Select Poetry.

Thames Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 6859, 18 April 1891, Page 1

Select Poetry.

THE OHILDBEN.

SOUND IN XHB DESK! OjP CHABIBS' DICKBNS AFTBE HIS DBATH.

When the lessons and taßks .are all ended, And the school for the day is dismiMed, And the little ones gather around me To bid me " good night" and be kissed: Oh, the little white arms that encircle My neck'in a tender embrace! Oh, the smiles that are halos of heaven, Shedding sunshine and lore on my face!

And when they are gone I Bit dreaming Of my childhood, too lovely to last; Of love that my heart will remember,. When it wakes to the pulse of the past, Ere the world and its wickedness made me A partner of sorrow and sin, \Whon the glory, of God .was about vam f And the glory of gladness within.

Oh, my heart grows weak as a woman's, And the 'fountains of feeling will flow, When I think of the paths steep and stony Where the feet of the dear ones must go ; Of the mountains of Bin hanging o'er them, Of the tempests of fate blowing wild; Oh, there's nothing on earth half so holy As the innocent heart of a child!

They are idols of hearts and of households, They are angels of God in'disguise ; His sunlight still sleeps in their tresses, ' His glory still beams in their .eyes. Oh, those truants from earth arid from heaven, They have made me more manly and mild, And I know how Jesus could liken - The Kißgdom of God to a child.

I ask not a life for the dear ones All radiant, as others have done: But that life may have just as much shadow To temper the glare of the sun. I would pray God to guard them from evil, But my prayer would bound back to myself; Ah! a seraph may pray for a sinner, But a sinner must pray for himself.

The twig is so easily bonded, I have banished the rule and the rod ; I have taught them the goodness and know* ledge, ' ' They have taught me the goodness of God. My heart is a d_ngebh of darkness, Where I shut theai from breaking a rule; -Jly frown is sufficient correction,, My love is the law of the school.'

I shall leave the old house in the autumn, To traverse its threshold no more; Ah! how I shall sigh for tho dear ones That meet me oach morn at the door. IJshall miss the good-nights and the kisses, And the gush of their innocent glee, The group on the green, and the flowers That are brought every morning to me.

I shall miss them at morn and at eve, Their song in the school and the street, I shall miss the low hum of their voices, And the tramp of their delicate feet. When the lessons and tasks are all ended, And death says the school is dismissed, May the little ones gather around,me, To bid me " good night" and be kiised.