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SONNET.

REV. C. STRONG.

PASSING the enclosure where the dead repose,
I saw, in sable weeds, a gentle pair
Lingering with fond regard at evening's close,
Beside a little grave fresh swelling there:
Silent they stood serene their thoughtful air;
There fell no tear, no vain complaint arose ;
Faith seemed to prompt the unutterable prayer,
And to their view the eternal home disclose.
Next Sabbath brought me where the floweret lay,
Record of high descent the marble bore,
Heir of a noble house, and only stay ;

And these words gathered from the Bible's store“The Lord hath given, the Lord hath ta’en away, His holy name be blessed evermore."

.

THE HEBREW MOTHER.

MRS. HEMANS.

THE rose was rich in bloom on Sharon's plain,
When a young mother, with her first-born, thence
Went up to Zion; for the boy was vowed
Unto the temple-service. By the hand

She led him, and her silent soul, the while,

Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye

Met her sweet, serious glance, rejoiced to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers

To bring before her God.

So passed they on,

O'er Judah's hills; and wheresoe'er the leaves
Of the broad sycamore made sounds at noon,
Like lulling raindrops, or the olive-boughs,
With their cool dimness, crossed the sultry blue
Of Syria's heaven, she paused, that he might rest:
Yet from her own meek eyelids chased the sleep
That weighed their dark fringe down, to sit and watch
The crimson deepening o'er his cheek's repose,
As at a red flower's heart: and where a fount

Lay, like a twilight star, 'midst palmy shades,
Making its banks green gems along the wild,
There too she lingered, from the diamond wave
Drawing clear water for his rosy lips,

And softly parting clusters of jet curls
To bathe his brow.

At last the fane was reached,

The earth's one sanctuary; and rapture hushed
Her bosom, as before her, through the day
It rose a mountain of white marble, steeped
In light like floating gold. But the hour
Waned to the farewell moment, when the boy
Lifted, through rainbow-gleaming tears, his eye
Beseechingly to hers, and half in fear,

Turned from the white-robed priest, and round her

arm

Clung e'en as ivy clings: the deep spring-tide

Of nature then swelled high; and o'er her child
Bending, her soul brake forth, in mingled sounds
Of weeping and sad song.
"Alas!" she cried,—

"Alas, my boy! thy gentle grasp is on me,
The bright tears quiver in thy pleading eyes,
And now fond thoughts arise,

And silver chords again to earth have won me ;
And like a vine thou claspest my full heart-
How shall I hence depart?

"How the lone paths retrace, where thou wert

playing

So late along the mountains at my side?
And I in joyous pride,

By every place of flowers my course delaying,
Wove e'en as pearls, the lilies round thy hair,
Beholding thee so fair!

"And oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted,

Will it not seem as if the sunny day

Turned from the door away,

While, through its chambers wandering wearyhearted,

I languish for thy voice, which past me still,
Went like a singing rill?

“Under the palm-trees thou no more shalt meet me, When from the fount at evening I return

With the full water-urn!

Nor will thy sleep's low, dove-like murmurs greet me, As 'midst the silence of the stars I wake,

And watch for thy dear sake.

"And thou, will slumber's dewy cloud fall round

thee

Without thy mother's hand to smooth thy bed?
Wilt thou not vainly spread

Lay, like a twilight star, 'midst palmy shades,
Making its banks green gems along the wild,
There too she lingered, from the diamond wave
Drawing clear water for his rosy lips,

And softly parting clusters of jet curls
To bathe his brow.

At last the fane was reached,
The earth's one sanctuary; and rapture hushed
Her bosom, as before her, through the day
It rose a mountain of white marble, steeped
In light like floating gold. But the hour
Waned to the farewell moment, when the boy
Lifted, through rainbow-gleaming tears, his eye
Beseechingly to hers, and half in fear,

Turned from the white-robed priest, and round her

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