Two.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1794, 5 January 1884, Page 6

Two.

In the bitter gloom of a winter' t morn A babe was born. The snow piled high against wall and door, On the mighty oak bougb.3 the frost lay hoar ; But warmth and light shrined the happy face, So softly pillowed mid down and lace. The bolls clashed out from the reeling spire, The night was reddened by many a fire ; The cottage smiled for the joy at the hall, As the poor man answered the rich man's call, And his lot for a day was less forlorn, Because a little child was born. In the bitter gloom of a winter's morn, A babB was born. The snow piled high in the narrow street, Trodden and stained by harrying feet ; On the hqarth the embers lay cold and dead, And the woman who crouched on a damp straw bed Muttered a curae, as the drunken sport, Swelled up to her lair from the ciowded court. Eiot without and squalor within, To welcome a waif to a world of sin, And a pitiful life was the more forlorn, Because a little child was born. In smiling home amid sun and flowers, A cJiild grew up. Calm, and beauty, and culture, and wealth, To give power to life and grace to health ; Gentle influence, thought, and care, To train the darling of love and prayer, The stately heirlooms of place and blood, To crown the flov/er of maidenhood, With childhood's pearly innocence kept, On the folded loaves where the sunshine slept. Bo sweetly and richly foamed the cup Life held, where the happy girl grew up. Where " home " was a vaguo and empty word, A child grew up ; Where oath and blow were the only law, And ugly misery all she saw ; Where want and sin drew hand in hand, Bound the haunts that disgrace our Christian land; A loveless, hopeless, joyless life, Of crime, and wretchedness, struggle, and fiti'ifo. Never a glimpse of the sweet spring skies, To soften the flash in the wild young eyes ; No drop of peace in the poisoned cup Life held, where the reckless girl grew up. On a summer eve as the slow sun set, A woman died. At the close of a long and tranquil life, Honored and guarded, mother and wife, With gentle hands whose work was done, And gentle head whose crown was won, With children's children at her knee, And friends who watched her reverently ; Knowing her memory would remain, Treasured by grief, that scarce was pain, With her heart's dearest at her side, Blessing and blessed, the woman died. On a summer eve as the slow sun sot, A woman died. She had fought the falling fight so long 1 But time was cruel, and hard, and strong. Without a faith, without a prayer, With none to aid and none to care ; With not a trace upon the page, From desperate youth to loathsome age, But sin and sorrow, wrong and chance, And bitter blank of ignorance ; With not a hand io help or save, With not a hope beyond the grave, Tossed in the black stream's rushing tide, Unmourned, unmissed, the woman died. And we are all akin, urns the kindly creed t Ah 1 the riddle of life is hard to read ! — All the Year Round.

Fob darkening mahogany, mix dragon's blood with linseed oil, and rub well into the wood before polishing. Dragon's blood is a red powder, and can be procured at any chemist's or oil merchant's. Struve upholds Dr. Biedent's suggestion that only cream should be used for the earliest nourishment of young children brought up by hand, as the digestibility of any milk i8 inversely as the quantity of caseiue which remains in the skim-milk. Dbs. Mitchell and Eeichert find that the full-grown lizard will bite and cause a wound that may prove fatal. Unlike that of other reptiles, its saliva is alkaline, not acid. A little injected into a pigeon caused the death of the bird (which was long, fat and plump) in less than nine minutes. William H. Payne, of Western, N.Y., has ] patented a compound for removing rust spots j or stains from fabrics or clothing, but more particularly from uncolored or light-colored fabrics, by the use of oxalic acid, spirits of turpentine and water, of such proportions as to best accomplish the object. An excellent stain for giving light-colored wood the appearance of black walnut may be made and applied as follows : Take Brunswick black, thin it down with turpentine until it is about the right tone and color, and then add about one- twentieth its bulk of varnish. This mixture, it is said, will dry hard and take varnish well. Among Russian geologists the belief appears to bo settled that granitic rocks, once thought to be of igneous and eruptive origin, are really of aqueous formation. The granites of the rapids of the Dnieper, when closely examined, show stratification, and under the microscope they are seen to contain drops of brown water. An insect exhibition ia to be held in Paris this yeaf from July lst-for just three weeks, under the auspices of the Central Society of Agriculture and Insectology. It will include (1) useful insects ; (2) their products, raw, and in the first transformations ; (3j~apparatus and instruments used in the preparations of these products ; (4) injurious insects and the various processes for destroying them; (5) everything realting to inseotology. , The German Government has recently seen the necessity of introducing electric projectors on board the navy for signal, search, and navigation purposes. J . •

A Breathing Time. Here is a breathing time, and rest for a little season ; Here have I drained deep draughts out of the springs of life ; Here, as of old, while still unacquainted with toil and faintness, Stretched are my veins with strength, fearless my heart and at peace. I have come back from the crowd, the blinding strife, and the tumult, Pain and the shadow of pain, sorrow in silence endured : Fighting at last I have fallen, and sought the breast of the Mother, — Quite cast down I have crept close to the broad sweet earth. Lo, out of failure triumph I Eenevred the wavering courage, Tense the unstrung nerves, steadfast the faltering knees! Weary no more, nor faint, nor grieved at heart, nor despairing, Hushed in the earth's green lap, lulled to slumber and dreams. Charles G. T>. Roberts.