Silent is home's delight,
Peaceful its tranquil cheer;
Here is the cool, unbroken calm,
The soft wind's breath and the fir-tree's balm,
All, all are here.
He and the dying year
Lie in their slumber deep.
Safe in the heart of home at last,
Anxious slumber nor grievous past
Shall stir his sleep.
Woe for us to keep,
For him a joy to last!
Woe for the land in years to come,
Wail, O trumpet! and mutter, drum!
The dead comes home at last!
Winsted, Conn.
AN ODE ON THE ASSASSINATION.
[A prize offered by a London weekly for the best poem on the attempted assassination of President Garfield was awarded to the author of the following.]
Veil now, O Liberty! thy blushing face,
At the fell deed that thrills a startled world;
While fair Columbia weeps in dire disgrace,
And bows in sorrow o'er the banner furled.
No graceless tyrant falls by vengeance here,
'Neath the wild justice of a secret knife;
No red Ambition ends its grim career,
And expiates its horrors with its life.
Not here does rash Revenge misguided burn,
To free a nation with the assassin's dart;
Or roused Despair in angry madness turn,
And tear its freedom from a despot's heart.