Sunbeams: A Choice Collection of Good, Useful, and Appropriate Recitations ...

kneeling,

Thro' the hush of my dream's charmed

repose,

And spread o'er my graves on the prairie And, oh, friend, while thus low I was
A mantle of soft, living green.
From her nest in a bush near my cabin
The wild bird sang plaintive all day,
And again in the broad sunny furrows
Were the little striped gophers at play.
That was all; not as once, little footprints
Lay thick in the soft, fragrant loam,
As at evening the children would meet

To ride the tired horses back home.

All was changed. Once my labor com-
pleted,

I watched the sun sink in the west,
And the stars through the soft summer
twilight

Shine out from the heaven's broad breast;
And I thought if my darling ones watched

me,

And knew all my heartache and pain, They would long to come back, e'en from heaven,

And brighten my sad life again.

Not a sound broke the grand, brooding stillness,

Save sometimes a wolf's dismal howl,

Or the cry of some lone, dreaming night bird

The hoarse wailing note of the owl

And alas! alas! alas!

Three times I cried out alas!

For the terrible grief and the heartbreak
That ne'er should on earth from me pass;
And weeping, I crept to my pallet,
And, worn out with labor and grief,
Sweet slumber soon wrapped all my

senses

In wonderful joy and relief.

A feeling of lightness and gladness,
Had banished my sorrow and pain,

A song, as of angel's glad greeting,
Thro' the chapel's dim silence uprose.
Oh, that music was richer and sweeter
Than ever has charmed mortal ears,
And my soul seemed caught up in its
rapture,

And melted in heavenly tears.

From some mystic, invisible censer
Sweet odors perfumed the soft light,
The sad, divine face of our Saviour
Seemed to change, grow more tenderly
bright.

My heart it beat faster, oh, faster,
Loud swelleth the grand, heavenly song—
Look! see! mournful eyes! ah, the vision!
The radiant, wonderful throng!

But who is she, foremost and fairest,
The queen of the angelic band,
With the crown on her white, shining
forehead,

And the amaranth flower in her hand?
Lo! 'tis she, my own wife, my lost Con-
stance!

Smile thus once again, sweet, mine own,
Ere you vanish and take all this glory,
And leave me in darkness alone.
Hush! she speaks! "Listen well, thou, my
husband,

Do not sorrow so sadly and long,
For I hear thee-yes, even in heaven,
O'er the waves of the seraphim song;

I can hear you dear love, and it grieves me,
This dark shadow of earth's vain regret.
For you wrong us, you earthly hearts
thinking

We loving ones ever forget.

PAT'S BONDSMAN.

All is well. I am safe-safe and happy!
Live well, thou my love, grieve not so,
For the years are but few thou must
tarry,

Then the Master shall bid thee to go.
Yes, to go from the earthly, the fleeting,
The hollow, the false, and the vain,
But to come where the light of forever
Shall banish the shadow of pain.
Ay, to come where the blessed forever
Shall give the cramped soul room to love,
Where the smile of the Lord faileth never
To light up His mansions above."
Hush! alas, I awaken; the sunshine
Streams in thro' the small window pane,
See! it shines on her grave on the prairie,
I have but been dreaming again.

All dreaming, vain dreaming, I reason;
Yet still my heart clasps close and deep
Thro' all years, thro' all changes and

125

'As he took off his hat, what was torn in the rim :

'Av ye plaze, Mister Jedge, I'll be bondsman for him!

I ain't got no money, but I'll go his bail, And av he runs away you can put me in jail.

I ain't got no mother, she died long ago, And left me to take care of father, ye know;

And what wud she say if ye put him in jail 'Cos he hadn't got no one but me for his bail?

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My b'y, I'quit your father, and both av ye are free,

The bail is all-sufficient; it satisfies the law.'

'Hurrah!' spoke out the people; three

cheers for Justice Shaw!'

"And the jedge had some tears in his eyes, I allow,

When he walked up to me, and sez he with a bow:

'I've let you off aisy this time, Patrick Flynn;

For the sake of that youngster, don't come here agin.'

"So I've taken the pledge now, yer Riverence Ray,

On account of the b'y, and I'm sober the day;

It was a bad schrape, and I'd never got free,

Only for Mike going bondsman for me."

I ser reat orchard, with boughs hangag down;

With apples, green, russet and red;

I see droves of cattle, some white and some brown,

But all of them sleek and well fed.

I see droves of swallows about the barn. door,

See the fanning mill whirling so fast; I see them threshing the wheat on the floor

And now the bright picture has passed! And I see rising dismally up in the place Of the beautiful house and the land, A man with a fire-red nose on his face, And a little brown jug in his hand.

Oh, if you beheld him, my lad, you would wish

That he were less wretched to see, For his boot toes they gape like the mouth of a fish,

And his trousers are out at the knee.

In walking he staggers, now this way, now that,

And his eyes they stand out like a bug's; And he wears an old coat, and a batteredin hat,

And I think that the fault is the jug's.

For the text says the drunkard shall come to be poor,

And that drowsiness clothes men with rags, [sure, And he doesn't look much like a man I am Who has honest hard cash in his bags.

Now, which will you have? To be thrifty and snug,

And to be right side up with your dish; Or go with your eyes like the eyes of a bug, And your shoes like the mouth of a fish?

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