When I was a youth, Father William replied,
I remembered that youth could not last:
I thought of the future, whatever I did,
That I never might grieve for the past.

You are old, Father William, the young man still cries,
And life is swift hastening away
You are cheerful, and love to converse upon death!
Come tell me the reason, I pray.

I am cheerful, young man, Father William replied;
Let the cause your attention engage:
In the days of my youth I remembered my God!
And he hath not forgotten my age.




THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER PETS.


_Girl_ Swallow, thou dear one! now thou,
indeed,
From thy wandering dost reappear,
Tell me, who is it to thee that hath said
That again it is spring-time here.
_Swa._ The fatherly God, in that far-off clime,
Who sent me, he told me 'twas sweet
spring-time.