Rensselaer Republican, Volume 27, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1896 — A Symphony Song. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Symphony Song.

The Return Home. I thought it Would be sweet to walk again The quaint old streets; to see- each well- , known scene, To lire again my childhood. Years of pain And tail had wrought great longing to erase , E’en memory of late days; my weary .brain ' And world-worn heart turned backward to retrace Life’s early morn—forgetting all between! Alas! how changed I find the dear old - ———-place! ■ ; / ’ " So many gone of friends that once I knew! Strange faces greet me as I pass along, Those whom I left so gladly ere the dew Was brushed from’ budding hopes of roseate bloofp Lie low where droop the cypress and the yew. And they, my kindred, spared as yet the tomb Are not . the same;, ties erstwhile close Are severed, and my spirit tastes 7o£~ gloom: ■ —_ * m - - < A. This is my coming home? Alas!: alas! Home is not home bereft of love andfriends, Its walls frown strangely on me os I pass. Old landmarks perished’are; the very air Lacks a familiar savor; ’neath the gras* Ig yon churchyard lies all'my heart now dare Enfold in thoughts of home. Thus fall •—life’s ends! ——— Thus perish dreams of -joy-! Thus dawns* despair! 1 - —Philadelphia Public Ledger. A Fantasy. While twilight vision groweth gray And beam of joy hath set — * While waitest thou at wane of day, In sleep thy pain forget. Forget—till eh met., through thine hearty. O sweet, a fairy bell Within whose echoes they who part In death and distance dwell. Again together, while the night Descendeth from above, And bringeth starry smile —O light, That. Uveth in thy love. Then need’st thou not mid gentle stir Of shadows flitting fast To search thy memory for her Who smileth through the past; Thy dreams her noiseless footsteps seek— Thy neck her arms entwine — With love’s dear messages, her cheek She presseth unto thine. Thou startest from thy dream in doubt. And from thy pillow’s dent Qf tear-rained darkness gazest out On face of night intent. n.v ; v Oh, then let courage dimless shine Upon thy sorrow’s fret. And in some eve of waning time At length thy pain forget. —Arthur Richmond, in Boston Courier. The Weeping Winds. Be still, ye winds that weep and sigh —- And flee o’er woodlands bleak and cold, As lovely lon, fled qf old. Haunted by.Jpve’s enamored eye! What power is it that, day and night. Pursues your mad, meandering fright? 4 Ye flee as portions of that force Revealed in sky arid land and sea, That pantheistic deity Which moves all things in ceaselMacourse; And, as from out its secret home, Your mystic voices, soul-like, gome, Oh, sprites divine! ye have the Icen To pierce the future, dark and deep; Wherefore by day and night ye weep. The woes that yet shall fall to men. Oh 1 tell me, tell me, what ye see, What’er it seem, what’er it be! Ye will not speak, but evermore Lament and sigh and madly flee! Weep on, weep on! Ah! woe is met I, too, would weep, and outward pour The soul of grief that in my breast Impels me on to mad unrest! —New York Home Journal.

Heidelberg:* jewel, Thou town to honor dear. On all the Rhine and Neekar None other is thy peer. Thy jovial sons are mellow With wisdom and with wine; Thy river laughs in ripples Where blue eyes jinnee and skinei W r hen genial spring comes northwardl To clothe the earth with green, She weaves for thee of blossoms A oridal robe of sheen. ~ Bride of my. heart! I cherish, For thee a constant flame; Still rings like love’s young echo The sounu of thy dear name. If thorns too sharply try me, If life’s fresh hue shall pale, I’ll Bpur my steed and hie me Back to- my Neekar vale. —Henry W. Brown, in Boston Transcript The Soul and Borrow. Ah, say me not, O sorrow! in April days. For when the skies are warm I fain When mounts the bluebirds’ song I too, would praise And lift my heart with every living thing. The weight thou bring’ st—yea, turn thy face away _ And journey from me yet a little while. But leave roe bright-faced joy in April's day . To wander with me through the forest aisle. One day, O sorrow! will I go with thee And learn the strength that thou alone must give. Yea, one day thou shalt come and call for me - • V Aod 1 will walk thy way and learn to live. But not In April days—when I would sing. When south winds roam the ever greening earth And joy tumultuous In my heart doth spring O’er every wild wood bloom that springe t to birth. . —Boston Transcript