Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1910 — Old Favorites [ARTICLE]

Old Favorites

The Ftrnt Snowfall. The snow had begun iri the gloaming. And bqsUy all the night Had been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white. Every pine and fir and hemlock ’ Wore ermine too dear" for an earl. And the poorest twig on-the elm tre* Was ridged Inch deep with pearl. From sheds new-roofed with Carrara Came Chanticleer’s muffled crow} The stiff rails were softened to swa'V* down. And still fluttered down the snow. I stood and. watched! by the window The noiseless work of the sky, And the sudden flurries of the snowbirds. Like brown leaves whirling by. T thought of a mound In sweet Auburn Where a little headstone stood; How the flakes were folding it gently As did robins the babes In the wood. <* Up spoke our own little Mabel, Saying, “Father, who makes it snow?” And I told her of the good All-father Who cares for us here below. Again I looked at the snowfall. And thought £>f the leaden sky That arched o’er our first great sorrow. When that mound was heaped so high. I remember the gradual patience That fell from that cloudlike snow> Flake by flake, healing and hiding The scar of our deep-plunged, woe. And again to-the chlld’.l whispered, “The snow that husheth all, Darling, the merciful Father Alone can make it falL” Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed Her, , And she, kissing back, could not z know That my kiss was given to her sister Folded close under deepening snow. —James Bussell Lowell. Richmond on the Janies. A • soldier boy at Richmond, Lay gasping on the field, s The battle strife was over, And the foe was forced to yield. But there fell one noble hero Before the foeman’s aim, On that blood-stained field at Richmond, ■» i „ Fair Richmond on the James. A comrade stood behind him As his life bleed ebbed away; They had been chums together Since boyhood’s early days. Together they had struggled 'Mid strife and grief and pain, But to part that night at Richmond, Fair .Richmond on the James. He said, “My nobU comrade. You will miss me for awhile. But the faces that once loved us NAgain on you will smile. Again you will be foremost In all the village games. While I lie here at Richmond, Fair Richmond on ,the James. “Take the sword my brother. And the star upon my breast , To my young and gentle sister, The one I loved the best. A brown lock from my forejhead To my mother who still dreams Of the safe returh of her soldier boy From Richmond on the James. "Now, my loving comrade, on my breast Is a dark-brown braid; It Is of one of the fairest of all the village maids. We were to be married, but death the . bridegroom claims. While she is far that loves me from Richmond on the James. I know that she Is praying While her blessed heart still dream* Of the safe return, of her soldier From Richmond on the James:”