SMILES.

WERE no bright smiles to shed their light
Upon life's clouded way,

Our path would lead through constant night,
Without one cheerful ray.

Smiles well compare with fragrant flowers

Upon some desert spot

They cheer the heart in those sad hours
Which mark affliction's lot.

Warm-hearted smiles wield magic power

O'er all the sons of grief —
They gild the clouds that darkly lower,
Imparting kind relief.

The angels smile who bend their flight
Towards our fallen sphere;
And all engage, with fond delight,
The sorrowful to cheer.

Were smiles to glow in every face

Now sternly fixed on men,

Our world would be a blissful place,
A paradise again.

FAR AWAY.

FAR away!-my home is far away,
Where the blue sea laves a mountain shore;

In the woods I hear my brothers play,

'Midst the flowers my sister sings once more, Far away!

Far away! my dreams are far away,

When, at midnight, stars and shadows reign; "Gentle child," my mother seems to say, "Follow me, where home shall smile again!" Far away!

Far away! my hope is far away,

Where love's voice young gladness may restore; O thou dove! now soaring through the day,

Lend me wings to reach that better shore,

Far away!

THE LADY ROSE

WHY better than the lady rose
Love I this little flower?

Because its fragrant leaves are those
I loved in childhood's hour.

Let Nature spread her loveliest,
By spring or summer nursed;
Yet still I love the violet best,
Because I loved it first!

Thou beautiful new-comer,
With white and maiden brow,
Thou fairy gift from summer,
Why art thou blooming now?

No sweet companion pledges
Thy health as dew-drops pass;
No rose is on the hedges,

No violet in the grass.

Thou art watching, and thou only,
Above the earth's snow-tomb;

Thus lovely and thus lonely,

I bless thee for thy bloom.

THE BIRD AT SEA.

BIRD of the greenwood,
O, why art thou here ?
Leaves dance not o'er thee,
Flowers bloom not near.

All the sweet waters

Far hence at play —
Bird of the greenwood,
Away, away!

Where the mast quivers,
Thy place will not be,
As 'midst the waving

Of wild rose and tree.

How shouldst thou battle

With storm and with spray?

Bird of the greenwood,
Away, away!

Or art thou seeking

Some brighter land,

Where, by the south wind,

Vine leaves are fanned?

'Midst the wild billows,

Why then delay?

Bird of the greenwood,
Away, away!

"Chide not my lingering
Where storms are dark;
A hand that hath nursed me
Is in the bark;

A heart that hath cherished

Through winter's long day;
So I turn from the greenwood;
Away, away!"

A SIMILE.

As summer birds and summer flowers,
To cheer the heart, so briefly stay,
So spirit-pleasures from the bowers
Of love and peace soon haste away.

But summer birds and summer flowers
Return with each returning spring;
So oft return life's happy hours,
When spirit-joys the soul may sing.