The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-12-31
THE MURMUR
OF THE WORLD

The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the fued of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.
Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nober modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.
Ring out the want. the care, the sin,
The faithless GOODNESS of the tines
Ring ont my mournful rhymes,
But ring the fuller minstrel in.
Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic Islander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.
Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring the thousand years of peace.
Ring in the valiant man and free,
Tho larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be-
This teaching of Tennyson will call to
all women and men upon this eve of the
new year. 1t calls across all time. all the
spaces of human life; and you are charged
to hearken to the inspired words of the
man who himself spoke to one clear harp
in divers tones. Men may rise upon step
ping stones of their dead selves to higher
things!' There is given forth the admo-
milton of the blessed 1t is to be just, and
fear not: to do right. and leave the rest to
God With this day passes the year, and
at midnight the prayers of the faithful will
be offered up to the Infinite. In the CAL
endar it is merely a day; in human hearts
1t is something more. In our lives are
bridal wreaths, symphonies of music and
funeral trappings. These things are of the
appointed plans, and constitute the real
''pathos and sublime of human life"
The bells shall ring. Pray you that they
ring out some grief, ring in, some ioyl Ring
out the shadows, ring in the light. Ring
out all sense of wrong, of hate, of envy, of
malice, of uncharitabIeness, and ring in
the love of human kind 1.-The universal
brotherhood, the parliament of man."
Ring, bellsl ring until the heavens echo
with the exultant notes, sounding the
spirit of blessed anthem in the vast cathe-
dral of the heart, the world and the Mas
ter! Charity steps FORTH and faith and
hope keep place at the altar in the house
of worship. Ring, bells, ring Ring joy,
ring life, ring laughter as that of little
children, sounding,<the sweetest notes OF
music given to the world. These melo-
dies bring young fancies, and give to us
the old loves of our lives. We all of us
bav oil ~ all o
them dear ito us, no matter whittier gone.
And tine stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill:
But o for the touch of vanished hand
And the sound of a voice that is still.
Break break, break,
At the foot of thy crags o seal
But the tender grace of a day that is
dead
VIII never come back to me.
This cannot be true. The sound of a dear
voice echoes for ever voice that is loved
rings softly, tenderly, sWeetly in the lighted
chancel of mans life. The voice of that
other one is not hushed at the altar, not
stilled by baby's prattle, and is heard in
prayer. All the passions, all the vices,
hates, loves, emotions of the after-time are
powerless to still the voice or shut out the
vision of the old love that rolllcked at the
gate in the cleaning of the yesteryears. In
the glow of the freight that CLEANS upon
your own hearthstone is a face that is gone
from you, and the prattle of your children
may not drive away the blessed vision
And the grace of a day that is dead does
come back; and it softens all the hours Of
ifa ha of this life
too often the mere expediences thereof;
but he cannot know true joy. who hasn't
a lost love enshrined in his heart. 1t is not
of moment how she went from him or
whittier, but if he be man her face APP
peals to him, even as he listens to the even
ing prayer of his little child, calling to the
Lord to keep It's pure little soul spotless In
the purity given of God. The tender grace
of a day that is dead comes back to US
through all grief and all rejoicing. song,
A. word a sigh-and the daffodil way of the
old love is our own once more in lifes fitful
fever.
From Richmond in fair Virginia. "faT
and radiant maiden writes to a friend IN
birmingham that she had read recent
"Murnlur of the World 'sAs the prose-
poem had love for its theme, l was deeply
interested, my lady wrote. THE Muir
murer' is surely in the line of truth. l
ahink he must have made a close study OF
human nature-a very close study OF the
affections, and especially of the pure and
innocent heart. l should like to meet The
Murmurer.' Send me more of his writings
That is good of the fair little Vrglnlan-
good of her in her own pure and blessed
young life to give 'her word of cheer to
him whose chief joy is found in seeking to
please them that are pure of heart and
4unspotted from the world.
Everybody has sweetheart everybody
saysi' One cherished sweetheart writes
very beautifully to him who loves, Sending
him a pipe as loves dear gift. From the
wretch who murmurs' l have learned that
in tine clouds of smoke from a brier-root
pipe one sees many faces, and out of the
crowd of those that gather around you l
would have myself first. Let ii De nearest
YOU alway-in your happy acurs to rejoice
with you in your sad ones to comfort you,
in YOUR weak ones to guide you With a