Down tired eyelids creep,

Balm of slumber deep.

Never hast thou dreamed thou blessèd tree,

Of the benediction thou shalt be.

He who plants a tree,-
He plants youth;

Vigor won for centuries in sooth;
Life of time, that hints eternity!
Boughs their strength uprear;
New shoots, every year,
On old growths appear;

Thou shalt teach the ages, sturdy tree,
Youth of soul is immortality.

He who plants a tree,—
He plants love,

Tents of coolness spreading out above

Wayfarers he may not live to see.

Gifts that grow are best;

Hands that bless are blest;

Plant! life does the rest!

Heaven and earth help him who plants a tree,

And his work its own reward shall be.

-Lucy Larcom

The Primeval Forest

(From the Introduction of "Evangeline")

HIS is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,

Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,

Stand like Druids of old, with voices sad and prophetic; Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms.

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighboring

ocean

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.

This is the forest primeval; but where are the hearts that beneath it

Leaped like the roe when he hears in the woodland the voice of the huntsman?

I

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Trees1

THINK that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

-Joyce Kilmer

1 Copyright, 1914, by George H. Doran Co. Used by permission of Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., owners of the Copyright.

376

TROUBLES

What God Has Promised

OD hath not promised

G Skies always blue,

Flower-strewn pathways
All our lives through;
God hath not promised
Sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow,
Peace without pain.

But God hath promised
Strength for the day,

Rest for the labour

Light for the way,
Grace for the trials,
Help from above,
Unfailing sympathy,
Undying Love.

-Miss Annie Johnson Flint

If All the Skies Were Sunshine

F all the skies were sunshine

IF all were

To feel once more upon them
The cooling splash of rain.

If all the world were music,
Our hearts would often long
For one sweet strain of silence
To break the endless song.

If life were always merry
Our souls would seek relief
And rest from weary laughter
In the quiet arms of grief.

-Henry Van Dyke

Trouble

ETTER never trouble Trouble

Buntil Trouble troubles you;

For you only make your trouble
Double-trouble when you do;
And the trouble-like a bubble—
That you're troubling about,
May be nothing but a cipher

With its rim rubbed out.

-David Keppel

A

Calvary and Easter

SONG of sunshine through the rain,
Of Spring across the snow;

A balm to heal the hurts of pain,
A peace surpassing woe.

Lift up your heads, ye sorrowing ones,
And be ye glad of heart,

For Calvary and Easter Day,
Earth's saddest day and gladdest day,
Were just three days apart!

With shudder of despair and loss
The world's deep heart was wrung,
As, lifted high upon His cross,
The Lord of Glory hung-

When rocks were rent, and ghostly forms
Stole forth in street and mart;

But Calvary and Easter Day,

Earth's blackest day and whitest day,

Were just three days apart.

-Susan Coolidge

TRUSTING GOD

Psalm 23 (Poetical Version)

THE

HE Lord's my shepherd; I'll not want;
He makes me down to lie

In pastures green: He leadeth me

The quiet waters by.

My soul He doth restore again;

And me to walk doth make

Within the paths of righteousness,
E'en for His own name's sake.