Читать книгу: «Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 459», страница 7

A SONG

 
The little white moon goes climbing
Over the dusky cloud,
Kissing its fringes softly,
With a love-light, pale as shroud—
Where walks this moon to-night, Annie?
Over the waters bright, Annie?
Does she smile on your face as you lift it, proud?
God look on thee—look on thee, Annie!
For I shall look never more!
 
 
The little white star stands watching
Ever beside the moon;
Hid in the mists that shroud her,
And hid in her light's mid-noon:
Yet the star follows all heaven through, Annie,
As my soul follows after you, Annie,
At moon-rise and moon-set, late and soon:
Oh, God watch thee, God watch thee, Annie,
For I can watch never more!
 
 
The purple-black sky folds loving,
Over far sea, far land;
The thunder-clouds, looming eastward,
Like a chain of mountains stand.
Under this July sky, Annie,
Do you hear waves lapping by, Annie?
Do you walk, with the hills on either hand?
Oh, God love thee, God love thee, Annie,
For I love thee evermore!
 

LONGEVITY OF QUAKERS

Quakerism is favourable to longevity, it seems. According to late English census returns, the average age attained by members of this peaceful sect in Great Britain is fifty-one years, two months, and twenty-one days. Half of the population of the country, as is seen by the same returns, die before reaching the age of twenty-one, and the average duration of human life the world over is but thirty-three years; Quakers, therefore, live a third longer than the rest of us. The reasons are obvious enough. Quakers are temperate and prudent, are seldom in a hurry, and never in a passion. Quakers, in the very midst of the week's business—on Wednesday morning—retire from the world, and spend an hour or two in silent meditation at the meeting-house. Quakers are diligent; they help one another, and the fear of want does not corrode their minds. The journey of life to them is a walk of peaceful meditation. They neither suffer nor enjoy intensity, but preserve a composed demeanour always. Is it surprising that their days should be long in the land?—National Intelligencer.