THE OLD ARMCHAIR

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12008, 10 December 1924, Page 16 (Supplement)

THE OLD ARMCHAIR

I love it, I love it! and who shall dare To chide mo for loving that old arm- ’ - choir?' ■ -I’ve treasured it long as a sainted prize, I’ve bedewed it with tears, I’ve embraced it with sighs. ’Tis bound by a thousand bands to my heart; .Not" a tio will break, not a link will ' ■ • /stafti Would you know the spell?—a mother sat there! And a sacred thing fis that old armchair, Tn childhood’s hour I lingered near The hallowed scat with listening ear; wind gentle words that ' mother would give To fit me to jdie, and teach me to live. She told me 'that shame would never betide ” "VVitli truth for my creed, and God for. ' my guide; She taught me to lisp my earliest i prayer. As I knelt hesido that old armchair. - I sat and watched her many a day, When her eye grew dim, and her locks were grays . And I almost worshipped her when she ' smiled. And turned from her Bible to bless her - child Years rolled on, but the last one sped,— My idol was shattered, my earth-star fled! . I learnt how much the heart can bear, "When I caw her die in her old armchair ’Tie past, 'tis past! but I gaze on it now With quivering breath and throbbing brow; •=, , ■ " ’Twas there ,she -nursod hie, , 'twas there she died,’. And memory flows with lava tide. Say it is icily, and deem me weak, IVn;, 1 " the scalding drops start down my . -c-heakr ’ ’ But I love it, I love it, and cannot tear My soul-from a mother’s old armchair. —ELIZA COOK.