Grandmas Memories | Page 2

lips of the
singer hath stirred;
The "By-oh, my baby!" which mother knows best,

Will comfort and soothe the young child to its rest.
And Grandma forgets the deep lines on her face,
Which tell of the
years--the years long flown apace;
She does not remember that Time
has left snow
On the head that was golden so long, long ago.
[Illustration]
She is only a child as she listens to-night--
With a sense of the old
childish rest and delight--
To the voice of the mother who so long ago

Sat singing to her in the firelight's glow--
[Illustration: tune in G major and words: By, by, O baby! baby by O!]
But childhood is merged into girlhood at last,
(The sweet years of
"baby-life" vanish so fast!)
And Grandma's a maiden, so dainty and
fair,
Of girlhood's bright visions content with her share.
How merrily now glide the hours away!
And yet, as comes oft on a
fair Summer's day,
A cloud that o'ershadows its fairness, e'en so
To
Grandma's girl-life now and then comes some woe
[Illustration]

To grieve and to wound it, and hide from blue eves
The still deeper
blue of the beautiful skies;
And how many times, just for comfort and
rest,
The young head is lain upon mother's dear breast!
And tho' she's no longer the "baby," yet see,
The mother's arms clasp
her all pityingly,
And turning once more to the "lullaby--O!"
She
sings to her girl all so sweetly and low,
The nursery melody known the world o'er,
As she soothes, pets and
comforts the young heart so sore.
Yes, Grandma is only a young girl
to-night,
As she muses alone in the dim firelight.

The picture has changed, Grandma now is a bride,
The choice of her
heart proudly stands at her side;
She is living again the sweet life of
those days
When she first knew a husband's devotion and praise.
[Illustration: Grandma now is a bride]
To the faded old cheek springs again the warm blush,
The old years
are young with the spring-time's soft flush,
The dear, dim blue eyes
borrow youth's ardent glow,
As fast thro' her brain old-time memories
flow.
But ah! a light footstep within the lone room
Hath scattered the
dream; loving eyes pierce the gloom,
A lithesome young figure at
Grandma's side kneels,
A firm youthful hand into Grandma's hand
steals.
"Ah, Grandma, my Grandma, the smile on your face
Is proof that
some pleasure has there left its trace;
Now, what were your thoughts?
for I know they were far
Away from the Present, as earth from yon
star?
"My baby is sleeping, I've nothing to do,
Let me sit in the gloaming,

dear granny, with you;
The clock will soon ring us the hour of nine,

Please talk to me, Grandma, of dear auld lang syne."
[Illustration]
On the sunny young head Grandma's aged hand lies,
As she meets
with her own the young mother's blue eyes,
For dear to her soul is
this grandchild so fair,
Who has borrowed her youth in her soft eyes
and hair.
"Ah, child, down the vista of 'dear auld lang syne,'
Full soon will the
torches of memory shine
For you, tho' life's summer seems scarcely
begun,
And your head is yet golden 'neath morn's golden sun.
"For Time flies so fast; listen, dearie, I, too,
Feel that Summer again.
A young mother like you,
I am holding my baby all close to my breast,

And with the old lullaby lull her to rest.
"I can feel once again, as I rock to and fro,
The weight of the dear
little head. Soft and low
Is the little one's breath on the cheek which I
press
'Gainst her sweet baby-lips in a loving caress--
"As I sing o'er and o'er the quaint lullaby song
(That will never grow
wearisome tho' life be long),
And watch the sweet drowsiness
creeping apace,
Till sleep holds the wee one in tender embrace.
[Illustration:]
"Soft and low is the little one's breath
While yet I am crooning so
softly and low--
[Illustration: Music G major and words: By, by, O baby, by, by baby]
Unheeding the moments as swiftly they fly, with
By, by, O baby,
dear baby by.

"Oh' the deep peace which can never be known,
Can never be felt,
save by 'mother' alone!
As clasping, and folding, so close to her heart,

The helpless young life of her own life a part--
"She dreams as she sings, of a future so fair,
Awaiting the child of her
love and her care!
And welcomes the visions that day after day

With baby's sweet presence will nestle and stay.
"Time passes, my baby has suddenly flown,
And left me a daughter
to maidenhood grown.
As _I_ did, e'en so does my bonny maid do,

And--learns that sweet lesson so old and so new.
"For her comes a day when the wedding bells ring,
And my darling to
other than 'mother' must cling.
Like mother, like daughter,' 'like father,
like son,'
'Tis an adage will live till all living be done."
Grandma pauses a moment. Her listener cries,
With a sweet look of
sympathy in her young