Of our sires be told;
Or tale of knight, who lady bright
From thraldom saved of old.

X.

Or let the song the charms prolong,
In music's haunting tone,
Of shores where spring's aye blossoming,
And winter is unknown;
Where zephyrs, sick with scent of flowers,
Along the lakelets play;
And lovers, wand'ring through the bowers,
Make life a holiday.

XI.

Sunset and snow! Lo, eve reveals
Her starr'd map to the moon,
And o'er hush'd earth a radiance steals
More bland than that of noon:
The fur-robed genii of the Pole
Dance o'er our mountains white,
Chain up the billows as they roll,
And pearl the caves with light.

XII.

The moon above the eastern fells
Holds on a silent way;
The mill-wheel, sparr'd with icicles,
Reflects her silver ray;
The ivy-tod, beneath its load,
Bends down with frosty curl;
And all around seems sown the ground
With diamond and with pearl.

XIII.

The groves are black, the hills are white,
And, glittering in the sheen,
The lake expands--a sheet of light--
Its willowy banks between;
From the dark sedge that skirts its edge,
The startled wild-duck springs,
While, echoing far up copse and scaur,
The fowler's musket rings.

XIV.

From cove to cove how sweet to rove
Around that fairy scene,
Companion'd, as along we move,
By things and thoughts serene;--
Voiceless--except where, cranking, rings
The skater's curve along,
The demon of the ice, who sings
His deep hoarse undersong.

XV.

In days of old, when spirits held
The air, and the earth below,
When o'er the green were, tripping, seen
The fays--what wert thou, Snow?
Leave eastern Greece its fabled fleece,
For Northland has its own--
The witches of Norway pluck their geese,
And thou art their plumes of down.

XVI.

The snow! the snow! It brings to mind
A thousand happy things,
And but one sad one--'tis to find
Too sure that Time hath wings!
Oh, ever sweet is sight or sound
That tells of long ago;
And I gaze around, with thoughts profound,
Upon the falling snow!

Love in the Wilderness.

My father intended me for the church; but as it did not seem likely that
any body intended a church for me, I considered, from my earliest youth,
that all the education he gave me was thrown away. My tutors were
probably