on a dark landing Robin was found washing
heavy sheets, with which she stood upon a
three-legged stool to struggle. She came
down-stairs, and wept at the kind words
brought home to her. She was seen no
more. She is with many thousands pining
and perishing in London courts.

When I last saw those little toy-makers
whom Robin was not privileged to join, they
were looking brilliant iu the light of a tall
Christmas-tree.

The numbers employed in this industrial
school have, for a season, been diminished by
the closing of an institution for adults, to
which it was appended. I do not think,
however, that the children's training-school
will die; it is more likely that it will flourish,
and be an example and encouragement to
those who think it worth while to found more
of the same sort.

ALICE.

BRIGHT star amid the cloud-forms of the past,
Alice, my backward gaze is fixed on thee;
There is the look you turned upon me last,
And in your face the same serenity,
The same high faith upon your noble brow:
O, fade not, gentle vision from above;
For, in my thought, you are more beauteous now
Than when you lured me on and made me love.

Beside the river once I walk'd with you
It may be, you forget so small a thing;
In evening's tints faded the heavens blue,
The dark trees humming, the wind murmuring,
The babbling tide: these tuneful sounds I heard,
Set to your voice, that o'er my senses stole:
Perchance, you did not know that every word
Was like a silver link to chain my soul.

Then came the hopes and fears of hidden love;
Where'er you went, it was a blessed place,
Haunted, I dreamed, with angels from above;
My sweetest joy was to behold your face.
I longed to do you some great good — then die:
That which you touched was sacred; still, I hold—
Poor relic of the precious days gone by—
A few words writ by you, more dear than gold.

I deem you little less than angel-born,
Although you led me on to love in vain;
For, where you could not love, you did not scorn;
You were too kind to give me needless pain.
I was your veriest slave if you but smiled,
And still I madly hoped your love to win;
And wept to know, " She thinks me but a child,
And dreams not of the fire that burns within."

I saw you stand, with him to whom you gave
Your plighted troth, upon the ocean shore;
And, as your glances mingled in the wave,
I felt that you were one for evermore;
And, like a coward soul, I could not speak;—
I conquer now, rejoicing in your fate:
His noble heart is strong as mine was weak;
I was not worthy of a love so great.

Life's dream is over; I have borne the smart,
And live to bless you for alluring me:
If there is aught of greatness in rny heart,
It sprang at first from futile love of thee.
For, when I found my airy hope was gone,
There came a night of dark and bitter strife
And, with the light of morning's gradual dawn,
My soul expanded into nobler life.

STRYCHNINE

IN Ceylon and several districts of India
grows a moderate-sized tree, with thick
shining leaves, and a short crooked stem. In
the fruit season it is readily recognised by its
rich orange-coloured berries about as large
as golden pippins; the rind is hard and
smooth, and covers a white soft pulp, the
favourite food of many kinds of birds, within
which are the flat round seeds, not an inch in
diameter, ash-grey in colour, and covered
with very minute silky hairs. The Germans
fancy they can discover a resemblance in
them to grey eyes, and call them crows'-eyes,
but the likeness is purely imaginary. The
tree is the Strychnos nux-vomica, and the
seed is the deadly poison nut. The latter
was early used as a medicine by the Hindoos,
and its nature and properties understood by
Oriental doctors, long before it was known
to foreign nations. Dog-killer and Fish-
scale, are two of its Arabic names. It is
stated that at present the natives of Hindostan
often take it for many months continuously,
in much the same way as an opium-
eater eats opium. They commence with
taking the eighth of a nut a-day and gradually
increase their allowance to an entire nut,
which would be about twenty grains. If they
eat it directly before or after food, no
unpleasant effects are produced; but, if they
neglect this precaution, spasms result.

The bark of the tree, as well as the seeds, is
poisonous; and its resemblance to Angostura
or Cusparia bark, a tonic medicine imported
from South America, led to the most
unfortunate results at the beginning of this century
on the Continent. In eighteen hundred and
four, Dr. Rambach, a physician at Hamburg,
noticed that a certain species of Angostura
bark acted as a powerful poison; an order was
consequently issued forbidding the use of the
drug. In spite, however, of this injunction, it
managed to find its way into Germany, and
did so much harm, and created such alarm,
that, in eighteen hundred and fifteen, the
governments of Bavaria, Austria, Baden,
and Wurtemberg ordered all the Angostura
bark in the possession of the chemists to
be seized, and physicians at the same time
were desired not to prescribe it. An
investigation was instituted, and it turned out,
that a quantity of a bark had been imported
from the East into England, that
not being saleable, it was sent to Holland,
and as there appeared no greater likelihood
of selling it there, it was mixed with,
and passed otf as Angostura bark. For
many years botanists were at fault as to the
tree which yielded this false Angostura bark,
but in eighteen, hundred and thirty-seven,