This poem, by Louis Honoré Frechette, the laureate of Canada, is very fine in the original, and holds the same position in French-Canadian literature that Bryant's "Lines to a Waterfowl" occupies in American classics. It is one of the poems that won for its author the crown of the French academy and the Grand Prix Monthyon of 2,000 livres. When the rude Equinox, with his cold train From our horizons drives accustomed cheer, Behold! a thousand winged sprites appear And flutter briskly round the frosty plain. No seeds are anywhere, save sleety rain, No leafage thick against the outlook drear; Rough winds to wildly whip them far and near; God's heart alone to feel their every pain. Dear little travelers through this icy realm, Fear not the tempest shall you overwhelm; The glad spring buds within your happy song. Go, whirl about the avalanche, and be, O birds of snow, unharmed, and so teach me: Whom God doth guard is stronger than the strong. --_C. G. B._ VEGETATION IN THE PHILIPPINES. Much attention has of late been devoted to the Philippines, and as one result considerable interest has been evinced in their natural products. In the matter of vegetation they are highly favored. Fruits grow in great abundance, and the reputation of some of them is already established abroad, as is the case, for example, with the mango. Other fruits grown in the islands are the ate (the cinnamon apple of the French colonists), the mangosteen, the pineapple, the tamarind, the orange, the lemon, the jack, the jujube, the litchi (regarded by the Chinese as the king of fruits), the plum, the chico-mamey (the sapodilla of the West Indies), the bread fruit, and the papaw. The last named is eaten like a melon, and is valued as a digestive; its juice furnishes an extract which is used as a medicament under the name of papaine, or vegetable pepsin. The banana grows abundantly and is a great boon to the poor people, supplying them with a cheap, delicious, and exceedingly nutritive food; there are many varieties, ten of which are in particular highly esteemed.