"I almost wonder myself, my dear fellow," he replied. "I never could have believed, at that time, that I could live happily under such a change of circumstances; but the fact is, that although I have been a contractor, I have a good conscience; then, my wife is an excellent woman, and provided she sees me and her daughters happy, she thinks nothing about herself; and, farther, I have made it a rule, as I have been going downhill, to find reasons why I should be thankful and not discontented. Depend upon it, Reynolds, it is not a loss of fortune that will affect your happiness, as long as you have peace and love at home."
I took my leave of Willemott and his wife with respect as well as regard, convinced that there was no pretended indifference to worldly advantages, that it was not that the grapes were sour, but that he had learned the whole art of happiness by being content with what he had and by "cutting his coat according to his cloth."
___
THE PHANTOM OF LIGHT
Through the silence of the night
Through the brightness of the day,
Thou art near my soul and sight,
Ne'er to pass away!
Through life, we walked apart.
In the stillness of our love,
Death restores you to my heart.
A seraph from above!
O'er the waters around my soul,
Like the dove to the ark,
As the slow night watches roll,
Com'st thou through the dark.
And yet, oh! golden-feathered dove!
Earth has no ark for you.
Some omens of celestial love
You must bring them thus to me.
Spirit is beautiful! -I hear
Thy soft and spectral tread,
Spirit faithful! -vision clear
From the glorious dead!
Whispering ever-only "Peace!"
Tenderest ! Dost thou come?
To bid my own heart's warfare cease,
And lead me gently home?
To the Savior's calm right hand
From the tempests here
Dost thou call me? to the land
Sorrows are not near.
66 Sorrow!"—let"me wrong, not it?
The angel that made it known,
That soul whose lustrous sweetness lit
O'erwhelming moments alone:
The black-winged angel by my side
Singing still of thee,
And of thy God, till bitter pride,
Slow-melting, she bowed the knee.
And glorified one! is not this
Worth all those early tears?
This high communion's solemn bliss
Worth anguish-haunted years?
Do I bemoan the mortal strife?
Of the past and conquered woes?
Nay ! Dust is more dear than breathing life!
Bright spirit! deem not so!
Yet, leave me not now, breaking dawn.
With a dreary eye of grey
Watches the city's heard-ones drawn
From ruined homes away!
Not now! It is the parting hour.
When more than death withdraws
From heaven's pure lamp of searching power,
From light's supernal laws.
Stay yet a little! Till with thee
My soul permitted soars,
To join the song of victory
On unimagined shores! E. M. H.
___
THE DREARY EARTH
I've seen the bride turn pale.
Under the wreaths she wore,
The mother weeps and wails.
Above the boy she bore,
I've seen the bud decay.
Before it bloomed to birth:
And such is the way.
In all this dreary earth!
And all the flowers that ope
Before the moontide, die,
And every siren has hope.
Will sing young Love a lie?
And every smiling spring
Will die away in dearth,
Death is the tyrant king.
Of all this dreary earth!
And glory! -'t is deceit,
The high-born spirit's curse!
And beauty is a cheat.
The lovelier, the worse!
And heaven, the only sight
That gilds our meaner birth."
This is God's unchanging light.
Must cheer this dreary earth!
___
CONTENTMENT.
Chloe's a belle and poetess.
But then of both, the curse is:
She makes her face so that all men bless her.
But she never makes her verses.
