by her sister, pale in looks and broken in hope-not from poverty, for that she could bear, but from the consciousness of undeserved neglect, and unmerited unkindness-it is easy to see how much of it is assumed. A momentary pause succeeds; the girl breaks suddenly from her sister and throws herself, sobbing, on her mother's neck. The father steps hastily forward, and takes her husband's hand. Friends crowd round to offer their hearty congratulations, and happiness and harmony again prevail.

As to the dinner, it's perfectly delightful-nothing goes. wrong, and everybody is in the very best of spirits, and disposed to please and be pleased. Grandpapa relates a circumstantial account of the purchase of the turkey, with a slight digression relative to the purchase of previous turkeys, on former Christmas-days, which grandmamma corroborates in the minutest particular. Uncle George tells stories, and carves poultry, and takes wine, and jokes with the children at the side-table, and exhilarates everybody with his good humour and hospitality; and when, at last, a stout servant staggers in with a gigantic pudding, with a sprig of holly in the top, there is such a laughing, and shouting, and clapping of little chubby hands, and kicking up of fat dumpy legs, as can only be equalled by the applause with which the astonishing feat of pouring lighted brandy into mince-pies, is received by the younger visitors. Then the dessert! and the wine!-and the fun! Such beautiful speeches, and such songs, from Aunt Margaret's husband, who turns out to be such a nice man, and so attentive to grandmamma! Even grandpapa not only sings his annual song with unprecedented vigour, but on being honoured with an unanimous encore, according to annual custom, actually comes out with a new one which nobody but grandmamma ever heard before; and a young scape-grace of a cousin, who has been in some disgrace with the old people, for certain heinous sins of omission and commission-neglecting to call, and persisting in drinking Burton ale astonishes everybody into convulsions of laughter by volunteering the most extraordinary comic songs that ever were heard. And thus the evening passes, in a strain of rational good-will and cheerfulness, doing more to awaken the sympathies of every member of the party in behalf of his neighbour, and to perpetuate their good feeling during the ensuing year, than half the treatises that have ever been written, by half the Philosophers that have ever lived.-" Boz."

"LIVE THEM DOWN." BROTHER, art thou poor and lowly, Toiling, drudging, day by day, Journeying painfully and slowly, On thy dark and desert way?

Pause not, though the proud ones frown!
Shrink not, fear not! LIVE THEM DOWN!

Though to Vice thou shalt not pander,
Though to Virtue thou shalt kneel,
Yet thou shalt escape not slander;
Jibe and lie thy soul must feel;
Jest of witling, curse of clown,
Heed not either! LIVE THEM DOWN!

Hate may wield her scourges horrid;
Malice may thy woes deride;

Scorn may bind with thorns thy forehead;
Envy's spear may pierce thy side;
Lo! through cross shall come the crown;
Fear no Foeman! LIVE THEM DOWN!

NOT IN.

SHE waited in the drawing-room,
Good Mrs. Mabel Moore;
Six flounces of a pretty lace

Were on the dress she wore;
Upon her bosom a French rose,
And on her cap some satin bows.

One little foot just peeped without
Her petticoats so white;
Her hair, a little gray, 'tis true,
Was put in curl and bright;
And sweet her glances shone around,
As if some good thing she had found.

The clock was on the stroke of eight,
And still she sat apart,

Now listening close, and laying now
One hand upon her heart;

And toying with her curls and rings,
And doing other girlish things.

At length a step was heard, and then
A ringing at the door;

"Five minutes and a-half too soon,"
Said Mrs. Mabel Moore.

Then to her maid,-" It is no sin,
Go quick, and say, I AM NOT IN !

"For, if he loves me as he says,
He can afford to wait,
And come again precisely at
Five minutes after eight.

My nerves are really quite unstrung,
So very earnestly he rung."

But true love never did run smooth,
As oftentimes is told

And when the door was opened wide,
And shivering in the cold,

The maid beheld the expected guest,
She smiled and curtsied her best,

And told him with a grace as sweet
As if she craved a boon,

Her mistress had declared it was

In the tempest of life, when the wave and the gale,
Are around and above, if thy footing should fail,
If thine eye should grow dim, and thy caution depart,
"Look aloft," and be firm, and be fearless of heart.
If the friend who embraced in prosperity's glow,
With a smile for each joy, and a tear for each woe,
Should betray thee when sorrows, like clouds, are arrayed,
"Look aloft" to the friendship which never shall fade.

Should the visions which hope spreads in light to thine eye,
Like the tints of the rainbow, but brighten to fly,
Then turn, and, through tears of repentant regret,
"Look aloft" to the Sun that is never to set.

Should they who are nearest and dearest thy heart, -
Thy friends and companions,-in sorrow depart,
"Look aloft" from the darkness and dust of the to
To that soil where "affection is ever in bloom."

mb

And, oh! when Death comes in his terrors, to cast
His fears on the future, his pall on the past,
In that moment of darkness, with hope in thy heart,
And a smile in thine eye, "LOOK ALOFT," and depart.
-Lawrence.

THY NEIGHBOUR.

THY neighbour? It is he whom thou
Hast power to aid and bless ;
Whose aching heart, or burning brow,
Thy soothing hand may press.

Thy neighbour? 'Tis the fainting poor,
Whose eye with want is dim,
Whom hunger sends from door to door ;-
Go thou and succour him.

Thy neighbour? 'Tis that weary man,
Whose years are at their brim,
Bent low with sickness, cares, and pain ;—
Go thou and comfort him.

Thy neighbour? "Tis the heart bereft
Of every earthly gem;
Widow and orphan, helpless left ;-
Go thou and shelter them.

Thy neighbour? Yonder toiling slave,
Fettered in thought and limb,
Whose hopes are all beyond the grave;—
Go thou and ransom him.

Oh, pass not, pass not heedless by:
Perhaps thou canst redeem

The breaking heart from misery,-
Oh, share thy lot with him.-Anon.

HE NEVER SMILED AGAIN.

THE bark that held a prince went down,
The sweeping waves rolled on;
And what was England's glorious crown
To him that wept a son?

He lived-for life may long be borne
Ere sorrow break its chain;

Why comes not death to those who mourn?
He never smiled again!

There stood proud forms around his throne,
The stately and the brave;

But which could fill the place of one,-
That one beneath the wave?
Before him passed the young and fair,
In pleasure's reckless train;

But seas dashed o'er his son's bright hair :-
He never smiled again!

He sat where festal bowls went round,
He heard the minstrels sing;

He saw the tourney's victor crowned
Amidst the knightly ring:

A murmur of the restless deep
Was blent with every strain,

:

A voice of winds that would not sleep :-
He never smiled again!

Hearts, in that time, closed o'er the trace
Of vows once fondly poured;

And strangers took the kinsman's place

At many a joyous board;

Graves, which true love had bathed with tears,

Were left to heaven's bright rain;

Fresh hopes were born for other years :-
He never smiled again !-Mrs. Hemans.

ALL HOLLOW.

I STOOD beneath a hollow tree, the blast it hollow blew ;
I thought upon the hollow world, and all its hollow crew,
Ambition and its hollow schemes, the hollow hopes we follow ;
Imagination's hollow dream, all hollow, hollow, hollow!