TH SECTION XXV. I. 117. THE FAMINE IN IRELAND. HERE lies upon the other side of the wide Atlantic a beautiful island, famous in story and in song. It has been prolific in statesmen, warriors, and poets. It has given to the world mōre than its share of genius and of greatness. Its brave and generous sons have fought successfully in all battles but its own. In wit and humor it has no equal; while its harp, like its history, moves to tears by its sweet but melancholy pathos.' 2. In this fair region God has seen fit to send the most terrible of all those fearful ministers who fulfill his inscrutable' decrees. The earth has failed to give her in'crease; the common mother has forgotten her offspring, and her breast no longer affords them their accustomed nourishment. Famine, gaunt and ghastly famine, has seized a nation with its strangling grasp; and unhappy Ireland, in the sad woes of the present, forgets, for a moment, the gloomy history of the past. 3 3. In battle, in the fullness of his pride and strength, little recks the soldier whether the hissing bullet sing his sudden requiem, or the cords of life be severed by the sharp steel. But he who dies of hunger, wrestles ălōne, day after day, with his grim and unrelenting enemy. He has no friends to cheer him in the terrible conflict; for if he had friends, how could he die of hunger? He has not the hot blood of the soldier to maintain him; for his foe, vampire-like,* has exhausted his veins. 4. Who will hesitate to give his mite, to avert such awful results? Give, then, generously and freely. Recollect, that in so doing, you are exercising one of the most god-like qualities of your nature, and, at the same time, enjoying one of the greatest luxuries of life. We ought to thank our Maker that he has 'Pathos, passion; that which excites passions and emotions; that which awakens tender emotions. * Inscrutable, (in skrå ́ta bl), that can not be found out by human reason; unsearchable. 9 Rē' qui em, a hymn imploring rest for the dead. * Văm pire, a fabulous devil or spirit, that was supposed to suck the blood of persons asleep; hence, one who lives by preying on others. permitted us to exercise equally with himself, that noblest of even the Divine attributes,' benevolence. 5. Go home and look at your families, smiling in rosy health, and then think of the pale, famine-pinched cheek of the poor children of Ireland; and you will give according to your store, even as a bountiful Providence has given to you-not grudg ingly, but with an open hand; for the quality of benevolence. like that of mercy, It droppeth like the gentle rain from heaven, II. S. S. PRENTISS. 118. ONLY THREE GRAINS OF CORN. IVE me three grains of corn, mother, It will keep the little life I have, Till the coming of the morn. I am dying of hunger and cold, mother, And half the agony of such a death 2. It has gnawed like a wolf, at my heart, mother, All the livelong day, and the night beside, I dreamed of bread in my sleep, mother, 3. How could I look to you, mother, For bread to give to your starving boy, 'Ať tri būte, that which is considered as dwelling in, or belonging to, a person or thing. 2 Strained, forced; unnatural For I read the famine in your cheek, And in your eye so wild, And I felt it in your bony hand, As you laid it on your child. 4. The queen has lands and gold, mother, While you are forced to your empty breast A babe that is dying of want, mother, With a ghastly look in its sunken eye, 5. What has poor Ireland done, mother, That the world looks on, and sees us starve, Do the men of England care not, mother, The great men and the high, For the suffering sons of Erin's isle, 6. There is many a brave heart here, mother, While only across the Channel, mother, There are rich and proud men there, mother, With wondrous wealth to view, And the bread they fling to their dogs to-night, 7. Come nearer to my side, mother, Come nearer to my side, And hold me fondly, as you held Quick, for I can not see you, mother; Mother, dear mother! ere I die, MISS EDWARDS. III. 119. THE PAUPER'S DEATH-BED. READ softly,-bow the head,— TRE In reverent' silence bow; No passing-bell doth tōll,— Is passing now. 2. Stranger, however great, With hōly reverence bow ;- 3. Beneath that beggar's roof, Lo! death doth keep his state; 4. That pavement, damp and cold, One silent woman stands, 5 Lifting, with meager hands, 5. No mingling voices sound,— A sob suppressed,-again That short, deep gasp, and then 6. Oh, change!-oh, wondrous change!— Burst are the prison bars,- 1 Rěv'erent, submissive; humble. dying; lasting forever. frequents the courts of princes; one who flatters to please. 'Mea' ger, having little flesh; thin; lean; without richness, strength, or the like. 7. Oh, change!—-stupendous' change! The Sun eternal breaks,— The new immortal wakes, Wakes with his God! CAROLINE BOWLES SOUTHEY. T IV. 120. THE PAUPER'S DRIVE. HERE'S a grim one-horse hearse in a jolly round trot→ The road it is rough, and the hearse has no springs; He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" 2. Oh, where are the mourners? Alas! there are none- He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" 3. What a jolting, and creaking, and splashing, and din! The whip how it cracks! and the wheels, how they spin! He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" 4. Poor pauper defunct!' he has made some approach He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" 5. You bumpkins!' who stare at your brother conveyed— Behold what respect to a cloddy is paid! 1 Stū pění doŭs, astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, of amaz ing height or extent. 2 Wŏt, to be aware; know. 4 3 De funct', deceased; dead. Bumpkin, an awkward, heavy rustic; a clown, or awkward coun tryman. |