Your case, 'tis true, has some redeeming features,
For in your country's cause you lost a leg.
And yet I feel the world needs an example

To check the tendency of men to roam;
The sentence is that all your life your camp'll
Be in the best room in my humble home."

The soldier stared! Dumb! Silent as a statue,
Then in a voice of trembling pathos, said;
"Judge, turn your head and give me one look at you-
That voice is like an echo from the dead."
Then forward limped he, grimy hand extended;
While tears adown his sunbrowned cheeks did roll,
And said, with slang and pathos strangely blended,
'Why, Colonel Sweety, bless your brave ol' soul."

66

RENYI.*-HELEN BOOTH.

O Austria, proud Austria, thou wert a bitter foe

Arrayed against a single man who fought for liberty! And yet thou saw'st no man or men; in all thou couldst but know

The hated Hungary!

"The prisoner!" And so they brought the haggard warrior

forth.

"Thy name?" 'Renyi, the schoolmaster." "Thou art alone, we see,

Now tell us where thy regiment lies hidden; it is worth Thy while, thy liberty!"

Then over Renyi's face there passed a look of wondrous scorn; With folded arms he faced them all. "Thou call'st that

liberty

I'd purchase with my honor? Renyi was not born

For that, but Hungary!"

"Tell thou shalt!" the Austrian spake, and signaled the platoon.

The bayonets formed a glittering lane, and through it,

totteringly,

A woman came; upon her head the frost of age. "Thy tune Must change for liberty

Written expressly for this Collection.

"Of her, thy mother," smiled the Austrian general. "Be

thou mute

And that old head shall wipe the dust, and thou the sight shalt see.

Divulge, and Austria pardons thee, will listen to the suit Of Renyi of Hungary."

A stride, and she, the gray-haired one, had reached her son's chained hands;

Had looked into his blood-shot eyes a look,-fond,

motherly;

Had placed her withered lips upon his clanking iron bands, As they should set him free,

And raised her voice until it rang as clear as any bell:

"My life! what is it, my son, beside my love, my love for thee!

I love thee up to heaven; hate me not down to hell;
Be mute for Hungary!"

And Renyi uttered not a sound; no, not when brawny hands Dragged forth the one who gave him birth, beside whose guardian knee

His infant lips had lisped the prayer to Him who rules all lands,

The God of liberty.

He opened not his lips e'en when he saw through the steel

lane

The bayonet at her breast. "Speak!" cried the general,

"set her free!"

"Be mute!" the mother's voice rang out; "let not my love be vain;

Be mute for Hungary!"

And then her words had ended on the earth. The general

threw

His cloak across the body. "Another gage have we!" And down the lane of bayonets a shrinking maiden drew,~ The well-loved Ottilie.

"Save me, Renyi!" wails she. "My love, we must not die! The world is very beautiful-speak, and we are free!" Down Renyi's face there flow great briny drops that scarce will dry

At thought of Hungary.

Ottilie's arm is rudely touched by bloody hands. "Ah save!" She shrieks, "my love, speak, speak!-'tis I, thine own, thine Ottilie!"

"Speak," says the general, "and ye save fair bride and bridegroom brave

Speak, and have liberty!"

And Renyi wavers. “Thou speak'st! thou speak'st !" Ottilie cries. He flings

His chained arms about her neck; he kisses her madly, Then falls away; throughout his soul a dull, harsh echo rings,"Ottilie-Hungary."

"Then curse thee!" cries the maddened maid, " thou art my murderer!"

As struggling through the lane of steel she goes to death, 66 curse thee!"

"Thy regiment? Speak!" the general says. Renyi does not stir.

"Then die, fair Ottilie!"

And so it was. The general came to where the prisoner stood. "Their death be on thy head," he said, then shrank back

wonderingly,

For Renyi's mind was broken; he smiled, "God has themGod

Has thee, me, Hungary!"

SEALED ORDERS.

Out she swung from her moorings,

And over the harbor bar,

As the moon was slowly rising,

She faded from sight afar -
And we traced her gleaming canvas
By the twinkling evening star.

None knew the port she sailed for,

Nor whither her cruise would be;

Her future course was shrouded

In silence and mystery:

She was sailing beneath "sealed orders"
To be opened out at sea.

Some souls, cut off from mooring,

Go drifting into the night,

Darkness before and around them,
With scarce a glimmer of light;
They are acting beneath "sealed orders"
And sailing by faith, not sight.

Keeping the line of duty,

Through evil and good report,
They shall ride the storm out safely,

Be the voyage long or short,

For the ship that carries God's orders
Shall anchor at last in port.

THE CHARITY COLLECTOR.-GEO. M. VICKERS.* Written expressly for this Collection.

I was a collector of donations; I aint now, though. I was appointed last night by the president of our society, and I began work this morning. It was cloudy, and looked like rain, so I took my umbrella with me. The first place I stopped was at the corner house. I tripped lightly up the steps and rang the bell. A big-faced servant opened the door. "Well, miss," said she, as I stood looking at her, "what do you want?" "I would like to see the lady." "What lady?" asked the girl. Just then a shrill voice piped out from the top of the entry stairs: "Who is it, Kate? What do they want?" "A young person wants the lady," replied the girl. "What ladle?" asked the voice, drawing nearer. "The lady!" screamed the girl. "Never mind," said I, "I will not trouble you." "Hold on!" squealed the thin voice. I stepped back again and stood in the vestibule. Presently an ancient-looking maiden, with sharp features, and a complexion the color of a smoked shad, emerged from the parlor door. The girl drew back respectfully. "Good morning," wheezed the old maid. I bowed and began to make known the object of my visit. "Madam," I said, "I am collecting money for the poor of our

* Author of "The Potter's Field," "Tribulations of Biddy Malone," "The Cobbler of Lynn," and other favorite readings in previous numbers; also, the beautiful Temperance Drama, "Two Lives,'' in No. 8; and the capital new Faros for Amateurs in the present number entitled, "The Public Worrier."

ward

"

"

"I don't hear a word you say," she snapped, your lips look as if you were tasting butter instead of talking. Why don't you speak out?" "Madam!" I yelled. "Don't madam me!" she shrieked, shaking her wiry curls; "don't imagine you are the only single person in the world!" My face was aglow, as I made another attempt. "My good lady," I cried, my voice increasing with each word, "I am a collector, a collector of "Hush!" she screeched, "I have lived here for forty-no! no!-I have-I have never bought a cent's worth on credit from any mortal. You are a brazen-faced impostor!" and thrusting her wedge-shaped face into mine, she roared like an exhaust pipe. Seeing that further talk was useless, I beat a rapid retreat down the steps, my ears ringing with her parting words: "I'd have you took up, you swindler, if there was a perlice in sight!" As I turned the corner a couple of rain drops struck me in the face, and they were just in time, too, for my cheeks were ablaze with mortification. Still, there I was, the town clock striking ten, and not one cent collected; so raising my umbrella, I moved on, determined not to be crushed at the outset.

The rain was coming down briskly as I timidly ascended the brownstone steps of Lawyer Dinkel's mansion. I had hardly set foot on the top step when the door opened, revealing the diminutive form of the haughty counselor. "Allow me to take your umbrella," said he, reaching for my gingham. "Oh, never mind, thank you," I answered; "I merely called to solicit your aid in behalf of our charity organization." "What authority have you to demand money from the citizens of this commonwealth?" he fairly hissed. "Here is my certificate," I replied, frightened almost to death, "signed by our president." "Bosh!" he yelled, "the law provides for paupers; you ought to be ashamed to go around begging like this!" "You must like to talk with females to stand there gossiping in the rain; I've been watch