The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1878-09-14
With its demure and calm outlook,
Then back stole, and half beguiled
My guilt, in trust that when my SLEEP
Should come, there might be one WI
An equal mercy for NV child.n


Then back stole, and half beguiled
! My guilt, in trust that when my sleep
Should come, there might be one who'd keep
An equal mercy for my child"
Of all the present poets, perhaps Bret
/ Harte is in truest sympathy with child
! hood, and with its lessons to manhood
The last stanza of his "Greyport lie
gend" is especially beautiful;
at is but foolish shipman's tale
A theme for the poets idle page
| But still, when the mists OF doubt prevail,
And we lie beealmed by the shores of age,
We hear from the misty troubled shore, e
The voices OF children gone before,
Drawing the soul to its anchorage"
Whittier, it is we'll known, has that
apparent love for children which is sc
beautiful in old men, and which child,
rem, who
"Well distinguish fawning art
From sterling fondness of the heart"
SO quickly appreciate and return; but
there is little evidence of it in his
poems. In School Days" and "The
Barefoot are, however, so charming
that we can not but regret that such
specimens are so rare in his pages.
Stoddard has shown high appreciation
of the attractions of children occasion
ally. He likens child to a poets book
"a child is like poets book,
rare conception, richly planned,
Harmonious, perfect in its parts,
Going straight to all mems hearts,
And yet so hard TO understand"
But Longfeliows poems are richest
in the kind of gems | am stringing for
you now. Pick up book of his poems
and open it at random and you will find
some rare conceit, some beautiful fancy,
inspired by children. "The Reaper and
the Flowers" is one of these which has
been called "a gift to the English lam
guage." "The Child Asleep" and the
mothers "sweet error" is another "To
them on every page.
"Come TO me, o We children,
For hear you at your play,
And the questions that perpex me
Have vanished quite away"
ain your hearts are the birds and sunshine,
In your thought, the brooklets flow"
"The Childrens Hour" {" Between the
dark and the daylight WEAKNESS"
"The Boy and Brook" all bear testi-
mony to the great poets interest in and
love of children. Few as beautiful
poems upon any subject, certainly none
1.-The Children's Hour" have ever been
written:
!" I hear in the chamber above me
The patter of little feet,
The sound Of door that is opened,
And voices soft and sweet
From my study see in the lamp-light
Descending the broad hall STAIR
Grave Alice, aud laughing Allegro,
And Edith with golden hair.
whisper, and then asilence,
Yet ] know by their merry eyes,
They are plotting and planning together
To take me by surprise.
have you fast in my fortress.
And will not let you DEPART
But put you into the dungeon
In the round tower of my heart.
And there will keep you forever,
Yes, forever, and o day.
Till the walls shall crumble TO ruin,
And molder in dust away"
Numberless poets have sung the charms
of those who are living
"with the glory Of God all about them,
And the glo y Of gladness Within"
Of
"The little white arm that encircle
My neck in tender embrace"
"The smiles that are halos OF heaven.
Shedding sunshine of love on my face"
but few poets, great or little, have writ
ten so sweetly as has Charles Dickinson
"Oh, there's nothing on earth half 80 holy
As the innocent heart of child;
They are idols of heart and of household,
They are angels of God In disguise.
His sunlight sill sleeps in their tresses,
His glory still CLEANS in their eyes,
Oh, these truants from home and from heaven,
They have made me more manly and mild;
They have taught me how Jesus should lfken
fhe Kingdom OF God to child
A stanza from Children" suggests
another poem familiar perhaps, to all of
us:
"Ah what would the world be to us
If the children came more2
We should dr. ad the desert behind us
More than the dark before"
And
"Oh, the weary, solemn silence
Of house without The children,
Oh, the strange unbroken stiffness
Where the children come no more"
But it is useless to multiply examples,
for no theme has taken more of the
| poets fancy or inspired more beautiful
verse than the bright darlings that are
to our households what the flowers are
to soft green fields or stately woods,
what the birds are to Gods air and to
Gods heaven,-our beautifiers and our
comforters and our teachers of love and
gentleness.
ave teach them the beauty Of knowledge,
They teach us the goodness OF God"
"They are better than all the ballads
That ever suDgo said;
| For they are living poems,
| And all the rest are dead"
For the Last Time.
There is a touch of pathos about do
ing even the simplest thing f" for thu
| last time It is not alone kissing tht