St. Landry democrat., 1891-01-03
=, SONGS OF THE BELLS.
THE SCHOOL BELL.

Where is the black-eyea Sunbeam
rocket just from school,
And languid little Nell,
Who never broke rule!
Henrietta. bright and studlous'
At the head of every class
Reclining meath the aged tree
Upon the velvet grass
Porting over lessons,
The lessons for each day.
All, me. can these be tears? How,
How soon she passed away
Then spiteful Arabella,
n Who was enyious of the rest,
And told how gray-eyed Anna
Stole birding from from its nest
Others. too, with wide brimmed hats
And tresses flowing free,
Whose hearts were light and smiles as hflsh''
With names upon the tree
4 Where are the bare limbed boys,
Whose names were under theirs
Who stole from school that they might s"'ln'
Or lift some neighbours pears!
Some fought beneath the flag with strlpes'
Some fought beneath the bars,
4 And met soldiers gallant fate
Beneath the Southern stars
\ Few are left to listen
To the masters pealing bell
But slumber in the harvest,
Where the sickle coldly fell
Still the sexton, old and weak,
With piping voice and totterlng teet'
Leaning on his well-worn spade,
VIII tell you of the graves he made
Beneath the shade, where broad-hmoed Trees
Are signing in the sultry breeze
Soft and mellow deep-toned bell,
Its music steals thro' memory's dell.
Who will tell of the thoughts 1t brings'
Who will forget the songs it sings?
MEMoRY's BELL
All, mellow bell, with strains SO sweet
No more its silvery peals will greet
The playmates in their childish glee'
That sought a refuge meath the tree
Whose birchen bark with date and name
is carved: no more will sing of those that came
To fill its trunk, whose rustic space
Unlike the past, out-lived each fading trace
/ The bark. more true than memory's gauge,
Brought out each line with rugged age;
Every year in palmer view,
The broadening letters larger grewi
Every stroke of the ponderous bell
Rang out the years like funeral kneil.
One stood alone with silvered hair
The hoyish letters all were there
And sat beneath its grateful shade
Where once far back the boy had played.
Soft and mellow, deep-toned bell,
Its music steals through every dell
Who will tell of the thoughts it brings:
Who will forget the songs it Singer
THE ToLLING BELL
It tolled the spirits passing knel
Der saddened homes, where shadows FELL
Where breaking hearts caressed the brow
So free from pain and anguish now
! The waving plumes, as back as swans that sang
The hearse. the pail, the shrieks that rang
From hearts that never felt a grief
Till Death had plucked radiant flower
To bloom within his tear-stained bower;
The eriefs that grew within the heart
Where earthly sorrow like feathered dait'
Ranked till it groaned with pain,
And, auivering, felt the loss again.
Soft and mellow, deep-toned bell,
Its music steals through every dell
Who will tell Of the thoughts it brings?
~ Who will forget the songs its sings!
THE LAST SONG OF THE BELL.
The song of the bell will die
Its dome In ruins lie;
The crumbling walls will weather
The dew and frost will gather
On the rocks that crown its top.
The bell that swings so high
Will fall and helpless lie:
The bats, with frightened screams
Will hutter out In streams;
The owls, with wall and hoot
VIII dive beneath some root
The mould and gathering rust
Will form thick ming crust;
Half buried In the ground,
1t will form a grassy mound
That will wither every year.
The ruins of the church
That shades the ancient birch
Will be hidden far from sight
In the vale of deep'ning night,
While oblivions stony stare
Will blot out all that's fair;
Yet the world will surely fly
Along the spanged sky
Other forms and flowers
VIII fill the idle hours
That once belonged to thee.
All the names upon the tree
Will spread with thick ming bark,
= And the hazy morning lark
Will circle DER each bough
That is old and withered now.
Yes, the very trunk will rot,
While the worms that it begot
VIII form some loamy mould,
And the names that grew of old
VIII be buried In the earth.
-.7unius L. Henapstedd