THE MISLION BELL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 7, 14 November 1890, Page 5

THE MISLION BELL.

By Magdalen Roche.

" Wbere was I yesterday, pardner, That I waßti't one of those Who spent all day at euchre And drank till the sun arose 1 Well, I was far from Danvor, Down in tbs plain below, Wbere you tee the red roofs shining, In the sunset's parting glow. " And now I wonder greatly What was it that brought me down, For it wasn't to buy provisions, And it wasn't to see the town ; For I seldom leave the station, Now Jake brings up my store, And I bad been drinking and gambling The whole loog night before. " Well, I was rather restless, And sleep fled from my eyes, Till I saw the grey dawn breaking And the round red sun arise ; And I wandered down undeeding, How far I could not tell, Till I heard on tba windf at morning The sound of the Mißsion Bell. " 1 fought with Grant at Vicksburg, And mined on the Rockies's side, And never was called a coward, Nor ever was told I lied; But the sound of that sweet bell ringing, Like a voice from other years, Drove the warm blood from my temples And filled my eyes with tears. " Far off the snow-capped Sierras Flushed rosy in the light That crowned the mountain's summit And dimmed my dazzled s'ght ; The yellow surbid river Swept on in mad career, But these faded in ad instnnt When the sound broke oo my ear. 11 And once more down Blieve Martin I tiod, a boy in years, On the pleasant Bund ay mornings Among my young compeers ; And lingered mid the heather And tender mountain grass, Forgetful for the moment Oa the catechism class. ' ' But when in warning accents A bell rang clear and sweet, We, downy ard from the mountain Sped on with hurrying feet ; So yesterday I followed Tbat sound, until w.th tears, For the first time I listened To Mass, for twenty years. " And when I gazed around me I thought that I Bhould see Some old familiar faces Of friends once known to me — Of some who now t>re tleeping Beneath the da&ied Bod, Whose prayers, perhaps, have led me Back to the bouse of God. " So now, old chap, to morsow Shah see me on my way To that spot where dark Blieve Mcitin Towers o'er Boßtrevor Bay, And when I'm gone, then for me, Please bid the boys farewell, And cay my lift's best message Cam* from that Mission Bell." '-'Beaton Pilot.