Fireside Fancies 



ing completely in English the full 

 beauty of the original." He then 

 gave the literal interpretation of the 

 lines, and in his voice more than one 

 of the boys detected a trace of emotion 

 which they would not have guessed 

 had place in the old man's breast. 



Within twelve months after this 

 little incident one student had deserted 

 the college halls forever at the call of 

 something in the eyes of a maiden fair. 

 She sits there now with him, after the 

 lapse of I should not just care to say 

 how many years, by the open fire, and 

 together they contemplate the slow 

 combustion of the logs. A great calm 

 has settled down upon the hearth since 

 the pine and paper first rushed aloft in 

 smoke. The imprisoned sunshine of 

 summer days long gone now finds a 

 glad release as the friendly fire burns 

 on in steady moderation. The "sap" 

 is seeping too from out the ends of that 

 heart of oak as the heat expands its 

 fibres, and an echo of the beating of the 



[i37l 



