’Tis so like life that I could gaze For aye upon that face, As pilgrim scans, with uplift soul, His spirit-resting place. The brow so calm and passionless— The eye so purely bright— As if its every glance was full Of peace and holy light! They haunt me wheresoe’er I turn, Those lustrous eyes of thine, Although their pleasant smile may rest Oh never more on mine! Ah weary—very weary ’tis To look so long on thee, To love, to worship, yet to know Thy thoughts are far from me. And yet I would not have thee mine; My heart with such excess Of joy would break beneath the spell Of its own blissfulness! Oh no, I do not crave thy love; I only ask to be A simple floweret in thy path While thou art _all_ to me! Who would not weep should never love! A term of weary years Is love’s best boon to human hearts— Its brightest guerdon—_tears_! I would not have it cast for me A shadow on thy heart, Or cloud one single ray of thine, All glorious as thou art! No—rather let my spirit kneel As to some distant star, Whose light illumines my sad soul From its bright home afar: And while its beams may gladden those More deeply—wildly blest, One truant gleam may haply come To lull my soul’s unrest! * * * * * LOVE TESTS OF HALLOWEEN. BY T. S. ARTHUR. [SEE ENGRAVINGS.] The eve of All Saint’s Day is memorable in Scotland as a time when the fairies hold a grand anniversary, and when witches and evil beings are abroad on errands of mischief. This superstition, modified in various ways, finds a place also among the peasantry of other nations. In the United States, Halloween used to be observed by country maidens as a time for trying sweethearts, and gaining such an intelligible peep into futurity as would enable them to find out whether they would be married or not; and if that happy event was to crown their lives, who would be the man of their choice. And even at this time, “Hallow-Eve,” as it is called, is not suffered to come and go without the effort of some loving maidens to penetrate the mystery of their matrimonial future. The modes of trying sweethearts, and the various love tests applied, are curious enough. Burning nuts, the love-candle, eating an apple before the looking-glass at midnight, the salt egg, and dropping melted lead through a key into a basin of water, are a few of them, and all must be accompanied by particular ceremonies or incantations, in order that they may have the desired power to lift the veil of futurity.