Affection’s ties oft sunder; and the home
    Of peace and love, sorrow and death can enter. 
  Art thou, indeed, a mourner? dost thou roam
    Alone and sad, where late thy joys did centre? 
  “The Word is nigh thee!” and though bitter grief
    Makes all the future seem one day of sorrow,—­
  Its words of peace shall grant thee sweet relief;
    The night of pain and fear shall find a joyous morrow

  “The Word of God is nigh thee!” let it be
    The lamp that o’er thy pathway sheds its light,
  Then, through the mists of error, thou shalt see
    The way of truth, all radiant and bright,
  In which of old the sons of God did go,
    Leaning on Him who was their friend and guide;
  Nor shall thy heart be faint, thy step be slow,
    Till thou in Heaven, thy home, shalt triumph by their side

  The Word of God shall bless thee, in the hour
    When human hopes and human friends shall fail: 
  It was in health thy portion, and its power
    Is mightiest even in the gloomy vale. 
  No evil shalt thou fear while He is with thee;
    The sting of death his hand shall take away,
  His rod and staff shall comfort thee and cheer thee,
    And thou with Him shalt dwell through heaven’s eternal day.

AUNT RACHEL.

WE remember as it were yesterday the first time we saw her, though it was a brief glance, and she was so quickly forgotten that most of us had passed into the supper-room and the rest had reached the door, heedless of the stranger, when one of our party, perhaps more thoughtful than the others, cast her eyes on the quiet little figure that stood, near the fire as if irresolute, whether to follow or remain.  With lady-like politeness she received the excuses which one of the gentlemen offered for having preceded her, and entered the room.

She was very slight, and thin, and pale, her, eyes were of a light gray and her hair inclined to redness, but her forehead, was broad and smooth and, about her thin lips there hovered an expression of sweetness and repose.

We have forgotten now what first led us to feel that beneath that unprepossessing exterior were concealed the pulses of a warm, generous heart, and the powers of a strong and cultivated mind, but we remember well the morning that she set her seal upon our heart.

It was a clear, cold, brilliant morning in March.  The whole broad country was covered with a thick crust of hard, glittering snow, and every tree was encased in ice.  The oaks and elms and chestnuts and beeches from their trunks upward and outward to their minutest twigs, and the pines and firs with their greenness shining through, sparkled like diamonds and. emeralds in the brightness of the sun.