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THE SONG OF THE SHIRT.

WITH fingers weary and worn, with eyelids heavy and red, a woman sat in unwomanly rags, 'plying her needle and threadStitch! stitch! stitch! in poverty, hunger, and dirt; and still with a voice of 'dolorous pitch she sang the "Song of the Shirt!" "Work! work! work! while the cock is crowing aloof! and work! work! work! till the stars shine through the roof! It's oh, to be a slave along with the barbarous Turk, where woman has never a soul to save, if this is Christian work!

"Work! work! work! till the brain begins to swim; work! work! work! till the eyes are heavy and dim! Seam, and 'gusset, and band; band, and gusset, and seam; till over the buttons I fall asleep, and sew them on in a dream. O men, with sisters dear! O men, with mothers and wives! it is not linen you're wearing out, but human creatures' lives. Stitch! stitch! stitch! in poverty, hunger, and dirt; sewing at once, with a double thread, a shroud as well as a shirt.

It

"But why do I talk of Death? that phantom of grisly bone; I hardly fear his 'terrible shape, it seems so like my own. seems so like my own, because of the fasts I keep; O God, that bread should be so dear, and flesh and blood so cheap!

"Work! work! work! My labour never flags; and what are its wages? A bed of straw, a crust of bread-and rags. That shattered roof and this naked floor, a table, a broken chair, and a wall so blank, my 'shadow I thank for sometimes falling there.

"Work! work! work! from weary chime to chime; work! work! work! as prisoners work for crime. Band, and gusset, and seam; seam, and gusset, and band; till the heart is sick, and the brain benumbed, as well as the weary hand.

"Work! work! work! in the dull December light; and work! work! work! when the weather is warm and bright, while underneath the eaves the brooding swallows cling, as if to show their sunny backs, and twit me with the spring.

"Oh, but to breathe the breath of the cowslip and primrose sweet, with the sky above my head, and the grass beneath my feet; for only one short hour to feel as I used to feel, before I knew the woes of want, and the walk that costs a meal! Oh, but for one short hour! a respite however brief! No blessed 'leisure for love or hope, but only time for grief! A little weeping would ease my heart; but in their briny bed my tears must stop, for every drop hinders needle and thread."

With fingers weary and worn, with eyelids heavy and red, a woman sat in unwomanly rags, plying her needle and threadStitch! stitch! stitch! in poverty, hunger, and dirt; and still with a voice of dolorous pitch-would that its tone could reach the rich!—she sang this "Song of the Shirt!"

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THOMAS HOOD.()

poverty, in'digence.
res pite, pause.
shadow, reflection.
shat'tered, broken.
ter'rible, hor'rible.

LAND AND SEA BREEZES.

THE inhabitants of the sea-shore in tropical1 countries wait every morning with 'impatience for the coming of the sea breeze. It usually sets in about ten o'clock. Then the sultry heat of the oppressive morning is 'dissipated, and there is a 'delightful freshness in the air, which seems to give new life to all for their daily labours. About sunset there is again another calm. The sea breeze is now over, and in a short time the land breeze sets in. This alternation of the land and sea breezes—a wind from the sea by day, and from the land by night-is so regular, in tropical countries, that it is looked for by the people with as much confidence as the rising and setting of the sun.

In extra-tropical2 countries, especially those on the polar side of the trade-winds,3 these breezes blow only in summer and autumn; for then only is the heat of the sun sufficiently intense to produce the requisite degree of atmospherical rarefaction1 over the land. This depends in a measure, also, on the 'character of the land upon which the sea breeze blows; for when the surface is arid, and the soil barren, the heating power of the sun is exerted with most effect. In such cases the sea breeze amounts to a gale of wind.

In the summer of the southern hemisphere the sea breeze is more powerfully developed at Valparai'so than at any other place to which my services afloat have led me. Here regularly in the afternoon, at this season, the sea breeze blows 'furiously: pebbles are torn up from the walks and whirled about the streets; people seek shelter; business is interrupted, and all communication from the shipping to the shore is cut off. Suddenly the winds and the sea, as if they had again heard the voice of rebuke, are hushed, and there is a great calm.

The lull that follows is delightful. The sky is without a cloud; the atmosphere is 'transparency itself; the Andes seem to draw near; the climate, always mild and soft, becomes now doubly sweet by the contrast. The evening invites abroad, and the *population sally forth-the ladies in ball costume, for now there is not wind enough to 'disarrange the lightest curl.

In the southern summer this change takes place day after day with the utmost 'regularity; and yet the calm always seems to surprise one, and to come before one has had time to realize that the furious sea wind could so soon be hushed. Presently the stars begin to peep out; timidly at first, as if to see whether the elements here below have ceased their strife, and whether the scene on Earth be such as they, from their bright spheres aloft, may shed their sweet influences upon.

Alone in the night-watch, after the sea breeze had sunk to rest, I have stood on the deck under those beautiful skies, gazing, admiring, rapt. I have seen there, above the horizon at the same time, and shining with a 'splendour unknown to northern latitudes, every star of the first magnitude-save only six-that is contained in the 'catalogue of the one hundred principal fixed stars of astronomers. There lies the city on the sea-shore, wrapped in sleep. The sky looks solid, like a vault of steel set with diamonds! The stillness below is in harmony with the silence above; and one almost fears to speak, lest the harsh sound of the human voice, reverberating through those vaulted "chambers of the south," should wake up echo, and drown the music that fills the soul.

Within the tropics the land and sea breezes are more gentle; and though the night scenes there are not so suggestive as those just described, yet they are exceedingly delightful, and altogether lovely. The oppressive heat of the sun is 'mitigated, and the climate of the sea-shore is made both refreshing and healthful, by the alternation of those winds, which invariably come from the cooler place;—from the sea, which is the cooler by day; and from the land, which is the cooler by night.

About ten in the morning the heat of the sun has played upon the land with sufficient intensity to raise its temperature above that of the water. A portion of this heat being imparted to the air above it, causes it to rise; when the air, first from the beach, then from the sea, to the distance of several miles, begins to flow in with a most delightful and invigorating fresh

ness.

When a fire is kindled on the hearth, we may see, if we

observe the motes floating in the room, that those nearest to the chimney are the first to feel the draught and to obey it -they are drawn into the blaze. The circle of inflowing air is gradually enlarged, until it is scarcely perceived in the remote parts of the room. Now, the land is the hearth; the rays of the sun the fire; and the sea, with its cool and calm air, the room and thus have we at our firesides the sea breeze in miniature.

When the sun goes down the fire ceases; then the dry land *commences to give off its surplus' heat by radiation, so that by dew-fall it and the air above it are cooled below the sea temperature. The atmosphere on the land thus becomes heavier than that on the sea, and, consequently, there is a wind sea-ward, which we call the land breeze. MAURY. (8) oppres'sive, overpowering. popula'tion, inhabitants. regular'ity, punctuality. req'uisite, neç ́essary. rever'berating, ech'oing;

alterna tion, interchange;
succes'sion.
at'mosphere, air.
cat'alogue, list; enumera'-
character, na'ture. [tion.
commences, begins.
communication,

course.

in'ter

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disarrange', ruffle.
dis'sipated, driven off.
furiously, violently; ve-
hemently.
impatience, eagerness.
inten'sity, power.
interrupt'ed, suspend'ed.
invariably, uniformly.
invig'orating, strength'en-
mitigated, soft'ened. [ing.

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and a south-east wind respectively. They are called "trade-winds" because of their great advantage to navigators in sailing from east to west.

'Trop'ical countries, countries between | these lagging currents become a north-east the tropics, or within the torrid zone. The tropics [Gr. trepo, I turn] are the parallels of latitude drawn through the points in the ecliptic at which the sun appears to turn in his course.

Ex'tra-tropical, immediately beyond the tropics, north or south.

Trade-winds, constant winds that blow in the tropical regions of the great oceans, especially of the Atlantic, where they are most regular. Currents of cold air are always flowing from the poles to the equator, to supply the place of the hot air which rises there from the surface of the globe. If the globe were at rest, these would be due north and south winds; but as the globe turns from west to east more quickly than the surrounding air,

'Rarefaction, the distending or separating of the atoms of the atmosphere, which makes it lighter, and therefore causes it to rise. The air from the sea then rushes in to fill its place.

Valparai'so (Valpah-ri-so), “Vale of Paradise," the chief sea-port of Chili, on the west of South America.

Andes, the great mountain chain of South America. They seem to draw near," because the clearness of the atmosphere makes them appear nearer.

7 Surplus, lit. overmuch; more than enough.

QUESTIONS.-Where do the sea and the land breezes blow with the greatest regularity? When does the sea breeze set in? When does the land breeze? When do these breezes blow in extra-tropical countries? Where has the writer seen the sea breeze most powerfully developed? By what is it followed there? What is the character of these breezes within the tropics? What is their effect upon the climate? What is the cause of their alternation? Illustrate this by a fire on a hearth?

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX. 95

HOW THEY BROUGHT THE GOOD NEWS FROM GHENT TO AIX.

I SPRANG to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three:
"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;
"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through:
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,
And into the midnight we galloped abreast.

Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace
Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place:
I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,
Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,
Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,
Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.

It was moonset at starting; but while we drew near
Loke'ren3 the cocks crew, and twilight dawned clear;
At Boom3 a great yellow star came out to see;
At Düffeld 'twas morning as plain as could be;
And from Mech'eln3 church-steeple we heard the half-chime,
So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!"

At Aer'schot up leaped of a sudden the sun,
And against him the cattle stood black every one,
To stare through the mist at us galloping past;
And I saw my stout galloper, Roland, at last,
With resolute shoulders, each 'butting away
The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray;

And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back
For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;
And one eye's black 'intelligence-ever that glance
O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance !
And the thick heavy 'spume-flakes which aye and anon
His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.

By Has'selt Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur!
Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her,

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We'll remember at Aix;"2-for one heard the quick wheeze Of her chest, saw the stretched neck, and staggering knees, And sunk tail, and 'horrible heave of the flank,

As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank

So we were left galloping, Joris and I,

Past Looz3 and past Ton'gres,3 no cloud in the sky;

The broad sun above laughed a 'pitiless laugh,

'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;

Till over by Dal'hem3 a dome-spire sprang white,

And "Gallop," gasped Joris, "for Aix is in sight!”

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