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132
SARAH JOSEPHA HALE.

I breathe the dear and cherish'd name,
And long-lost scenes arise;
Life's glowing landscape spreads the same
The same Hope's kindling skies;—
The violet bank, the moss-fringed seat
Beneath the drooping tree,
The clock that chimed the hour to meet,
My buried love, with thee;—

O, these are all before me, when
In fancy's realms I rove;
Why urge me to the world again?
Why say the ties of love,
That death's cold, cruel grasp has riven
Unite no more below?
I'll sing to him,—for though in heaven,
He surely heeds my wo!

DESCRIPTION OF ALICE RAY.
(FROM ALICE RAY.)

The birds their love-notes warblee
Among the blossom'd trees;
The flowers are sighing forth their sweets
To wooing honey-bees;
The glad brook o'er a pebbly floor
Goes dancing on its way;—
But not a thing is so like spring
As happy Alice Ray.

An only child was Alice,
And, like the blest above,
The gentle maid had ever breathed
An atmosphere of love;

133
SARAH JOSEPHA HALE.

Her father's smile like sunshine came,
Like dew her mother's kiss,
Their love and goodness made her home,
Like heaven, the place of bliss.

Beneath such tender training,
The joyous child had sprung,
Like one bright flower, in wild-wood bower,
And gladness round her flung;
And all who met her bless'd her,
And turned again to pray,
That grief and care might ever spare
The happy Alice Ray.

The gift that made her charming
Was not from Venus caught;
Nor was it, Pallas-like, derived
From majesty of thought;—
Her healthful cheek was tinged with brown,
Her hair without a curl;
But then her eyes were love-lit stars,
Her teeth as pure as pearl.

And when in merry laughter
Her sweet, clear voice was heard,
It well'd from out her happy heart
Like carol of a bird;
And all who heard were moved to smiles,
As at some mirthful lay,
And, to the stranger's look, replied—
"'Tis that dear Alice Ray."

And so she came, like sunbeams
That bring the April green;
As type of nature's royalty,
They call'd her "Woodburn's Queen!"

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