Copyright, 1887,

By HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge:
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Co.

THIS is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,
Sails the unshadowed main,

The venturous bark that flings

On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings
In gulfs enchanted, where the siren sings,
And coral reefs lie bare,

Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.
Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl:

Wrecked is the ship of pearl!

And every chambered cell,

Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,
As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,
Before thee lies revealed,

Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!
Year after year beheld the silent toil
That spread his lustrous coil;

Still, as the spiral grew,

He left the past year's dwelling for the new,
Stole with soft step its shining archway through,
Built up its idle door,

Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no

more.

Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,
Child of the wandering sea,

Cast from her lap forlorn!

From thy dead lips a clearer note is born
Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn!

While on mine ear it rings,

Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings;

Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,

As the swift seasons roll!

Leave thy low-vaulted past!

Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,

Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!

THE CHAMBERED NAUTILUS.

209372

JANUARY 1-3

1. Maria Edgeworth, 1767.

Lord of all being! throned afar,
Thy glory flames from sun and star;
Centre and soul of every sphere,

Yet to each loving heart how near!

A SUN-DAY HYMN.

2. Philip Freneau, 1752.

The wonderful exhibition of the Seasons is about to commence; four shows under one cover; the best ventilated place of entertainment in this or any other system; the stage lighted by solar, lunar, and astral lamps. Performance in twelve parts. Overture by the feathered choir; after which the white drop curtain will rise, showing the remarkable succession of natural scenery designed and executed solely for this planet, real forests, meadows, water, earth, skies, etc. At the conclusion of each series of performances the storm-chorus will be given with the whole strength of the wind-instrument orchestra, and the splendid snow scene will be introduced, illuminated by grand flashes of the Aurora Borealis.

THE SEASONS.

3. Douglas Jerrold, 1803. The silent changes of the rolling years, Marked on the soil, or dialled on the spheres.

POETRY.

4. Jakob Ludwig Grimm, 1785.

Those who are really awake to the sights and sounds which the procession of the months offers them find endless entertainment and instruction. Yet there are great multitudes who are present at as many as threescore and ten performances, without ever really looking at the scenery, or listening to the music, or observing the chief actors. Some are too busy with their books or their handicraft, and many women, even, who ought to enjoy the sights, keep their eyes on their work or their knitting, so that they seem to see next to nothing of what is going on.

THE SEASONS.

5. Stephen Decatur, 1779. Every human soul leaves its port with sealed orders. These may be opened earlier or later on its voyage, but until they are opened no one can tell what is to be his course or to what harbor he is bound.

6. Epiphany.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

A holy life is Heaven's unquestioned text ;

That shining guidance doubt can never mar,
The pillar's flame, the light of Bethlehem's star!

MEDICAL SOCIETY DINNER.

7. Israel Putnam, 1718.

Deal gently with us, ye who read !
Our largest hope is unfulfilled,
The promise still outruns the deed, -
The tower, but not the spire, we build.

TO MY READERS.