Things in the Bottom Drawer.

Otago Witness, Issue 1651, 14 July 1883, Page 27

Things in the Bottom Drawer.

There are whips end topi and pieces of string*; Th-.-re ar« shoes which no little feet weir; There are bits of ribbon and broken rings. And tresses of golden hair, There are lit']© dresses folded away Out of the light of the sunny day. There are dainty jackets that never are worn, There are toy* and modola of ships ; There are books and pictures, all faded and torn, And mar. Ed by the finger tips Of dimpled bands thafc have fallen to dust, Yet I itrive to think that the Lord is just. But a feeling of bitterness fills my soul Sometupes, ■when 1 try to pray, That the Reaper has ap ired ho many flowers And t iken nil mine nA-ay ; And I almost doubt, that i~he Lord can know That a mother's heart can love them do. They wander far in distant climes, They perish by water and flood, And their hands aro black with the direst crimes That kindle the wrarh of Utid. Yet a mother's hath soothe! them tn rest., She has lulled them to slumber iipju hut bieusfc. And then I think of my chidren three, My babed that never jrrew "Id, And I know they ate waiting and witching for me, In a city with street of gold. Safe, safe from the care^ of the weary years, Prom sorrow and am and war, And I thank my Go i, with falling tears, For the things in the bottom drawer.