""Tis no marble pillar I task for
But for Truth and Right alone;
Then stint not the pity I ask for,
To pay me for bread, with a stone."

Out of the depths of despair
O hearken a plaint and a prayer!
O brothers, make haste to attend it
Ere comes the grim Reaper to end it.

That ancient and often-told story
Of a prophet despoiled of his glory,
Till, deaf to the praise of vain mortals,
He enters eternity's portals.

THE

JOSEPH JASIN.

As the Stars and the Sands

'HE hills and the valleys are flooded with moonlight, The radiant stars, how resplendent they gleam!

Before me lies open the dear, olden volume,

On whose pages I ponder and dream.

I pore o'er its pages so precious and sacred,

When sudden there whispers a voice unto me: "I have promised, O Israel, I have sworn to make you Like the stars of the heavens, the sands of the sea!"

O Lord of Creation! what mortal dare question
A single word of Thy Promise of grace?

Every deed Thou hast pledged Thou art mighty to do it

Each thing in its time, each part in its place.

And one thing e'en now Thou hast surely fulfilled it, Mine own eyes behold it, forbidding all doubt; We have become like the sand that is worthless, Trodden and trampled and blown about..

Yes, dear Lord, as the sand the pebbles.

Are we scattered and strewn 'neath contemptuous feet;

But the stars-how long, O Lord, ere the stars
The yearning eyes with their glory shall greet?

S. FRUG.

(Translated by Joseph Jasin.)

. Whom You Are to Blame"

(Dedicated to "Mentor.")

ONCE

NCE in my secluded chamber
Late at night I read

Israel's ancient wondrous story;
How he shone and shed

Light around him, in his homeland
Thriving free and great ....
Then my thoughts passed to his later
Treacherous, cruel fate:

Israel homeless, footsore, captive

Into exile goes,

And the world has long forgotten
What to him it owes.

"Gentile world! You have polluted
Springs from which you drank!"
And in bitter, sad reflections,

Tired and weak I sank. .

Stealthily an old man entered
My secluded room;

On his breast a cross suspended,
In his eyes-deep gloom..

"Fear not," said he, "vain intruder
I am not, you'll find;

You accused me, and I came here,
Came to speak my mind.

"Not defend myself, but tell you
Whom you are to blame

For your homelessness, your downfall,
For your grief and shame.

"No, not I, but you polluted

Your eternal spring;

Home and faith and pride abandoned,

And to exile cling.

"Kneel and pray to alien altars,

Worship alien gods,

Even like in cast-off garments

Deal in cast-off thoughts.

"Gather crumbs at strangers' tables. . .

No, your pride is gone!

For you glory that you have no

Table of your own.

"Faith, and truth, and pride-all treasures

You have prized of old;

For a lentil-pottage long since

You your birthright sold.

"You no longer feel the horror

Of a slave's disgrace.

Do you want me to respect you,
Honour such a race?

"Once you heroes had and prophets
Noble, great and true;

How much of their daring spirit
Now is left in you?

"Grandsons of the Maccabeans!
If those heroes came

Saw their servile offsprings-they would
Die again-of shame!

"Dead is all your pride and valour,

Silent is your tongue,

Tongue of bards, and kings and prophets—
You forsook it long.

"And your home that waits deserted
Do you e'er recall?

Where are all your rich and mighty—
Mammon's High Priests all?

"Like deserters they are sailing

Under foreign flags,

Lackeys that their masters' mantles

Wear to hide their rags.

"Crumbs of bread, and night of lodging

Dare no more expect!

No, a race that lost its self-pride

No one can respect.

"This is all I came to tell you!

Now, good-bye. . . I spoke..

"Stay!" I shrieked, "I must reply you, Stay" and I awoke..

Side by Side

P. M. RASKIN.

EW and Christian, side by side,

They rest in the cool earth's bosom wide-
Or lying deep where the billows sweep,

In the heart of the great green sea they sleep!
Over them flutters the banner fair,

While a sadness thrills in the Springtide air.

Jew and Christian, side by side,

As men they fought, and as men they died!
Like brothers stood fast at the bugle blast,
Until like brothers they sleep at last.

While over them flutters the banner fair,
And a sadness thrills in the Springtide air.

Jew and Christian, side by side,

For their common country they lived and died,
And they vigil keep, in their dreamless sleep,
O'er the brotherhood that is ours to keep.
While over us flutters the banner fair,

Though a sadness thrills in the Springtide air.

ISABELLA R. HESS.

The Young Rabbi

THOU lookest backward reverently. 'Tis well!
The springs of life and faith are still our shrines,
And, standing strong in living deed, the spell
Of this day's call thy listening heart divines.

The to-morrow's light is on thy brow, thy step
Leans forward where the quickening Word abides;
Thy past a pledge that yet that Mystic Roll
A fuller, holier revelation hides.

Young heritor of ancient faith, thou guide
Of present need, and seer of faith to be!
The august centuries converge on thee—
One living God behind, before, beside.

The same Eternal keeps the open door;

Stand forth with Him and sing to-day's Mismor!

E. C. L. BROwne.