NOR peace nor ease the heart can know,
Which like the needle true,

Turns at the touch of Joy or Woe,

But, turning trembles too.

Mrs. Greville.

THE MESSENGER BIRD.

THOU art come from the spirits' land, thou bird! Thou art come from the spirits' land!

Through the dark pine grove let thy voice be heard, And tell of the shadowy band!

We know that the bowers are green and fair

In the light of that summer shore,

And we know that the friends we have lost are there; They are there, and they weep no more!

And we know they have quenched their fever's thirst,
From the Fountain of Youth ere now;

For there must the stream in its freshness burst,
Which none may find below.

And we know that they will not be lured to earth
From the land of deathless flowers,

By the feast, or the dance, or the song of mirth,
Though their hearts were once with ours;

But tell us, thou bird of the solemn strain!
Can those who have loved forget?

We call, and they answer not again —

Do they love - do they love us yet?

A COUNTRY LIFE.

We call them far through the silent night,

And they speak not from cave or hill;
We know, thou bird! that their land is bright,
But say, do they love there still?

205

Mrs. Hemans.

TO A CHILD.

HE wilding rose, sweet as thyself,

THE

And new-cropp'd daisies, are thy treasure;

I'd gladly part with worldly pelf,

To taste again thy youthful pleasure!

But yet, for all thy merry look,

Thy frisks and wiles, the time is coming, When thou shalt sit in cheerless nook,

The weary spell or hornbook thumbing.

Well! let it be, through weal and woe,
Thou know'st not now thy future range;
Life is a motley shifting show,

And thou a thing of hope and change.

A COUNTRY LIFE.

Joanna Baillie

HOW sacred and how innocent
A country-life appears,

How free from tumult, discontent,
From flattery or fears!

This was the first and happiest life,
When man enjoy'd himself,
Till pride exchanged peace for strife,
And happiness for pelf.

'T was here the poets were inspir'd Here taught the multitude;

And brave they here with honor fir'd And civilized the rude.

The golden age did entertain
No passion but of love;

The thoughts of ruling and of gain
Did ne'er their fancies move.

Them that do covet only rest,
A cottage will suffice;
It is not brave to be possess'd
Of earth, but to despise.

Opinion is the rate of things,

From hence our peace doth flow; I have a better fate than kings,

Because I think it so.

When all the stormy world doth roar,

How unconcerned am I !

I cannot fear to tumble lower,

Who never could be high.

GOD'S SUNBEAM.

Secure in these unenvied walls,

I think not on the state,

And pity no man's case that falls,
From his ambition's height.

Silence and innocence are safe,
A heart that's nobly true,
At all those little acts can laugh,

That do the world subdue.

207

Katherine Philips.

GOD'S SUNBEAM.

EYES, that with holy tears are dim,

Shine, when God's sunbeam on them plays;

In stricken souls angelic lays

Are rising like a happy hymn.

And friends beloved, unto whom

Sorrow hath come with keenest sting
The drooping of the angel's wing

Shall bring the shade and not the gloom.

Mrs. Silsbee.

WHY thus longing, thus forever sighing
For the far-off, unattained, and dim,
While the beautiful all round thee lying,
Offers up its low perpetual hymn?

H. W. Sewall.

A LIFE OF LIBERTY.

BRIERS beset my every path,

Which call for patient care;
There is a cross in every lot,

An earnest need for prayer;

But a lowly heart that leans on Thee,
Is happy everywhere.

In service which Thy love appoints
There are no bonds for me;

My secret heart is taught "the truth,"
That makes Thy children "free;"

A life of self-renouncing love

Is a life of liberty.

Anna L. Waring.

A

LIFE.

SACRED burden is the life ye bear;
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly;
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly:
Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,
But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.

BETTER trust all and be deceived,

And weep that trust and that deceiving,
Than doubt one heart, that, if believed,
Had blessed one's life with true believing.