66

SELECT POETRY

Where silk-worms spin, and olives grow,

And mules plod surely on and slow.

Steering thus for many a day

Far to south our course away,

From Gibraltar’s rocky steep

Dashing o’er the foaming deep,

On sultry Afric’s fruitful shore

We'd rest at length, our journey o’er,

Till vernal gales should gently play

To waft us on our homeward way.
Aikin.

OLD CHRISTMAS.

Now he who knows old Christmas
He knows a carle! of worth;
For he is as good a fellow,
As any upon the earth!
He comes warm cloaked and coated,
And buttoned up to the chin ;
And soon as he comes a-nigh the door,
*T will open and let him in.
We know that he will not fail us,
So we sweep the hearth up clean ;
We set him in the.old arm chair,
And a cushion whereon to lean.
And with gprigs of holly and ivy
We make the house look gay;

1 Carle—~a ‘robust, strong, hearty fellow.