And shuddered as I cast a look upon thy fainting head;

The mournful cloud was gathering there, and life was almost fled.

Days passed; and soon the seal of death made known that hope was vain ;

I knew the swiftly-wasting lamp would never burn again;

The cheek was pale; the snowy lips were gently thrown apart; And life, in every passing breath, seemed gushing from the heart.

knew those marble lips to mine should never more be pressed,
And floods of feeling, undefined, rolled wildly o'er my breast;
Low, stifled sounds, and dusky forms, seemed moving in the gloom,
As if Death's dark array were come to bear thee to the tomb.

And when I could not keep the tear from gathering in my eye,
Thy little hand pressed gently mine, in token of reply;
To ask one more exchange of love, thy look was upward cast,
And in that long and burning kiss thy happy spirit passed.

I never thought that I should live to bid farewell to thee,
And almost said, in agony, it ought not so to be;

I hoped that thou within the grave my weary head would lay,
And live, beloved, when I was gone, for many a happy day.

With trembling hand I vainly tried thy dying eyes to close;
And almost envied, in that hour, thy calm and deep repose:
For I was left in loneliness, with pain and grief oppressed,
And thou wast with the holy, where the weary are at rest.

Yes, I am sad and weary now: but let me not repine
Because a spirit, loved so well, is earlier blessed than mine;
My faith may darken as it will I shall not much deplore,
Since thou art where the ills of life can never reach thee more.

Peabody.

The

THE GREAT INDIAN RIVER. THE river Ganges is not only one of the finest, but also one of the most useful rivers in the world. Hindoos call it Ganga, which signifies the river by way of eminence, for though India has many rivers, this is the largest and the longest. Rising from two springs in Tibet, the two streams, after running separately for 300 miles, unite to form one river on the northern side of the Himalaya mountains, along the foot of which they run

400 more, and then forcing a passage through a cavern, they empty their waters into a vast basin on the southern or Indian side of the mountains, from which the river flows onward for 800 miles, its waters swelled and continually fed by the melting of the everlasting snows of the mountains. Widening as it proceeds it now traverses the plains of Hindostan, and after a course of 1,200 miles empties itself by many mouths into the Indian Ocean.

Every year, in the wet season, this river, like the Nile of Egypt, overflows its banks, inundating and irrigating the country for fifty miles on each side of its banks to the infinite benefit of the inhabitants, who, on this account, superstitiously worship it as a god, and esteem it as one of their greatest privileges to die on its shores.

When the waters have subsided and the stream is confined to its banks, then it is crowded by thousands of boats of all sizes and shapes. As the river is always rapidly descending until it reaches the incoming tides of the ocean, the boats float down it at a rapid rate; but the boatmen, by keeping near the banks, manage to ascend it too, though at a much slower pace. When our first steamers ploughed their way up the river spite of its rushing waters, the natives were filled with astonishment and admiration, and again, in their ignorance and superstition, regarded the steamboat as a god!

The Ganges has been called, both by the British and the Hindoos, the Great Highway of India. Railways are

now being laid down over the land, but they will never supersede the use of this noble stream, or rob it of its celebrity.

Strangers who for the first time pass up this river in a steamboat, are delighted with the beautiful scenery on its banks. And yet some of the most conspicuous objects on either side give no pleasure, but great pain, to every intelligent and thoughtful traveller. We refer to the numerous idol temples which lift up their insulting domes or towers as in defiance of the God of heaven and earth!

Our picture represents one of the better kind of boats, called a Dingy, or pleasure boat, of one of the richer natives. It is the daily custom of one of these rich men, early in the morning and before he proceeds to business, to get into his Dingy, where he reclines on a couch under the matted cover which screens him from the hot sun, while two boatmen, nearly naked, pull him down to the landing-place of the nearest temple. They have just arrived, and he is now coming out of his cabin. First he bathes in what he regards as the sacred stream, and then proceeds to the temple to pray to his idol, and present his offerings at its shrine!

The broad and high flight of steps which reach from the top of the bank down low into the river is called the ghaut, or landing place, thousands of which may be seen along the banks, especially where there is an idol temple. That woman having filled her jar with water has poised

it on her head, but is now turning round to look at the rich man's Dingy which has just arrived.

Oh! when will the time come when these deluded idolaters will be turned from lying vanities to the only Living and True God?

THE HEBREW MOTHER AND HER LITTLE ONES.

HE Master has come over Jordan,”

Said Hannah the mother one day:

"He is healing the people who throng him,
With a touch of his finger, they say.

And now I shall take the children,
Little Rachel, and Samuel, and John;

I shall carry the baby, Esther,
For the Lord to look upon."

The father looked at her kindly,

But he shook his head and smiled:
"Now, who but a doting mother
Would think of a thing so wild?

If the children were tortured by demons,
Or dying of fever-'twere well;
Or had they the taint of the leper,
Like many in Israel ;"-

"Nay, do not hinder me, Nathan,
I feel such a burden of care;
If I carry it to the Master-
Perhaps I shall leave it there.