Shells

MILWAUKEE: HAUSER & STOREY. 1873.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873 by ELLA WHEELER, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.
TO THE PEOPLE OF WISCONSIN, From whom I have Received so Many Words of Praise and Encouragement; To whom I am Indebted for so Many Marks of Appreciation, Rendering my Pleasant Work Pleasanter, My Glad Life Gladder, Is this volume gratefully dedicated BY THE AUTHOR.
By the waves of thought, these Shells were washed out upon the shores of imagination, and I gathered them in idle moments. If they shall give you a few hours enjoyment, it will add to the pleasure I experienced in making the collection. ELLA WHEELER.
END.
Our lives are songs. God writes the words, And we set them to music at pleasure; And the song grows glad, or sweet, or sad, As we choose to fashion the measure.
We must write the music, whatever the song, Whatever its rhyme, or metre; And if it is sad, we can make it glad. Or if sweet, we can make it sweeter.
One has a song that is free and strong; But the music he writes is minor; And the sad, sad strain is replete with pain, And the singer becomes a repiner.
And he thinks God gave him a dirge-like lay. Nor knows that the words are cheery; And the song seems lonely and solemn--only Because the music is dreary.
And the song of another has through the words An under current of sadness; But he sets it to music of ringing chords, And makes it a pean of gladness.
So, whether our songs are sad or not, We can give the world more pleasure. And better ourselves, by setting the words To a glad, triumphant measure.
She rose up, in the early dawn, And white, and silently she moved About the house: Four men had gone To battle for the land they loved: And she, the mother, and the wife. Waited for tidings from the strife. How still the house seemed; and her tread Sounded like footsteps of the dead.