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STONE FOR BREAD.
47

STONE FOR BREAD.

A hushed and darkened room; withinA dead man lay; the rites begin:I listened, but I did not hearThe tender words that soothe and cheerThe wounded heart, and bring reliefln presence of o'er-mastering grief;But only such as served to shedLight on the folly of the dead.No blessed words of hope and cheerFloated above the dead man's bier:No veil o'er human weakness thrown—No bread was given—but only stone.
But in the room methought I sawThe grand expounder of Christ's law,And heard these whispered words that shedBliss on the living and the dead:"Faith, Hope and Charity, these three;But the greatest of these is Charity."