Her feet upon the mossy track

The married maiden set:

That moment-I have heard her say—
She wished she could forget.

The shade o'er-flushed her limbs with heat
Then came a chill like death:
And when the merry bells rang out,
They seemed to stop her breath.

Beneath the foulest mother's curse
No child could ever thrive :
A mother is a mother still,
The holiest thing alive.

So five months passed: the mother still
Would never heal the strife;
But Edward was a loving man
And Mary a fond wife.

“My sister may not visit us,
My mother says her nay:
O Edward! you are all to me,
I wish for your sake I could be
More lifesome and more gay.

"I'm dull and sad! indeed, indeed
I know I have no reason!
Perhaps I am not well in health,
And 'tis a gloomy season."

'Twas a drizzly time-no ice, no snow!
And on the few fine days
She stirred not out, lest she might meet
Her mother in the ways.

But Ellen, spite of miry ways

And weather dark and dreary,
Trudged every day to Edward's house,
And made them all more cheery.

Oh! Ellen was a faithful friend,
More dear than any sister!
As cheerful too as singing lark;
And she ne'er left them till 'twas dark,
And then they always missed her.

And now Ash-Wednesday came—that day
But few to church repair :

For on that day you know we read

The Commination prayer.

Our late old Vicar, a kind man,

Once, Sir, he said to me,

He wished that service was clean out
Of our good liturgy.

The mother walked into the church—
To Ellen's seat she went :
Though Ellen always kept her church
All church-days during Lent.

And gentle Ellen welcomed her

With courteous looks and mild:
Thought she "what if her heart should melt,
And all be reconciled !"

The day was scarcely like a day-
The clouds were black outright:
And many a night, with half a moon,
I've seen the church more light.

The wind was wild; against the glass
The rain did beat and bicker;
The church-tower swinging over head,
You scarce could hear the Vicar !

And then and there the mother knelt,
And audibly she cried-

"Oh! may a clinging curse consume
This woman by my side!

O hear me, hear me, Lord in Heaven,
Although you take my life-
O curse this woman, at whose house
Young Edward woo'd his wife.

By night and day, in bed and bower,
O let her cursed be!"

So having prayed, steady and slow,
She rose up from her knee,
And left the church, nor e'er again
The church door entered she.

I saw poor Ellen kneeling still,
So pale, I guessed not why:
When she stood up, there plainly was
A trouble in her eye.

And when the prayers were done, we all
Came round and asked her why:

Giddy she seemed, and sure, there was
A trouble in her eye.

But ere she from the church-door stepped
She smiled and told us why:

"It was a wicked woman's curse,"

Quoth she, "and what care I?"

She smiled, and smiled, and passed it off
Ere from the door she stept-

But all agree it would have been

Much better had she wept.

And if her heart was not at ease,
This was her constant cry-
"It was a wicked woman's curse---
God's good, and what care I?”

There was a hurry in her looks,
Her struggles she redoubled:
"It was a wicked woman's curse,
And why should I be troubled?"

These tears will come- —I dandled her
When 'twas the merest fairy-
Good creature! and she hid it all:
She told it not to Mary.

But Mary heard the tale: her arms
Round Ellen's neck she threw ;
"O Ellen, Ellen, she cursed me,
And now she hath cursed you!"

I saw young Edward by himself
Stalk fast adown the lee,

He snatched a stick from every fence,
A twig from every tree.

He snapped them still with hand or knee,
And then away they flew !

As if with his uneasy limbs

He knew not what to do!

You see, good sir! that single hill?
His farm lies underneath :

He heard it there, he heard it all,
And only gnashed his teeth.

Now Ellen was a darling love
In all his joys and cares:

And Ellen's name and Mary's name
Fast-linked they both together came,
Whene'er he said his prayers.

And in the moment of his prayers

He loved them both alike:

Yea, both sweet names with one sweet joy Upon his heart did strike!

He reach'd his home, and by his looks

They saw his inward strife:

And they clung round him with their arms,

Both Ellen and his wife.

And Mary could not check her tears,

So on his breast she bowed;

Then frenzy melted into grief,

And Edward wept aloud.

Dear Ellen did not weep at all,
But closelier did she cling,
And turned her face and looked as if
She saw some frightful thing.

THE THREE GRAVES.

PART IV.

To see a man tread over graves
I hold it no good mark ;

'Tis wicked in the sun and moon,
And bad luck in the dark!

You see that grave? The Lord he gives,

The Lord he takes away:

O Sir! the child of my old age
Lies there as cold as clay.

Except that grave, you scarce see one
That was not dug by me;

I'd rather dance upon 'em all

66

Than tread upon these three!

'Ay, Sexton! 'tis a touching tale.” You, Sir! are but a lad;

This month I'm in my seventieth year,

And still it makes me sad.

And Mary's sister told it me.

For three good hours and more;
Though I had heard it, in the main,
From Edward's self before.

Well! it passed off! the gentle Ellen
Did well nigh dote on Mary;
And she went oftener than before,
And Mary loved her more and more;
She managed all the dairy.

To market she on market-days,
To church on Sundays came;

All seemed the same: all seemed so, Sir!
But all was not the same!

Had Ellen lost her mirth? Oh! no!
But she was seldom cheerful;
And Edward looked as if he thought
That Ellen's mirth was fearful.

When by herself, she to herself
Must sing some merry rhyme;
She could not now be glad for hours,
Yet silent all the time.

And when she soothed her friend, through all Her soothing words 'twas plain

She had a sore grief of her own,

A haunting in her brain.

And oft she said, I'm not grown thin!
And then her wrist she spanned;
And once when Mary was down-cast,
She took her by the hand,
And gazed upon her, and at first
She gently pressed her hand;
Then harder, till her grasp at length
Did gripe like a convulsion!
Alas! said she, we ne'er can be
Made happy by compulsion!

And once her both arms suddenly
Round Mary's neck she flung,
And her heart panted, and she felt
The words upon her tongue.

She felt them coming, but no power
Had she the words to smother;
And with a kind of shriek she cried,
"Oh Christ! you're like your mother!"

So gentle Ellen now no more

Could make this sad house cheery;

And Mary's melancholy ways

Drove Edward wild and weary.

Lingering he raised his latch at eve,
Though tired in heart and limb:
He loved no other place, and yet
Home was no home to him.

One evening he took up a book,
And nothing in it read;

Then flung it down, and groaning cried,

"Oh! Heaven! that I were dead."

Mary looked up into his face,

And nothing to him said;
She tried to smile, and on his arm
Mournfully leaned her head.

And he burst into tears, and fell
Upon his knees in prayer:

"Her heart is broke! O God! my grief,

It is too great to bear!"

'Twas such a foggy time as makes

Old sextons, Sir! like me,

Rest on their spades to cough; the spring
Was late uncommonly.