Delaware State journal and statesman., 1866-01-23
THE BALLAD or BAnIn nELL.
ny Il. n. AIDRIcn.


ny 4. n. AEDRIcH
Have you heard the poets tell
How came the dainty Babie Bell
Into this world of ours?
The gates of heaven were left aiar;
With folded hands and dreamy eyes,
Wandering out of Paradise,
She saw this planet, like star,
Hung in the glistening depths of even
Its bridges, running to and fro,
Ger which the white winged angels go,
Bearing the holy dead 10 Heaven,
She touched bridge of flowers; those feet,
So light they did not bend the bells
ofthe celestial asphodels
They fell like dew upon the flowers,
Then all the air grew strangely sweet;
And thus came dainty Babie Bell
Into this world of ours
She came and brought delicious May,
The swallows built beneath the erves;
Like sunlight in and out the leaves
The robins went the livelong day;
1he lily swung Its nolseless bell.
And DER the porch the trembling vine
Seemed bursting with its veins OF wine;
How sweetly, softly twilight fell
o, earth was full of singing birds,
And opening spring-tide flowers,
When the dainty Babie Bell
Came to this world of ours
o, Babie, dainty Babie Bell,
How fair she grew from day to day
What woman nature filed her eyes,
What poetry within them lay;
Those deep and tender twilight eyes;
So full of meaning, pure and bright
AS if she yet stood in the light
ofthose open gates of Paradise.
And so we love her more and more;
All, never in our hearts before
Was love so lovely born;
We felt we had link between
This real world and that unseen
The land beyond the morn.
And for the love of those dear eyes,
For love of her whom God led forth,
(The mothers being ceased on earth
When Babie came from Paradise,)
For love of Him who smote our lives,
And woke the chords of joy and pain,
We said, Dear Christi-our hearts bent dow
Like violets after rain.
And now the orchards, which were white
And red with blossoms when she came
We're rich in autumn's mellow prime;
The clustered apples burnt like flame,
The sott-cheeked peaches blushed and fell,
The ivory chestnut burst its shell,
The grapes hung purpling in the grange;
And time wrought just such change
In little Babie Bell
Her lissome form more perfect grew,
And in her features we could trace,
In softened curves, her mothers face
Her angel nature ripened too.
We thought her lovely when she came,
But she was holy, sanity now "
Around her pale, angelic brow,
We saw slender ring of flame
Gods hand had taken away the seal
That held the portals other speech;
And oft she said few strange words,
Whose meaning lay beyond our reach.
She never was child to us,
We never held her beings key;
We could not teach her holy things;
She was Christ's self in purity.
1t came upon us by degrees;
We saw its shadow ere it fell,
The knowledge that our God had sent
His messenger for Babie Bell
We shuddered with unlanguaged pain,
And all our hopes were changed to fears,
And all our thoughts ran into tears
Like sunshine into rain.
We cried aloud in our belief,
20, smite us gently, gently, God
Teach us to bend and kiss the rod,
And perfect grow through grlef.'
All, how we loved her, God can tell
Her heart was folded deep in ours,
Our hearts are broken, Babe Bell
At.last he came, the messenger,
The messenger from unseen lands,
And what did dainty Babie Bell?
She only crossed her little hands,
She only looked more meek and fair!
4 We parted back her silken hair,
We wove the roses round her brow,
White buds, the summers driited snow,
1 Wrapped her from head to foot in flowers!
And thus went dainty Babie Bell
Out OF this land of oursl