Hymns, Songs, and Fables, for Young People | Page 5

human
agony hath ever found
The mighty God a never-failing trust.
EVENING PRAYER.
Great Source of being,
Father all-seeing!
We bow before thee;

Our souls adore thee;
Help us obey thee;
Guide us aright;
Keep us,
we pray thee,
Through the long night.
Thou kind, forgiving
God of all living,
Thy power defend us,
Thy
peace attend us,
While we are closing
This day in prayer,
Ever
reposing
Under thy care.
EVENING HYMN.
Before I close my eyes to-night,
Let me myself these questions ask:--

Have I endeavoured to do right,
Nor thought my duty was a task?

Have I been gentle, lowly, meek,
And the small voice of conscience
heard?
When passion tempted me to speak,
Have I repressed the
angry word?
Have I with cheerful zeal obeyed
What my kind parents bid me do,

And not by word or action said
The thing that was not strictly true?
In hard temptation's troubled hour,
Then have I stopped to think and
pray,
That God would give my soul the power
To chase the sinful
thought away?
O Thou who seest all my heart,
Wilt thou forgive and love me still!

Wilt thou to me new strength impart,
And make me love to do thy
will!
LINES WRITTEN AT MIDNIGHT.
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF A.G. EBERHARD.
The sun in smiles doth dress his face,
As evening comes to take his
place;
So looks the parting loved-one, when
He means to quickly
come again.
With moon and stars all sparkling bright,
Advances now the silent
night;
And with the calm and gentle moon,
Sweet peace doth
quietly come on.
Who at the moon and stars can gaze
Without a gush of love and
praise?
And now it is the midnight hour,
And sleep asserts her
soothing power.
But see, the flickering light is gone,
That from my neighbour's
window shone;
His simple household prayer is said,
He rests from
toil, on his hard bed.
Yet still the watchman wakes, and still
Faithful till morning watch he

will;
But vain, O watchman! is thy care,
If God, the Guardian, be
not there.
By my dull lamp, whose light's near gone,
In my small room I sit
alone,
And, thinking o'er past joys and pain,
A sweet contentment
doth remain.
He's still my trust; he, the true Shepherd, never
Will forsake his
sheep,--he watcheth ever;
The mother may forget her child, but yet

Thus saith the Lord,--"Thee I will not forget."
I rest in peace, I trust in Thee;
Thy faithful eye still watcheth me;

For He who ever wakes and lives
To loving hearts no night e'er gives.
"HOPE IN GOD."
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN OF S.A. MAHLMAN.
Hope, my heart, in patience hope,--
Thou at last thy flowers shalt
gather;
God is full of tender love,--
Childlike speak thou to thy
Father.
From believing, trusting hearts,
The God of mercy ne'er
departs.
Clouds may come, and clouds may go,
Rest upon his goodness
always;
To those joyful, sunny heights
Lead these rough and
gloomy pathways;
Wakes for aye his Eye of Light,--
Tremble not in
storm and night.
Anchored on the Eternal Rock,
To the heart of God fast clinging,

Tell him all thy deepest woes,
Before him all thy sorrows bringing;

He is kind, and comfort gives
To every sorrowing heart that lives.
Let true faith strong courage give;
Strength the Helper now is sending;

Soon thou'lt understand His ways,
Soon thou'lt find thy sorrows
ending.
God! who life and goodness art!
In patience hope in Him,
my heart.

FAILURE AND SUCCESS.
It is in failure, in distress,
When, reft of all, it stands alone,
And not
in what men call success,
The noble, valiant soul is known.
He who perfection makes his aim
Shoots at a mark he may not reach;

The world may laugh, the world may blame.
And what it calls
discretion preach.
And he will fail to win the goal
Which low ambition makes its own;

But, far beyond, his earnest soul
Stands in the light, though all
alone.
It was through insult, pain, and loss
That Jesus won immortal power;

Thus the great failure of the cross
Was his triumphant, glorious
hour.
Think not of failure or success;
He fails who has a low desire.
Up to
the highest ever press,
Still onward, upward, higher! higher!
Make such thy purpose, such thy aim,
That they who watch thy
spirit's flight
Shall look to heaven from whence it came,
And loose
thee in celestial light.
SONGS.
THE LITTLE SPRING.
Beneath a green and mossy bank
There flows a clear and fairy stream;

There the pert squirrel oft has drank,
And thought, perhaps, 'twas
made for him.
Their pitchers there the laborers fill,
As drop by drop the crystals
flow,
Singing their silvery welcome still
To all who to the fountain
go.

Then to the river on it glides,
Its tributary drop to bear,
Its modest
head a moment hides,
Then rises up and sparkles there.
The touching lesson on my heart
Falls like the gentle dews of heaven,

Bids me with humble love impart
The little treasure God has given.
For from a source as small as this
Full many a cup of joy may flow,

And on the stream of human bliss
Its little ray of gladness throw.
THE LITTLE BOY'S MAY-DAY SONG.
"The flowers are blooming everywhere,
On every hill and dell,
And
O, how beautiful they are!
How sweetly, too, they smell!
"The little brooks, they