radiance of a tropical sun, is in many places abandoned to sterility; when the waters have retired, leaving a broad and ghastly margin, white with the incrustation of salts, while the cities and hamlets on their borders have mouldered into rains;--even now that desolation broods over the landscape, so indestructible are the lines of beauty which nature has traced on its features, that no traveler, however cold, can gaze on them with any other emotions than those of astonishment and rapture.

What, then, must have been the emotions of the Spani iards, when, after working their toilsome way into the upper air, the cloudy tabernacle parted before their eyes, and they beheld these fair scenes in all their pristine magnificence and beauty! It was like the spectacle which greeted the eyes of Moses from the summit of Pisgah, and, in the warm glow of their feelings. they cried out, “It is the promised land!"

PAT'S WISDOM.

Tim Dolan and his wife, wan night,
Were drinkin' av the crayture,
Whin something started up a fight,
And they wint at it right an' tight,
According to their nature.
O'Grady and mesilf stood near,
Expecting bloody murther.
Says he to me: "Let's interfere."
But I, pretending not to hear,
Moved off a little further.

"Lave off, ye brute," says he to Tim;
"No man wud sthrike a lady."
But both the Doolans turned on him,
And in a whist the two av them
Were wallopin O'Grady.

That night whin I was home, in bed,
Remimbering this token,

I took the notion in my head
That the wisest word I iver said

Was the one that wasn't spoken.

THE COLONEL'S ORDERS.-ROBERT C. V. MEYERS.

Written expressly for this Collection.

The Colonel loved sweet Cicely-alas! she loved not him. The Lieutenant loved sweet Cicely- that was another inatter;

For the Colonel he was old and fat, the Lieutenant young and slim.

When the Colonel heard they were engaged he was mad as any hatter.

66

He led his men an awful life,-court-martialed Captain Green For laughing after " taps,” and threw his boots at Corporal Brady

For incidentally mentioning at mess that he had seen The young Lieutenant, who was off on sick-leave, with a lady.

For five whole days the Colonel was so sedulously warmed The thermometer rushed up, they said, and two men had a sun-stroke,

Although 'twas wintry weather and the ice with skaters swarmed,

And the bitter frost had grown so fierce the barrel of a gun broke.

But after these peculiar days the Colonel saw his chance,He would recall the absent man, yea, bring him o'er the

borders,

Would keep him here in camp where he would find small chance to dance

Attendance on sweet Cicely while waiting marching-orders. He laughed with glee at his bright plan and called up Captain Green

And complimented him upon his drilling; Corporal Brady He called the best of corporals that there had ever been And said he'd get promotion, though he'd better keep that shady.

And then he sent a telegram to the Lieutenant. This: "Join at once." No more, no less. "Join at once." "Twas shabby,

But it was an inspiration, and it filled his soul with bliss, And he chuckled till his face grew red, his collar damp and dabby.

But the young Lieutenant-ah, you should have seen his face when he

Received the spiteful message. He understood the Colonel. I fear he used some naughty words. He set out hastily To find and tell sweet Cicely, vowing rage eternal.

He found her and he showed her the words so curt and

glum.

She read them - "Join at once," and grew a little pale and

flurried.

She understood the Colonel too, and while her lips were dumb

Her heart was voluble in blame and all her blood was

hurried.

She read the words and read them, the Lieutenant standing there,

A monument of grief and rage, his voice too sad for speaking,

When suddenly she blushed; she said, "Good gracious! how

you stare.

The Colonel is a darling!" "A darling!" cried he, wreaking

His vengeance in that tender word.

"Yes, yes," said she,

He read them. "Well, what is it?" he helpless asked. "They're clear

Enough." "Oh, dear!" she cried, " you are a mere man. He's Dan Cupid."

"What!" cried the young Lieutenant, quite blazing. "Hush!" said she,

Are you so poor a soldier that the poor dear Colonel's meaning

Makes you angry? oh, my goodness! you are stupid as can be When these orders--" and she went to him, her arms upon

him leaning,

"These orders they must be obeyed. Dare you to disobey The martial mandate which the wires have brought you

from your Colonel!"

"Ha! Ha!" the young Lieutenant roared, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" They say

He laughed so much he stood the risk of injury internal.

"Ha! Ha!" laughed he, till she laughed too, though red as any rose.

"Now to obey the orders!" said the young Lieutenant.

Mercy!"

Cried she, "you're in a hurry like the Colonel, I suppose. While as for me-" she pouted, though she smiled with lips all pursy.

At any rate, next day in camp the Colonel, stiff, upright,
Looking for the absent man received a telegraphic

Message which turned white to black, the morning into night,

And made a temper fiendish that had learned to be seraphic.

Captain Green he called a fool for saying, “A fine day!" He told young Corporal Brady that his hair was never parted;

He tore around amongst the men in an abnormal way, Till a new recruit deserted, having grown quite chickenhearted.

And yet the message that did this was an answer to his own; The young Lieutenant sent it with precision o'er the borders

Though I think sweet Cicely worded it, it had so much her

tone

It read thus-" We were joined at once.

your orders."

I have obeyed

OLD TENNANT CHURCH.-GEORGE W. BUNGAY.

The Old Tennant Church of Monmouth County, New Jersey, was erected more than one hundred and sixty years ago upon the site now famous and his torical as the battle-ground of Monmouth. The pew stained with the blood of a soldier wou ded in the fight remains as it was at the time of the Revolution, and the bullet holes in the walls seem like eyes of the past looking down upon the present. Near this old structure Washington held counsel with his staff, under the trees that are still standing. The following poem was read, by the author at a meeting held Sunday evening, April, 28, 1889, in Rev. Dr. Eddy's Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N. Y.

In vain through history we search,
Or look, where honor's eagles perch
On lofty heights of song and story,
For brighter fame than Tennant Church
Has won on patriot rolls of glory.

There is the pulpit, there the pews,
Where grace came down like heavenly dews
Upon the people and their pastor.
There holy men proclaimed the news
Of love and mercy of the Master.

"Twas there the sainted Tennant stood,
And there his flock poured out their blood
As freely as the clouds pour water;

A patriotic brotherhood,

Baptized in the flame and blood of slaughter.
The wild flowers splashed with stains of red,
Repeat the drops upon them shed

Above the dust the sexton gathers;

There birds in branches overhead
Sing the soft requiem of the fathers.

Tell me, ye brave old trees that stand
Like sentinels so tall and grand,

Watching the camp where sleep our braves
Was Washington's great battle planned
Upon the spot now heaped with graves?

Did ye clap your green palms with glee
When great George made the red-coats flee
Over the fields that blushed with clover?
Did ye look up through buds and see
The angel freedom hovering over?

"Tis not the tribute of a tear,

Nor song our heroes cannot hear,
Alone we give; they died, and we
Now feel their precious presence near
This Sabbath day of Liberty.

JOHN OF MT. SINAI.-A. L. FRISBIE.

Among the Sinai monks the Brother John,

A shrunk and dwarfish man, was numbered, one
Who winced beneath the burden of the cross;
And, while he claimed to count his gain but loss
For Christ, he counted grudgingly the gain
He lost, and gave it up for Christ with pain.
And when to labors till the evening damp
Were added vigils by the midnight !amp,
Abundant hardships after meager fare,
Of sleep o'er little, and o'er much of prayer,
The monk's vocation seemed no easy yoke
And burden light, of which the Master spoke.
He bore it with impatience. Poor, unwise,
He dwelt upon the pain of sacrifice

And lost its blessing. In his troubled breast
His wrung soul cried a bitter cry for rest.

"Behold," said he, "the lilies, how they grow!
They toil not. spin not, yet I surely know
They give God glory which He pleased receives,
And them His easy service never grieves.
The angels, too, in their celestial spheres,
No flagellations have, nor fasts, nor tears,