232 SELECT POETRY

She stripped her mantle from her breast,
And bared her bosom to the storm,
And round the child she wrapped the vest,
And smiled to think her babe was warm ;—
One kiss she gave, one tear she shed,
‘Then sunk upon the snowy bed.

At dawn, a traveller, passing by,

Saw her beneath the fleecy veil ;
The frost of death was in her eye,

Her cheek was cold, and hard, and pale ;
He moved the robe from off the child—
The babe looked up and sweetly smiled.

Thus answered was the mother’s prayer,
Thus saved, the object of her care.

 

THE CHAFFINCH'S NEST AT SEA,

Iw Scotland’s realm, forlorn and bare,
Thy history chanced of late—
The history of a wedded pair,
A chaffinch and his mate.

The spring drew near, each felt a breast
With genial instinct filled ;

They paired, and would have built a nest,
But found not where to build.

The heaths uncovered, and the moors,
Except with snow and sleet,

Sea-beaten rocks and naked shores,
Could yield them no retreat.