Page images
PDF
EPUB

thing is this that thou has done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread." And he said, "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, 'Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?' But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me."-Second Book of Samuel.

A SHORT LIFE MAY BE A PERFECT ONE.

Ir is not growing like a tree

In bulk, doth make man better be,

Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear.
A lily of a day

Is fairer far, in May,

Although it fall and die that night,

It was the plant and flower of light!
In small proportions we just beauties see:
And in short measures life may perfect be.

BEN JONSON.

THE MOTHER'S SACRIFICE.

“WHAT shall I render Thee, Father Supreme, For thy rich gifts, and this the best of all?” Said the young mother, as she fondly watched Her sleeping babe. There was an answering voice

That night in dreams :

"Thou hast a tender flower Upon thy breast-fed with the dews of love: Send me that flower. Such flowers there are in

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The crimson velvet of the unfolding bud,

The harp-strings rang a thrilling strain, and

[merged small][ocr errors]

And that young mother lay upon the earth
In childless agony. Again the voice

That stirred her vision:

"He who asked of thee,

Loveth a cheerful giver." So she raised
Her gushing eyes, and, ere the tear-drop dried
Upon its fringes, smiled and that meek smile,
Like Abraham's faith, was counted righteousness.

MRS. L. H. SIGOURNEY.

TWO ON EARTH AND TWO IN HEAVEN.

Two on earth, their little feet

Glance like sunbeams round the door; Two in heaven, whose lips repeat

Words of blessings evermore.

Two on earth, at shut of day,
Softly sink to cradled rest;

Two in heaven, more blessed than they,
Slumber on the Saviour's breast.

Two with crowns of budding flowers
Dance the summer skies beneath;

Two in heaven's unfading bowers
Wear the glory like a wreath.

Two on earth, whose merry call
Stirs
my heart to gladness now;
Two in heaven, whose kisses fall

Through the silence on my brow.

Two on earth, O, day by day,

Kneeling at my Father's throne, Thus with pleading heart I pray, "Shepherd, make my lambs thy own!"

Two within that sweeter home
Have no need of earthly prayer;
There with angel songs they roam
Through the pastures green and fair.

Oft I gaze with tearful eyes,

Where the church-yard daisies blow; Oft my prayers are only sighs,

Yearning for

my children so.

Yet I know the Shepherd's hand
Led them home in tender love;

Mine is sure a blessed band,

Two on earth and two above.

EMILY C. HUNTINGDON.

THE MEETING.

O! WHEN a mother meets on high,
The child she lost in infancy,

Hath she not then for pains and fears,

The day of woe, the watchful night,

For all her sorrows, all her tears,
An over payment of delight?

THE LOSS OF A LITTLE CHILD.

O! SAY not 't were a keener blow

To lose a child of riper years, You cannot feel a mother's woe,

You cannot dry a mother's tears:
The girl who rears a sickly plant,
Or cherishes a wounded dove,

Will love them most while most they want
The watchfulness of love!

Time must have changed that fair young

brow!

Time might have changed that spotless heart! Years might have taught deceit - but now

In love's confiding dawn we part!
Ere pain or grief had wrought decay,
My babe is cradled in the tomb;
Like some fair blossom torn away
Before its perfect bloom.

With thoughts of peril and of storm,
We see a bark first touch the wave;
But distant seems the whirlwind's form,
As distant as an infant's grave!

[ocr errors]

Though all is calm, that beauteous ship

Must brave the whirlwind's rudest breath; Though all is calm, that infant's lip

Must meet the kiss of death!

THOMAS HAYNES BAYLY.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »