z898.]
In the tender bark of a growing birch
He carved a heart with a boyish hand,
And pierced it through with a Cupid's dart—
A sign, to endive while the tree should stand,
Of vows exchanged between heart and heart.
After weary years of a fruitless search
For the wealth bestowed by Fortuna!s hand,
The lover lad, now to manhood grown
Came back once more to his native land—
' To the woods and fields that his youth had known
Though the tree had spread with the passing years
Till the frothing sign was bold and plain,
Yet the bond of love had strengthened, too.
So that when again met this wooing twain,
Each found that the other's heart was true.
THE PASSING OP THE TYRANT
THE midnight train from St. Petersburg was speeding swiftly,
like a great fiery-eyed serpent, through the twilight dark
ness of the plains of Novgorod, on its way to Moscow. In
the rear carriage, under the glow of the swinging lamps, sat two
persons, both of whom attracted unusual attention on account of
the singular beauty and regularity of their features.
The woman was slightly above the average height and of the
striking brunette type; a face of an almost perfect oval, set with a
pair of blue-black eyes which shone and sparkled with a luster
that rivaled the brilliancy of the stars without; a mouth with the
prettiest of Cupid's-bow lips, on which lurked continually the
semblance of a smile; a nose, delicately molded, with just the
faintest suspicion of a saucy turn-up at the tip; a high brow half
hidden in clustering curls, and, above all, a profusion of rich, dark
hair gathered into a dainty knot on the crown of the shapely head.
Her companion was a tall, athletic, military looking man, seem-
His Valentine
HIS VALENTINE
SS SA ~SA
R. T. S.