And he said if they could but get there and dig up a lot of gold

They'd be able to get the things back their mother had pawned and sold,

And buy her warm things for winter and comforts to make her well;

But how they could make the journey was more than the boy could tell.

"I know!" cried Kate, in a moment; "I've heard the teacher say

That ships from the docks are sailing almost every day. You know the name of the country where the golden nuggets grow;

Let us look for a ship that sails there and step on board and go.

There's only one thing," she added-" I fancy you have to pay."

Then Fred remembered a story he'd heard of a stow

away,

So they trudged to the docks and, finding a vessel about to sail,

They managed to get on board her and hide behind a bale.

They were found by the men next morning when the vessel was out at sea,

And were taken before the captain, who said a word spelled with D;

But they told him their simple story and begged so hard to stay

That the captain's wrath was melted and he took them all the way.

And the passengers heard about it and petted the girl and boy,

And the hearts of the little miners were filled with child

ish joy

As they dreamed of the famous gold fields that lay across the seas;

And the good ship ploughed the waters and flew before the breeze.

Their pale cheeks flushed with color, and their teardimmed eyes grew bright,

And the ship was a wondrous playground from early morn to night.

When they touched at last at Melbourne, the captain took them ashore,

And showed them a hundred marvels they had never seen before.

But Freddy said to the captain, "We shall have to say good-bye,

For we want to get to the places where the beautifu}

nuggets

lie.

We'll go, if you please, to-morrow, and as soon as we've

filled a sack,

We'd like, if you'd be so kind, sir, for your ship to take us back."

The eyes of the captain twinkled-he thought it a splendid joke!

And that night in a Melbourne bar-room, having his evening smoke,

He told the children's story to the men who were in the place;

There were some of them there, old miners, who said,
"'twas a rummy case.
But one of them asked the captain to let him see the

pair;"

66

A big, fine, handsome fellow, who'd made a fortune

there,

Who'd roughed it for years as a miner, but had just made a lucky hit,

And brought his "pile" to Melbourne, and was going the pace a bit.

The captain took the miner and showed him the girl

and boy,

He asked the girl what her name was, and she answered "Katie Roy."

The miner started for a moment and his face went deadly white,

Then he asked the boy a question-he mightn't have heard aright.

He asked him about his mother, and the miner's face flushed hot

As the children told the story of the mother's weary lot; He rushed from the room like a madman, and came back with a bag of gold,

And gave to the starving children as much as their hands could hold.

"Take that," he said, "to your mother-it's the gold that you came to seek ;

God's providence sent you hither, the wanted word to speak

To call the wanderer homeward-he'll sail by to-mor row's ship.'

Then he touched the children's foreheads with a hot and trembling lip,

And told them that he was their father-the father who ran away

When things went wrong in the city, and a gambler couldn't pay;

The father who left their mother, and had gone from

bad to worse,

Till a stroke of luck at the diggings had suddenly filled

his purse.

*

*

*

*

*

A white-faced convalescent sat in the workhouse yard, Dozing away her leisure, for her let was rough and

hard;

And a beautiful dream God sent her-a dream of the

long ago,

In the days ere her heart was heavy with a burden of

bitter woe.

She dreamed that her husband called her, with a smile on his handsome face,

And the children ran out toward her-then she woke in a dreary place:

Woke with a cry of wonder, for her husband called her

name,

And, bounding along to greet her, the boy and his sister

came.

Or ever a word she uttered, the children were at her knee

In her lap fell a golden shower, and the boy cried out in glee,

"Look what we've brought you, mother! We've been to the land of gold,

And daddy's got lots of nuggets-more than your hands could hold."

She gave one glance at the treasure, and then her head sank down

On the breast of the sunburnt miner, and the gold slipped from her gown;

And the paupers stared in wonder as the sovereigns rolled away

Folks don't walk into the workhouse with fortunes every day.

Are you anxious to hear the finish? I fancy that you

can guess

How Elizabeth Roy's eyes brightened at the old familiar "Bess."

And your fancy can paint the picture of the dawn of a happier fate

As father and mother and children went out of the work

house gate.

Would you like to know the sequel? Peep through the hedge and see

The dear old home and the garden, just as they used to

be,

And a happy wife and husband, smiling the smile of old As the children tell the story of their trip to the land

of gold.

GEO. R. SIMS.

66

A TALE OF LONG AGO.

IN ancient days, when the Saxons and Jutes were at war, Milfried, the bravest and mightiest of the Saxon chieftains, led forth his most trusted warriors to drive the Jutes from an eminence upon which they had erected the standard of victory. In the midst of the battle, Milfried, seeing his fast wasting band slowly giving way before the stalwart Jutes, raised his voice to heaven, crying, "O Woden, thou god of my Fatherland, wilt thou strike for my people, I shall sacrifice to thee my child, the blue-eyed Frieda !" Above the shouts and clamor of warriors, above the din and roar of battle, thundered the mighty voice of Woden, "My will be done!" Then the Saxons, with shouts that reached heaven, rushed again into the strife, swinging about them their ponderous axes dripping with the blood of their enemies, and glittering in the setting sunlight, and drove the Jutes before them like snow before the winter's wind. When night drew her mantle of darkness over the earth, and all nature was hushed in her awful presence, the battle was ended, and Milfried returned home, rejoicing in victory. Ere he had crossed the threshold of his princely castle, gladness had changed to sadness, for he had not forgotten the battle's oath. He entered with slow step yet stately mien, and sorrow entered with him. As he looked upon his beautiful wife and bright-eyed, laughing child, standing before the blazing log in the massive fireplace, which lighted the chamber with sparkling rays and shed a glow of loveliness about them, pain smote his fearless heart and made his manly frame shake and tremble like the tall pine before the northern blast. He took the child in his arms and pressed her closely to his broad, noble breast, heaving in agony. No tear rolled down his war-scarred cheeks, no groans rent his swelling chest-a Norseman was too proud to weep, a viking's heart too stout to break, before death's awfulness. The mother saw the look of sadness beaming from his eyes, and the cloud of sorrow veiling his manly face. "Why," she asked, "should you grieve at the loss of many