DEDICATION.

"We offer no words of inspired thought,
No gems from the mines of wisdom brought,
No flowers of language to deck the page,
No borrowed glories of Muse or Sage;
But an offering simple and pure we bring,
And a wreath of wild roses around it fling;
Not culled from the shades of enamelled bowers,
But watered by love's own gentle showers.
In tones of affection we here would speak;
To waken an echo of love we seek;
We mingle our tears for the early dead,
To the land of spirits before us fled.
While a moral we humbly would here entwine
With the flowers we lay on affection's shrine,
We pray that the light of religion may dawn,
To brighten our pathway each coming morn.
Then with love for each other OUR GIFT we bring,
And love for the memories that round it cling,
And trust in the hopes that are lighted here,
To burn with new brightness each passing year.
And as Time moves on with unceasing tread,
And the flowers of youth are withered and dead,
May no sigh of regret to the past be given,
As it peacefully fades in the light of Heaven."