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

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 dance along,?And look so glad and gay;?I love to hear their pleasant song,?I feel as glad as they.
"The young lambs bleat and frisk about,?The bees hum round their hive,?The butterflies are coming out,--?'Tis good to be alive.
"The trees that looked so stiff and gray?With green wreaths now are hung;?O mother! let me laugh and play,?I cannot hold my tongue.
"See yonder bird spread out his wings,?And mount the clear blue skies;?And hark! how merrily he sings,?As far away he flies."
"Go forth, my child, and laugh and play,?And let your cheerful voice,?With birds, and brooks, and merry May,?Cry loud, Rejoice! rejoice!
"I would not check your bounding mirth,?My little happy boy,?For He who made this blooming earth?Smiles on an infant's joy."
GUESS WHAT I HAVE HEARD.
Dear mother, guess what I have heard!?O, it will soon be spring!?I'm sure it was a little bird,--?Mother, I heard him sing.
Look at this little piece of green?That peeps out from the snow,?As if it wanted to be seen,--?'Twill soon be spring, I know.
And O, come here, come here and look!?How fast it runs along!--?Here is a cunning little brook;?O, hear its pretty song!
I know 'tis glad the winter's gone?That kept it all so still,?For now it merrily runs on,?And goes just where it will.
I feel just like the brook, I know;?It says, it seems to me,--?"Good by, cold weather, ice, and snow;?Now girls and brooks are free."
I love to think of what you said,?Mother, to me last night,?Of this great world that God has made,?So beautiful and bright.
And now