Oh, many a joyous mother's brow Is sadden'd o'er when sports are rife, And watching by, she seems e'en now The tale to read of coming strife. Through lawless camp, o'er ocean wild, Her prophet eye pursues her child, Scans mournfully her Poet's strain, Fears, for her Merchant, loss alike and gain. But if a holier task engage His busy dream,—if clad in white Then high beyond the loftiest Heaven And darker than the gloomiest deep She sees in heart an empty Throne, And falling, falling far away, Him whom the Lord had placed thereon: She hears the dread Proclaimer say, "Cast ye the lot, in trembling cast ;* The Traitor to his place hath past. - Strive ye with Prayer and Fast to guide Guide it towards some serious brow, His Creed rehearsing to the roar Or with a child's deep earnestness Showing his mates how Saints baptize and bless. *Acts i. "Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, on a certain day being in his own house, cast his eyes towards the sea. And seeing afar off boys playing on the shore, and enacting a Bishop and the customs of the Church, as long as he saw nothing too adventurous in their play, was pleased with what he saw, and amused himself with their doings. But when they touched even upon the Mysteries, he was troubled, and summoning the Clergy, made them observe the boys: whom having caused to be brought before him, he interrogated about their play, and the kind of things said and done therein; .. and they informed him that Athanasius was their Bishop and director, and that he had baptized some of the lads who were unchristened. Of these Alexander made careful inquiry, what had been asked of them, or done to them, by him who was Priest in their game, and what they answered, and were taught to say. And finding that all the order of the Church had been accurately ob She hears: one glance,-how brief and keen !— As with a lightning touch reveals Her Saint upon his path serene ; With all her heart his vow she seals, And from his soul the dreams of Judas scare. Ever in hope and agony She prays:-in hope when most he fears, A deep chord thrill, an answering note But more it breathes than Angel sympathy. served in their case, he deemed, on consulting with the Priests about him, that there was no need to rebaptize such as had once for all received the grace of God in simplicity. Only he performed for them the other ceremonies, which the Priests alone may lawfully minister in the Sacraments. Moreover, Athanasius and the other boys, who in their sport were Priests and Deacons, he commended to their respective kinsmen, calling God to witness; to be nurtured for the Church, and trained to that which they had enacted." Sozomen. Eccl. Hist. i. 17. Yea, gloom was on the Source of light,* His secret sad He told apart. And when He spake of treasures seal'd A lightning as in Heaven, a bliss ineffable. These are Thy signs, Thou Shepherd good, Whispering their part in chants of Heaven. Lest to the Pure th' unholy draw too near. *St. John xiii. 21. † St. Matt. xi. 25. VII. Lessons of Nature. 1. VERNAL MIRTH. "Behold the fig-tree, and all the trees; when they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves, that summer is now nigh at hand." WHAT is the joy the young lambs know When vernal breezes blow? Why carol out so blithe and free The little birds from every leafless tree? Why bound so high the boys at play From nursing arms, his proper throne, Why rings so clear yon infant's joyous tone? |