A LESSON.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 804, 19 May 1876, Page 3

A LESSON.

" We cannot always be giving, The woman has come again ; She has such a whining story Of hunger, or cold, or pain. She wearies with petitions ; Her Johnny is out of place, Har ohildran ara sick with hunger, I tire of her listless face. " Grand Philip sat lazily reading ; The crimson gas-light shook, From a shade that was ruby tinted, Jts red flakes over his book. I thought that he did not notice ; But suddenly, sweet and low, He said, with the voice of a dreamer, " Don't let the woman go." And then, with his smile so royal, So sweet with pity and pain, He called her to the study, Out of the merciless rain. " Sit down, my friend," and he gave her The best chair in the place, And I rfaw a quick blush brighten Her haggard and listless face. And then, in tones like music, He sounded her frozen heart ; Till the thrill of a tender question Sundorad its ice apart. And tears, and sobs, and passion, Came thick as the midnight rain ; And she told such a pitiful story My own heart throbbed with pain, " You see," said Philip softly, *•' She is greater than you or T ; She has struggled and conquered, where we, love, Would may be sink down and die ; She has fought in the dark with demons, With evil on every side ,* And Satan hath tried to strip her Even of her womanly pride. " Love, let us be very tender, The lowliest soul may be A temple of priceless treasures That only a God can see." So the'woman left our study With the face of an angel_ of light ; And she is my noblest pattern, Who came as a beggar that night.