Chapter I

God-beams of mercy, gleam through the dull haze;
Sunlight and soften the dark rocky ways!

Harmony pealeth o'er mountain and plain;
Alien sin-nature chimes not in refrain.

That holier season was nigh at hand
When the sympathies of the soul expand.

From the warmth and light of the fireside glow
I walked abroad o'er the glistening snow.

When a black cloud over my pathway set;
It loometh before my memory yet.

No hearse, no mourners, no tolling of bells
The one sure fate of humanity tells.

A rough-fashioned sleigh with its motley load,
Glideth quickly over the churchyard road.

The rude pine coffin is set on a stone;
Hastily earth from its earth-bed is thrown.

Lowered the dead; heavy shovels ply fast;
A few brief moments--the vision hath passed.

Nought of lamenting; no vestige of woe;
Just a dark heap, a foul blot on the snow.

Entering the gateway, I reasoned why?
Questioned the scene with a tear-bedimmed eye.

"Only our hired boy!" He carelessly turned;
My innermost soul in my bosom burned.