The sun had well nigh set;

The fire was on the altar, and the priest

Of the High God was there. A pallid man

Was stretching out his trembling hands to Heaven,

As if he would have prayed, but had no words.
And she who was to die, the calmest one
In Israel at that hour, stood up alone,
And waited for the sun to set. Her face
Was pale, but very beautiful—her lip
Had a more delicate outline, and the tint
Was deeper; but her countenance was like
The majesty of angels.

The sun set

And she was dead-but not by violence.

NATHANIEL P. WILLIS

40

THE HEBREW MOTHER

I Samuel i. 24

The rose was rich in bloom on Sharon's plain, When a young mother, with her first-born, thence Went up to Zion, for the boy was vowed

Unto the Temple service. By the hand

She led him, and her silent soul, the while,
Oft as the dewy laughter of his eye
Met her sweet, serious glance, rejoiced to think
That aught so pure, so beautiful, was hers
To bring before her God. So passed they on
O'er Judah's hills; and wheresoe'er the leaves

Of the broad sycamore made sounds at noon,
Like lulling raindrops, or the olive-boughs
With their cool dimness crossed the sultry blue
Of Syria's heaven, she paused that he might rest;
Yet from her own meek eyelids chased the sleep
That weighed their dark fringe down, to sit and
watch

The crimson deepening o'er his cheek's repose,
As at a red flower's heart.

And where a fount

Lay like a twilight star 'mid palmy shades,
Making its banks green gems along the wilds,
There too she lingered, from the diamond wave
Drawing bright water for his rosy lips,

And softly parting clusters of jet curls

To bathe his brow. At last the Fane was reached,-
The earth's one sanctuary-and rapture hushed
Her bosom, as before her, through the day,
It rose, a mountain of white marble, steeped
In light, like floating gold.

But when that hour

Waned to the farewell moment, when the boy

Lifted, through rainbow-gleaming tears, his eye
Beseechingly to hers, and half in fear

Turned from the white-robed priest, and round her

arm

Clung as the ivy clings-the deep spring-tide
Of Nature then swelled high, and o'er her child
Bending, her soul broke forth in mingled sound
Of weeping and sad song.-" Alas," she cried,
"Alas, my boy, thy gentle grasp is on me;

The bright tears quiver in thy pleading eyes,
And now fond thoughts arise,

And silver cords again to earth have won me;
And like a vine thou claspest my full heart-
How shall I hence depart?

"How the lonely paths retrace where thou wert playing

So late, along the mountains, at my side?

And I, in joyous pride,

By every place of flowers my course delaying,

Wove, e’en as pearls, the lilies round thy hair,
Beholding thee so fair!

“And oh! the home whence thy bright smile hath parted!

Will it not seem as if the sunny day

Turned from its door away?

While through its chambers wandering, wearyhearted,

I languish for thy voice, which past me still
Went like a singing rill.

“Under the palm-trees thou no more shalt meet me, When from the fount at evening I return,

With the full water-urn;

Nor will thy sleep's low dove-like breathings greet

me,

As 'midst the silence of the stars I wake,

And watch for thy dear sake.

“And thou-will slumber's dewy cloud fall round

thee,

Without thy mother's hand to smooth thy bed?

Wilt thou not vainly spread

Thine arms, when darkness as a veil hath wound thee,

To fold my neck, and lift up in thy fear

A cry which none shall hear?

"What have I said, my child?-Will He not hear thee,

Who the young ravens heareth from their nest?

Shall He not guard thy rest,

And, in the hush of holy midnight near thee,

Breathe o'er thy soul, and fill its dreams with joy?
Thou shalt sleep soft, my boy!

"I give thee to thy God-the God that gave thee,
A wellspring of deep gladness to my heart!
And precious as thou art,

And pure as dew of Hermon, He shall have thee,
My own, my beautiful, my undefiled,

And thou shalt be His child.

"Therefore, farewell!-I go-my soul may fail me. As the hart panteth for the water-brooks, Yearning for thy sweet looks

But thou, my first-born, droop not, nor bewail me; Thou in the shadow of the Rock shalt dwell,

The Rock of Strength.-Farewell."

FELICIA D. HEMANS

41

SAUL AND DAVID

I Samuel xvi. 23

Deep was the furrow in the royal brow,
When David's hand, lightly as vernal gales
Rippling the brook of Kedron, skimmed the lyre:
He sung of Jacob's youngest born, the child
Of his old age, sold to the Ishmaelite;
His exaltation to the second power

In Pharaoh's realm; his brethren thither sent;
Suppliant they stood before his face, well-known,
Unknowing, till Joseph fell upon the neck
Of Benjamin, his mother's son, and wept.
Unconsciously the warlike shepherd paused;
But when he saw, down the yet-quivering string,
The tear-drop trembling glide, abashed, he checked,
Indignant at himself, the bursting flood,

And, with a sweep impetuous, swept the chords.
From side to side his hands transversely glance,
Like lightning 'thwart a stormy sea; his voice
Arises 'mid the clang, and straightway calms
The harmonious tempest to a solemn swell,
Majestical, triumphant, for he sings
Of Arad's mighty host by Israel's arm
Subdued; of Israel through the desert led
He sings; of him who was their leader, called
By God Himself, from keeping Jethro's flock,
To be a ruler o'er the chosen race.

Kindles the eye of Saul; his arm is poised;
Harmless the javelin quivers in the wall.

JAMES GRAHAME