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"All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest."-Zechariah i. 11.

OW dazzling white the snowy scene! deep, deep,
The stillness of the winter Sabbath day,-

Not even a footfall heard. Smooth are the fields,
Each hollow pathway level with the plain :
Hid are the bushes, save that here and there
Are seen the topmost shoots of brier or broom.
High-ridged, the whirlèd drift has almost reached
The powdered key-stone of the church-yard porch;
Mute hangs the hooded bell; the tombs lie buried;
No step approaches to the house of prayer.

The flickering fall is o'er; the clouds disperse,
And show the sun, hung o'er the welkin's verge,
Shooting a bright but ineffectual beam
On all the sparkling waste.

*

But let me now explore the deep-sunk dell:
No footprint, save the covey's or the flock's,
Is seen along the rill, where marshy springs
Still rear the grassy blade of vivid green.
Beware, ye shepherds, of those treacherous haunts,
Nor longer linger there too long: the wintry day
Soon closes; and full oft a heavier fall,
Heaped by the blast, fills up the sheltered glen,
While gurgling deep below, the buried rill
Mines for itself a snow-coved way.

C

THE NEW YEAR'S BELLS AT MIDNIGHT.

KNELL of departed years!

Thy voice is sweet to me;
It wakes no sad foreboding fears,
Calls forth no sympathetic tears,
Time's restless course to see;
From hallowed ground

I hear a sound

Diffusing through the air a holy calm around.

Thou art the voice of love

To chide each doubt away;
And as thy murmur faintly dies
Visions of past enjoyment rise,
In long and bright array,

I hail the sign

That love divine

Will o'er my future path in cloudless mercy shine.

Thou art the voice of hope!

The music of the spheres!

A song of blessings yet to come,
A herald from my future home,
My soul delighted hears:

By sin deceived,

By nature grieved,

Still am I nearer rest than when I first believed.

THOUGHTS FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY.

I I

Thou art the voice of life;

A sound which seems to say

O prisoner in this gloomy vale,

Thy flesh shall faint, thy heart shall fail;

But fairer scenes thy spirit hail

That cannot pass away:

Here grief and pain

Thy steps detain;

There in the image of the Lord shalt thou with Jesus reign.

THOUGHTS FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY.

"A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.”—Deut. xi. 12.

ANOTHER Year with promised blessings rise!
Eternal Power! from whom those blessings flow,
Teach me still more to wonder, more to know:
Seed-time and Harvest let me see again;
Wander the leaf-strewn wood, the frozen plain :
Let the first flower, corn-waving field, plain, tree,
Here round my home, still lift my soul to Thee.
And let me ever, 'midst Thy bounties, raise
An humble note of thankfulness and praise !

ST. AGNES' EVE.

DEEP on the convent roof the snows
Are sparkling to the moon :
My breath to heaven like vapour goes:
May my soul follow soon!
The shadows of the convent-towers

Slant down the snowy sward,

Still creeping with the creeping hours
That lead me to my Lord:

Make Thou my spirit pure and clear
As are the frosty skies,

Or this first snowdrop of the year
That in my bosom lies.

As these white robes are soiled and dark,
To yonder shining ground;

As this pale taper's earthly spark,
To yonder argent round;

So shows my soul before the Lamb,
My spirit before Thee;

So in mine earthly house I am,

To that I hope to be.

Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far,
Through all yon starlight keen,
Draw me, Thy bride, a glittering star,

In raiment white and clean.

He lifts me to the golden doors;

The flashes come and go;

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