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Otago Witness, Issue 1179, 4 July 1874, Page 25

Select Poetry.

THE RUBY AND THE ROSE.

He was the lord of Merlintower, And I was but ol low degree ; She had her beauty for her dower, No other treasure needed she : He came when hawthorns were a-flowcr, And strove to steal my love from mo. Oh ! she was sweeter than the wind That bloweth over Indian Isles ; As April bright, than June more kind, Fawn-wild, and full of winsome wiles. And I, aliis ! had learnt to find My only life beneath her smiles. He sent my love a ruby rare, That might have graced imperial brows. No gem had I. To deck her hair I sent her— but a simple rose ; And prayed her, on a night, to wear The gift of him whose love she chose. " Come, queen of all my heart's desire ! Crown me or slay ! My soul is stirred To challenge fate. My pulses tire Of fear's chill tremor. Sings the bird Of hope for him who dares aspire?" A lover's scroll, and wild of word ! We watched her coming, he and I, With utter dread my heart stood still. The moon's wan crescent waned on high, The nighttugale had sung his fill, In tho dim distauue seemed to die, The echo of his latest trill. The flower-trailed gate, our tryst of old, Gleamed whitely 'neath the clustering bloom Of the dusk-starring jasmine. Cold His shadow fell, a ghostly gloom Lurked where it lay. Oh heart o'er bold ! Hast thou but hastened utter doom V A still cold smile slept on his face, That all my hope to anguish froze ; Then, in the silence of the place, We heard her flower-pied porch unclose, And — in her hair's silk-soft embrace, There nestled warm a ripe-red rose !

Woman and the Looking-Gj.ass. — An observant husband says that a looking-glass affords a woman a marvellous amount of comfort and gratification. He states that his wife thinks just as much of consulting her glass when she ties on herapron as when she ties on her bonnet. He says that when there is a knock at the door he goes there at once, but his wife, on the contrary, ejaculates, "Mercy, Joseph, who's that?" and dashes directly for the looking-glass.,