Inhaling from the loathsome air, Poison with every breath. Yet shrinking not from offices of dread And, where the sickly taper shed Its light through vapors, damp, confined, Of suffering human-kind! Innocent teacher of the high And holy mysteries of Heaven! How turned to thee each glazing eye, In mute and awful sympathy, As thy low prayers were given ; And the o'er-hovering Spoiler wore, the while, An angel's features-a deliverer's smile! A blessed task!—and worthy one Who, turning from the world, as thou, To leave its spring-time flower and sun, Giving to God her beauty and her youth, Earth may not claim thee. Nothing here Thine is a treasure far more dear- The joys prepared-the promised bliss above- Sleep on in peace. The earth has not The deeds by martial manhood wrought, The fire of poesy These have but frail and fading honors;—thine Yea, and when thrones shall crumble down, The pure devotion of thy generous heart HE comes THE FROST SPIRIT. s-he comes-the Frost Spirit comes You may trace his footsteps now On the naked woods and the blasted fields and the brown hill's withered brow. He has smitten the leaves of the gray old trees where their pleasant green came forth, And the winds, which follow wherever he goes, have shaken them down to earth. He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!— from the frozen Labrador From the icy bridge of the Northern seas, which the white bear wanders o'er Where the fisherman's sail is stiff with ice, and the luckless forms below In the sunless cold of the lingering night into marble statues grow! He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes !-on the rushing Northern blast, And the dark Norwegian pines have bowed as his fearful breath went past. With an unscorched wing he has hurried on, where the fires of Hecla glow On the darkly beautiful sky above and the ancient ice below. He comes he comes the Frost Spirit comes!and the quiet lake shall feel The torpid touch of his glazing breath, and ring to the skater's heel; And the streams which danced on the broken rocks, or sang to the leaning grass, Shall bow again to their winter chain, and in mournful silence pass. He comes he comes-the Frost Spirit comes!let us meet him as we may, And turn with the light of the parlor-fire his evil power away; And gather closer the circle round, when that firelight dances high, And laugh at the shriek of the baffled Fiend as his sounding wing goes by! THE VAUDOIS TEACHER. 38 "OH, lady fair, these silks of mine are beautiful and rare The richest web of the Indian loom, which beauty's queen might wear; And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose radiant light they vie; I have brought them with me a weary way,—will my gentle lady buy?" And the lady smiled on the worn old man through the dark and clustering curls, Which veiled her brow as she bent to view his silks and glittering pearls; And she placed their price in the old man's hand, and lightly turned away, But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call"My gentle lady, stay!" “Oh, lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer lustre flings, Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on the lofty brow of kings A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue shall not decay, Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a blessing on thy way!" The lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her form of grace was seen, Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks waved their clasping pearls between ;Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou traveller gray and old And name the price of thy precious gem, and my page shall count thy gold. The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a small and meagre book, Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his folding robe he took! "Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove as such to thee! Nay-keep thy gold-I ask it not, for the word of God is free!" The hoary traveller went his way, but the gift he left behind Hath had its pure and perfect work on that highborn maiden's mind, And she hath turned from the pride of sin to the lowliness of truth, And given her human heart to God in its beautiful hour of youth! And she hath left the gray old halls, where an evil faith had power, The courtly knights of her father's train, and the maidens of her bower; And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales by lordly feet untrod, Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the perfect love of God! THE CALL OF THE CHRISTIAN. NOT always as the whirlwind's rush Not always thus, with outward sign Love for the true and right- Nor unto manhood's heart alone |