AUNT NANCY'S MIND ON THE SUBJECT.

Evening Star, Issue 5762, 27 August 1881, Page 4

AUNT NANCY'S MIND ON THE SUBJECT.

The followin',' lines from an American paper will find a responsive echo in many a heart And this is the new Now Testament, And ’tis come in the sweet o’ the year, When the fields are shinin',' in cloth of gold, And the birds are singing so oloar; And over and into the grand old text Reverent and thoughtful men. Through many u summer and winter past, Have been peering with book and pen, Till they’ve straightened the moods and tenses out, And dropped each obsolete phrase, And softened the strong, old-fashioned words To our daintier modern ways ; Collated the ancient manuscript?, Particle, verb, and line, And faithfully done their very best To improve the book divine. I haven't a doubt they have done it v. el 1 , Cut it is not clear to me That we needed the trouble it was to them On cither side of the sea. I cannot help it, a thought that comes— Vou know I am old and plain Out it seems like lunching the ark of Go.I, And the touch to my hi art is pain. For ten years past, and for five limes ten At the back of tint, my dear. I’ve made and mended and toiled and saved, With my Bible ever near. Sometimes it was only a verse at morn That lifted mo up from care, Like the springing wings of a sweet-voiced lark Cleaving the golden air : And sometimes on Sunday afternoons ’Twas a chapter rich and long, That mine to my heart in its weary hour With the lift of a triumph song. 1 studied the precious words, my dear, When n child at my mother’s knee, And 1 tell you the Bible I’ve always had Is a good enough book for me. I may ho stubborn and out of date ; But my hair is white as snow, And 1 lovo the things 1 learned to love In the beautiful long ago. I cannot bo changing at my time, ’Twou’d be losing a part (f my.-cif You may lay the new New Testament Away on the upper shelf. I cling to the one my good man read In our fireside prayers at night ; To the one my little children lisped Ere they faded out of ray siszVvt. 1 shall gather my dear ones close again Where the many mansions be, And till thou the Bible I’ve always had Is a good enough book for mo.