6. So strong a hold hath life upon the soul, Which sees no dawning of eternal light, But subject to this mortal frame's controul, Forgetful of its origin and right, Content in bondage dwells and utter night. By worthier ties was this poor mother bound To life ; even while her grief was at the height,

Then in maternal love support she found, And in maternal cares a healing for her wound,

7. For now her hour is come: a girl is born, Poor infant, all unconscious of its fate, How passing strange, how utterly forlorn! The genial season served to mitigate In all it might their sorrowful estate, Supplying to the mother at her door From neighbouring trees which bent beneath their

weight, A full supply of fruitage now mature, So in that time of need their sustenance was sure.

8. Nor then alone, but alway did the Eye Of Mercy look upon that lonely bower. Days past,and weeks;and months andyears went by, And never evil thing the while had power To enter there. The boy in sun and shower Rejoicing in his strength to youthhed grew; And Mooma, that beloved girl, a dower

Of gentleness from bounteous nature drew, With all that should the heart of womankind imbue.

9. The tears which o'er her infancy were shed Profuse, resented not of grief alone : Maternal love their bitterness allay'd, And with a strength and virtue all its own Sustain'd the breaking heart. A look, a tone, A gesture of that innocent babe, in eyes With saddest recollections overflown,

Would sometimes make a tender smile arise, Like sunshine opening thro' a shower in vernal skies.

10.
No looks but those of tenderness were found
To turn upon that helpless infant dear;
And as her sense unfolded, never sound
Of wrath or discord brake upon her ear.
Her soul its native purity sincere
Possess'd, by no example here defiled;
From envious passions free, exempt from fear,

Unknowing of all ill, amid the wild
Beloving and beloved she grew, a happy child.

11.

Yea, where that solitary bower was placed,
Though all unlike to Paradise the scene,
(A wide circumference of woodlands waste :)
Something of what in Eden might have been
Was shadow'd there imperfectly, I ween,
In this fair creature : safe from all offence,
Expanding like a shelter'd plant serene,

Evils that fret and stain being far from thence, Her heart in peace and joy retain'd its innocence.

12.
At first the infant to Yeruti proved
A cause of wonder and disturbing joy.
A stronger tie than that of kindred moved
His inmost being, as the happy boy
Felt in his heart of hearts without alloy
The sense of kind : a fellow creature she,
In whom when now she ceased to be a toy

For tender sport, his soul rejoiced to see Connatural powers expand, and growing sympathy.

13. For her he cull’d the fairest flowers, and sought Throughout the woods the earliest fruits for her. The cayman's eggs, the honeycomb he brought To this beloved sister, ... whatsoe'er, To his poor thought, of delicate or rare The wilds might yield, solicitous to find. They who affirm all natural acts declare

Self-love to be the ruler of the mind, Judge from their own mean hearts, and foully wrong mankind.

14. Three souls in whom no selfishness had place Were here: three happy souls, which undefiled, Albeit in darkness, still retain'd a trace Of their celestial origin. The wild Was as a sanctuary where Nature smiled Upon these simple children of her own, And cherishing whate’er was meek and mild,

Call’d forth the gentle virtues, such alone, The evils which evoke the stronger being unknown.

D

15. What though at birth we bring with us the seed Of sin, a mortal taint, ... in heart and will Too surely felt, too plainly shown in deed, ... Our fatal heritage; yet are we still The children of the All Merciful; and ill They teach, who tell us that from hence must flow God's wrath, and then his justice to fulfil,

Death everlasting, never-ending woe : O miserable lot of man if it were so !

16.
Falsely and impiously teach they who thus
Our heavenly Father's holy will misread!
In bounty hath the Lord created us,
In love redeem'd. From this authentic creed
Let no bewildering sophistry impede
The heart's entire assent, for God is good.
Hold firm this faith, and, in whatever need,

Doubt not but thou wilt find thy soul endued With all-sufficing strength of heavenly fortitude !

17. By nature peccable and frail are we, Easily beguiled; to vice, to error prone; But apt for virtue too. Humanity Is not a field where tares and thorns alone Are left to spring; good seed hath there been sown With no unsparing hand. Sometimes the shoot Is choked with weeds, or withers on a stone ;

But in a kindly soil it strikes its root, And flourisheth, and bringeth forth abundant fruit.

18. Love, duty, generous feeling, tenderness, Spring in the uncontaminated mind; And these were Mooma's natural dower. Nor less Had liberal Nature to the boy assign'd, Happier herein than if among mankind Their lot had fallen, ... oh, certes happier here ! That all things tended still more close to bind

Their earliest ties, and they from year to year Retain’d a childish heart, fond, simple, and sincere.

19.
They had no sad reflection to alloy
The calm contentment of the passing day,
Nor foresight to disturb the present joy.
Not so with Monnema ; albeit the sway
Of time had reach'd her heart, and worn away,
At length, the grief so deeply seated there,
The future often, like a burthen, lay

Upon that heart, a cause of secret care
And melancholy thought; yet did she not despair.

20. Chance from the fellowship of human kind Had cut them off, and chance might reunite. On this poor possibility her mind Reposed ; she did not for herself invite The unlikely thought, and cherish with delight The dream of what such change might haply bring; Gladness with hope long since had taken flight

From her; she felt that life was on the wing, And happiness like youth has here no second spring.