And all our hopes were changed to fears,
And all our thoughts ran into tears

Like sunshine into rain.

We cried aloud in our belief,

"Oh, smite us gently, gently, GOD! Teach us to bend and kiss the rod, And perfect grow through grief."

Ah, how we loved her, GoD can tell;

Her heart was folded deep in ours;

Our hearts are broken, BABIE BELL!

At last he came, the messenger,

The messenger from unseen lands:
And what did dainty BABIE BELL?
She only crossed her little hands,
She only looked more meek and fair!
We parted back her silken hair:

We wove the roses round her brow,
White buds, the summer's drifted snow-

Wrapped her from head to foot in flowers

And thus went dainty BABIE BELL

Out of this world of ours!

A BALLAD OF NANTUCKET.

HERE go you, pretty MAGGIE,

66 WHERE

Where go you in the rain?”

"I go to ask the sailors,

Who sailed the Spanish main,

"If they have seen my WILLIE,
If he'll come back to me-
It is so sad to have him

A-sailing on the sea!"

"O MAGGIE, pretty MAGGIE,
Turn back to yonder town;
Your WILLIE's in the ocean,
A hundred fathoms down!

"His hair is turned to sea-kelp,
His eyes are changed to stones,
And twice two years have knitted
The coral round his bones!

"The blossoms and the clover Shall bloom and bloom again,

But never shall your lover

Come o'er the Spanish Main!"

But MAGGIE never heeded,
For mournfully said she―
"It is so sad to have him
A-sailing on the sea!”

She left me in the darkness:
I heard the sea-gulls screech,
And burly winds were growling
With breakers on the beach.

The bells of old Nantucket,

What touching things they said,

When MAGGIE lay a-sleeping

With lilies round her head!

The parson preached a sermon,
And prayed and preached again-
But she had gone to WILLIE,

Across the Spanish Main!

AH! fine it was that April time, when gentle winds

were blowing,

To hunt for pale arbutus-blooms that hide beneath the

leaves;

To hear the slanting rain come down, and see the clover

growing;

And watch the airy swallows as they darted round the eaves !

II.

You wonder why I dream to-night of clover that was

growing

So many years ago, my wife, when we were in our prime; For, hark! the wind is in the flue, and JOHNNY says 'tis

snowing,

And through the storm the clanging bells ring in the Christmas time.

III.

I cannot tell, but something sweet about my heart is cling

ing

A vision and a memory-'tis little that I mind

The weary wintry weather, for I hear the robins singing, And the petals of the apple-blooms are ruffled in the wind!

IV.

It was a sunny morn in May, and in the fragrant meadow
I lay, and dreamed of one fair face, as fair and fresh as

spring:

Would KATHIE MORRIS love me?-then in sunshine and in shadow

I built up lofty castles on a golden wedding-ring!

V.

Oh, sweet it was to dream of her, the soldier's only daughter,

The pretty pious Puritan, that flirted so with WILL;
The music of her winsome mouth was like the laughing

water

That broke in silvery syllables by Farmer PHILIP's mill.

VI.

And WILL had gone away to sea; he did not leave her

grieving;

Her bonny heart was not for him, so reckless and so vain; And WILL turned out a buccaneer, and hanged was he for

thieving,

And scuttling helpless ships that sailed across the Spanish Main.

VII.

And I had come to grief for her, the scornful village

beauty,

For, oh! she had a witty tongue, could cut you like a

knife;

She scorned me with her haughty eyes, and I, in bounden

duty,

Did love her-loved her more for that, and wearied of n

my

VIII.

And yet 'twas sweet to dream of her, to think her wavy

tresses

Might rest some happy, happy day, like sunshine, on my

cheek;

The idle winds that fanned my brow I dreamed were her

caresses,

And in the robin's twitterings I heard my sweetheart speak.

IX.

And as I lay and thought of her, her fairy face adorning With lover's fancies, treasuring the slightest word she'd said, 'Twas KATHIE broke upon me like a blushing summer

morning,

And a half-blown rosy clover reddened underneath her tread!

X.

Then I glanced up at KATHIE, and her eyes were full of laughter:

"O KATHIE, KATHIE MORRIS, I am lying at your feet; Bend above me, say you love me, that you'll love me ever

after,

Or let me lie and die here, in the fragrant meadowsweet!"

XI.

And then I turned my face away, and trembled at my

daring,

For wildly, wildly had I spoke, with flashing cheek and eye; And there was silence: I looked up, all pallid and despair

ing,

For fear she'd take me at my word, and leave me there to

die.