For the ties so roughly broken,

Ties that earth shall join no more-
For the dying words unspoken

In the ears that loved of yore
To listen to their slightest breath,
Unheard upon the field of death ;-

These that bring our desolation,
And with sadness fill all eyes,
Are the price a sundered Nation
Pays that it again may rise,
God grant, redeemed and purified,
No more t'enslave ! no more divide !

THE WAR.

Faintly, how faintly floats

Above our earth the sweet-toned Angel's Song, "Peace on the earth, Good-will," far borne along, How faint those dying notes!

For War's loud trump is heard!

Thousands rush fiercely to the bloody fray!
And men their fellow men unheeding slay,
By brutal passions stirred.

Gaining, oh! gaining what?

A fancied right, a small extent of land,
Unwilling subjects of a foreign band,
Hostile in hall and cot.

Losing, oh! losing what?

Ye mothers tell, who weep your loved ones slain, List for the step that may not come again,— Tell us what war has brought?

Tell us what war has brought?

Ye who look sadly on your homes laid low,
Heap bitter curses on the passing foe,

Where stood each smiling cot.

Tell us what war has brought?

Ye who in sickness, death were forced to fly, While the devouring flames raged fierce and high With dire destruction fraught.

Tell us, O earth, whose floor

Bore the bright-blushing flower, the rip'ning grain, Tell us who drenched the garden, field and plain, With crimson, human gore?

Tell us how far Heaven's walls

Recede and shut out God from human sight? When men, like beasts, are trained for brutal fight, Heeding no spirit calls.

Faintly, how faintly floats.

Above our earth the sweet-toned Angel's Song, "Peace on the earth, Good-will," far borne along How faint those dying notes!

OUR MISSION.

Is the world better for our living in it?

Are flowers more sweet to those who passed them

by?

Send forth they richer strains, the lark, the linnet?
Float fairer clouds across the summer sky?
Are there more smiles upon these care-worn faces?
Because they meet us, are their hearts more glad?
Have we brought sunshine into earth's dark places?
And given a kind word, if 'twas all we had?
So passing on in this our generation

Have we been filled with kindly love to all,
Of every kindred, color, name and nation,

If they were high or low, or great or small?
So when the soft, green grass shall grow above us,
And violets watch beside with faithful eyes,

May there be some to wander there and love us
With that strong, heaven-born love that never dies!

"LET US HAVE PEACE!"

Let us have Peace! Let nations war no more,
Let peaceful industry their powers employ,

Let Commerce spread her wings from shore to shore,
Nor Science teach us how we may destroy.

Let us have Peace, for which our Fathers fought !
On hill and field their sacred blood was shed;
'Twas with a price our Liberty was bought!
Be not unmindful of the honored dead.

Let us have Peace! Lo, hill and valley cry,
New consecrated in these latter days;
Our Nation's Flag full many a soldier's eye
Looked at in triumph with its dying gaze.

Let us have Peace! but not till East and West,
Till North and South, to Law and Right shall bend!
Till 'neath that Flag, all may securely rest!

Till black and white alike it shall befriend!

How Nature seeks the worn earth's scars to heal,
And clothes with flowery robe each battle plain;
Yet through the murky clouds swift lightnings steal-
And earthquakes rend the rock-bound earth in twain.

So where disease lurks in the stagnant air
There let sharp lightnings dart to purify!
Within the moral world, let earthquakes tear
And crush the structures sin hath builded high!

Let us have Peace! but first prepare the earth;
Run deep the furrows, sow broadcast the seed;
Let Justice, Mercy, Love around have birth!
Then shall the Angel's Song be sung indeed.

Not from ten thousand voices, and the shout

Of human lungs, or booming cannon's roar ;

But in the deep recesses of the spirit—
An anthem grand to sound forevermore !

OUR NEW SOCIETY.

We are but small,-so is the seed

The kind earth takes within her breast;
But of the seed the Lord hath need,
And he will do the rest.

We are but small, so is the star
To our unaided, feeble eye;
A place in heaven to it is given;
It shines a world on high.

We are but small,- so was the Word
Born, sown in weakness long ago;
But o'er the earth it hath gone forth
To lift from man his weight of woe!

We are but small,- but we can sing
The Angel's Song to weary men;
Of Life, the cup to them hold up,
So that they never thirst again!

We are but small,- but we can break
To hungry souls the Bread of Life!

Upon the road that leads to God

Can point them 'mid earth's pain and strife.