Teach him the song that no one living knows? Let the man die, with that half-chant of his,-What Now discovers not Hereafter shows, And God will surely teach him more than this. Again the Bird. I turned, and passed along; But Time and Death, Eternity and Change, Talked with me ever, and the climbing song Rose in my hearing, beautiful and strange. H THE CHILD-MUSICIAN. E had played for his lordship's levee, Till the poor little head was heavy, And the face grew peaked and eerie, But at dawn, when the birds were waking, "Twas a string of his violoncello, And they heard him stir in his bed :"Make room for a tired little fellow, Kind God!" was the last that he said. H THE CRADLE. WOW steadfastly she'd worked at it! With all her would-be-mother's wit That little rosy nest! How longingly she'd hung on it !-- He came at last, the tiny guest, Her coffin was his bed. . BEFORE SEDAN. "The dead hand clasped a letter." SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE. What was the white you touched, There, at his side? Paper his hand had clutched Tight ere he died ;Message or wish, may be ;— Smooth the folds out and see. Hardly the worst of us Here could have smiled! Only the tremulous Words of a child ; Prattle, that has for stops Just a few ruddy drops. Look. She is sad to miss, Morning and night, His-her dead father's-kiss; Tries to be bright, Good to mamma, and sweet. Ah, if beside the dead Slumbered the pain! Ah, if the hearts that bled Slept with the slain ! If the grief died ;—But no ;— M |