Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 67, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 March 1910 — Old Favorites [ARTICLE]

Old Favorites

In th* VaUey By the Sea. To a little seaside village, came a youth one summer’s day. Just;to spend a- short vacation, that was all—There he met a fisher maiden and to If while the hours away? At her cottage every day he used to ,-,i’ call. The lassie she believed the words, ho spoke In Idle jest. As ajm-ln-arm along the beach they roamed; But one day there came a letter and wtfh aching heart she read Just these simple words, “Good-by, I’m going home.” • Chorus —• In the village by the sea, she was as happy as could be, Like a bird her heart was ever light and free; Now the’ moon don’t seem so bright, for she’s all alone to-night. Where he left her in the village by the sea. Just a year ago this summer, in the village by the sea. To her cottage came this same youth, light and gay; He had - come to beg forgiveness, tor he’d learned to love her, too, Just how dear he did not know till far away. Her father came to meet him’ as ne knocked upon the door, Down the path into the churchyard then they roamed; As he points toward a grave mound, says, she bade me say to you Just these simple words, “Good-by, I’m going home!" The Snowstorm, Unwarmed by any sunset light The gray day darkened into night— A night made hoary with the swarm And whirl-dance of the blinding storm. As zigzag wavering to and fro Crossed and recrossed the winged snow; And ere the early bedtime came The white drift piled the windowframe, And through the glass the clothes-line posts Looked in like tall and sheeted ghosts. So all night long the storm roared on; The morning* broke without a sun; /xll day the hoary meteor fell, And when the second morning shone We looked upon a world unknown; No cloud above, no earth below—• A universe of sky and snow! —John Greenleaf Whittier.