THAT I MAY HELP." 



The depth and dream of my desire, 

 The bitter paths wherein I stray, 



Thou knowest, Who hast made the fire, 

 Thou knowest, Who hast made the 

 clay. 



One stone the more swings to her place 

 In that dread temple of Thy Worth, 



It is enough that through Thy grace 

 I saw naught common on Thy earth, 



Take not that vision from my ken; 



O, whatsoe'er may spoil or speed, 

 Help me to need no aid from men 



That I may help such men as need. 

 Rudyard Kipling. 



A TRAGEDY IN THREE PARTS. 



PART I. The Bonnet. 



A bit of foundation as big as your hand ; 



Bows of ribbon and lace; 

 Wire sufficient to make them stand; 

 A handful of roses, a velvet band 



It lacks but one crowning grace. 



PART II. The Bird. 



A chirp, a twitter, a flash of wings, 



Four wide-open mouths in a nest; 

 From morning till night she brings and 



brings 

 For growing birds, they are hungry 



things 

 Aye! hungry things at the best. 



The crack of a rifle, a shot well sped; 



A crimson stain on the grass; 

 Four hungry birds in a nest unfed 



Ah! well, we will leave the rest unsaid; 

 Some things it were better to pass. 



PART III. The Wearer. 



The lady has surely a beautiful face, 



She has surely a queenly air; 

 The bonnet had flowers and ribbon and 



lace; 

 But the bird had added the crowning 



grace- 

 It is really a charming affair. 



Is the love of a bonnet supreme over all, 



In a lady so faultlessly fair? 

 The Father takes heed when the spar 

 rows fall, 

 He hears when the starving nestlings 



call 

 Can a tender woman not care? 



Anon. 



STRANGE PLANTS. 



ONE of the most remarkable 

 growths in the government 

 botanical gardens is the so- 

 called barber plant, the leaves 

 of which are used in some parts of the 

 East by rubbing on the face to keep 

 the beard from growing. It is not 

 supposed to have any effect on a beard 

 that is already rooted, but merely to 

 act as a preventive, boys employing it 

 to keep the hair from getting a start 

 on their faces. It is also employed by 

 some Oriental people who desire to 

 keep a part of their heads free from 

 hair, as a matter of fashion. A curious 

 looking tree from the Isthmus of 

 Panama bears a round red fruit as big 

 as an apple, which has this remarkable 



faculty, that its juice rubbed on tough 

 beef or chicken makes the meat tender 

 by the chemical power it possesses to 

 separate the flesh fiber. One is inter 

 ested to observe in the botanical green 

 houses three kinds of plants that have 

 real consumption of the lungs the 

 leaves, of course, being the lungs of a 

 plant. The disease is manifested by 

 the turning of the leaves from green to 

 white, the affection gradually spread 

 ing from one spot until, when a leaf is 

 all white, it is just about to die. Cruelly 

 enough, as it would seem, the garden 

 ers only try to perpetuate the disease 

 for the sake of beauty and curiosity, 

 all plants of those varieties that are 

 too healthy being thrown away. 



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