The day declined in Egypt, and the Patriarch’s sons drew nigh, To hear their father’s parting words, receive his parting sigh. A noble band of brothers they, the princely twelve, who came And bowed their stately heads before that worn and weary frame. “Draw near, my sons,” the old man said, “while I reveal to ye, The hidden things, of old ordained, in latter days to be. “REUBEN! beginning of my strength! my first born and my flower, _The excellency of dignity, the excellency of power_! But what are lofty gifts to thee, while thy impulsive heart Will prompt alike the generous deed, or choose the baser part! Unstable as the waves thou art, I read thy nature well, And dignity and power are _vain_, for _thou shalt ne’er excel_. “LEVI and SIMEON, brethren ye, in wickedness and wile! My soul abhors your cruelty, mine honor shuns your guile! Lost and accursed shall ye be by God’s avenging wrath, And scattered wide, like sifted chaff, upon the whirlwind’s path. “Thou, princely JUDAH, nearer draw, my proud and peerless one, Mine eyes would rest once more on thee, my lion-hearted son; I see thy calm, majestic front, thou generous, true, and just! In _thee_ the children of thy sire, for aye shall place their trust. The gathering of the nations around _thy_ house shall be; _And until_ SHILOAH’S _coming the sceptre rests with thee_!” And thus, as round their prophet sire, the awe-struck brethren wait, To each of all the listening twelve, he speaks, unfolding fate. The brawny breast of ISSACHER, heaves heavily and high, As years of cruel servitude arise before his eye; Luxurious ASHER’S curving lip, half wreaths into a smile, As visions of voluptuousness, flit o’er his brain the while; And BENJAMIN, exulting hears of his successful toil— “_At morn thou shalt pursue the prey, at eve devour the spoil._” But JOSEPH, of the steadfast soul, triumphant over wrong, Round thee, the best belovéd one, the choicest blessings throng. Of the deep that lieth under, of the far spread heavens above; Of thy home and of thy household, in thy life and in thy love, The words wherewith he blesseth thee, o’er all prevaileth still— _Unto the utmost boundary of the everlasting hill_. The day declined in Egypt, and from fertile mound and plain, The golden sunlight fades away—night gathers dark again. The clouds roll their dark billows back, and through the rifts on high; The solemn stars, in marshaled hosts, tread up the midnight sky; While chanting, through the firmament, the errant angels come; They lead the unfettered spirit up, in triumph to its home. * * * * * A MONTICELLO DAY. BY ALFRED B. STREET.