"Gleanings From The Blue."

" GLEANINGS FROM THE BLUE . "

A REVIEW . THIS is a little selection p rinted for private circulation from the Christ ' s Hospital magazine , ancl dedicated to an esteemed friend and brother , Dr . Brette , Christ ' s Hospital . There are in the little work many indications of originality and talent , of high promise , and of future excellence , and several of

the " selections , " both in poetry and prose , are Avell worth reading , and , above all , preserving from that " oblivion " which too often sometimes falls here—on the efforts of " genius , " on the " toils of inanity " alike . Let us seek to be more just , ancl consequently more " Masonic . " The first little morceau " to Avhich we deem it Avell to call special and approving attention , is headed in French . " A un Vieux Fauteuil . " It is alike simple and truthful ; the idea is very well carried out , and is excedingl y suggestive .

A UN VIEUX FAUTEUIL . 0 fauteuil d'antrefois , vieux meuble de famille , Grace a toi , mon esprit remonte au temps passe . J'aime a , te voir le soir pres du foyer qui brille , Avec ta soie usee et ton bois tout casse . A mon pere tu fus offert un jour de fete ; Tes bras out soutenu jadis ses bras tremblants ;

Voici la place vide ou reposait sa tete Grave et douce a la fois sous ses beaux cheveux blancs . Grace a toi , je revois sa noble et pure image , Son air de patriarche et son front soucieux ; Notre mere en silence observe son visage , Et nous a , lenrs cotes les adorons des yeux . Helasl Ces jours sont loin 1 Depuis bien des annees

Tes maitres sont partis , 6 mon vieux serviteur ! Mes cheveux out blanchi , tes fleurs se sont fanees , Et nous voila brises par le Temps destructeur . Mais plus nous viellissons , plus chere m ' est ta vue . Eeste , 6 reste avec moi jusqu ' au jour du trepas , Etquand ma derniere heure , ami , sera venue , Laisse-moi doucemeut m ' endorinir dans tes bras !

A very amusing little skit on the " Good Old Times " points out truly and fairly enough that mercenary art of " cruel expressions " and proverbial sheepwalking in which Ave all , more or less , are apt to indulge .

GOOD OLD TIMES . We have all heard of the good old times ; we do not know when they were , or what tbey were , but we were told that they were something very different from anything that we personally have experienced . The mention of them is so frequent that after a while their antiquity becomes more evident than their excellence : we come to loathe the mouldy fragments thus cast in our teeth , and , beginning to fancy that the times now belauded as good and old must once have

been bad and new , ancl may at that date have been disadvantageonsly contrasted with some past excellence , we come to doubt iu the very existence of good old times , as a certain historical personage did iu the existence of Mrs . 'Arris . When were these good old times ? Where is the contemporary record of them ? When was the glorious present ? Poets rave about an excellent past and a glorious future ,, but the present is , to them , always disgusting : in fact , happiness with them is like jam with the " while queen "—ic comes yesterday or to-morrow , but never to-day . We will leave the future alone , and confine our attention to the past . In the earliest records of the human race we soon come upon a fratricide : such times seem rather " old "