RELIEVING GUARD.

Came the relief. "What, sentry, ho! How passed the evening through thy long waking?" "Cold, cheerless, dim--as may befit The hour before the dawn is breaking."

"No sight? no sound?" "No; nothing save The plover from the marshes calling, And in yon western sky, about An hour ago, a star was falling."

"A star? There's nothing strange in that." "No, nothing; but, above the thicket, Somehow it seemed to me that God Somewhere had just relieved a picket."