The spray and the tempest's roar!

Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift-gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land!
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean-bird set free;--
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea.

The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown;
But with a stout vessel and crew,
We'll say, Let the storm come down!
And the song of our hearts shall be,
While the winds and the waters rave,
A home on the rolling sea!
A life on the ocean wave!

EPES SARGENT.


THE DEATH OF THE OLD YEAR.

It is customary, every New Year's eve in America, to ring bells, fire
guns, send up rockets, and, in many other ways, to show joy and
gratitude that the old year has been so kind, and that the new year is
so auspicious. The emphasis in Tennyson's poem is laid on gratitude for
past benefits so easily forgotten rather than upon the possible