STAR-DUST 
 
 GATHERED 15 Y 
 
 A. Z I L E 
 
 " ye stars of heaven ! bless ye the Lord ; praise Him and m.-ignify Him fo 
 ever." 
 
 NEW- YORK : 
 j\. ix w < > ]sr T> . IF 1 . i i ;\ N i > o r, 3? ii 
 
 f. 8,, I! 110 A I) WAY. 
 
 I 00.
 
 ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1SSO, by 
 Miss E. R. MONTGOMERY, 
 
 in the Clerk s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New-York.
 
 C N T E N T S 
 
 STARS, 5 
 
 A STARRY LESSON, n 
 
 WAS IT A DREAM? 21 
 
 STAR-GLEANINGS. No. 1, . . 81 
 
 STAR-GLEANINGS. No. 2, . 37 
 
 A STAR-THOUGHT, ... 41 
 
 ANOTHER STAR-THOUGHT, 45 
 
 A VOICE FROM THE STARS, ..... 4g 
 
 A STARRY WHISPER, 51 
 
 FALLEN STAR, ....
 
 t< nrt A 71 T\ TT p m 
 O X .A Ju " jJ U h JL . 
 
 STARS. 
 
 BRIGHT stars, that are gleaming 
 
 Up in sky so blue, 
 Ere I fall to dreaming, 
 
 I must peep at you. 
 
 As a sudden smiling 
 Lights a face of gloom, 
 
 So your pleasant shining 
 Gilds my little room. 
 
 It is just in keeping 
 
 With my thoughts to-night; 
 I can leave my sleeping 
 
 liather than vour siu;ht.
 
 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Hidden in your gleaming, 
 Trembling in your rays, 
 
 Is a deeper meaning 
 
 Than first meets our gaze. 
 
 Nightly am I learning, 
 
 From your golden speech, 
 
 From your constant burning, 
 Truths I long to teach. 
 
 Much the heart feels ever, 
 Which the lips conceal ; 
 
 Spirit-converse never 
 Can the tongue reveal. 
 
 Else what thrilling stories 
 Would mine own no\v sing 
 
 Of the mystic glories 
 Ye are whispering.
 
 STAIl-DUST. 
 
 Would I could tell only 
 
 What ye are to me ; 
 1 am never lonely 
 
 With such friends as ye. 
 
 Would I could send only 
 Some stray raj r s of light 
 
 To some heart more lonely 
 Than mine own to-night. 
 
 Those that whisper ever : 
 Lustrous though we are, 
 
 We can rival never, 
 
 The bright " MORNING STAR." 
 
 Dull our clearest beaming ! 
 
 Purest light how dim ! 
 Dark seems all our gleaming 
 
 When compared to Ilirn.
 
 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Though our nightly glimmer 
 Makes earth s dimness less, 
 
 What our feeble shimmer 
 To His power to bless ? 
 
 We but clay can lighten ; 
 
 He illumes the soul ; 
 Darkest minds will brighten 
 
 Neath His blest control. 
 
 Hearts that knew but anguish, 
 Think not to be sad ; 
 
 Hopes that long did languish 
 Spring up strong and glad 
 
 .Neath His blessed shining. 
 
 For his mellow glow 
 Gives a "silver lining" 
 
 To each cloud of woe.
 
 STAR. DUST. 
 
 Ye, who wander weary, 
 In a path-way dim ; 
 
 Sinful, sick, and weary, 
 Turn, oh ! turn to Him ! 
 
 Ye, who seek for pleasure 
 Where no comforts are, 
 
 Seek the only treasure 
 The pure Corning Star. 
 
 Send I this thought only 
 From the stars to-night, 
 
 AVill some heart mow lonely 
 Catch the ray of light? 
 
 Let us all be learning 
 
 Stars shine not for naught 
 
 Nightly heed their burning. 
 Love them as we ought.
 
 10 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Amid my simple praying, 
 Which much of evil mars, 
 
 Breathes e er one fervent saying, 
 / bless God for the stars.
 
 A STARRY LESSON. 
 
 THEE to the stars I send ; 
 
 Gaze on them as they burn ; 
 And tell me, tell me, friend, 
 
 Canst thou no lesson learn ? 
 
 Oh! raise thy glance on high ; 
 
 Behold the looks of light 
 Clear falling from each eye 
 
 Of star, so silver bright. 
 
 I bid thee read within 
 
 This steady light, and clear, 
 
 The lesson taught by Him 
 
 Who made each shining sphere.
 
 12 STAR-DUST. 
 
 They look this wide earth o er ; 
 
 Thus ever ever thus 
 They gaze on sea, on shore, 
 
 As now they look on us. 
 
 The waters earth doth keep, 
 Not one of all forgot ; 
 
 Each lake, and ocean deep, 
 Doth hold some shining spot. 
 
 So when within a lake 
 Some little star doth look, 
 
 It finds its glance doth make 
 Its image in the brook. 
 
 Its beauty is displayed 
 As well by ripples clear, 
 
 As by the deep, blue shade 
 Of its own native sphere.
 
 STAB- DUST. 
 
 Methinks that twinkle bright, 
 
 Betokens grateful glee ; 
 It trembles with delight, 
 
 Its image true to see. 
 
 In this pray what are we 
 
 Bat stars, though not as bright? 
 Who if we can but see 
 
 Clear through some eye of light, 
 
 Clear through down to the heart, 
 Whose channel is the eye 
 
 Joy will the glance impart, 
 If we can there espy 
 
 Our image perfect made, 
 
 Both understood and known ; 
 Our feelings all displayed, 
 
 And cared for as its own. 
 1* 
 
 13
 
 14 STAR-DUST. 
 
 In this each is a star ; 
 
 JSTow let us gaze and learn 
 If in aught else we are 
 
 Stars that so brightly burn. 
 
 We ll take that self-same star 
 That gazed within the brook ; 
 
 Its glance now spreading far 
 Adown the deep to look. 
 
 The ocean is not calm ; 
 
 Wave over wave doth leap ; 
 Oh ! can it safe from harm 
 
 The starry image keep ? 
 
 The billows rise and swell ; 
 
 They dash against the shore. 
 Oh ! who the fate can tell 
 
 Of star that looketh o er ?
 
 S T A R - 1) U S T . ]5 
 
 With raging foam they rise 
 Beneath high Heaven s brow ; 
 
 O star of yonder skies ! 
 
 Where is thine image now ? 
 
 A few distorted gleams 
 
 Shine o er the waves afar ; 
 But naught is there that seems 
 
 Like yonder beaming star. 
 
 And could none gaze above, 
 
 But on the deep to see 
 How stars look down in love, 
 
 Oh ! how deceived we d be ! 
 
 We d whisper by the tide : 
 
 Gleams, tell us what ye are ; 
 But restless waves would hide 
 
 The imasre of the star.
 
 ST A R-DUS T. 
 
 Thus causing asking mind 
 An impress wrong to hold, 
 
 Like false tale leaves behind 
 A stain of whom tis told. 
 
 
 How looketh that star now ? 
 
 Broken its image lies ! 
 Yet with a calm, pure brow, 
 It beams in yonder skies. 
 
 Yes, it as bright and still 
 Looks on the ocean deep, 
 
 As on the little rill 
 That doth its likeness keep. 
 
 Tis true the star may mourn, 
 The ocean s sin deplore. 
 
 But still it gazes on 
 High, holy as before !
 
 STAR. DUST. 17 
 
 Can we no lesson learn ? 
 
 In this are we stars too ? 
 When we can thus discern 
 
 Ourselves pictured untrue ? 
 
 Do we, gaze still the same, 
 
 Perchance with look of scorn, 
 
 Disdaining to draw nigh 
 And say tis falsely drawn ? 
 
 Disdaining words to hold, 
 
 Or aught of vengeance take 
 On those who with false mold 
 
 Seek impress wrong to make ? 
 
 When waves of malice leap, 
 
 And foam with slander s tongue, 
 
 And we see in the deep 
 Our broken imasce fluncr
 
 18 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Do we gaze still the same 
 On raging seas below, 
 
 That wildly "foam their shame," 
 And scarce can harm us so ? 
 
 For waves can t reach a star ! 
 
 Nor have they power to take 
 Its image from, or mar 
 
 Its shining in the lake. 
 
 Go, be a /Star, my friend, 
 
 Nor thus of vengeance speak. 
 
 And let thy light descend, 
 Of pardon pure and meek. 
 
 Thy self-respect retain, 
 Whate er thy foes may do. 
 
 The deed thy scorn should gain, 
 The doer, pity true.
 
 STAR-DUST. 19 
 
 Oh ! should a planet fair, 
 
 When thus it sees its wrong, 
 Dart gleams of angry glare, 
 
 Beaming with vengeance strong ; 
 
 Or seek to leave its place 
 
 To scorch the unkind wave, 
 No longer could we trace 
 
 A star, but Passion s slave ! 
 
 The picture in the sea 
 
 Then would not be untrue ; 
 No longer would there be 
 
 A holy star to view ; 
 
 But broken gleams indeed ! 
 
 A scattered, fitful light, 
 From its calm beauty freed, 
 
 And lowered from its hicjht.
 
 20 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Go, be a star, my friend ; 
 
 Shine holy, high, and calm : 
 If vengeance must descend, 
 
 Oh ! let the stronger arm 
 
 x 
 
 Of Him who made the sea, 
 And the bright stars to shine, 
 
 The just avenger be ; 
 
 His arm, and never thine ! 
 
 God, beneath the star-light, nightly, 
 Help us all to pray arightly ; 
 
 Father, make us STARS to be 
 SJiining evermore for THEE.
 
 WAS IT A DREAM? 
 
 A FEELING of weariness had crept into my heart, 
 and I stole from the midst of gathered friends, into 
 the garden. The sim had set cloudlessly, and I 
 knew the night was clear. I longed to look up at 
 the bright stars, and to have them speak to me ; 
 their language was dearer and more soothing to my 
 spirit than the merry jests and sportive words of 
 the gay and light-hearted ones within. The stars 
 have ever been my most intimate friends ; from, a 
 little child they have comforted me when sad, and 
 taught me many a beautiful lesson. When yearn 
 ing for sympathy, realizing how impossible it is for 
 dearest earthly friends perfectly to comprehend one 
 another ; when oppressed with an intense feeling 
 that I longed to share with some one, but could not;
 
 22 STAR-DUST. 
 
 that I longed to utter, but knew not how ; when I 
 would look on other people, and wonder if their 
 calm, tranquil faces, often cold and passive ones, 
 concealed such a world as I found within myself; 
 and whether the hearts of grown people beat the 
 same as those of little children ; and if so, how 
 they lived through it for I was sure my own 
 would burst before it grew to womanhood ; then 
 I would seek the stars, and hold communion with 
 them ; in the interchange of sympathy, most elo 
 quent and tender, I would be subdued; beneath 
 their lofty calmness I, too, would grow calm. Do 
 you call this a childish fancy? Then I pity 
 you, for it is truth. I pity any one who has 
 not yet found that the great heart of Nature 
 beats responsively to his. I believe in the deepest 
 and most perfect communion with every thing 
 that our Father has made. You may call them
 
 STAR-DUST. 23 
 
 instruments, if you will, upon which He plays 
 most skillfully ; it is His voice which speaks from 
 the trees, the flowers, the birds, and the stars. His 
 spirit pervades all ; thus every thing in nature be 
 comes a channel of communication between earth 
 and heaven. The stars are the golden speaking-trum 
 pets through which our Father utters many a word 
 of blessing and comfort ; many a beautiful, glorious 
 truth, which our spirits hear, understand, and reply 
 to, but which our tongues can never speak. 
 
 As I said, in my weariness I sought the garden, 
 to be again soothed and comforted by the stars ; but 
 to my surprise and grief, not one was visible. 
 What could it mean ? The sky was clear, no dark 
 cloud threatened a storm ; no mist or vapor floated 
 through the atmosphere, to obscure their light ; yet 
 not one could I discern. Disappointed and deeply 
 grieved, I turned to the flowers, to whisper awhile
 
 24 STAR-DUST. 
 
 with them. But their heads were bowed, their 
 petals shriveled, their green leaves were curled, and 
 so crisp from excessive dry ness, that, as I touched 
 them, they crumbled to pieces. Not a drop of dew 
 had fallen, and the poor, thirsty blossoms were 
 parched and dying. "0 Earth ! Earth !" I moaned, 
 " what new woe hath befallen thee ? The cloud of 
 sin raised by our first parents, had not power to 
 vail the starlight ; nor even the blood of Abel, as it 
 dyed thee to red clay, could blight thy flowers. 
 What strange enormity has been committed, that 
 the stars should refuse to gaze on thee, the dews 
 shrink from falling on thee, arid thy blossoms 
 wither in dread upon thy bosom ?" While thus 
 lamenting, a little star trembled forth ; not bright 
 and eloquent, as was its wont, but pale and mute ; 
 until, as I passionately addressed it, its gloamings
 
 STAR-DUST. 25 
 
 alternately deepened and whitened, as moved by its 
 own heart-throbbings. At length it spoke : 
 
 " The heavens were so transparent, the atmo 
 sphere so clear, and earth so very beautiful at sun 
 set, that I thought, when I peeped down, our whole 
 golden choir would be out, attired in their most 
 resplendent robes, to light earth s darkened places, 
 and to chant to those to whom w r e nightly give the 
 call He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. And 
 that I } such a little star, and so dim when compared 
 to my brilliant sisters, could not be missed among 
 so many. I thought that if I rested this one eve 
 ning none would know it, none would miss the one 
 small ray that I am only capable of emitting. I 
 knew not, until roused by your voice of lamentation, 
 that all my sister stars had thought and felt the 
 same ; that earth was dark and lonely, and that the 
 strange, mysterious thing, that living, breathing
 
 26 S T AR-DU ST. 
 
 dust, called man, who is a greater marvel to us than 
 we can ever be to him, whom we watch over with 
 the angels, often forming a golden stairway, so that 
 they can step from star to star with ease, as they go 
 to minister to that clay and a breath. I knew not 
 that these mysterious objects of our united care and 
 love, had listened in vain for our nightly melody, 
 to soothe them to slumber, or that the wakeful 
 spirits amid them had grown weary of waiting for 
 us to come and sing snatches of the glorious har 
 mony which lifts the listening soul above its clay. 
 I knew not this, and now I mourn that I wandered 
 from my place ; for my ray might have cheered one 
 little flower, pierced one gloomy spot, attracted one 
 spirit, causing it to look up, and think of the One 
 who formed us both. I mourn ! I mourn !" 
 
 Just then a drop of dew descended, and as it fell 
 it echoed sorrowfully the lament of the star " I
 
 STAR-DUST. 27 
 
 mourn ! I mourn ! I questioned, What was I 
 among so many ? Who could miss a single dew- 
 drop among the myriads that nightly fall ? One 
 tiny blade of grass, I said, was all I had to water ; 
 and surely dew enough will be upon the earth, to 
 nourish that, even if I tarry here ; but I, too, heard 
 your moan of sadness, and I hastened to my little 
 spire of grass ; but, behold, I am too late! it is dead ! 
 What account can I give in the morning, when the 
 sun s first ray calls me home to bear tidings of my 
 mission ? It is unfulfilled ! unfulfilled ! I mourn ! 
 I mourn !" 
 
 Suddenly the stars all glimmered, I heard the 
 dew dropping fast and thick around me, the flowers 
 raised their drooping heads, their leaves uncurled, 
 the fading grass revived, and the fragrance, the star 
 light, and the dew, chanted around me in a soft, 
 rich chorus :
 
 28 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Maiden, neath our golden trembling, 
 Neath the dropping of the dew 
 
 Pardon us for once dissembling, 
 So to teach this truth to you. 
 
 Not a star has light for hiding, 
 Ilowe er dim that light may be, 
 
 If within its place abiding, 
 It will shine for somebody. 
 
 Not one drop of dew is vainly 
 Fashioned by its Maker s hand ; 
 
 He who forms it seeth plainly 
 If it keepeth His command. 
 
 Thou a little star art, Maiden, 
 Yery dim amid the rest ; 
 
 Yet with mission art thou laden, 
 As the brightest and the best.
 
 STAR-DUST. 29 
 
 Thou a drop of dew art, Maiden, 
 
 Very fleeting, very small ; 
 Yet with mission art thou laden, 
 
 As the greatest of them all. 
 
 Little star, who art thou cheering 
 
 In the sorrow-darkened earth ? 
 Who is blest by thine appearing ? 
 
 Who rejoices in thy birth? 
 
 Drop of dew, is there one flower 
 Thou hast soothed or comforted ? 
 
 Ilast thou used thy little power 
 To sustain one drooping head? 
 
 Let no time be lost in mourning 
 
 That thou art not something grand ; 
 What riyht hast thou for Sclf-ic 
 
 Fashioned thus by God s own hand? 
 3
 
 30 STAR-DUST. 
 
 What can Sun or Moon be doing 
 More than any little star, 
 
 But God s holy will pursuing, 
 Finding what their missions are ? 
 
 Then be faithful in thy calling, 
 Howe er lowly it may be ; 
 
 For star-shining and dew-falling 
 Surely will bless somebody.
 
 [STAR-G-LEANING-S. 
 i. 
 
 THE COMMAND. 
 
 Ye are the light of the world." 
 
 Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may 
 glorify your Father which is in Heaven." 
 
 How high ! how pure they seem ! 
 
 So far beyond all strife ! 
 No fitful, wayward gleam 
 
 Disturbs their calm, still life. 
 
 Their steady, constant glow, 
 
 So peaceful and serene, 
 With what is here below 
 
 Strange contrast forms, I ween.
 
 32 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Oh ! can ye know, bright stars, 
 Of all that passes here ? 
 
 Of all the sin that mars 
 The life upon this sphere ? 
 
 And yet, perchance ye know, 
 And shine on still the same, 
 
 To mitigate our woe 
 
 To make our pathway plain. 
 
 Ye know of all our strife 
 Of all our weariness ; 
 
 Of all wrought in our life 
 Of anguish and distress. 
 
 And yet shine on ! I deem 
 We who are called to be 
 
 Lights in this world to gleam, 
 A truth can learn from ye.
 
 S T A U -DUST. 33 
 
 But we are very weak 
 
 ]STot calm and high and pure : 
 
 Our dimness, who may speak ? 
 Our failings, who endure ? 
 
 We can not rise above 
 
 To shine upon the earth ; 
 But in it we must move 
 
 Encompassed by the dearth. 
 
 And would ye be as bright, 
 
 Brought down to dwell with us? 
 
 With sin and its dread blight ? 
 Still would your light shine thus ? 
 
 And yet ye may have woe 
 
 Like ours, dark and deep ; 
 Ye your own sorrows know 
 
 Your own secrets keep.
 
 34 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Likewise its joy and woe ; 
 
 Both are a mystery deep, 
 Each Christian heart may know, 
 
 Each Christian heart may keep, 
 
 And yet the while look round 
 And see one more forlorn ; 
 
 In sin so firmly bound, 
 That others gaze with scorn ; 
 
 Or shrinking, turn away 
 
 With thought of hateful dye, 
 
 Which actions oft betray, 
 "Far holier am I!" 
 
 Then burns the " shining light," 1 
 As stars that wax not dim 
 
 Before a woeful sight, 
 
 The Christian looks on him.
 
 STAR-DUST. 35 
 
 His own grief laid aside, 
 
 He looks to soothe and cheer ; 
 
 To aid, to gently chide, 
 To rouse yet banish fear. 
 
 lie looks, mid weariness 
 
 And strife with his own sin, 
 In ways of holiness 
 
 A brother s soul to win. 
 
 Oh ! let us this thought keep, 
 
 Won from the stars to-night ; 
 They gaze on darkness deep, 
 
 Nor shrink to give their light. 
 
 Tis this we greatly need : 
 
 A love for those most prone 
 To err and hearts to bleed 
 
 For sorrows not our own.
 
 36 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Oh ! more of sympathy, 
 
 To guide, and soothe, and bless ; 
 No " shining light" can be 
 
 Without this loveliness.
 
 STAR-G-LEANING-S. 
 ii. 
 
 THE PROMISE. 
 
 "They that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars forever and 
 ever." 
 
 Ay, calm, and pure, and high are ye, 
 
 Stars beautiful and bright. 
 But very low and sinful we, 
 
 Yet both are in the night ! 
 
 And while ye shine within the dark, 
 
 Most blessed truths to teach, 
 So must we yield our glow-worm spark, 
 
 Some darker soul to reach. 
 2*
 
 38 STAR-DUST. 
 
 And while ye gaze on all our sin, 
 Nor sickened, turn away, 
 
 So for the erring, room within 
 Our hearts, to love and pray. 
 
 If thus the pure Command we keep, 
 To " let our light so shine," 
 
 The Promise we shall surely reap ; 
 Surely it is Divine. 
 
 And so, whene er we gaze above, 
 The heavens seem enwrought 
 
 In golden characters of love, 
 With this one cheering thought. 
 
 Not always weak, not always dim, 
 
 Not always sinful we ; 
 The light that now burns low within. 
 
 Shall one day glow like ye !
 
 STAR-DUST. 39 
 
 With these deep yearnings fully met 
 
 That haunt us night and day, 
 Each deed of wrong, each vain regret, 
 
 And strife all passed away. 
 
 The struggles o er to do and be 
 
 That which we best conceive ; 
 The struggles, icitlwut victory ! 
 
 O er which our hearts now grieve. 
 
 b 
 
 The love made pure which now we keep 
 
 Shut up too closely here ; 
 Dear God ! so loving we, yet weak, 
 
 We wound the souls most dear ! 
 
 Ah ! sad were we; ah ! sad indeed, 
 Were not this promise heard ; 
 
 But now there is a joy decreed 
 For all who know the Word.
 
 40 STAR-DUST. 
 
 For all who watch the feet that stray, 
 
 To win them tenderly 
 To Him, who said, " I am the Way !" 
 "Come, weary ones, to Me!" 
 
 A joy ! for He the Sun shall give 
 The light for which we yearn ; 
 
 And in His presence we shall live, 
 Forever brightly burn. 
 
 "Shine as the stars /" so. pure and calm, 
 
 From every evil freed ; 
 Upheld by His Almighty arm, 
 Fullness of bliss indeed ! 
 
 Dear Saviour, so unworthy we 
 Of all the new world s bliss, 
 
 So weak, we can but cry to tliee, 
 God help us now in ill .<? /
 
 A STAB-THOUGHT. 
 
 A STAR peeped out, mid the heavens blue, 
 And looked on the sea, itself to view ; 
 But the restless wave, and foaming tide, 
 The lovely form of the star belied. 
 
 I gazed on both, and my spirit grieved, 
 And murmured low the truth it received. 
 Saviour, tis thus thou lookest on me, 
 Thou art the star, my heart is the sea. 
 
 Thou gazest down, pure, lovely, and bright, 
 For darkened souls to reflect thy light ; 
 But oh ! what trace of thee can be seen 
 In this restless, surging, fretted stream?
 
 42 STAB-DUST. 
 
 "Pis true that a passer-by might know, 
 From gleamy fragments tossed to and fro, 
 That light of some kind was shining o er 
 The sin-crested waves ; but nothing more. 
 
 I see in a dream a struggliog bark, 
 
 Shaken and driven o er waters dark, 
 
 By a tempest fierce ; at thought of death 
 
 The crew stand, trembling, with failing breath. 
 
 Yet mid the roar of the wild wind s sweep, 
 The lashing and din of the raging deep, 
 Mid the quick rolling the bark must keep, 
 Lies One in a calm and peaceful sleep ! 
 
 But He, whom the tempest could not wake, 
 Whose slumber no howling storm could break, 
 Doth stir his limbs and unclose his eye, 
 At the low sound of a mournful cry.
 
 STAR- DUST. 43 
 
 "Master, we perish! dost thou not care?" 
 lie heard, and answered at once their prayer. 
 Calmly he slept; as calmly he rose, 
 And gave to the sea the same repose. 
 
 The heaving ocean, like a pure rill, 
 Displayed clear each ray of " Peace, be still !" 
 It held, unbroken, the image bright 
 Of the Star that gazed in placid light- 
 Saviour, my heart is that stormy sea : 
 The gale of sin rises fearfully ; 
 The waves perpetual motion keep, 
 As swayed beneath its powerful sweep. 
 
 It trembles in vain beneath thy light, 
 To display thine image pure aright ; 
 Behold it lying all broken there; 
 Speak to me, Saviour ! dost thou not care /
 
 44 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Just as them spake to the stormy sea, 
 Saviour, I pray thee, so speak to me. 
 Thou only to sin canst say : Be still! 
 Subdue my heart to thy holy will. 
 
 Rebuke and subdue, till shining clear, 
 Thou wilt be perfectly imaged here ; 
 That all who gaze may be won to love 
 The beautiful " MORNING STAR" above.
 
 ANOTHER STAR-THOUG-HT. 
 
 SOFTLY on my heart it falleth, 
 Like the dew upon a flower; 
 
 Gently to my soul it calleth, 
 
 Yet with voice of sweetest power : 
 
 Go, be star-like ; live the thought 
 
 That thy spirit now hath caught. 
 
 And whilst thou the thought art living, 
 Strive to work it into sound ; 
 
 So, perchance, thou rnay st be giving 
 Spirits in the world around, 
 
 What the stars now give to thee, 
 
 Yearnings not to seem, but be!
 
 46 STAR- DUST. 
 
 Than the stars what smaller seemeth ? 
 
 Can each little point of light, 
 Which Avithin the heavens gleameth, 
 
 Blessing us with its dear sight ; 
 Can each be a wondrous sun, 
 Like the one we call our own ? 
 
 Even so ; and yet this teaching 
 Ne er was whispered by a star ; 
 
 Never they by overreaching 
 Strive to tell us what they are. 
 
 Content to be, they nightly gleam, 
 
 Caring little what they seem. 
 
 They have seen our wistful gazing, 
 And our strange conjectures heard ; 
 
 They have borne our poet-praising, 
 In each diminutive word
 
 ST A.R-DUST. 47 
 
 From " Twinkle, twinkle, little star, 
 How I wonder what you are !" 
 
 
 
 To Browning s " golden arteries," 
 And Milton s " gems of heaven ;" 
 
 They ve heard, too, grand discoveries, 
 Often made by wisest men ; 
 
 Yet, unmoved, they nightly gleam, 
 
 Caring little what they seem. 
 
 Go, be star-like ; ever gleaming 
 In the sphere God gives to thec ; 
 
 Never thinking of thy seeming 
 Simply striving but to be. 
 
 What thou " thinkest in thy heart," 
 
 What thou art to God, thou art!
 
 A VOICE FROM THE STABS. 
 
 I WAS in a sober mood, 
 
 When thought widely ranges ; 
 I thought of evil and of good, 
 I thought upon life s changes. 
 
 I looked upward to the stars ; 
 
 Said I, rather sadly, 
 No such change your quiet mars, 
 
 Shining ever gladly. 
 
 Ye are constant, ye are true, 
 We are changing ever ; 
 
 Each day addeth something new, 
 Something old- to sever.
 
 STAR-DUST. 49 
 
 Homes and friends, however dear, 
 Are both left and leaving ; 
 
 What to-day is for good cheer, 
 Next day is for grieving. 
 
 Mother, sitting by the bed, 
 Smiles at her child s sleeping ; 
 
 Next day, and the babe is dead! 
 Mother, she is weeping ! 
 
 Ye are quiet, changeless, true ; 
 
 We are changing ever ; 
 Each day addeth something ne\v, 
 
 Something old to sever. 
 
 The planet-stars made answer, softly, thus: 
 "Quiet, but not changeless, as you deem us; 
 Ay, quiet, for our changing is God s will. 
 Quiet, because our strength is to sit still;
 
 50 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Yet as we quietly but daily turn, 
 
 Our lights cease not the while to shine and burn. 
 
 This also note: throughout this constant change 
 
 We do not carelessly or lightly range ; 
 
 But heedful we, that as each day is done, 
 
 To have pressed onward, NEARER TO THE SUN !"
 
 A STARRY WHISPER. 
 
 WHILE sitting in the shadowy twilight 
 A mournful murmur floated round me, 
 
 As twilight softly deepened into night, 
 The stars who heard it, answered gently. 
 
 Whether from my own heart the sound arose, 
 
 Or by the breeze was borne to me who knows ? 
 
 The way is long. I am already weary ; 
 
 And it is growing dark ; and I am cold. 
 Oh ! must my pathway always be thus dreary ? 
 
 Growing still darker until I am old ? 
 
 Ah ! when I started in the early morning, 
 The sun was shining beautiful and bright;
 
 52 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Sweet flowers my every footstep were adorning, 
 Blessing me with their fragrance and their light. 
 
 But now the sun is slowly, surely sinking ; 
 
 My flowers are closing ; one by one they die. 
 And in this dimness, 1 am sad from thinking 
 
 What heavy darkness soon will round me lie. 
 
 And I must travel onward in the midnight. 
 So weary, and so chilled, and so alone, 
 
 And so afraid ; while ever in their fearful might, 
 Will rise those yearnings I have ever known. 
 
 God help me ! for the way seems long and dreary, 
 I do not love the lonely and the dark. 
 
 Of sunshine and of flowers I never weary. 
 What voice is that? a gentle whisper, hark! 
 
 Onward, onward, onward go! 
 Though thy sun is sinking low :
 
 .ST ,v II -DUST. 53 
 
 Though thy flowers all shall die, 
 Onward, God will hear thy cry ; 
 Onward, though it bo alone, 
 Though the way is all unknown. 
 Onward, though the weariness 
 Doth thy fainting spirit press ; 
 Onward through the midnight gloom, 
 That will close around thee soon. 
 Onward, tis but twilight now, 
 Darker shades will cloud thy brow ; 
 Deeper gloom o erspread thy sky, 
 Then thou lt know God hears thy cry. 
 First the sunlight lie doth give, 
 In which joyously ye live ; 
 But when this light wanes away, 
 When the night succeeds the day, 
 When the twilight ray hath gone, 
 And ve think vc arc forlorn.
 
 54 STAR-DUST. 
 
 Look up ! we will come to bless 
 Midnight, with our loveliness. 
 Ye can not see us in the day, 
 Not while gleams one sunny ray ; 
 Nor while twilight lingers near. 
 Darker must the sky appear. 
 But when comes the deep, still night, 
 Then will shine our starry light. 
 Catch from us this golden spark, 
 Stars shine only in the dark f 
 
 Remember, when thy day is done, 
 When God takes away thy sun, 
 It is to give thee other light, 
 So, thy midnight shall be Iriyht,
 
 FALLEN S/TAR. 
 
 " MY soul kept up too much light 
 Under my eyelids for the night," 
 
 for it was the time for high and mystical revealings ; 
 the hour which, beyond all others, possesses a mys 
 terious yet mighty influence over the waking soul, 
 " the middle watch of a summer night." 
 
 No other hour of any season can rival this. Its 
 serene yet intense beauty, its chastened glory, its 
 deep, musical silence, is unequaled. 
 
 Speak not of the joys of winter evenings, in com 
 parison with those of radiant, glorious, yet tranquil 
 summer. Bright, soft, warm ; glowing with light, 
 fragrance, melody, and beauty, Summer, I have
 
 5-3 STAR-DUST. 
 
 no words with which to praise thec, nor the God 
 
 who gave so rich a blessing as a clear, calm, sum 
 
 mer night ! 
 All was still. I stole to the opened window, and 
 
 gazed until my soul was " steeped in beauty." So 
 still, that it seemed as if heaven might be slumber 
 ing too, and the nightly miracle of stars were the 
 dreams of the sleeping angels. I gazed until the 
 strange, deep spell the moonlight ever weaves, en 
 tranced me; until I grew bewildered, as it were, 
 and tried in vain to draw a line of distinction be 
 tween the actual and the ideal between illusions 
 and reality. 
 
 All was one grand mystery. What in the day 
 light we call real and practical, shrunk into insig 
 nificance; while nothing seemed more tangible, 
 nearer to Truth, than those very dreams, which,
 
 STAR-DUST. 57 
 
 like the Yuca Filamentosa, appear so exceedingly 
 shabby by sunlight, but when touched by the 
 moon s softer rays, become beautiful. 
 
 Mystery ! mystery ! Moonlight said it ; starlight 
 breathed it ; the very silence uttered it ; my own 
 soul echoed it. What was I? What rank did I 
 hold in the scale of universal being? 
 
 What pure intelligences were above me ? 
 
 How closely was I allied to the animals that 
 grazed the earth ? How nearly to the angelic race 
 who worship the Holy One in perfect purity ? 
 
 Mystery ! mystery ! Were it not for that one 
 great truth to which the soul clings so intensely 
 there is a God it would soon reel and stagger into 
 insanity. It is the soul s axis ; around this it re 
 volves in perfect security. 
 
 To one who denies the existence of the cvcrlast-
 
 58 STAR-DUST 
 
 ing God, or who doubts his greatness, glory, power, 
 or goodness, I would say : " Lift up your eyes on 
 high, and behold who Lath created these things ; 
 that bringeth out their host by number, lie calleth 
 them all by names : by the greatness of his might, 
 for that He is strong in power, not one faileth." 
 
 I would bid him keep an unbroken watch, when 
 the "earth is dark, but the heavens are bright," 
 and surely before the dawn of the morning light he 
 would be " lost in wonders so sublime," that he 
 would exclaim: "Great things doth He, which we 
 can not comprehend. Thine, Lord ! is the great 
 ness, and the glory, and the majesty; for all that is 
 in heaven and earth is thine. Thou art great, and 
 doest wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Let 
 all the earth fear the Lord, let all the inhabitants of 
 the world stand in awe of him. 5 *
 
 STAR-DUST. 59 
 
 In the midst of my dim and dreamy musing, a 
 star fell suddenly. I traced it. Soon it lay quiver 
 ing and sparkling on a flower-bed, in my garden. 
 I was by it in a moment; bnt what was my aston 
 ishment to see it gradually assume the form of a 
 being like myself, only no larger in its dimensions 
 than a child s little finger ; yet it was perfect, and 
 most beautiful. Dewy eyes, and hair of star-beams, 
 pearl-white teeth, vermilion lips, and pale, rose- 
 tinted cheeks. Her raiment was of that transparent 
 white, as if woven of spray from a fountain. With 
 buoyant steps she sprung from flower to flower, 
 rejoicing in the first flush of her young and beauti 
 ful life. I watched her revel in her mirthfulness for 
 a long time, and wondered if the tiny creature 
 would never weary. Presently I saw her footsteps 
 flag and her cheek pale, but her countenance was
 
 60 STAR-DUST. 
 
 still radiant with, happiness as she sought a dew- 
 drop for a cushion. It broke beneath her weight ! 
 She appeared surprised, but, nothing daunted, she 
 turned towards the tulip, and looked up at it ap- 
 pealingly ; but the flower refused to lower its gold 
 en head an inch, and Fallen Star could not climb so 
 high. With a look of singular grief and disappoint 
 ment, she seated herself upon a spire of grass, the 
 bright, green blade was delighted with its burden, 
 but Fallen Star soon found that it was too weak for 
 her support. More grieved and weary still, she saw 
 a caterpillar slowly walking in its sleep ; so Fallen 
 Star thought that its fine yellow hair would form a 
 comfortable seat, and she could have a pleasant 
 ride, but the caterpillar shook her off indignantly. 
 
 Poor Fallen Star ! what was she to do ? So 
 weary and so weak, where was she to rest ? Was
 
 STAR- DUST. 01 
 
 this the life that she had so longed for? Did all 
 the dwellers upon earth so soon grow weary, and 
 yearn so for a rest that they could not iind ? But 
 ah ! there is a violet the world s sweetest flower 
 blossoming in sunshine or in shade. The first to 
 welcome us, the last to leave us. I have had them 
 linger in their beauty, I have gathered them from 
 my garden on the last day of Autumn, when all 
 else lay withered. If I have a favorite flower, it is 
 the Violet. It has ever been to me a tender, beau 
 tiful, and faithful friend. And would the gentle 
 violet refuse a shelter to poor little Fallen Star ? 
 
 Never! So Fallen .Star crept timidly amid its 
 green leaves, and up into the fragrant flower-cup, 
 until it nestled in the very heart of the lovely and 
 gracious violet. Then how she trembled with de 
 light! flow the color came to her pale cheeks!
 
 62 STAR- DUST. 
 
 Oh ! what a deep, sweet rest was hers. And I left 
 her lying there, with her lips parted in a smile of 
 exquisite joy, her tiny form quivering with the in 
 tense rapture of loving and being loved ; of having 
 found a home in a strong, pure, loving heart. 
 
 Yes, I left little Fallen Star to rest. 
 
 Presently I came again. I could not stay long 
 from such beauty ; but oh I what a change ! The 
 violet had perished suddenly. I raised its drooping 
 head most tenderly ; it was quite dead ; no effort 
 could revive it. The first thrill of anguish, the first 
 violent emotion of grief with little Fallen Star was 
 over, yet she was greatly changed. She was mute 
 and pale ; the restless joyfulness of her early life 
 had passed away. Still she wore no look of weari 
 ness and disappointment, such as I thought to sec. 
 I remembered, too, that when I first beheld her, her
 
 S T A R -DUS T . (j;j 
 
 gaze was earthward only. Now, her eyes were 
 raised almost constantly to the place from whence 
 she had fallen, with a look of earnest hope and trust ; 
 there was an unntterable yearning in her gaze, yet 
 it did not destroy the serenity of her sweet face ; 
 her lips were serious, but her eyes seemed to smile 
 from the overflowing of peace in her heart. 
 
 Little Fallen Star did not play any more. She 
 did not twist together the blades of grass, or scatter 
 the pollen from the anthers, as I saw her do in her 
 first glad frolics, nor did she sit down in mournful 
 idleness ; but patiently her little fingers gathered 
 the seeds that had ripened, and were just ready to 
 fall, and scattered them where no seed had been 
 sown ; she raised, and bound up the blades of grass 
 that had been trodden under foot and bruised in 
 the day time ; and where a {lower was overburdened
 
 G4 STAR-DUST. 
 
 with dew, she would relieve it by carrying the 
 precious drops to some tiny blossoms that were 
 overshadowed by larger plants, and were parched, 
 and thirsting for the refreshing moisture. 
 
 It was thus that little Fallen Star passed the re 
 mainder of the night. But when " the earth at day- 
 dawn lifted up her head out of her sleep, star-watch 
 ed, to face the sun," r, starry brilliant, glimmering in 
 the blue above, showed that Fallen Star had return 
 ed to her home on high ; but the memory of the 
 truth she murmured as she left us, the great and 
 beautiful truth that she had learned duriug her 
 earthly pilgrimage, may bring a blessing to many a 
 weary heart, and aching soul : 
 
 " TO BLESS, IS TO BE BLEST."
 
 LIBRARY
 
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