THE NEWS-BOY'S DREAM OF THE NEW YEAR

THE NEWS-BOY'S DREAM OF THE NEW YEAR

  Under the bare brown rafters,
    In his garret bed he lay,
  And dreamed of the bright hereafters.
    And the merry morns of May.

  The snow-flakes slowly sifted
    In through each cranny and seam,
  But only the sunshine drifted
    Into the news-boy's dream.

  For he dreamed of the brave to-morrows,
    His eager eyes should scan,
  When battling with wants and sorrows,
    He felt himself a Man.

  He felt his heart grow bolder
    For the struggle and the strife,
  When shoulder joined to shoulder,
    In the battle-field of life.

  And instead of the bare brown rafters,
    And the snowflakes sifting in,
  He saw in the glad hereafters,
    The home his hands should win.

  The flowers that grew in its shadow,
    And the trees that drooped above;
  The low of the kine in the meadow,
    And the coo of the morning dove.

  And dearer and more tender,
    He saw his mother there,
  As she knelt in the sunset splendour,
    To say the evening prayer.

  His face—the sun had burned it,
    And his hands were rough and hard,
  But home, he had fairly earned it,
    And this was his reward!

  The morning star's faint glimmer
    Stole into the garret forlorn,
  And touched the face of the dreamer
    With the light of a hope new-born.

  Oh, ring harmonious voices
    Of New Year's welcoming bells!
  For the very air rejoices.
    Through all its sounding cells!

  I greet ye! oh friends and neighbours
    The smith and the artizan;
  I share in your honest labours,
    A Canadian working-man.

  To wield the axe or the hammer,
    To till the yielding soil,
  Enroll me under your banner,
    Oh Brotherhood of Toil!

  Ring, bells of the brave to-morrows!
    And bring the time more near:
  Ring out the wants and the sorrows,
    Ring in the glad New Year!

THE OLD CHURCH ON THE HILL.

  Moss-grown, and venerable it stands,
    From the way-side dust and noise aloof,
  And the great elms stretch their sheltering hands
    To bless its grey old roof.

  About it summer's greenery waves;
    The birds build fearless overhead;
  Its shadow falls among the graves;
    Around it sleep the dead.

  The summer sunshine softly takes
    The chancel window's pictured gloom;
  The moonlight enters too, and makes
    The shadow of a tomb.

  Along these aisles the bride hath passed,
    And brightened, with her innocent grace.
  The pensive twilight years have cast
    About the holy place.

  They brought her here—a tiny maid,
    Unweeting any gain or loss,
  And on her baby forehead laid
    The symbol of the Cross.

  And here they brought her once again,
    White-robed, and smiling as she slept;
  While lips, that trembled, breathed her name,
    And eyes that saw her wept.

  And still, when sunset lights his fire
    Along the gold and crimsoned west,
  She sleeps beneath the shadowing spire,
    The cross upon her breast.

  I watch it from my lonely cot,
    When stars shine o'er the hallowed ground,
  And think there is no sweeter spot,
    The whole wide earth around.

  The Sabbath chimes there sink and swim
    Along the consecrated air,
  The benediction and the hymn,
    The voice of praise and prayer:

  These mingle with the wind's free song,
    The hum of bees, the notes of birds,
  And make an anthem sweet and strong
    Of inarticulate words.

  There let me rest, when I have found
    The peace of God, the immortal calm,
  Where still above my sleep profound,
    Goes up the Sabbath psalm.