FAIRYLAND IN MIDSUMMER.

Shall I tell you how one day

Into Fairyland we went?

Fairy folk were all about,

Filling us with glad content;

For we came as worshippers

Into Nature’s temple grand,

And the fairies welcome such

With the freedom of the land.

Through the green-roofed aisles we went,

Passing with a careful tread,

For beside our happy feet

Purple orchis raised its head;

And behind, the blue-bells hung,

Fading now like ghosts at morn,

Here and there a white one bent,

Like a ‘maiden all forlorn.’

From the bank across our way

Ragged Robin flaunted red,

And athwart a narrow trench

Feathery ferns their shadows spread.

Fair white campion from the hedge

Raised its starry petals chaste,

And the fragile speedwell blue

Bade us on our journey haste.

Haste? For why? We sought the pool

Where the water-lilies bloom,

And we found it ere the night,

Hidden in a leafy gloom;

All around like sentinels

Yellow iris stood on guard,

Keeping o’er the virgin queens

Ever faithful watch and ward.

Like pale queens the lilies white

On their leafy couches lay,

Where no wanton hand could reach,

No disloyal foot could stray.

Lovingly we bade adieu

To each golden-hearted queen,

And stepped out to where the heath

Laughed to heaven in robe of green.

Here we gathered treasure-trove—

Eyebright, milkwort, cuckoo-shoes—

Till our baskets, overfull,

Many a precious bud must lose;

Till the sunset glory fell

On the blossoms in our hand,

And, with lingering glances, we

Bade farewell to Fairyland.

Florence Tylee.

The Conductor of Chambers’s Journal begs to direct the attention of Contributors to the following notice:

1st. All communications should be addressed to the ‘Editor, 339 High Street, Edinburgh.’

2d. For its return in case of ineligibility, postage-stamps should accompany every manuscript.

3d. To secure their safe return if ineligible, All Manuscripts, whether accompanied by a letter of advice or otherwise, should have the writer’s Name and Address written upon them IN FULL.

4th. Offerings of Verse should invariably be accompanied by a stamped and directed envelope.

If the above rules are complied with, the Editor will do his best to insure the safe return of ineligible papers.

Printed and Published by W. & R. Chambers, 47 Paternoster Row, London, and 339 High Street, Edinburgh.