Droop not, though shame, sin, and Work - for some good, be it ever so anguish are round thee! Bravely fling off the cold chain that hath bound thee! Look to yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee! Rest not content in thy darkness, -a clod! slowly; Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly: Labor!-all labor is noble and holy: Let thy great deeds be thy prayer to thy God. KATE PUTNAM OSGOOD. BEFORE THE PRIME. You think you love me, Marguerite, Ah, were it so! But listen, dear! When April's violets, here and there, me some, To show, you said, that spring was come. But, sweetheart, when the lavish May Rained flowers and fragrance round your way, You had no thought her bloom to bring, To prove the presence of the spring! Believe me, when Love's April-time DRIVING HOME THE COWS. OUT of the clover and blue-eyed grass He turned them into the river lane; One after another he let them pass, Then fastened the meadow - bars again. Under the willows, and over the hill, He patiently followed their sober pace; The merry whistle for once was still, And something shadowed the sunny face. Only a boy! and his father had said But after the evening work was done, And the frogs were loud in the meadow-swamp, Over his shoulder he slung his gun, And stealthily followed the footpath damp. Across the clover, and through the wheat, With resolute heart and purpose grim, Though cold was the dew on his hurrying feet, [him. And the blind bat's flitting startled Thrice since then had the lanes been white, And the orchards sweet with applebloom: And now, when the cows came back at night, The feeble father drove them home. For news had come to the lonely farm That three were lying where two had lain; I FOUND a fellow-worker when I deemed I toiled alone: My toil was fashioning thought and sound, and his was hewing stone; I worked in the palace of my brain, he in the common street; And it seemed his toil was great and hard, while mine was great and sweet. I said, "O fellow-worker, yea, for I am a worker too, The heart nigh fails me many a day, but how is it with you? "I carve the marble of pure thought until the thought takes form, Then he replied: "Ere sunrise, when the pale lips of the day "The sun grew on the world, and on my soul the thought grew too, - I felt the world's whole burden for a moment, then began -- "I went forth hastily, and lo! I met a hundred men, "Each passed me with a dauntless look, and my undaunted eyes ‘They passed me, having faith in me, and in our several ways, I felt their mighty hands at work, and, as the days wore through, "Perhaps they felt, as with those hands they lifted mightily And so we toil together many a day from morn till night, I in the lower depths of life, they on the lovely height; For though the common stones are mine, and they have lofty cares, Their work begins where this leaves off, and mine is part of theirs. And 't is not wholly mine or theirs, I think of through the day, But the great, eternal thing we make together, I and they; Far in the sunset I behold a city that man owns, Made fair with all their nobler toil, built of my common stones. “Then noonward, as the task grows light with all the labor done, “But when the evening comes, indeed, the words have taken wing, THOMAS PARNELL. HYMN TO CONTENTMENT. LOVELY, lasting Peace of mind! Sweet delight of human kind! Heavenly-born, and bred on high, To crown the favorites of the sky With more of happiness below, Than victors in a triumph know! Whither, O whither art thou fled, To lay thy meek, contented head? What happy region dost thou please To make the seat of calms and ease? Ambition searches all its sphere Of pomp and state, to meet thee there. Increasing avarice would find Thy presence in its gold enshrined. The bold adventurer ploughs his way Through rocks amidst the foaming sea To gain thy love; and then perceives Thou wert not in the rocks and waves. The silent heart, which grief assails, Treads soft and lonesome o'er the vales, Sees daisies open, rivers run, And seeks (as I have vainly done) Lovely, lasting Peace, appear! The branches whisper as they waved; It seemed as all the quiet place Confessed the presence of her grace. When thus she spoke-"Go rule thy will, Bid thy wild passions all be still, Know God-and bring thy heart to know The joys which from religion flow: Pleasing all men, hurting none, With all the colors of delight; The sun that walks his airy way, To light the world, and give the day: The moon that shines with borrowed light; The stars that gild the gloomy night; The seas that roll unnumbered waves; The wood that spreads its shady leaves; The field whose ears conceal the grain, The yellow treasure of the plain; Should be sung, and sung by me: Go search among your idle dreams, Your busy or your vain extremes; And find a life of equal bliss, Or own the next begun in this. |