36
ONE SMILE . -LONG AGO.
his man's arrogance came back, and he had courage to tell her the rest.
"I love you," he exclaimed; " I love you! Oh! Maud, Maud, forgive me!"
She did not stir. He saw her face in the moonlight turned full upon him, just pale and thoughtful, no other look on it.
"You told a young girl that once," she said. "The girl believed it. I am a woman! Pardon me; I would not say anything harsh, but I know what the words are worth."
"Maud! Maud!" and I do not exaggerate when I say that his very soul went out in that passionate utterance. He gave her no time to speak ; he told the whole story-the life of the past weeks, his penitence, his remorse, plead for one word of hope as a dying man might plead for life, yet manly and brave through it all.
"Please stop, " she said, at last. "Your friend always ; the past I have no need to pardon - I forgot it long ago ; but I have no love to give."
"Some other man?"
"Yes."
She made a gesture toward Roylston.
"I understand," he said. Then, after a pause, "Well, he is worthy of you-the best man ever knew. God bless you both!"
He rose from his seat and walked away across the white sands in the moonlight, but though the greatest failure of his life made chaos about his way, he kept in his soul the vow he had uttered to himself that morning ; and I believe that with such a promise in the heart, and with heaven overhead, there is hope even for a man gone as far astray as Grafton Warner : at least, let us hope so.
ONE SMILE.
BY N. F. CARTER.
A DREAMY hush is in the air;
The morning's rosy sunlight falls,
Like glory at the hour of prayer,
On golden streets and jasper walls.
It is a Father's smile, I know,
Resting alike on land and sea;
His shining presence seen below—
But has He one sweet smile for me?
The skylark sings his sweetest song,
Sailing the golden-tinted blue;
The garden-bee feasts all day long
On flowers that charm the Summer through;
A Father's smile fills them with cheer,
And in their gladness makes them free;
But for a heart surcharged with fear,
Has He no smile-no smile for me?
Cease thy complaining, oh, my soul!
The smile that brightens earth and skies
Till waves of glory o'er them roll,
Must be a smile for downcast eyes;
The smile that fills with songs of joy
The soaring lark and lowly bee,
Must be for Faith's serene employ—
Must be a Father's smile for thee!
Oh! burdened heart! cast off thy fears;
Bid chilling unbelief begone;
Thy sins have caused thy bitter tears;
Forsake them, and thy way press on!
Doubt not; in all thy wealth of love,
Trust Him, and be forever free;
His earthward smile will be above
A Father's Heavenly smile for thee!
LONG AGO.
BY J. D. FASSETT.
THE twilight shadows are gathering gray,
And the wild wind wails o'er the dying day,
As I lie and list to the river's flow,
And the far-off voices, so soft and low,
Of the long ago.
The shadows thicken among the trees ;
Sadly, mournfully murmurs the breeze;
And forms glide round me that nevermore
Shall gladden my sight, for they've floated o'er
To the unknown shore.
The moon looks out through the mantle of night,
Flooding the earth with her liquid light;
And again I live in the rythm and rhyms
Of a peaceful home and a sunny clime,
In the olden-time.
On the murmuring river the moonbeams dance,
Gilding the waves as they shimmer and glance;
And, like ravishing strains from a harp of gold,
The interlude sweet to a tale long told,
Come the songs of old.
The dreams are all over, and darkened the sky;
The winds and the waves wander listlessly by;
And back to my dreary life, sadly I go,
To dream nevermore of the bliss and the woe,
In the long ago.
