THE LIFE-BOAT.

CK! man the life-boat! See yon bark
That drives before the blast!

QUICK

There's a rock ahead, the night is dark,
And the storm comes thick and fast.
Can human power in such an hour
Avert the doom that's o'er her?

Her mainmast is gone, but she still drives on
To the fatal reef before her.

The life-boat! Man the life-boat!

Quick! man the life-boat! Hark! the gun
Booms through the vapory air;
And see! the signal-flags are on,
And speak the ship's despair.
That forked flash, that pealing crash,
Seemed from the wave to sweep her;
She's on the rock, with a terrible shock,
And the wail comes louder and deeper.
The life-boat! Man the life-boat!

Quick! man the life-boat! See the crew

Gaze on their watery grave;

Already some, a gallant few,

Are battling with the wave;

And one there stands, and wrings his hands,
As thoughts of home come o'er him;

For his wife and child, through the tempest wild, He sees on the heights before him.

The life-boat! Man the life-boat!

Speed, speed the life-boat! Off she goes!
And, as they pull the oar,

From shore and ship a cheer arose,

That rang from ship to shore.
Life-saving ark! yon fated bark
Has human lives within her;

And dearer than gold is the wealth untold
Thou 'lt save, if thou canst win her.
On, life-boat! Speed thee, life-boat!

Hurrah! the life-boat dashes on,
Though darkly the reef may frown;
The rock is there- the ship is gone
Full twenty fathoms down.

But, cheered by hope, the seamen cope
With the billows single-handed:

They are all in the boat!-hurrah! they're afloat!
And now they are safely landed

By the life-boat! Cheer the life-boat!

CHICAGO.

MEN said at vespers: "All is well!"
wild

In one wild night the city fell;

Fell shrines of prayer and marts of gain
Before the fiery hurricane.

On threescore spires had sunset shone,
Where ghastly sunrise looked on none.
Men clasped each other's hands, and said:
"The city of the West is dead!"

Brave hearts, who fought in slow retreat
The fiends of fire from street to street,

Turned, powerless, to the blinding glare,
The dumb defiance of despair.

A sudden impulse thrilled each wire
That signalled round that sea of fire;

Swift words of cheer, warm heart-throbs came; In tears of pity died the flame!

From East, from West, from South and North, The messages of hope shot forth,

And, underneath the severing wave,

The world, full handed, reached to save.

Fair seemed the old; but fairer still

The new the dreary void shall fill

With dearer homes than those o'erthrown,
For love shall lay each corner-stone.

Rise, stricken city! - from thee throw
The ashen sackcloth of thy woe;
And build, as to Amphion's strain,
To songs of cheer thy walls again!

How shrivelled in thy hot distress

The primal sin of selfishness!

How instant rose, to take thy part,

The angel in the human heart!

Ah! not in vain the flames that tossed

Above thy dreadful holocaust;

The Christ again has preached through thee The Gospel of Humanity!

25TM

T

Then lift once more thy towers on high,
And fret with spires the western sky,
To tell that God is yet with us,

And love is still miraculous!

F. G. Whittier.

"ROCK OF AGES."

ROCK of ages, cleft for me,"

Thoughtlessly the maiden sung;
Fell the words unconsciously
From her girlish, gleeful tongue;
Sang as little children sing;

Sang as sing the birds in June;
Fell the words like light leaves down
On the current of the tune

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee."

"Let me hide myself in Thee,"—
Felt her soul no need to hide
Sweet the song as song could be,
And she had no thought beside;
All the words unheedingly

Fell from lips untouched by care,
Dreaming not that they might be

On some other lips a prayer— "Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee."

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,"❞—

'Twas a woman sung them now,

Pleadingly and prayerfully,

Every word her heart did know.
Rose the song as storm-tossed bird
Beats with weary wing the air,
Every note with sorrow stirred,
Every syllable a prayer-
"Rock of ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee."

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,”

Lips grown aged sung the hymn Trustingly and tenderly,

Voice grown weak and eyes grown dim "Let me hide myself in Thee."

Trembling though the voice and low, Ran the sweet strain peacefully,

Like a river in its flow;

Sang as only they can sing

Who life's thorny path have press'd;

Sang as only they can sing

Who behold the promised rest

"Rock of ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee."

"Rock of ages, cleft for me,"Sung above a coffin-lid; Underneath, all restfully,

All life's joys and sorrows hid; Nevermore, O storm-tossed soul! Nevermore from wind or tide, Nevermore from billow's roll

Wilt thou need thyself to hide.