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SONG OF THE HAY-MAKERS.

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SONG OF THE HAY-MAKERS. The noontide la hot. and onr foreheads are brown, Our palms are all shining and bard; Sight close is our work with the wain and the fork, And but poor is our daily reward. But thereV joy in the sunshine, and mirth in the lark, That skltns whistling away over head Oar spirits are tight, though oar skins may be dark, And there's peace with our meal of brown bread. We dwell in the meadows, we toil on the sod, Far away from the city's dull gloom f And more jolly are we, though in rage we may be, Than the pale faces over the loom. Then a song and cheer for the bonny green stack, Climbling up to sun wide and high: For the pitchers and rakers, and merry hay -makers, And the beautiful Midsummer sky. Come forth, gentle ladies—come forth, dainty sirs, And lend us your presence awhile Your garments will gather no stain from the burs, And a freckle won't tarnish your smile. Our carpet's more soft for your delicate feet Than the pile of your velveted floor; And the air of our balm-swaith ia Surely as sweet As the perfume of Araby's shore. Come forth, noble master, come forth to the field, Where freshness and health may be found Where the wind rows are spread, from the butterfly's bed, And the clover bloom faileth around. Then a song and a cheer for the bonny green stack, Climbing up to the sun wide and high For the pitchers and rakers, and merry hay-ratkers. And the beautiful Midsummer sky. "Hold fast!" cries the waggoner. loudly and quick, And then comes the hearty "Gee-wo While the cunning o!d team-horses manage to pick A sweet mouthful to munch as they go. The tawny-faeed children come round us to play, And bravely they scatter the heap Till the tiniest one, all aspent with the fun, Is curled up with the sheep-dog, asleep. Old age sftteth down on the hay-cock's lair crown, At the close of our labouring day And wishefs his life, like the trrass at. his feet, May be pure at its passing away." Then a soug and a cheer for the bunny green stack, Ciimbiiig up to the sun wide and high For the pitchers and rakers, and merry hay-makers, And the beautiful Midsummer sky. —Eliza Cook. THE MONSTER TOWER DRUMS which were used at the Handel Festival, held in the Crystal Palace this year, were originally manufactured for the Great Handel Festival held in Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1784. ) They were called Tower drums owing to the- fact that one of the heads was made from the skin of the cele- brated lion, known as the Monster Leo,' which was exhibited at the menagerie kept at the Tower of Lon- don about that period,-a circumstance now almost forgotten. They were supplied by Messrs Potter and Co., the Military Musical Instrument Manufacturers, of London and Aldershot. PREPARATION FOR A NIGHT ATTACK FROM MAGDALA. -Ring Theodore, it is stated, advised bis captains to attack the British by night, but they declined, and des- cended to their deaths by daylight. Had they obeyed, they would have had a new proof of the power which science can bring to bear in aid of slaughter. Sir Robert Napier had with him an apparatus for employing the magnesium light on a grand scale. At a distance of six hundred yards a bewildeiiog blaze of light would have been thrown into the eyes of the Abyssinians, and the British, themselves in impenetrable shadow, would have ebot down their lustrous enemies at leisure and at ease. The poor Abyssinians would have been helpless as her- rings with the electric ray streaming on the shoal! It is hardly war, such a contest; but it ia better that civi- lization should be armed, than that barbarism should be. Spectator. A WIFE BOUGHT FOR ONE SHILLING.-Tbere was a case on Monday at the Wakefield Court-house, before Mr Gurney Leatham, in which it appeared that a wife bad been bought trom her husband for a shilling. A woman of about twenty-seven, named Sarah Jane Ellis, was found, on Sunday night, in the belfry of Sandal Church, and she was taken charge of by the police. A man named George White now asked that she might be allowed to go away with him. He kept, he said, the Bekett Spa,' at Barnsley, and the woman had been living with him as his housekeeper since 1864. He then met with her at a public-house at Barnsley, when ehe told him that she was starving. At his request she went with him, and after she had been with him six- teen wteks her husband came to his house, and offered to give her up for one shilling, which he (White) paid, and it was spent in drink. The woman had been living with him since, and she was subject t) fils. If she were allowed to go away with him he would take care of her if she were ill. The woman expressed a desire to go with the man, and she was released. SOMETHING LIKE A HAIL STOKM.—The San Antonio Express of May 31 gives the following particulars of a disastrous hailstorm :—4 Our city is a perfect wreck; every house in it has received some damage many are in complete ruins, with nothing but fragments of walls standing. The hail-stones penetrated the best roofs, going through tin roofs like cannon balls. All the win- dows facing t) the north have been smashed in even windows, shutters, and doors were broken down. The appearance of the city could not have been worse under a severe bombardment. The roofing of the entire city is perforated like a sieve. The hailstones were of irregular shape and all sizes, as if a mass of ice bad broken above our devoted heads and been driven by a tornado to the earth. One hailstone was found weighing over five pounds, while a great many as large as a man's fist were picked up. Many of the families whose houses were beaten down took shelter under beds and table", and thus escaped bodily harm. We have only heard of one death, a negro boy several had limbs broken and were severely bruised, while the whole population was frightened almost to death. The damage is of every character, and 500,000 dols. will not cover it all. The corn patches and gardens are flattened to the ground, and have the appearance of having passed through a chopping mill. All the fruit crops is destroyed. The storm resembled a terrific battle; so fearful was the noise that no one could hear unless they screamed in each other's ears. We learn that the hail-storm extended from five to 25 miles in extent-destroying everything over a region 30 miles from north to south, and 10 to 2J miles from east to ■west.' THE SANDWICH IeLANDs.-An American missionary writes from Honolulu to a friend in Boston In the south-eastern portion of our island, the district of Kain, all the native villages along the seashore for the distance of 15 or 20 miles have been destroyed by the tidal wave and by the upheaving of molten lava. It is said that more than 100 natives have lost their lives. Some were buried alive, some swept off by the wave, and others suffoca ed by the smoke and gases. On Saturday, March 28, distinct shocks of earthquake occurred at intervals not averaging more than three minutes. For six hours the vibration of our house never ceased. Avalanches of earth were thrown into the sea, and walls and houses thrown down. For the next four days the shocks were less severe but on Thursday afternoon came the most fearful earthquake ever known here. The whole island seemed like a great ship loosed from her moorings reeling to and fro, rising and falling, shaking terrifically^ as if she was going to pieces. Everyone wanted some, thing to bold on to, but there was nothing firm every- thing was shaking, reeling, pitching. The very trees were tossing to and fro, as if they would be uprooted; stone fences, houses, &c., were falling all around us. For 11 days and nights we waited with intense anxiety-praying, hoping, trusting in the Lord. We longed to see a great crater open or a great river of fire flowing, for then we thought the earth would be at rest. In all this time we never undressed for the night, passing tbe nights in a tent spread in our yard a little distance from the house. This partly to avoid the danger of the timbers and plastering of the house falling and crushing us, and partly to avoid the noise from the incessant sheking and vibration. On the night of the 7th of April, as we reclined in our tent, we saw for the first time the light from a crater which had just opened qn the south- < a tern portion of Manua LJa, not far from Waiokinu, th; stream flowing into the s:>a a little south of that point." j

RETURN OF SIR ROBERT NAPIER,

PRESBYTERIAN < SWELLS.'

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