Nay, bounteous-brow'd and bounteous-hearted, nay, I ask not for such largesse nor will take. I bar'd my heart before you, but you thought "Twas cover'd still the veil was on your eyes, Or had I let you come too near to see? Suppose the father of the prodigal, How could the young man take such love as that? I say that self-abasement, undeserved, So, Alice, is it now 'twixt you and me : God never sets us level with His eyes, What are these words betwixt us twain? Am I You had will'd: you willing not, I take my way. I lov'd you, dear, and love you passing well, And work; and God and work are all enough. Who cannot fail to live a noble life, Being noble through and through: and so, good-bye, God bless you so, good-bye, dear Alice Ker. "DISCOURAGED BECAUSE OF THE WAY." WITH the earth-dust on our raiment and the earth-tears on our cheek,. Wrestling sorely in our passion, in our patience very weak, Far off, far off seems the city which from far we still must seek. Past the sunrise and the sunset glories of the east and west, Where the fair and good things ripen to the fairest and the best, Where the heart beats on untiring, and in serving is at rest. Oh, the never-ceasing conflict! Oh, the stress on heart and brain ! "Lord, deliver us from evil!" mournfully we cry again; But the underbreath of passion is "Deliver us from pain!" L Look upon us, God and Father! there is none to save but Thee: Look upon us, God and Father! strengthen Thou each feeble knee: Thou canst make the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak, the blind to see. Shame on us, on us faint-hearted, pausing here to weep and moan, When beyond all thought's conceiving is the glory we have known, Seeing, Father, Thou didst love us into life who were but stone. Bid the weary silence break because of symphony and song, And the weary darkness pass because of glory white and strong, For the love that kills all coldness, and the right that slays all wrong. BY ME: IN ME. I. WHATEVER Thy will may be, That hasten their tasks to meet ; And the voice that is true to raise II. Whatever Thy will may be, |