ORTHOGRAPHY.-WADE Whipple, Marier! Here's a letter kum Heze bort a farm out West, an' here With nuze ov what he raised last year But what gits me in this, ol' gal, Kris allers wus eriginal, But sizzers! How it tells Agin a kollege chap ter reed The way he duz upset The parts o' speche! it puts ter seed I aint at spellin' wat the Frentch I kalkerlate I never rentch Just lissen-here heze got a wurd Git out! That burd'd yawp frum now Its name spelt thataway; but how Duz this style fit yer ear? Hiz gote is spelt "g-o-a-t," Hiz kow with "c," I swar, An' heffer-wall, that jist gits me Now aint thet fer a kollege man Wot sort of peekok's spelt with P- δν An' now heze munkst hiz garden weeds; Thet's orful, aint it? Wall, jist wait; Great Seezer! Every step he takes A spellin' bee hiz hunny makes, An' landy Moses! Marcy me! T-a-b-a-g-a!" Thar, thar, Marier! Ef it churns He wants us thar on Krismus day, Hiz Kris "C-h-r-i." Thet jist gives me a pinter; Ile T-o-p-h-e-r." "SHOUTIN'."-F. L. STANTON, There's lots an' lots of people (if you'll just believe my song), What says we shoutin' Methodists is got the business wrong. Well, they're welcome to their 'pinions, but of one thing I'm secure: If they ever git religion they will shout a hundred, sure! I was once into a love-feast, an' talk of shoutin'-why, An' the Presbyterian people-they were happy, not a few, An' the Baptist brother come along and joined the shoutin', too. I tell you, folks, religion is a curious kind o' thing; It gives a man a heart to pray, a powerful voice to sing! An' if you've only got it-though there aint no shoutin' heard The people's bound to see it, if you never say a word. In this little church at Smithville, that is dear to one and all, Where the footsteps of the Master in the mystic silence fall, As He walks among the people in this little church, if we Only had some old time shoutin' how much better it would be. We're sailin' in the same old ship, no matter where we roam; The Baptists and the Methodists, we're all a-goin' home; The paths we tread are sometimes rough, and flowerless is the sod; "This world is not a friend of grace to help us on to God." But the lights of Canaan shinin' o'er the river's crystal tide Seem to woo us to the city that is on the other side. Then let us sing together, for we're bound to get there soon; "On the other side of Jordan"-will some brother raise the tune? "Where the tree of life is bloomin'," sheddin' blossoms o'er the foam, "There is rest for the weary," an' we're goin', goin' home! ▲ NIGHT RIDE ON THE ENGINE.-EMMA SHAW. OVER THE CANADIAN ROCKIES. Beside the engine-driver grim Like flaming, never-sleeping eye Its radiance makes the gloom more dense; This road to build 'mongst mountains high, On! On, until we seem to fly, Huge shapes loom up on either side,- A transient gleam lights up the snow Which crowns each brow, and scarred seams show Where swept the fearful avalanche, Destroying trees both root end branch, And proving its all-potent sway By leaving chaos in its way. Now some lone lake reflects our light A lone night-watchman holds in sight We swiftly plunge, and with a thrill Emerging from this cavern dark Which broadens to the switchman's light, As fast we thunder to the town, Then sudden stop,-the brakes hard down, For laggards. Swift the lights recede, Where fire has swept across the land, While thund'rous, deaf'ning dash and roar O'er jagged rocks, in foam-wreaths white, We look ahead, and with a thrill, A halo wears of sunrise fire! Up comes the sun; the mists are curled Which lies about-behind-before! DOMESTIC MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT. It was Sabbath evening, and Bob and Mrs. Johnston were seated at either side of the fire, crackin' soberly as befitted the time and the occasion. They had been to church, and heard a sermon in which the preacher had denounced hypocrisy as the besetting sin of the age, and pictured what a beautiful world this would be if every. |