AN OLD STORY. When the spring was beginning and May day wu nigh, On a country girl spinning the King cast his eye; Fair flourish the nnemr the court wall, But the rote of the hedges is fairest of all. " Let me h'de my fool's face "ncath a Ijing tomb-tone For the world's gone a-Ma)ing, I mope here alone," Said the jester who sat on the steps of the throne. But the blossoms will fade which the thought less bate torn, And the cheeks of a maid will be withered and worn. Why should there for such a small matter be woe, Since each hedge and each village such roses will show f M King! go to your wine; pretty maiden! go moan ; When its meat hath been mnmbled we leave the picked bone," Said the jester who sat on the steps of the throne. Yet a peasant is grinding a knife, sharp and strong. And silently winding his way through the throng- Then the dogs must be driven from licking the gore Of a monarch struck down at his own palaee door. " The ugh her name be a gibe, and her altars o'erthrown. In the end gossip Justice will seiie on her own," Said the jester who sat on the steps of the throne. Temple Bar. THE WALKING BELL. [tRASSLATKD FROM THE GERMA* Of GdTHE ] There was a boy who wouldn't choose His time in church to squander, And Sunday* always found excuse Away 'mid fields to wander. His mother said, ** When chimes the bell You should to church betake you; For, if you don't obey it well, Twill come iteelf and make you ! " But, thinks the boy, the bell hangs higa 'Way up there in the steeple; And so to the fields agsin dost fly— Leaves church for other people. The bell—the bell, it chimes no more ! What now the mother flurries ? Her boy runs wildly on before— The bell behind him hurries! It faster comes—alas! what woe Has disobedience wrought him! He toes as fast as he c*n go ; The bell has almost caught him But now he turns his way aright; O'er fields and hedges marlly He hastes away, till ends his fright- In church. He enters gladly. 