And await her, and wait till the next hollow moon Lest I should reach hand, should stay hand or stay heel Then the rushing of fire rose around me and under, As a sea heart-broken on the hard brown stone, And into the Brazos I rode all alone, All alone, save only a horse long-limbed, And blind and bare and burnt to the skin. Then just as the terrible sea came in And tumbled its thousands hot into the tide, Till the tide blocked up and the swift stream brimmed In eddies, we struck on the opposite side. Sell Paché, blind Paché? Now, mister, look here, For the ways they were rough and Camanches were near; I couldn't have thought you so niggardly small. Do you men that make boots think an old mountaineer THE BULL-FIGHT.-LORD BYRON. Hushed is the din of tongues; on gallant steeds, Four cavaliers prepare for venturous deeds, And lowly bending to the lists advance; Rich are their scarfs, their chargers featly prance; And all that kings or chiefs e'er gain their toils repay In costly sheen and gaudy cloak arrayed, The lord of lowing herds; but not before The ground, with cautious tread, is traversed o'er, Can man achieve without the friendly steed,— Thrice sounds the clarion; lo! the signal falls, Here, there, he points his threatening front, to suit His angry tail; red rolls his eye's dilated glow. Sudden he stops; his eye is fixed: away, The skill that yet may check his mad career. woes. Again he comes; nor dart nor lance avail, One gallant steed is stretched a mangled corse; Though death-struck, still his feeble frame he rears; Staggering, but stemming all, his lord unharmed he bears. Foiled, bleeding, breathless, furious to the last, 'Mid wounds and clinging darts, and lances brast, And now the Matadores around him play, Where his vast neck just mingles with the spine, The corse is piled-sweet sight for vulgar eyes- DEATH OF LITTLE NELL.*-CHARLES DICKENS. He You By little and little, the old man had drawn back towards the inner chamber, while these words were spoken. pointed there, as he replied, with trembling lips,— "You plot among you to wean my heart from her. will never do that-never while I have life. I have no relative or friend but her-I never had-I never will have. She is all in all to me. It is too late to part us now." Waving them off with his hand, and calling softly to her as he went, he stole into the room. They who were left behind drew close together, and after a few whispered words, -not unbroken by emotion, or easily uttered,-followed him. They moved so gently, that their footsteps made no noise, but there were sobs from among the group, and sounds of grief and mourning. For she was dead. There, upon her little bed, she lay at rest. The solemn stillness was no marvel now. She was dead. No sleep so beautiful and calm, so free from trace of pain, so fair to look upon. She seemed a creature fresh from the hand of God, and waiting for the breath of life; not one who had lived and suffered death. Her couch was dressed with here and there some winter berries and green leaves, gathered in a spot she had been used to favor. "When I die, put near me something that *See "Little Nell's Funeral," No. 3, p. 72. has loved the light, and had the sky above it always." Those were her words. She was dead. Dear, gentle, patient, noble Nell was dead. Her little bird-a poor slight thing the pressure of a finger would have crushed-was stirring nimbly in its cage; and the strong heart of its child-mistress was mute and motionless forever. Where were the traces of her early cares, her sufferings and fatigues? All gone. Sorrow was dead indeed in her, but peace and perfect happiness were born; imaged in her tranquil beauty and profound repose. And still her former self lay there, unaltered in this change Yes. The old fireside had smiled upon that same sweet face; it had passed like a dream through haunts of misery and care; at the door of the poor schoolmaster on the summer evening, before the furnace fire upon the cold, wet night, at the still bedside of the dying boy, there had been the same mild, lovely look. So shall we know the angels in their majesty, after death. The old man held one languid arm in his, and had the small hand tight folded to his breast, for warmth. It was the hand she had stretched out to him with her last smilethe hand that had led him on through all their wanderings. Ever and anon he pressed it to his lips, then hugged it to his breast again, murmuring that it was warmer now; and as he said it, he looked in agony to those who stood around, as if imploring them to help her. She was dead, and past all help, or need of it. The ancient rooms she had seemed to fill with life, even while her own was waning fast, the garden she had tended,-the eyes she had gladdened-the noiseless haunts of many a thoughtless hour-the paths she had trodden as it were but yesterday→→ could know her no more. "It is not," said the schoolmaster, as he bent down to kiss her on the check, and give his tears free vent, "it is not on earth that heaven's justice ends. Think what it is compared with the world to which her young spirit has winged its early flight, and say, if one deliberate wish expressed in solemn terms above this bed could call her back to life, which of us would utter it?" SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE.-JOHN G. WHITTIER. Of all the rides since the birth of Time, On Apuleius's Golden Ass, Or one-eyed Calender's horse of brass, Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, Body of turkey, head of owl, Wings a-droop like a rained-on fowl, "Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, Wrinkled scolds with hands on hips, With conch-shells blowing and fish-horns' twang, Over and over the Mænads sang: "Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt By the women o' Morble'ead!” Small pity for him! He sailed away With his own towns-people on her deck! Brag of your catch of fish again!" And off he sailed through the fog and rain! |