Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 138, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 December 1904 — The Health of Nature. [ARTICLE]

The Health of Nature.

sou: has wauueieu long in path 3 of doupt. Seeking in vatu for aught that satisfies, Longing for some .strong hand to lead me out From alTdarkneHS and the iv.niti'-a Thick set about niy patit, for 1 ua»e seen My brightsst hopes death stricken in their youth; The piteous sadness of the might have been; The battered wrecks-of innocenca and truth, Until my heart grows sick within my breast And life seems but a game wherein all men Are rudely tossed by fate in sportive jest And marked with sears they never lose again. But when the voice of nat ire speaks to me From all her hills and all her beauteous woods, Bidding tny heart rejoice, and when I see The grandeur of her ever-varying moods, The trees uplifting mighty arms or green. The clouds thal (load lacelike across the blue. The softly flowing river and the shean Of flowers in every beauteous form and hue, Or wlion the voice of thunder rolls along. Reverberating ’mongst the ancient iiiils, And lightning lances dart the clouds among. "My soul forgets its petty cares ar.d JUS. Ah! then my storm-tossed heart and er a t did go Joy-seeking through a wo . id of care and pain And found not joy, but inly bitter woo, Droops, wearied, upon nature's breast again. There to entreat her kindly hand to nurse The cruel, aching wounds —for what am I? An atom in the boundless universe, A bit of driftwood on life’s shore tossed high By time's gray, heaving ocean, stretching far Beyond my sight into eternity. What matters it if many a stain and scar . l_ Marks the cfort life thr.t has been given 1 ' me? And yet in God’s own image was I wrought. With soul and stainless sent in o the world , v To do my part, and if I bring him naught, But come with empty hands. ar. banner furled Unto his judgment seat at close of > day, With all his gifts despised flung away— Ah! how in that day shall I answer hint? —Springfield (.Mass.) Republican.