The Trinity journal., 1856-11-08

vas to sit there around the fire all of us eX
ccpting Jane, and her we thought we saw
when the door was opened moment by tho
wind ; but then we were not afraid for WASTE
not her old smile she wore To sit there
around the fire, and weep over the woes os
the babes in the woods, who laid down side
by side in the great solemn shadows and
how strangely glad we felt when the room
redbreast covered them with leaves and last
of all when the angel took them out of night
into day everlasting.
We may think what we will of it now,
but the song and She story heard around the
kitchen fire have colorcd the thoughts and
the lives of most of us, have given the germs
Of whatever poetry bleSSeS our hearts, what
ever of memory blooms in our yesterdays
Attribute whatever we may to the school
and the scooolmaster, the rays which make
that little day we call life, radi@te from tho
God-swept circle of the hCartStone
Then she sings an old lullaby she sung TO-
mother-her mother sang it to her ; but
she does not sing il through, and falterS ere
it is done She rests her head upon her
hands, and it is silent in the old kitchen
Something gttctS down between her fingers
in the freight, and it looked like rain in tho
soft sunshine. The old grandmother is
thinking when she first heard the song, and
of the voice that sang it when lghthcart-
ed girl, she hung round that mothers chair,
nor saw the shadows of the years to come.
Oh che days that are no more What
words unSay, what deeds undo, to set back
Just this once the ancient elock OF fine
So our ittle hands were forever cinging
10 her garments and staying her as if from
dying, for long ago she had done living FOR
herself, and lived alone in us. But the old
kitchen wants presence today and tho
rnsh-bottomed chair is tcnantlcsS.
How she used TO welcome us when We
were grown, and came back once more to-
the homestead
We thought we were men and women,
bit we were children there the old-fash-
ioned grandmother was blind in her eyes,
but she saw with her heart, as she always
did We threw orr hong shadows through
the open door, and she felt them as they
fell over her form, and she looked dimy nll
and she said
Edward | know, and Lucy's voice | can
near, but whose is that other? 1t must bo
James for she had almost forgotten the
folded hands. Oh no not James, for sho
let me see-she is waiting for me, isn't
she and the old grandmother WANDERERS
and wcpt
1t is another daughter, grandmother, that
Edward has brought says some one, for
your blessing.
Has she blue eyes, my son? Put her
hand in mine, for she is my atc-born, the
child of my old age. Shall | sing you a
song children and she is fumhIing for n
toy, welcome Gift for the children that
have come again.
One of us, men as we thought we were,
is weeping she hears the balfsuppreSsod
sobs, au,i she says, as she extends her feeble
hand. Here, my poor child, rest upon your
grandmother's shoulder she will protect
yon from all harm
Come, children sit around the fire again,
Shall / sing you song or tell you story 2
Stir the FIRE for it is cold the nights are
growing colder
The clock in the corner struck nine, the
bedtime of those old days. The song Of
life was indeed sung, the story told 1t was
bedtime at last Good night to thee, gram
mother. The oldfashoncd grandmother
was no more, and we miss her forever. But
we will set up n tablet in the midst OF tho
heart, and write ON it only this:
SACRED TO TIE MEMORY
or THE
OLD-FASHIONED GRANDMOTlIER>
GOD BLESS HER FOREVER.