Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1863-11-04
StIttt 9uttrg,
MAUD MULEER.

But, when she glanced to the far-ofF town,
White from its hill-slope looking down,
The sweet song died, and a vague unrest
And q nameless longing filed her breast
A wish, that she hardly dared to own,
For something better than she had known.
The Judge rode slowly down the lane,
Smoothing his horses chestnut name.
He drew his bride in the shade
OftEe apple-trees, to greet the maid.
And ask a draught from the spring that fowet
Through the meadow across the road
She stopped where the cool spring bubbled ur
And filled tor him her small tin cup,
And blushed as she gave it, looking down
On her feet so bare, and her tattered gown.
Thanks" said the Judge, "asweeter draugh
From fairer hand was never quafFed.n
He spoke Of the grass and flowers and trees,
Of the singing birds and the humming bees
Then talked ofthe haying, and wondered wheth
The cloud in the west would bring foul wethel
And Maud forgot her brier-torn gown,
and her graceful ankles bare and brown;
And listened, while pleased surprise
Looked from her lOng-lashed hazel eyes.
At last, like one who for dely
Seeks vain excuse, he rode away.
Maud Muller looked and sighed: "Ah, mel
That the Judges bride might be
81 He would dress me up in silks so fine,
And praise and toast me at his wine
'' Ny father should wear broadcloth coat;
Ny brother should sail a painted boat.
I'D dress my mother so grand and gay,
And Che baby should have new toy each day.
And I'd feed the hungry and clothe the poor,
And all should bless me who left our door"
The Judge looked back as he climbed the hill,
And saw Maud Muller standing stin.
A form more fair, a face more sweet,
Ne'er hath it been my lot to meet.
" And her modest answer and graceful air
Show her wise and good as she is fair.
Would she were mine, and I to-day,
Like her, a harvester ofhay:
"No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs,
No weary lawyers with endless tongues,
&" But low Of cattle and song of birds,
And health and quiet aud loving words"
But he thought Of his sisters proud and cold,
and his mother vain Of her rank and gold.
So, closing his heart, the Judge rode on,
And Maud was left in the field alone.
But the lawyers smiled that afternoon,
When he hummed IN court an old Ioye-tune;
And the young girl mused beside the well,
Till the rain on the unraked clover fell.
He welded a wife of richest dover,
Who lived for fashion, as be for power.
Yet oft, in his marble hearth's bright glow,
He watched q picture come and go:
And sweet Maud Muller's hazel eyes
Looked out in their innocent surprise.
Oft when The wine in bis glass was red,
he longed Tor the wayside well instead;
And closed his eyes on his garnished rooms,
To dream Of meadows and clover-blooms.
And the proud man sighed, with a secret pain:
q All, that were free againI
"Free as when I rode that day,
Where the barefoot maiden raked her hay"
She welded a man unlearned and poor,
And many children played round her door.
But care and sorrow, and childbirth pain,
Lett their traces on heart and brain.
And oft, when the summer sun shone hot,
On the new-mown hay in the meadow lot,
And she heard the little spring brook fall
Over the roadside, through the wall,
In the shade Of the apple-tree again
She saw a rider draw his rein.
And, gazing down with timid grace,
She felt his pleased eyes read her face.
sometimes her narrow kitchen walls
Stretched away into stately halls;
The weary wheel to a spinnet turned,
The talloW candle an astral burned,
And for him who sat by the chimney lug,
Doing and gFumbling Oer pipe and mug,
A manly form at her side she saw,
And joy was duty and love was law.
Then she took up her burden of life again,
Saying only, 1t might have been"
Alas for maiden, alas for Judge,
For rich repiner and household drudge
God pity them bOthl and pity US all,
Who vainly the dreams Of youth recall.
For ofaIl sad words oftongue or pen,
The saddest are these: &c 1t might have been F'
An, we'll! for US all some sweet hope lies
Deeply buried from human eyes;
And, in the hereafter, angels may
Ron the stone from its grave away!
The London Times regards the Great East
err and the Pyramids as Of equal ussfulaeri