Sadder than death, to souls that once could find
A perfect bond of sympathy in thought,

Is that cold isolation of the mind

By differing creeds and changed opinions wrought.

O friend with whom we counselled in the past!
Ye clasp our hands, ye greet us as before;

Yet some dark shadow on our love is cast,

The old, sweet chain of friendship is no more.

Though ye are pleased to passively receive

Your father's creeds without a questioning thought, Yet chide us not if we cannot believe

Those gloomy dogmas down the ages brought.

Ye in whose minds the early faiths have lain
Undoubted and untroubled through long years,

Know little how their loss has cost us pain,
See not our pillows wet with bitter tears!

Our faith is not dependent on our will;
We follow only as we see the light;
Yet though our creeds so widely differ, still
Our aims of life, like yours, may all be right.

O, sacred truth! in fealty to thee

We hold our minds obedient to thy call; From error strive we ever to be free,.

Though we should thereby lose the love of all.

Yet in the struggle of our changeful time
We are at one with all who, joyful, see
The glorious dawning of the day sublime,
Which ushers in the faith that is to be!

8's & 7's.

338

BE THYSELF.

Be thyself; a nobler gospel
Never preached the Nazarene.
Be thyself; 'tis holy scripture,
Though no Bible lids between.

-J. L. Stoddard.

Dare to shape the thought in language

That is lying in thy brain;

Dare to launch it, banners flying,

On the bosom of the main.

What though pirate knaves surround thee?
Nail thy colors to the mast.

Flinch not, flee not; boldly sailing,

Thou shalt gain the port at last.

Be no parrot, idly prating

Thoughts the spirit never knew;

Be a prophet of the God-sent,

Telling all thy message true.

Then tho' coward world will scorn thee;
Friends may fail and fiends may frown;

Heaven itself grow dark above thee,

Gods in anger thence look down.

Heed not; there's a world more potent
Carried in thy manly heart.

Be thyself, and do thy duty;

It will always take thy part.

If the God within says, "Well done,"
What are other gods to thee?

Hell's his frown; but, where his smile is,
There is heaven for the free.

-Wm. Denton.

C.M.D.

339

THE PLAN TO DIE.

AIR-" WILLARD."

How little recks it when we die,
When once the moment's past,
In which the dim and glazing eye
Has looked on earth its last;
Whether beneath the sculptured urn
The coffined form shall rest,
Or in its nakedness, return
Back to its mother's breast!

Death is a common friend or foe,
As different men may hold,
And at its summons each must go
The timid and the bold.

But when the spirit free and warm,
Deserts it as it must,

What matter where the lifeless form
Dissolves again to dust?

'T were sweet, indeed, to close our eyes
With those we cherish dear,
And wafted upward by their sighs,
Soar to some calmer sphere;
But whether on the scaffold high,
Or in the battle's van,

The fittest place for man to die,

8's & 6's.

Is where he dies for man!

340

WHAT I ASK FOR.

I ask not, Nabobs, for your halls,
Your coffers, or your state;

I ask not for the menials,

That at your pleasure wait;
I ask not for the cringing bow,
That fawning spaniels give,
Whose servile spirits never knew
The aim for which I live.

-Selected.

I ask but for my share of land,
With honest hands to till,
Supplying thus my daily needs,
From Fortune as she will;

Give me but this, I'll gain all else—
Contented, healthy, free;

Then Nature's ministers are mine,

And all her wealth for me. -Wm. Denton.

341

THE GOLDEN SIDE.

There is many a rest in the road of life,
If we would only stop to take it;
And many a tone from the harp of hope,
If the querulous heart would make it.
To the soul that is full of hope,

And whose beautiful trust ne'er faileth,
The grass is green, and the bowers are bright,
Though the winter's storm prevaileth.

Better hope, though the clouds hang low,
And to keep the eyes still lifted;

For the sweet blue sky will soon peep through,
When the omnious clouds are rifted.
There was never a night without a day,
Or an evening without a morning;
And the darkest hour, as the proverb goes,
Is the hour before the dawning.

There is many a gem in the path of life,
Which we pass in our idle pleasure,
That is richer far than the jeweled crown,
Or the miser's hoarded treasure;

It may be the love of a little child,
Or a mother's prayer to heaven,
Or only a beggar's grateful thanks
For a cup of water given.

Better to weave in the web of life
A bright and golden filling,

And to submit with a cheerful heart,

And hands that are ready and willing,
Than to snap the delicate, minute thread
Of our curious lives assunder,

And then blame Fortune for tangled ends,
And sit and grieve and wonder.

-Charles Mackay.

342

118.

8's & 6's

FREEDOM'S STRENGTH.

I had rather wear a crown of thorns,
With souls who dare be free,

Than own the costliest diadem
At the price of liberty.

Let folly scoff, and cowards creep,

The strong must walk alone;

There's a secret joy in freedom's strength,
The weak have never known.

The valiant-hearted fear no storms
That beat 'gainst freedom's side;
Or shrink before the foeman's steel-
Scars are the hero's pride.

343

-Jennie H. Foster.

LABOR IN LOVE FOR HUMANITY'S SAKE.

While ignorance darkens our heaven-made soul,

While bigotry holds o'er a mortal control,
While slavery robs men of virtue and will,
And war has his gory hand lifted to kill,

While want can a brother's heart sorrowful make,
We'll labor in love for Humanity's sake.

Though some that were friends in affliction may fail;
Though bigots may frown, and like tigers assail;
Though felons may seek with the despot to bind us,
And ignorant priests with their errors to blind us;
Though stealthy assassins our lives fain would take,
We'll labor in love for Humanity's sake.