As, chased by the mists of the coming night,
Their light barks swiftly fly,

To the distant port, where the beacon light
Throws its red glare to the sky.

And light are their hearts as they gaily glide
To their humble homes with the flow of the tide.

The careless song of the hardy band

Falls faint on the listener's ear,

As they steer their vessels close to the land
And make for the sea-worn pier;

Then the signal flag is hoisted high,

And the villagers haste away,

To welcome their friends as they each draw nigh,
With a loud and long hurra;

And then there is joy at each fireside,

For it comes with the fleet at the flow of the tide.

When weary and wet with the white sea foam,
And toss'd on the stormy sea,

The fisherman thinks of friends and home,
He buffets the storm with glee;

For the winds may rise, and the sky may weep,
And the thunder-clouds may lower,

If his boat prove true, as she's wont to do,
He will brave their boist'rous power,
And be welcomed home with joy and pride,
In the evening time at the flow of the tide.

66
THE LAST COACHEE."

THE letter-bag of the "Great Western," which by some mistake fell into the hands of Sam Slick, contains among other racy epistles the following characteristic billet from Mr. Jeremiah Drag, a wellknown swell driver, lately on the Hirondelle and other "crack wehicles," from which we extract

the opinions of himself and fraternity, touching how they have been used by steam and railroads:

"The pikes and coaches couldn't stand it. The coaches was took off, the hosses was sold off, and there I was the third time off myself on the stones agin. As long as there was any chance I stood up under it like a man, for it ain't a trifle makes me give in; but there is no chance, coaches is done in England, and so is gentlemen. Sending to the station for parcels and papers is a different thing from having them dropt at the gate, and so they'll find when it is too late. Mind what I telly, Jenny, the rails will do for the gents, only give 'em time for it, as well as for the coaches. That thief's whistle of a car is no more to be compared to the music of a guard's horn than cork is to cheese, it's very low that, it always sets my teeth on edge. They'll find some a those days what all this levelling will come to in England. I'm blest if they doesn't. Levelling coachmen down to stoakers is the first step; the next is, levelling the gents down to the Brummigim tradesmen. They are booked for a fall where they'll find no return carriage, or I'm mistaken; but it serves 'em right; where people will be so obstinate as not to see how much better dust is than smoke; and they needn't even have dust if they choose to water the roads as they ort. There is no stopping now to take up or put down a passenger-that day is gone by, and returns by a different road. Accidents too is more common on the rails than on the pikes, and when the rails begins they always kills; there is no hopes of having the good luck to lose a limb, as there is with coaches. You can't pull them up as hosses; they han't got no sense, and it don't stand to reason

they can stop of themselves or turn out. I never run over but one man all the time I was on the road, and that was his own fault, for he was deaf and didn't hear us in time; and one woman, and she ran the wrong way, though the lamps was lit, and it served her right for being so stupid. I've always observed women and pigs run the wrong way, it's natural to them, and they hadn't ort to suffer them to run at large on the same roads with coaches; for they cum to be run over of themselves, and is very dangerous, frightening hosses, and upsetting coaches, by getting under the wheels."

WILLIAM the Conqueror having long wooed Matilda of Flanders (who "cherished a passion for Brihtric, surnamed Snow, from the fairness of his complexion,") without success, adopted a novel, but it seems efficacious, mode of showing the fervour of his love :-" After seven years' delay, William appears to have become desperate; and if we may trust the evidence of the Chronicle of Inger, he, in the year 1054, waylaid Matilda in the streets of Bruges as she was returning from mass, seized her, rolled her in the dirt, spoiled her rich array, and, not content with these outrages, struck her repeatedly, and rode off at full speed. This Teutonic method of courtship, according to our author, brought the affairs to a crisis, for Matilda, either convinced of William's passion by the violence of his behaviour, or afraid of encountering a second beating, consented to become his wife."

A LAZY DOG.

ONE of the American papers relates that a farmer, finding a dozen of his men idly stretched out on the ground, offered a dollar to the one who was the

laziest of the lot. Eleven jumped up, asserting their claims to the reward, each declaring himself "the laziest dog in the universe." However, the farmer gave the dollar to the twelfth, who had slothfully kept his position, and who, when the reward was offered him, murmured out, "Can't you put it in my pocket?"

WHY are doctors called physicians, mama?" said a little inquisitive girl to her mother, who had just been visited by one of them. "Physicians," replied mama, who was seldom at a loss for an answer, "comes from feeseek, as the doctors ride about all day to seek fees."

AN American thus describes a day's weather :"First it blew then it snew-then it friz-then it thew-and then it friz again."

JOKE OVER WINE.

IT is said that the late Chief Baron Thompson was a very facetious companion over the bottle, which he much enjoyed. At one of the judges' dinners during the assizes, there was present a certain dignitary of the church. When the cloth was removed, "I always think," said the very reverend guest, "I always think, my lord, that a certain quantity of wine does a man no harm after a good dinner!" "Oh no, sir!-by no means," replied the Chief Baron; "it is the uncertain quantity that does all the mischief!"

ANOTHER YANKEE PULL.

"Do ye think ye make them there things mighty sharp ?" said a visitor in the West to a cutler in New York. "I do," was the answer; better or sharper in the States." "We make

❝ none

them far sharper in Kentuck, I guess," rejoined the interrogator; "why, man, my father made a sithe there so tarnation sharp, that when he hung it up on a tree, its shadow cut a fellow's leg off: and if it had not been taken down with great difficulty, there would not have been a limb left in our parts."

BATHOS.

THE following affecting advertisement appeared lately in a London newspaper :-"If this should meet the eye of Emma D--, who absented herself last Wednesday from her father's house, she is implored to return, when she will be received with undiminished affection by her almost heartbroken parents. If nothing can persuade her to listen to their joint appeal-should she be determined to bring their grey hairs with sorrow to the grave-should she never mean to revisit a home where she has passed so many happy years-it is at least expected, if she be not totally lost to all sense of propriety, that she will, without a moment's further delay-send back the key of the tea-caddy."

WOMAN.

THE following is a fine passage, but we are unable to name its author:-" As the dove will clasp its wing to its side, and cover and conceal the arrow that is preying on its vitals, so it is the nature of woman to hide from the world the pangs of wounded affection. With her the desire of the heart has failed. The great charm of existence is at an end. Look for her after a little while, and you find friendship weeping over her untimely grave, and wondering that one, who but lately glowed with all the radiance of health and beauty,