AN GAODHAL.
365
For redeeming ransom tender
For sin's vileness cleansed away.
Hear they now with exaltation
Rapturous glorious invitation!
"Come ye blessed" passed probation
"Come" now bask in Heavenly ray.
Stern decree, the vile receiving,
Spent their course of base deceiving,
Naught their deep remorse relieving.
Quailing in a mute dismay.
Doom alas ! too late descrying,
Endless torments flames undying,
Where then go from vengeance flying ?
Go accursed away, away!
Comes that final parting tender,
Anguish that no words can render,
What can then from ill defend or
Combat high celestial sway.
Kindred links fond ties endearing,
Snapt asunder bonds so cheering,
Mute must then be scoffers jeering,
Heaven's dread fiat all bey.
Ponder Mortal, hastning nearing
To the hour when all appearing
Disenthralled from bond endearing
Lonely speed their flight away.
Herald Terror's king ne'er sending
Now perchance his arrow bending
Nigh may on your steps be tending
What shield keep his dart at bay?
Humbly crave 'oft light essential
Be your service penitential
Mercy he is all potential,
For beyond 'tis Justice reigns.
Warning heed, e'er fleet arriving
Doomsday when of chance depriving
Naught of Hope's bright star surviving
Forfaiture of all your gains.
Scripture's sacred revelation
Christ's true church precise notation
Speak of havoc, decimation
Horrors crowding with dismay.
Diverse ill and sin abounding,
Ravages and strife confounding,
Sighs and claims for aid resounding
Presaging the final day.
Thunder's harsh reverberations
Tempest's harrowing devastations,
Error's poisoned declarations
Madly would for credence sue.
Falsehood's glitter soul destroying,
Slakeless in its thirst uncloying,
Victims in its wake enjoying
Rendering words prophetic true.
Watch ! your safety lies in guarding,
Sluggards ne'er are worth rewarding,
Vigilance not e'er retarding,
Glory always valor's prize.
Truth must surely win its guerdon.
When relieved from earthly burden,
Live not fools to pleasure lured on,
For the better gifts be wise.
Turn to Mary, she is pleading,
As Heaven's queen e'er interceding,
For her suppliants hourly needing
Aid from dawn unto last knell.
Seek her gracious intercession,
Jesus grants her all concession,
Vile though be each soul's transgression,
She can free from ev'ry spell.
She is regal, yet maternal ;
She hath conquered hosts infernal,
Throned in sceptered might eternal,
She is ever perdition's foe.
Each defect her love erases,
Flaws that record oft defaces,
Frees from all that stains debases,
Sends relief from every woe.
When he who penned those feeble numbers,
In death's embraces calmly slumbers,
His name perhaps no one remembers,
All, all are dead and gone.
Some one may question as he ponders,
This narrative of sights and wonders,
Rare night of flashing flames and thunders,
What year it fell upon ?
To eighteen times one hundred years,
Of sorrows, joys and hopes and fears,
Add thirty nine — it then appears.
The year when this occurred.
Famed night when Eastern Kings of old,
Brought myrrh and frankincense and gold,
And homage, love and fealty told,
To Christ the Infant Word.
The following poetical effusion, lo¬
cating "the night of the big wind" is
the production of a blind piper named
Connolly. —
Míle, ocht g-ceud, trí dheich agus fiche in
a cheann,
Ó thainic Mac Dé air an t-saoghal no gur
reub an gaoth mhór na crainn.
The income of Queen Victoria amounts to $2,000,
000 a year. A nice penny for an old lady of 60.
