"No thorn is hidden to wound me there; There's nothing of chill, or blight, Or sighing, to trouble the balmy air; No sorrow, — no pain, no night!" "No parting?" I asked, with a burst of joy; And the lovely illusion broke; The rapture had banished my angel boy, To a shadowy void I spoke. But, oh! that STAR of the morn still beams, A light to direct my feet Where, when I have done with my earthly dreams, The mother and child may meet! H. F. GOULD. MAIDEN OF THE SUNNY BROW. MAIDEN of the sunny brow, Dost thou never sigh? Hast thou no dark hour, when flow Tear-drops from thine eye? Heart, that never harbored guile; Life, the home of beauty's smile; Calm content, and thoughts that twine, Ever green, round feeling's shrine, Maiden, they are thine! Sunshine lights the forest bower, Passing soon away; Yet, without its sister shower, What would be the ray? Brighter, touched by chastening tears, Beam the young heart's hopes and fears; SAFE COUNSEL. FOLLOW that fervor, oh, devoted spirit, Wherewith thy Saviour's goodness fires thy breast! Go where it draws, and when it calls, oh, hear it! It is thy Shepherd's voice, and leads to rest. In this, thy new devotedness of feeling, Sure hope is highest happiness revealing, For in thy holy and thy happy sadness, If tears or sighs are sometimes sown by thee, In the pure regions of immortal gladness, Sweet and eternal shall thy harvest be. 7 |