GOD BLESS THI SILVER YURE. (By permission of the Author.) Thae good owd king o' trumps- Poo up to th' side o' th' hob, Wi' fortin' an' her pranks : As thee to tumble deawn. Theaw never longs for wine, Can sweeten simple fare; Where tulips connot grow. An' though thi' clooas are rough, To keep thi limbs fro' th' cowd: A foo would pine away I' sich a suit as thine, But, thaer't the stuff to may A tattert clowt may lap When t'one has laft his feast, An' though thi share o' life, An' trusted fate wi' th' rest. Through trouble, toil, an' wrung, Thi limbs are getten stark; Thi banner 'll soon be furled, Aw hope to leet o' thee- E. Waugh A PSALM OF LIFE. WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE B PSALMIST. TELL me not in mournful numbers Life is real! life is earnest ! Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. In the world's broad field of battle, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Lives of great men all remind us Footprints, that perhaps another, Let us, then, be up and doing, H. W. Longfellow. THE THREE SONS. I HAVE a son, a little son, a boy just five years old, With eyes of thoughtful earnestness, and mind of gentle mould; They tell me that unusual grace in all his ways appears, That my child is grave and wise of heart beyond his childish years. I cannot say how this may be; I know his face is fair, And yet his chiefest comeliness is his sweet and serious air; I know his heart is kind and fond, I know he loveth me, But loveth yet his mother more, with grateful fervency. But that which others most admire is the thought which fills his mind, The food for grave inquiring speech he everywhere doth find. Strange questions doth he ask of me when we together walk; He scarcely thinks as children think, or talks as children talk. Nor cares he much for childish sports, dotes not on bat or ball, But looks on manhood's ways and works, and aptly mimics all. His little heart is busy still, and oftentimes perplext, With thoughts about this world of ours, and thoughts about the next. He kneels at his dear mother's knee-she teacheth him to pray, And strange, and sweet, and solemn then are the words which he will say. Oh, should my gentle child be spared to manhood's years like me, A holier and a wiser man I trust that he will be ; And when I look into his eyes, and stroke his thoughtful brow, I dare not think what I should feel were I to lose him now. I have a son, a second son, a simple child of three; I do not think his light blue eye is like his brother's, keen, Nor his brow so full of childish thought, as his hath ever been; But his little heart's a fountain pure of kind and tender feeling, And his every look's a gleam of light, rich depths of love revealing. When he walks with me, the countryfolk who pass us in the street Will speak their joy and bless my boy, he looks so mild and sweet. A playfellow is he to all, and yet, with cheerful tone, To comfort us in all our griefs, and sweeten all our mirth. Should he grow up to riper years, God grant his heart may prove As sweet a home for heavenly grace as now for earthly love; And if, beside his grave, the tears our aching eyes must dim, God comfort us for all the love which we shall lose in him. I have a son, a third sweet son; his age I cannot tell, For they reckon not by years and months where he is gone to dwell. To us for fourteen anxious months his infant smiles were given, And then he bade farewell to earth and went to live in heaven. I cannot tell what form his is, what looks he weareth now, Nor guess how bright a glory crowns his shining seraph brow. The thoughts that fill his sinless soul, the bliss which he doth feel, Are numbered with the secret things which God will not reveal; But I know (for God hath told me this) that he is now at rest, Where other blessed infants be, on their Saviour's loving breast. I know his spirit feels no more this weary load of flesh, |