Page:Pleasant Memories.pdf/304

The parent's benediction, and the embrace
Of loving kindred; for impatient steeds
Curving their necks, by white-gloved coachmen reined,
Waited the bride, and lo! her silvery veil
And lustrous satin robe, gave sudden place
To traveller's graver costume.
                                              Thus doth fleet
Woman's brief goddess-ship, and soon she takes
The sober matron tint, content to yield
Tinsel and trappings, if her heart be right,
That in her true vocation she may shed
A higher happiness on him she loves,
For earth and heaven.
                               As from her early home
And pleasant gates the gentle bride passed forth,
Big tears stood glittering in the old servants' eyes,
Deepening their murmured benison on her,
Who was"so like the Mother that was gone,
The sainted mistress." 'T is a heaven-taught art
To graft enduring love on servitude;
And often have I joyed to see how deep
Around the hearths of England is that root
Of order and of comfort, which doth bind
Each stratum of the compact household firm,
The lowest to the highest; those who serve,
Not of their lot ashamed, and those who rule
Regardful of the charity which counts.
A life-long service, as a bond of love,