184 IMMORTAL BEAUTY. THE HOLY CHILD. By cool Siloam's shady rill How sweet the breath, beneath the hill, Lo, such the child whose early feet O Thou, who giv'st us life and breath, In childhood, manhood, age, and death, IMMORTAL BEAUTY. SWEET day! So cool, so calm, so bright, The dew shall weep thy fall to-night, Sweet rose! in air whose odors wave, And thou, alas! must die. HEBER. SUNDAY EVENING. Sweet Spring! of days and roses made, Whose charms for beauty vie, Thy days depart, thy roses fade, Thou too, alas! must die. Only a sweet and holy soul While flowers decay, and seasons roll, This lives, and cannot die. 185 GEORGE HERBERT. SUNDAY EVENING. 'T WAS night, and o'er the desert moor The wintry storm-gusts wildly blew, And so we closed our cottage door And round our cheerful wood-fire drew: Each joined the hymn of evening praise, Then told a tale of Bible days. First Charley, in his little chair, With sober face, his tale began, And how the lions were afraid Then Henry spoke of Israel's guide,- 186 SUNDAY EVENING. And said, whatever might betide, And little Freddy told of three Who once a fiery furnace trod, And how, to save them from the flame, Then little Susan told of One Who kindly all our sorrows bore - That, though the foxes had a bed, The tale was told, -a crystal tear Our evening hymn again rolled high; Joined in the strains of solemn joy. Then grandpa prayed, that dear old man, With wrinkled brow and hoary hair, While all the little children ran To kneel around his elbow-chair. THE DELUGE. And thus the Sunday evening passed, 187 CHOICE POEMS. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. EXODUS, CHAP. XX. 1. THOU shalt have no more gods but me; 3. Take not the name of God in vain, 10. What is thy neighbor's dare not covet. THE DELUGE. A RAIN once fell upon the earth And hid the flowers, the grass, the trees, The deep waves covered all the land, 188 THE DELUGE. And nothing could be seen around, But yet there was one moving thing, - That many a weary day and night At last, a little dove was forth Again she went, but soon returned, The waters sank, and then the dove Then from the ark they all came forth, |