For a something came from the stillness, It had touched me oft before, Sometimes in the hush of pinewood, Sometimes on the lonely shore. It came and it touched my being, Laid its finger on my brain, And there alone in the pinewood I could _pray_ as a child again. It was not the spell of memory Cast around me its soothing power, Nor the magic of thought that held me Entranced in that silent hour. The rarest and deepest impressions Come from fingers, but not our own, From music unbarred and unmeasured, From language unuttered, unknown. They come, the unnamed and the dateless, They come as the waves of light, Like the murmuring breath of the pine-woods, Like the voices of the night. And they leave their deep impressions In the tidemarks of the soul, Those pulses that come as in secret, And roll as the billows roll. It may be in yon far region, Far above the remotest star, My glowing and growing vision May find what those pulses are. May find in the land of the morning, In the brightness beyond the flood, That the pensive hush of the woodland Was a breath of the _peace_ of God. Till then I will seek the pinewoods, I will muse with the falling leaves, And watch the design in symbols That the silent finger weaves. And catch from the fleeting river, And the ocean so vast and broad, From the Autumn quiet and the pinewoods, How to know and worship God. * * * * * * * * *THE "GOLDEN NAILS" SERIES* of ADDRESSES TO THE YOUNG. _Post 8vo size. Neat Cloth Binding. Price 1s. 6d. each._ "Messrs Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier’s ’Golden Nails’ Series is one of the happiest of recent enterprises in book-publishing. Every volume has had a good reception, and every new volume increases one’s admiration for the enterprise."—_Expository Times_. GOLDEN NAILS, and Other Addresses to Children. By the Rev. GEORGE MILLIGAN, B.D. PLEASANT PLACES. Words to the Young. By the Rev. R. S. DUFF, D.D. PARABLES AND SKETCHES. By ALFRED E. KNIGHT. With Illustrations by the Author. SILVER WINGS. Addresses to Children. By the Rev. ANDREW G. FLEMING. THREE FISHING BOATS, and Other Talks to Children. By the Rev. JOHN C. LAMBERT, B.D. LAMPS AND PITCHERS, and Other Addresses to Children. By the Rev. GEORGE MILLIGAN, D.D. A BAG WITH HOLES, and Other Talks to Children. By the Rev. JAS. AITCHISON. KINGLESS FOLK, and Other Addresses on Bible Animals. By the Rev. JOHN ADAMS, B.D.