And vowed in that hour of sorrow
From drink they would abstain;


THE SPARROW'S FALL. 21

And this little badge became the wedge
Which broke their galling chain.

And lifted the gloomy shadows
That overspread my life,
And flooding my home with gladness,
Made me a happy wife.

And this is why this scrap of blue
Is precious in my sight;
It changed my sad and gloomy home
From darkness into light.



THE SPARROW'S FALL.

Too frail to soar--a feeble thing--
It fell to earth with fluttering wing;
But God, who watches over all,
Beheld that little sparrow's fall.

'Twas not a bird with plumage gay,