More than yesterday, a dream And she says, and twists a curl: I had not forgot, ah, no! Down the ways we used to tread. These old ways we don't forget, That still makes their mem'ry dear; But I'm happier today Than I was down any way That my young feet used to tread; Skies are bluer overhead, And today's birds sing more clear J. M. Lewis, in Houston Post. HE WORRIED ABOUT IT. The sun's heat will give out in ten million years more- It will sure give out then, if it doesn't before- It will surely give out, so the scientists said And the whole boundless universe then will be dead- And some day the earth will fall into the sun- Just as sure and as straight as if shot from a gun- "When strong gravitation unbuckles her straps, And the earth will become much too small for the race- When we'll pay thirty dollars an inch for pure space- The earth will be crowded so much, without doubt, And he worried about it. And the Gulf Stream will curve, and New England grow torriderAnd he worried about it Than was ever the climate of southernmost Florida And he worried about it. Our ice crop will be knocked into small smithereens, And in less than ten thousand years, there's no doubt- Our supply of lumber and coal will give out— Just then the ice-age will return cold and raw, His wife took in washing—half a dollar a day— His daughter sewed shirts the rude grocer to pay- While his wife beat her tireless rub-a-dub-dub Sam Walter Foss. A JUNE MORNING. Oh! have you not seen on some morning in June, Forgetting to wane and watching there yet? How you gazed on that vision of beauty the while, And the prayer of your heart was "Be my ending like this." So my beautiful dove passed away from life's even; A truant from tears, from time and from sin, And when I shall hear the new song that she sings Bayard Taylor. HORACE GREELEY'S SORROW. We publish below a pathetic letter written by Mr. Greeley on the death of his little boy. Notwithstanding the fact that more than thirty years have passed since the words were written, they will awaken sympathy in many a heart that has known a similar grief: My Friend: The loss of my boy makes a great change in my feelings, plans and prospects. The joy of my life was comprehended in his, and I do not now feel that any personal object can strongly move me henceforth. I had thought of buying a country place, but it was for him. I had begun to love flowers and beautiful objects, because he liked them. Now, all that deeply concerns me is the evidence that we shall live hereafter, and especially that we shall live with and know those we loved here. I mean to act my part while life is spared me, but I no longer covet length of days. If I felt sure on the point of identifying and being with our loved ones in the world to come, I would prefer not to live long. As it is, I am resigned to whatever may be divinely ordered. We had but few hours to prepare for our loss. He went to bed as hearty and happy as ever. At 5 a. m. he died. His mother had bought him a fiddle the day before, which delighted him beyond measure; and he was only induced to lay it up at night by his delight at the idea of coming up in the morning and surprising me by playing on it before I got up. In the morning at daylight I was called to his bedside. The next day, I followed him to his grave! You cannot guess how golden and lovely his long hair (never cut) looked in the coffin. Pickie was 5 years old last March. So much grace and wit and poetry were rarely or never blended in so young a child, and to us his form and features were the perfection of beauty. We can never have another child; and life cannot be long enough to efface, though it will temper this sorrow. It differs in kind as well as degree from all that we have hitherto experienced. Horace Greeley. THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE. Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. "Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!" he said; Rode the six hundred. |