I think few persons have a greater disgust for plagiarism than myself. If I had even suspected that the idea in question was borrowed,—I should have disclaimed originality, or mentioned the coincidence, as I once did in a case where I had happened to hit on an idea of Swift’s.—But what shall I do about these verses I was going to read you? I am afraid that half mankind would accuse me of stealing their thoughts, if I printed them. I am convinced that several of you, especially if you are getting a little on in life, will recognize some of these sentiments as having passed through your consciousness at some time. I can’t help it,—it is too late now. The verses are written, and you must have them. Listen, then, and you shall hear
WHAT WE ALL THINK.
That age was older once than now,
In spite of locks untimely
shed,
Or silvered on the youthful brow;
That babes make love and children
wed.
That sunshine had a heavenly glow,
Which faded with those “good
old days,”
When winters came with deeper snow,
And autumns with a softer
haze.
That—mother, sister, wife,
or child—
The “best of women”
each has known.
Were schoolboys ever half so wild?
How young the grandpapas have
grown!
That but for this our souls were
free,
And but for that our
lives were blest;
That in some season yet to be
Our cares will leave us time
to rest.
Whene’er we groan with ache or pain,
Some common ailment of the
race,—
Though doctors think the matter plain,—
That ours is “a peculiar
case.”
That when like babes with fingers burned
We count one bitter maxim
more,
Our lesson all the world has learned,
And men are wiser than before.
That when we sob o’er fancied woes,
The angels hovering overhead
Count every pitying drop that flows
And love us for the tears
we shed.
That when we stand with tearless eye
And turn the beggar from our
door,
They still approve us when we sigh,
“Ah, had I but one
thousand more!”
That weakness smoothed the path of sin,
In half the slips our youth
has known;
And whatsoe’er its blame has been,
That Mercy flowers on faults
outgrown.
Though temples crowd the crumbled brink
O’erhanging truth’s
eternal flow,
Their tablets bold with what we think,
Their echoes dumb to what
we know;
That one unquestioned text we read,
All doubt beyond, all fear
above,
Nor crackling pile nor cursing creed
Can burn or blot it:
GOD is LOVE!
* * * * *
SANDALPHON.
Have you read in the Talmud of old,
In the legends the Rabbins have told
Of the limitless realms of
the air,
Have you read it,—the marvellous
story
Of Sandalphon, the Angel of
Glory,
Sandalphon, the Angel of Prayer?