The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1904-01-31

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..o,r OCCUPATION may be- nnd however crowded your
Tall to secre 1t cnst fey minutes every day Tor tho
inner life with tit 81 poetry Eliot Norton.
No. o5i
TIL A.NATOPSlS.
BY BRYANT.
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y HIM who in the love Of Nature holds
Communion with her visible FORMS sho speaks
~ "A various language; for his gayer hours
She has q voice Of gladness, and smile 3
And eloquence Of beauty, and she glidcs I
Into his darker musings with mild 5$B J$ s&4
And gentle sympathy that steals away s4 ,,i5 s
Their sharpness ere he is aware When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour como like q blight 5S
Over thy spirit, and sad images 9. I,
OF the stern agony, and shroud, and pail rs
And brcathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shuddcr and grow sick at heart
y Go forth unto the open sky, and list ssls
10 Natures teachings while from oil round
Earth and hor waters, and The depths Of air
Comes a still voice-Yet q few days. and thee
The all beholding shall see no more
fnyal his course; nor yet In the cold ground,
Where {hy pile form was laid with many tears,
Nor in the embrace Of ocean shall exist
Thy image. Earth, that nourishcd tnee shall claim
THY growth, to be resolved to earth again, S
And, lost each human trace, s,lrrondcring up
Thine individual being shalt thou 60
To mix for with the elements;
To.bc brother to the nscnsibe rock
And to the sluggish clod which the rude swain
SSa s wdh IS abroad Sra thy mould
Yet. not to thy eternal Testing place
Shalt thou retire alone-nor could'st thou wish
Couch more magnificent Thou shalt lie, down w:
With patrarchs Of the infant world-with kings
The powerful Of the carth--the wise, the good,
Fair FORMS and hoary secrs OF ages past
All in one mighty sepulchre.-The hills
Rocked ribbed and ancient as the sun,--the Vales5
Stretching in pensyc quietncss between;--
The venerable woods; rivers that move
q IN majesty and the complaining brooks
That make meadows green; and poured round ALL
Old oceans gray and melancholy waste #
3< Are but the solemn decorations all
OF the great tomb of man. The golden sun,
The planets, all the infinite host OF heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes OF death
Through tho still lapse OF ages. Al that tread
The globe are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom--Take the wings
OF morning, and the Barcan desert pierce,
or lose thysef in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound,
# Save his own dashings-yet-the dead are Stnete'
And millions in those solit,ldcs, since hrst
,rhc fight Of years began have laid them down
In their last dead reign there ao1 3e
So shalt thou rest-and what if thou shalt iail
JInnoticed BY the slivng--and no friend
Take note Of thy dcpartures All that breathe
viii share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou the solemn bT0o a. o. care
tI;a fayorite 'pbahtom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come
And make their bed with thee. AS the long tram
Of ages glide away the sons OF men,
The Youth in life's green spring, and he who goes
IN the full strength Of years matron and maid
The bowed with age the infant IN ~, the ef snlles
And beauty Of its innocent age cut OIL
Shall one by one be gathered to thy side
By those who in their turn shall follow them.
So live that when thy summons comes TO JON
The innumernble caravan that moves
To the pale realms Of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls OF death,
Thou 20 not, like the @quarry-slave at night,
scourged to his dungeon, but sustained ana sootheo
By an 'unfalterng trust approach Thy grave
Like one who wraps the drapery Of his coucn
About him. and lies down to pleasant dreams.