AUNT NANCY'S MIND ON THE SUBJECT. The following lines from an American paper will find a responsive echo in many a heart : And this is the New Testament. And 'tis come in the sweet o' the year, When the fields are shining in cloth of gold. And birds are singing so clear ; And over and into the grand old text Reverend and thoughtful men, Through many a summer and winter past, Have been peering with book and pen. Till they've straightened the moods and tenses out, And dropped each obsolete phrase, And softened the strong, old-fashioned words. ' To our daintier modern ways ; Collated the ancient manuscripts, Particle, verb, and line, And faithfully done their very best To improve the book divine. I haven't a doubt they have done it well, But it is not clear to me That we needed the trouble it was to them On cither side of the sea. I cannot help it, a thought that comes— You know I am old and plain— But it seems like touching the ark of God, And the touch to my heart is pain. For five years past, and for five times ten At the back of that, my dear, I've made and mended, and toiled and saved, With my Bible ever near.
