Toiling, forgetting, and learning, Most lovely and fair and free; Where alone in her youth and beauty, And bound by her fate's sweet duty, Unconscious she waits for me. FRANCE. And when in God's good hour With a blaze in her awful eyes This Place shall roar with the voice And the heavens be gay with the chimes From every clamorous steeple And the dawn of Freedom waking Like the day which now is breaking -Sunrise in the Place de la Concorde. Mo DAVID BARKER. ORE than thirty years ago there appeared in the New York Evening Post, the poem entitled "My Child's Origin." The lines immediately attracted attention, and were copied extensively into the newspaper press throughout the country. It is said that Massachusetts War Governor, John A. Andrew, was so impressed by them, that he carried them about in his pocket-book, affirming that they were "the sweetest lines ever read." The author of the lines was David Barker, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Barker was born September 9, 1816, in the thrifty agricultural town of Exeter, in the state of Maine, where he spent the greatest part of his life. He was the son of Nathaniel Barker, a native of Exeter, N. H., who went into the District of Maine, in the early part of the present century, and succeeded in having the name of his native town go to the one of his adoption. Mr. Barker's mother, Sarah Pease, a native of Parsonsfield, Maine, was a woman of great energy of character, and strong religious faith. David was the sixth of ten children. His father died when David was quite young. David's education until about sixteen years of age, was had at the common school, after which he attended the academy in Foxcroft, Maine, where later on he was employed as an assistant teacher, which occupation he followed for many years. Later on in life thinking that a trade would be more manly, as well as more profitable, than the profession of a pedagogue, he chose the trade of blacksmith. His health however would not stand the severe toil of that occupation, and after a short apprenticeship, he broke down and ever after was an invalid. Quite late in life Mr. Barker entered the office of the late Governor Cony of Maine, and qualified himself for the profession of law, which he practiced for a while in Bangor, Maine, and afterwards until the close of his life pursued his profession in his native town of Exeter. David Barker died September 14, 1874, at the age of fifty-eight years, leaving a widow-the daughter of Timothy Chase, Esq., of Belfast, and a son and a daughter. He was a member of the Legislature of Maine for 1872, and he received the degree of A. M., from Bowdoin College, owing largely on account of his poetical fame. As a poet he obtained a distinguished reputation, and many of his metrical gems are destined to live. A volume of his poems with a biographical sketch by the Hon. John E. Godfrey, and which has passed through several editions, has been printed at Bangor. Mr. Barker's poetical fame, brought to him by the touching references to his mother, in several of his poems, will endear him to all who maintain their regard for the filial sentiment. H. P. C. THE EMPTY SLEEVE. By the moon's pale light, to this gazing throng, Let me tell one tale, let me sing one song'Tis a tale devoid of an aim or plan, 'Tis a simple song of a one armed man; Till this very hour, I could ne'er believe What a tell-tale thing is an empty sleeveWhat a weird, queer thing is an empty sleeve. It tells in a silent tone to all Of a country's need and a country's call, It tells of a battle-field of gore, Of the sabre's clash, of the cannon's roar, Though it points to a myriad wounds and scars, Each place of the rag with the rattle-snake, HENRY ALEXANDER LAVELY. H ENRY ALEXANDER LAVELY was born in East Liberty, Pa., now a part of the city of Pittsburgh, January 16, 1831. In the year 1840, when he was nine years of age, his parents removed to Bakerstown, near the same city. Here he attended a primitive district school, the building being of log, and the teaching quite in accord with the surroundings. He attended school three or four months in the year, and was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic to a limited degree, never having attained to the study of Lindley Murray's grammar. When about eighteen years of age he left home, and went to reside with his uncle, who was engaged in the manufacture of iron in Clarion county, Pa. After remaining in that locality for two or three years he came to Pittsburgh, and secured a position in the freight department of the Pennsylvania railroad, under the late Col. Thomas. A. Scott. Although his school advantages had been so limited, he gained a great deal of information from his intercourse with men, and from books and lectures. He early connected himself with the Young Men's Mercantile Library Association, and the Young Men's Christian Association, of Pittsburgh, and thus secured many advantages. He contributed short poems to the local and New York city press. One of his poems, "Life," was, during the war, appropriated by John H. Surratt (whose mother was hanged for treason), and copied all over the country. The poem by which Mr. Lavely is best known, The Heart's Choice," was originally published in Our Continent, with illustrations. In 1886 Mr. Lavely collected a number of his poems and published them in a neat volume. While Mr. Lavely's literary taste inclines to poetry, and his library contains the works of all the standard poets, as well as many gems by less. known authors, he is a genuine book lover, and anything rare and choice in either prose or poetry is enjoyed by him, and if possible obtained. In 1871 Mr. Lavely was married to Elizabeth Boothe of Pittsburgh, and their family consists of three daughters. Literary work is to him more of a recreation than a profession, as his business requires most of his time. L. B. L. 44 THE HEART'S CHOICE. A PAINTER quickly seized his brush And on the canvas wrought The sweetest image of his soul, His heart's most secret thought. A Minstrel gently struck his lyre, And wondrous notes I heard, |