CHEERFULNESS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume V, Issue 52, 27 December 1890, Page 17

CHEERFULNESS.

A gentle heritage is mine, A life of quiet pleasure : My heaviest cares are but to twice Fresh votive garlands for the shrine Where "bides my bosom's treasure ; I am not merry, nor yet sad, My thoughts are more serene than glad. I have outlived youth’s feverish mirth, And all its causeless sorrow : My joys are now of nobler birth, My sorrows too have holier birth And heavenly solace borrow ; So, from my green and shady nook, Back on my by-past life I look. The pa-t has memories sad ami sweet, Memories still fondly cherished, < if love that blossomed at my feet, Whose odours still my senses greet, E'en though the Howers have perished : Visions of pleasure passed away That charmed me in life's earlier day. The future, Isis-like, sits veiled, And none her mystery learneth ; Yet why should the bright cheek be paled. For sorrows that may lie bewailed When time our hopes inureth ? Come when it will, grief comes too soon — Why dread the night at highest noon ? I would not pierce the mist that hides Life's coming joy or sorrow ; It' sweet content with me abides While onward still the present glides, 1 think not of the morrow ; It may bring griefs—enough for me The quiet joy I feel and see.

Gus : ‘ The young ladies of the present day are no good. They can tbe ‘relied on.’ Tom: ‘What makes you think so?’ Gus : ‘I am engaged to three young ladies, and they all flirt with other men.’