Its gentle breezes fan our cheek, Amid our worldly cares; Its gentle voices whisper love, And mingle with our prayers. Sweet hearts around us throb and beat, Sweet helping hands are stirred; And palpitates the veil between, With breathings almost heard. The silence, awful, sweet, and calm, They have no power to break; For mortal words are not for them To utter or partake. So thin, so soft, so sweet they glide, So near to press they seem, They lull us gently to our rest, They melt into our dream. And, in the hush of rest they bring, ’Tis easy now to see, How lovely and how sweet to pass The hour of death may be;―― To close the eye and close the ear, Wrapped in a trance of bliss, And, gently drawn in loving arms, To swoon from that to this:―― Scarce knowing if we wake or sleep, Scarce asking where we are, To feel all evil sink away, All sorrow and all care! Illustration: (‡ decoration) Illustration: (‡ decoration) MARY VIRGINIA TERHUNE. (MARION HARLAND.) _Popular Novelist and Domestic Economist._ MARION HARLAND combines a wide variety of talent. She is probably the first writer to excel in the line of fiction and also to be a leader in the direction of domestic economy. She is one of the most welcomed contributors to the periodicals, and her books on practical housekeeping, common sense in the household, and several practical cookery books have smoothed the way for many a young housekeeper and probably promoted the cause of peace in numerous households. Mary Virginia Hawes was the daughter of a native of Massachusetts who was engaged in business in Richmond, Virginia. She was born in 1831, and received a good education. She began in early childhood to display her literary powers. She wrote for the magazines in her sixteenth year and her first contribution, “Marrying Through Prudential Motives,” was so widely read that it was published in nearly every journal in England, was translated and published throughout France, found its way back to England through a retranslation, and finally appeared in a new form in the United States.