A BEAUTIFUL LEGEND.

129

Calmly passing from their presence to the fountain's rippling

song,

Stooped he to uplift the lilies strewed the scattered sprays

among.

Faintly stole the shades of evening through the massive open door;

Whitely lay the peace of moonlight on the temple's marble floor.

Where the elders lingered, silent since he spake, the Undefiled,

Where the Wisdom of the ages sat amid the flowers—a child.

"FATHER, WHATE'ER OF EARTHLY BLISS."

A. STEELE.

Father, whate'er of earthly bliss
Thy sovereign will denies,
Accepted at thy throne of grace,
Let this petition rise:

Give me a calm and thankful heart,
From every murmur free,
The blessings of thy love impart,
And help me live to thee.

Let the sweet hope that thou art mine
My life and death attend;

Thy presence through my journey shine,
And crown my journey's end.

132

A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

E. B. BROWNING.

HAT was he doing, the great god Pan,
Down in the reeds by the river?

Spreading ruin and scattering ban,

Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat;
And breaking the golden lilies afloat

With the dragon-fly on the river?

He tore out a reed, the great god Pan,
From the deep, cool bed of the river,
The limpid water turbidly ran,
And the broken lilies a-dying lay,
And the dragon-fly had fled away,

Ere he brought it out of the river.

High on the shore sat the great god Pan,
While turbidly flowed the river,
And hacked and hewed as a great god can
With his hard, bleak steel at the patient reed,
Till there was not a sign of a leaf indeed
To prove it fresh from the river.

He cut it short, did the great god Pan,
(How tall it stood in the river!)