Right in the sinking sphere she sailed at last,
Her tall sails bearing her right bravely on;
Out flashed a radiance, gilding hull and mast,
And in a moment ship and moon were gone.

And seeing this, my heart grew glad and light.
Though storms may roar along the restless main,
I know there is a limit to their might,

And I shall have my sweetheart's kiss again.

MY JOSIAR.

THINGS has come to a pretty pass
The whole wide country over,
When every married woman has
To have a friend or lover;
It ain't the way that I was raised,
And I hain't no desire

To have some feller pokin' round
Instead of my Josiar.

I never kin forget the day

That we went out a walkin',
An' sot down on the river-bank,
An' kep' on hours a talkin';
He twisted up my apron-string
An' folded it together,

An' said he thought for harvest time
'T was cur'us kind o' weather.

The sun went down as we sot there-
Josiar seemed uneasy;

An' mother she began to call:
"Looweezy, oh, Looweezy!
An' then Josiar spoke right up,
As I was just a startin',

An' said, "Looweezy! what's the use
of us two ever partin'?"

It kind o' took me by surprise,
An' yet I knew 't was comin';
I'd heard it all the summer long
In every wild bee's hummin';
I'd studied out the way I'd act,
But law! I could n't do it ;
I meant to hide my love from him,
But seems as if he knew it.
An' lookin' down into my eyes
He must have seen the fire,-
An' ever since that hour I've loved
An' worshipped my Josiar.

I can't tell what the women mean
Who let men fool around 'em,
Believin' all the nonsense that

They only say to sound 'em ;
I know, for one, I've never seen
The man that I'd admire
To have a hangin' after me
Instead of my Josiar.

THE CONSTANT FRIEND.

HUMAN hopes and human creeds
Have their root in human needs,
And I would not wish to strip
From that washerwoman's lip
Any song that she may sing,
Any hope that she can bring;
For the woman has a friend
That will keep her to the end.

FRIENDSHIP.

FRIENDSHIP needs no studied phrases, Polished face, or winning wiles; Friendship deals no lavish praises, Friendship dons no surface smiles.

Friendship follows Nature's diction,
Shuns the blandishments of Art,
Boldly severs truth from fiction,
Speaks the language of the heart.

Friendship favors no condition,
Scorns a narrow-minded creed,
Lovingly fulfils its mission,
Be it word or be it deed.

Friendship cheers the faint and weary,
Makes the timid spirit brave,
Warns the erring, lights the dreary,
Smooths the passage to the grave.

Friendship

pure, unselfish friendship,

All through life's allotted span, Nurtures, strengthens, widens, lengthens Man's affinity with man.

FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, AND TRUTH.

FRIENDSHIP doth bind, with pleasant ties,
The heart of man to man, and age
But strengthens it - it never dies
Till finished is life's final page.

Love is the sacred link which binds Hearts joined by friendship firmer still; Who once has felt it, in it finds

Joys which his soul with pleasure fill.

Truth only can complete the chain,
Its links enduring strength can give;
With this unbroken 't will remain

While e'er the human soul shall live.

DOLCE FAR NIENTE.

My friend, my chum, my trusty crony!
We are designed, it seems to me,

To be two happy lazzaroni,

On sunshine fed, and macaroni,

Far off by some Sicilian sea.

From dawn to eve in the happy land,
No duty on us but to lie.
Straw-hatted on the shining sand,
With bronzing chest and arm and hand
Beneath the blue Italian sky.

There, with the mountains idly glassing Their purple splendors in the seaTo watch the white-winged vessels passing (Fortunes for busier fools amassing),

This were a heaven to you and me.

Our meerschaums coloring cloudy brown,
Two young girls coloring with a blush,
The blue waves with a silver crown,
The mountain shadows dropping down,
And all the air in perfect hush.

Thus should we lie in the happy land,

Nor fame, nor power, nor fortune miss; Straw-hatted on the shining sand, With bronzing chest and arms and hand, Two loafers couched in perfect bliss.

-

A BIRTHDAY GREETING.

WHAT shall I wish thee for the coming year?
Twelve months of dream-like ease? no care? no pain?
Bright spring, calm summer, autumn without rain
Of bitter tears? Wouldst have it thus, my friend?
What lesson, then, were learnt at the year's end?

What shall I wish thee, then? God knoweth well
If I could have my way no shade of woe
Should ever dim thy sunshine; but I know
Strong courage is not learnt in happy sleep,
Nor patience sweet by eyes that never weep.

Ah, would my wishes were of more avail
To keep from thee the many jars of life!
Still let me wish thee courage for the strife,
The happiness that comes of work well done, -
And, afterwards, the peace of victory won!

OLD FRIENDS.

WE just shake hands at meeting
With many that come nigh,
We nod the head in greeting
To many that go by.

But we welcome through the gateway
Our few old friends and true;
Then hearts leap up and straightway
There's open house for you,
Old friends,
Wide-open house for you.

The surface will be sparkling,
Let but a sunbeam shine,
But in the deep lies darkling
The true life of the wine.
The froth is for the many,
The wine is for the few;
Unseen, untouched of any,
We keep the best for you,
Old friends,
The very best for you.

"The many" cannot know us,
They only pace the strand
Where at our worst we show us,

The waters thick with sand;

M. E. F.

But out beyond the leaping

Dim surge

"'t is clear and blue,"
And there, old friends, we 're keeping
A waiting calm for you,
Old friends,

A sacred calm for you.

SOMETIMES

SOMETIMES.

not often when the days are long, And golden lie the ripening fields of grain, Like cadence of some half-forgotten song, There sweeps a memory across my brain. I hear the handrail far among the grass,

The drowsy murmur in the scented lanes; I watch the radiant butterflies that pass, And I am sad and sick at heart sometimes Sometimes.

Sometimes, when royal winter holds his sway,
When every cloud is swept from azure skies,
And frozen pool and lighted hearth are gay
With laughing lips and yet more laughing eyes,
From far-off days an echo wanders by,

That makes a discord in the Christmas chimes;

A moment in the dance or talk I sigh,

And seem half lonely in the crowd sometimes
Sometimes.

Not often, not for long. O friend, my friend,
We were not lent our life that we might weep:
The flower-crowned May of earth hath soon an end;
Should our fair spring a longer sojourn keep?
Comes all too soon the time of fading leaves,
Come on the cold short days. We must arise
And go our way, and garner home our sheaves,
Though some far faint regret may cloud our eyes
Sometimes.

Sometimes I see a light almost divine

In meeting eyes of two that now are one. Impatient of the tears that rise to mine,

I turn away to seek some work undone. There dawns a look upon some stranger face;

I think, "How like, and yet how far less fair!” And look, and look again, and seek to trace A moment more your fancied likeness there Sometimes.