A butterfly to a dial exclaimed, “How short is the period of sun! And how few are the cheering hours of light Before brightness of day is done!” II. “Oh! if only the sun would always shine, And its greatest power maintain, No reason to grumble then could be mine, And no wish to ever complain.” III. A moth by chance overheard the remark, And answered, “I’d have you to know I hate the day and I long for the dark, And _I_ wish that all hours were so.” IV. “I delight in the cooling breath of night, And I long for the close of day; I wish I could shorten the hours of light, And then hasten each sunset ray.” V. They both gazed in turn at the sundial bold, And each read in motto God’s plan: “I created the light and dark of old, Proportioned for all that this world should hold From the insect that flies to man.” T. G. W. H. [Illustration] ETERNITY. We mention time, then heave a sigh, There’s not enough, we all, all cry; Too soon, too soon’s eternity. Ah, fellow mortals, let me say, ’Tis you who have made time’s little day. We are all, all in eternity. THE MAID AND THE SUNDIAL I. A maiden glanced at a sundial old, For to learn both the time of the day And to read its motto written bold, Made so clear by each sun-lightened ray. II. Beauty, it said, is a thing of naught, And true love, like the sun, sinks ever; For the joys that please can all be bought, Time only shall last on for ever. III. The maiden laughed as she read this rhyme, And exclaimed, “But man could compose it Who had loved and lost, upon a time, And so now on a stone he shows it.” IV. “Beauty,” she said, “is a thing to hold, Both women and men they adore it. Love is eternal, far above gold, Mark well how the world doth implore it.” V. “Money that buys some beautiful thing, And which gives what is called love a place, Ends with the bell, the gift of a ring, Will not change the rich purchaser’s face.” VI.