THE HOMES OF ENGLAND.

121

The merry homes of England!
Around their hearths by night,

What gladsome looks of household love
Met in the ruddy light!

There woman's voice flows forth in song,
Or childhood's tale is told,

Or lips move tunefully along
Some glorious page of old.

The cottage homes of England!
By thousands on her plains,
They're smiling o'er the silvery brook,
And round the hamlet-fanes;
Through glowing orchards forth they peep,

Each from its nook of leaves;
And fearless there the lowly sleep

As birds beneath their eaves.

The free fair homes of England!
Long, long, in hut and hall
May hearts of native proof be reared
To guard each hallowed wall;
And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,

Where first the child's glad spirit loves
Its country and its God.

F. HEMANS.

122

SIGNS AND TOKENS.

SIGNS AND TOKENS.

["He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap."-Ecclesiastes xi. 4.]

Christian pilgrim, seeking still

Zion's high and holy hill,

May the Lord to thee impart,
Single eye and stedfast heart.

Place thy trust in grace divine,
Heed not thou each changing sign;
Shouldst thou witness many a change,
Count not these as tokens strange.

Winds may rise of fearful sound,
Darkest clouds may gather round;
These may usher cloudless day,
Those but waft thee on thy way.

He who watcheth clouds that blow,
May too long neglect to sow ;

He who waits lest clouds should rain,
Harvest never may obtain.

Signs and tokens false may prove,—
Trust thou in a Saviour's love,

In his sacrifice for sin,

And his Spirit's power within.

THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.

123

Keep thou Zion-ward thy face,

Ask in faith the aid of

grace,

Use the strength which grace shall give,
Die to self-in Christ to live.

Faith in God, if such be thine,
Shall be found thy safest sign,
And obedience to His will,

Prove the best of tokens still.

B. BARTON.

Highlands.

THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.

["Messages from the living to the dead are not uncommon in the The Gaels have such a ceaseless consciousness of immortality, that their departed friends are considered as merely absent for a time, and permitted to relieve the hours of separation by occasional intercourse with the object of their earliest affection."]

Thou'rt passing hence, my Brother!
Oh, my earliest friend, farewell;
Thou'rt leaving me without thy voice

In a lone home to dwell;

And from the hill and from the hearth,
And from the household tree,

With thee departs the lingering mirth,
The brightness goes with thee.

124

THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.

But thou, my friend, my brother,

Thou'rt speeding to the shore,

Where the dirge-like tones of parting words—
Shall smite the soul no more!
And thou wilt see our holy dead,
The lost on earth or main;
Into the sheaf of kindred hearts
Thou wilt be bound again.

Tell then our friend of boyhood,
That yet his name is heard

On the blue mountains, whence his youth
Passed like a swift, bright bird.

The light of his exulting brow,

The vision of his glee,

Are on me still-Oh still I trust
That smile again to see.

And tell our fair young sister,
The rose cut down in spring,
That yet my gushing soul is filled
With lays she loved to sing ;

Her soft deep eyes look through my dreams
Tender and sadly sweet ;—

Tell her my heart within me burns

Once more that gaze to meet!

THE MESSAGE TO THE DEAD.

125

And tell our white hair'd father,

That in the paths he trod,

The child he loved, the last on earth,
Yet walks and worships God;
Say that his last fond blessing yet
Rests on my soul like dew,
And by its hallowing might I trust
Once more his face to view.

And tell our gentle mother,

That on her grave I pour

The sorrows of my spirit forth,
As on her breast of yore.

Happy art thou, that soon, how soon,
Our good and bright will see-
Oh, brother, brother! may I dwell
Ere long with them and thee.

F. HEMANS.

The less notice we take of the unkindness and injuries done to

us, the more we consult the quiet of our own minds.