Color and beauty disappear,
Or turn to mother earth.

The luscious fruits which please the taste
And please the eye as well,
Sometimes reduced to rot and waste,
Ere from the tree they fell--

Some gathered with a gentle hand,
And stored away with care,
To serve a place in banquet grand,
Some favorite peach or pear,

Is found diseased in skin and core,
And loathsome to the sight,
When 'tis too late to gather more,
And comes the festal night.

So is it with all earthly joy--
It pleases for a time,
As toy may please a growing boy,
Though costing but a dime;

But soon he tires and asks for more,
Appropriate to his age;
So, though a man may higher soar
And greater aims engage

His active mind, he, like the child,
Soon looks for something new.
Too oft are men by this beguiled
And fail to find the true.

But he who goes to Christ for rest,
Finds fruit that ne'er decays.
He sups with Christ as welcome guest,
And glory crowns his days.

THE HEROES OF OUR DAY

Heroic deeds in every age
Command the world's esteem;
Each finds a place in history's page,
'Midst gloom a glory beam.

And we full oft revert to this,
To show man's true descent
From Him who is the source of bliss,
Tho' now by passions rent.

But we need not consult the past;
The present bears this fruit:
The hero race will ever last;
The tree is sound at root.

And never has the world excelled
The present in this line;
Our loving Lord has not withheld
From us this trait divine.

And we should not from them withhold
The praise we feel is due
For deeds of love, and actions bold,
For spirit kind and true.

Their worth we now should recognize,
Not chant it o'er their graves;
The hero of the past we prize,
No less the man who braves

The dangers of the present hour,
The sneers which now are rife,
Not for the sake of earthly power,
Nor yet to save his life.

But for the good of fellow man,
And for his Master's sake,
He shuns no cross, and fears no ban;
'Tis these a hero make.

THE BIG BEAR CREEK

The waters of the Big Bear creek
Glide slowly on their way;
The western lakes they surely seek,
Which they will reach some day;

But sluggishly they seek their end--
They scarcely seem to move;
Yet through the fields and round each bend
Their progress daily prove.

By debris borne upon their breast,
And strewn along each shore,
They slowly m