LADIES’ PAGE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 771, 10 December 1886, Page 4

LADIES’ PAGE.

Having appointed a lady to c6nduct this page, we have to request that all communications upon domestic matters, dress, cuisine, dec. dec., be addressed to Madame Elise, of the New Zealand Mail.

OLD FRIENDS-—OLD TIMES.

BY JOSEPHINE POI<I<ABD< ' Old friends, old times, old songs, old rhymes, Old dreaa'r that gave us pleasure—- " Within their spell how long we dwell ! » Their influence who can measure S

No friendships new can e'er undo Their hold on our affections ; No later joy dull or destroy Those early recollections.

Old scenes, old nooks, old story-books.

The dear familiar faces We used, to know long, long ago, In memory have their places.

There they appear from year to year, Unchanged amid life’s changes; And naught to-day however gay. From them our heart estranges,

From out the throng a snatch of song Far, far away will send us, Where elves and fays of childhood’s days All hasten to attend us.

A name, a word, for years unheard. Restores again the vision Of beauteous ways, and gladsome days, When life was all elysian.

Old friends, old times, old songs, old rhymes, How pleasant, oh ! how pleasant It is to go companioned so— The Past lives in the Present.

OUR HEROINE.

She wears no crown of royal state, She seeks no battle-ground: Among the annals of the great No trace of her is found.

No thrilling poem bears her name, She treads no classic hall, From Science fair she asks not fame. Nor honors great or small.

Where fashion’s votaries are seen, Where wealth and pleasure meet. She never reignß, a social queen. Her subjects at her feet.

A small and humble sphere she tills, And not for self she lives, A willing ear to others’ ills. Deep sympathy she gives;

She simply soothß the wounded one, Grown nerveless in the strife, When life seems dark she sheds the sun Of hope upon his life.

With earnest words she stirs the young To higher aim and thought, Incites to deeds whose fame is Bung When she’s long since forgot.

"Yet most of all. by what she is, A soul, pure, true and strong, A blessed influence she gives To help all good grow on,

She bears one name, the noblest, best That earth to us can lend ; To all the hearts her work hath blest, A sure and steadfast friend.

She fills no honored place below. Is often sad and.lone ; - But when God takes her home, I know He’ll lead her near the throne.