FIRELIGHT FANCIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2122, 13 February 1886, Page 1 (Supplement)

FIRELIGHT FANCIES.

Musinc; alone by the firelight, in its warm and flickering glow, lam weaving threads of fancy, gay and grave, Old home thoughts chase each other, and, passing to and fro, Seem to \va*h tho dust from out of niem'ry's cave, Koch scene in childhood's happy hours. each fai« y, friendly face, Each woodland nook, the seat beside the stream, Floats past, in wavelets undefined, with tuueful, mystic grace, To the undulating rhythm of my dream. The joys of childhood fade in gloom, and, now, in stern array, Stand griefs of later years, still hard and keen ; Ambitious hopes, to caith cast down ; life's labours duy by day, Take from earlier years their happiness .md sheen. The wave of fancy onward flows, and, with a peaceful swell, Bears high before my vision, on its crest, The loves, the ties of closing life, before death sounds the knell. And murmurs, in sweet cadence, "Be at rest." The tide is full, the wave recedes, and bears, to mein'ry's sea, These drifts of joy and sadness, haud in band, The fitful fire, with gruesome glow, now clearly points to me. The wide expanse of life's hard, arid sand. The flame, expiring, shows, at length, the toilers on the shore, And marks my place among the working band ; The horizon is the entrance to the " Land of Evermore." Where pass in weary workers from the strand. W.C.S.G. Rangiaohia, Ist February, 1880.

The Ciar of Russia proposes to close 80,000 places where intoxicating drink is retailed in the empire, and confine the sale to licensed hotels and restaurants. Greater London contains an area of 448,334 acres. The population for last year is given as 5,199,166, of which 60.252 are foreigners, 49,554 Scotch, 30,773 Irish, 3214 blind, and 1972 deaf and Uuiub.