Is it of metal

my

love,

pure ? So endless is Unless you it destroy with your disdain. Doth it the purer grow, the more 'tis tried?

So doth my love: yet herein they dissent, That whereas gold, the more 'tis purified,

By growing less doth show some part is spent ; My love doth grow more pure by your more trying,

And yet increaseth in the purifying.

Davison.

MARRIAGE A VENTURE.

HOSE who enter the marriage-state cast a

THOSE

die of the greatest contingency, and yet of the greatest interest in the world, next to the last throw for eternity. Life or death, felicity or a lasting sorrow, are in the power of marriage. A woman, indeed, ventures most; for she hath no sanctuary to retire to from an evil husband. She must dwell upon her sorrow, which her own folly hath produced; and she is more under it, because her tormentor hath warrant of prerogative. And the woman may complain to God, as subjects do of tyrant princes; but, otherwise, she

hours

hath no appeal in the causes of unkindness. And though the man can run from of sadness, yet he must return to it again; and, many when he sits among his neighbors, he remembers the dejection that lies in his bosom, and he sighs deeply.

Jeremy Taylor.

THE GOLDEN WEDDING-RING.

WITH

ITH a white hand like a lady,
And a heart as merry as spring,

I am ripe and I am ready

For a golden wedding-ring.

As the earth with sea is bounded,
And the winter-world with spring;
So a maiden's life is rounded
With a golden wedding-ring.

There's no jewel so worth wearing,
That a lover's hands may bring;
There's no treasure worth comparing
With a golden wedding-ring.

Gerald Massey

MY

PRAYER FOR A WIFE.

Y gracious Lord, if it be thy holy will that I live without a wife, sustain me against temptations: if otherwise, grant me a good and pious maiden, with whom I may pass my life sweetly and calmly; whom I may love, and of be loved in return.

whom I

may

Martin Luther.

WAITING.

AND she will love me; for I know

That there must surely come an hour
Wherein the secret mystic power
Of her fine womanhood will flower.

Then she will know me if I do

But give the single perfect sign:
I know, that, in that hour divine,
Her soul will feel a need of mine.

And knowing that this must be so.
This time must come or soon or late,
I am content to sit and wait,

While slow draws on my golden fate.

My heart will take no other guest:
I wait till her white hand alone

Shall from that beauteous brow take down
For me the golden virgin crown.

Lydia A. Caldwell.

JUBILATE!

JUBILATE! I am loved!

And his lips at length have said it:
Long since in his eyes I read it;

But I thought it could not be.
Ah! what happiness for me!

Jubilate! I am loved!
Now I'm like a little queen;
Very pleasant 'tis, I ween:
Whatsoe'er I do or say
Seemeth good and right alway.

Jubilate ! I am loved!

To see him kneeling at my feet,
Oh! 'tis sweet, 'tis very sweet:
Every day and every hour
Do I glory in my power.

Jubilate! I am loved!

So dearly loved, that, till I prayed,
I was more than half afraid.
Lord, forgive my sins, and make

Me pure

and good for his dear sake!

Jubilate! I am loved!
Lord, forgive my glorying!

To thy dear cross I meekly cling:
Let the love he beareth me
Lead him, lead us both, to thee!

Elizabeth Youatt.

CHOICE OF A WIFE.

WHEN it shall please God to bring thee to

man's estate, use great providence and

circumspection in choosing thy wife; for from thence will spring all thy future good or evil. And it is an action of life, like unto a stratagem of war, wherein a man can err but once.

Sir Philip Sidney.

I CHOSE my wife, as she did her weddinggown, for qualities that would wear well.

Goldsmith.