HOW'S MY BOY?

I might as well have asked some landsman
Yonder down in the town.

There's not an ass in all the parish

But he knows my John.

"How's my boy-my boy?
And, unless you let me know,
I'll swear you are no sailor,
Blue jacket or no,

Brass buttons or no, sailor,

Anchor and crown, or no!

Sure his ship was the Jolly Briton-" "Speak low, woman, speak low!"

THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES.

I LOVED a love once, fairest among women;
Closed all her doors on me, I must not see her-
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man ;
Like an ingrate, I left my friend abruptly;
Left him, to muse on the old familiar faces.

I have had playmates, I have had companions,

In my days of childhood, in my joyful schooldays—
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

I have been laughing, I have been carousing,
Drinking late, sitting late, with my bosom cronies-
All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

Ghost-like, I paced round the haunts of my childhood;
Earth seemed a desert I was bound to traverse,

Seeking to find the old familiar faces.

Friend of my bosom, thou more than a brother,

Why wert thou not born in my father's dwelling?

So might we talk of the old familiar faces.

How some they have died, and some they have left me;

And some are taken from me; all are departed;

All, all are gone, the old familiar faces.

Charles Lamb.

TAKE ME, MOTHER EARTH.

TAKE me, Mother Earth, to thy cold breast,
And fold me there in everlasting rest!

The long day is o'er:

I'm weary, I would sleep;

But deep, deep,

Never to waken more!

I have had joy and sorrow, I have proved
What life could give, have loved and been beloved ;
I am sick, and heartsore,

And weary; let me sleep;

But deep, deep,

Never to waken more!

To thy dark chamber, Mother Earth, I come ;
Prepare thy dreamless bed in my last home;
Shut down the marble door,

And leave me! Let me sleep;

But deep, deep,

Never to waken more!

Mrs. Jameson.

OH! DISTANT STARS.

On! distant stars, whose tranquil light

Looks down on all the world at rest, From new-born babes, whose welcome night Is cradled on the mother's breast,

OH! DISTANT STARS.

To many a long-neglected grave

In many a churchyard's narrow bound,
And many a ship on trackless waves

Whose course by that sweet light is found ;
Clear gleaming stars, clear gleaming stars,
Emblem of God's protecting love,

Ye watch us from your realms above.

Your light is on the Northern snow

Where never trod the foot of man;

Ye shine where lonely rivers flow

On white wings of the sleeping swan.
Ye guide (with trembling rays and dim)
The beggar who dejected roams
Past fires that glow, but not for him
The household smile of happy homes.

Oh, steadfast stars, oh, steadfast stars,
Emblem of God's all-seeing eye,

Ye watch him from your world on high.

Oh, stars! memorial of the night,

When first to simple shepherds beam'd

That glory, past your common light,

The portent of a world redeem'd.

Still watch our living and our dead,

And link the thoughts of sinful Earth With that sweet light whose radiance shed A halo round the Saviour's birth. Pure, holy stars! Pure, holy stars! Emblem of hope and sins forgiven, Still watch us from your distant Heaven! Hon. Mrs. Norton.