If all our hopes and all our fears
Were prisoned in life's narrow bound;
If travelers through this vale of tears,
We saw no better world beyond;
Oh! what could check the rising sigh?
What earthly thing could pleasure give?
Oh! who would venture…
"I will be good, dear mother,"
I heard a sweet child say;
"I will be good, now watch me!—
I will be good all day."
She lifted up her bright young eyes,
With a soft and pleasing smile;
Then a mother's kiss was on her lips,
So free and pure from…
Who shall judge a man from manners?
Who shall know him by his dress?
Paupers may be fit for princes,
Princes fit for something less.
Crumpled shirt and dirty jacket
May beclothe the golden ore
Of the deepest thoughts and feeling—
Satin vests…
If all my path through life should be
Without a thorn, without a care:
If flowers ever strewed the way.
If sorrw never entered there;
If all was quiet, tranquil, smoth;
If happiness reigned without alloy,
If strife and discord never came;
If…
We stand here together, with courage and will,
Resolved the right cause to maintain;
With hearts true and constant, whatever may come,
We firm as the rocks will remain.
For the fight! for the right! here unflinching we stand; I pledge you the…
I come to Thee to-night
In my lone closet, where no eye can see, And dare to crave and interview with Thee,
Father of love and light!
Softly the moonbeams shine
On the still branches of the shadowy trees, While all sweet sounds of evening on the…
Via Cursis, Via Lucis It goes in and it comes out, now it fades, now is bright, And it guides by its darkness as well as its light. So a word fitly spoken is potent to teach, But silence sometimes talketh better than speech. Force winneth the battle,…
Hush! I cannot bear to see thee
Stretch thy hands in vain;
I have got no bread to give thee—
Nothing, child, to ease thy pain.
When God sent thee first to bless me,
Proud and thankful too was I;
Now, my darling, I thy mother,
Almost long to…
It is a short and simple prayer,
But 'tis the Christian's stay
Through every varied scene of care,
Until his dying-day;
As through the wilderness of life
Calmly he wanders on.
His prayer in every worldly strife
Is still, "Thy will be…
Oh, mother! cease to break my heart!
I vow it now, I vowed it then,
The kiss he left upon my lips
His lips shall one day taste again!
Ah, well I mind the summer's eve!
A low scud swept the waning moon;
And o'er the ripened clover-lea
Floated…
