Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

THE TWO BOYS.

Thy paths are paved for five long miles,
Thy groves and hills are peaks and tiles;
Thy fragrant air is yon thick smoke,
Which shrouds thee like a mourning-cloak;
And thou art cabined and confined

At once from sun, and dew, and wind;
Or set thy tottering feet but on

Thy lengthened walks of slippery stone;
The coachman there careering reels,

With goaded steeds and maddening wheels:
And Commerce pours each poring son
In pelf's pursuit and hollos' run;

While, flushed with wine, and stung at play,
Men rush from darkness into day,

The stream 's too strong for thy small bark;
There nought can sail, save what is stark.

Fly from the town, sweet child! for health
Is happiness, and strength, and wealth.
There is a lesson in each flower,
A story in each stream and bower;
On every herb on which you tread
Are written words which, rightly read,
Will lead you from earth's fragrant sod
To hope, and holiness. and God.

81

THE TWO BOYS.- Miss Lamb.

I SAW a boy with eager eye
Open a book upon a stall,
And read as he'd devour it all;
Which when the stall-man did espy,
Soon to the boy I heard him call:
"You sir, you never buy a book,
Therefore in one you shall not look."

82

A SONG TO CREATING WISDOM.

The boy passed slowly on, and, with a sigh,

He wished he never had been taught to read,

Then of the old churl's books he should have had no need.

Of sufferings the poor have many,
Which never can the rich annoy.
I soon perceived another boy,
Who looked as if he 'd not had any
Food for that day at least, enjoy

The sight of cold meat in a tavern larder.
This boy's case, thought I, is surely harder;
Thus hungry longing, thus without a penny,
Beholding choice of dainty-dressed meat;

No wonder if he wish he ne'er had learned to eat.

A SONG TO CREATING WISDOM.

ETERNAL Wisdom, thee we praise,

Thee the creation sings;

[blocks in formation]

With thy loud name, rocks, hills, and seas,
And heaven's high palace rings.

Place me on the bright wings of day,

To travel with the sun;

With what amaze shall I survey

The wonders thou hast done!

Thy hand, how wide it spread the sky.
How glorious to behold!

Tinged with a blue of heavenly dye,
And starred with sparkling gold.

A SONG TO CREATING WISDOM.

There thou hast bid the globes of light
Their endless circles run;

There the pale planet rules the night,
And day obeys the sun.

Downward I turn my wondering eyes
On clouds and storms below,
Those under regions of the skies
Thy numerous glories show.

The noisy winds stand ready there
Thy orders to obey,

With sounding wings they sweep the air

To make thy chariot way.

There, like a trumpet, loud and strong,
Thy thunder shakes our coast;
While the red lightnings wave along
The banners of thine host.

On the thin air, without a prop,
Hang fruitful showers around;
At thy command they sink and drop
Their fatness on the ground.

How did thy wondrous skill array
The fields in charming green;
A thousand herbs thy art display,
A thousand flowers between!

The rolling mountains of the deep
Observe thy strong command;
Thy breath can raise the billows steep,
Ör sink them to the sand.

G

83

84

THE COFFEE SLIPS.

Amidst thy watery kingdoms, Lord,
The finny nations play,

And scaly monsters, at thy word,
Rush through the northern sea.

Thy glories blaze all nature round,
And strike the gazing sight,
Through skies, and seas, and solid ground,
With terror and delight.

Infinite strength, and equal skill,
Shine through the worlds abroad,
Our souls with vast amazement fill,
And speak the builder God.

But the sweet beauties of thy grace

Our softer passions move;

Pity divine in Jesus' face

We see, adore and love!

THE COFFEE SLIPS. - Miss Lamb.

WHENE'ER I fragrant coffee drink,
I on the generous Frenchman think,
Whose noble perseverance bore
The tree to Martinico's shore.
While yet her colony was new,
Her island products but a few,
Two shoots from off a coffee-tree
He carried with him o'er the sea.
Each little, tender coffee slip
He waters daily in the ship;
And, as he tends his embryo trees,
Feels he is raising 'midst the seas

THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM.

Coffee groves, whose ample shade
Shall screen the dark Creolian maid.
But soon, alas! his darling pleasure
In watching this his precious treasure
Is like to fade, - for water fails

On board the ship in which he sails.
Now all the reservoirs are shut,
The crew on short allowance put.
So small a drop is each man's share,
Few leavings you may think there are
To water these poor coffee plants;
But he supplies their gasping wants;
E'en from his own dry, parchéd lips
He spares it for his coffee slips.
Water he gives his nurslings first,
Ere he allays his own deep thirst;
Lest, if he first the water sip,
He bear too far his eager lip.

He sees them droop for want of more,
Yet, when they reach the destined shore,
With pride the heroic gardener sees
A living sap still in the trees.

The islanders his praise resound;
Coffee plantations rise around;
And Martinico loads her ships

With produce from those dear-saved slips.

THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM. - Southey.

Ir was a summer evening,

Old Kaspar's work was done,
And he before his cottage-door
Was sitting in the sun;

And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild, Wilhelmine.

85

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »