To wicked deeds I was inclined,
And wicked fancies crossed my mind;
And every man I chanced to see,
I thought he knew some ill of me.
No peace, no comfort could I find,
No ease, within doors or without;
And crazily, and wearily,
I went my work about.
Oft-times I thought to run away;
For me it was a woeful day.

Sir! 'twas a precious flock to me,

As dear as my own Children be;
For daily with my growing store
I loved my Children more and more.
Alas! it was an evil time;
God cursed me in my sore distress;
I prayed, yet every day I thought
I loved my Children less;
And every week, and every day,
My flock, it seemed to melt away.

VOL. I.

L

They dwindled, Sir, sad sight to see! From ten to five, from five to three, A lamb, a weather, and a ewe;

And then at last, from three to two; And, of my fifty, yesterday

I had but only one :

And here it lies upon my arm,
Alas! and I have none;—

To-day I fetched it from the rock;
It is the last of all my flock."

XIV.

A COMPLAINT.

THERE is a change and I am poor;
Your Love hath been, nor long ago,
A Fountain at my fond Heart's door,
Whose only business was to flow;
And flow it did; not taking heed
Of its own bounty, or my need.

What happy moments did I count!
Bless'd was I then all bliss above!
Now, for this consecrated Fount
Of murmuring, sparkling, living love,
What have I? shall I dare to tell?
A comfortless and hidden WELL.

A Well of love-it may be deep-
I trust it is, and never dry:
What matter? if the Waters sleep
In silence and obscurity.

-Such change, and at the very door
Of my fond Heart, hath made me poor.

XV.

RUTH.

WHEN Ruth was left half desolate

Her Father took another Mate;
And Ruth, not seven years old,
A slighted Child, at her own will
Went wandering over dale and hill,
In thoughtless freedom bold.

And she had made a Pipe of straw,
And from that oaten Pipe could draw
All sounds of winds and floods;

Had built a Bower upon the green,

As if she from her birth had been

An Infant of the woods.

Beneath her Father's roof, alone

She seemed to live; her thoughts her own;

Herself her own delight:

Pleased with herself, nor sad nor gay,

She passed her time; and in this way

Grew up to Woman's height.

There came a Youth from Georgia's shore

A military Casque he wore

With splendid feathers drest;

He brought them from the Cherokees;

The feathers nodded in the breeze,

And made a gallant crest...

From Indian blood you deem him sprung:
Ah no! he spake the English tongue,

And bore a Soldier's name;
And, when America was free

From battle and from jeopardy,
He 'cross the ocean came.

With hues of genius on his cheek
In finest tones the Youth could speak.
--While he was yet a Boy

The moon, the glory of the sun,

And streams that murmur as they run,

Had been his dearest joy.

He was a lovely Youth! I guess
The panther in the wilderness

Was not so fair as he;