Again passed by! Oh, Master, this is hard!

Have I not, for my labour's sake, some claim? I, who have sung Thy praise and won regard

From men for my allegiance to Thy nameAll know I love Thee, Master, wherefore then Do this despite to me in sight of men?

Forgive me if I murmur! I will prove

Myself more worthy. Lord, Thou dost not know me But how unwearying is the heart of love,

How resolute, how faithful I will show Thee;
So in the sixth hour, when the heat is strong
And others faint, Thou wilt repair this wrong.

The sixth hour is gone by-and I uncalled!
Alas, dear Master, I the hour forgot;
And, by the business of the day enthralled,

My captive senses heard and saw Thee not.
Forgive me, Lord! I thought not thus to sin!—
But when the ninth hour cometh, call me in!

I am unworthy to be called, unfit

For the Great Master's service. He passed by me,

Called in the others, and now here I sit,

My hands before me idle. Master, try me!—

Cast me not off! let me Thy work essay

Though I have been unfaithful through the day!

The sun is setting; night is coming down,

The night when no man works. Oh Lord, dear Lord, Though I am poor, can nothing call my own,

Though I have sinned as none before, accord

Thy mercy! By Thy mercy I will stand,
Even until midnight, with my empty hand!

Callest Thou, Lord? I thought I heard Thy voice
In this the eleventh hour! Bid'st Thou me go
Into Thy vineyard? May my soul rejoice

Lifted by Thee out of this pit of woe!

Speak not of payment, Lord! But let me prove
Thy sweet forgiveness, Thy exceeding love!

MARY HOWITT.

The Circles.

ITHIN this horrid cirque of war

What's hidden that they fight so for?" My guide made answer, "Rich increase Of virtue and use, which are by peace, And peace by war. That inner ring Are craftsmen, working many a thing: For many a use, and others, wise, Explore the grass and read the skies." "Can the stars' motions give me peace, Or the herbs' virtues mine increase? Of all this shell of use," said I, "Would that I might the kernel spy!" "Go further in," he said, "and see, Secure and fair, Society."

And so within that busy round

I brake, and came to calmer ground.
Here men and women, great and small,
Were talking, somewhat idly, all.
"The lip of scorn may well be curl'd

At such excuse for such a world!"

Sigh'd I; but, guided through this loud,
Elated, and unfruitful crowd,

An inner circle still I reach'd,
Where sang a few and many preach'd
Of life immortal. "But," I said,
"The mystery yet I have not read.
Life I must know, that care I may
For life in me to last for aye."

Then he, "These voices are a charm
To keep yon dove-cot out of harm."
In the centre, then, he show'd a tent
Where, laughing safe, a woman bent
Over her babe, and, her above,
Lean'd in his turn, a graver love.
"Behold the two idolatries

By which," cried he, "the world defies

Chaos and death, and for whose sake

All else must war, and work, and wake!”

COVENTRY PATMORE.

Otto Steinmetz:

A LEGEND OF ONE TAKEN OUT OF GOD'S HANDS.

BY HOLME LEE.

I.

T was on
a Christmas-eve, in the old Catholic
times of Germany, that the little son of Franz

Steinmetz, the mason, fell ill of a deadly sickness.
The bells at the church hard by began to ring out their
peals of solemn gladness just as the physician whispered to
the anxious, watching mother that her darling must die.

She looked in his grave countenance terrified, clasped her hands in an agony of grief, and, dropping on her knees by the bed whereon the child lay, tried to pray in her soul that God would give her submission to His will; but there was a wild rending at her heartstrings as her pale lips moved in words of supplication, which was as though her own life were being torn from her with her babe's.

She was a devout, simple young woman-a Saint, her neighbours called her-and this was the first threatening of great sorrow that had ever assailed her since she was born. Her parents still lived; her husband loved her, and was prosperous. She had a sweet, kind face, which won a kind look back from every other; a cheerful temper and pure heart, such as create perpetual sunshine and happiness within.