NEATNESS

I LOVE to see thy gentle hand
Dispose, with modest grace,
The household things around thy home,
And each thing in its place.

And then thy own trim, modest form

Is always neatly clad;

Thou sure wilt make the tidiest wife

That ever husband had.

No costly splendors needest thou,
To make thy home look bright;

For neatness on the humblest spot
Can shed a sunny light.

THAT SAME OLD GIRL.

THERE doth she sit that same old girl
Whom I in boyhood knew;

She seems a fixture to the church,

In that old jail-like pew!

Once she was young

So do the aged say;

a blooming miss

Though e'en in youth, I think, she must

Have had an old-like way.

How prim, and starched, and kind she looks,

And so devout and staid,

I wonder some old bachelor

Don't wed that good old maid!

She does not look so very old,

Though years and years are by Since any younger she has seemed, E'en to my boyhood's eye.

That old straw bonnet she has on,
Tied with that bow of blue,

Seems not to feel Time's changing hand,

'Tis "near as good as new."

The old silk gown—the square-toed shoes

May I, when age its furrows deep
Has ploughed upon my cheek,
Behold thee in that pew, unchanged,
So prim, so mild, so meek!

Lake.

LAKE AND RIVER.

"They also serve, who only stand and wait."

RIVER, why dost thou go by,

Sounding, rushing, sweeping?

River. Lake, why dost thou ever lie,
Listless, idle, sleeping?

Lake. Nought before my power could stand,
Should I spring to motion!
River. I go blessing all the land,

From my source to ocean!

Lake. I show sun, and stars, and moon,

River. Ay! and wilt thou not as soon

Make the storm-clouds doubled ?

I'll no more reprove thee.

River. Lake, from pride and censure cease; May no earthquake move thee!

Lake.

My great end pursuing.

Speed thee! speed thee, river bright!
Let not earth oppose thee!

River. Rest thee, lake, with all thy might,

Where thy hills enclose thee!

Lake.

River, hence we're done with strife,
Knowing each our duty.

River. And in loud or silent life,
Each may shine in beauty.

Both.

While we keep our places thus,
Adam's sons and daughters,
Ho! behold, and learn of us,
Still and running waters!

MEMORY.

WHAT is memory? 'Tis the light
Which hallows life -a ray profound
Upon the brow of mental night-

An echo, time the passing sound-
A mirror; its bright surface shows
Hope, fear, grief, love, delight, regret-
A generous spring a beam which glows
Long after sun and star have set

A leaf, nor storm nor blight can fade –
An ark in time's bereaving sea —
A perfume from a flower decayed –
A treasure for eternity!

BEAUTIFUL EXTRACT.

O, IF there is one law above the rest
Written in wisdom if there is a word

That I would trace as with a pen of fire
Upon the unsullied temper of a child -
If there is any thing that keeps the mind
Open to angel visits, and repels

The ministry of ill—'tis human love!
God has made nothing worthy of contempt.
The smallest pebble in the well of truth
Has its peculiar meanings, and will stand
When man's best monuments wear fast away.
The law of Heaven is love, and though its name
Has been usurped by passion, and profaned
To its unholy uses through all time,
Still, the eternal principle is pure;
And in these deep affections that we feel
Omnipotent within us, we but see

The lavish measure in which love is given
And in the yearning tenderness of a child
For every bird that sings above its head,

And

every creature feeding on the hills, And every tree, and flower, and running brook, We see how every thing was made to love, And how they err, who, in a world like this, Find any thing to hate but human pride.