29 JANUARY 1898, Page 32

POETRY.

FROM THE SONG-BOOK OF BETHIA HARDACRE.

TO (Who says that a life disabled for active service must be intolerable).

THINE eyes are holden and but see Life from the standpoint of thine own ; Nor note that Nature ceaselessly Strives for each evil to atone ; And, dauntless, toils to compensate For every stab and sting of fate.

And stricken, captive souls to whom Life's common joys are all denied Find, peradventure, in their doom Hopes, veiled to thee, intensified : Through darkness and through prison bars Beholding Heaven's high realm of stars.

ELLA FULLER MAITLAND.