The Old Oak Tree [pp. 78]

THE ANGEL VISITANT.-MORNING THOUGHTS.
and my relief had come too late; and all that remained now was to have the old woman decently
buried. I attended to this personally, and staid
two days in the village; and I am happy to say,
that, before I left it, I brought a smile of joy to more
than one-sad face."
I$,
THE ANGEL VISITANT.
BY lrS. I. A. BIOELO-.
SHE came when darkness o'er the earth was reign ing,
And Silence spread her gloomy pall aroundCame when my lonely lamp was slowly waning,
And I had dropp'd my pen in thought profound.
She sat beside me! Busy recollection
Strove to recall the semblance of that brow:
It was the one upon whom fond Affection
Had showered her burning tears long, long ago.
I did not see her with the natural vision;
But'twas the soul's deep eye beheld her here:
She seemed all radiant from the clime elysian,
Where bliss is never followed by a tear.
Upon that brow was something far more holy
Than it was wont to wear while here on earth;
And she had now exchanged her garb so lowly
For one befitting her exalted birth.
How well I recollected the bright gleaming
Of ringlets I had seen in beauty wave!
Well I remembered, too, the dark eyes beaming,
Which lost their lustre in an early grave.
But she had drank of that pure stream supernal
Which rises in a land more glorious, fair,
And gazed upon the throne of the Eternal,
Until she seemed no more the child of care.
She seemed not as the one whose step of gladness
Was poised awhile on this dark earth of ours;
She seemed not as the one who shared my sadness,
And wandered with me mid the vernal flowers;
Not as the one who traced with me the wending
Of that bright stream which sparkles o'er the
green,
Or watched with me the solemn moon ascending
To reign amid the stars unrivaled queen;
Not as the one who, at the hour of vesper,
Knelt at my side with eyelids deeply sealed,
To list with me the low and mystic whispers
Of the Unseen, who then his love revealed.
And yet I knew her by that sacred token
Of love undying in her soul-lit eyes,
Which told me early ties were still unbroken,
And quite cemented only in the skies.
To my shut senses earthly care soon stealing,
Seemed in harsh terms to chide my long delayA task forgotten to my thought revealing My angel visitant had fled away.
MORNING THOUGHTS.
BY l~~llq>TN.
FAINTLY gleaming from the eastward,
Morning's herald streaks appear,
Stretching out unto the westward,
Thwart the star-decked azure sphere.
But, as still our watch we lengthen,
Star by star they fade away;
And the herald streaks still strengthen,
Shining with increasing sway,
Till around us now is flowing
Full and free the liquid blaze,
And all nature now is glowing
With the golden-colored rays.
Writers old, of classic stor,
Tell of fabled gods, whose might
Ushered in the morning's glory,
And enshrouded earth with night.
But a brighter dispensation
Hath the glorious truth revealed,
By whose strong illumination
Moral darkness is dispelledTeaching that the God whose power
Countless worlds from chaos won,
Gave its fragrance to the flower,
And its splendor to the sun.
He it is whose sovereign pleasure
Rules each planet as it flies,
Metes to all the proper measure,
When to set, and when to rise.
.. o.
THE OLD OAK TREE.
BY CEARLES F. COLERICY.
THAT old oak tree stood many a day
Before our humble cot;
And oft my heart in fullness prayed,
That man might harm it not.
Its giant limbs o'erspread the place
Where first to me was given
The blessings of a mother dear,
Who now rests calm in heaven.
And oft, when tired of childish play When all was mirth and glee,
I'd lay me down beneath its shade,
And bless that dear old tree.
My father, too, beneath its shade,
When evening called him home,
Would bring us round him, while he prayed
To the God that blest our dome.
But now how changed that happy spot,
The dearest on earth to me;
For the hand of man, tho' I bade him not,
Has felled that good old tree!
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