Till having made a hearty meal,
He careless turned upon his heel,
And trotted at his ease away,

Nor thought of asking "What's to pay?" And here some sage, with moral spleen may say, "This Hayman should have driven the dog away! The effects of vice the blameless should not bear, And folks that are not drunkards lose their hare."

Not so unfashionably good,

The waggish Hayman laughing stood,
Until our porter's stupor o'er,

He jogged on tottering as before,
Unconscious anybody kind

Had eased him of his load behind ;-
Now on the houses bent his eye,
As if his journey's end were nigh,
Then read a paper in his hand,
And made a stand.-

Hayman drew near with eager mien,
To mark the closing of the scene,

His mirth up to the brim;

The porter read the address once more,
And hickuped, "Where's one Hayman's door!
I've got a hare for him!"

ELAM CHASE'S FIDDLE.-R. C. TONGUE.
Sometimes when I get to feelin'
Sorter blue an' melancholy,

All to once there comes a-stealin',
Mighty faint but mighty jolly,
Music that jist sets me dancin'-
Fairly sets my feet a-prancin',

Seems I hear the prompter singin',
“Balance partners! Down the middle!”
Settin' every couple swingin'-
Hear John Elam Chase's fiddle!

Twenty couple all a-goin',

Eighty eager feet a-soundin',
Every whirl the music growin'

Sets them eighty feet a-poundin';

Sho, thet music still repeatin'
Sets my poor old heart a-beatin'
As I hear the prompter singin',
"Balance partners! Down the middle!”
All them twenty couple swingin',
Jist hear Elam Chase's fiddle!

Sometimes Sabbath, right in meetin',
Even when the parson's prayin',
Seems I hear them notes repeatin';
Hear John Elam's fiddle playin',
Playin' swifter, playin' sweeter;
And the dancers' eager feet are
Whirlin' to the prompter's singin':
"Balance partners! Down the middle!”
Swingin'-every couple swingin'—
To John Elam Chase's fiddle.

NELLIE'S PRAYER.-GEORGE R. SIMS.*

It's a month to-day since they brought me
The news of my darling's death;

I knew what it meant when the neighbors
Whispered under their breath;

And one good motherly creature,
Seeing my Nell at play,

Stooped down, with her eyelids streaming,
And kissed her and turned away.

I knew that my Nell was an orphan
And I was a widowed wife,

That a soldier for Queen and country

Had bravely given his life;

That out on the field of battle,

Under the far-off skies,

He had thought of his absent dear ones
With the film of death on his eyes.

It was there in the evening paper,
His name was among the dead-

We had won a glorious battle,

And the enemy, beaten, fled.

*Author of "The Life Boat," "The OH Actor's Story," "In the Harbor," "The Ticket O' Leave," "Billy's Rose," and other famous readings in previous numbers.

Then they counted the dead and wounded,
And found him among the slain;
O God! had I known when we parted
We were never to meet again!

I couldn't believe the story,

I couldn't believe that he-
My darling, my soldier husband-
Would never come back to me.

I had thought of him night and morning;
I had passed long nights on my knees
Praying that God would bring him
Back to me over the seas.

It all came back like a vision;

I could hear the band as it played
When the regiment marched to the station,
And the noise that the people made
As they shouted "Good luck!" to the soldiers,
And gave them three ringing cheers,
While the women, with ashen faces,
Walked by the side in tears.

We walked by his side that morning,

And Nellie was quite elate

With the band and the crowd and the cheering

My Nellie was only eight.

She never thought of the danger;

He had tried to make her gay,

And told her to take care of mother

He wouldn't be long away.

He held her up at the station,

Lifted her up to kiss,

And then, with her arms flung round him,

Said to her, softly, this:

"Nellie, my pet, at bedtime,

When you kneel at your mother's knee

To pray to the God who loves us,

Say a wee prayer for me.

"I shall think of you in the twilight, When the stars come out above,

And fancy I see you kneeling

With your blue eye full of love, Breathing my name to Heaven; And if, as the good folks say,

God hears the prayers of the children,
He'll guard me while I'm away.

"He'll guard me, and bring me safely
Back, little Nell, to you:
There's many a danger, darling,

He'll have to help me through."

And the child looked up at her father,

The tears in her pretty eyes;

There was something of shame in her mannerSomething of sad surprise.

"You needn't have asked me, daddy,

I always do that!" she said; "Don't I pray for you and for mammy At night when I go to bed?

God loves the little children,

And answers their prayers, they say;
I'm sure that you'll come back safely,
I'll ask in my prayers that you may.”
It's only a month since they started.
We thought when the regiment went
That long ere the troops were landed
The force of the war would be spent.
And so I had taken courage,

And looked on the bright side first,
Though now and again I fretted,
And sometimes feared the worst.

They took little Nellie from me,
Took her away for awhile;
How could I hear her prattle,
And watch her eager smile,

As she counted the days till daddy
Would be back from the foreign shore?

How could I tell my darling

She would see his face no more?

I was left alone with my sorrow→
Alone in my little room.

Where the evening shadows deepened
Into the twilight gloom.

I had heard the words they uttered,
I had seen his name on the list;
But I sat and peered through the darkness
As a sailor peers through the mist;

I sat like a sleeper doubting

If she dreams or is wide awake, Till the truth came on me fiercely,

And I thought that my heart would break. As I sat in the deepening gloaming

The child came back again,

And I picked her up and kissed her
While my tears ran down like rain.

Why are you crying, mammy?”
I only shook my head.

"It's nothing, Nellie," I whispered;
"Kiss me, and go to bed."

"Let me say my prayers, mammy—
Will you hear me say them now?"
She prayed for her absent father;
I listened, but God knows how.

She prayed to the Lord to bring him,
Safe and sound and well,

Back from the far-off country

To mother and little Nell-
Prayed that, with her father lying
In that far-off country, dead!
"Now, father's safe till to-morrow,"
She whispered, and went to bed.

I hadn't the heart to tell her,

So night after night she prayed,
Just as she promised her father
When the last good-bye he bade.
But the prayer was a cruel dagger
To me as I sat and heard,

And my heart was stabbed to bleeding
With every childish word.

So a weary month went over,

Till at last my nerves gave way,
And I told her to stop one evening,
As she came to my knee to pray.
My brain was turned with sorrow,
I was wicked and weak and wild
To speak as I spoke that evening,
And shock the faith of a child.

She heard what I said; then, sobbing
Broke from my knee and fled