"This massy trunk that lies along, And many more must fall For the very knave Who digs the grave, The man who spreads the pall, And he who tolls the funeral bell, – "The tall abounding elm that grows "And well the abounding elm may grow Shall end a human life!" The phantom ends: the shade is gone; The sky is clear and bright; On turf, and moss, and fallen tree There glows a ruddy light; And bounding through the golden fern The rabbit comes to bite. The thrush's mate beside her sits And pipes a merry lay; The dove is in the evergreens; To catch its tiny prey. The gentle hind and dappled fawn Each harmless furred and feathered thing Is glad, and not afraid, But on my saddened spirit still The shadow leaves a shade. A secret, vague, prophetic gloom, This warm and living frame shall find That mystic tree which breathes to me That sometimes murmured overhead, THE HAUNTED HOUSE. A ROMANCE. "A jolly place," said he, "in times of old, PART I. OME dreams we have are nothing else but dreams, Unnatural and full of contradictions ; Yet others of our most romantic schemes Are something more than fictions. It might be only on enchanted ground; But in the spirit, or the flesh, I found A residence for woman, child, and man, Unhinged the iron gates half open hung, Jarred by the gusty gales of many winters, That from its crumbled pedestal had flung One marble globe in splinters. No dog was at the threshold, great or small; No pigeon on the roof-no household crea No cat demurely dozing on the wall, Not one domestic feature. No human figure stirred, to go or come, ment; No chimney smoked-there was no sign of home From parapet to basement, With shattered panes the grassy court was starred; The time-worn coping-stone had tumbled after; And through the ragged roof the sky shone, barred With naked beam and rafter. O'er all there hung a shadow and a fear; The flower grew wild and rankly as the weed, But gay or gloomy, steadfast or infirm, No heart was there to heed the hour's dura tion; All times and tides were lost in one long term Of stagnant desolation. The wren had built within the porch, she found |