THE OLD MAN DREAMS.

O. W. HOLMES.

Oh for one hour of youthful joy! Give back my twentieth spring! I'd rather laugh a bright-haired boy Than reign a gray-beard king!

Off with the wrinkled spoils of age!
Away with learning's crown!
Tear out life's wisdom-written page
And dash its trophies down!

One moment let my lifeblood stream
From boyhood's fount of flame!
Give me one giddy, reeling dream
Of life all love and fame!

My listening angel heard the prayer, And calmly smiling said:

"If I but touch thy silvered hair,

Thy hasty wish hath sped.

But is there nothing in thy track
To bid thee fondly stay,

While the swift seasons hurry back
To find the wished-for day?"

Ah, truest soul of womankind!
Without thee, what were life?
One bliss I can not leave behind:

I'll take-my-precious-wife!

The angel took a sapphire pen
And wrote in rainbow dew:
"The man would be a boy again
And be a husband, too!"

"And is there nothing yet unsaid
Before the change appears?
Remember, all their gifts have fled
With those dissolving years!"

Why, yes; for memory would recall
My fond paternal joys;

I could not bear to leave them all:
I'll take-my-girls-and boys!

The smiling angel dropped his pen.
"Why, this will never do;
The man would be a boy again
And be a father, too!"

And so I laughed-my laughter woke
The household with its noise —

And wrote my dream, when morning broke,
To please the gray-haired boys.

pa ter' nal, of or pertaining to a father. reign (ran), rule.

sap' phire (săf' Ir), a bright blue stone.

trophy, anything taken and preserved as a memorial of victory.

THE LD MAN DREAMS.

hirner of youthful joy! - Twentieth spring! Ide-haired boy -beard king!

of the wrinkled spots of age! Learning's crown! Ts wisdom-written page And fash is Tophies down!

The moment my lifeblood stream
From boyhood's fount of flame!
Nite me one giddy, reeling dream
Of life all love and fame!

My listening angel heard the prayer, And calmly smiling said: -I bat touch thy silvered hair,

Thy hasty wish hath sped.

-But is there nothing in thy
To bid thee fondly sta

While the swift season
To find the wishe

Ah. truest soul.

Without th

One bliss I

I'll take

The angel took a sapphire pen
And wrote in rainbow dew:
"The man would be a boy again
And be a husband, too!"

"And is there nothing yet unsaid
Before the change appears?
Remember, all their gifts have fled
With those dissolving years!"

Why, yes; for memory would recall
My fond paternal joys;

I could not bear to leave them all:
I'll take-my-girls-and boys!

The smiling angel dropped his pen.
"Why, this will never do;

The man would be a boy again
And be a father too!"

reserved

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.

O. W. HOLMES.

This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main-

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.

Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;
Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,—

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!

Year after year beheld the silent toil

That spread his lustrous coil;

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new, Stole with soft step its shining archway through, Built up its idle door,

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old

no more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee, Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap, forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is borne