A HAPPY MEMORY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 31, 30 July 1892, Page 768

A HAPPY MEMORY.

(TO A DRAWING BY PERCY TARRANT.) I HAD not hoped for this. He writes, In words whose charm through life shall last, A grateful letter that unites The present with a vanished past; An act of kindness long ago I did for him, and straight forgot, Had strength and grace from God to grow To cheer the darkness of his lot— And this dear letter thanking me Recalls a happy memory ! Oh ! precious is the task we take, Though but in feeble human bands, For simple love and mercy’s sake ; Upon the seas, in distant lands, Or by the hearth, glad heart- may yearn With gratitude for word or deed ; And to the sower may return Some flower of beauty tor the seed Dropped and forgotten—as to me Comes back this happy memory ! I sit and muse upon the past While twilight shadows gather round— The bread upon the waters cast After these many days is found ! In joy and thankfulness to-night My prayer would rise to Heaven above : O God may other lives be bright; I ask alone Thy grace of love— That, looking back, my life may be Henceforth a happy memory 1

neuceiurtn a nappy mem

J.R. Eastwood.