Speak gently no more; I’m awak’ning now, And _Care’s_ darksome shadow steals over my brow; My spirit has lost its fair rainbow hue, And wrong, and deceit, cloud its roseate view: With a mournful cry, through the wild rustling air, Comes a voice which breathes ever a strain of despair. Speak boldly and free—_I’m not dreaming now_; _Reality’s_ signet is stamped on my brow: Gone, _gone_ are Hope’s beacons, and faded is joy; The shroud mantled Future all bliss doth destroy! With a heart stricken sore—a soul that’s bowed low, I am pinioned to Earth by the fetters of _wo_. CHROMIA. * * * * * THE ADVOCATE OF LOVE. BY CAROLINE C——. “These things write we unto you that your joy may be full.” Let us by earnest thought, make this fleeting hour of a fleeting existence sacred to the memory of the Evangelist. For to the striving actors of the “living present,” the past can offer few better gifts than the scripture “record” of this “good man’s life.” He was one other of that band of obscure fishermen, who, adorned with none of the pride and pomp of official station—destitute of all the attractions of wealth—distinguished by none of the refinements and graces of cultivated life, appeared before the astonished people and rulers of Judea and all the East, suddenly gifted with such miraculous powers as enabled them to proclaim, and enforce, the most important truths on the minds of a nation, which counted itself, in every respect, far beyond all necessity of instruction. Rightly to study and to estimate the record of St. John, cannot prove to us a profitless task; a deeper feeling than admiration, and an exalted appreciation that will not subside into mere respect for him, is sure to be aroused. The conviction will _force_ itself upon a searcher after truth, of the exceeding beauty and excellence of the character of this Apostle, and disciple—the brother of James—the son of Zebedee and Salome—the fisherman of the Sea of Galilee—the man to whom was revealed the volume of deep mysteries—the meek, attentive, self-forgetful follower, whom Jesus loved.