And the boys _were blest_:--for the angels flung
Around them their wings of gold;
So ever they do when the gay and young
Are kind to the poor and old.




THE FADING AND THE UNFADING.


Once more the beautiful Spring has returned, and from my window I can
behold the delightful places where I have so often roamed in childhood
light-hearted and happy. But the lovely Spring brings no longer the
same emotions as of yore. Oh no! for "a change has come over the
spirit of my dream." Earth has lost its charms, and although I love
the beauties of nature even better than before, still they cannot
satisfy,--they are doomed to fade, and my soul yearns for those
beautiful heavenly bowers which shall never wither; where God himself
reigns in person and "chases night away." But, although I sigh for
such things, am I prepared for them? Should I be ready at this moment
to enter the paradise of God? Ah, my heart, why shouldest thou
hesitate thus to return an answer? God is still able and willing to
save, and though I have wandered so far from Him, if with an humble
and penitent soul I confess my sins he is willing and able to forgive
me.--June 4,1853.