Decay, a loathsome bridegroom, now Kisses with mildewed lip her brow; Her heart is colder than the rill When winter bids its tongue be still; Yet Spring will come, With song and bloom, And unchain the silvery feet of waves, But break no bonds in voiceless graves. Wasting away with a sad decline, Far from these northern hills of pine, She would wander back to them in dreams, To hear the roar of their rushing streams; And often spoke Of a favorite oak On the door-sill flinging pleasant shade, And under which, a child, she played. When beat no more her snow-white breast, Strange hands the lovely ruin-drest, Smoothing, upon the forehead fair, Loose, glittering flakes of golden hair; And strangers gave To our dead a grave, Sprinkling above the frail remains Mould, moistened by autumnal rains. Ah! since she died a wilder wail Is uttered by the midnight gale, And voices, mourning something gone, Rise from the dead leaves on the lawn; And sadness broods Above the woods Moaning as if endowed with soul, For through their depths she loved to stroll. The lute that answered when she sung Old airs, at twilight, is unstrung— She wakes where the _sainted_ dwell alone An instrument of richer tone; And angel’s smile On her the while, And to garland her sinless brow of snow The rarest blossoms of Heaven bestow. * * * * * ST. VALENTINE’S DAY. BY JOSEPH R. CHANDLER [SEE ENGRAVING.] Happiness, it appears to us, is _a_ cause, as well as _the_ effect of virtue. When the heart is warmed with rational enjoyment, it is naturally grateful to those that promote the pleasure. When it is excited to the indulgence of generous feelings by the operation of kindness in others, it pours out those feelings upon all within its influence. It does not confine the reflection of pleasure to those from whom the pleasure springs; but seeks to dispense it upon all within its influence, as the planets, receiving their light from the sun, dispense that light to all the stars in the system. And the effort to promote the enjoyment of others—the true rational enjoyment of others—is a virtue. Those, therefore, who create an occasion for such social intercourse as produces rational pleasure, are promoting, in some degree, the cause of virtue.