THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES BY AAHON G. DATJ.S DYKRSBURG, TENN. AARON G. J)AVIS, PUBLLSHWR. 1900 WAIKs KRoM THE WAYS1I>|<; AJ-L RIGHTS RESERVID By tho Publisher. 11TI1- WAIFS b'KOM THE WAY.slPE PKBFACB. These waif* have been hastily written, at odd time*, in a busy life, :md do not possess that literary finish, which under more favorable circumstance*, might liMve been given them. Yet it is hoped that they may bo of some interest to those in whose hands thi.s little volume may fit 1 1. Hewpectfully, A. G. J). WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE. HEARTS THAT ARE TRUE. If there were no hearts in the world that are true, There'd be nothing to live for in life, For storm clouds would shadow each glimpse of the blue, And the world would go downward in strife, If there were no hearts that are true! All sunshine that over our planet hath shone, Hath burst from the light of belief. And Doubt is anight with a shudder and groan A sob in the shadows of grief, This doubt for hearts that are true! To suffer the chill in the damps of Deceit Is better, far better, than doubt One heart that is true; for deceiving can cheat, But its shadows can never shut out The sunshine of hearts that are true 460076 WAIFti FKOM THE WAYSIDE Shut out from our vision Hie beautiful star That shines on the banner of Truth. And valleys whose beauty a Judas doth mar, Will smile in the sunshine of Ruth, Will smile for the hearts that are true. THE CONFEDERATE DEAD. The blast from the battle -blown trumpet Has dit-d on the War God's breath, And the blood-stained banner of Freedom Droops over the plains of Death, Where under the clod of the valley, In many a gory bed, Amid the shadows and silence, Are the long, long ranks of the dead. Ihere, resting in death and glory, Are the proud Confederate braves, All gathered from tempests of battle, And lost in myriad graves, Where war clouds never shall darken, Or the bolts of the combat fall, But the years of sleep, unbroken, Shall linger alike for all. WAIFS FROM THE WAYfiTJDE >; <^ From mauy a rural fireside, And home of tlie throbbing marts, Lit up with the light of affection, And dear to their proud, brave hearts, With the gleaming sword and musket, At the call of a bleeding land, They arose like Spartan heroes In the ranks of Glory's band. And parents, with hearts o'erladen, And sisters with weeping eyes, And those who were nearer and dearer, With tears too heavy to rise H ve faintly the farewell murmered, And clung to the parting hand, And watched for the brave, who never Returned from a far off land. Thro' the smoke and glare of the battle, Thro' the blood and the bolted breath, They bore the banner of Freedom Right on to the jaws of death; And a land of graves and darkness, With that banner now furled on the tide, Is all that remains of the Nation That bled, and suffered, and died. WAIFS FROt THE WAYSIDE But there 'raid wreck and the darkness, All healed are the wounds of the fight, And strewn are the flowers of summer, By the white winged angels of light Who weep by the mouldering ashes Of the brave, who reck no more Of the glorious hope that perished, Or the cross they, suffering, bore. Tho' clouds of gloom and the darkness Of defeat hang over the land Where a martyred Freedom's banner Droops over their mouldering band, The glorious hand of Honor 'Has laurelled each blood-stained brow, And peace has folded each bosom That is mouldering, pulseless, now. How sweet is the sleep, unbroken, Of death and the martyr's grave, Where hover the shadows and silence To the ranks of the lost and the brave, Whose hearts in the heat and glory Of battle shall leap no more, Or ache for a martyred Freedom, Where the clouds of darkness lower; W A I !' S V I ! ( ) M Til K \V A Y S 1 1 ) K For the fitful suffer! nr is over, And the life has ebbed away: And all that is left in the darkness Is only a handful ol clay; And the light of a deathless yloi-y That streams with a fadeless ll;i ie From defeat and the lowjy shadows To the haloed scroll of fame. The jjory that needs no i-olumu To point to 'he fallowed bed, Where the blood siained banner ol Freed. mi Dri'ops over the deathless dead, Whose dust in the hoi\ sileiit-e And om that memoiy eiu'i.-rs, I> wet \\ i;'h the r.iin ol' sorrow In the flood of a nation's tears. DUTY. Ah. once I was charmed with the um>ic That the fields and the wood-; awake. The sound of the Maytime showers And the birds bv the silent lake: WAIFS FROM THE WAYsIDE I was charmed by the wandering breezes That brought the scent of the rose; By the wonders, deep and mystic, Of sound at the evening's close. But a time came on with the shadows And heart-ache of toiling and strife, When 1 longed for the voice that cometh From God for a broader life. And I sighed for the tender touches, For the more mysterious part Of the softer music fetters, That bind and thrill the heart; And it came when I found where Duty Doth point to the thorny way, And Love doth smile on the struggle From the dawn of an Endless Day. TO A SOUTHERN GIRL. The poet's pen is incomplete, And language sinks in burning drouth To lay a tribute at thy feet, Fair daughter of the South. WAIFS PROM THE WAY.SIDE Thy hair has shamed the darkest night ; Thy tender, witching smile is more Thau half awakened dawns that light This old romantic shore; And fairer is thy blue-veined brow Thau boasts the water lily's suow, And all the sweetest roses vow Thy cheeks a richer glow. Thine eyes are lum'nous orbs that beam More tender than our Southern Junes, More deep than mystic lakes that dream Beneath magnolia moons. More chaste thy lips than peach's blush, More innocent than driven snow, Yet warm and tender is the flush Of Southern hot blood's glow; And in thy being lives the trace A bounteous gift Divine to thee Of all the beauty, all the grace An angel's dream might be. O, thou sweet singer, who dost hold In thy pure soul's unfathomed urn \V \ IK-i I-'iSoM TIIK WAVSIDK A e;it Tliroujrli :il! the ])iil.-ii!ii' bent of ye;irs Mnt hnppiness, unniensured. sweet, 'Till thy pure life, no clouds, no tears, Is rounded ,-nnl complete. TO A W II IPPOOR .WILL. S;id, sjul thy mournful note, 0, lonesome \\hippoorwill, Yet as its numbers float Fiom yon old nigged hill, Amid the dank night air, O'er shadow haunted vale, While rising dimly there, The moon is shining pale: I, ling'ring, love to hear Thy tale, O, bird so lone The tale that brings a tear, That seems so like my own. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE With smiling spring once more These clear old hills are green, And roseate skies bend o'er The fields and woods between; And yet through all the blessed, Sweet days that come and go, A shadow fills my breast While through its pulses flow A tender thrill of pain, As gazing sadly o'er The past I sigh again For days that are no more. And as I stand to-night Beside my childhood's cot The home that once was bright With smiles I know can not Be seen on earth again; While mem'ries of the past, That fill my breast with pain, Come crowding thick and fast- No wonder as I list, Oh, mournful bird, to thee, My eyes grow dim with mist, For that which can not be. WAIFS FROM THK WAYSIDB I listened wheu a child, .Here at my cabin door, As in the woodland wild, Through twilight gathering o'er 1 heard thee mourn and mourn; All me, it might have been For hopes forever torn I did not think so then, The daytime was so blight So full of golden beams, And slumbers of the night Brought gladness in their dreams. For all was joyous then Through tender, golden years That blessed my childhood when The seasons brought no tears No sorrow in their flight, But now that light is o r er, And as I pause to-night By childhood's home once more, I find, decayed and lone, A mossed and crumbling cot, A hillside overgrown A s.-td neglected spot. WAIFS PLIOM THK WAYSIDE 11 Where are the friends, the dear Beloved ones of yore? They do not. liuger here; The old roof -tree no more For them will cast its shade; I seek beside the cot, And over hill and glade, And through the meadow -lot, But with a heavy sigh, "I cannot find them there; Oh, where are they?" 1 cry, And echo answers, "where?" No wonder that to-night, Sad mourner of the wild, My heart is not as light As when I was a child When listening from this door To thee, I could not feel The shadows that now o'er My heaving bosom steal, While seeming from thy throat, Thou dost outpour in strange And melancholy note, The sadness of this change. 12 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE There is a mystic tie In gladness, never wrought With sympathetic sigh, In sorrow's deepest thought; And this is why I hear, While standing thus alone, A tale that brings a tear That seems so like my own ; 0! lonesome bird of night Of night, so dark and chill, Around the solemn height Of yon old, rugged hill. WHAT IS DEATH? You ask me what Death is. I can not tell It is a mystery, so dark and deep, The sobs of grief, the tolling of the bell Beside the threshold of that dreamless sleep Can tell as much as all tliat Wisdom boasts; As much as all Philosophy has yet Revealed. Our deepest ponderings are lost In mist where God the seal of silence set. WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDK l.{ THE YE A LI. The year is one grand poMii, From where the roses blow To where the wintry twilight. I'iiles o'er ;i waste of simw! There's music in the Southwind That thrills I he bud to bloom; A rhythm in the raindrops, That patter in the gloom. And from the skies of opal To where the hills are bright, There is a mystic language No pen can ever write! In green flushes of forests; In verdant fields that teem With birds and bloom are measures Earth poets can not dream! Ah, there are thrills of passion, Through swart hot days, from deep Founts of the fervid Sun god That lull the world to sleep- That lull the day the moonrise The star dawn 'till that strange: 14 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE Transfigured scene of wonder The .season's mystic change! Then through this wondrous poem There breathes the .saddest tone, Witli blighted flowers, fallen Dead leaves, and beauty flown; A deep, sad tone that reaches Out through the days and nights Of wintry storms and changes To the sublimes!* heights. The year is one grand poem That thrills with life and light. But ah, its mystic language, No pen can ever write! LEGEND OF THE WATER LILY. Once shone a mystic star, Bright in the sky above, That sighed and sighed because It had no one to love. Down in the pathless wilds, The red men's children played, WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 15 Through twilight, in the depths Of the old forest shade. And when the star iirose, It, felt within its breast, A yearning to be near Those children of the west. Then fall inn from the sky, It rested on a. tree, And said: "I'll wait, and see If they will notice me." But they no notice took Of the poor star as o'er The waves their hirch canoe Sped from the wooded shore. It watched them waiting there, Beyond the shadows row; And then said piteously: "Flight down to them I'll go;" Then, falling on the deep, It burst, arid brightly shone, Its fragments numberless Along the waters blown; And from each flake of light There on the river's blue WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE Deep bosom, white as snow, A water lily grew. All! nut in Viiin, the. stiir Came to this world of ours; Affection here it found. We love those perfect flowers. PHANTOM TKEASUIIES. Hefore our yearning vision, Tliiit radiant shore The golden Sometime llect-des forevermore. We c.iicli ;i glimpsea semblance A distant gleam Of Elrtoradoes That vanish like a dream Hut never ^rasp the treasures, The sweets that bloom In golden Sometime, And fade in endless gloom. For they are only pictures That By and Bye, The cunning artist, Faints on a fading sky. WAIP.S FROM THE WAYSIDE 17 "AND THERE WAS LIGHT." Who laid the vast foundations of the deep, And reared the barriers of the ocean's might! Who spread the continents with all their vast 'Jntraveled bounds? Who scattered in the seas The myriad isles and who ia all of this Hath wrought such wonders, wrought such endless dreams Of beauty, wrought such glory, wrought such graudieur In mountain range, with grand, majestic peaks; In valleys, broad as grim, old ocean's waste; In forest, river all that nature boasts! Who formed all this? Thy hand, Almighty God. Yet glory more than this hath struck with awe This Earth, and made her reel in dim eclipse! Ah! dazed the Universe! When darkness lay Upon the deep; when all was lost in gloom, God threw, amid the rayless void of vast Infinite space, ten thousand flaming worlds, And said: "Let there be light. And there was light!" 18 WAIFS PROM THE WAYMDE "UNKNOWN." In storms of death through charnel gloom They fought, and faced war's dreadful doom, And held above the bloody sea A nation's hope 'till all was lost! Their lives, their names for you and me Is what their grand devotion cost. And now, 'mid wrecks of battle sown, Our country's heroes sleep, unknown. 'Tis sad to see, amid the fight, The brave go down for home and Right Sad when the hero leaves a name, That's cherished through memorial years, And emblazoned on the scroll of fame; But Honor sheds her saddest tears O'er martyr forms, by battle sown, In long, red trenches, marked, "Unknown." And sadder still, the hearts that bled! By anguish rung tears that were shed 'Mid shadows of that doomful time, For those who never did return From fields, where Carnage rode sublime, Whose hero hearts had ceased to yearn WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE 19 For home and loved ones slept alone, In battle trenches, marked, "Unknown!" "Unknown?" No, they are apart Of Glory, arid in every heart, That beats in sympathy and love, For all that's noble iu our race They live, and angels bend above, With an eternal record trace Of every name forever in the Light That storm or change can never blight ! VANITY. A little imperfection That gathers many sweets From silly flowers, blooming, Fos every heart that beats. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE "IF HOPE. SHOULD DIE.' 7 If Hope should die, Wlmt would life be and Time? Would yon proud sky E'er arch o'er works sublime By hunmu genius wrought? Would fields of Thought Have gleaners? Nevermore On sea or shore! All that is true And beautiful beneath ihe blue, Translucent sky Would fade amid the gloom, And never branch of promise bloom If hope should die. He, who made Sacrifice and Love, And made our souls to yearn For Ihe infinite things above The dark mysterious Urn, That pours the stormful years Into the great Unknown, Made hope, through hit man tears And every moan WAIFiS FLIOM THE WAYS1DK '21 Of human hearts to shine The one fixed star amid the gloom, Forever mine and thine; Nor could one branch of promise bloom Beneath the sky It' Hope should uie. THE MOULDS OF FORTUNE. He hath the moulds of fortune, Who hath a hero's hands, And precious ores for building Are drifting in Time's sands. WAIFS FUOM THK WAYSIDE NO CROSS NO CROWN. "Tisover the lives where Sorrow Hath fallen with deepest gloom That sweetly the beautiful flower Of teuderest love doth bloom. The heart that dares in the combat, For all that is holy and true, Shall thrill when the field is conquered As those of the angels do. The soul that suffers and struggles For God 'till the storms shall cease, Shall reach the ultimate harbor, In the glory of love and peace. The hands that are worn by labor, Though humble their lor be cast. Shall rise when the field is t'oughten "With the yictory palms at last. And the feet that through the desert Of shadows and thorns press on At the call of duty, thougli bleeding, Shall tread the shores of ilie Dawn. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 23 "Tis over the brow where struggles, Their deepest traces, have ploughed That the skies grow calm at even In banishing every cloud. At the tomb is lost in the shadows The light of earth's glimmering dawn; But over the hills of the twilight The star of hope shines on. 'Tis ours to struggle and suffer, 'Till thorns and shadows are past, For Love, and Truth, and triumph That come to the brave at last. If we bear no cross in the shadows, We can wear no crown in the light, When the endless Day shall triumph Over the gloom of Night! -!4 WAIFS FROM THE WAYsIDB CONTRASTS. There are regions so barren and cold That they never can feel the power- Mysterious, thrillful power, That tenderly warmeth to life A wealth of leafage and flower. There are lives so barren and cold That the light that falls from above- Froni God, who reigneth above, Doth wake no tender impulse No warmth of beauty and love. Each fllleth its destined place, In the mist of the storm ful years In the drift of the yearnful years Of Time, and the rest is left With God, who ruleth the spheres. WAIFS FltOM THE WAYSIDE 25 DAVY CROCK ETT. The West, w;i.s Freedom's virgin clime, Her dearest child, her brightest, st;ir, Must radiant orb that rose on Time. .She stood without one cloud to mar Her innocence. In glory wrought; In grace and beauty, wild and free, As if in Jier the gods h;id caught, Through some mysterious alchemy, All tliiitan angel's dream might be! Arid Freedom came to claim her own, From proud Columbia's altar llame, Where falls no shadow of a thioue, With galling chains, and groans, and shame! She came to thrill this Paradise With life and hope; to swing the gates Ajar for Glory's sun to rise The sun this virgin West awaits To light the way of rising states. But Freedom, pausing by the flood Of Mississippi, sank in awe; The Despot rose thro' tears and blood; Rose over Liberty and Law- Hose in her path with torch and chains: And scorned her power; her right to save 26 WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE The West her wilderness and plains From crime iinrl blood, the torl.ure truve, The master's lash, groans of the slave! Hut lo! there rises at her side A hero form from Tennessee A stalwart chief, in battle tried, Who breathed but the breath of the Free! Frontiersman, patriot, pioneer! A statesman, able, august, grave In council, proud, devoid of fear; He was the soul of honor brave As ever Rome to Glory gave! Thus Crockett came to blaze the way; He plunged through wilderness and plain, To save the west for Freedom's sway; To quench the torch, and rend the chain: He dared all odds; he met the foe Alone, where demigods would fail. Amid the storms of Alamo He scorned the battle's deadly gale, The flame and smoke, the leaden hail! He stands alone; the foemen come In fearful odds; he lays them low; WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE 27 Amid the cheers of Christendom, Amid the thunder clouds, the glow Of battle's flaming hell he holds A nation's hope! And though his light, His life is quenched beneath the folds Of Freedom's flag in that dread fight, He never can be lost in night. He fell, but Glory's aureole Is his; and he is Freedom's own; And Fame's through all the years that roll Into the mists of the Unknown For from his blood at Alamo, The dawn of Freedom broke! The fate Of despot power was sealed. The glow Of life thrilled each embryo state, And all the West rose rich and great. He needs no monument of stone; Long as in human hearts shall leap Noble impulse, the West, her own Great hero's deathless fame, shall keep! His memory lives in every breeze From paths of the Lone Star's hot tide To mists of far off Oregon seas; WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE From sunrise on the Great Divide To where the Golden Gateways glide. But, not alone, shall the great West Our hero claim for Tennessee Holds him as hers. Nursed on her breast, He was her son. Pride of the free! And she has reared her Alamo, In honor of his deathless fame, And sealed fore'r her love to show The fairest spot her boundaries claim Her Paradise, with Crockett's name! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE PUOSPU'S TIMES IN CLIOCKETT. Prospu's Limes in Crockett! Thar never wus sich corn, An' hogs, geewhillikins! Won't plenty spill her horn? An' whnt rank gyarden truck; Look at theui peaches blush! An' watermillen patches 1 jistdo wish ye'd hush! Prospu's times in Crockett! What fields of clover hay; Fat sheep, an' cows, an' hosses; An' mules too thunderin' gay; An' punkins, big) whoopee! Sweet taters crappin' out! Jist wait till possum time, An' then ye'll hear me shout! Prospu's times in Crockett! Ol' folks ses: "Abide In meekness; jist be 'umble, So as to stifle pride, Or else the dark ill omens Might 'nock yer luck up." \VAIFS FROM THE WAYSJDE But ah, these fields of sorghum I fear will get us stuck up. Prospu's times in Crockett! Under the harvest moon; Ry groaning crib and smoke-house, We'll sing a merry tune! An' drink the good oP cider, That heats the wine tiv France, To raise a jubilee; An' make the Deacon dance. WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE HI GREECE. Still in the heart of Greece Doth burn that deathless flame Of martial fire that gave Thermopylae to fame! On her heroic shores, Where glory never dies, The spirit of the past Doth thrill the brave who rise- To dare a world in arms, Her own heroic sons, Who face at Glory's call A hell of battle guns! The proudest star that rose Upon the antique world, Still points to deathless years, With Glory's flag unfurled. Nor shall the aureole, Her ancient heroes wrought, Fade on the bloody fields Of battles to be fought. Nor shall that glorious day, Bozzaris died to save, WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE. Fade till its triumph pales On the last Grecian's grave. Still in the heart of Greece Dutli burn that deathless flame, That brought the antique world Jn tribute to her fame. SONG OF THE BLUE BIRD. The sky is cold and bleak, And frozen is the ground; But from yon shadowed brake, There comes a cheering sound A thrilling note, Borne from the blue bird's throat! And now 1 know the skies, With warmth and light will glow. And herbs and flowers rise, And fragrant zephyrs blow For that sweet strain Has never come in vain! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 33 ROSES AND THORNS. Tii rough the years, I have found more roses t ! r"i thorns In the wilds of earth and Time; But when I bowed in the purpling morn's Sweet breeze, and its light, sublime, And sighed o'er the piercing sting of a thorn That I might have unflinching defied I saw not the light of the bright, glad moon; And the roses all drooped, and died. There are beauties around us that we can make ours In these wilds of the earth world gloom If we press, unflinching, o'er thorns to the flowers; And gather the sweets of the bloom. The shadows will fall down under our feet If we bravely reach out above For the light, and all that is fair and sweet, That leadeth to God and His love. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE FADELESS. Ah me, If you and I Had every precious flower That in the buried past doth lie, Dead in some desert bower Because we did not speak A kind word to the weak; Because we left undone Some golden deed that might have won. For these sweet flowers, The life and strength to make them ours. Forever ours! Ah yes, if we had these all these, No dreams of wrecks on shoreless seas Would then disturb us in the shades Of life's decline. Nor would its dismal glades Be hopeless. Far above Would shine the Star of Love, By Whose eternal light, Our hearts might weaye a wreathe That Time .can never blight! But let us not despond, Or sigh for what has been! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE Press ou, and look beyond The world's dark strife and dim. For yet do golden deeds await The touch of willing hands; And we may grasp, through any fate, A wreathe to give us strength, Amid life's ebbing sands. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE LISTEN. All, let us listen awhile, And the sordid things forget. Where over each weary mile The mortal doth worry-, and fret. For the happy, happy strains Of a sweet felicity Are weaving their golden chains In fetters for you and me. Do you hear the flowers sigh In their sweetest dreams of love? Or the clouds that scud the sky, As they echo the anthems above? Do you hear how wondrous sweet! That sound from the beams of the moon, As they tread with their unseen feet, On the hearts of the roses in June? Have you heard the delicate sound That comes with the falling snow As it folds on the silent ground The violet dreams below? WAIFS FROM THE WAYsIDK Have you heard all these, and more That 110 pen of a mortal can write; And felt that the glooms that lash our shore Have beyond them no deeps of light? God ruleth. His wondrous power Doth reach over time and space From the softest flush of a flower To the fartherest planet's trace. Ah, let us listen to-day; No power of earth made these Sweet echoes that fall on the way In their wondrous melodies. These sounds we hear from the beach Of Celestial bounds above Are the echoes of ttie angel speech, That telleth of God and his Love! 460076 WAIFS FKOM THE WAYSIDE JUNE.. Beyond the mystic way, The M;iytime passes away For over I, In: hill.s ;ire born, In I he glow of the purpling morn, From the buds by angels sown, The blooms of a broader life Kor the roses of June are blown In the winds by their fragrance rife. What wonders in sea. and sky Come on the wake of June! My pen doth fail, and I sigh Kor a, word that late or soon, Might speak to some heart in doubt, Some soul in the shades of doubt Of the God, who made all these Strange wonders of land and the seas. For then I would tell of June, With its glories beneath the sun; And its beauties beneath the moon, As a wondrous thought of One, Who ruleth a poem of light, That has fallen from regions above, Thrown from a far Celestial height By angels to tell of His love! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE IF WE HAD KNOWN. The thoughts that give us pain Are thoughts from out the past, Sad as the Autumn rain, When skies are overcast. For there are deeds undone- Undone forever now, The deeds that might have won A laurel for the brow! And there are others, too, Mjsdeeds, though unawares, That spring beneath the blue In gloomy fields of tares. And there is many a word, That if unspoken, best For tender hearts that heard, For dear hearts, now at rest. And there are others, too, That might have oft been said, To pierce a shadow through; And bring a smile instead! All me, how changed all this, If we could learn in youth. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE. The secret of life's bliss That one immortal truth! Hut in this world of strife, Hearts that we know are true, (3ft loose the best of life In learning what to do. LOOKING FORWARD. I look to the years before me, And not to the shades of the past, And brightly the skies bend o'er me, And around me no shadow is cast. For God, who gave me the power, When the star of hope in the Night Grew dim in the darkest hour, To fight for Love and the Right Still liveth and ruleth over Humanity's hopes and fears- Still liveth and ruleth over Heart-throbs of the stormful years. I look to the years before rue, To the deeds that are yet undone, And the star of hope shines o'er me, To the fields that may be won. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 41 OUR PART. How sweet will be our rest, if when Our grave is heaped on hill or glen, It can be said, that through the years We've rambled in this "vale of tears," In working for the good of those For whose delight no flower grows Or sunbeam shines; but only tares, Along the lonely thoroughfares. Grow in the gloom; and no respite From suff'riug makes one moment bright, We have with sympathetic heart, And self-denial done our part. 42 WAIFS FROM .THE WAYSIDE. THE GODDESS OF JUNE. My Love is the Goddess of June, With her roses, born of the sun, And lilies, dreaming under the moon In the gloom of the lone lagoon Or marsh of the languid rivers that run, With plaint and murmur on to the sea, On to the endless deeps of the sea. She comes with a smile as bright As the wondrous dawns that rise At the magic touch of life and light, Thro' which she thrills, by the right She holds the world 'till the opal skies Arch over a glory, all her own! Proclaiming that glory all her own! And then she reigneth a queen, And fairer than thrones have known In a wondrous realm, with its shores of green, Where the hills and the vales between Are bright with the mystic flowers, blown From the gold of the sun, and the blue of the skies; From the sunrise clouds and the snow of the skies WAIFS FROM THE WAYsIDE Her courtieurs are the Graces That dance to the harp of the breeze; Bird songs in Joj's delightful places; Sweet sounds where the brooklet traces Its wandering way by the fragrant leas; And the deep, lone murmur on the shore, Of the yearnful waves by the golden shore. And all that is wondrous rare In beauty that earth can boast; From the vales and hillsides everywhere ; From the valleys, broad and fair, That stretch away to the dreamful coast In its loyeliest form is at her feet In all of its glory, is at her feet. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE THE GLORY OF LIFE. The glory of life begins Beyond the verge of Time; The years are dark with sins; And the nations stained with crime, But the glory of life begins Beyond the verge of Time. The shadows that fall to-day Are fleet as the break of a wave; There is sorrow and thorns on the way; And agony points to the grave, But the shadows that fall to-day Are fleet as the break of a wave. God reigneth! Eternity's dawu In His wonderful power shall rise, Shining on and always on, With His light in its cloudless skies. God reigneth! Eternity's dawn In his wonderful power shall rise. The glory of life begins Beyond the verge of Time. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE - 45 For Purity blooms o'er sius; And Truth doth rise o'er crime; And the glory of life begins Beyond the verge of Time. 46 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE EASTER. How sweet is this day of days That coines to the world so bright With hope, and joy, and praise For him, who hath broken the chains of Night! The flowers that bloom out there, By the fields and the hillsides boru, Come forth from earth as the fair Sweet types of the Resurrection morn. And all that is fair and bright ; Bird songs; and the hymns that rise; The roses; the breeze and the light, That floods the earth with its cloudless skies But point for our hearts above, From a life that is fleet as a breath, To the realms of Eternal Love, To the Christ who hath conquored the grave, and Death. WAIFS FtlOM THE WAYSIDE 47 HOPE. Thou art an angel with a lamp, That shines through regions, lone and damp. Sweet hope! Ah, were it not for thee, What would Time's vale of shadows be? Would ever one sweet glimpse of dawn, Bright herbenger of Day, steal on, Along the shadows, or one star Shine on the night-shades from afar"? Would flowers ever bloom? Would Peace Smile then for War's dark frowns to cease? Would Love still live? Would faith e'er dream Of shores beyond the Jordan stream? 48 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE GOD'S WAY IS BEST. If all the 3 r ears were happy years, The mortal would have no thought Of a world, that over the mists of hope and fears, By the lamp of Faith is sought. God knoweth best. He made the shades, That over the soul, doth fall so deep, But he placed a light beyond the dismal glades, Whei'e the breaking heart doth weep. God's way is not ours. We would make Earth pleasures our all forget His blessings, if pain and sorrow came not to awake Our hearts in their wild regret! Forget were it not for the fiery trials that bin n The dross from our lives, and leave the Love That riseth over the marble bust and the urn To the peace and joy of angel throngs abo\e. God's way is best; And best that the years are dark and lonesome years WAIFS FUOM THE WAYSIDE 49 For it points to the endless time of the blest, Thro' the mist of sorrow, ahd pain, and hopes, and fears. A BATTLE SCENE. The scene was grand. The battle raged, With roar ahd din and caution's flash, And clouds of blinding smoke that rolled Like vapors from a pot of hash ! THE SUMMER BAIN. When the hills have felt the drouth, In the fervid sun of the South, When the long ween blades of com Twist up in the sultry morn, When 'reft of the glittering dews, The blooms of the cotton loose Their beauteous tints of cream, In the lull of a noontide dream, And the flowers droop in the hedge, By the woods and the waste of sedge How sweet to the growing crops, Are the first few ruurmering drops That come with the cooling gust, And the scent of the sprinkled dust! Ah! gone are the dust and the heat, And now in the village street, In the farmer's home by the leas, Neath the old ancestral trees, In the rude cot hid in the waste By the deep red gullies traced, With the joy of the watered earth, All hearts are beaming with mirth! New life in the solitudes Of the dim and pathless woods! WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE 51 New life in the field iind hedge Andtlie thicket iiud waste of sedge! And liroke is the solemn hush Hy song and the brooklet's rush! And I think how thankful to God, Who waters the teeming sod, For this blessing given so free Should the hearts of mortals be! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE MELANCHOLY. Where grim misfortune's phases O'ercasi, the light of morn, I've I rod life's roughest places 'I'ill many a piercing thorn Has left its weary traces; Has left me restless And forlorn. The day is tilled with pleasures Kor ot hers and I see Them chase their phantom treasures, Light hearted, wild and free, But oh, how drear its measures Of weary hours, And gloom for me! The banquet hall is gleaming Across you noisy street With mirth and wine are beaming The hours at pleasure's feet. But here there are no dreaming Bright eyes. The hours Have leaden feet. Thus daytime night time, lighted With sweetest joys for some, WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE 53 In lenderest love are plighted Along the path they come, But tliere for me are blighted The flowers and sunshine, The music dumb. Why thus? Where duty calls me I try to go I try Whatever fate befalls me To do beneath the sky Above the chain that thralls me A work for others Before I die But ah am I complaining? I meant not to complain To God's own will disdaining The ills of life, I fain Would bow. If drear and raining Look to the future Work in the rain. WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE IN THE WOODS. I love these grand Old Solitudes, These sylvan deeps, These pathless woods; For when with weary Throbbing bntin, And yearning bosom Dull with pain, I long for rest 1 llinl it here In this serener Atmosphere, In tranquil moments Of release From toil blessed. With holy peace! WAIP8 PROM THE WAYSIDE 55 HARD TIMES. I don't know what on earth to do The times are frightening, My pocket book, like thunder clouds, Is ever lightening. GEN N B \Jlill T LJ> By AARON Q. DAVIS, D . E (SBURG. I saw the dread eclipse Of doomful \var's death shadows rest Upon the South, as she was pressed To Glory's Bloody lips. Then in the face of doom I saw one matchless hero rise A meteor in the stonn-lashed skies, Hash through the dreadful gloom. That hero was the grand And glorious chief, who through the red Flames of a hell of battle led The one unconquered band. 'T\vas Forrest, from whose sword Flashed rays of hope through dark despaifj And set Ihc seal of triumph where A nation's blood \vas poured. 'Twas this unconquered knight, Who with a few proud heroes dared A world in arms, till all hope flared And never lost a fight. Where war's dread thunders crashed The loudest in the bloody fray- Where thickest death shots mowed their way, His sword in triumph flashed. And when at last he stood, Unconquered, with the dreadful gloom And sorrow of his country's doom So dark around him cast- In Southland's gloom and tears, Fame from her throne of glory down, Bent low with his immortal crown, For all the deathless years. 56 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE. LONGING. I long for a glimpse of dawn For a gleam of sunshine stealing on Over the shadows of crime; And I dream of a time to be, Of a near and nearing time When all men shall be free. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE' 57 THE HOURS. The hours arc .seraph messengers, That come to us by day and night From one who keeps the record of the years, The angel who doth write The story of our deeds, As time recedes With opportunities of light, And love and hope, beyond our sight. And every hour That brings from out the gates of Morn A gleam of sunshine or a flower, ~ >,,-": A shadow or a thorn, Through which is rounded and complete A day of toiling; or the sweet, The ever blessed , And welcome breathing time of rest! Yes, every hour, when it hath flown To the bar of of the last court, Through mystic shadows of the vast Unknown, Doth make report! And all that ever come will bear To that great Judgment Bar 58 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE. Beyond the fartherest star; From every field of strife aud care ; From every life, a deed or thought, That shall be caught From the angelic messenger, Into a smile or melt into a tear Upon the page of destiny That holds Eternity ! Ah, why s.hould phantoms lure Us on, until we tread Forbidden shores where shadows blur The brightness o'erhead; And the ill messages of sordid deeds Be borne from us, while Virtue intercedes, And Purity and Love and Hope and Truth That this old world may better be That we have lived from roseate youth To the last opportunity, That fades where twilight hills are gray "When the last hour doth pass away, With its report to seal our destiny For all there is in vast Eternity! WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 59 THO GHTS. Some- thoughts like flowers grow, In tenderness, and these are sweet, Blown when the dawn is bending low; But some, pushed from the furnace, glow Like sun-rays of the noontide heat. These gently breathe thro' heart and mind The sweets of Beauty's spirit deeps; Those*with the fires of passion blind, Fill souls that rise and weep to find, They cannot reach the glory steeps. 60 WAIFS FROM THE WAYi-IDE 'TIS SUMMER. 'Tis summer. Arouud our radiant zone There is a wealth of flowers that splash the seas of green With Beauty Sweep with glory Arctic wastes Of snow, and break in cliffs of gold And clouds of emerald and mists of rubies. In reaching out to catch the glow of tropics The sunshine splashes streams of amythist ; And all the hours, as. they pass From proud Aurora's throne Down to the Golden Gate, Keep time to soft, sweet music of the bi-eezes Uhat whisper all the golden secrets Of many a wonderland WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE LOST PLEASURES. The shadows fall, and tbe silence And the sheeted memories tread, Tread over the heart with sadness That comes from the gloom of the dead. Then cometli the pain and the heartache, That burden the spirit the most, With the ghosts of pleasures once ours, But lost on a stormful coast. 61 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE TENNESSEE. The brightest star in all the galaxy Of States is Tennessee. In triumphs won On Freedom's battle fields; in glory wrought Through intellectual power, she stands alone, And all the sister baud are satellites, That through her splendor shine. This grand old State Has stood the test of fire and blood. Her sons Were at the front upon the bloody crest Of old Kings Mountain, and turned back the title Of dark disaster that had settled down On Freedom's cause. Her sons were at the front In all the savage wars and massacres, From the Ohio to the Southern Gulf, And as a heritage to peoples yet Unborn, they gave a conquored wilderness For glorious states to rise with human hopes And destinies. Her SOPS were at the front At New Orleans, where Andrew Jackson's sword Beat back the British legions, in the gloom That on our country's glory fell, and through WAIP6 FUOM THE WAYSIDE (5 That glorious triumph raised our feeble land From a dim satellite of England's power To where but stars of the first magnitude Can ever shine. Her sons were at the front On the red plains of Mexico, and won A triumph that has stretched our proud domains From Louisiana, to the Golden Gate. Her sons were at the front upon the heights Of Gettysburg, in Glory's van with Lee, And it was only when their hero forms, Amid the cheers of Christendom, had borne A people's hope into the jaws of death, And fell 'Twas only when these mangled braves Lay in their gore, beneath the flaming hell Of battle, that there came on through the fight On through the dread delirium and gloom, The awful death cry of a nation lost The darkness that doth follow in the wake Of a bright star that flares and falls in space. Her heroes sleep on every battle field, Between our ocean bounds her martyred sons, Who won for her beyond the reach of all Her sisters in the glorious galaxy Of States the title that she proudly wears, The "Volunteer." 64 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE Yet, all this glory wrought In war, is but the halo of her fame. No nation on this planet ever gave A prouder page of civic history To Time and Glory, than the scroll that bears The record of the sous of Tennessee. Her God-like sons, whose eloquence has thrilled The multitude, or awayed the giant minds Of Senates, through the storms and chaos of the strife Of mighty elements her God-like sons, Who at the nation's helm, have proudly held Our destiny, and landed the old ship In safety, amid Dissension's reefs, And thunder bolts of War! 0. grand old State, My native land, this pen is weak! Thy eons Of chivalry! Thy daughters, in whose lives Is born all that the gods might ever dream Of Grace and Beauty! Institutions reared To Learning, Progress, Christianity. Thou, proud clime of the sun, where the oppressed From every land find refuge, Tennessee! Thy memories, thy sacred soil, thy dead, WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 65 t Thy glory For all these an angel's harp; An angel's tongue may strike a note of praise; Not mine. For thou doest hold tbe beacon light That shines on highest planes of destiny For human hopes and thine the aureole! And thine the envy of all Modern pride; With all the grandeur of antiquity, With Greece and Rome in homage at thy feet. 66 WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE. AN ANSWEtl. Self ease you say is best; Aspiring bringeth pain, To rend the chords Within the breast Ami melt the heart in ruin. For disappointments blight The flowers of hope and ease, And shipwrecked lives Float through the night Where roll Ambition's seas. Then go, the glow worm chase, Nor strive for the pure light Of stars that bring From boundless space An aureole for Night. Heroic lives that trace Thro' time's untraveled seas, A pathway for The human race Were never made for ease. Thro' desert deeps they break The danger and the gloom, WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 07 And the dawn doth follow In their wake And Truth's bright flow'rs bloom. And if they suffer there The fate that giveth stones For bread and through The heart's despair To desert wolves their bones, Christ suffered, then why frown And cower at the loss Of hope and ease; There is no crown Unless there be a cross. Where fades the herioscope And all the stars above Grow dim there shines O'er shipwrecked hope The light of truth and love. There blooms from sliat'r'd dreams The spirit's bitter-sweet, And through heroic Lives, extremes Of lights and shadows meet. 68 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE But by and by the gloom And burdens all will cease And immortelles Of hope shall bloom In endless realms of peace. The victor's triumph ground Shall know no doom of loss; No heartache pain There is a crown And joy beyond the cross. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE ',> PEACE AND REST. After the fitful fever; After the trials that come in the strife, The sundown shadows gather At the close of a beautiful life. The sundown shadows gather, But over the mists in the West, There are dawns of the years that are endless; There is Peace with God and Rest. 70 WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE GOLDEN ROD. The golden days Glow through the semblance of a haze; And from the fields and hills The bottom's woodland gloom I catch a breath that thrills A glimpse of tender bloom Of Golden Rod. From shady nooks And shrubberies of the winding brooks And from the thorny hedge, Where grape-vine tendrils creep, And old field wastes of sedge, In radiant glory peeps The Golden Rod. Where falls the light On ripening corn, and fields grow white With drifts of fleecy snow; Where Nature's deepening tinge Of rich bright colors glow There is a beauteous fringe Of Golden Rod. \VAIP8 VftOM THE WAYSIDE 71 We love these flowers, That sprinkle fall like golden showers, And wake the past once more The thoughts of other days 'Till Childhood's golden shore Comes back amid a haze Of Golden Rod. I'l WAIFS FROM THE WAYsIDE THE OLD YEA LI AND THE NEW. The moon was pule on the desolate wold, And Hie lights of the village, one by one, Went, out/ till the last lone glimmering >quare Had sunk in the gloom of the buried sun. And the nicht was sad for the dear Old Year Was passing away to the silent shore, And I turned from the clock that I might not know When the last brief moment would whimper "no more." And as 1 stood in the silence and gloom The moon grew dim on the desolate wold And the stillness broke with a doleful sound For the Year was dead and the bells were tolled. The bells were tolled, and a thousand thoughts Came over my heart from memory's deep Of buried loves and of hopes now dead; Of thrilling ambitions fallen to sleep. The bells were tolled, and across the snow The silence was broken by sobs and sighs, By these alone in the cold and the gloom, And the sadness under the leaden skies. WAIFS FROM THE WAYSIDE 73 The bells were tolled, the Old Year was (le;id, But, Lhe New Year was with us as fair, As an atitfel, and thought I of this as the bells Were told in the gloom and the silence there. I thought of the light the Old Year had left, '' ' UM . \ j' : 'i| Of thoughts and deeds more precious than gold And even of shadows we would not forget, Sad treasures for many a heart to hold. ,MI.;J f4-.it ffi.Hi A' .* r. *!..' . / ; ,.. And as these thoughts of the Old and the New. Passed over my heart, the tones of the bells Were changed and they rang in a rapt delight, Till their melody awakened the hills and the dells. And I saw that the stars were peeping afraid At the flush iu the East, where the New Year was born, And the moon hid under the woods in the West, And the world was glad with tne golden morn. The Old Year is dead. The New Year is here. The one but a dream's dim shadow now, The other a field for glorious deeds, And chaplets for many a hero's brow. 74 WAIFS FROM THE WAY>IDE CHRISTMAS. As shepherds kept their vigils On Judean hills by night, The light of the first Christmas Burst from the skies iii splendor bright; And angels brought glad tidings, Undreamed, unknown by mortal ken, Of a Babe in the manger, Of "Peace on earth; good will to men " The ages had been stormful; And brooding darkness had not ceased. But a new star in Heaven Had startled wise men of the East! Had burst in new born glory; And all who saw its light had beeu Confounded with its message Of -'Peace on earth; goodwill to men." The light of the first Christmas Had fallen from the angels' wings; And time had caught the glory That burst forth o'er the King of Kings : WAIFS FROM THE AVAYSIDE 75 And ever sweet and holy Hath dear old Christmas been since then; And fraught with benedictions Of "Peace on earth ; good will to men." And always sweet and holy, When bright flames of the yule log flare; And if it seemeth mei'ry, It is because all thoughts of care And the tiresome days ot toiling Are banished from our pathway then Are banished in the glory Of "Peace on earth; good will to men." Beneath the festooned clusters Of holly and the mistletoe. What happy hearts! Remembrance And offerings of love that glow Into the distant future To live in bloom and sunshine when Dark realities challenge, This "Peace on earth; good will to men." Ah, blest and holy Christmas, How sweet thy light doth linger on 76 WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE. Oil from the golden sunset Of one until another's dawn. Grown old and tiresome never, But always hailed with rapture when It bringeth to the nations Its "Peace on earth; good will to men." WAIFS FUOM THE WAYSIDE 77 THE OLD CONFEDERATE. At the Re -union. Tlie frost of many years Is on his proud devoted head, As down life's dim decline he nears The bivouac of the dead. The storms are in the past And honored is each battle scar That he doth wear from out the blast And blood of the great war. And though the cause was lost For which he fought so nobly through The storms that o'er his country tossed The clouds that hid the blue, A people's gratitude In sunshine o'er him fell to-day, And in a sweet devotion strewed The flowers on his way. And when at last he rests His weary head upon the clod \V A 1 FS F l< O M T H K W A Y S I D E His name, his memory shall be blessed In his last sleep with God And when the roll on High Is called, he'll stand with Lee, once more, In the great dawn beyond the sky, With comrades gone before. WAI I'd PltOM TUR WAYSIDB NOVEMBER. The corn is shocked in the hollow, And the cotton fields are white; The rugged hills in the distance Grow dim in the smoky light. The lingering birds are chirping In the boughs of the sighing hedge, Where the lonely flowers are blooming; And the rabbit hides in the sedge. The lark is gay where the meadow Is sprinkled with tinted leaves; And the partridge, over the thicket, Is piping among the sheaves. And when the sundown has faded; And the night comes, bleak and chill, And I hear the horn of the hunter Break over the distant hill. Where the dim, red moon is rising Over a path that is traced Across the woodland, I wander To a cot half hid in the waste 80 WAIFS PROM THE WAYSIDE To a cot where fagots burn brightly As the hour is wearing late, And two bright eyes af; the window In the gloaming watch and wait. THE REASON. There's many a poor old man who keepeth "bach' Because through social jars and knocks, He could not strike the matrimonial match , Upon the money box! WAIFS FltoM TUB WAYSIDK 81 DARKNESS AND LIGHT. Between the "mists of two eternities," The Whence and Whither of the vast Unknown, Untraveled space in which the finite mind, That tries to grasp, throws dizzy, sinks in awe Amid this midnight gloom, these torturing ills, This maze of doubt, in this dim vale of Time No soul should fall in darkness. Then* is light To this old earth- world; and whatever storms May frown and rage, if we are brave and true Through struggles of the darkness, we can reach The light, and standing like the mighty Oak, Unshaken by the tempest, spurn the ills Of life, the blasts of time; and challenge fate. There's a little silver cord that binds Us to the narrow span of mortal years, A few brief days, a tender, fragile thread. To which we cling with such tenacious grasp. With all our being's feverish desire Through childhood's days of cart'-unfettered glt-e. When all is bright and fair and sweet content. Through youth's bright vistas' of unclouded skies, Ami sunshine gleams and roses and romance. Through all the rainbow promise of the years, Where sunshine smiles through swift vicissitudes Into our hearts that beat so high and warm, In sweet felicity, in raptured bliss; 8,2 WAIFS FKOM THK WAYSIDE Bill when the shadows, falling, dark and deep, H:ive brought a fearful shudder to the son], At that dark threshold, where we yearn. to sink In blank forgetfulness, forever lost. It' l lint were all that follows after (It-nth, In blank forget fulness or try the dread Realities of all there is beyond The dreary mists tliat vail the vast unknown; It is that little silver thread we held. So precious, in the days that are no more That shackles out' poor flesh, that goads and palls, That binds the soul in cankering, loathsome gloom (.1 Tortu re's prison walls; that little thread, So easy snapped, and yet, so terrible Is that dread thought, we shrink back, and endure The ills that haunt this weary pilgrimage Of darkness through the desert waste of Time. We stand by mouldering stones of fallen shrines That glow no longer with devotion's fires; By dreary deserts, where the hand of Fate Ha* strewn the ashes of our fondest dreams; By changes sad in regions haunted now Willi irhosts of phantoms that we used to chase; By foot -prints that have made the drifting sod In which they have been traced a hallowed spot; By cold, gray mounds, where sleeps the dreamless dust, Forever sacred to Love's burning kiss. By all of these and more, far, more than these The shadows, too, that we would not forget; iiuM TtlK WAYstDK The memories, sweet treasures, painful now, But holy, ever hoarded though they flood The spirit till the heart in anguish bleeds For that which never, never can -return. But some of it bare reached stiTT JarRer scenes; When all the weary strife at Duty's front And all the battles, fought for others, fought, Through sacrifice of self and all there is' in happiness for mortals here on earth nless it be that grand consuming fire, That burning fever, more than di'iug thirst,'' '' To live in hearts that beat forever true, >*'' ' When all that we could do is doue and Fate Has cast us down draught of wormwood then, For all to be forgot; for Slander's tongue To lacerate our poor defenseless hearts, And brand us with Dishonor's loathsome curse, Outcast in exile gloom a fallen wretch Beneath the hisses -t>f the multitude, Scorn of the cold and sordidit is then, : O, then, the days are dark that dawn for us, Days when we gaze across the dreary earth For one bright gleam of comfort, gaze in vain, Until the heart an anguish sinks, and tears For 4 hat which cannot be gush from its fount, Consumed by raging fires within, unshed To quench the parched and fevered drouth of pale And haggard cheeks that blanch in hopeless gloom- In hopeless gloom that fills the mournful waste S4. WAIP8 FRoM THK Between the Past and all I lie Future's mist, Where all we cherish from our yearning cla^p Has fled, and all Ambition's blasted dreams Are but f-rim skeletons that mock our fate Through all the vast salt emptiness of life. Then is it true that we can ever turn From scenes like these from Darkness to the Li^ht. In this old worldf Ah me, in passing through These dreadful scenes ot darkness T have found That it is true, .this Light beyond the gloom For 1 have reached it through the multiform The myriad pangs, excruciating ill, The deep unfathomed gloom, and more, The seciet I have found- -the precious gift Through which the bright side glory I can reach And turn upon the dark with loathing scorn. And Duty is that secret. Cheer the weak, And raise the fallen, reach a helping hand To feed the hungry, soothe the suffering wretch, And you will loathe as trash the miser's gold: And though forgotton all you ever dare, In shadows of Dishonor's loathsome curse, Though day may dawn too cold and full of gloom To wear a wreath of sunshine on its brow, Though never one lone semblance of a star May shine along the dreary waste of night, Though traces of excruciating ills May burn too deep for balm to ever reach, Though yearning Hope may never catch a glimpse WAIP.S FltDM THE WAYsIDE Of one bright gleam beyond tlie mists of Time, Though Faith amid the gloom may long in vain To heur the "rustle of an angel's wing," We never can in dark despair be lost For many days, for God will soon or late, Though yet to us unknown gird us in strength The strength of concience strength ot soul to rise Above the frowns of Fate, the shattered dreams And shipwrecked peace. Then patience to the last, Till we, poor atoms in the universe, Shall pass like bubbles from the ocean's wave. It wont be long until the signal lights Will shine out yonder through the dreary mists; It won't be long until the silver cord, That shackles our poor flesh, that goads the soul, Is loosened in the peace of endless rest; And we shall pass beyond the twilight hills, From Timeout through the dim uutraveled mist, Beside that Jordan, where the storms shall cease To beat, and dreary wrecks no longer float Through shadows from forbidden ground on dark, Still waters of a sea without a shore. Ah, let us then with chastened hearts press on; Do all we can and leave the rest to God, In strength of soul and concience stand sublime, Amid the fight, as stands the mighty Oak, Unshaken by the tempest, scorn the ills Of life, the blasts of Time, and challenge Fate! Vi WAIFS FAoM TMK WAY>1BB LIFE'S .MUSIC. There would fall the sweetest musit'. Where the discords jar so niueli It' we knew the sec-ret meaning Of the wondrous chords to touch. With such beauties all around us,. It is strange, so strange that all Our enchanted visions vanish? Blooms of hope ?md promise fall, Hut our God, who ruleth over Life and Time and Death and Birth. Alade conditions that enthrall us; .Made not happy year* for earth. He had reason* that we know not, Have no right to understand, But I think the beauteous visions. Falling ceaseless from His hand, : Are the messengers that tell us Of His wonders and His Love, And the sounds we hear are echoes Of the anthem strains above; Could we grasp and hold their beauti.-* Hereupon this fleeting shore, Would we ever see beyond it, Think of Christ who went before? There would fall the sweetest music, Where the discords jar so much, If we knew the secret meaning Of the wondrous chords to touch; But our God hath for his purpose Hidden secrets from us all In the thorns of gloomy deserts Where the blooms of promise fall. Time is gloom, but far beyond us Vast Eternity shall dawn, For the brave and true who struggle Where the star of hope shines on. And Life's music deathless anthems. From the angel harps above WAIFS FROM TUB WAYSIDE Shall b* caught. >ip by the gleaners. From the fields of Truth and Love! THE END. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9 15m-10,'48 (B1039 ) 444 OHIYERSITY OF CAU90HMt* AT LOB ANGELES LIBRARY 2 Davis - 1514 Waifs from D282w PS 1514 D232w UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY A A 000033113 2