KINDNESS.

ANONYMOUS.

By those who live in bonds of love,
Let kindly words be spoken;

For one cold look, one reckless word,
And soon the charm is broken.

But kindness hath the magic power
To tame the breast of madness;
To calm the angry, vengeful mind,
And cheer the heart of sadness.

The care-worn stranger on whose path
There dawns no bright to-morrow,
In memory dear will hold the name
Of him who shares his sorrow.

The hardened sons of guilt and shame,
That in dark dungeons languish,
Are melted by the friendly voice,
That soothes their untold anguish.

And those who give the stern reproof,
May well be charged with blindness;
One timely word might save from sin,
If spoken in love and kindness.

How sweet the thought of absent friends,
That o'er the heart comes stealing,
When nought but love and peace are seen,
In all its true revealing.

When cherished friends are snatched away.
By death's relentless finger,

Why should one cause for self-reproach
On faithful conscience linger?

In love the law is all fulfill'd,
Love was the Savior's mission;
And in His steps we all must tread,
If we would gain His blessing.

Who does not feel that in the hour
When life's last joys are flying,
Remember'd deeds of kindness done
Will ease the thought of dying.

I WAS SICK AND IN PRISON.

JONES VERY.

Thou hast not left the rough-barked tree to grow
Without a mate upon the river's bank;

Nor dost Thou on one flower the rain bestow,

But many a cup the glittering drops has drank : The bird must sing to one who sings again,

Else would her note less welcome be to hear; Nor hast Thou bid thy word descend in vain,

But soon some answering voice shall reach my ear: Then shall the brotherhood of peace begin,

And the new song be raised that never dies, That shall the soul from death and darkness win, And burst the prison where the captive lies; And one by one new-born shall join the strain, Till earth restores her sons to heaven again.

FORGIVENESS.

66

WILLIAM B. TAPPAN.

They met a party of men and women, carrying a sick chief over the mountains who was evidently dying. It was affecting to see him stretch forth his hand to them as they passed, as if desiring to be friends with all before he died."-Wilkes' Exploring Expedition.

While gaily leaps the pulse of life

We may our erring brother spurn,-
And, careless, fan the coals of strife,
And bid revenge and anger burn.

Forgetful that the lot to sin

Is common as to live and die,
And, won by love that we should win
By kindly word and gentle eye.

That much of pain to fellow man

We may by due reflection spare,

If, lifting from his heart the ban,

We search our own and lay it there.

We'd bury all his faults in love

And put unworthy scorn to flight,
Did we but think, an Eye above
Sets ours in its transparent light.

And that we ask on bended knee

That our offences may not live, With Reason and Religion's plea : "For others, also, we forgive."

Yet when disease the sense appals. And strenth and beauty waste away, And sullen pain its victim calls,

And joy, and hope, and life decay—

Forgiveness needing at the door

To which our trembling footsteps tend, We charge our pride to swell no more, And every foe becomes a friend.

HUMAN DUTIES.

MRS. L. J. B. CASE

Speak kindly, oh, speak soothingly
To him whose hopes are crossed,
Whose blessed trust in human love
Was early, early lost.
For wearily-how wearily!
Drags life if love depart;

Oh, let the balm of gentle words
Fall on the smitten heart!

Go gladly, with true sympathy,

Where want's pale victims pine,
And bid life's sweetest smiles again
Along their pathway shine.
Oh, heavily doth poverty

Man's nobler instincts bind,
Yet sever not that chain to cast
A sadder on the mind.

Go firmly, where all fatally,
Sin's baleful splendor gleams,
And from its blinded votaries chase
Their bright, delirious dreams;
As gaily, and as thoughtlessly,
They dance upon the verge
Of a tremendous gulf, whose wave
Sounds hope's most fearful dirge.

Go tenderly, go lovingly,

To the dens of dark despair,

Where days, and nights of wild remorse
Are all the mind can bear;
And kindly, but yet faithfully,
Truth's holy counsels give,
And bid the wretched, moral dead
Be pure again and live.

Go gently, and go cheerfully,

To the saddened couch of pain,
And if the sufferer may not rise
To blessed life again,
Speak hopefully, speak trustfully,
Of another world on high,

Where mournful shadows from the tomb
Sweep not its glorious sky.

Go reverently, go prayerfully,
And kneel beside the bier
And tell the weeper that the soul
Hath not its life-goal here;

Then gratefully, exultingly,

Point up where bright worlds roll, And say yon sky may pass to death, But not the human soul!