A few there are of noble heart
That heed the orphan’s pleading cry,
The widow’s want and helplessness,
And to the rescue gladly fly.
They come like sunshine from above,
To light and cheer man’s lonely way;
Their mission is of charity,
To help his darkest doubtful day.
’Tis theirs to soothe the broken heart,
To see the wicked wrong redrest,
To lift the fallen up again,
And give the homeless wanderers rest.
’Tis theirs to bear the dead away,
To hear the last sad plaint and sigh,
To teach the mourner patience still,
And tell the suffering how to die.
’Tis theirs to point the narrow way
That leadeth where there are no tears,
No night, no sin, nor selfishness,
Beyond life’s disappointing years.
God sees and hears these noble souls
That fight through every ill and pain;
Giving their all, it shall be said,
Their lives were not, were not in vain.
I mingled in the stern affray—
Ah! how I strove to win the prize
Of wealth, position, and a name,
By bold, successful enterprise.
Oh, days of anxious thought and toil!
Oh, nights of fev’rish restlessness!
Either elated or deprest
By hope’s uncertain, wearing stress.
And though I gained some stubborn days,
And won the smile success attains,
A cringing world I found would laud
The potent power that wealth maintains.
Aye, though I crowned the stubborn heights,
I could not hold the fateful field,
The combinations were too great;
When all was lost I could but yield.
I fled far out along the way
Beyond the city’s ceaseless din;
I sought for nature’s quietude,
Beyond its cruel haunts of sin.
The arena knew my face no more;
I longed for quiet and for rest;
A tender peace stole o’er my heart
As light was fading in the west.
CHAPTER V.
And I was saddened and subdued;
No friendly smile would on me beam;
I longed then for the olden days,
And the old home beside the stream.
But destiny had made decree
That I should nevermore return,
But on and onward go alone—
Ah! how these tears my eyes do burn.
Ambition stirred my soul no more,
And I had very weary grown;
A nameless sorrow filled my breast,
Life’s every hope was overthrown.
I stood alone on life’s highway,
With empty hands that wrought so long,
Alone, unheeded and forgot,
As some lost dream or phantom song.