I can feel the thrill of the daring jump, I hide with you in the fragrant hay, And I whoop the smothered call, And my feet slip up on the seedy floor, And I care not for the fall. I am willing to die when my time shall come, For the world at best is a weary place, And my pulse is getting low But the grave is dark, and the heart will fail In treading its gloomy way; And it wiles my heart from its dreariness, To see the young so gay. THE CHINA TREE. BY R. M. BIRD. THOUGH the blossoms be ripe on the China tree, Though the flower of the orange be fair to see,— And the pomegranate's blush, and the humming-bird's wing, Throw the charms of elysium, O South, on thy spring; Where scarce the green leaf yet comes timidly forth,- If the golden-hued oriole sing from the tide, Oh, the blue bird is sweeter by Delaware's side: Oh, the pebble-strown beaches, that echo all day To the kill-deer's shrill shriek and the bank-swallow's lay, And at eve, when the harvest moon mellows the shade, To the sigh of the lover, the laugh of the maid! China tree! though thy blossoms, in chaplets, may bond The brows of the brave, and the necks of the fond, THE CHINA TREE. 247 Never think that fit garlands our oak cannot form, They may sit in thy shade, but their dreams are away, With the floods roaring wildly, the fields lying bare, And the hearts,-oh, the hearts,—that make paradise there! him before A piteous look he gave me, and asked in accents mild If his companion I'd let in, he said, a harmless child. I stirred the dying embers, and soon the fagot blazed, I spread my frugal table, the wine their spirits raised; LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. 249 For Friendship a soft couch I made, and e'er he sunk to rest, The urchin his companion thus his thanks to me expressed: "Dear ma'am,” lisped he, in accents so winning, soft, and sweet, "If not saved by your kindness, I had perished at your feet; I pray accept my thanks, ma'am, for ne'er was bounty cast On heart that more could feel it—or where 't will longer last." I stroked his flaxen ringlets, and kissed his snowy brow, "You are welcome, pretty child," I said, "no thanks to me you owe," Then first, I saw the urchin had a quiver by his side: And with good store of arrows, too, that quiver was supplied. know I started at so strange a sight, and begged their use to wet. "But if to all your kindness, ma'am, you'd add one favor more, I'd beg to try just if my bow is good as 'twas before;" |