THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE1 Not a drum was heard, not a funeral-note, We buried him darkly at dead of night, THE BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE. 35 No useless coffin inclosed his breast, Nor in sheet nor in shroud we wound him; Few and short were the prayers we said, We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone, But half of our heavy task was done, When the clock struck the hour for retiring; Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; 1 Sir John Moore. This brave general was born in 1761. He entered the army in his fifteenth year-distinguished himself in Egypt and the Wolfe. West Indies-was commander-inchief during a part of the Peninsular War-fell, in the moment of victory, at Coruña, Jan. 17, 1809. 36 THE GOOD TIME COMING. THE GOOD TIME COMING. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; We may not live to see the day, But earth shall glisten in its ray; Cannon-balls may aid the truth, but Thought's a weapon stronger; We'll win our battle by its aid-wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; The pen shall supersede the sword, And Right, not Might, shall be the lord ; Worth, not birth, shall rule mankind, and be acknowledged stronger : The proper impulse has been given-wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; A monster of iniquity; Nations shall not quarrel then, to prove which is the stronger, Nor slaughter men for glory's sake-wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; Shall not make their martyrs bleed; Religion shall be shorn of pride, and flourish all the stronger; And Charity shall trim her lamp-wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; And a poor man's family Shall not be his misery; Every child shall be a help to make his right arm stronger : The happier he the more he has—wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; Little children shall not toil Under or above the soil; But shall play in healthful fields till limbs and mind grow stronger; And every one shall read and write—wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; The people shall be temperate, And shall love instead of hate; They shall use, and not abuse, and make all virtue stronger: The Reformation has begun-wait a little longer. There's a good time coming, boys, a good time coming; Let us aid it all we can, Every woman, every man ; Smallest helps, if rightly given, make the impulse stronger: 'Twill be strong enough one day—wait a little longer. Charles Mackay. SONG OF OLD TIME. I wear not the purple of earth-born kings, Ye may learn who I am; there's the passing chime, Softly I creep like a thief in the night, And they will not smile at what Time hath done. 38 MARY IN HEAVEN. I eat through treasures, with moth and rust: I make the shell-proof tower my own, 1 Ermine, a small animal with a snowwhite fur. The state robes of judges and magistrates are of ermine fur, as an emblem that Eliza Cook. they should be pure, that is, incapable of being bribed to do wrong. 2 Things, personages. MARY IN HEAVEN.1 Thou lingering star! with lessening ray, Again thou usherest in the day My Mary from my soul was torn. O Mary! dear departed shade! Where is thy blissful place of rest? See'st thou thy lover lowly laid? Hear'st thou the groans that rend his breast? That sacred hour can I forget Can I forget the hallowed grove Those records dear of transports past; Thy image at our last embrace Ah, little thought we 'twas our last! Ayr gurgling kissed his pebbled shore, O'erhung with wild woods, thickening, green; The fragrant birch and hawthorn hoar Twined amorous round the raptured scene. |