WHEN JENNY RODE TO MILL WITH ME.

When Jenny rode to mill with me,
The daisies bared their bosoms,
The spring winds rumpled every tree
And stirred a storm of blossoms.

The squirrels scampered from the hedge,
The cows were in the clover,
The lilies rimmed the river's edge,
And dusky doves flew over.

The white road seemed to welcome us,
By shaken dewdrops dented,
The groves with song were tremulous,
By lonely violets scented.

The mad wind seemed to envy all
The curls beneath her bonnet,
And let the dew-dashed blossoms fall
In twinkling showers on it.

How well the way old Milton knew
In all the springtime weather,
His back was broad enough for two,
And so we rode together!

He loitered in the light and song,
He knew the spell that bound me,
And that the way was never long
While Jenny's arms were round me.

The rose had then no cruel thorn
To mar the moment's blisses,
The miller took his toll in corn,
And I took mine in kisses.

Now Jenny's mine "till death do part”—
Yet, though the years are many,

The dear old road runs round the heart
That framed the face of Jenny.

And Jenny's eyes are tender still,
Her lips a nest of blisses,

As when, in crossing to the mill,
I took my toll in kisses!

Philadelphia Times Herald.

A TRIBUTE TO THE DOG.

One of the most beautiful tributes ever paid a dumb animal came from the lips of the late Senator George Graham Vest. The occasion was a trial over the killing of a dog, which was held in a Missouri town when he was a young lawyer.

Senator Vest appeared for the plaintiff, while Senator Francis M. Cockrell, then a country practitioner, represented the defendant.

Young Vest took no interest in the testimony and made no notes, but at the close of the case arose, and, in a soft voice, made the following address:

"Gentlemen of the Jury-The best friend a man has

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in the world may turn against him, and become his enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.

"The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog. A man's dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings, and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens.

"If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And

when the last scene of all comes, and death takes his master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way; there by the graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad, but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death."

When he concluded his remarks there were but few dry eyes in the audience. The case was submitted without further argument, and the jury promptly returned a verdict for the plaintiff.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE TODAY?

We shall do so much in the years to come,
But what have we done today?

We shall give our gold in a princely sum,
But what did we give today?

We shall lift the heart and dry the tear,
We shall plant a hope in the place of fear,
We shall speak the words of love and cheer,
But what did we speak today?

We shall be so kind in the afterwhile,
But what have we been today?
We shall bring each lonely life a smile,
But what have we brought today?
We shall give to truth a grander birth,
And to steadfast faith a deeper worth,
We shall feed the hungering souls of earth,
But whom have we fed today?

We shall reap such joys in the by and by,
But what have we sown today?
We shall build us mansions in the sky,
But what have we built today?
'Tis sweet in idle dreams to bask,
But here and now do we do our task?
Yes, this is the thing our souls must ask,
"What have we done today?"

Nixon Waterman, in "In Merry Mood."

"PASS UNDER THE ROD."

I saw the young bride in her beauty and pride,
Bedecked in her snowy array;

And the bright flush of joy mantled high on her cheek
And the future looked blooming and gay;

And with woman's devotion, she laid her fond heart At the shrine of idolatrous love;

And she anchored her hopes to this perishing earth, By the chain which her tenderness wove.

But I saw when those heart-strings were bleeding and torn, And the chain had been severed in two;

She had changed her white robes for sables of grief,
And her bloom for the paleness of woe!

But the Healer was there, pouring balm on her heart,
And wiping the tears from her eyes;

He strengthened the chain he had broken in twain,
And fastened it firm to the skies!

There had whispered a voice-'twas the voice of her God: "I love thee: I love thee! pass under the Rod!"