The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-06-06
TOMORROW.
BY H. R. HUDSON.

The morning hours passed one by one:
The noon came with its world of gold;
The petty household tasks were done,
And friends were gathered new and old;
And all the weddiny Tnirth begun,
And iests were made and tales were told
But still he came not though the sun
Chased shadows from the wood and wold.
Within her chamber, new arrayed
In laces' fairy gossamer,
She sat and wondered, half afraid,
And starting at the breezes' stir;
And starting if a bird betrayed
Its nearness by a chirp whir-
Amazed, and doubling, since he staid,
What cause his coming might defer.
Her sisters gay an hour ago,
Sought comfort in each others eyes,
And filed the moments tardy flow
With hasty questions and replies.
The wedding guests who sat below
Whispered their comments and surprise
The mother, moving to and fro,
Still kept her gentle, cheerful guise.
The ancient clock, bedeeked with flowers,
Was pointing out the sign of two:
Too swiftly now the busy hours
Moved onward in the courses due.
The bridal parents, loving dewers
Of old affection proved anew,
Lay underneath their tiny bowers
Unheeded; and the moments grew,
And made another hour. The while
She waited, grown heart-sick with dread,
Her sisters sought with harmless guile
To smooth the careful words they said,
And tried with many winning vile
To scatter fears that silence fed
Still, with white lips she tried to smile,
But turned away and wept instead.
" He may be ILL.," "If that be so
He must have sent us some brief word"
"We had the note two days ago."
"Perhaps some new delay occurred"
al never knew the time so slow"
Said one in whispers scarcely heard,
elbow strange! If we could only know
His coming could not be deferred"
"And then, what will the people say?"
''Ob, hush speak lower; she may hear"
" Is that dust-cloud far away
Upon the road, and coming near?"
1T is it is! 1 hope and pray
1t may be Roger! Little fear
But that it is. wedding-day
Without bridegroom would be queer"
The noise of wheels had reached her car,
The tramp of horses driven fast;
How quickly every brow grew clear
That clouds of doubt had overcast
And, laughing out with sudden cheer,
She cried, 90 All, he is come at last
knew had no cause for fear,
But yet, thank Heaven, the fear is past
al wonder what has kept him so.
And see-Iny eyes are swollen and red
They're only at the bridge. How slow
Tell me when the! !bare near =, she said.
She smoOthed the laces' tumbled snow,
Bewreathed the flowers that crowned her head
Smiled at the mirrors pretty show,
And paced the floor with restless tread.
"They're here, and there is Roger :" Nay,
That is not Roger :" f why who, thcn?"
"a stranger, and his hair is gray
% But Rogers with him Look again!'
''N No. Now he's at the door; but stay
Listen. They asked him where 2 and when I?
What was it that heard him say?
The Erie Railway? Found at temp
A knot of people in the door,
And voices loud, then hushed and low:
How many killed ?" " You say at four"
% A crowded train I" "If she should know?"
Dead when You found him 2" "Long before
And killed, think, by one hard blow,
He must have lain six hours or more
Melted within the ruins so.
'He had this letter in his hand
1t said he to wed to-day.
thought, perhaps-you understand
Only girls despairing cry
Ringing across the sunny air,
A Inmmur, fading to sigh,
Then sudden silence every where.
And none had known that she was by,
And none had thought to save or spare.
They stared, aghast ''Was she SO niEh?n
90 You did not tell me she was here'
And still the summer breezes famed
Each tiny leaf and bloOmy spray,
And still throughout the happy land
The blossoms told that it May;
For hearts may break and loves grow cold
Betwixt the morning and the eve,
And still the sunset gives its gold
To those who smile, to those who grieve;
And graves are filed and men grow old,
And still the busy seasons weave
New lives and loves and last years mould
Covers the dust of those they leave.
-Harpcrs MogoztBc.