ADDENDA

TAHITI

The waves that touch thy pebbly beach

With soft, caressing hand;

The scented breezes winging past

Above thy favored land;

The brilliant flowers, the glowing fruits,

Close to thy bosom pressed,

All, all are singing one sweet song,

Whose soft refrain is, Rest!

The sunset brush that tints thy skies

With wondrous, varied rays;

The birds that fill thy woodland haunts

With music's roundelays;

The sparkling streams meandering through

Thy valleys ever blest.

All, all are breathing one sweet song.

Whose soft refrain is, Rest!

The twilight hour that floods the soul

With waves of perfect calm.

Then gives us to the Queen of Night,

Who pours her soothing balm;

The still lagoon with coral reefs

Where beauty makes its nest.

All, all are breathing one sweet song.

Whose soft refrain is, Rest!

O Isle of Beauty! poets may

Dip pens in wells of light,

Or soar aloft on Fancy's wings

In wild, aerial flight;

But they can never voice thy charms,

O Island of the Blest!

Whose very air is perfumed with

The fragrance rare of Rest!

O Isle of Beauty! artists may

Coax every varied hue,

To lay upon the canvas wide

A portrait true of you;

But till they borrow heaven's power

To paint thee. Island Blest,

The task is vain, O Land of Peace,

Whose every breeze sings Rest!

Where man knows all the blissful charm

Of care-free, deep content;

Where life seems one long holiday

In childish gladness spent;

Where earth and air and sea and sky

So close to God seem pressed;

Ah, loath am I to turn from thee.

Dear Land of Perfect Rest!

MARY E. GRIFFIN.