THE ARK AND THE DOVE.

"TELL me a story-please," my little girl Lisped from her cradle. So I bent me down

And told her how it rained, and rained, and rained,

Till all the flowers were covered, and the trees

Hid their tall heads, and where the houses stood,

And people dwelt, a fearful deluge rolled;

Because the world was wicked, and refused

To heed the words of God. But one good man,

Who long had warned the wicked to repent,

Obey, and live, taught by the voice of Heaven,

Had built an Ark; and thither, with his wife

And children, turned for safety. Two and two,

Of beasts and birds, and creeping things he took,

With food for all; and when the tempest roared,

And the great fountains of the sky poured out

A ceaseless flood, till all beside were drowned,

They in their quiet vessel dwelt secure. And so the mighty waters bore them up, And o'er the bosom of the deep they sailed

For many days. But then a gentle dove 'Scaped from the casement of the Ark, and spread

Her lonely pinions o'er that boundless

Upon some wrecking billow floated by, With drooping wing the peaceful Ark she sought.

The righteous man that wandering dove received,

And to her mate restored, who, with sad moans,

Had wondered at her absence.

Then I looked Upon the child, to see if her young thought

Wearied with following mine. But her blue eye

Was a glad listener, and the eager breath Of pleased attention curled the parted lip.

And so I told her how the waters dried, And the green branches waved, and the sweet buds

Came up in loveliness, and the meek dove

Went forth to build her nest, while thousand birds

Awoke their songs of praise, and the tired Ark

Upon the breezy breast of Ararat Reposed, and Noah, with glad spirit, reared

An altar to his God.

LYDIA HUNTLEY SIGOURNEY (1791-1865).

THE GIFT OF THE KING.

NIMROD the Cushite sat upon a throne Of gold, encrusted with a sapphire

stone,

And round the monarch stood, in triple rank,

Three hundred ruddy pages, like a bank
Of roses all a-blow.
Two gentle boys, with blue eyes clear
as glass,

And locks as light as tufted cotton grass,

And faces as the snow That lies on Ararat, and flushes pink On summer evenings, as the sun doth sink,

Were stationed by the royal golden chair With fillets of carnation in their hair, And clothed in silken vesture, candid, clean,

To flutter fans of burnished blue and green,

Fashioned of peacock's plume. A little lower, on a second stage

Bounds from his shoulders, and bespirts with red

The alabaster floor.

And, mingled with the outpoured Persian wine,

Descends the steps a sliding purple line Of smoking, dribbled gore;

And floats the little midge upon a flood Of fragrant grape-juice, and of roseate blood.

Then Nimrod said: "I would yon ugly stain

Were wiped away; and thou, my chamberlain,

Obtain for me a stripling, to replace This petty fool. Let him have comely face,

And be of slender mould: Be lithely built, of noble birth; a youth, The choicest thou canst find. His cost, in sooth,

I heed not. Stint no gold. But buy a goodly slave: for I, a king, Will have the best, the best of everything

Of gems, of slaves, of fabrics, meats, of wine;

The best, the very best on earth be mine."

Then, prostrate flung before his master's throne,

The servant said, "Sire, Terah hath a

"Surely that glorious Orb on high Must be the Lord of earth and sky!"

Slowly towards its central throne

The glory rose, yet paused not there, But seemed by influence not its own Drawn downwards through the western air,

Until it wholly sunk away,

And the soft Stars had all the sway.

Then to that hierarchy of light,

With face upturned the sage remained,

"At least Ye stand forever bright,Your power has never waxed or waned!"

Even while he spoke, their work was done,

Drowned in the overflowing Sun.

Eastward he bent his eager eyes"Creatures of Night! false Gods and frail!

Take not the worship of the wise,

There is the Deity we hail; Fountain of light, and warmth, and love,

He only bears our hearts above."

Yet was that One-that radiant One, Who seemed so absolute a King, Only ordained his round to run,

And pass like each created thing; He rested not in noonday prime, But fell beneath the strength of time.

Then like one labouring without hope To bring his toil to fruitful end, And powerless to discern the scope

Whereto his aspirations tend, Still Abraham prayed by night and day"God! Teach me to what God to pray!"

Nor long in vain; an inward Light
Arose to which the Sun is pale,
The knowledge of the Infinite,

The sense of Truth that must prevail;

The presence of the only Lord
By angels and by men adored.

LORD HOUGHTON (1809-1885). (RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES).

AZAR AND ABRAHAM. Al-Mutakabbir! all the heavens declare His majesty, Who makes them who they are.

AZAR, of Abraham the father, spake Unto his son, "Come! And thine offerings make

Before the gods whose images divine In Nimrûd's carved and painted temple shine.

Pay worship to the sun's great orb of gold;

Adore the queen-moon's silver state; behold

Otared, Moshtari, Sohayl, in their might,

Those stars of glory, those high lords of light.

These have we wrought, as fitteth gods alone,

In bronze and ivory and chiselled stone. Obey, as did thy sires, these powers of Heaven

Which rule the world, throned in the circles seven."

But Abraham said, "Did they not see the sun

Sink and grow darkened, when the days were done;

Did not the moon for them, too, wax and wane,

That they should pay her worship, false and vain?

Lo! all these stars have laws to rise and set

Otared, Moshtari, Sohayl-wilt thou yet Bid me praise gods who humbly come and go,

Lights that a Greater Light hath kindled? No!

I dare not bow the knee to one of these; My Lord is He who (past the sky man sees)

Waxeth and waneth, not, Unchanged of

all,

Him only 'God,' Him only 'Great,' I call."

EDWIN ARNOLD (1832-1904).

IBLIS AND ABRAHAM. Al-Bahith! Opener of the Tombs! We praise

Thy power, which unto life the dead can raise.

IBLIS spake to Abraham:

"What is this thy Lord hath told thee? Shall the Resurrection be

When the mouldering clods enfold thee?

Nay! and if a man might rise,
Buried whole, in heedful wise,
See yon carcase, tempest-beaten-
Part the wandering fox hath eaten,
Part by fishes hath been torn,
Part the sea-fowl hence have borne;
Never back those fragments can
Come to him who was a man."

Abraham spake unto his Lord: "Show me how is wrought this wonder; Can Thy resurrection be

When a man's dust lies asunder?"

"Art thou therefore not believing,” Allah said, "because deceiving Iblis fills with lies thy heart?" "Nay," he answered, "but impart Knowledge, Mightiest One and Best! That my heart may be at rest."

God said: "Take, thou doubting one! Four birds from among My creatures; Sever each bird's head, and so Mingle feathers, forms, and features, That the fragments shall not be Knowable to such as ye. Into four divide the mass, Then upon the mountains pass, On four peaks a portion lay, And, returning homeward, say, 'By the name and power of GodWho hath made men of the clod, And hath said the dead shall riseBirds! Fly hither in such wise As ye lived.' And they shall come, Perfect, whole, and living, home."

Thereupon Al-Khalil took A raven, eagle, dove, and cock; From their bodies shore the heads, Cut the four fowl into shreds, Mingled all their mass together, Blood and bone, and flesh and feather; Then dividing this four-wise, Laid it where four peaks did rise Two to south and two to north. Then the dove's head held he forth, Crying, "Come!" Lo! at the word Cooed at his feet the slaughtered bird.