ANABELLE: A REMINISCENCE..

Mataura Ensign, Volume V, Issue 234, 2 March 1883, Page 2

ANABELLE: A REMINISCENCE..

Br J,' & 1 ' S.J ! luvercargill. Fall thirty, years, away , have flow/a v • Since last I stood' beside this stone,! Which dow ia old and mossy, grown. IVe trode thro* many a changeful year This desert world in grief and fear, My h«arfc, like autumn leave?, ia sere. Yet thro' the mists of^time forgot Mebh'inka I 1 see 'a sunny /spot, And there a little rustic cot, Whose whitened Waih' so brightly shine Thro' clusters -of- the tall hop-vine And trelliceß of eglantine. The summer day 18 near its olose, The pine its lengthened shadow throws, The dew ia falling ou the rose That twineth round the garden chair, Where rests a man with silvery hair, Aud lofty brow, be-marked with care ; And by his side a beauteous child, With eyes of azo,re, oqft and mild, Weaving* cfa'ain'oif fl'/w'V^ts wild With whioh she binds her auburn hair. The sweet forget-me-not is there, The speed-well, and the daisy fair, • And fragrant roses strung between, With leaflets mingled, fresh and green — Meetchaplet for a fairy queen, She had; a father ypnpej; (but he Had perished in the stormy sea : She never sat upon his knee. v Her widowed mother vainly ;tried The anguish of her h,ea^tj to Jiide, ? ,^ Andlike a Sower stie drooped ana died. An orphan child, was, Anabelle, Before Lor infant tongue'' could tell 2£The names of those < who ;loved?ker,-W f elJ, Yet she was : reared with tender 'cafe"* 1 * * . i And' taught to lisp .her readiest prayed Beside her grandsire's^pid ArmCha^." She.was : his;hop9, hisrjpyj-his'pr^d^,,, Sporting and.prattlingjby his^^id^, " /tj ,^ Or bounding o'er the meadow jwlfle j itt -t - : -" • Vtl" - :; 'i- f - '•■3 ; -iil-t.' '"■■''ii'i'i Hi'j'J Waking. the echoes, with her ,gleo. y ' ■ Chasing the butterfly 'and "bee' •• • l From flower to flower, from 1 tree to tree} : But ere ten years with aileint triad 1 *' I*'''1 *''' Had o'er her:buddiogib'eauties<6pediiK<:"% , The rose3, from h^r, cheek had;fled r sj \ And soon the little sportive maid jH i^i»tt Like blossom, withered and decayed, And by her mother's aide' was" laid."l '* .E'en. yet.l.hear the BqJe 1 mQ l iQea ;^ That 'floated Badly down 'the de^l'V,'/.^^ - For lovely, laughing Anabelle. 1 " v The grandsire, broken-hearted, worn, His darling from 1 his bosom torn Was to the lonely church -yard borne* And, here ithey elumtiqr;; afail (decay, The merry child, the grand-sire grey, Mj|aching|ieart aQ J^^^g brain To BoS|[eß*thatxne|eri^OTO^ii^*aiD,