A PSALM OF LIFE. WHAT THE HEART OF THE YOUNG MAN SAID TO THE PSALMIST. TELL me not, in mournful numbers, 'Life is but an empty dream!' For the soul is dead that slumbers, Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; 'Dust thou art, to dust returnest,' Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums are beating In the world's broad field of battle Be not like dumb, driven cattle ! Be a hero in the strife. Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant! Let the dead Past bury its dead! Act, act in the living Present! Heart within, and God o'erhead! Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of Time; Footprints, that perhaps another, Let us, then, be up and doing, Still aching, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait. THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH. UNDER a spreading chestnut tree With large and sinewy hands; And the muscles of his brawny arms His hair is crisp, and black, and long, His face is like the tan; His brow is wet with honest sweat He earns whatever he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man. Week in and week out, from morn till night, You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, And children coming home from school They love to see the flaming forge, And catch the burning sparks that fly Like the chaff from a threshing floor. He goes on Sunday to the church, Ile hears the parson pray and preach, He hears his daughter's voice, Singing in the village choir, And it makes his heart rejoice. It sounds to him like her mother's voice, He needs must think of her once more, And with his hard rough hand he wipes. Onward through life he goes; Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, THE BELEAGUERED CITY. I HAVE read in some old marvellous tale, Beside the Moldar's rushing stream, White as a sea-fog, landward bound, No other voice nor sound was there, But, when the old cathedral bell |