16

VOICES OF THE TRUE-HEARTED.

BY

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

your fork ?"

entered a house occupied by fifteen families. In the last blanket, that another may sleep? That there corner of one room, on a heap of rags, lay a woman should exist the necessity for such sacrifices, what with a babe, three days old, without food or fire. In does it say to us conce

ncerning the structure of society, another very small apartment, was an aged, wea- on this Christmas day, nearly two thousand years ther.beaten woman. She pointed to an old basket after the advent of Him, who said,

« God is your of pins and tape, as she said, « For sixteen years I father, and all ye are brethren"? have carried that basket on my arm, through the streets of New York; and often have I come home

THE BATTLE-FIELD. with weary feet, without money enough to buy my supper. But we must always pay our rent in advance, whether we have a loaf of bread to eat or

Once this soft turf, this rivulet's sands, not." Seeing the bed without clothing, her visiter

Were trampled by a hurrying crowd; inquired how she slept. "Oh the house is very

And fiery hearts and armed hands

Encountered in the battle cloud. leaky. The wind whistles through and through, and the rain and snow come driving in. When any Ah! never shall the land forget of us are sick, or the weather is extra cold, we lend How gushed the life.blood of her braveour bedding, and some of us sit up while others get Gushed, warm with hope and valor yet, a nap.” As she spoke, a ragged little girl came in Upon the soil they fought to save. to say, “ Mammy wants to know whether you will

Now all is calm and fresh and still; lend her your fork ?" - To be sure, I will, dear,”

Alone the chirp of flitting bird, she replied, in the heartiest tone imaginable. She

And talk of children on the hill, would have been less generous, had her fork been a silver one. Her visiter smiled as he said, “ I sup

And bell of wandering kine are heard. pose you borrow your neighbor's knife, in return for

No solemn host goes trailing by " Oh, yes," she replied; « and she is The black-mouthed gun and staggering wain; as willing to lend as I am. We poor folks must help Men start not at the battle-cryone another. It is all the comfort we have." The Oh, be it never heard again! kind-hearted creature did not know, perhaps, that it

Soon rested those who fought-but thou, was precisely such comfort as the angels have in

Who minglest in the harder strife heaven; only theirs is without the drawback of phy.

For truths which men receive not now, sical suffering and limited means. I have said that these families, owning a knife

Thy warfare only ends with life. and fork between them, and loaning their bedclothes A friendless warfare! lingering long after a day of toil, were always compelled to pay Through weary day and weary year; their rent in advance. Upon adding together the A wild and many-weaponed throng sums paid by each, for accommodations so wretched, Hang on thy front and flank and rear. it was found that the income from that dilapidated

Yet nerve thy spirit to the proof, building, in a filthy and crowded street, was greater

And blench not at thy chosen lot ; than the rent of many a princely mansion in Broad

The timid good may stand aloof, way. This mode of oppressing the poor, is a crying

The sage may frown-yet faint thou not! sin, in our city. A benevolent rich man could not make a better investment of capital, than to build Nor heed the shaft too surely cast,tenements for the laboring class, and let them on The hissing, stinging bolt of scorn ; reasonable terms.

For with thy side shall dwell, at last, This Christmas tour of observation, has suggested The victory of endurance born. to my mind many thoughts concerning the present relations of labor and capital. But I forbear; for I

Truth, crushed to earth, shall rise again ; see that this path, like every other,

if you do but The eternal years of God are her's ; follow it, leads to the end of the world.” I had ra

But Error, wounded, writhes with pain, ther dwell on the perpetual efforts of Divine Provi

And dies among his worshippers. dence to equalize what the selfishness of man strives

Yea, though thou lie upon the dust, to make unequal. If the poor have fewer pleasures

When those who helped thee flee in fear, than the rich, they enjoy them more keenly ; if they

Die full of hope and manly trust, have not that consideration in society, which brings

Like those who fell in battle here. with it so many advantages, they avoid the irksome slavery of conventional forms; and what exercise of Another hand thy sword shall wield, the benevolent sympathies could a rich man enjoy, Another hand the standard wave, in making the most magnificent Christmas gift, com- Till from the trunpet's mouth is pealed pared with the beautiful self-denial which lends its The blast of triumph o'er thy grave!

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VOICES OF THE TRUE-HEARTED.

There-yet the deeds are all trumpet sounded- said, when speaking of kindnesses done to his disciples, There, upon silken seats recline

“ Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least Maidens as fair as the summer morning,

of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Watching him rise from the sparkling wine. Think of these things now, for it will be of no Mothers all proffer their stainless daughters ; use to reflect on them in summer. Charity is never Men of high honor salute him “ friend ;"

so cordial as when it feels the misery it relieves; Skies! Oh, where are your cleansing waters? while you feel the cold, then do something to proWorld ! oh, where do thy wonders end ?

tect others from the inclemency of the season.

It is enough to be ill-fed, and ill-clothed, and to sit bend

ing over a dying fire without a handful of fuel to reBLANKETS.

vive it; but after that to pass the night without a

blanket for a covering, must indeed be terrible. To be read on a cold night in Noveinbor.

See in the sharpest night the poor old man, over BY "OLD HUMPHREY."

whose head threescore and ten winters have rolled, Help me my young friends! Help me, for the climbing with difficulty his narrow staircase, to

See poor stand in need of comfort: let us try to do them creep beneath his thin and ragged coverlet! a kindness.

the aged widow, once lulled in the lap of luxury, but How the casements rattle! and hark, how the bit. now girt around with trials, in fastings often, in ter, biting blast whistles among the trees !

cold, and almost nakedness, worn by poverty to the

It is very cold, and soon will be colder. I could shiver very bones, stretching her cramped limbs upon her

bundle of straw ! at the thought of winter, when the icicles hang from

Fancy,– but why fancy what the water-butt, when the snow lies deep upon the you know to be true ?—these poor, aged, miserable ground, and the cold, cold wind seems to freeze the beings have to shiver through the live-long night, heart as well as the finger ends.

when a blanket would gird them round with comfort. Yet, after all, the darkest night, the bitterest blast,

I could weep at such miseries as these,-miseries and the rudest storm confer some benefit, for they

which so small an effort might relieve. The tablemake us thankful for the roof that covers us, the fire crumbs of the rich would make a banquet for the that warms us, and for the grateful influence of a poor, and the spare remnants of their clothing would

defend them from the cold. comfortable bed. Oh the luxury of a good, thick, warm pair of

Come, come, reader! you are not without some blankets, when the wintry blast roars in the chim- feeling of pity and affection for your fellow creatures. ney, while the feathery flakes of snow are flying Be not satisfied in wishing them well; let something abroad, and the sharp hail patters against the window- be done for their welfare, panes!

If there be a heart within you, if you have a soul Did you ever travel a hundred miles on the out that ever offered up an expression of thanksgiving side of a coach, on a sharp frosty night; your eyes for the manifold mercies which your heavenly Father stiffened, your face smarting, and your body half. has bestowed upon you, then sympathize with the petrified ! Did you ever keep watch in December wretched, and relieve, according to your ability, the in the open air, till the more than midnight blast wants of the destitute. Let me beseech you to do had pinched all your features into sharpness; till something this very winter towards enabling some your feet were cold as a stone, and the very stars poor, aged, helpless, or friendless person, who is appeared as if frozen to the sky? If you have never slenderly provided for, to purchase a blanket. You borne these things, I have; but what are they will not sleep the less comfortably, when you recompared with the trials that some people have to flect that some shivering wretch has been, by your endure ?

assistance, enabled to pass the wintry night in comWho can tell the sufferings of thousands of poor fort. It is not a great thing that is required; do people in winter, from the want of warm bed. what you can, but do something. Let me not plead clothes! and who can describe the comfort that a in vain ; and shame betide me if I neglect to do my. pair or two of blankets communicate to a destitute self the thing that I recommend to you to perform. family! How often have I seen the wretched chil. Did you ever lie snug and warm in bleak Decemdren of a wretched habitation, huddling together on ber, the bed-clothes drawn close round your neck, the floor, beneath a ragged great-coat, or flimsy and your nightcap pulled over your ears, listening petticoat, striving to derive that warmth from each to the midnight blast, and exulting in the grateful other which their scanty covering failed to supply! glow of your delightful snuggery? I know you

In many places, benevolent persons give or lend have, and I trust, too, that the very reading of these blankets to the poor, and thus confer a benefit, the remarks will affect your hearts, and dispose yon to value of which can hardly be told. May they be some “gentle deed of charity” towards those who abundantly repaid by the grace of that Saviour who are destitute of such an enjoyment.

VOICES OF THE TRUE-HEARTED.

20

VOICES OF THE TRUE-HEARTED.

From my

is an expression of music and melody that takes us With her trowel in her hand, my mother was busiback agian to the days of our childhood, places us ly engaged, one day, among the shrubs and flowers once more kneeling in the soft lap of a tender parent, of her little garden, and listening with pleasure to and lifts up our little hands in morning and evening the sound of a band of music, which poured around a prayer.

cheerful air from a neighbouring barrack-yard, where For my own part, I never think of my mother, a troop or two of soldiers were quartered; when a without thinking, at the same time, of unnumbered neighbour stepped into the garden to tell her, that a kindnesses, exercised not towards me only, but to soldier was then being flogged, and that the band all around her.

earliest years, I can re- only played to drown the cries of the suffering ofmember that the moment her eye caught the com.

fender. Not a word was spoken by my agitated mon beggar, her hand mechanically fumbled in her parent; down dropped her trowel on the ground, pocket. No shoeless and stockingless Irish-woman, and away she ran into the house, shutting herself up, with her cluster of dirty children, could pass un

and bursting into tears. The garden was forgotten, noticed by her; and no weary and wayworn travel- the pleasure had vanished, and music had turned ler could rest on the mile-stone opposite our habi- into mourning in the bosom of my mother. tation, without being beckoned across to satisfy his

Reader! have you a mother? If you have, call to hunger and thirst. No doubt she assisted

many

mind her forbearance, her kindness, her love. Try who were unworthy, for she relieved all within her also to return them by acts of affection, that when influence.

the future years shall arrive, when the green sod

shall be springing over the resting place of a kind« Careless their merits or their fanits to scan Her pity gave ere charity began."

hearted parent, you may feel no accusing pang when Had her kindness, like that of many, been confin. you hear the endearing expression, My Mother! ed to good counsel, or the mere act of giving what she had to bestow, it would not have been that cha

THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS. rity which“ beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things,” i Cor. xiii.

4 Drowned ! drowned !" _Hamlet. 7. Her benevolence was uniform and unceasing; it

One more Unfortunate, was a part of her character. In benefiting another,

Weary of breath, difficulty only increased her desire and determina

Rashly importunate, tion to be useful. She was one " who searched out"

Gone to her death! the cause that she knew not; her pen addressed the

Take her up tenderly, peer, and her feet trod the threshold of the pauper,

List her with care; with equal alacrity in the cause of charity. To be

Fashion'd so slenderly, occupied in relieving the poor, and pleading the

Young, and so fair! cause of the friendless, was medicine to her body

Look at her garments and mind. No child could cry, no accident take place, no

Clinging like cerements, sickness occur, withont my mother hastening off to

Whilst the wave constantly render assistance. She had her piques and her pre

Drips from her clothing ; judices; she never pretended to love those whom

Take her up instantly, she did not like; and she remembered, perhaps too

Loving, not loathing. keenly, an act of unkindness, but kindness was the

Touch her not scornfullyreigning emotion of her heart.

Think of her mournfully, Reader, if you think that I have said enough, bear

Gently and humanly, with me; remember, I am speaking of my mother.

Not of the stains of her ; Among the many sons and daughters of affliction,

All that remains of her whose hearts were made glad by her benevolence,

Now is pure womanly. was a poor widow of the name of Winn, who resided

Make no deep scrutiny in an almshouse; my mother had known her in her

Into her mutiny, childhood. Often have I gazed on the aged woman,

Rash and undutiful; as she shaped her tottering steps, leaning on a stick,

Past all dishonor, towards our dwelling. A weekly allowance, a kind

Death has left on her welcome, and a good dinner, once a week, were hers to the close of her existence. She had a grateful

Only the beautiful. heart, and the blessing of her who was “ ready to

Still, for all slips of hers perish," literally rested on my mother.

One of Eve's familyI could weary you with instances of my mother's

Wipe those poor lips of hers kindness of heart; one more, and I have done.

Oozing so clammily.