®^^?il^^5Ps^ii3ii:;/' 
 
 THOUGHT 
 
 [. AVERY 
 
Class ___£i^LSjU_ 
 Book • k .f ft f 
 Cop}TJglit N? 
 
 COPmiCHT DEPOBm 
 
OFT 
 
 VEHSE 
 
 By L. M. AvEKY 
 
 Boston 
 
 THE ROXBURGH PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 Ine. 
 
^^i^" 
 
 JAN 16 1918 
 ©CI,A48J439 
 
Copyrighted 1917 
 
 By L. M. AVERY 
 
 All Rights Reserved 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Gems of Thought 9 
 
 Precepts of Thought lo 
 
 Cheerful Thoughts at Time of Death . . 1 1 
 
 The Past Brought Relief 12 
 
 Four Little Babies 12 
 
 The Old House I Love 13 
 
 A Picture H 
 
 Nature's Prospectus 16 
 
 My Little Old Hut 17 
 
 Joy 19 
 
 The Day I9 
 
 My Little Table 20 
 
 Heaven's Music 21 
 
 Sleep 21 
 
 Charity ^^ 
 
 God's Problems 23 
 
 Look Up, Not Down 23 
 
 Thy Post of Duty 24 
 
 Man's Way 25 
 
 Disburse Good Thoughts 25 
 
 Snags of My Youth 27 
 
 Thorns of Love 28 
 
 God Will Provide 28 
 
 An Angel's Gift 29 
 
 Beware 32 
 
 Living Dreams 32 
 
 The Unseen Hand 34 
 
Life's Fountain 35 
 
 The Coils of a Serpent 39 
 
 My Husband 39 
 
 The Sot's Reflection 40 
 
 But By and By 41 
 
 The World's Side 41 
 
 Search of Peace 42 
 
 Pure Maxims 43 
 
 Telegraphy of I'hought 43 
 
 Look Upward 44 
 
 Peace 45 
 
 A Maiden's Observation 46 
 
 Forsaken Love 48 
 
 The Bread of Life 50 
 
 Life's Ship 51 
 
 Inward Thorns 53 
 
 Music of the Heart 53 
 
 Growing Old 54 
 
 God's Tender Care 56 
 
 Hasty Thoughts 56 
 
 Advance 59 
 
 All Would Not Die 59 
 
 Thoughts of Kindness 61 
 
 True Bravery of a Noble Nature 63 
 
 God's Way 64 
 
 Chimes of Spring 65 
 
 Soliloquy 66 
 
 The Martyred Dead 66 
 
 The Orphan 67 
 
 When Wrong Winds Blow 68 
 
 Kindness 69 
 
Wife's Appeal 72 
 
 Answer 74 
 
 Moral Lashings 75 
 
 Love 78 
 
 The Brown Cottage Home 78 
 
 Be Kind to the Aged 80 
 
 The Parent's Advice 82 
 
 Conquer Difficulties 84 
 
 Mints to Youthful Mind 85 
 
 Contentment 86 
 
 Life's Struggle 86 
 
 Tender and True Sy 
 
 Cast Thy Sunbeams All Around 95 
 
 Roses 96 
 
 Seeds 96 
 
 Chimes of Thought 9^ 
 
 Pick Up the Little Crumbs 100 
 
 A Smile 102 
 
 Prayer lO.S 
 
 Life 103 
 
 Welcome the Wind and Snow 105 
 
 Truth 106 
 
 Whom Call Ye Brave 106 
 
 Harvest Time 108 
 
 Fear Not 108 
 
 Wife, Mother and Citizen 109 
 
 Only a Waif i T3 
 
 A Picture of Nature's Human Flowers IT9 
 
 The Wrong Road 131 
 
 The Sinner's Dream 160 
 
 As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap . . - 167 
 
#cms of l^tiougljt 
 
 In thy light 
 I would write 
 Every word 
 Like the song 
 All day long 
 From the bird 
 Let me chant 
 The finite can't 
 To be heard. 
 
 Teach my soul 
 Let bliss unroll 
 Mysteries bright 
 'Till my heart 
 Shall feel a part 
 Of its light. 
 May we bring 
 God's joyful ring 
 Into each night. 
 
 Thou dost teach 
 The power to reach 
 The shining dew drops 
 The gifted mind. 
 Grace can find 
 On the top, 
 May we all 
 Obey thy call 
 Without stop. 
 
10 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 I would share 
 Every where 
 Tender thoujihts. 
 Thou doth fill 
 Aud instill 
 Jewels there. 
 Give us love 
 From above 
 For every care. 
 
 Driving the tacks step by step 
 'Till the wounds are all healed over. 
 Follow the path day by day 
 'Till the slippery way thou cover. 
 
 Make thy good deeds answer thy will 
 Lest all vanish beyond thy reach. 
 Follow thy Master with head up still 
 'Till thy precepts they shall so teach. 
 
 Climbing the ladder of wisdom and fame 
 Ts not thy better station, 
 (iaining thy soul but a purer name 
 Will win you a higher station. 
 
 Woman, O canst thou still feel 
 That thou art the gift l)ut given 
 Placing man higher on the reel 
 To win him a place in Heaven. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT n 
 
 C^ferful '^Lj^ougfjtiS at ^imt ot 2Dtat^ 
 
 Rise up my fellow comrades, 
 Believe me thou hast done 
 Thy portion of life's duty 
 And the battle has been won. 
 
 Then with a light heart 
 Give thy maker praise 
 For the tidings of thy freedom 
 And the happy bygone days. 
 
 Thy days of work are over 
 Thy sun is sinking fast 
 To rise again more glorious 
 Than earthly memories cast. 
 
 Make ready for the beauties 
 Which thou shalt surely see 
 Tn the coming of the morrow 
 When thy soul hath been made free. 
 
 Then thou shalt fully realize 
 Why wisdom hath forearmed 
 All who must cross death's waters 
 Lest they become alarmed. 
 
12 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 'CTDe paiSt Brougfit JXtliet 
 
 Relief to the melancholy grief 
 Came when that life tarnished name 
 Was buried neath the past tide of time, 
 And fame soon departed with the blame. 
 
 God vanishes stain 
 That none may remain 
 For the body decays 
 Like all evil ways 
 In the dust which it gives 
 Some other soul lives. 
 
 jFout Etttle Babe0 
 
 Four little blossoms on this vine 
 Each one a sunbeam here doth shine. 
 Four little loved ones spotless and pure 
 Laughing and happy here secure. 
 
 Four little tendrils clinging to life 
 Free from the aching burdens of strife. 
 Four little babes, pretty and sweet. 
 See their pink little hands and feet. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 13 
 
 Four little lambs so soon to know- 
 That cruel thorns with roses grow. 
 Four little souls shining so bright 
 Cannot always be sinless and white. 
 
 Dear little cherubs, we're glad to see 
 You all so happy and so free. 
 Alas how soon these little lives will show 
 That hard and cold the north winds blow. 
 
 w=m 
 
 The cherished spot where Mother lived 
 
 That home, I love it still. 
 
 'Tis where those many dear ones grieved 
 
 Who taught one soul *o thrill. 
 
 In blissful harmony and peace 
 
 That sorrows here might cease. 
 
 That dear old home, I love it now 
 For years that have gone by, 
 The rusty tools and wooden plow 
 Then old and worn will tie. 
 E'en closer still that dear old home 
 Though future years to come. 
 
14 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 That dear old home, I love it yet. 
 
 For echoes long ago, 
 
 And so treasured is that casket 
 
 Those gems of thought still glow. 
 
 Though years of time that home may lame 
 
 I love it just the same. 
 
 My Mother's home, 'tis but a spot 
 
 More sacred to me now 
 
 Than many a song long since forgot 
 
 Or many a flashing brow. 
 
 O, home sweet home, to me most dear, 
 
 In memorv thou art here. 
 
 Si picture 
 
 On the canvas here 
 My thoughts are hurled 
 Just to reappear 
 In the busy world. 
 
 So repaint and gild 
 And freshen o'er 
 'Till the house you build 
 Can stand no more. 
 
 The picture conveyed 
 Which here you find 
 Was quietly weighed 
 By a sincere mind. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Cast aside all deep 
 And untold words 
 Lest you may weap 
 With unknown birds. 
 
 The fancies of life 
 Will so appear 
 To deaden strife 
 And sfive more cheer. 
 
 O uplift, uplift, 
 And pull the weeds 
 Lest a soul may drift 
 With the tide of seeds. 
 
 The picture painted 
 Of life and death 
 Hath been so tainted 
 By the human breath. 
 
 That the good intended 
 And bad will be 
 Forever blended 
 In harmony. 
 
16 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Along the line 
 The roses twine 
 Beaneath the cross 
 Of moral dross. 
 
 But why should I 
 Begrudge the fly 
 His portion there 
 That bugs oft share? 
 
 The honeyed cells 
 In flowered wells 
 Let the bird and bee 
 Or insect see. 
 
 And gain that sweetness 
 For their completness. 
 Let flowers grow, 
 Their beauties show. 
 
 And incense flow 
 To deaden woe 
 For it will bring 
 Us birds to sing. 
 
 With sweetest chimes 
 Of nature's rhymes, 
 To purify 
 The harmful fly. 
 
G EMS OF T H O U G II T 17 
 
 We should uplift 
 He who would drift 
 For sin must fall 
 Beneath us all. 
 
 Since joys of love 
 Come from above, 
 And truth is given 
 To all in heaven. 
 
 9^p Eittle <SDin mt 
 
 'Tis the bitter snag 
 And the weary rut 
 
 Which hath raised this flag 
 On my little hut. 
 
 With all cares to meet 
 And all ills to bear 
 
 I will learn to greet 
 Every snag and snare. 
 
13 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 As my soul doth brighten 
 Every passing day 
 
 So all burdens lighten 
 'Till they pass away. 
 
 Thus the flag above 
 This little hut you see 
 
 Waves the stars of love 
 And stripes of peace to me. 
 
 Though weary and worn 
 I must still struggle on 
 
 Lest my life be shorn 
 E'er her work be done. 
 
 The frame of my hut 
 Grows wrinkled and old 
 
 So keep the door shut 
 Or the mouldings will mold. 
 
 Though sickness so often 
 Creeps in for a peep. 
 
 I will shun her cofifin 
 'Till death's long sleep. 
 
 Then will this hut 
 ' With its little worn flag 
 
 Go down in the rut 
 Like any old snag. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 10 
 
 'Tis when the soul is singing 
 
 That joy seems all around 
 And hearts are filled with gladness 
 
 By the sweetness of the sound. 
 
 'Tis when the heart is happy 
 That the soul begins to sing. 
 
 To the sad and discontented 
 Sweet comfort it will bring. 
 
 ^Tfje Bap 
 
 Sunrise displays 
 
 In jewels so bright 
 Her golden rays 
 
 In the morning light. 
 
 Noontide doth give 
 
 The heat and the glow 
 
 That all who live 
 
 May have strength to grow. 
 
 Sunset at eve 
 
 Will bring us the night 
 When shadows weave 
 
 Their ghostly sight. 
 
20 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 9^p JLittlt tlable 
 
 The beam of my love 
 
 To lean upon 
 The star of my hope 
 
 To gleam upon. 
 
 Return to my heart 
 
 The glimmer of strength 
 The truth or a part 
 
 Of youth giving length. 
 
 Who is my guide 
 
 When duties recall 
 The tempests that hide 
 
 While the dead leaves fall. 
 
 Pick up the strain 
 
 Of the music left 
 Lest discords may gain 
 
 All triumphs bereft. 
 
 Leave not a blot 
 
 On memory's plot 
 Not worthy the name 
 
 Of a true man's fame. 
 
 Let God be the light 
 
 To life all the way 
 'Till the final night 
 
 Or Judgment Day. 
 
GEMS OF TlrOUGHT 21 
 
 O bells of gladness 
 
 Awake thy news 
 Let shadow^y sadness 
 
 Thy joys peruse. 
 
 For all earth's mortals 
 
 Must list to the ring 
 Which the open portals 
 
 Of heaven bring. 
 
 Quietly at rest 
 
 Peaceful and calm 
 
 The mind is blessed 
 With heavenly balm. 
 
 Undisturbed asleep 
 
 A human soul 
 Let harmony weep 
 
 And clouds unroll. 
 
 For pain and woe 
 Hath visions of peace 
 
 And the quiet flow 
 Of joys increase. 
 
 Here lieth health 
 
 At the fountain of youth 
 Together with wealth 
 
 And the banner truth. 
 
22 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 So sweetly sleep 
 
 Every hour for rest 
 While nature reap 
 
 The spirit is blest. 
 
 In the early morning 
 When fresh winds blow 
 
 When the crimson sky 
 In the east doth show. 
 
 I awake to find 
 
 My soul at rest 
 And my weary mind 
 
 From sleep is blest. 
 
 Where dreams may win 
 
 Sweet pleasure's test 
 All cuddled in 
 
 My nightly nest. 
 
 By giving to others what we most desire 
 Our selfish hearts soon learn to believe 
 
 That true generosity never will tire 
 
 For 'tis better to give than 'tis to receive. 
 
 So charity here will always be known 
 
 Sometimes by only a word or a smile, 
 But it goes to the heart and the kindness 
 shown 
 May gladden a soul during some great 
 trial. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 23 
 
 In the lives of both weak and strong 
 Awakens the problem of what is wrong. 
 We search and struggle and struggle and 
 
 search 
 Hoping to find each truth in the church. 
 
 While nature breathes her laws in mid air 
 Our wise Creator weaves sunshine there. 
 Here may be found the truth and light 
 Free to all mortals seeking the right. 
 
 All children will learn when very small, 
 That fire will burn if touched at all, 
 Thus instinct teaches to obey God's call 
 In every day life, or else stumble and fall. 
 
 JLooHi Wlp, Mot 2Doton 
 
 Every cup must have its bitter 
 
 Its portion too of sweet, 
 Among the trees the small birds twitter 
 
 While roses blossom 'neath our feet. ^ 
 
 Though the heavens smile with sunshine 
 And the earth her beauty lends 
 
 Should nature's thoughts accept this line 
 Would we take the joy she sends? 
 
 Though all mankind know life's sorrow 
 
 And the pains so hard to bear 
 The rain which sometimes falls tomorrow 
 
 Brightens nature everywhere. 
 
24 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 liriJg poiSt of SDUtp 
 
 Why leave thy post of duty, 
 And turn thy faces round? 
 
 Cans't thou not see the beauty 
 Of virtue on thy ground? 
 
 Cans't thou not see the danger 
 That lies before the train 
 
 Dost thou not cause the stranger 
 To lie among the slain? 
 
 When just one word or pause 
 Will send a countless number 
 
 Which carelessness doth cause 
 To lie in death or slumber, 
 
 Many a forlorn begger 
 May be brought to light 
 
 If thou but cast thy wager 
 For the truth arisfht. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 25 
 
 Life, life, thy' mystery we scan. 
 Sin, sin, whence comest thou? 
 Strife, strife, the nursery of man 
 Within, within, and upon the brow 
 
 Crime, crime, results which show 
 Woe, woe, to all who plan. 
 Grime and slime with evil grow 
 O'erthrow below sin's records of man. 
 
 O welcome the day, thrice welcome, I say. 
 When the warning cry of vice will die 
 When the brightest hope of heaven's scope 
 Will reveal to all God's welcome call. 
 
 What good alone can sin atone 
 The future may in time decay. 
 Life's present test like all the rest 
 Reveals but the past in memories cast. 
 
 Sprinkle God's thoughts 
 Like the dews of the morning. 
 Yes spread true thought 
 Before minds of men. 
 Angels hath brought 
 True angels hath brought them 
 Like magic again. 
 
26 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Give to the world 
 
 Your share of its portion 
 
 Go give to the world all banners ye bear. 
 
 Life so soon hurled 
 
 Beyond mortal's care. 
 
 Goodness like curls 
 
 Will cause our awakening, 
 Truth will bring pearls 
 All along life's path. 
 Sin only whirls 
 In a pool of wrath. 
 Strive so that all 
 
 Who live may grow better. 
 
 Seek ye to work 
 
 That men may not fall. 
 
 He that doth shirk 
 
 Shall be bound by a fetter 
 
 Evil doth lurk 
 
 Like a shadowed wall. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 27 
 
 ^nags; of Mv Soutfj 
 
 The snags of my youth 
 
 Have grown sweet with years 
 
 While I witness the truth 
 Is oft watered with tears. 
 
 And the gems of true dye 
 
 Which to me now appear 
 In the days gone by 
 
 Were oft shunned in fear. 
 
 O so many do wonder 
 
 Why life's path is rough 
 And assign each blunder 
 
 To some snag so tough. 
 
 They forget our Creator 
 
 Doeth all things well 
 For the soul becomes greater 
 
 Whom hardships befell. 
 
 Let us meet every snag 
 
 With a will and a way. 
 And carry a flag 
 
 Of triumph each day. 
 
 May we sing as we travel 
 
 And journey along 
 While hardships unravel, 
 
 Through the mystery of song. 
 
28 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 7l^otn0 ot £obe 
 
 'Neath the prickly thorns of love 
 Lies a heart which absorbs all 
 Unique and strange from above 
 Mystic chords of fancies fall. 
 
 Bleak and drear sometimes they strike 
 Chilling as the wintry blast. 
 
 Then again they seem more like 
 
 Happy thoughts with sunbeams cast. 
 
 Worn upon the outside dress, 
 
 Stranger than the strangest wall, 
 Which so oft the heart doth press 
 Human tides of friendship fall. 
 
 (I5oti mm ptobibe 
 
 Last but not least, 
 God's children are here 
 To work at his call 
 For man and for beast. 
 
 Vegetations appear 
 A welcome to all 
 Virtue to foil 
 A snake with its coil. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 29 
 
 Let harmony laugh 
 O'er wild waves of chaff. 
 God will provide 
 All billows we ride. 
 
 And carry us by 
 
 The shoals which are nigh 
 
 The fanciest dream 
 
 Which children can scheme. 
 
 All hate to be wise 
 Lest elders will prize 
 And capture the flower 
 Within their bower. 
 
 )an simtV0 mtt 
 
 One morning passing by a home, 
 
 I heard an infant cry, 
 The plaintive voice which seemed to come 
 
 Grew faint into a sigh. 
 
 I turned and on the top step there 
 
 I saw a trembling form 
 A little soul without a care 
 
 Was left out in the storm. 
 
 As I drew near its wailing ceased 
 
 And little eyes of blue 
 Looked into mine with gaze increased 
 
 To wonder who are you .'' 
 
30 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 I took the child up in my arms 
 So light and frail and weak, 
 
 And thought how could a baby's charms 
 Be cast where life was bleak. 
 
 How could a mother throw aside 
 
 A gift so sweet and fair, 
 No jewels in this world so wide 
 
 Could with that life compare. 
 
 I sought to find the babe a home 
 
 But no one wished the part 
 Which every teacher must assume 
 
 To guide a tender heart. 
 
 That night when in the silent hour 
 
 I sought my peaceful rest. 
 Methinks I felt some magic power. 
 
 To great for mortal test. 
 
 And from out a misty film 
 
 An angel came to light. 
 Decending from a purer realm 
 
 She wore her halo bright. 
 
 As there beside my bed she stood, 
 With one small drooping rose. 
 
 She bade as only angels could 
 Just keep this 'till it grows. 
 
 'Tis one of God's sweet blossoms rare 
 
 A plant from Heaven sent 
 Can you not give this bud the care 
 
 Some human flower hath lent? 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 31 
 
 She gently lay the flower down 
 
 Upon a door step near 
 Then giving it a human crown 
 
 She seemed to disappear. 
 
 I woke, a babe lay in my arms 
 
 And then my duty deemed, 
 To take this infant and its charms 
 
 The rose of which I dreamed. 
 
 A human form for me to dress, 
 
 A soul whom God had given 
 A flower so rich this earth to bless 
 
 Had now been sent from heaven. 
 
 I took that little bud so fair 
 
 While innocent and pure 
 To culture though then unaware 
 
 What life he must endure. 
 
 That he had been an angel's gift 
 
 And I would be his Mother, 
 While on life's ocean he must drift 
 
 Like every youthful brother. 
 
 'Tw^as Love that placed his pinions high 
 And love which gave no bound, 
 
 Though he might reach the star lit sky 
 With truth and honor found. 
 
 His record here on earth is given 
 
 Where souls are born anew, 
 And freedom gains a place in Heaven 
 
 For those who have been true. 
 
32 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Bctoaw 
 
 Is magic such 
 The healer's touch 
 Some judge so clearly 
 While others nearly. 
 
 If left beware 
 Of every snare, 
 Look out for those 
 Who think he knows. 
 
 Everything 
 For he may sting 
 And mislead 
 So take heed. 
 
 JLMnQ SDteamsi 
 
 Time hath cast his forelocks 
 
 Upon two lives I see 
 And like the sea shore rocks 
 
 Imprint her traces free. 
 
 One with age is printed 
 
 And the wrinkles on his brow 
 
 Hath a page of sorrow tinted 
 Which reflects but shadows now. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 33 
 
 Yet through those darkened corners 
 The laughing sunbeams peep 
 
 To drive away dull mourners 
 These happy day gleams leap. 
 
 O tell me beams of sunshine 
 
 Just how to find my way 
 Among the creeping shadows 
 
 That cross my path each day. 
 
 As life to you seems sweeter 
 
 And brighter as you go, 
 Just shed abroad thy pleasure 
 
 And deaden others' woe. 
 
 When pain in living dramas 
 
 Cuts deep and leaves her traces 
 
 Such scars of human souls 
 Reflect upon their faces. 
 
 If sin in blazing meanness 
 
 Be ranked in colors high, 
 Then Satan's mortal Greenness, 
 
 Will mark his bitter dye. 
 
34 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 One thought leads to another, 
 One crime leads to another 
 One thought, one word, one deed 
 Together form the seed. 
 
 If planted in the heart 
 When sprouted form a part 
 Of life which feeds the soul 
 Where unknown mysteries roll. 
 
 We cannot change the course 
 Which God hath planned for man, 
 Be it better or for worse 
 We must do the best we can. 
 
 The wisdom of this life 
 Will grow and teach us why 
 Our future is at stake 
 In the unknown by and by 
 With the record we here make. 
 
 Threads of beauty which surround us 
 Nature's net work woven fine 
 Charming visions which hath bound us 
 Mystic rainbows, choice divine. 
 
 O listen to the music then 
 
 Which each tiny life now brings us 
 
 From the joy of the happy wren 
 
 To the humming bee which stings us. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 35 
 
 So ring- out, O bells of nature, 
 The sweetest of all chimes, 
 Recall man to his place again 
 With wild unbroken rhymes. 
 
 In thy message lies a love 
 So rich and pure and grand, 
 That we feel our God above 
 Guideth with an unseen hand. 
 
 iLife'0 jfountain 
 
 Each flower of success 
 
 Lies in truth and light 
 We cannot so guess 
 
 Or stumble aright. 
 Just hoping to reach 
 
 Without effort here 
 Those problems which teach 
 
 How life doth appear. 
 
 Life's fountain lies deep 
 
 Like the spring to the soul 
 'Neath the mountains asleep. 
 
 Man fancies the whole 
 Let destiny wait. 
 
 God knoweth best 
 And whatever our fate 
 
 In him it must rest. 
 
36 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 So search for success 
 
 •By the light of his day. 
 And wisdom will bless 
 
 Each bud on the way. 
 Then breathe in thy soul 
 
 This spirit of truth 
 To weave through the whole 
 
 Of life's system in youth. 
 
 The road may seem rough 
 
 And the journey hard, 
 But when traveled enough 
 
 Shows the bright reward. 
 If at first you don't succeed 
 
 Try, try again, 
 For experience which you need 
 
 Brings the triumph then. 
 
 Those who assembled here 
 
 To improve and to learn 
 When subjects appear 
 
 Which seem hard to discern 
 Just study the thought 
 
 For the truth may be there 
 Which you have long sought 
 
 For, everywhere. 
 
 O, star of bright hope, 
 
 Shed forth thy beams 
 Under life's telescope 
 
 Thy beauty gleams. 
 We welcome each ray 
 
 Though piercing the sky 
 Of a far distant day 
 
 In the by and by. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 37 
 
 As you journey along 
 
 Let not selfish greed 
 Crowd out the good song 
 
 Which the lay men need 
 But be willing to give 
 
 That all men may learn 
 To live and let live 
 
 As well in return 
 
 Look up and beyond 
 
 To a higher plane 
 And success will respond 
 
 To the victory you gain ; 
 Then what light you receive 
 
 Just lend to your brother 
 That you may relieve 
 
 And aid one another. 
 
 Under the tree of Almight}' here 
 
 Whose fruits keep falling 
 As leaves disappear yqar after year, 
 
 So we answer his calling 
 To this vast tree of knowledge 
 
 A great debt we owe, 
 For the school and the college 
 
 From its branches grow. 
 
 Moving along his great highway 
 Is a vast throng of men each day, 
 Some aiming high, some aiming low 
 For the by and by where all must go. 
 
38 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 At the foot of the hill 
 
 All men must start, 
 And keep striving until 
 
 They have done their part. 
 Learn how to begin 
 
 Would you seek success, 
 Then determine to win 
 
 And you will progress. 
 
 From cradle to grave, 
 
 Struggling to live 
 And seeking to save 
 
 What nature doth give. 
 Where harmony dwell 
 
 'Mid truth and light, 
 All doeth well 
 
 With the future bright. 
 
 Mistakes will come to everyone, 
 
 But when you discern that you are wrong, 
 Keep trying the sum until it is done 
 
 That you may learn the rightful song. 
 Never give up until you win 
 
 Though your efforts seem in vain. 
 The bitter sup you take within 
 
 Will only urge you on again. 
 
 Thus through this vale 
 
 Let us travel together 
 Just learning to sail 
 
 In the roughest of weather. 
 Looking above 
 
 By the light of day 
 For God is love 
 
 And will show us the way. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 39 
 
 use €oi\d ot a feetptnt 
 
 "Truth crushed to earth shall rise again," 
 All flowers which bloom will fade and die. 
 The heart of a drunkard is shriveled and 
 
 worn 
 By the evil enchantment and bitter scorn. 
 The acts, the deeds, the thoughts of such 
 Are fed and led by taste and touch. 
 "United we stand and divided we fall," 
 "A house divided against itself cannot stand." 
 "In union is strength." 
 
 9^V ^\x0banti 
 
 He's the apple of my eye 
 
 And the fountain of my soul, 
 
 Casting color to the dye 
 
 Rending brightness to the whole 
 
 Of the vision of my sky. 
 
 When my troubled heart is sore 
 From the pains which I must bear, 
 
 When the clouds hang heavy o'er 
 And my life seems full of care, 
 
 When the rain begins to pour. 
 
40 G E M S O F T H O U G H T 
 
 He's the one who always cheers 
 Changing darkness into hght, 
 
 Drives away the bhies and tears 
 Throwing oft" the gloom of night, 
 
 'Till its shadow disappears. 
 
 For the right he always stands 
 Wth a firmness and a will 
 
 Like the soldier who command;. 
 With his comrades round him still 
 
 And his duties to fulfill 
 
 Guards his hopes with iron hands. 
 
 ^^t &ot d KetUcttono 
 
 In my mind beyond these pages 
 A once fair face doth greet me, 
 
 And in the past my fancy gazes 
 Behind the clouds which meet me. 
 
 The laughing eyes, the roguish lips 
 
 And golden waving tresses 
 As dew drops on the blossoms sips 
 
 Upon my mcmorv presses. 
 
 The little arms cling to my neck 
 With love and childish pleasure, 
 
 Yes round the heart of a human wreck 
 Is this little fancied treasure. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 41 
 
 But 25p ann 15g 
 
 Laughing eyes of blue 
 
 I wonder why 
 They seem to be so true 
 
 And deep and shy. 
 
 Do they remind of heaven 
 
 Because the sky 
 That color hath been given 
 
 Above so high. 
 
 I look into the soul 
 
 To read reply 
 But mysteries still unroll 
 
 Of deeper dye. 
 
 The answer that is given 
 
 Unto my why 
 Will be known in heaven 
 
 But by and by. 
 
 Down the world's side 
 Eagerly we ride 
 Without one thought 
 Of another's lot. 
 
43 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Just tearing ylong 
 
 Doing right or wrong 
 
 Now upside down 
 
 Just like a clown 
 
 Or wrong side up 
 
 Like a worthless cup 
 
 Learning to hate 
 
 The other man's fate 
 
 As we skip and slide 
 
 Down the rough world's side. 
 
 ^rattl) tot ptace 
 
 After the war is over 
 And peace replaces fire, 
 
 What more is there to cover 
 For Freedom knows no ire. 
 
 Reach out, far out for wisdom 
 
 To linger over all, 
 Lest here within her 
 
 Evil stains might fall. 
 
 The price we pay for troubles 
 
 Shows in every drop 
 For ice will form from 1rLi1)l)les 
 
 That rise up to the top. 
 
 So ever search for peace 
 Then hold it far and wide, 
 
 And never let it cease 
 
 To swav and move the tide. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 43 
 
 Paddle on, though the rough winds blow. 
 
 Fallacy cannot gain control of truth. 
 Print virtue through art 
 And wisdom of the soul. 
 
 Good reward for fair play and justice. 
 
 Lift up ye gates of pity 
 
 And let repose ordain regret. 
 
 '^fUgtaplii? of Ufioug^t 
 
 Thought soon passes 
 From mind to mind 
 
 Of the huge masses 
 Of animal kind. 
 
 Through the silent air 
 
 They but breath their woe 
 And with untold care 
 
 Their suflferings show. 
 There are friends and foes 
 
 Among them all; 
 Each one of them knows 
 
 His neighbor's call. 
 
44 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 And without a word 
 
 When a message brought 
 
 In the mind is stirred 
 An answering thought. 
 
 Thus together they soon 
 Through instinct known 
 
 So learn to commune 
 By nature shown. 
 
 Win the hearts of those about 
 Place your foot upon the ladder 
 
 And climb above the wicked route 
 That make the souls of men grow sadder. 
 
 O, Father, I but wish to do 
 Whatever is but wise and true, 
 
 Gladdening those about me ever 
 By ties of love we cannot sever. 
 
 The sweetest blossom is Nature's gift, 
 The rarest flower must bloom and die, 
 
 The ptirest soul when sent adrift 
 
 Will meet his doom in the bye ad bye. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 45 
 
 Peace 
 
 Give thy love to those who strive 
 To do but well, what e'er they do. 
 
 In thy nobler efforts live, 
 Work as you wish others to. 
 
 Let us help each fellow being 
 
 To uplift and seek for better 
 Though our actions be not wise ones 
 
 They may cut another's fetter. 
 
 Seek to live that others may. 
 
 We can ring the good old song 
 Though we cannot praise the singer 
 
 We can sing to conquer wrong. 
 
 Think well to do thy duty ever, 
 Work for love and work for peace ; 
 
 Work though human ties may bind you 
 That all sins and crimes may cease. 
 
 Life should be both pure and holy, 
 Something high and noble, grand, 
 
 O for better men and women 
 To lead children by the hand. 
 
 Bread will raise when it grows lighter 
 Sin will sink when souls are whiter, 
 Evening dew drops moisten posies 
 Morning sunrise opens roses. 
 
 Thus earth's life by sun and water 
 Prepares man's soul for something better, 
 God in nature leaves his traces. 
 While Satan marks the human faces. 
 
46 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Si 9^aiDen*0 flDiJSietbati0n 
 
 She sat in the open sunshine 
 And watched the chickens about 
 
 Picking up the little bread crumbs 
 Which she had just thrown out. 
 
 In language unknown to her 
 
 They chirped and chattered away 
 
 But it all seemed full of music 
 
 Though she could not guess the lay. 
 
 While listening and wondering at it 
 
 She heard a low faint mew, 
 Turning she saw her kitten 
 
 Eagerly watching, t®o. 
 
 Slyly creeping forward 
 
 With her little silken paw 
 Kit quickly seized a morsel 
 
 From out of the rooster's claw. 
 
 How they sputtered and cackled, 
 Some running this way and that, 
 
 One old hen with four little chicks 
 Savagely flew at the cat. 
 
 But pussy could not be bluffed, 
 And would not give up her gain, 
 
 'Till Ring came out with a bark and a bound 
 And drove her down the lane. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 4? 
 
 The dog, though only a canine, 
 
 Understood the little spat, 
 So taking the part of the chickens 
 
 He drove away the cat. 
 
 Dumb creatures have but instinct, 
 
 Thus mused the maiden now, 
 So, Ring, you have no reason 
 
 For that man won't allow. 
 
 I have seen very foolish actions 
 
 By the human race alone, 
 They seem to show less wisdom 
 
 Than the animals they own. 
 
 Perhaps I lack good judgment 
 
 But I certainly believe, 
 That many a truth and lesson 
 
 We from brutes receive. 
 
 Man may judge of human skill, 
 
 And play a princely part, 
 While all are subject to his will, 
 
 God alone can read the heart. 
 
 If he will claim all reason 
 
 Why must he take offence 
 Because dumb brutes will sometimes show 
 
 A little common sense? 
 
48 G E M S F THOUGH T 
 
 The world is filled with stin^^s, child, 
 We have no time to grieve, 
 
 Thoiigh pain all trouble brings, child, 
 Our sufferings we must leave. 
 
 Thou art too young to die, dear, 
 
 For one who is not true. 
 God in time will show thee why 
 
 He was not given to you. 
 
 Lift up thine eyes above, May. 
 
 For comfort and for strength, 
 And thou wil't find a love, May. 
 
 Too deep to stray away. 
 
 Waste not thy breath in sighs then, 
 
 For time is fleeting fast, 
 The flower that in thy pathway lies 
 
 The chilling wind may blast. 
 
 So strive to plan what thou cans't do 
 
 For those who suffer near, 
 And thou wil't learn that others, too. 
 
 Have lost what is most dear. 
 
 That others have dee]) wounds to heal, 
 More bitter than thou cans't know. 
 
 Lift up thy veil, help those to feel 
 That smiles can sweeten woe. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 49 
 
 Give thou the aged a word of cheer, 
 
 Thy arm to stay their fall, 
 Help them to feel their presence here 
 
 Is a blessing to us all. 
 
 Thy precious love thou too cans't share 
 
 With the little orphan boy, 
 He needs thy thoughtful, tender care, 
 
 As well as thou thy joy. 
 
 Think not of woe when thou shoulds't bless 
 Nor weep when thou shoulds't sing. 
 
 Though pangs of pain thy bosom press, 
 Thy deeds will comfort bring. 
 
 Give more of self to those about 
 
 ^^'hom thou shoulds't help and cheer, 
 
 Thou cans't thy grief soon learn to rout 
 By blessing others near. 
 
 Let then, that love which thou has't given 
 
 Now turn and melt like snow, 
 "Twere better from the heart 'twere riven 
 
 Than giving pain and woe. 
 
 Let thy poor life a blessing be 
 
 So fragrant and so sweet, 
 That all who come in touch of thee 
 
 Shall wish to know and greet. 
 
 So climb the ladder of wisdom and light 
 
 And love will follow apace 
 The higher we search for truth aright 
 
 The surer we'll win the race. 
 
50 OEMS OF THOUOHT 
 
 f^^t Bread of JLitt 
 
 'Tis beautiful to be true 
 In work which thou art left to do. 
 Scorn thou every wicked corner 
 Lest thou live, its chiefest mourner. 
 
 Sinful ways though smooth they seem, 
 Often with false lights doth gleam. 
 Be not wise in your own conceit. 
 Let our Father guide your feet. 
 
 Truth shall rise though crushed to earth 
 And shall gain the highest berth, 
 That life while here is found to win 
 'Midst these slippery paths of sin. 
 
 For we each so little know 
 
 How to find these gems below, 
 
 God will teach us to be true 
 
 Though these fires w^e must go through. 
 
 Though our lot seems hard to bear. 
 Right shall triumph everywhere. 
 Then should I not hate the cup 
 When passed with ruby wine to sup? 
 
 O boys, how can you think it smart 
 To break our own dear Mother's heart? 
 How can you leave your truest friend. 
 For those who seek your ruin's end? 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 51 
 
 Touch not the cup, 'twill ruin your soul 
 It is the soil that forms the boil, 
 A drop at a time must win our taste, 
 Make not haste your life to waste. 
 
 O who will guide the child's heart 
 And teach the right and wrong a part, 
 To see the evil of the cup 
 Just why it harms to take one drop. 
 
 The happy child is one who knows. 
 
 Just how, and when and where to grieve. 
 In sweet content his visage glows 
 
 With what he doth so well receive. 
 
 Can we not learn 'tis well to be 
 
 In spirit and in heart content 
 Just like the happy child we see 
 
 Breathing in the sunshine sent. 
 
 And slowly I gathered my pinioned wings 
 And determined to fly as the angel sings 
 In the distant future by and by. 
 
 I am learning to smile 
 
 With the beautiful sun, 
 Thus spurning the while 
 
 Wild phantoms begun. 
 
52 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Awaken, O heart, to the gentle warmth 
 Which the soft bright rays of sunshine give. 
 
 O, take a part life giving strength, 
 
 To brighten thy days. 
 While thou shalt live. 
 
 The grain of thought 
 
 Widening the soul, 
 Is not over wrought 
 
 Nearing the shoal. 
 
 Though drifts may fill 
 
 The vessel we ride 
 And storms at will 
 
 Our journey may guide. 
 
 Yet he who calmly 
 
 Drifts with the tide 
 Conquers balmy 
 
 Billows wide. 
 
 For truble will come 
 
 To garnish the ship 
 Unless there are some 
 
 These trials to trip. 
 
 When one begins to overthrow 
 What little good they surely know. 
 Then plan to make thine own escape, 
 And thus thy future course to shape 
 By upright deeds from righteous seeds. 
 
a E M S OF THOUGHT 53 
 
 Inward thorns must have their places 
 
 To remind us when and where 
 Duties done will leave life's traces 
 
 Of our nobler efforts there. 
 
 Shining through deep wounds or fetters 
 Which these thorns have met and torn 
 
 Lie the truths in God's own letters 
 Which our hidden souls have born. 
 
 When we miss the law of conscience 
 Which these thorns so often pierce, 
 
 Then will hearts which sin doth wrench 
 'Till their souls grow cold and fierce. 
 
 "God hath placed these thorns to teach us 
 
 That no law of sin or lust 
 Which doth ever chance to reach us 
 
 Can we in our nature trust. 
 
 S^usic from tfte ^eatt 
 
 Only a smile. 
 
 But it strengthened a soul 
 For a bitter trial, 
 And guided the feet 
 
 O'er a sandy shoal. 
 
54 GEMS U }<■ THOUGHT 
 
 Only a word 
 
 But it sank so deep 
 That a conscience heard 
 And was roused once more 
 
 From its torpid sleep. 
 
 Only a song 
 
 But how it cheered 
 Our brave boys along 
 'Till horrors of war 
 
 They no longer feared. 
 
 Let us not forget 
 
 The smile, word or song. 
 For small duties met 
 Will aid to forbear 
 
 And teach us to be strong. 
 
 The happy smile 
 
 And gentle way 
 Like music all the while 
 
 O'er our hearts doth play. 
 
 Backward and forward 
 One path she trod 
 
 Pushing still toward 
 
 Her home 'neath the sod. 
 
G E M S OF THOUGHT 55 
 
 Her flower of life 
 
 Is fading away 
 Withered by strife 
 
 In an early day. 
 
 She must calmly wait 
 
 And bide her time 
 Still trusting in fate 
 
 For her youthful crime. 
 
 Though her pains be hard 
 
 And all in despair 
 She feels her reward 
 
 Is but just and fair. 
 
 Her youthful flower 
 
 Can blossom no more 
 Still she hath power 
 
 To graft as before. 
 
 She must still toil on 
 
 'Till her day is done, 
 As the setting sun 
 
 Ends life begun. 
 
 For all duties done, 
 
 Whom many have shunned 
 Gained palms of reward 
 
 In the bright beyond. 
 
56 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 <3on*0 '^Tenner Cate 
 
 Are the angels hovering o'er me 
 
 Watching all my efforts here, 
 Are the visions coming o'er me 
 
 Caused by dear ones passing near. 
 
 Are thy golden shining sunbeams 
 
 Filled with warmth and love from heaver^ 
 
 Sending to me happy day dreams 
 Of the blessings thou hast given? 
 
 Fashion and style are polluted with sin 
 And doth often beguile man's soul within. 
 
 For polish without, God's grace will route 
 And ever assure, all foolish allure. 
 
 ^a0t^ ^'^ouQ^t0 
 
 Hasty thoughts and angry words 
 
 In every nation, every clime, 
 Like bullet shots and blood stained swords 
 
 Are blots upon the sands of time. 
 
 'Tis said that good lives after men 
 
 And memories seeds will kindly show 
 
 The brotherhood a welcome then 
 
 WhichcTcr way the wind may blow. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 57 
 
 But histories read of selfish greed 
 
 When those who cut the nation's fetter 
 
 Paid little heed if men did bleed 
 
 When fame and name had won the letter. 
 
 As quarrels past grew red with blood 
 
 'Till hatred gave no bounds for peace 
 These feuds would last until they stood 
 
 Like marks of time whose stains increase. 
 When Christ forgave the deeds of men 
 
 And taught the law of love and peace, 
 The little wave which started then 
 
 Hath caused the wars of nations cease. 
 
 For men now plan with one another 
 
 For mutual benefit of all 
 And if they can will help a brother 
 
 When e'er they think he's going to fall. 
 
 Whenever trouble begins to bubble 
 The world will hold a consultation 
 
 To settle disputes and other suits 
 By human laws of arbitration. 
 
 But hate oft comes to foolish ones 
 Whether high or low in station, 
 
 And with blows their anger shows 
 Before the rest of man creation. 
 
 Forgetting name or place or fame 
 
 Letting angry passions rise 
 Reflects a shame just the same 
 
 Whatever he his honored ties. 
 
58 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 When children fight it is not right 
 So self control to them is taught 
 
 Until they know when tempers grow 
 That trouble in some form is brought. 
 
 But then man knows by angry blows 
 That he loses sense and reason 
 
 'Such a sample for example 
 
 Should be ranked with lawless treason. 
 
 'Tis surely time for such a crime 
 
 Man in Senate's honored seat so defiled, 
 
 Should be exiled 
 
 With his pride beneath our feet. 
 
 And yet with civilization and cultivation 
 At this day and age of the world 
 
 A scornful disgrace we were obliged to face 
 With our colors still unfurled. 
 
 Whichever will be recorded to see 
 
 By all future generations, 
 For this worldly stain will ever remain 
 
 Upon our records and our nation. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 59 
 
 sublet 
 
 Love, honor, Justice 
 Righteousness and peace 
 Gain fellowship of man 
 Through brotherhood of love 
 Then will the hearts of all unite 
 In fellowship while joys increase. 
 
 The crown of woe lieth in war 
 The star of hope welcome joy, 
 Folly lieth thus in vice. 
 Walk in the light of friendship 
 Found in the path of truth 
 Behind the shadow lieth the wall 
 Keep in the halo of brightness where truth 
 abides. 
 
 SLll moulh jRot SDit 
 
 The waters of death 
 
 To the struggling few 
 Are a glad welcome 
 
 To journey through. 
 And the Bridge of Sighs 
 
 Oft heard through the trees 
 Will change to a mist 
 
 When the waters rise. 
 
60 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 For mortal pain 
 
 Seemeth hard to bear 
 And the sins of woe 
 
 Are found everywhere 
 While battles like these 
 
 With a bitter foe 
 Both foolish and wise 
 
 Alike must know. 
 
 A passing stranger 
 
 Heard you say 
 You would not cross 
 
 That bridge today. 
 And then he saw 
 
 You heave a sigh 
 When you refused 
 
 To answer why. 
 
 The rumbling roar 
 
 Of the bullets whiz 
 The trembling cry 
 
 And whirling siz 
 Gave the reason 
 
 To the passer by, 
 For you did not wish 
 
 As yet to die. 
 
 Peace doth reign 
 
 Without a stain 
 On her record. 
 
 The Devil's tear 
 Hath no fear 
 
 Nor hath the leopard 
 Yet in time 
 
 Steeped in crime 
 He gains a discord. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 61 
 
 Climb ye high 
 
 Who would die 
 On the cross 
 
 Make good aim 
 Without shame 
 
 Or greater loss. 
 Your greatest woe 
 
 Is your foe 
 Without dross. 
 
 H^onQf^t^ of l&in\int0& 
 
 Out on the road I traveled, 
 Out on the great high way, 
 
 While paths about seemed graveled 
 With records of long past day. 
 
 There it was the angels assailed me 
 To build up my future with thought 
 
 From the good and pure who hailed me 
 With the joys they lovingly brought. 
 
 O the golden rule of love 
 Which drives dull care away. 
 
 Like the fleecy clouds above 
 Which can no longer stay, 
 
 'Tis a power which God hath given 
 
 To those who linger here, 
 The divine love of heaven 
 
 Or wilfulness and fear. 
 
62 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Little thoughts of kindness 
 
 Little deeds of love. 
 Help to make us better 
 
 For the world above. 
 
 Let us gently gather 
 
 Sunbeams with each smile. 
 
 For those we know would rather 
 See them all the while. 
 
 They help to bear for others, 
 The burdens they must know, 
 
 And give to worn out mothers 
 More strength for bitter woe. 
 
 Be it better or for worse 
 
 We ne'er can happy be, 
 When we but live to curse 
 
 All other lives we see. 
 
 Then fill your place so well 
 
 Until you come to die, 
 That friends will sound your knell 
 
 Whenever they go by. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 63 
 
 Tlmt Brabetp ot a Boblt Batutt 
 
 I would say let bravely lie 
 
 Not in teaching how to die 
 
 But in telling all who live 
 
 That for those who learn to give 
 
 Happiness without measure 
 
 Findeth peace the greatest pleasure. 
 
 A noble motive here below 
 Can never see a human foe, 
 And a fellowship with man 
 Will ever do the best he can 
 Conquering every ill of strife 
 With a higher aim in life. 
 
 Work on, work on and may success 
 
 Crown each road with blessedness 
 
 The field is wide and every hour 
 
 Will store each thought with some new 
 
 power. 
 Each germ just springing into being 
 Must add its smile or way of seeing. 
 
 In one great Union let us plan 
 For the brotherhood of man. 
 And may all this one great foe 
 Seek to conquer as we go 
 The great desire we have to fight 
 To make our neighbors all do right. 
 
64- GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 When others think they too may know 
 
 What pohcy is best to show, 
 
 If we cannot all agree 
 
 Let us arbitrate to see 
 
 That true fellowship may be 
 
 With all nations justly free. 
 
 When our forces thus unite 
 A\'ill the future then grow bright. 
 And true justice will be found 
 Without blood or war around 
 For with love and kindly will 
 wShould all life be guided still. 
 
 (!5oti'0 mnif 
 
 Crumbling to dust, scattering behind 
 Memory's prints of the human mind. 
 Leaving the realm of matter, the soul 
 Seeking alone his future goal. 
 Wrapped in thought, man doth wonder 
 Why his plans are cast asunder. 
 
 Waking into the Spirit's Realm, 
 And with angels at the helm, 
 Perhaps life then may be unsealed 
 And God's wisdom all revealed, 
 Where with better, clearer scope 
 He can see the brighter hope. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 65 
 
 Cf)tmes( of Spring 
 
 List the distant music sighing 
 
 O so gently to my soul, 
 Just across the border flying 
 
 Where my life must reach its goal. 
 
 Quiet o'er my frame is stealing, 
 
 Just a touch of peaceful calm, 
 Which the angels are revealing 
 
 Of a sweet and heavenly balm. 
 
 O how can I be down hearted, 
 And give up to thoughts of gloom, 
 
 With such joys to earth imparted 
 
 And when our bonny spring doth bloom. 
 
 Every breath she fills with chiming, 
 
 And with her I learn to sing, 
 When all life begins her rhyming 
 
 And doth happy incense bring. 
 
66 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 ^oltloqu|> 
 
 The howling wind, 
 
 The roaring sea 
 
 The blinding storm 
 
 Nor the inky blackness of the night 
 
 Do not now make me sad. 
 
 My life hath been given for some purpose 
 
 Though I know not what. 
 
 I shall do what I can to brighten. 
 
 I must be brave and bear every ache and pain 
 
 with fortitude, gaining strength and 
 
 live for all about me. 
 
 Sad, sad, doth the nation mourn, 
 Another martyred leader gone. 
 Toll, toll, ye bells of woe, 
 For sin hath struck a painful blow. 
 
 Weep, weep, all ye who scorn 
 The cruel plot, our country's born. 
 Drifting, drifting, O so slo\y. 
 Will man allow such crijmes to grow? 
 
 Shall fiends destroy and undermine 
 And sap the good for which we pine ? 
 What we have lost. Heaven hath gained 
 But count the cost of life blood stained. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 67 
 
 Glad, glad, angels are singing, 
 
 Another soul is born in heaven. 
 
 List, list, echoes are singing. 
 
 Their sweetest chimes to earth are given. 
 
 Waft, waft, ye gentle breeze, 
 And blow sweet incense here below. 
 Drift, and sift, O sands of time 
 To cover wilful man's death crime. 
 
 Lost, lost, one drop of blood. 
 
 Doth kindle Satan's soul bound flood. 
 
 Woe, woe, to all who show, 
 
 A will to kill or overthrow. 
 
 'E5e Orphan 
 
 We who have homes of warmth and comfort, 
 
 With loving friends to greet. 
 When vexing trial come of some sort, 
 
 Should cast them at our feet. 
 
 Though our hardships seem so great 
 
 Every petty trial, 
 Can be made a ponderous weight 
 
 And a poison vial. 
 
 'Tis the little orphan stranger 
 
 Who is kicked about. 
 In and out of every danger, 
 
 Always put to rout. 
 
68 G E M S O F T H (1 U (5 H T 
 
 Without a father's kindly honor, 
 
 Or a mother's care, 
 Just a little beggar donor 
 
 Almost anywhere. 
 
 Ever hunting for a home 
 
 Yet never can he find it. 
 For when he to a place doth come 
 
 There's ever a kick behind it. 
 
 mtitn t^e tatoriQ min\i& Blob) 
 
 Did you ever think 
 
 How little we know 
 Of the human brink ' 
 
 Of curses that grow? 
 
 A duty performed 
 
 Or if left undone 
 Will be stemmed or stormed 
 
 As the credit is won. 
 
 Can honor and sin 
 
 Live side by side. 
 Of a life within 
 
 Where the soul abide? 
 
 Can the shame of lust. 
 
 In the human heart 
 Choke out all the trust 
 
 Life's morals impart? 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 69 
 
 O God but forbid 
 
 That idleness win 
 For nature would rid 
 
 Poor mortals from sin. 
 
 For all weeds in life 
 
 Which threaten us so, 
 But grow out of strife, 
 
 As the wrong winds blow. 
 
 l^inline!S(0 
 
 'Tis my purpose now to write, 
 Just a little for the right, 
 And so kindness is my song 
 Does it to the good belong? 
 
 I have found experience dear. 
 When I've fought for others here. 
 But with will I've sought to do 
 Just what God might wish me to. 
 
 'Tis the hardest road to fight, 
 AJl is dark and in the night. 
 And I tell you few there be 
 Without selfish motives free. 
 
70 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 But an angel came to earth, 
 At the time of Adam's birth, 
 In life's blood he dipped his pen 
 Wrote God's law on the hearts of men. 
 
 And so charity you see. 
 Was for you as well as me, 
 As it seems to be a part 
 Of this law on the living heart. 
 
 And though sin abound in man 
 If he tries we know he can, 
 For God made the human will. 
 That his law we might fulfil. 
 
 Thus he planned it so that each 
 One must work his heaven to reach. 
 And we all will happier be 
 For our efforts to be free. 
 
 Oft for selfish gains alone. 
 We may seek to lift the stone, 
 And I find 'tis just the same 
 Men will do for fame and name. 
 
 Help yourself and then your brother 
 Is the law we give each other, 
 All the world is filled with sighs 
 Because we have so many I's. 
 
 'Tis not often that we find 
 Men of fortune who are kind. 
 But 'tis those who sufifer most 
 Who are at the poor man's post. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 71 
 
 If your friend should chance to stumble, 
 
 Will you then begin to grumble? 
 
 If he treads upon your toes, 
 
 Will you count him with your foes? 
 
 Would you follow Christ's example, 
 Do not on another trample, 
 Lift the stranger out of trouble 
 Place his feet upon the stubble. 
 
 Do you regret the time you spent, 
 
 To aid the fallen to repent? 
 
 The willing hand and smile you gave 
 
 That brought life back, so near the grave? 
 
 Self forgetful people say 
 
 That 'tis kindness paves God's way. 
 
 To the willing few 'tis given 
 
 MHio hath sought the road to Heaven. 
 
 And Christ's motto here would be 
 From all selfish motives free. 
 Unto others ever do 
 As you wish them do to you. 
 
72 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 mitta Appeal 
 
 Teach us both to sing anew 
 For our troubled hearts are blue, 
 For our souls are so distressed 
 Though we seek we find no rest. 
 
 We are young, O Father guide 
 Lest we fail in dark to ride 
 O'er these billows now so high 
 Lest we sink, lose hope and die. 
 
 Teach us. Father, what to do 
 So that we may journey through, 
 Burdens are so hard to bear 
 When thus we live in deep despair. 
 
 Could I only find the light, 
 Make my husband's future bright, 
 Could I give him hope and joy. 
 Bringing back my laughing boy. 
 
 I would be so happy too. 
 Father, T could sing anew, 
 What care I for worldly strife. 
 Side by side we go through life? 
 
 Though we have but little here 
 We could sing away all fear, 
 Happy in each other's love 
 Working for our home above. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 73 
 
 O, Eugene, you little know 
 How your troubles pain me so. 
 When your trials are so great 
 Then my heart must bear the weight. 
 
 Look up, faint heart, the sun's not down, 
 For what care you if the world does frown? 
 So let us join our hearts in song. 
 And then in love we'll fight the wrong. 
 
 Winona sits in her quiet way, 
 Asking a blessing from God each day. 
 She throws up her hands in mute appeal. 
 Begging her Father to teach her to feel. 
 
 Why doth Winona sufifer now. 
 
 Simply because she knows not how 
 
 To use the gifts her God hath given 
 
 Which shows her the way leading to Heaven. 
 
 Will angels teach her what to do, 
 Or must she still her course pursue, 
 Striving and seeking all in vain. 
 Her simple heart in such a strain. 
 
74 ge:ms of thought 
 
 A message from Heaven comes to me now, 
 Like the dew in the morn as it touches my 
 
 brow. 
 To my soul it is whispered so soft and low 
 That it soothes and calms my spirit's dull 
 
 flow. 
 This lesson God sends through the sunshine 
 
 and rain 
 That soothes my heart and fevered brain. 
 The birds have known it long ago, 
 They sing it in song to the world below. 
 
 For love and peace are sent to my soul. 
 And slowly the stone begins to roll. 
 The stone that darkened my door for years 
 Takes with it these frowns and many tears. 
 
 In love, in peace I can find my way. 
 Through all the furies and storms each day. 
 In love and in peace Christ taught the world, 
 In love, in peace his banners unfurled. 
 
 Let us float that banner so far above 
 That angels may whisper, "all is love." 
 Let us fill the world with sweetness of peace 
 That wicked strife and wars shall cease. 
 
 Could this be so, then the earth might be 
 Ringing with happy children free. 
 Singing and toiling ever the same 
 Wliile climbing the ladder of wisdom and 
 fame. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 75 
 
 ^ocal 2Lasi|)tns0 
 
 'Tis the little foxes spoil the vines, 
 'Tis the little sins that eat and destroy. 
 
 Although sometimes evil will shine 
 'Tis but to annoy and but to decoy. 
 
 The snake will often charm his prey 
 
 The spider in his web will hide. 
 In pleasure the tempter will lead astray 
 
 And by his pride will be the guide. 
 
 How easy it is to fall in a snare, 
 
 When we are weak and sad and worn, 
 
 Our hearts are heavy with trouble and care 
 And thus forlorn we pine and mourn. 
 
 We're weary of trying to do what is right, 
 Our burdens are hard and heavy to bear, 
 
 Why keep striving to fight the good fight 
 Must we always wear this cloak of despair? 
 
 'Tis then we doubt that God is just 
 And little by little we turn aside. 
 
 Sin creeps in and leaves her rust 
 As slowly we ride along with the tide. 
 
 Smoothly at first we glide along 
 
 And laugh at the seaman's warning cry. 
 
 Lured by the mermaid's rippling song 
 
 We heed not the sigh of the wind passing by. 
 
76 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 A storm in its fury soon darkens the sky, 
 And the distant roar of the tempest we hear, 
 
 Tossed by the waves like a shell thrown high 
 We tremble with fear for danger is near. 
 
 Now upon God we willingly call. 
 
 To guard and to guide, to forgive the past. 
 Without divine help, we must give up all. 
 
 On the rocks be cast to perish at last. 
 
 How eager we promise to change our ways. 
 Out of our hearts all evil to thrust, 
 
 To live better lives the rest of our days. 
 For God is just, in him we'll trust. 
 
 O, so often our vows are broken 
 
 W'hen safely returned to those most dear. 
 Though at the time so solemnly spoken 
 
 They are made from fear that death is near. 
 
 Only a little at a time you know, 
 Perhaps our lives are often misled. 
 
 Our mistakes are small, we let them go, 
 And thus by a thread we follow the web. 
 
 'Till deep entangled we might fight the foe 
 E're he tightens the coils around our feet, 
 
 The scars from sin will always show 
 
 As the rust from heat that blights the wheat. 
 
 But God will warn in many ways 
 
 To remind us of sins and vows once made, 
 
 And conscience oft our guilt portrays 
 
 Till our crimes are weighed in nightly 
 shade. 
 
GEMS J^' THOUGHT 77 
 
 'Tis thus in the midnight's silent hour 
 When all are slumbering in peaceful rest, 
 
 Our sins loom up like a ghostly tower 
 
 To haunt and to test our souls thus im- 
 pressed. 
 
 Our lives are before us like a map laid bare 
 And every wrong action, plainly outlined 
 
 As others have seen us we see ourselves there 
 And the heart and mind are clearly defined. 
 
 Remorse steps out in the pale moonlight, 
 And sternly refuses sleep or repose, 
 
 'Til regret and pain far in the night 
 Deadens our woes and our eyelids close. 
 
 Where there's a will, there's always a way 
 And if we wish to succeed in life 
 
 We must carefully study God's laws each day 
 As a slip from the knife may end in strife. 
 
 If our lives are unhappy we make them so, 
 By refusing to follow the golden rule, 
 
 Shall we, like the brute give blow for blow, 
 And act as a tool for man's cesspool ? 
 
78 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 fiobt 
 
 Love brings joy for all of us 
 
 When with a kindly thought. 
 The air seems filled with music 
 
 Which a loving message brought. 
 O, the peace and blissful harmony 
 
 Which that little dove may carry 
 Joining thus both hearts and hands 
 
 'Til with love they intermarry. 
 
 '^Je Sroton Cottage i|ome 
 
 Goodbye, old home. T must leave you forever 
 
 For the farm has been sold today, 
 And the crumbling walls I loved so well 
 
 Will now be torn away. 
 All the old buildings are shattered and worn, 
 
 They have stood for many long years. 
 And while I gaze on the brown cottage home 
 
 I cannot keep back the tears. 
 
 This morning I strolled o'er the meadow and 
 pasture. 
 
 And list'd to the robin's sweet song. 
 At the foot of the hill was the same little brook 
 
 Sparkling and dancing along. 
 Many were the hours that I spent when a 
 child 
 
 With my feet in that rippling stream. 
 And while I recall those once happy days 
 
 It seems like a vision or dream. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 79 
 
 In the orchard grove, just west of the house 
 
 Was a favored spot to me, 
 Here with my books I used to sit 
 
 In the shade of an old apple tree. 
 Sometimes I thought my childish grief 
 
 Was more than I could bear 
 Then would I seek my cool shady nook 
 
 And find sweet solace there. 
 
 Old Father Time hath vanished those days 
 
 And they will return no more. 
 But oft in dreams I recall them again, 
 
 And I am a child as of yore. 
 
 Mother is gone, worn out with her toil, 
 
 And Father is feeble and old, 
 All of their children are married and gone 
 
 And so the old farm has been sold. 
 
 Chorus. 
 Then goodbye, old home, 
 The parting is hard, 
 
 For well have I learned to love you, 
 But the beautiful truths imparted here 
 
 Shall guard life's journey through. 
 
80 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 7St BinD to ttit SiQtn 
 
 We love to guide and shelter 
 
 The innocent in life, 
 The little tottering babe 
 
 We shield from worldly strife. 
 
 The youth in strength and beaaty 
 Receive our loudest praise 
 
 For all of future greatness, 
 These manly boys must raise. 
 
 We cherish every maiden 
 
 Whose life is pure and sweet. 
 
 And much of earthly goodness 
 We pray that she may meet. 
 
 O look upon the aged 
 
 With thoughts more tender still, 
 For now their walls are crumbling 
 
 And weak doth seem the will. 
 
 Forsake not these old veterans 
 Though beauty may have fled, 
 
 Though they seem only waiting 
 To lie among the dead. 
 
 Why should not death be welcome, 
 
 It sets the prisoner free 
 Gives newer, purer bodies 
 
 Than earthly ones can be. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 81 
 
 The trembling hand, and tottering form 
 
 And wrinkled, kindly face, 
 The silver threads from these old heads 
 
 Doth bring us no disgrace. 
 
 They once were young and bithesome 
 
 As youths and maidens now, 
 But God in time his mark hath placed 
 
 Upon each withered brow. 
 
 They feel that earth is earthy, 
 
 That frames to dust return, 
 That heaven alone deals heavenly 
 
 For which so many yearn. 
 
 If sin hath marred their pathway, 
 And life seems filled with gloom, 
 
 Have pity, O ye mortals, 
 They still await their doom. 
 
 Have pity, for they suffer 
 
 From sins of other days, 
 Could they grow young in years again 
 
 How changed would be their ways. 
 
 Beware, for you may journey 
 
 Through life for many years. 
 Perhaps you, too, may weary, 
 
 And your eyes oft dim with tears. 
 
 May you not be as helpless 
 
 As those whom now you shun, 
 And long for love and kindness 
 
 When life is almost done. 
 
82 G E MS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Give thought to those who sheltered 
 
 Under their kindly wing 
 The happy little children 
 
 That used to romp and sing. 
 
 Our nations were made stronger 
 
 For they were heroes brave, 
 Shall not forsake these soldiers 
 
 Because they near the grave. 
 
 O shame on ye who falter 
 To care for those grown old, 
 
 These blossoms, though they're withered 
 The angels wall enfold. 
 
 O do not idle away your time. 
 Golden opportunities will pass 
 Never to be regained. 
 The most of our lives are wasted 
 In thoughtlessness without action. 
 Shall we lose that which we might gain ? 
 O the flowers that die from the want of drink. 
 O the souls that perish o'er Satan's brink. 
 There is no time to waste in despair 
 Rise up and work while the morning is fair. 
 We ask each other what shall we do. 
 Do your duty today and tomorrow will bring 
 forth 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 83 
 
 Her work if you strive to win your way to 
 
 glory 
 Through noble deeds and actions ye certainly 
 Will find it. 'Tis the little foxes that destroy 
 
 the vines, 
 'Tis the little sins that eat and destroy. 
 Purify your own soul and then cast her 
 Pure light into the darkness about you. 
 You ask for help, help yourself all you can 
 And then leave the rest to that Unseen Power 
 You cannot understand nor resist. 
 O life is a grand awakening. 
 Fill the precious hours with labor. 
 Rest comes sure and soon. 
 Do your best, you will never regret it. 
 Though it be hard 'tis better farther on. 
 The beautiful mystery of life will some day 
 
 be explained. 
 Work and wait not. Do not leave for others 
 That which you can do. Your work is laid 
 
 out before you. 
 Do it well lest the golden opportunity pass. 
 
84 (I E ^r S OF THOUGHT 
 
 Conquet Mtticultie^ 
 
 Calmly 
 
 Yes balmy 
 
 Teach us to ride 
 
 All billows that hide 
 
 On the rough world's side. 
 
 Teach us to guide 
 
 Our pilots aright, 
 
 For out of our sight 
 
 Are the rapids to fight. 
 
 And we do not care 
 To journey there 
 For everywhere 
 Do snags appear. 
 
 Which all should fear 
 To travel near, 
 Where danger will come 
 To everyone. 
 
 Beyond are the falls 
 W'hose rugged walls 
 Are pierced with the balls 
 Of Time's echoed halls. 
 
 Where the shrieks and wails 
 Of life's balanced scales 
 Are lost evermore 
 At Death's open door. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 85 
 
 ^int0 to t^e mnt^tul 9^inn 
 
 Please to bear in mind 
 
 We seek to sow 
 From the good we find 
 
 To deaden woe. 
 
 If thought conveyed 
 
 To council men 
 Be never weighed 
 
 What matter then? 
 
 Why trouble our friends 
 
 Who seek to know 
 How to make amends 
 
 When vices grow? 
 
 As long as we share 
 
 Or aid Hfe's sin 
 So long shall we bear 
 
 Her marks within. 
 
 The foundation is laid 
 
 And the poor young soul 
 So must bloom and fade 
 
 To reach his goal. 
 
 He must live and die 
 
 As all men do 
 In seeking the sky 
 
 He must journey through. 
 
 To be born anew 
 
 He fathoms the deep, 
 And his young soul grew 
 
 In eternal sleep. 
 
86 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Contentment 
 
 In vain I tried to see the wrong 
 
 But why denounce the good old song. 
 
 Just sing the tunes that you have learned 
 
 With all the time worn vigor spurned. 
 
 Just as cheerful, just as well 
 
 As when a child you learned to spell. 
 
 Out on the tide of the ocean 
 
 Tossed by the waves of time, 
 
 Each tiny bark in motion 
 
 Containeth life sublime. 
 
 JLitt0 ^ttussU 
 
 From the cradle to the grave 
 
 Strug.gling to live 
 And seeking to save 
 
 What nature doth give. 
 
 Where harmony dwells 
 With truth and light 
 
 All doeth well 
 
 With the future bright. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 87 
 
 Give me the wings of beautiful time 
 
 To cast reflection on my brow 
 That I may add in words of rhyme 
 
 The tender symphonies subhme 
 
 My brain is weak, my thoughts seem dull. 
 
 I cannot frame my spirit's flow 
 Let peaceful calm so soothe and lull 
 
 That I may with new rapture glow. 
 
 Tf every woman with human love 
 
 Who suffers through her own disgrace 
 
 Would seek for aid from God above 
 Her stamp of sin she could erase. 
 
 Her future light would shine more bright, 
 The world may look with scornful eye, 
 
 But if she fight her battles right 
 The soul wall forgive her by and by. 
 
 No thought's desire is greater 
 
 Nor better in my sight 
 Than hoping for some traitor 
 
 A purer ray of light. 
 
88 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 The one who sins must suffer 
 Though the reason be not plain. 
 
 For every human bluffer 
 Hath wisdom yet to gain. 
 
 And folly's ways are nurtured 
 By pain as well as woe, 
 
 For life is ever tortured 
 By nature's willing foe. 
 
 Remember our Creator 
 
 Must teach all these unwise, 
 
 For thus the foolish traitor 
 May yet learn how to rise. 
 
 Tender and true 
 
 Were the words I found 
 Which the little lad 
 
 Threw upon the ground. 
 
 Only three words 
 
 By this thought conveyed 
 Like the music from birds 
 
 On my heart it laid. 
 
 My soul was sought 
 And so sweet and pure 
 
 Was the mission it brought, 
 God opened the door. 
 
 In dreams of flight 
 
 A vision I see 
 Which this paper white 
 
 Had carried to me. 
 
GEMS OF 'THOUGHT 33 
 
 This child of need 
 
 So thinly clad 
 Had but dropped the seed 
 
 Which I now had. 
 
 A sad, sad face 
 
 With a fair white brow 
 That I cannot erase 
 
 Comes to me now. 
 
 She had been deceived, 
 
 But was struggling to live 
 
 For the one she believed 
 Had honor to give. 
 
 The hand so small 
 
 Still holding the pen 
 Had summoned the call 
 
 From heaven then. 
 
 Tender and true 
 
 She had always been. 
 Although she knew 
 
 That a life of sin 
 
 Would drag her down 
 
 Where disgrace would follow 
 From a height of renown 
 
 By one so shallow. 
 
 Imprisoned now 
 
 And behind the wall 
 With a stain on his brow 
 
 To curse his fall. 
 
90 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 There by his side 
 
 Through tempest and storm 
 She had sought to abide 
 
 The cold world's scorn. 
 
 How could she rise 
 
 Above this stain 
 Where in honor lies 
 
 All hopes again. 
 
 Her little boy 
 
 Must ever remain 
 In the sunshine and joy 
 
 Which happiness gain. 
 
 God never forgets 
 
 And if we but try 
 A rainbow he sets 
 In the dark sky. 
 
 That pleading face 
 
 With the sad, sad eyes 
 
 Had only to place 
 Her faith in the skies. 
 
 Holding in hand 
 
 This cycle of truth 
 Which the riven sand 
 
 Had stricken in youth. 
 
 The little slip 
 
 Of paper I had 
 Cast a tale from the lip 
 
 Of both good and bad. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 91 
 
 Her life on earth 
 
 Was near its close 
 And immortal birth 
 
 Her maker but chose. 
 
 Her soul's desire 
 
 Was to here remain 
 And fight with fire 
 
 That sinful stain. 
 
 But God had called 
 
 Her spirit beyond 
 Which was here enthralled 
 
 And must now respond. 
 
 O, who would take care 
 
 Of her boy she said 
 On the streets he would share 
 
 A sluggard's bed. 
 
 And a life of vice 
 
 He would surely live 
 Just to pay the price 
 
 That beggars give. 
 
 Then I told her 
 
 I would take her child 
 And thus would shoulder 
 
 Her burdens wild. 
 
 So peacefully she passed away 
 
 With a smile of trust upon her face. 
 
 Thus my duty I've tried to obey 
 
 And given her boy an honored place. 
 
92 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Morning is slowly drifting away 
 
 While daylight is sifting her sparks through 
 the sky, 
 Noontide is nearing with colors gay, 
 
 Soon evening's shadowy wings will fly. 
 
 Night passed away 
 
 At the early dawn 
 Of another day 
 
 Her shadows had gone. 
 
 Guarded in past 
 
 By storm-riven clouds, 
 We determined at last 
 
 To bury all shrouds. 
 
 Gently and softly 
 
 Time creepeth by. 
 Silently and loftily 
 
 Death peepeth nigh, 
 And we know not whene he cometh 
 Or whither goeth. 
 We sigh 
 
 As he passeth by 
 Or draweth nigh, 
 For we fear 
 He cometh here 
 To await 
 But our fate, 
 Ad he giveth 
 A tomb 
 For each one's doom. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 93 
 
 My little child 
 
 Was happy and free, 
 Not a shadow had 
 
 Darkened his life by me. 
 
 He knew not the evil 
 
 Ways of men. 
 Nor what the dark clouds 
 
 In life were then. 
 
 Just skipping along 
 
 Like a free butterfly 
 And chirping his song 
 
 With the birds in the sky. 
 
 His little soul 
 
 Seemed to shrink within 
 From the touch of one 
 
 Who was steeped in sin. 
 
 He cherished nature 
 
 And loved all flowers, 
 And often stayed with them 
 
 For hours. 
 
 One morning I found him 
 
 By a little bird's nest 
 With four little birds 
 
 All cuddled to rest. 
 
 He had chosen them 
 
 As friendly guides 
 To show him the road 
 
 Down the rough world's side. 
 
94 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 So struggling to read 
 Some of nature's gist 
 
 And sowing the seed 
 For human grist. 
 
 Gathering full weights 
 For immortal scales 
 
 And recording all rates 
 Of the dying tales. 
 
 Let his character reap 
 
 Rewards of merit 
 And his conscience weep 
 
 For what he inherit. 
 
 My aim shall be 
 
 To let him live 
 As happy and free 
 
 As nature doth give. 
 
 Unconscious of sin 
 
 He will uplift 
 And be sure to win 
 
 Many gone adrift. 
 
 His agel mother 
 
 Watches over him now 
 As never another 
 
 Can guard that brow. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 95 
 
 And an emblem of love 
 
 His example shines forth, 
 Pure as a dove 
 
 This child of true worth. 
 
 A noble man 
 
 He is sure to be, 
 Doing the best he can 
 
 For humanity. 
 
 Ca0t ^^^ ^unbeam^ all ^coutiti 
 
 Sow such seeds of goodness 
 
 Which angels gladly bless 
 And the dawning brotherhood 
 
 Of passion will grow less. 
 
 The crowning joys of motherhood 
 
 So often met and known 
 Are when her boys are good 
 
 And their noble deeds are sown. 
 
 Let the music of thy soul 
 
 Reach the humble and the weak. 
 
 Let the fleecy clouds unroll 
 
 Life's sweet peace which all doth seek. 
 
96 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Play upon the tender heart strings 
 With thy purest, truest love, 
 
 For there somehow always brings 
 God's great blessings from above. 
 
 Man alone can ne'er resist 
 
 Though he be by Satan bound, 
 
 For such charms as these uplift 
 Cast thy sunbeams all around. 
 
 Crown thy head with roses 
 For the queen of all is she, 
 
 With the gift of love reposes 
 Her incense of harmony. 
 
 Walk in the light of the perfume 
 Which this flower ever holds. 
 
 Within the essence of her bloom 
 Lies the sweetness she unfolds. 
 
 
 The crown of success 
 
 Lies in deepness of thought 
 And action to guess 
 
 What nature hath wrought. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 97 
 
 So give but reward 
 
 To life giving toil, 
 And he who strives hard 
 
 To succor the soul. 
 
 Plant deep in the mind 
 
 Where mysteries sprout, 
 The seed of all kind 
 
 When scattered about. 
 
 Care should be given 
 
 To only accept 
 Pure thoughts from heaven 
 
 Where wisdom is kept. 
 
 Such life-giving seeds 
 
 Repays for the toil, 
 
 From God in the soil. 
 Supplying man's needs 
 
 Can you scarcely read 
 
 My upturned thoughts, 
 So weak and so frail is my brain, 
 
 I would sow the seed 
 So sparingly brought, 
 
 To gain new germs again. 
 
 I would reap reward 
 
 For my efforts here. 
 Through these little scattering sprouts 
 
 Which will ever retard 
 When evil appear, 
 
 But will scatter the good about. 
 
98 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Cj^tmese of ^^ous^t 
 
 The rays of light that peer from Heaven, 
 
 Are here for us to follow. 
 
 The truth which spirits hath, 
 
 Shall ever be given to those who have 
 
 striven. 
 Every chain hath its link. 
 Every deed its thought. 
 All forms of God's creation 
 Have their parts, their work and station. 
 What man hath wrought, 
 Oft comes to naught. 
 
 An angel sought relief 
 From bitter weeping woes, 
 Her sadness was distressing, 
 P^or other days transgressing. 
 For evil grows 
 Where sin o'erflows. 
 
 No ray of light her soul can find 
 No love or sweet caressing. 
 No rest for her, nor blessing. 
 All these her mind 
 Had cast behind. 
 
 God counts us all but fractions 
 To make a mighty whole. 
 So in a line we're going 
 Both high and low not knowing 
 That every soul 
 Must reach his goal. 
 
GEMS OF THOUaHT 99 
 
 One thing at a time 
 
 Is the motto in life. 
 
 Step by step learning to walk, 
 
 Word by word learning to talk, 
 
 In harmony we find 
 
 All nature combined. 
 
 When the link is broken 
 
 The very chain is rent in twain. 
 
 God seeks his children's hearts 
 
 In ways of better parts. 
 
 Come to the arms 
 
 Of nature's willing charms. 
 
 O dark is the spot 
 
 Of sin's cruel blot, 
 
 O bright is the ray 
 
 That cleanseth the way. 
 
 Many in crime 
 
 Their spirits enshrine, 
 
 But love will reclaim, 
 
 E'en those bowed with shame. 
 
 The spark that reigneth forever 
 Is like the tender glow 
 That falls upon the dew drop 
 And makes it sparkle so. 
 It gives all nature color, 
 And life with which to grow. 
 
100 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 The angel who doth suffer 
 In bitter weeping woes, 
 Doth see a light far distant 
 Oh, 'tis God's crystal beam 
 That doth forever gleam. 
 Already hope upon her dawns 
 From the touch of its gentle rays 
 And while she seeks for comfort 
 Upon her heart it plays. 
 
 ^ici{ up t^t %ittlt Ctumb0 
 
 O, the little gems of life bread 
 That we waste or throw away, 
 
 For all these seem so trifling 
 To spare our time each day. 
 
 O, the little rays of sunshine 
 Why did God make them so, 
 
 To reach the hidden leaflets 
 That each of them might grow. 
 
 Man cannot use these trifles 
 He has no time you know, 
 
 To save the smaller pieces, 
 So he will let them go. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 101 
 
 Doth God remember only 
 
 The great minds he hath made ? 
 
 Why, we are but the bread crumbs 
 That lie within the shade. 
 
 Our great Creator hath 
 
 His laws so wisely planned 
 
 That dust to dust united 
 
 Doth make our pleasant land. 
 
 That many drops of water 
 Hath made the ocean great, 
 
 And so the little ounces 
 In union make the weight. 
 
 When we cast away the pieces 
 How can we save the whole 
 
 To form our strength in union 
 Is written on life's scroll. 
 
 The thoughts of man united 
 Have made our nation strong. 
 
 Pick up the little bread crumbs 
 And place where they belong. 
 
 O the many deeds of kindness, 
 The smiles and words of love 
 
 All these with songs united 
 Are blessed by God above. 
 
 If in our noble efforts 
 
 We could unite in one 
 With strength from such a union 
 
 What evil we might shun. 
 
102 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Pick up the little life crumbs 
 These help to make us strong. 
 
 The trifling deeds of kindness, 
 We need to fight the wrong. 
 
 O father, teach thy children 
 
 That great things come from small, 
 
 That little crumbs neglected, 
 May cause us yet to fall. 
 
 Si &miU 
 
 A smile traveled many a mile 
 It rose from the lips of a little child. 
 And fell on the vision of a youth so wild 
 Which softened his heart for a little while. 
 
 His thoughts were changed to a higher plane, 
 And there he paused in his downward course 
 Looked once more to a higher source 
 Till good resolutions were formed again. 
 
 That sunny smile brightened the road 
 Of that wayward lad steeped in sin 
 The innocent love shed within 
 A ray of hope which lightened his load. 
 
 In a smile or a word or a deed 
 O the good that we may sow 
 We can never, never know 
 'Till "tis ripened in the seed. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 103 
 
 O give us, heavenly Father 
 A touch of wisdom's worth ^ 
 
 That we may be more patient 
 While dwelling here on earth. 
 
 O Father, Father, Father, 
 
 I plead and be,g you spare 
 And settle all these troubles 
 
 Which greet me everywhere. 
 
 These little bits of trinkets 
 
 Which are to me so great 
 Are but the smaller trifles 
 
 Of human price or fate. 
 
 My little waxy leaflet 
 
 Hath nought but human skill. 
 Just spare my human judgment 
 
 That I may reason still. 
 
 O God, with thine infinite wisdom 
 
 Teach us how to live 
 That we may accomplish every day 
 
 What thou hast ordained us to give. 
 
 We watch the little seedling 
 
 As it bursts its tiny shell 
 And the tvv^o little leaves and bud shoot forth 
 
 Beginning their life's work well. 
 
104 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 We see the grand old oak 
 
 Which was once a seedhng. too, 
 In its branches and leaves and majestic form 
 
 God's law is perfect and true. 
 
 From the busy ant and humble bee 
 
 A lesson we may con ; 
 Though both are small and helpless too, 
 
 Their work is wisely done. 
 
 Each one of God's creation 
 
 Has its mission to perform, 
 From the noblest king of all the beasts 
 
 To the smallest grain of corn. 
 
 He who is endowed with reason 
 
 Alone forsakes the plan ; 
 And sin and sorrow, with remorse and pain 
 
 Is the just retribution of man. 
 
 Then why should we scorn God's law. 
 
 And ever his will disobey? 
 Shun the path of the pure 
 And crush the truth 
 
 To follow the sinful way. 
 
 Let reason and judgment teach us, 
 
 And observation too. 
 That peace and contentment 
 Can only be found 
 
 Ry obeying God's law thmugh. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 105 
 
 UlXtlcomt t^e (Minn ano &noU) 
 
 O welcome the snow, 
 And welcome the blow 
 
 Of the wind from the far north east; 
 For all must know, 
 'Tis better so. 
 
 For man as well as beast. 
 
 And though the ground freeze 
 From the cold, wintry breeze, 
 
 'Tis better for all, we know; 
 For he who is just. 
 In whom we must trust. 
 
 Doth send us the wind and snow. 
 
 So cool down your ire 
 And keep up the fire 
 
 Then welcome the beautiful snow; 
 And when comes the night, 
 Just think that 'tis right 
 
 For the cold north winds to blow. 
 
 Chorus. 
 
 O beautiful snow, 
 O beautiful snow. 
 
 Sent o'er all from on high ; 
 O'er just and unjust, 
 God's spirit doth glow, 
 
 With the wind which passeth by. 
 
106 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Toil on then, turn thy tired eye 
 
 To a higher plane of joy. 
 Thy precepts show the clear blue sky 
 
 To many a younger boy. 
 
 These little deeds which thou canst do 
 Will better thought^ awaken, 
 
 For all the way thy journey through 
 Life's record here is taken. 
 
 Sin but approves of evil pleasure, 
 Thus Satan rules by wilful measure. 
 
 Rolling waves of tide turn high 
 
 When God's wind goes whirling by. 
 
 The weak must lean upon the strong; 
 
 The poor upon the rich recline. 
 Just and unjust here belong, 
 
 While God's sun o'er all doth shine. 
 
 ^^om Call ^t Btabtf 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 The one you see 
 Who loves to wave 
 
 His colors free? 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 107 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 The Mother pale 
 Who seeks to save 
 
 From the savage gale. 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 He who must fight 
 That he may save 
 
 His Country's right. 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 Those who desire 
 A war to save 
 
 Their homes from fire? 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 He who will strive 
 By work to save 
 
 And keep alive? 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 All who uplift 
 His fellow knave, 
 
 Just gone adrift? 
 
 Whom call ye brave? 
 
 All those who love 
 An honored grave 
 
 And a home above? 
 
108 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 The harvest time hath come, 
 
 The gladdest of the year, 
 When busy flies and beetles drum 
 
 Their music in each ear. 
 
 When fancied dreams are filled with heat 
 
 Beside the cooling stream, 
 When faithful gnats and spiders' feet 
 
 Oft in our visions seem. 
 
 When everything we eat 
 
 All insects want as well, 
 And seek the best of every treat 
 
 Which human eyes can tell. 
 
 The sunny side of life 
 
 These little workers seek. 
 Though wakening such a human strife 
 
 Between both strong and weak. 
 
 Sttat il5ot 
 
 Fear not, for I am with you, 
 
 My rod and my staff shall comfort you. 
 
 I am a messenger of peace 
 
 And will restore thy soul : 
 
 Walk in the light of thy music. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 109 
 
 tile Wiite, 9^ot^ttt anti €itmn 
 
 A woman's heart is filled with love 
 For duty to her God above 
 To think, to care for those most dear 
 Her willing soul doth struggle here. 
 
 Plunged in the darkest depths of hell 
 Such misery that no tongue can tell 
 She lives and works with desperate will 
 For human ties which bind her still. 
 
 If she be good and pure and true 
 What countless wonders she can do. 
 No living man can fail to bow 
 Or bend the knee to meet her now. 
 
 Her beauties and her strength of mind 
 Can ever win and sway mankind. 
 For woman's will and woman's power 
 Doth charm all those within her bower. 
 
 If man be blest with such a gift 
 He ne'er will fall or turn adrift, 
 But on a higher plane will move 
 For her whom he has learned to love. 
 
 O, wife, then strive thou so to live 
 That thine own soul pure light may give 
 To those with whom thou cast thy lot 
 That not a stain thy home may blot 
 
110 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Then let the sunshine in thy heart 
 That thou may'st ever do thy part 
 To make thy home so dear to him 
 That he may love to dwell therein. 
 
 Be a companion, good and true. 
 Do unto him as thou wish him to do. 
 Unite as one to do thy work 
 And never from that duty shirk. 
 
 Confide in him and he'll return 
 That confidence for which you yearn. 
 No secret thought should you withhold 
 But every truth to him unfold. 
 
 Then should misfortune come thy way 
 True love will brighten the darkest day. 
 Re true in all thine efforts here 
 And thou wilt rise in woman's sphere. 
 
 Till earthly subjects all will bow 
 And place the laurels on thy brow. 
 The duties that a wife should show 
 Are such that every man shall know. 
 
 That with her husband she will rise 
 To win some truth which never dies. 
 Maidens, wives and mothers 
 Those husbands, sons and brothers, 
 
 Are all waiting thy command 
 Ever ready for thy hand 
 To be guided up or down 
 By a smile or wicked frown. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT ill 
 
 Woman, if thou wilt, thou can 
 Form the character of man. 
 From thyself thou can'st impart 
 A principle at the very start. 
 
 If thou walk'st upright and pure 
 No wicked man thou can'st endure. 
 Scorn his vice on every side 
 For his crime he cannot hide. 
 
 Show him that he cannot win 
 
 Your heart and hand, when steeped in sin. 
 
 The Angels sang of Trouble, of Mercy and 
 
 of Peace 
 For life, like waters bubble, and turmoils 
 
 never cease. 
 
 Like little saplings bent and bruised 
 E'er from their parent they are loosed, 
 So unborn babes are blotted, stained 
 While life in darkness hath reamined. 
 
 O, mothers, these future lives wilt thou so 
 
 blight 
 That they will never seek the right? 
 These little hearts wilt thou so stain 
 That they will always so remain? 
 
 Guard well thy thoughts, thy ways, thy will, 
 No passion let thy bosom fill, 
 So when these gems are brought to light 
 They are perfect in God's sight. 
 
112 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 That such lives may ever be 
 
 Emblems of a perfect tree. 
 
 For these souls art thou not given 
 
 To form and mould and shape for Heaven? 
 
 O, the little children growing 
 Are but led by us not knowing 
 How as patterns are our actions 
 To these tiny bits of fractions. 
 
 Teach the child when very small 
 That he must learn himself to crawl, 
 That he must likewise conquer wrong 
 If he would be both great and strong. 
 
 Upon the future generation 
 Depends the life blood of our nation. 
 On the daughters, ye wives and mothers, 
 Just as well as on their brothers. 
 
 Teach her that our country's honor 
 Doth as well depend upon her 
 As the boy who now is learning 
 That his country's future turning 
 
 Will upon him soon depend 
 And he soon his help must lend. 
 That she a citizen, too, must be 
 To keep her country pure and free. 
 
 Let the future sister, brother 
 P>e a help to one another. 
 Shoulder to shoulder, side by side. 
 May they walk, with God as guide. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 113 
 
 Since it is the mother's plan 
 Which rules the destiny of man, 
 Since it is the wife's control 
 O'er the purity of the soul, 
 
 Then why should she not be in need 
 To help her brother form the creed? 
 Why not help to make the laws, 
 To upbuild, or find the flaws? 
 
 Surely both, if hand in hand. 
 Are better able to command 
 For the husband and the wife 
 Should united be in life. 
 
 So unbind this cruel fetter. 
 That our country may grow better. 
 Angels then will sing the story 
 Or our nation and her glory. 
 
 jQDnl)? a USLait 
 
 I have no thoughts save when I am told 
 To tell some tale that has long been old. 
 Then like a bard I sing o'er and o'er 
 Till the embers burn on my hearth no more. 
 
 'Tis strange those tales I remember so well 
 These shadows that long o'er my pathway 
 
 fell, 
 When I was too young to know just why 
 I offered my prayers up to the blue sky. 
 
114 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Somehow I felt that somewhere on high 
 An infinite power could draw very nigh 
 And so, far off in the Heaven above 
 I searched for my Father, my comfort, my 
 love. 
 
 I feel no sighs save when I recall 
 The saddest of pictures, a woman's down- 
 fall. 
 My mind has recorded no scene in the past 
 So weird and so strange as that poor out- 
 cast. 
 
 Somehow I know no sorrow so great 
 As a poor little orphan left to his fate ; 
 Left by a mother in dark despair 
 To live or to die, somehow, somewhere. 
 
 O, woman, thou hast a wondrous gift 
 A power to charm or send adrift. 
 Shame on thee who wilt so degrade 
 As to cast thyself in eternal shade. 
 
 O, mother, how could'st thou forsake thy 
 
 child 
 And leave him alone in a world so wild 
 To drift and to drift, with no one to love, 
 Save the kind Father who guideth above. 
 
 I was born through sin without a name 
 And into this world in shame I came 
 I lived on the streets when I was small 
 Without any parents to care at all. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 115 
 
 A kiss or caress I then never knew 
 
 How could one expect me to be good and 
 
 true? 
 Once I remember a little girl came 
 And placing her arm round me, asked me 
 
 my name. 
 
 She said her mamma was sorry for me, 
 And she was as sorry as sorry could be, 
 'Cause my mamma had gone far away 
 And left me here all alone to stay. 
 
 My poor little heart so hungry had grown 
 That it warmed at the touch of this child 
 
 unknown. 
 And that pity so kindly and gently given 
 Started my feet on the way toward Heaven. 
 
 I thought some day, I'll be worthy to play 
 With dear little girls like her today, 
 And so I'll be just as good as I can. 
 Maybe I'll know her when I'm a man. 
 
 O, the curse of a stain from a mother's 
 
 name 
 How it clings to her children with hisses 
 
 and shame 
 Till sometimes it seems that God cannot 
 
 know 
 That these little waifs must feel the blow. 
 
 I used to think my parents' sin 
 Made Heaven harder for me to win 
 Though Angels pitied, the world was cold 
 And cursed me for their tales untold. 
 
116 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Cursed me simply because I was born 
 And cast me aside in bitter scorn. 
 I resolved to rise above the foe 
 That I they yet might seek to know. 
 
 And now at last I have reached a place 
 Where I can look man in the face 
 And I have ever taken time 
 To comfort those brought here through 
 crime. 
 
 And yet we feel we are all too young 
 To know the future of life begun. 
 We must calmly wait for the time to come 
 When these bodies are dead and our senses 
 numb. 
 
 We cannot judge what the change will 
 
 bring 
 To those who suffer or those who sing. 
 But they who take life in their hands 
 May find their souls in sinking sands. 
 
 God alone doth know just why 
 He placed man here to live and die 
 So let us be content to stay 
 Till He shall take us in his way. 
 
 Hath He not given time to tell 
 About how long on earth to dwell? 
 Then let us fill our station here 
 Lest we may pay a price more dear. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 117 
 
 'Twas a pitiful tale my mother's woe 
 Who had risen high to fall so low, 
 For love of one who sought to see 
 That she might yet be as low as he. 
 
 My mother, poor mother, sunk in despair 
 When love and strength had vanished there, 
 Driven through shame to the lowest round 
 She gave up to die when I was found. 
 
 My life began through the care of one 
 Who thought not of God, nor evil to shun, 
 But greedily gained her spoils on earth 
 By keeping such children as I from birth. 
 
 'Twas not from pity she sought to do 
 But to gain rewards from those she knew 
 Would rather give than to bear the blame 
 That the world might cast on an honored 
 name. 
 
 My body was clothed and fed full well 
 But my famished soul no comfort could tell. 
 For little knew I of goodness or love 
 Save when it was whispered by Angels 
 above. 
 
 Did God look kindly down on me 
 
 And see how lonely my heart must be? 
 
 Did he watch and guide through all those 
 
 years 
 When I needed my mother's smiles and 
 
 tears ? 
 
118 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 O. pity the poor little orphan boy 
 Who is nobody's pride and nobody's joy, 
 Who must cross the bridges of life alone 
 Who must carry his load though weighted 
 with stone. 
 
 Friendless and poor with nobody's name 
 How can he be good with nothing but 
 
 shame? 
 No love, no mercy, no kindness known. 
 To the poor little waif all alone unknown. 
 
 I struggled long e're I rose above 
 The cold dark waves of sinful love 
 E'er I conquered and won 
 The higher plane of an honored son. 
 
 But the stain washed away 
 
 And I stand here today 
 
 Honored and loved by those good and true 
 
 Only for what I have tried to do. 
 
 My hair is white with age now 
 
 And the wrinkles have gathered on cheek 
 
 and brow, 
 My form is bent, my step is slow 
 For soon to the grave my body must go. 
 
 My soul is almost ready for flight 
 Away from a world where sin doth blight 
 Where one will not weary in doing right 
 Nor tire in searching for wisdom and light. 
 
 Where children unblessed on earth shall be 
 Purer and lietter than you and me ; 
 Singing and happy, their l)urdens unrolled 
 Thus doth God gather his Inml^s to his fold. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 119 
 
 SI mctutt ot Batutt0 mtnan iFlotoerjS 
 
 One morning at dawn of day 
 
 Two dainty souls were born. 
 One was thought a golden ray 
 
 The other, but a thorn. 
 
 While one awoke 'mid flowers 
 
 Whose fragrance filled the air, 
 The other felt for hours 
 
 The ash-heap's burning care. 
 
 While one through love was nurtured i 
 
 And tended day by day. 
 
 The other hate had tortured jji 
 
 In every evil way. • | 
 
 These germs from earth life given 
 
 In soil which man had tilled 
 Must bud and bloom for Heaven 
 
 E'er Nature's plans are filled. 
 
 Two forces which man controls 
 
 Surrounds these tiny plants, 
 To culture their waking souls 
 
 For future wills and wants. 
 
 Such powers, which man hath said 
 
 Are known by Love and Hate, 
 Both these minds were fed and led 
 
 As subjects to their fate. 
 
120 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Jack Marew from Hatred grew 
 'Mid places hard and cold 
 
 But Nellie Bell's life could tell 
 Of Love which ne'er grew old. 
 
 In shadows of creeping Time 
 In bitter strength of woe, 
 
 In fetters of reeking crime 
 
 Jack's soul doth form and grow. 
 
 In jewels of loving rhyme 
 
 I will paint these pictures long, 
 
 Should I fail in perfect time 
 Or mix my colors wrong. 
 
 Then He who counts the fractions 
 Which form the migiity whole, 
 
 Must judge of human actions 
 As he corrects the soul. 
 
 These two brought here to earth-life, 
 Through wicked thought and vice, 
 
 From early dawn of birth-strife 
 Were sheltered for a price. 
 
 One bound by Love to duty 
 W^ith harmony and care 
 
 Found peace and joy and beauty. 
 Glad welcome to her there. 
 
 The other knew no pleasure 
 Since blackest clouds of Hate 
 
 Were holden as a treasure 
 For vices to create. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 121 
 
 Hope reveal, the power we weal 
 
 O'er destiny and might, 
 Conscience seal, life's appeal 
 
 When the Soul would live right. 
 
 Future soil of love and toil 
 
 Awake in mind the thought, 
 To unfoil a sad turmoil 
 
 Of every kind that's brought. 
 
 To uplift those who would drift 
 
 In places hard and cold 
 Honor's gift will not shift 
 
 Those wicked vile or bold. 
 
 Sin is lust and hence will rust 
 
 The brightest kind of ware. 
 Do not thrust all future trust 
 
 In everybody's care. 
 
 O, urge the mind to live aright 
 Through chilling blasts of scorn. 
 
 Though stormed by Hate through all the night 
 Love conquers in the morn. 
 
 As nature's wheel goes around 
 
 And rate of time moves on, 
 These children we have found 
 
 New sense of wisdom don. 
 
 Little Jack soon learns to rout 
 
 All care or thought of joy. 
 But seeks to know what is about 
 
 To give his mind employ. 
 
122 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 His ever black desire for sin 
 
 Comes from a burning sense within, 
 Given by his parent's crime 
 
 To stain his httle soul with slime. 
 
 But God will shape these flowers 
 
 Whom man embitters so, 
 And through refreshing showers 
 
 Will show them how to grow. 
 
 Jack's thorny life yet may reach 
 
 The higher plane of will 
 Which baffles sin and will teach 
 
 Right sense of honor still. 
 
 These little lambs in the field 
 
 Without a mother's care 
 God's tender love forms a shield 
 
 To shelter everywhere. 
 
 And though hardships are so great, 
 'Tis planned that all should learn 
 
 To grow stronger with the weight 
 Which time and folly turn. 
 
 Thirteen years flew quickly by 
 
 When summoned fate soon changed 
 
 The youthful mind wherein doth lie 
 All future hopes deranged. 
 
 O, Hope, wherein doth folly lie 
 Which turneth time and tune 
 
 Seeking life's dull weary sigh 
 For sinful hearts so soon 
 
(jp:ais of thought 123 
 
 Did Hatred form her footpath, 
 
 Beside Life's winding road 
 That she may taint with bhnd wrath 
 
 All Folly's ways bestowed? 
 
 But Nellie Bell's Hfe was filled 
 
 With soulful love within. 
 Which a mother's heart instilled 
 
 In sorrow for her sin. 
 
 That mother on her death-bed 
 
 Gave her child in God's care 
 To be fed and humbly led 
 
 By friends in pity there. 
 
 So innocent and so pure 
 
 She prayed might ever be 
 Her tiny babe kept secure 
 
 From Satan's ruining tree. 
 
 She begged them ne'er to mention 
 
 The folly and the crime 
 Which sin through wild dissension 
 
 Her life did undermine. 
 
 Beneath the snow they laid her 
 Where soulless frames must lie, 
 
 And Nature's laws decayed her 
 With wisdom's ruling eye. 
 
 But her little daughter grew 
 Both winsome, sweet and true, 
 
 Though sheltered by friends she knew 
 The Angels guided too. 
 
124 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Her love became most boundless 
 For friendless orphan souls, 
 
 Will such bright hopes be groundless 
 When built on sandy shoals? 
 
 So Nellie through love of right 
 Was one of God's choice plants 
 
 To form the future bright 
 Through her delicate haunts. 
 
 God mixed her mortar for her 
 
 Colored her petals o'er, 
 And threw his mantle o'er her 
 
 When e'er she went ashore. 
 
 Her little lamp of guidance 
 Threw over heart and soul 
 
 A spirit of confidence 
 To li!J:ht her o'er the shoal. 
 
 When first she met the little Jack 
 She found him all alone 
 
 With a cat upon its back 
 He'd weighted with a stone. 
 
 Oh, how it ever pained her 
 To meet such bitter woe, 
 
 A cruel blow which stained her 
 As crimes on life bestow. 
 
 His joy in such a measure 
 Expressed with keen delight. 
 
 Gave sin and sorrow ]:)leasure 
 While Hatred tolled the plight. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 125 
 
 She took the kitten from him, 
 And with the love she bore 
 
 The spark of life grown dim 
 Recalled to earth once more. 
 
 Then by a kindly story 
 
 Resolved to teach just how 
 
 A future higher glory 
 Depended on them now. 
 
 How these poor weakly creatures 
 
 Were given to man's care 
 And we as faithful teachers 
 
 Should guard them everywhere. 
 
 Her little loving spirit 
 
 Cast such a radiant light 
 Truth gave her thoughts a merit 
 
 To strengthen for the right. 
 
 She said, "Let's have a playhouse. 
 
 In this big box out here, 
 And make it kitty's stay-house 
 
 To hide when dogs come near." 
 
 And so they played together 
 
 Forming a friendship's tie 
 A knot of peace drawn hither 
 
 By bonds which seldom die. 
 
 The little thoughtful maiden 
 Always striving for some good, 
 
 Her spirit ever laden 
 
 With thoughts of brotherhood. 
 
126 Ci E M S 1-' THOUGH T 
 
 Ah ! many an orphan child 
 
 Through thorny paths of sin 
 Are but tainted and defiled 
 
 While striving thus to win. 
 
 Will God's protecting arm 
 
 Surround such lives as these 
 Keeping from all worldly harm 
 
 Saplings of wornout trees? 
 
 Or does he within us stir 
 
 A willing desire to save 
 Through pity when crimes occur 
 
 Poor children under the wave? 
 
 Well I recall the morning 
 
 Which checked Jack's downward course, 
 Only a timely warning 
 
 Saving his life from worse. 
 
 He and two other comrades 
 
 Thought it to be such fun 
 To trip with a rope some lads 
 
 Or girls, and then just run. 
 
 It would only cause a shock 
 
 And make the children cry. 
 So they stretched across the walk 
 
 A rope for passers by, 
 
 They wanted to see them fall, 
 
 But could not tell just why, 
 And they did not care at all, 
 
 Though their faces were awry. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 127 
 
 After a while old Grandpa Tweed, 
 
 Whose eyesight was so dim, 
 Wended his way without heed. 
 
 They never thought of him. 
 
 A little child five in years 
 
 Leading him by the hand, 
 Took away his many fears 
 
 With her little winsome wand. 
 
 Weird and queer my tale may seem. 
 
 The moral does not change. 
 For bright lights will ever gleam 
 
 While darkness must derange. 
 
 Will the shadows on the wall 
 
 Disturb the soul at night? 
 Will dark plots of sin at all 
 
 Waken thoughts of right? 
 
 Jack, the leader of this game, 
 
 Watched with a luring smile. 
 Though he felt a bitter shame 
 
 Creep o'er his soul the while. 
 
 Grim and strange these acts and deeds, 
 
 But life is full of such 
 And like poison thorns and weeds 
 
 Choke where e'er they touch. 
 
 Somehow Hatred born within 
 
 Covered his heart until 
 Conscience knew no pangs of sin 
 
 Against his own free will. 
 
128 (^KMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Grandpa and the child would fall 
 He knew full well, but then 
 
 A little jar would be all 
 And they could rise again. 
 
 As slowly they came aloni; 
 
 She so chattered ad chimed 
 Like a sweet-voiced bird in song 
 
 Whose cadence ever rhymed. 
 
 But when they stumbled and fell 
 A coarse rough laugh was heard 
 
 Which wakened the depths of hell 
 And hearts of demons stirred. 
 
 But Jack will soon learn to rout 
 Demons like these, 'twere said, 
 
 They were simply trying to scout 
 All wisdom out of his head. 
 
 When poor Grandpa rose no more 
 And the small arm lay broken, 
 
 A sadder light began to dawn 
 Which no one yet had spoken. 
 
 Woe, woe, to the little friend, 
 Woe, woe, to selfishness, 
 
 To the heart which only dreamed 
 Of some elfishness. 
 
 Too late had dawned the warning, 
 For Grandpa w^as no more. 
 
 But gone to greet the morning 
 On that far distant shore. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 129 
 
 Only the frame had waited 
 
 To rest in that final tomb. 
 To return to dust as fated 
 
 That other flowers might bloom. 
 
 Sad ! sad, must the leaf unroll, 
 
 Reveal to all the plan. 
 Scarlet hues which dull the soul 
 
 Will first attach the man. 
 
 Grandpa's feeble life was given 
 
 And that little arm broken 
 To convey thoughts of Heaven 
 
 To these souls unspoken. 
 
 Can it unfoil the serpent's coil. 
 Heal the wound once made? 
 
 O, little Jack, wilt thy toil 
 Now cause the past to fade? 
 
 Woe befell the withered leaf 
 And the poor blighted form 
 
 Which had tarried on the reef 
 Died like a trodden worm. 
 
 When Jack saw that life taken. 
 
 And the small broken arm. 
 Tender thoughts began to waken 
 
 And then create alarm. 
 
 'Till he could not find relief 
 X"or gain true sleep at night 
 
 For the fullness of his grief 
 Which conscience kept in sight. 
 
130 G E M S O F THOUGHT 
 
 He called the boys together 
 And formed a faithful Band 
 
 To check such mischief, rather 
 Than form it hand in hand. 
 
 Grandpa Tweed had been so blessed 
 And loved by children, too, 
 
 No thought of harm had he guessed 
 Which girls or boys might do. 
 
 •So Grandpa Tweed was taken 
 
 To start Jack in the right 
 And better thoughts to waken 
 
 Which guard boys through the night. 
 
 Grandpa's life was taken 
 
 And how Jack worked for right, 
 
 The old road now forsaken 
 He used to trod at night. 
 
 He and the boys then plighted 
 
 A sacred promise each 
 To be for good united 
 
 And higher motives teach. 
 
 So earnest and undaunted 
 Was this, the vow they made. 
 
 An evergreen they planted 
 
 Where Grandpa's form was laid. 
 
 To always so remind them 
 What work was theirs in view 
 
 For that dear life given gem 
 Had taught them what to do. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 131 
 
 I gave to you the story 
 
 Of Jack and little Nell 
 For sample of life's glory 
 
 Which these poor orphans tell. 
 
 The little seeds which we all 
 
 In our surroundings sow 
 May help some soul to rise or fall 
 
 Though we may never know. 
 
 So let us guard our actions 
 
 And be prepared to meet 
 The smaller bits of fractions 
 
 Which crumble 'neath our feet. 
 
 Waking or sleeping 
 A sad sweet face 
 
 Smiling or weeping 
 Sin leaves no trace. 
 
 Morning or evening 
 'Tis just the same 
 
 Scorning or grieving 
 A pillar of flame. 
 
132 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Raising and wearing 
 Her standard high, 
 
 Praising and daring 
 Her God is nigh. 
 
 A character formed 
 So pure and deep 
 
 Though beaten and stormed 
 Still flowers reap. 
 
 Pretty and youthful 
 
 A country lass, 
 With charms so truthful 
 
 O, who can pass? 
 
 All glory the name 
 And give just praise 
 
 To the one whose fame 
 Shows better ways. 
 
 O, where can you find 
 
 One beautiful. 
 So purely designed 
 
 And dutiful? 
 
 Such maidens are rare 
 
 And all will bow 
 To honor a fair 
 
 Sweet thoughtful ]:)row. 
 
 Tenderly caring 
 For younger minds 
 
 So bravely daring 
 All webs she finds. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 13a 
 
 Just sowing the seeds 
 Which she hath brought 
 
 Just showing good deeds 
 To those she taught. 
 
 Angels will weave her 
 
 A crown to wear 
 And death shall leave her 
 
 No pains to bear. 
 
 God grant that others 
 
 May see her light 
 And give young mothers 
 
 Her sense of right. 
 
 Guiding little ones 
 
 Through stormy ways 
 Thus shielding God's sons 
 
 In younger days. 
 
 No grander mission 
 
 Is in the world. 
 For soon transition 
 
 From youth is whirled. 
 
 And happy childhood 
 
 Will pass with time 
 Leaving the wild-wood 
 
 For others to climb. 
 
 Who is it that makes 
 
 Our world sublime? 
 Who is it that takes 
 
 Away earth's crime? 
 
134 GEMS P^ THOUGHT 
 
 Is it not children 
 
 Of other days, 
 And God who willed them 
 
 Choose better ways? 
 
 Are not these the ones 
 Who now cherish 
 
 The flag other's sons 
 Sought to perish ? 
 
 Whenever the clouds 
 
 Cover the sky, 
 And trouble so shrouds 
 
 Life's beautiful tie, 
 
 Then lift up thine eyes 
 Beyond the sky 
 
 And courage will rise 
 Though daylight die. 
 
 For darkness of sin 
 
 Ever so black 
 True prayer within 
 
 Shall pierce her track. 
 
 And a ray of light 
 With Heaven's glow 
 
 Will brighten the night 
 And sin o'erthrow. 
 
 But grief of years gone by 
 Faded the flower 
 
 Of these children nigh 
 Within her bower. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 135 
 
 For a drunkard's fate 
 
 Her husband knew 
 And he grew to hate 
 
 His loved ones too. 
 
 The wife of his life 
 
 Soon pined away 
 Then bitterest strife 
 
 Carried full sway. 
 
 'Till our maiden pure 
 
 Rose up in arms 
 To firmly secure 
 
 From father's harms. 
 
 So under her wing 
 
 These children grew. 
 Just learning to sing 
 
 The language she knew. 
 
 How purely the pearls 
 
 Of thought will come 
 When nature unfurls 
 
 Her spirits dumb. 
 
 To whisper faintly 
 
 In human ear 
 Her mysteries saintly 
 
 Both far and near. 
 
 And chimes of her rhyme 
 
 All gladly hail 
 Enchantments of Time 
 
 E'en cannot fail. 
 
136 GEMS O F THOUGHT 
 
 O, list to her song 
 All the day long. 
 
 'Twill deaden the wrong 
 Of evil strong. 
 
 'Twill brighten a ray 
 Of hope some day 
 
 When gone astray 
 Though far away. 
 
 A father giving 
 
 His soul for wine, 
 
 His daughter living 
 A life divine. 
 
 The one forsaking 
 His children here, 
 
 The other taking 
 His place to cheer. 
 
 The one surrounding 
 His home with gloom, 
 
 The other founding 
 
 Love's flowers to bloom. 
 
 Placed in the arms 
 Of sin's cruel charms 
 
 Whose serpents design 
 To tempt with wine. 
 
 The drunkard oft shows 
 
 His bitter woes 
 Where the demons curse 
 
 Will blight him worse. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 137 
 
 'Till his brain so fires 
 
 With wrong desires 
 That a bloody crime 
 
 Results in time. 
 
 And now I must tell 
 
 The awful tale 
 Which sadly befell 
 
 With a drunkard's wail. 
 
 Why little ones too 
 
 j\Iust suffer so 
 When parents will do 
 
 The wrong- they know. 
 
 O, why must they feel 
 
 The cruel blow? 
 No sacred appeal 
 
 Doth check the woe. 
 
 Early in the fall 
 
 The grain was sold 
 Which farmers call 
 
 Their stay and hold. 
 
 Providing for those 
 
 Sheltered at home 
 E'er deadening throes 
 
 Of Winter come. 
 
 But our maiden knows 
 
 How the money goes, 
 And she strives in vain 
 
 All comforts to gain. 
 
138 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 But the greed of thirst 
 Comes ever first, 
 
 And wine overthrows 
 What reason he knows. 
 
 One bright Autumn day 
 When all looked gay, 
 
 Blackbirds were singing 
 Their joy bringing. 
 
 While the world below 
 
 So happy grew 
 In the sunshine's glow 
 
 Sang carols too. 
 
 'Twas on this fair day 
 The tempest came 
 
 That destroyed each ray 
 Of hope with shame. 
 
 Which blighted the fair 
 Sweet joys of home. 
 
 Uniting despair 
 
 With future gloom. 
 
 The children playing 
 
 In the garden, 
 Saw not the straying 
 
 Danger harden. 
 
 'Till a fiendish cry 
 
 Pierced through the air, 
 
 And a cruel die 
 Was painted there. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 139 
 
 Those motherless lambs 
 
 Soon saw their fate 
 In the sin-bound drachms 
 
 Of wine and hate. 
 
 'Tis a story told 
 
 So often still 
 How the demon sold 
 
 Madden the will. 
 
 When the father wild 
 
 Doth kill his child 
 With a deadly blow 
 
 He does not know. 
 
 While the little one 
 
 So pale and cold, 
 Whose pure life now gone 
 
 Angels enfold. 
 
 With a serpent's hiss 
 
 He breathed his curse 
 And v;ith thoughts like this, 
 
 He scorned life worse. 
 
 "Now to fiery hell 
 
 I'll fight my way, 
 And the fiends will tell 
 
 Me where to stay. 
 
 "And so I will crush 
 
 Every life I can 
 As onward I rush 
 
 To the fate of man. 
 
140 GEMS OF T f I U G H T 
 
 "I'll make the blood flow 
 With bitter curse, 
 
 And my deadly blows 
 Will be life's hearse. 
 
 "Ho! O, ho! for sin 
 And vice and crime, 
 
 'Tis the way to win 
 My hellish shrine." 
 
 With screams of fright 
 
 The children ran 
 To hide from the sight 
 
 Of a drunken man. 
 
 His daughter seeing 
 The children fleeing 
 
 With ai)prehension 
 Won his attention. 
 
 Diverting his mind 
 
 To things behind 
 E'er his thoughts were shaped 
 
 They had all escaped. 
 
 But the bright-eyed boy 
 With golden hair. 
 
 Their sunshine and joy 
 Lay bleeding there. 
 
 This little child 
 
 So pure in life, 
 So undefiled 
 
 And free from strife. 
 
GEMS OF T H O UGH T 141 
 
 Just budding to bloom 
 
 When stricken down, 
 Now finding his tomb 
 
 With a baby's crown. 
 
 While lifting gently 
 
 The drooping head 
 And staunching intently 
 
 The blood so red, 
 
 Our maiden but stood 
 
 A soldier's test 
 As a brave girl should 
 
 When it was best. 
 
 Will passion in life 
 
 To conquer strife 
 Alike be dead 
 
 When all hath fled. 
 
 God pity the maiden 
 
 So over laden 
 From the deadly cup 
 
 Which men will sup. 
 
 The purely designed 
 
 Are never blind, 
 Though threads unwind 
 
 Of every kind. 
 
 Such follow the true 
 
 All the way through 
 Though dangers ensue 
 
 Whatever they do. 
 
142 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 The father near by 
 With blood-shot eye. 
 
 Was stained with a flood 
 Of his child's blood. 
 
 But he laughed in glee 
 Then sought to see 
 
 In a flaming fire 
 His mad desire. 
 
 And before she knew 
 What course to pursue 
 
 His destruction grew 
 In a fire too. 
 
 The home of their childhood 
 Now robed in red, 
 
 And close to the wild wood 
 Where flames could spread. 
 
 That baby brother 
 She knew was dead 
 
 To join his mother 
 His spirit fled. 
 
 So sadly she turned 
 And left him there 
 
 To the home now burned 
 Beyond her care. 
 
 Like the maiden true 
 
 She sought to see 
 If the other two 
 
 Were safe and free. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 There the father lay 
 In the dense smoke 
 
 Where the fires would play 
 And the gas soon choke. 
 
 But the demon's curse 
 
 Had left his will 
 In a stupor worse 
 
 Than death could fill. 
 
 With hope undaunted 
 She sought to save 
 
 His life, though haunted 
 Worse than a slave. 
 
 For she loved him still 
 Though cursed until 
 
 His poor maddened will 
 Had sought to kill. 
 
 She remembered now 
 
 In time gone by 
 Of a father's vow 
 
 To God on high. 
 
 She was then a child 
 Too young to know 
 
 Why that vision wild 
 Impressed her so. 
 
 And her mother's face 
 AH wet with tears 
 
 Showed to her no trace 
 Of doubts and fears. 
 
 143 
 
< 
 
 144 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 But for many years 
 
 He kept his vow 
 And withstood all sneers 
 
 Which men allow. 
 
 When the downfall came 
 
 A friendly foe 
 Returned the same 
 
 Gone years ago. 
 
 O, a sad pale face, 
 
 A broken heart 
 Was the answered trace 
 
 Of figured art. 
 
 He had sought to efiface 
 That wounded place 
 
 By a cherished vow 
 Forgotten now. 
 
 Angels recorded 
 
 His efforts vain. 
 But man rewarded 
 
 With wine again. 
 
 To the lowest round 
 He soon went down 
 
 When his honor bound 
 Had lost renown. 
 
 O, the evil chase 
 Of a devil's race 
 
 Where the wine-cup's place 
 Ranks high with grace. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 145 
 
 But the drama changes 
 
 And now once more 
 O'er my vision ranges 
 
 Sad hfe as before. 
 
 And the hangman's rope 
 
 Now in full view, 
 Hath caught my hope 
 
 And courage too. 
 
 In a motley crowd 
 
 With iron bonds, 
 All erect and proud 
 
 A prisoner stands. 
 
 As my startled gaze 
 
 Rests on that face 
 I remember a blaze 
 
 A child — a place. 
 
 Since the ones to save him 
 
 Were few and weak, 
 All the judges gave him 
 
 Time yet to speak. 
 
 With a pale, stern brow 
 
 He glances o'er 
 Many people now 
 
 For one man more. 
 
 Then he called his name 
 
 In accents clear, 
 And I saw the same 
 
 False friend appear. 
 
14G G IC MS OK THOUGHT 
 
 And a life for life 
 This mob would take 
 
 To avenge the strife 
 Which sin doth make. 
 
 Ah ! but which is worse, 
 A maddened brain 
 
 With a bloody stain 
 A drunkard's hearse. 
 
 Or a nation cursed 
 With sinful blots 
 
 Which her people nursed 
 In life-bloods clots? 
 
 Is the hangman's rope 
 A drunkard's fate? 
 
 And the only hope 
 A riot's hate? 
 
 Will men grow better 
 
 When stamped with blood? 
 
 Can a country's fetter 
 Give brotherhood? 
 
 An eye for an eye 
 
 A sin for sin. 
 Can this wicked cry 
 
 Be God within ? 
 
 Will the peace of love 
 Which Christ once taught 
 
 Descend from above 
 In riot's wrought? 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 147 
 
 And the look he gave 
 
 Was bitter scorn 
 For the friendly knave 
 
 In falsehood sworn. 
 
 "I believe, to you 
 
 A time w^ill come 
 When you sadly rue 
 
 That offered rum. 
 
 "I had tried so hard 
 
 To conquer fate 
 But when off my guard 
 
 There you await. 
 
 "Now you wish to hang 
 
 To finish life 
 But the foeman's fang 
 
 To me is rife. 
 
 "Although I regret 
 
 My pathway here 
 Still a traitor yet 
 
 Hath worse to fear. 
 
 "With my angel wife 
 
 Here by my side 
 Many storms in life 
 
 I then could ride. 
 
 "But I soon forgot 
 
 When she was gone 
 And a drunken sot 
 
 I journeyed on. 
 
148 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 "So the life you see 
 Is storm beaten 
 
 And resembles that tree 
 All worm eaten. 
 
 "To the ones who sell 
 This poison sup 
 
 1 will warn as well 
 To .^ive it up. 
 
 " 'Tis a wicked crime 
 To tempt to sin 
 
 And you know in time 
 Results will win. 
 
 "O, I begyou all 
 To give up wine 
 
 Lest you too, may fall 
 In the devil's shrine. 
 
 "But my little boy 
 AVhose soul in Heaven 
 
 Hath a sweeter joy 
 Than mine is given. 
 
 "Is beyond the clutch 
 Of wicked vice 
 
 Where the devil's touch 
 Will soon entice. 
 
 "And the pure sweet life 
 Will never know 
 
 How the cruel knife 
 Marks here below." 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 149 
 
 Then looking above 
 
 He offered a prayer 
 Seeking God's love 
 
 For those who were there. 
 
 "O, my Father," he said, 
 
 "Since I must die 
 For the blood I shed 
 
 Have mercy on high. 
 
 "And forgive my soul 
 
 For misdeeds here 
 I shall reach my goal 
 
 With trembling fear." 
 
 As the time was o'er 
 
 To all he bowed 
 "There is nothing more 
 
 Now make my shroud." 
 
 When the rope was placed, 
 
 That motley crowd 
 Whom he bravely faced 
 
 Cheered long and loud. 
 
 But a piecing cry 
 
 And then a pause 
 Turned every eye 
 
 To seek the cause. 
 
 Then a maiden fair 
 
 Soon rushes by 
 With her streaming hair 
 
 And tear-stained eye. 
 
150 GEMS Ot' THOUGHT 
 
 To her father's side 
 All pale and wan 
 
 While only the tide 
 Of time moved on. 
 
 And did God divine 
 Answer her plea. 
 
 To pardon the crime 
 And set him free? 
 
 For the raging storm 
 Was held in check 
 
 By a fair young arm 
 Around his neck. 
 
 Can you paint the scene 
 Which I now draw 
 
 On the living screen 
 Of human law? 
 
 'Twas the maiden's part 
 The love, the sob, 
 
 That so moved the heart 
 Of that great mob. 
 
 For the tidal wave 
 
 Began to recede 
 And desire to save 
 
 Soon took the lead. 
 
 "Let him live and see 
 
 If he can be 
 What a true man free 
 
 Had ought to be." 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 151 
 
 Was the cry of one 
 
 And all agree, 
 That perhaps he'd shun 
 
 The drunkard's spree. 
 
 And the crowd dispersed 
 
 So he might know 
 That although he cursed 
 
 They let him go. 
 
 With the shades of night 
 
 The curtain falls 
 And covers the sight 
 
 Like midnight walls. 
 
 Shall we follow time 
 
 That we may see 
 In another clime 
 
 This man set free? 
 
 Let the shadows part 
 
 The misty past 
 Since nature's art 
 
 Can never last. 
 
 In the morning light 
 
 The sun discloses 
 Four children bright 
 
 Among the roses. 
 
 In the trees above 
 
 The happy birds 
 Are chiming their love 
 
 In unknown words. 
 
152 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 And the gentle flow 
 
 Of incense there 
 As the breezes blow 
 
 Is everywhere. 
 
 In the door near by 
 
 A mother stands 
 While the children tie 
 
 Their floral bands. 
 
 And a happy smile 
 Beams from her face 
 
 As her thoughts the while 
 In fancy chase. 
 
 But the breezes blow 
 
 Upon her cheek 
 Some of nature's glow 
 
 That roses seek. 
 
 As I look upon that brow 
 The maiden as of yore 
 
 Looms before me now 
 As once long years before. 
 
 Just a little older grown 
 
 With a mother's anxious eye, 
 
 While her babies here are shown 
 In the happy chilren nigh. 
 
 And while she gazes 
 
 To those near by 
 A songster raises 
 
 His notes on high. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 153 
 
 And how sweet he sings 
 
 So near her door 
 In the tree he rings 
 
 His message o'er. 
 
 O, how beautiful 
 
 God's love instills 
 All things dutiful 
 
 With nature thrills. 
 
 Oft too she glances 
 
 Out to the field 
 Where some one chances 
 
 Bright hopes to shield. 
 
 And a lover's joy 
 
 Seems there impressed 
 With a heart's employ 
 
 Which God hath blessed. 
 
 'Tis a ransomed name 
 
 The farmer keeps, 
 While the wife's sweet frame 
 
 In justice sleeps. 
 
 'Tis an echoed harp 
 
 Whose joy unfolds 
 When the hidden carp 
 
 The world beholds. 
 
 While the meadow lark 
 
 In rapture sings 
 'Tis the sweetest spark 
 
 Of love he brinars. 
 
154 G E M S F T H U (J H T 
 
 As the dews of morning 
 
 In rainbows glow 
 So the brightest dawning 
 
 Of love will grow. 
 
 Is it love supreme 
 Awakening hope ? 
 
 Or doth fancy's dream 
 With vision cope? 
 
 Is a happy home 
 
 A gift of love? 
 Do showers come . . 
 
 From God above? 
 
 O, the joy, the peace. 
 Of home, sweet home, 
 
 Where our troubles cease 
 In the flowers that bloom. 
 
 So happy and free 
 These children see 
 
 The beauties of nature 
 In every creature. 
 
 And with love and song 
 
 All the day long 
 Life fills each soul 
 
 While her leaflets unroll. 
 
 As love advances 
 Her many chances 
 
 Then freshness and bloom 
 Drive away all gloom. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 155 
 
 'Till both old and young 
 
 With their hearts unstrung 
 Are willing to feel 
 
 Her gentle appeal. 
 
 From out dull winter's sleep 
 
 The reed is shaken 
 Let it waken, 
 
 For the stormy blast 
 Of winter is past. 
 
 While her buds will grow 
 
 With the Spring tide flow 
 And reveal to man 
 
 All the good they can. 
 
 To teach him that life 
 
 Is not all strife 
 And doth ever uplift 
 
 Those who follow her drift. 
 
 Time hath cast his forelocks 
 
 Upon these lives I see 
 And like the sea shore rocks 
 
 Imprint her traces free. 
 
 One with age is printed 
 
 And the wrinkles on the brow 
 
 Hath a page of sorrow tinted, 
 Reflecting shadows now. 
 
 Yet through these darkened corners 
 
 The dancing sunbeams peep 
 To drive away dull mourners 
 
 These laughing ray-gleams leap. 
 
156 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 O, tell me, beams of sunshine, 
 Just how to find my way 
 
 Among the creeping shadows 
 That cross my path each day. 
 
 As life to you seems sweeter 
 And brighter as you go 
 
 Just shed abroad that pleasure 
 That deadens others' woe. 
 
 Near the shady path 
 
 Down yonder hill. 
 Lies the bubbling wrath 
 
 Of spring and rill. 
 
 With a rippled dance 
 
 The brooklet flows 
 And the trickles prance 
 
 As on she goes. 
 
 While the sunbeams play 
 
 Her colors show 
 With each tiny ray 
 
 A bright rain-bow. 
 
 On a stump near by 
 This rippling stream 
 
 Doth an old man try 
 To rest and dream. 
 
 On a cane he leans 
 
 His tired head 
 And nature's scenes 
 
 Have gone to bed. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 157 
 
 While his silv'ry hair 
 
 Waves to and fro 
 As the gentle air 
 
 In breezes blow. 
 
 As his fancies leap 
 
 The trembling form 
 Soon forgets in sleep 
 
 Life's vale of storm. 
 
 Yet again I mark 
 
 From that worn face 
 In the withered bark 
 
 That old disgrace. 
 
 For the scars are there 
 
 Though old and dried 
 Still revealing where 
 
 Sin once defied. 
 
 When pain in living dramas 
 Cuts deep and leaves her traces, 
 
 These mournful panoramas 
 Reflect upon our faces. 
 
 If sin in blazing meanness 
 Be ranked in colors high, 
 
 Then Satan's mortal greenness 
 Will mark the bitter dye. 
 
 Just a few years later 
 
 The roUcall came 
 When our Creator 
 
 Demolished that frame 
 
158 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 For the house was old 
 
 And ready to fall, 
 So the Spirit of Gold 
 
 Obeyed the call. 
 
 When the earth reclaims 
 
 Our human bones 
 Then Heaven gains 
 
 The soul she owns. 
 
 Though so loved by all 
 
 His soul had fled 
 From the broken wall 
 
 The flesh was dead. 
 
 When he passed away 
 All people mourned 
 
 And so on that day 
 His body adorned. 
 
 With pure lilies white 
 His form was draped 
 
 And with roses bright 
 His tomb was craped. 
 
 Remembered at last 
 For his kindly deeds 
 
 God forgave the past 
 
 With these scattered seeds. 
 
 But the children mourned 
 More than the rest 
 
 And so they adorned 
 His grave the best. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 159 
 
 For every morning 
 
 If e'er the sun 
 Gave clouds a scorning 
 
 When day begun, 
 
 With the brightest flowers 
 
 They sought his grave 
 And covered like showers 
 
 This vet'ran brave. 
 
 He had fought and gained 
 
 Success at last 
 And there he remained 
 
 At the top of the mast. 
 
 Have I printed well 
 
 This scene in life ? 
 Doth my picture tell 
 
 Its roads of strife? 
 
 Is our maiden's prayer 
 
 And gentle love 
 On the canvas there 
 
 Or flown above? 
 
 Are the good deeds sown 
 Ever wasted 
 Can a pure life known 
 Remain untasted? 
 
 We are journeying on 
 
 Uphill and down 
 With a purpose we don 
 
 Each starry crown. 
 
160 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 And a misty film 
 
 Doth cloud each day. 
 
 While hiding the realm 
 Of the passers by. 
 
 But the life we live 
 
 Covers the soul 
 Which soon we must give 
 
 When the mists unroll. 
 
 Last night, methought, in my dream I saw 
 
 A river both wide and deep, 
 Again in my memory this vision I draw 
 
 As pictured last night in my sleep. 
 
 What power unseen so gently doth guide 
 Our thoughts that come and go, 
 
 So sweet, so calm, in the fast ebbing tide 
 Doth vanish all billows of woe. 
 
 O magic sleep! whence comes thy charm 
 
 That lulls our souls to rest, 
 Which gives new life to the nerve and arm 
 
 Sweet balm to the troubled breast. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 161 
 
 I see a form by my side once more 
 
 A beautiful Angel fair 
 And the mystic veil of light she wore 
 
 Brightly revealed her there. 
 
 Softly she murmurs and calls my name 
 
 And tells me I must go 
 Where the flitting scenes are never the same 
 
 Where the river Time doth flow. 
 
 Since God oft warns the v/eakest here 
 
 To flee from the path of sin 
 The bad alone have death to fear 
 
 For Heaven the good shall win. 
 
 So strangely borne through the midnight air 
 
 I was wafted far from home 
 To a beautiful clime so bright and fair 
 
 To a land where Angels roam. 
 
 Placed on the banks of a silvery stream 
 
 I watched the boats glide by, 
 And far away their bright lights gleam 
 
 While slowly drawing nigh. 
 
 Some seemed small like fairy barques, 
 
 And some were hugely cast 
 Though all were seered and rough with marks 
 
 From many a stormy blast. 
 
 How far and yet how near and strange 
 
 These boats came floating by, 
 But while I gazed they seemed to change 
 
 As one and all drew nigh. 
 
162 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Each craft I saw was the human frame 
 
 Shattered and weak from sin, 
 And the cabin hghts that shone, now came 
 
 From the living souls within. 
 
 On, on, they go, adown the tide 
 
 To sail eternity 
 These barques are frail from sin and crime, 
 
 They ne'er can enter the sea. 
 
 But God prepares for the living soul 
 When man's weak frame gives way 
 
 In Heaven's gates he will reach his goal 
 While the ships at anchor lay. 
 
 A few were those that I have known 
 
 From childhood days 'till now. 
 How plain the marks of vice were shown 
 
 In form, on cheek and brow. 
 
 The little sins that we forgot 
 
 Nor cared to notice then. 
 Were firmly traced and now seemed wrought 
 
 On the wretched souls of men. 
 
 I saw my own scarred, withered frame. 
 
 So beautiful in life. 
 My wicked ways were stamped in shame 
 
 My soul was dwarfed from strife. 
 
 In wonder and surprise I thought, 
 Could this small soul be mine? 
 
 Had I from earthly sins thus brought 
 My body to its shrine? 
 
 i 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 163 
 
 Suddenly a voice so sweet and low 
 Was borne to my listening ear, 
 
 It soothed my troubled spirit's flow 
 Like rippling water clear. 
 
 "Turn ye, lest it be too late. 
 
 E'er thou shalt cease to care, 
 As love for good may turn to hate 
 
 And sin be pleasure there. 
 
 "If thou wilt seek from God thy light 
 
 He will thy sins forgive. 
 Then strive with all thy will and might 
 
 A better life to live. 
 
 "Place all thy treasures up on high, 
 
 No moths or rust annoy. 
 Where stealthy thieves will ne'er go nigh 
 
 Nor men of crime destroy. 
 
 In love forgive thy brother's sin 
 
 Forgive his blundering way. 
 With kindness strive his love to win 
 
 And help him day by day." 
 
 The sweet voice ceased and all was still, 
 
 I turned around to see 
 Who cared enough to have the will 
 
 To so kindly speak to me. 
 
 To my surprise no one stood near, 
 
 I trembled in every limb, 
 With many a sad, remorseful tear 
 
 My eyes grew weak and dim. 
 
164 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 While bowed with grief, new strains I heard 
 
 Only an Angel singing 
 Though far away, in every word 
 
 My mother's voice was ringing. 
 
 My mother's voice, I knew it well. 
 
 O, how my heart was thrilled. 
 A joy no mortal tongue could tell 
 
 Now all my being filled. 
 
 If I could only see her now 
 
 As in the days of yore. 
 Place loving hands upon my brow 
 
 And bless me as before. 
 
 And then I thought I could do right, 
 
 And be a man once more. 
 With courage new each battle fight 
 
 Till death came to my door. 
 
 My mother came, upon my head 
 Her pure white hands were laid. 
 
 "O, bless my erring boy," she said, 
 "For every effort made. 
 
 "O, bless each noble deed when done, 
 
 And help him strive to gain 
 The highest plane that can be won 
 
 To wash away his stain. 
 
 "A mother's tear, a mother's smile 
 
 Cannot blot out a wrong. 
 He who will thus his soul defile 
 
 In evil paths belong. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 165 
 
 "My boy, by works can find the way 
 
 To gain his mother's side. 
 For God will teach all those who may 
 
 And be their willing guide. 
 
 "But now, dear child, I must away 
 
 For other tasks have I. 
 Guard well thy footsteps day by^day, 
 
 We'll meet here bye and bye." 
 
 She smiled, then vanished from my sight. 
 
 In vain I tried to call. 
 The past loomed up like the gloom of night 
 
 The future like a wall. 
 
 I woke, 'twas but a midnight dream, 
 
 A fancy, yet how real. 
 Are sins all greater than they seem, 
 
 Whose blots man cannot heal ? 
 
 These thoughts my mind conned o'er and o'er 
 
 Till early morning dawned. 
 Then I felt as ne'er before 
 That a gulf before me yawned. 
 
 Today I scanned my features well 
 
 When I my toilet made 
 To see what crimes my face would tell. 
 
 What beauties there might fade. 
 
 How well we read if brought to light 
 
 The truth, it is so plain 
 We cannot see where sin doth blight 
 
 When all our thoughts are vain. 
 
166 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 I saw myself as others see, 
 
 Dark lines upon my face, 
 A loathsome scowl belonged to me 
 
 Which smiles could not erase. 
 
 Deceit was written in my eyes, 
 My mouth looked hard and cold, 
 
 No wonder many passed me by 
 When such a tale was told. 
 
 My form was stooped, my face was flushed, 
 
 Debauch showed everywhere, 
 And then with very shame I blushed. 
 
 For once I had been fair. 
 
 I tell you, boys, I'm going to change, 
 
 A better man I'll be. 
 I cannot afford to so derange 
 
 This frame whom all can see. 
 
 Examine yourselves as I have mine 
 
 And I think that you'll agree, 
 That evil ways and bubbling wine 
 
 Disgraced both you and me. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 167 
 
 **^0 m Soto, gfo ©Hall n 10leap " 
 
 It was during an encampment 
 In New London, I remember, 
 
 When the Autumn leaves were turning 
 In the fair month of September. 
 
 People far and wide had gathered, 
 Some from countries o'er the sea ; 
 
 'Twas a council for all nations 
 In the greatest harmony. 
 
 Men of honor, men of station, 
 
 And of every kind of creed 
 Mingled with the laboring people 
 
 Searching for the truth indeed. 
 
 On the day that I now mention 
 
 In the afternoon at three 
 Was a meeting for the people 
 
 For all testimony free. 
 
 To unite and be united 
 
 In the search for truth and love ; 
 Self forgetting and forgiving 
 
 In pure thoughts of God above. 
 
 Here the rich and poor assembled 
 Heart with heart and hand in hand, 
 
 Joined their sympathies together 
 In a strong and helpful band. 
 
168 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 It was then that gra} -haired fathers 
 
 Bcwed in prayer, their sins confessing; 
 
 It was then that youths and maidens 
 Sought from God their future blessing. 
 
 O, how vivid is the picture 
 
 Of that mother worn with sorrow, 
 
 As she rose to tell her trouble 
 E'er the coming of the morrow. 
 
 She reminded me of Autumn 
 
 When the leaves begin to fall ; 
 Though we know that they are dying 
 
 Still they're beautiful to all. 
 
 Though her pale cheeks flushed while waiting 
 
 From emotions hidden deep. 
 Then in low^ sweet tones she warned us, 
 
 "As ye sow, so shall ye reap." 
 
 "O. hark ! to a poor old mother, 
 
 Rowd down and stricken with grief. 
 
 A word, just a word of warning 
 Lest you strike against the reef. 
 
 "This morning I heard a daughter 
 
 Tell a lie to her little son 
 To keep him away from mischief 
 
 Or. just for a little fun. 
 
 "It made my poor heart sicken 
 
 And I trembled as I thought 
 That she little knew what troubles 
 
 Such lies as these had wrought. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 169 
 
 "Ah ! once I was a mother 
 
 And as fair as many of you. 
 I told my child a story 
 
 To keep him from mischief too. 
 
 "The mistakes of my life have been many 
 The blunders so frequently made 
 
 Have caused these wrinkles to gather, 
 And the bloom from my cheeks to fade. 
 
 "Experience is often a teacher 
 
 But the lessons we learn are so dear. 
 
 For regrets and tears will follow 
 And our lives made cold and drear. 
 
 Mothers! with little ones growing-; 
 
 Fathers! with children you love, 
 Step careful or you may so blunder 
 
 As to ruin your little dove. 
 
 "These little innocent darlings 
 Watch every move that we make, 
 
 They copy each word and action 
 Although they may be a mistake. 
 
 "Why did I not see my error 
 
 When first I began to fail? 
 If I had but heeded my warnings 
 
 My lot I w^ould not bewail. 
 
 "The mistakes of my life have been many 
 But this was the greatest of all, 
 
 When I started my baby's footsteps 
 Where I knew deception would fall. 
 
170 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 "Deceit is such a great evil, 
 
 It begins we scarcely know when 
 
 In little desires and notions 
 That live in the hearts of men. 
 
 "How well I remember my folly 
 When first I deceived my child, 
 
 With his beautiful eyes wide open 
 He looked up surprised and smiled. 
 
 "I thought to teach him a lesson 
 Not to run on the streets alone, 
 
 But to stay with his own dear mamma 
 Where protection was always shown. 
 
 "I told him the dog might eat him 
 
 Or a giant take him away, 
 He'd have no papa nor mamma, 
 
 And with strangers he'd have to stay. 
 
 "He sat by himself and pondered 
 After this little tale was told. 
 
 Till fast asleep I found him 
 
 My jewel ! more precious than gold. 
 
 "O. parents, be true to your children 
 Would you have them true to you. 
 
 If you teach the art of deception 
 in time these lies you will rue. 
 
 "Deceit is the root of evil 
 
 Which leads to dark crime and woe 
 This path through life if you follow 
 
 Will be your bitterest foe. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT m 
 
 "I tried to deceive my baby 
 
 To keep him here by my side 
 If I had ever been truthful 
 
 He might still in me confide. 
 
 "My little one soon discovered 
 
 That what I had said was untrue 
 Whenever I tried to warn him 
 
 He thought 'twas a story, too. 
 
 "Then soon he began to utter 
 
 Little falsehoods no worse than mme 
 
 But though I thought to correct him 
 With mischief his eyes would shine. 
 
 "He thought 'twas fun to deceive me 
 What harm now could there be 
 
 In telling stories like mama 
 When she was older than he? 
 
 "O, my little bright-eyed baby, 
 
 Can it be you will ever know 
 That your mother deeply suffers 
 
 Because she once wronged you so? 
 
 "One evening just at twilight 
 At the close of a summer's day 
 
 We were watching the twinkling stars 
 Come forth in their bright array. 
 
 "My boy no longer a baby, 
 
 Was just at the age of seven 
 Upon my lap he was sitting 
 
 While I talked of the wonders of Heaven. 
 
172 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 ''I told him of God and his angels 
 And this beautiful world he made 
 
 Of these bodies that he gave us 
 So soon in the graves to be laid. 
 
 "Of the children up in Heaven 
 
 All dressed in their robes of white. 
 
 Who were ever good and happy 
 Because they always did right. 
 
 "My Willie now looked up at me 
 
 And said so sober and wise, 
 'Mamma, what makes folks tell us little 
 boys, 
 
 Such great big awful lies? 
 
 " 'I always thought that Santa Clans 
 
 Came round in a little sleigh 
 Down the chimney through the soot 
 
 To give his presents away. 
 
 " 'Last winter the boys all told me 
 
 That it wasn't so at all. 
 That you or papa always filled 
 
 My stockings hung on the wall. 
 
 " 'I think it is mean and naughty 
 
 In mammas to do that way 
 When they know it makes the big boys 
 laugh 
 
 To hear what the little boys say.' 
 
 "I tried to explain the difference 
 
 In a lie and a little tale 
 But here like many a mother 
 
 I most certainly did fail. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 173 
 
 "My child was a little skeptic 
 
 He would not and could not believe 
 
 He thought that I had been telling 
 A story just to deceive. 
 
 "The years were coming and going, 
 
 I scarcely knew how nor when 
 But time was changing my baby, 
 
 And he grew into ways like men. 
 
 "Slowly a gulf was widening 
 
 Between little Willie and me. 
 He was getting so bold and rough 
 
 I more and more plainly could see. 
 
 "No more he cared for his kisses, 
 
 Or his little troubles to tell. 
 No more he cared for mama 
 
 Whom he used to love so well. 
 
 "He was drifting, slowly drifting. 
 
 Along with the rolling tide 
 Near the seething, madd'ning whirlpool 
 
 Where sin doth ever hide. 
 
 "In vain I tried to reach him, 
 
 In vain I called him back. 
 He neither heard my calling 
 
 Nor faltered in his track. 
 
 'Twas a bitter, bitter trial 
 
 For a mother's heart to bear. 
 When she knew her own misgivings 
 
 Had started his footsteps there. 
 
174 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 "My Willie was past sixteen 
 When he left his parent's door 
 
 O'er the wide, wide world to wander 
 From his home for evermore. 
 
 "Long, long years we have waited 
 
 For our boy again to return 
 To his broken hearted parents 
 
 Who still so mournfully yearn. 
 
 "Ah! soon the graves will hold their own 
 And our bodies return to dust. 
 
 The future now to us unknown 
 To God we willingly trust. 
 
 "All ye who know our Willie, 
 
 If ever you chance to meet, 
 Just tell him his poor old mother 
 
 In Heaven her boy will greet. 
 
 "O, tell him how we have missed him, 
 And how we have sought for him here, 
 
 That we never have forgotten 
 Our Willie, our boy so dear. 
 
 "On the other shore we're waiting. 
 
 Waiting just the same as of yore, 
 For the coming of our darling 
 
 Whom we lost long years before. 
 
 "I confess my greatest sorrow. 
 
 That mothers all may know 
 How deceitful measures never fail 
 
 Rut will give us pain and woe. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 175 
 
 "Take warning-, sons and daughters, 
 
 And heed what I have told, 
 O, found your statements all on truth, 
 
 Then God will bless when you grow old." 
 
 The poor old lady took her seat 
 
 All trembling and in tears. 
 Her husband sat with bowed head 
 
 From the grief he'd borne for years. 
 
 I never shall forget that hour, 
 
 For all now seemed to feel 
 A deep and heartfelt sympathy 
 
 For her whose sighs were real. 
 
 Presently a stranger rose 
 
 And came up the center aisle, 
 His dress looked stained and dusty 
 
 From traveling many a mile. 
 
 I saw that his face was handsome. 
 Though stamped with vice and sin, 
 
 I saw that his eyes were glowing 
 From a burning fire within. 
 
 I knew that he was excited 
 
 By the story she had told, 
 And was only hastening forward 
 
 Some tidings to unfold. 
 
 He laid his hand on her shoulder, 
 
 Then whispered soft and low 
 A message from her lost one, 
 
 For she fell as from a blow. 
 
176 GEMS OF THOUGHT 
 
 Gently and quickly he raised her, 
 And called her his mother dear, 
 
 But she lay all still and helpless 
 Though now her boy was near. 
 
 Back he smoothed the gray-haired locks 
 
 That o'er her forehead laid, 
 \\'hile tenderly, softly, he called her 
 
 His mother from whom he had strayed. 
 
 But then she had only fainted, 
 
 And when he spoke her name 
 As though from the dead she wakened, 
 
 For he and her boy were the same. 
 
 After the fright was over. 
 
 And the choir began to sing. 
 O. how that great assembly 
 
 Did make the music ring. 
 
 They sang of sins forgiven, 
 
 And the prodigal's return. 
 Of rejoicing up in Heaven 
 
 When the tidings they would learn. 
 
 Methought I heard the echo 
 
 When it reached the Heavenly shore, 
 And the Angel voices singing 
 
 Sweetly singing evermore. 
 
 God's spirit seemed to float 
 
 O'er the gathering there that day, 
 
 For the vilest of all sinners 
 
 Then thought to change his way. 
 
GEMS OF THOUGHT 177 
 
 How often we carry burden 
 
 As if in some deep dream, 
 Until the clouds are scattered 
 
 And the sun begins to gleam. 
 
 But when the storm is over 
 Our joy doth seem so great 
 
 We can scarcely bear its lightness 
 So heavy has been the weight. 
 
 'Twas so with that dear mother, 
 Who was now so greatly blessed 
 
 That her heart was overflowing 
 From the joy that she possessed. 
 
 That meeting was a grand one. 
 
 We felt God's wondrous power 
 Pouring forth in loving kindness 
 
 On us all in one great shower.