THE WEST SHORE.
143
No. 19.
No. ao.
No- 7- MY HKAKT IS Bl'T A HARP.
My heart is but a harp,
W here play the melody that is thy will;
It beau but at thy slightest spoken word,
And at thy bidding it is still.
Oh, happiest am I
When, idly straying o'er the quiv'ring strings,
Thy fingers wake the harp's unspoken sound,
And tuned to thine ear it sings. '
The instrument is thine,
Where play with all a lover's tender art;
But speak me loving words, vibrates
Responsive all my gladdened heart!
Hut gentle are the cords,
And must be wooed by words most softly spoken;
If rude the touch, or harsh the bitter word.
Lo, the silver cord is broken.
Whate'er the melody,
To thee is left the sanctity of choice;
Then guard thy tongue, for in my heart forever
Will dwell the echo of thy voice.
Hoquiam, Washington. Oknik CI.AKK 1'cimkkov.
No. 18. CALIFORNIA.
The old Pncific harshly calls to Mendocino's shore,
But sighs at Santa Barium's feet his love song o'er and o'er;
The giant redwoods greeting send to orange, fig and lime,
And Siskiyou holds out a cup for w ine of Anaheim.
Proud Shasta's snow-crow ned head looks out to St. Helena's Ixise,
Where Napa's vine-wrought glory smiles In fair Sonoma's face;
Mt. Hamilton reads reverently the mysteries of the skies,
Where San Jose's wide vullcysweep in fruited richness lies.
Armed Alcatrai stands sentinel beside the Golden Gate,
Beyond whose portals Farallones like threatening spectres wnit;
The commerce of the world steals by, unchallenged, day by day,
But Tamulpais counts every ship in San Francisco liy.
Across the San Joaquin's broad reach of vines and waving wheat
The old Sierras pour their gold to San Diego's feet;
And northern pine and southern ptdm woo sea winds from the west,
While over all a spirit broods of romance and unrest.
The rose entwines the orange tree, the sea winds rock the pines,
And wheat sheaves lift their golden heads amid the clustering vines;
Tlie latest glow of sunset still enfolds them evermore,
While strength and beauty stand handclasjied upon the western shore.
('AKKIK STKVKNS WAt.TKK.
No. 31.
Santa Barium, California.
OCC1DK.NTAL SF.AS.
Occidental seas of aiure,
Pimpled as the face of pleasure,
Swaying wide in dreamy measure,
Smiling o'er your hoarded treasure
Yours the tender, low refmin,
Yours the gift to banish pain.
Seas of peace, engulf my sorrow;
Your deep culm. O, let me borrow;
Drown this ceaseless vain regretting;
Speed sad memory's forgetting;
Shine and shut out all my woes;
Daule eyes that fain would close.
Seas of rest, cease not your flowing,
Slowly coming, slowly going;
Slumber's spell keep gently weaving;
Soon shall sleep the useless grieving;
Soul of mine, lake now thine ease,
By these Occidental seas!
Jl'I.IKTrK KSTKI.I.K MATHIS.
No. .
MY I.OVKD ONK.
San Jose, California.
A H1DDKN HAND.
The heart of earth, the pulse of man
Beat to one common chord. Again
'Tis musk sweet that majesty
Of life, when, not perverted, nun
Takes his steps aright to one grand
Life march, towards that goal, the sure
Reward of him who can detect,
In all the universe around, ,
The hand of that great Chorister,
Who has so wisely well composed
The proper Hymn of Life; and plain
Marks out the rhythm, that certainly
The man, who will but see, may step
In time, and lie led home at last.
To think of him, my loved one, and lo trace
His smile which no lime can efface
From my heart's tablets; then, when he Is gone,
Memory of him doth cheer me when alone;
To see him smile, to watch his senking eye
timing Into mine, as if it asked reply;
To know his vokv amid a hundred 'round,
And feel this beating heart rescind the sound,
To lean confiding on his arm, and know
If danger threatens 'twill avert the blow;
. To listen for his foolstes, and to hear
My own heart bent with love and doubt and fear;'
To hear, at list, his step, and rise to greet
The one my heart yearns fondly thus to meet;
To think of him when absent, and to pray '
For grace to guide him over life's rough way.
To hear him praised for deeds of goodness done;
To see him envied, and lo know I've won
His pure, fond love, and that whate'er betide,
In weal or woe, my place is at his side;
To kive him belter in misfortune's hour
, Than in his youthful irime, his day of power;
To feel, though fortune frowns, though friends forsake,
Though sorrow overwhelm, I for his sake
Can smile at fate, and cheer and bless his lot
The world forgetting, If by the world forgot,
lfldvillc. Colorado. RUTn Vaki Kahn,
No. 33.
Seattle, Washington.
W il l. Tami.in Kl.wtii.i.
WASTKI).
Not time, that sacred heritage to all;
For in the cycles that hare passed away,
I can not count me one lost, idle day,
Nor opxirtunity; lo fate's most meager gift
I have been eager heart and hand to lift.
What waste could then my faithful life Mall?
A cheek whose roses bloomed fur eyes so blind
They did not see they were the rarest kind;
Words that the world had listened for for years.
Falling unanswered on the dullesl ears;
A heart worn out as fond as ever Ileal,
Its wine of life spilled at unworthy feel;
A soul so tortured, as years come and go,
Its wasted treasure (jut alone can know.
Lavtonville. California. Anna Miikkimin Rkkii.
MiMinnvillc, Oregon.
TI1K DKAD ARK MINK.
The dead are nilnel
They're all that I may claim of friends so dear;
Their presence oh is with me, fain to cheer,
And 1 resign
My heart's devotion lo them without fear;
The dead ore mine.
The dead are mine!
The living, Ihough J claim, I am nol sure;
Other affections, wealth or fame allure.
Their hearts incline
These different treasures lo secure,
Forsaking mine.
The dead are mlnel
'Hie infants on my bosom I did nourish
Are flown, and others round them flourish.
Their home's nol mine;
The Udr that in my. yearning arms did perish
Alone is mine.
The dead are mine!
Oh, I have frienils so dear who in drath slumlier,
Chilil. irenl. Imithers, kindred lieyond numlier;
My heart's their shrine.
'Hie living, by my woes, I may encumlrr,
The dead are mine,
The dead are mine!
Why weep I, then, when Ihey so sweetly rest,
Free from life's cares, by which my soul s dislrcsst?
Yet not reMne,
'Die Savior In Ihe tomb did three days rest;
He, too, is mine.
Ikknk smith Cai.xkkaih.