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SONGS FOR GIRLHOOD |
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THE SANDS O' DEE. Chari.es Kingsley.
" Oh, Mary, go and call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, And call the cattle home, Across the sands o' Dee!" The western wind was wild and dank wi' foam, And all alone went she.
The creeping tide came up along the sand, And o'er and o'er the sand, And round and round the sand, As far as eye could see; The blinding mist came down and hid the land� And never home came she.
" Oh, is it weed, or fish, or floating hair� A tress o' golden hair, O' drowned maiden's hair, Above the nets at sea ? Was never salmon yet that shone so fair, Among the stakes on Dee."
They rowed her in across the rolling foam, The cruel, crawling foam, The cruel, hungry foam, To her grave beside the sea: But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home, Across the sands o' Dee. |
Oh, my heart grows weak as a woman's,
And the fountains of feeliug will flow, When I think of the paths steep and stony
Where the feet of the dear ones must go! Of the mountains of sin hanging o'er them,
Of the tempest of Fate blowing wild. Oh, there's nothing on earth half so holy
As the innocent heart of a child!
They are idols of hearts and of households;
They are angels of God in disguise; His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses;
His glory still gleams in their eyes. Oh, those truants from home and from heaven /
They've made me more manly and mild, And I know now how Jesus could liken
The kingdom of God to a child!
I ask not a life for the dear ones
All radiant, as others have done; But that life may have just enough shadow
To temper the glare of the sun. I would pray God to guard them from evil,
But my prayer would bound back to myself. Ah! a seraph may pray for a sinner,
But a sinner must pray for himself.
The twig is so easily bended,
I have banished the rule and the rod; I have taught them the goodness of knowledge,
They have taught me the goodness of God. My heart is a dungeon of darkness,
Where I shut them from breakiug a rule; My frown is sufficient correction,
My love is the law of the school.
I shall leave the old house in the autumn
To traverse its threshold no more: Ah! how I shall sigh for the dear ones
That meet me each morn at the door! I shall miss the "good-nights" and the kisses,
And the gush of their innocent glee, The group on the green, and the flowers
That are brought every morning to me.
I shall miss them at morn and at eve�
Their song in the school and the street; I shall miss the low hum of their voices,
Aud the tramp of their delicate feet. When the lessons of life are all ended,
And Death says, " The school is dismissed," May the little ones gather around me,
To bid me good-night and be kissed! |
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THE CHILDREN.
Charles M. Dickinson.
When the lessons and tasks are all ended,
And the school for the day is dismissed, And the little ones gather around me,
To bid me good-night and be kissed; Oh, the little white arms that encircle
My neck in a tender embrace! Oh, the smiles that are haloes of heaven,
Shedding sunshine of love on my face!
And when they are gone, I sit dreaming
Of my childhood, too lovely to last; Of love that my heart will remember
While it wakes to the pulse of the past, Ere the world and its wickedness made me
A partner of sorrow and sin ; When the glory of God was about me,
And the glory of gladness within. |
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