584. C. M. Steele.

Death of a Child.

1Life is a span,--a fleeting hour:

How soon the vapor flies!

Man is a tender, transient flower,

That e'en in blooming dies.

2The once-loved form, now cold and dead,

Each mournful thought employs;

And nature weeps, her comforts fled,

And withered all her joys.

3Hope looks beyond the bounds of time,

When what we now deplore

Shall rise in full, immortal prime,

And bloom to fade no more.

4Cease, then, fond nature, cease thy tears;

Thy Saviour dwells on high;

There everlasting spring appears;

There joy shall never die.

Children in Heaven.

1In the broad fields of heaven,--

In the immortal bowers,

By life's clear river dwelling,

Amid undying flowers,--

There hosts of beauteous spirits,

Fair children of the earth,

Linked in bright bands celestial,

Sing of their human birth.

2They sing of earth and heaven,--

Divinest voices rise

To God, their gracious Father,

Who called them to the skies:

They all are there,--in heaven,--

Safe, safe, and sweetly blest;

No cloud of sin can shadow

Their bright and holy rest.