Work away For the Father's eye is on us, Never off us, still upon us, Night and Day! WORK AND PRAY! Pray and Work will be completer; Fear not lest the busy finger Weave a net the soul to stay; Live in Future as in Present; Work away! -Household Words, 1851. SUNSHINE AND SHOWER. THE heart that is sinking in sorrow Our life is a state of progression, Though weary and rough be the way ; And ere we get good in possession, Hard labour's the price we must pay. Then pause not though dark and alarming The sky in the distance may lower; Press on; there be regions more charming, The sunshine comes after the shower. Then list not your woe-begone lover, The sooner your sorrows are over, The sooner your pleasures will end. When joy thus with sorrow is blended, Oh, why should life's cup ever cloy; Or why should we wish our woes ended, When Sorrow's the sister of Joy! JAMES BALLANTINE, 1808 THE HERITAGE. THE rich man's son inherits lands, And piles of brick, and stone, and gold, And he inherits soft white hands, And tender flesh that fears the cold, A heritage, it seems to me, The rich man's son inherits cares; The bank may break, the factory burn, A breath may burst his bubble shares, And soft white hands could hardly earn A living that would serve his turn : A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. The rich man's son inherits wants, A heritage, it seems to me, One scarce would wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? Stout muscles and a sinewy heart, A hardy frame, a hardier spirit; King of two hands, he does his part A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. What doth the poor man's son inherit? A heritage, it seems to me, What doth the poor man's son inherit? A fellow-feeling that is sure To make the outcast bless his door: A heritage, it seems to me, A king might wish to hold in fee. O rich man's son! there is a toil But only whiten, soft white hands,- Worth being rich to hold in fee. O poor man's son! scorn not thy state; There is worse weariness than thine, In merely being rich and great; Toil only gives the soul to shine, And makes rest fragrant and benign : Worth being poor to hold in fee. Both, heirs to some six feet of sod, A heritage, it seems to me, Well worth a life to hold in fee. -American. J. R. LOWELL, 1819 PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY. FOR the highborn and the low There's a joy that all may know, A source of bliss exhaustless, undefiled; Believe me 'tis no dream, But lessons life has taught me from a child: It is, to act your part With purity of heart; |