THE CLOSING
The closing Year
RING out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
'The year is going, let him go:
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Farewell! Old year, we meet no more,
Thy end draws on apace;
Yet since thy birth how short it seems,
How very brief a space.
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FORGIVE AND FORGET.
FORGIVE and forget it is better
To fling every feeling aside
Than allow the deep cankering fetter
Of revenge in thy breast to abide;
For thy step through life's path shall be lighter
When the load from thy bosom is cast,
And the sky that's above thee be brighter
When the cloud of displeasure is passed.
Oh! Memory's a varying river,
And though it may placidly glide,
When the sunbeams of joy o'er it quiver,
It foams when the storm meets the tide.
Then stir not its current to madness,
For its wrath thou wilt ever regret;
Though the morning beams break on thy sadness,
Ere the sunset, forgive and forget.
TIME IS PASSING,
TIME is running in his chariot,
Rapidly his wheels go round;
Though they leave no dust behind them,
Though they have no rumbling sound;
Silently they bear us onward,
Soon our journey will be o'er,
Soon our feet shall press the meadows
Of the vast, eternal shore.
DECEMBER, fat and rosy, strides,
His old heart warm, well clothed his sides,
With kindly work for young and old,
The cheerier for the bracing cold;
Laughing a welcome, open flings
His doors, and as he does it, sings.
Chambers' Journal.
THE BIBLE.
T HE Bible is a precious book,
And should be read with care;
Oh! Let us never overlook
The counsels written there.
It tells us of a city fair,
Where all is pure and bright;
The angels dwell in glory there,
And Jesus is, its light.
Then let us take it for our guide
And follow where it leads,
Repenting of our sinfulness
While Jesus intercedes.
BENNIE H. WELCH.
Battle Creek, Mich.