Yet let him keep the rest,
  But keep them with repining restlessness: 
  Let him be rich and weary, that, at least,
  If goodness lead him not, yet weariness
      May toss him to my breast.

GEORGE HERBERT.

* * * * *

DUTY.

  I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty: 
  I woke and found that life was Duty: 
  Was then thy dream a shadowy lie? 
  Toil on, sad heart, courageously,
  And thou shalt find thy dream to be
  A noonday light and truth to thee.

ELLEN STURGIS HOOPER.

* * * * *

ODE TO DUTY.

    Stern daughter of the voice of God! 
      O Duty! if that name thou love
    Who art a light to guide, a rod
      To check the erring, and reprove—­
    Thou, who art victory and law
    When empty terrors overawe;
    From vain temptations dost set free,
  And calm’st the weary strife of frail humanity!

    There are who ask not if thine eye
      Be on them; who, in love and truth
    Where no misgiving is, rely
      Upon the genial sense of youth: 
    Glad hearts! without reproach or blot,
    Who do thy work, and know it not;
    Long may the kindly impulse last! 
  But thou, if they should totter, teach them to stand fast!

    Serene will be our days and bright,
      And happy will our nature be,
    When love is an unerring light. 
      And joy its own security. 
    And they a blissful course may hold
    Even now, who, not unwisely bold. 
    Live in the spirit of this creed;
  Yet find that other strength, according to their need.

    I, loving freedom, and untried,
      No sport of every random gust,
    Yet being to myself a guide,
      Too blindly have reposed my trust;
    And oft, when in my heart was heard
    Thy timely mandate, I deferred
    The task, in smoother walks to stray;
  But thee I now would serve more strictly, if I may.

    Through no disturbance of my soul,
      Or strong compunction in me wrought,
    I supplicate for thy control,
      But in the quietness of thought;
    Me this unchartered freedom tires;
    I feel the weight of chance desires,
    My hopes no more must change their name,
  I long for a repose that ever is the same.

    Stern lawgiver! yet thou dost wear
      The Godhead’s most benignant grace;
    Nor know we any thing so fair
      As is the smile upon thy face;
    Flowers laugh before thee on their beds,
    And fragrance in thy footing treads;
    Thou dost preserve the stars from wrong;
  And the most ancient heavens, through thee, are fresh and strong.

    To humbler functions, awful power! 
      I call thee:  I myself commend
    Unto thy guidance from this hour;
      Oh, let my weakness have an end! 
    Give unto me, made lowly wise,
    The spirit of self-sacrifice;
    The confidence of reason give;
  And in the light of truth thy bondman let me live!