Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHRIST'S TEACHINGS.

The birds, they are like children
That dance upon the lea;
And they will not sing in cages
As they do in bush or tree.
They are just like tiny children
Dear to their mother's heart;
And such as would the treasures steal
Enact a cruel part!

17

CHRIST'S TEACHINGS.

FROM everything our Saviour saw
Lessons of wisdom He would draw;
The clouds; the colours in the sky;
The gentle breeze that whispers by;
The fields, all white with waving corn;
The lilies, that the vale adorn;

The reed, that trembles in the wind;
The tree, where none its fruit can find;
The sliding sand; the flinty rock,
That bears unmoved the tempest's shock;
The thorns, that on the earth abound;
The tender grass, that clothes the ground;
The little birds, that fly in air; -
The sheep, that need the shepherd's care;

The pearls, that deep in ocean lie;
The gold, that charms the miser's eye;
All from His lips some truth proclaim,
Or learn to tell their Maker's name.

CAROLINE FRY.

HEAVEN.

"OH! is there a mansion for me,

And is there a mansion for you?

Mamma?

And is there a mansion for dear Papa?
And for brothers and sisters too?

And will there be no more sickness or pain,
And no more want or wo?

Oh! Mamma, will you tell me once again? I love to hear it so !"

"There's a mansion for every one, my child, When his work on earth is done,

Who to God the Father is reconciled
By the blood of God the Son.

And sickness and sorrow shall never come

In that bright abode to dwell;
And sin dare not enter that happy home,
For sin belongs to hell."

WHEN IS THE TIME TO DIE?

I ASK'D the glad and happy child

Whose hands were fill'd with flowers,
Whose silvery laugh rung free and wild
Among the vine-wreathed bowers;
I cross'd her sunny path, and cried,
"When is the time to die?"-
"Not yet, not yet," the child replied,
And swiftly bounded by.

I ask'd the maiden; back she threw
The tresses of her hair;

Grief's traces o'er her cheeks I knew,
Like pearls they glisten'd there;
A flush pass'd o'er her lily brow,
I heard her spirit sigh :-

"Not now," she cried, "oh, no! not now! Youth is no time to die."

I ask'd a mother, as she press'd
Her first-born in her arms,
As gently on her tender breast
She hush'd her babe's alarms;
In quivering tones her accents came,
Her eyes were dim with tears ;-
My boy his mother's life must claim
For many, many years."

66

I question'd one in manhood's prime
Of proud and fearless air;

His brow was furrow'd not by time,
Nor dimm'd by wo and care.
In angry accents he replied,

And flash'd with Scorn his eye,-
"Talk not to me of death," he cried,
"For only age should die."

I question'd age, for whom the tomb
Had long been all prepared;

(For death, who withers life and bloom, This man of had spared.)

years

Once more his nature's dying fire
Flash'd high, and thus he cried-
Life, only life, is my desire !"

66

Then gasp'd, and groan'd, and died.

[ocr errors]

I ask'd a Christian-" Answer thou;
When is the hour of death ?"-
A holy calm was on his brow,
And peaceful was his breath;
And sweetly o'er his features stole
A smile, a light divine;

He spoke the language of his soul—

66

"My Master's time is mine."

LEISURE HOUR.

THE KING AND THE SPIDER.

KING Bruce of Scotland flung himself down In a lonely mood to think;

'Tis true he was monarch, and wore a crown, But his heart was beginning to sink.

For he had been trying to do a great deed, To make his people glad,

He had tried, and tried, but couldn't succeed,
And so he became quite sad.

He flung himself down in low despair,
As grieved as man could be;

And after a while as he ponder'd there,

"I'll give it all up," said he.

Now just at the moment a spider dropp'd,

With its silken cobweb clue,

And the king in the midst of his thinking stopp'd

To see what the spider would do.

'Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome, And it hung by a rope so fine,

That how it would get to its cobweb home, King Bruce could not divine.

« AnteriorContinuar »