She would have chid me that I mourned a doom so blest as thine,

Had not her own deep grief burst forth in tears as wild as mine!

We laid thee down in sinless rest, and from thine infant brow

Culled one soft lock of radiant hair—our only solace

now,

Then placed around thy beauteous corse, flowers, not more fair and sweet;

Twin rosebuds in thy little hands, and jasmine at thy feet.

Though other offspring still be ours, as fair perchance as thou,

With all the beauty of thy cheek-the sunshine of thy brow,

They never can replace the bud our early fondness

nurst,

They may be lovely and beloved, but not like thee— the first!

The first! How many a memory bright that one sweet word can bring

Of hopes that blossomed, drooped, and died, in life's delightful spring ;—

Of fervid feelings passed away-those early seeds of

bliss,

That germinate in hearts unsered, by such a world as this!

My sweet one, my sweet one, my fairest, and my first!

When I think of what thou mightṣt have been, my heart is like to burst;

But gleams of gladness through the gloom their soothing radiance dart,

And my sighs are hushed, my tears are dried, when I turn to what thou art!

Pure as the snow-flake ere it falls and takes the stain of earth,

With not a taint of mortal life, except thy mortal birth,

God bade thee early taste the spring for which so many thirst;

And bliss-eternal bliss-is thine, my fairest, and my first!

LIFE'S MATINS.

MARY HOWITT.

AT that sweet hour of even,
When nightingales awake,
Low-bending o'er her first-born son,
An anxious mother spake.

"Thou child of prayer and blessing, Would that my soul could know,

What the unending future holds
For thee of joy or woe.

A

sunny path of flowers ;Or strife, with sorrow dark as death, Through weary wintry hours?

"O child of love and blessing, Young blossom of life's treeMy spirit trembles but to think

What time may make of thee!

"Yet of the unveiled future

Would knowledge might be given !"

Then voices of the unseen ones

Made answer back from heaven!

FIRST VOICE.

"Tears he must shed unnumbered;
And he must strive with care,
As strives in war the armed man,
And human woe must bear.

"Must learn that joy is mockery;
That man doth mask his heart;
Must prove the trusted faithless;
And see the loved depart!

“Must feel himself alone, alone;
Must weep when none can see;
Then lock his grief, like treasure up,
For lack of sympathy.

"Must prove all human knowledge A burden, a deceit ;

And many a flattering friendship find

A dark and hollow cheat.

"Well mayst thou weep, fond mother :

For what can life bequeath,

But tears and sighs unnumbered,
But watching, change, and death?"

:

SECOND VOICE.

"Rejoice, rejoice, fond mother. That thou hast given birth To this immortal being,

66

To this sweet child of earth!

The pearl within the ocean,
The gold within the mine;
Have not a thousandth part the worth
Of this fair child of thine!

“O fond and anxious mother, Look up with joyful eyes,

For a boundless wealth of love and power
In that young spirit lies!

"Love to enfold all nature
In one benign embrace;
Power to diffuse a blessing wide
O'er all the human race!

“Bless God both night and morning ; Be thine a joyful heart;

For the child of mortal parents hath

With the Eternal part!

"The stars shall dim their brightness;

And as a parched scroll

The earth shall fade; but ne'er shall fade

The undying human soul!