Nought of lamenting; no vestige of woe;
Just a dark heap, a foul blot on the snow.
Entering the gateway, I reasoned why?
Questioned the scene with a tear-bedimmed eye.
"Only our hired boy!" He carelessly turned;
My innermost soul in my bosom burned.
II.
"Sunned in the rays of an era sublime,
Lulled in the lap of a Christian clime.
"Suddenly fatherless, suddenly poor;
Brave mother-hands keeping want from the door.
"Oh! how the widowed heart clung to that child,
Her one bright star on the darkening wild.
"Welded in sorrow, bereavement and pain;
Time nor eternity severeth twain.
"Hard for new toilers, though strong be the will;
Weary the way up the steep, rugged hill.
"Friendship in fortune is hollow at best;
Sunset of splendor, illuming the west,