Then the grief, the woe that rages,
Shall grow calmer and more calm,
And adown the coming ages
Shall be heard life's joyful psalm!
Man, work out thine own salvation
In a world of din and strife;
Better far than grand ovation
Is a valiant, honest life!
WHEN God built up the dome of blue,
And portion'd earth's prolific floor,
The measure of His wisdom drew
A line between the Rich and Poor;
And till that vault of glory fall,
Or beauteous earth be scarr'd with flame, Or saving love be all in all,
That rule of life will rest the same.
We know not why, we know not how,
Mankind are framed for weal or woe,-
But to the Eternal Law we bow;
If such things are, they must be so.
Yet, let no cloudy dreams destroy
One truth outshining bright and clear,—
That Wealth abides in Hope and Joy,
And Poverty in Pain and Fear.
Behold our children as they play!
Blest creatures, fresh from Nature's hand;
The peasant boy as great and gay
As the young heir to gold and land;
Their various toys of equal worth,
Their little needs with equal care,
And halls of marble, huts of earth,
All homes alike endear'd and fair.
They know no better!-would that we
Could keep our knowledge safe from worse;
So Power should find and leave us free,
So Pride be but the owner's curse.
So, without marking which was which,
Our hearts would tell, by instinct sure,
What paupers are the ambitious Rich!
How wealthy the contented Poor!
Grant us, O God! but health and heart,
And strength to keep desire at bay,
And ours must be the better part,
Whatever else besets our way.
Each day may bring sufficient ill;
But we can meet and fight it through,
If Hope sustains the hand of Will,
And Conscience is our Captain too:
RICHARD MONCKTON MILNES, 1808-
He who hath never warr'd with misery,
Nor ever tugg'd with fortune and distress,
Hath had n' occasion nor no field to try
The strength and forces of his worthiness:
Those parts of judgment which felicity
Keeps as conceal'd, affliction must express;
And only men shew their abilities,
And what they are, in their extremities.
The world had never taken so full note
Of what thou art, hadst thou not been undone,
And only thy affliction hath begot
More fame than thy best fortunes could have done;
For ever by adversity are wrought
The greatest works of admiration;
And all the fair examples of renown
Out of distress and misery are grown.
Not to be unhappy is unhappiness,
And misery not to have known misery;
For the best way unto discretion, is
The way that leads us by adversity.
And men are better shewn what is amiss
By th' expert finger of calamity,
Than they can be with all that fortune brings,
Who never shews them the true face of things.
It is not but the tempest that doth shew
The seaman's cunning; but the field that tries
The captain's courage; and we come to know
Best what men are in their worst jeopardies.
For, lo! how many have we seen to grow
To high renown from lowest miseries,
Out of the hands of death, and many a one
To have been undone, had they not been undone.
SAMUEL DANIEL, 1562-1619.
WEEP not for her!—Oh, she was far too fair,
Too pure to dwell on this guilt-tainted earth!
The sinless glory, and the golden air
Of Zion seem'd to claim her from her birth:
A spirit wander'd from its native zone,
Which, soon discovering, took her for its own:
Weep not for her!
Weep not for her!-Her span was like the sky, Whose thousand stars shine beautiful and bright; Like flowers that know not what it is to die;
Like long-link'd shadeless months of Polar light; Like music floating o'er a waveless lake,
While Echo answers from the flowery brake:
Weep not for her!
Weep not for her!-She died in early youth,
Ere hope had lost its rich romantic hues; When human bosoms seem'd the homes of truth, And earth still gleam'd with beauty's radiant dews; Her summer-prime waned not to days that freeze ; Her wine of life was run not to the lees:
Weep not for her!-By fleet or slow decay,
It never grieved her bosom's care to mark
The playmates of her childhood wane away,
Her prospects wither, or her hopes grow dark;
Translated by her God, with spirit shriven,
She pass'd as 'twere in smiles from earth to heaven
Weep not for her!
Weep not for her!-It was not hers to feel
The miseries that corrode amassing years,
'Gainst dreams of baffled bliss the heart to steel,
To wander sad down Age's vale of tears;
As whirl the wither'd leaves from friendship's tree,
And on earth's wintry world alone to be:
Weep not for her!
Weep not for her!-She is an angel now,
And treads the sapphire floors of Paradise ;
All darkness wiped from her refulgent brow,
Sin, sorrow, suffering, banish'd from her eyes;
Victorious over death, to her appear
The vista'd joys of Heaven's eternal year:
Weep not for her!
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