I Know that deep within your heart of hearts
You hold me shrined apart from common things,
And that my step, my voice, can bring to you
A gladness that no other presence brings.
And yet, dear love, through all the weary days
You never speak one word of tenderness,
Nor stroke my hair, nor softly clasp my hand
Within your own in...
A Good wife rose from her bed one morn,
And thought, with a nervous dread,
Of the piles of clothes to be washed, and more
Than a dozen mouths to be fed.
“There ’s the meals to get for the men in the field,
And the children to fix away
To school, and the milk to be skimmed and churned;
And all to be done this day.”
It had...
A Matrimonial Epic
JOHN DOBBINS was so captivated
By Mary Trueman’s fortune, face, and cap,
(With near two thousand pounds the hook was baited,)
That in he popped to matrimony’s trap.
One small ingredient towards happiness,
It seems, ne’er occupied a single thought;
For his accomplished bride
Appearing well supplied...
O Waly, waly, up the bank,
O waly, waly, doun the brae,
And waly, waly, yon burn-side,
Where I and my love were wont to gae!
I leaned my back unto an aik,
I thocht it was a trustie tree,
But first it bowed and syne it brak’,—
Sae my true love did lichtlie me.
O waly, waly, but love be bonnie
A little time while...
A Scottish Song
BALOW, my babe, ly stil and sleipe!
It grieves me sair to see thee weipe;
If thoust be silent, Ise be glad,
Thy maining maks my heart ful sad.
Balow, my boy, thy mither’s joy!
Thy father breides me great annoy.
Balow, my ’babe, ly stil and sleipe!
It grieves me sair to see thee weipe.
When he began...
“farewell! farewell!” is often heard
From the lips of those who part:
’T is a whispered tone,—’t is a gentle word,
But it springs not from the heart.
It may serve for the lover’s closing lay,
To be sung ’neath a summer sky;
But give to me the lips that say
The honest words, “Good-bye!”
“Adieu! adieu!” may greet the ear,...
From the Chinese by William. R. Alger
SHE says, “The cock crows,—hark!”
He says, “No! still ’t is dark.”
She says, “The dawn grows bright,”
He says, “O no, my Light.”
She says, “Stand up and say,
Gets not the heaven gray?”
He says, “The morning star
Climbs the horizon’s bar.”
She says, “Then quick depart:
...
When I think on the happy days
I spent wi’ you, my dearie;
And now what lands between us lie,
How can I be but eerie!
How slow ye move, ye heavy hours,
As ye were wae and weary!
It was na sae ye glinted by
When I was wi’ my dearie.
Linger not long. Home is not home without thee:
Its dearest tokens do but make me mourn.
O, let its memory, like a chain about thee,
Gently compel and hasten thy return!
Linger not long. Though crowds should woo thy staying,
Bethink thee, can the mirth of thy friends, though dear,
Compensate for the grief thy long delaying
Costs...
The Farmer’s wife sat at the door,
A pleasant sight to see;
And blithesome were the wee, wee bairns
That played around her knee.
When, bending ’neath her heavy creel,
A poor fish-wife came by,
And, turning from the toilsome road,
Unto the door drew nigh.
She laid her burden on the green,
And spread its scaly...
