29 JULY 1899, Page 15

SORROW AND SONG.

" GIVE me the gift of Song," one asked of Fate, " That I may sing of beauty and of Spring; Of woodland glades where streams are murmuring ; Of snow-topped mountains, lone and desolate; Of Love and Sorrow, of Revenge and Hate." Saith Fate : " That gift be thine, but it shall bring Sorrow. Each note of gladness thou shalt sing Unto thy heart's deep anguish shall vibrate."

"Be mine the power," he said, "and mine each pang That is the guerdon of the Poet's song."

So in the market-place the whole day long Amid his busy fellow-men he sang, And none who heard him, guessed that each sweet strain Had wrung the singer's heart with mortal pain.

BEATRICE J. PRALL.