wood, and glen,

In friendship's holy fellowship, our wanderings have been. Like flowers upon one stalk that spring, our life's young

morn arose,

And I had deemed the same blest tie should cheer me at its

close.

Alas, that hopes, through long years nursed, one moment should dispel!

We have been friends together-must, must I say farewell?

We have been friends together;· at twilight's dewy hour, O, happy were our trystings, love, in our clematis bower! With eager eye, I watched thy path, a glimpse of thee to

gain,

While every moment seemed an hour, I waited there in vain.

Those days have vanished from us now, but in my heart they dwell:

We have been friends together-I cannot say farewell!

Yes; we were friends together, when youth was on my brow; And shall a vain and idle jest have power to part us now? Can years of fond, unfailing love be cancelled by a word From the poor, weak, unguarded lip of human frailty heard? Ah, no! within my throbbing breast, what varying passions

swell!

We have been friends together—I cannot say farewell!

We have been friends together - it cannot all be o'er!
O, let us nurse the smothered spark, till it shall blaze once

more!

Here, take this hand; as once you deemed, its grasp is warm

and true,

And in my heart a gushing fount of love yet springs for you. O, bless that beaming smile! it comes all sorrow to dispel: We're friends once more together-I will not say farewell!

THE STARS.

BY T. B. THAYER.

"Ye stars, which are the poetry of heaven!"-Byron:

THE stars! I love the gentle stars

That every night come forth,

And softly breathe their silvery light
Upon the quiet earth.

They are my childhood's stars; the same

That shone upon my youth:

I love them for their memory's sake,
And their unchanging truth;

For they are always there in the far depths above,
As if designed by God as emblems of his love.

How often, when a child, I've wished

It always would be night,

That so the stars might ever shine

With that calm, holy light

Which I had learned to love so well;

For, when I was a boy,

They always had for me a new

And spiritual joy;

And oft the thought would come,- how sweet 't would be to

die,

And, with the pretty stars, go floating through the sky!