52 
THE PIGEONS’ SANCTUARY.- 
Beside St. Paul’s, beneath the sheltering dome, 
In that short hour that rest from toiling brings, 
I heard the sighing as of angel wings. 
And watched the gentle pigeons wheeling come. 
Some cast them bread, heart-sick for country some 
Dreamed, while the air was filled with happy things ; 
But ah ! one note of piteous sorrow rings. 
In those who wounded to the banquet come. 
There, ’mid the cooing thousands, lo ! a dove 
With broken limb, torn feathers, bruised beak ! 
Methought I saw the cowards at their play, 
Cursing the life they could not cast away. 
“ Thank God,” I cried, “ that all in pain who seek. 
Can find around His altars rest and love.” 
H. D. Rawnsley. 
AUTUMNAL DENMARK. 
HEN the flower sellers of London offer passers-by 
boughs of yellow beech leaves tied up in large bunches, 
the sight of them reminds one of a city where the 
beauty of autumn is not only represented in the street 
vendors’ baskets. Autumn in Denmark — that is the sear and 
yellow leaf in its full glory, but autumn in London is not an ideal 
season. Those who are happy enough to be able to, are only 
too eager to shun it in October and November, for there is 
something very depressing about the fall of the leaf in the 
Metropolis. There is a faded air over everything, which acts in 
a reactionary way on those returning from delightful moorland 
or seaside holidays. There is the interminable London winter 
before us. London is rarely favoured with that bright autumnal 
weather, which is almost preferable to any other. We truly 
only have “samples” of it, as the American lady said. Um- 
brellas are the order of the day, greyness reigns supreme, and 
the sad-coloured leaves on the trees in our beautiful parks serve 
as a sad reminder of their past glory, and of the many months 
which must elapse before spring brings their successors. Copen- 
hagen, on the other hand, is a town which shows to great 
advantage in the fall, for it is exceptionally well-endowed with 
* It has recently been pointed out that .a number of the pigeons which dwell 
in the towers of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and which present such a ple.asing picture 
when being fed at midd.iy, have but one leg each. This is attributed to 
pigeon shooting. 
