198

A RESTING-PLACE.

You bid me be busy; but, mother, hear
How the hum-drum grasshopper soundeth near,
And the soft west wind is so light in its play

It scarcely moves a leaf in the spray.`

I wish, oh, I wish I was yonder cloud,
That sails about with its misty shroud;
Books and work I no more should see,

And I'd come and float, dear mother, o'er thee!

MRS. GILMAN.

A RESTING-PLACE.

E does well who does his best :

Is he weary let him rest.
Brothers! I have done my best;

I am weary-let me rest.

After toiling oft in vain,

Baffled, yet to struggle fain;
After toiling long, to gain
Little good with mickle pain,
Let me rest ;--but lay me low,
Where the hedge-side roses blow;
Where the little daisies grow,
When the winds a-maying go;

Where the footpath rustics plod;

Where the breeze-bowed poplars nod ;

Where the old woods worship God;

Where His pencil paints the sod;

LOVE FOR GOD'S CREATURES.

Where the wedded throstle sings;

Where the young bird tries his wings;
Where the wailing plover swings
Near the runlet's rushy springs;
Where, at times, the tempest's roar,
Shaking distant sea and shore,
Still will rave old Barnesdale o'er,
To be heard by me no more!
There, beneath the breezy west,
Tired and thankful, let me rest,
Like a child, that sleepeth best
On its gentle mother's breast.

ELLIOTT.

LOVE FOR GOD'S CREATURES.

AREWELL! farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou wedding-guest,
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man, and bird, and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things, both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

COLERIDGE.

199

VER let the Fancy roam,

Pleasure never is at home:

At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth,
Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;

Then let wingéd Fancy wander

Through the thought still spread beyond her
Open wide the mind's cage-door,

She'll dart forth, and cloudward soar.

O sweet Fancy! let her loose;
Summer's joys are spoilt by use,
And the enjoying of the spring
Fades as does its blossoming;
Autumn's red-lipped fruitage too,
Blushing through the mist and dew,
Cloys with tasting: what do then?

Sit thee by the ingle, when

The sear fagot blazes bright,

Spirit of a winter's night;

When the soundless earth is muffled,

And the caked snow is shuffled

From the ploughboy's heavy shoon;

When the night doth meet the noon

In a dark conspiracy

To banish even from the sky.

Sit thee there, and send abroad,

With a mind self-overawed,

Fancy, high-commissioned: send her:

She has vassals to attend her:

FANCY.

She will bring, in spite of frost,
Beauties that the earth hath lost ;
She will bring thee, all together,
All delights of summer weather;
All the buds and bells of May,
From dewy sward or thorny spray ;
All the heapéd autumn's wealth,
With a still, mysterious stealth:

She will mix these pleasures up

Like three fit wines in a cup,

And thou shalt quaff it :-thou shalt hear

Distant harvest-carols clear!

Rustle of the reapéd corn;

Sweet birds antheming the morn;

And in the same moment-hark!

'Tis the early April lark,

Or the rooks, with busy caw,

Foraging for sticks and straw.

Thou shalt, at one glance, behold
The daisy and the marigold;

White-plumed lilies, and the first
Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst;

Shaded hyacinth, alway

Sapphire queen of the mid-May;

And every leaf, and every flower,

Pearled with the self-same shower.
Thou shalt see the field-mouse peep

Meagre from its celléd sleep;
And the snake, all winter thin,

Cast on sunny bank its skin.

Freckled nest eggs thou shalt sec

201

202

A CHILD OF NATURE.

Hatching in the hawthorn tree,

When the hen-bird's wing doth rest

Quiet in her mossy nest;

Then the hurry and alarm

When the bee-hive casts its swarm;

Acorns ripe down-pattering,

While the autumn breezes sing.

KEATS.

A CHILD OF NATURE.

HE day went down; the last red ray
Flushed on her face, or ere

It sank; and creeping up the bay

The night-wind stirred her hair;

The crimson wave caressed her naked feet

With coy approach and resonant retreat.

True native of the clime was she,

Nor could there have been found

A creature who should more agree

With everything around

The woods, the fields, and genial nature, rife

With life and gifts that feed and gladden life.

TAYLOR.