The Falling Snow.

THE FALLING SNOW .

BY CHiULES G . AMES . I WATCH to see the dim procession pass—The struggling , shadowy shapes that come and go ; I sit and watch , through clouded panes of

g lass , Through gauzy curtains of the falling snow . The fairy phantoms of the peopled air Come softly gliding to the earth below ; I sit and list , I list in vain to hear

The feathery foot-fall of the falling snow . No sound , save now and then a muffled hoof , And muffled wheel , and in the silence , lo 1 I sit and worship ' neath my whitening

roof—The world keeps Sabbath for the falling snow . White wings are fluttering all around to-day , Unseen , unheard—the loved of long ago Alas ! why miss aud mourn I , more than they , The forms that rest beneath the falling snow ?

Fairy Tales Utilised For The New Generation.

FAIRY TALES UTILISED FOR THE NEW GENERATION .

BY THEOPHILUS TOMLINSON . No . 1 Y . —JACK AND THE BEANSTALK . WHO does not remember " Jack and the Beanstalk ? " and once we believed in him , did we not ? How we admired his courage

and his adroitness ? his brave heart and unconquerable will ? Well , time has passed from us since then , and probably has laid its heavy hand upon us . We have seen « wes and crosses not a few ; we have stumbled on through trials and difficulties

very many , and here we are to-day very foot-sore , a good deal disjointed , hopes have turned out to be illusions , and fond dreams have faded never to reappear . What has Life taught us and brought us ? Are not

our memories to-day full of vivid associations of the shadows which have fleeted , and the friends who are no more ? Well , if the ardent aspirations and warm yearnings of youth are over , have we nothing left us ? Surely we have . Have we not all gained that experience of the world and

of man which is always so important , and everywhere so valuable ? Experience of the world , did I say ? Why , the longer we live in it the less we understand it , the more we cling to it , the more disappointing it becomes to us 1 If we have obtained

nothing from the world but its experience , that will , believe me , profit us nothing . For , after all the world ' s experience , what is it ? Whether we have lived a longer or a shorter time , whether our way has been prosperous or clouded over ; whether , for

us , all has gone bravely and well , or ours have been the penalties and the vicissitudes of this sublunary scene j whether we have lived largely with our kind , or looked ou the world from a philosopher ' s sanctum , matters but little , our greatest experience is but comparative ignorance at the very best , so to say , our highest knowledge of the world , but a passing possession .

It has been said that all worldly persons —all persons experienced in the ways and habits , and feelings of the world—are heartless . I do not say so much ; but , at any rate , they are often , as it seems to me , rather callous , and not a little cynical ! For the world has thrown over them its

blinding " mirage , " and imparted to them its deceiving lore . The world has made them in the world , and of the world , enthralled by its pleasures , devoted to its pursuits , absorbed in its cares , and proud of its citizenship ! Them ideas are bounded

by its horizon ; all else appears excitement , or fanaticism , or Mly , or madness . They have risen in it , and they have prospered in it , and have made themselves a tenement and a name in it ; and , as for it , they only care to live , so beyond it they do

not care to look . How changed they are from what they once were , and yet they hardly knew it , or perhapssuspeeted . it themselves . Once they were full of courage , and energy , and hope , aud trust , like the resolute " Jack , " now exertion is a bore , and thought a labour . The world goes on very well , and they are very well to do in it . They can buy the current com of