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.

A smiling face is like the sun,

Whose rays encircle earth
It sheds its beams on every one,

Without regard to birth.

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.

238

FAR AWAY.

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 ; 6 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 ;
Othou 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.

“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.