obliged to accept the offer of Paulet's assistance to mount the steps to the scaffold.

"I thank you, sir," she said; "it is the last trouble I will ever give you."

The death warrant was again read by Beale, in a loud voice. Then the Dean of Peterborough began to address her. His mistress, he said, was careful of the welfare of Mary's soul, and had sent him to bring her out of the creed, in which, if she continued, "she must be damned."

Mary begged him not to concern himself with her. He persisted. She turned away. He walked around the scaffold and again he began.

The scene was horrible and scandalous. The Earl of Kent bade him stop preaching and begin to pray. He did so, and his prayer was the echo of his sermon.

But now Mary heeded him no more. She took her refuge in her own prayers and the repetition of the psalms for the dying. She prayed for her son and for Queen Elizabeth, for the prosperity of Scotland, for her enemies, and for herself. She then arose, crucifix in hand, and exclaimed, "As Thy arms, O God, were stretched out upon the cross, so receive me into the arms of Thy mercy and forgive me my sins."

"Madam," said the Earl of Kent, "it were better for you to leave such popish trumperies, and bear Him in your heart."

"Can I," she answered, "hold the representation of my crucified Redeemer in my hand without bearing Him at the same time in my heart?" Then she knelt down, saying, "O Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit."

The headsman then proceeded with his task. The head was severed from the body and held up to the gaze of the bystanders. The executioner repeated the formula, "God save Queen Elizabeth."

"So perish all her enemies," added the Dean of Peterborough.

"So perish all the enemies of the Gospel," exclaimed the Earl of Kent.

But not one voice was heard to say, "Amen!" JAMES F. MEline.

ROSARY

Were every word I wrote a gem,
And every thought a golden thread,
'Twere all unworthy to o'erspread

My Lady's raiment's very hem.

With rarest pearls of words and deeds,
Into historic settings wrought,
In costliest chain of human thought
I'd form my Lady's Rosary beads.

When dappled butterflies
Have crept away to cover,
And one persistent plover
Is coaxing from the fen;
When apples show the skies
Their bubbly lush vermilion,
And from a rent pavilion

Laugh down on maids and men:

Oh, then we knights of weather,
We birds of sober feather,
Fill up the woods with revel
That summer's pomp is slain;
And make a mighty shouting
For King October's outing,
The Saracen October

Astride the hurricane!

When pricks the winy air;

When o'er the meadows clamber

Cloud masonries of amber;

When brooks are silver clear;
When conquering colors dare
The hills and cliffy places,
To hold, with braggart graces,
High wassail of the year:
Oh, then we knights of weather
We birds of sober feather,
Fill up the woods with revel
That summer's pomp is slain;
And make a mighty shouting
For King October's outing,
The Saracen October

Astride the hurricane!

THE LILY

An angel knelt at the throne of God, carrying in his arms a child of wonderful beauty. God smiled as He laid His hand upon the brow of the sleeping babe, saying, "Go without sin into the world below. Beauty of face and form shall be thine always, but more beautiful still shall be the whiteness of thy soul. Aye, for ever and ever shall thy praises be sung, beloved and blessed among all women."

What tongue shall tell the majesty of these words, or describe the sublimity of that blessing? Silence fell upon those gathered there, then out of the brilliant throng cherubim and seraphim slowly emerged, clad in garments like the sun, and, approaching the angel, they looked with awe on the lovely creature God had blessed.

As the golden gates of Heaven swung wide apart the angel rose, and passing swiftly down the jeweled streets and through those gleaming portals, bore his precious burden to the earth. As he descended, the heavens glowed with light, and his pathway became as the day, for the radiance caught from the golden palaces and jeweled streets within cast its magnificence before him; and those wonderful lights have dwelt, ever since, somewhere in the skies.

Silently and swiftly the angel glided to the earth.