He enters again the homes of toil,
    And joins in the homely chat;
  He stands in the shop of the artisan;
    He sits, where the Master sat,
  At the poor man’s fire and the rich man’s feast. 
    But who to-day are the poor,
  And who are the rich?  Ask him who keeps
    The treasures that ever endure.

  Once more the green and the grove resound
    With the merry children’s din;
  He hears their shout at the Christmas tide,
    When Santa Claus stalks in. 
  Once more he lists while the camp-fire roars
    On the distant mountain-side,
  Or, proving apostleship, plies the brook
    Where the fierce young troutlings hide.

  And now he beholds the wedding train
    To the altar slowly move,
  And the solemn words are said that seal
    The sacrament of love. 
  Anon at the font he meets once more
    The tremulous youthful pair,
  With a white-robed cherub crowing response
    To the consecrating prayer.

  By the couch of pain he kneels again;
    Again, the thin hand lies
  Cold in his palm, while the last far look
    Steals into the steadfast eyes;
  And now the burden of hearts that break
    Lies heavy upon his own—­
  The widow’s woe and the orphan’s cry
    And the desolate mother’s moan.

  So blithe and glad, so heavy and sad,
    Are the days that are no more,
  So mournfully sweet are the sounds that float
    With the winds from a far-off shore. 
  For the pastor has learned what meaneth the word
    That is given him to keep,—­
  “Rejoice with them that do rejoice,
    And weep with them that weep.”

  It is not in vain that he has trod
    This lonely and toilsome way. 
  It is not in vain that he has wrought
    In the vineyard all the day;
  For the soul that gives is the soul that lives,
    And bearing another’s load
  Doth lighten your own and shorten the way,
    And brighten the homeward road.

WASHINGTON GLADDEN.

* * * * *

TWO RABBIS.

  The Rabbi Nathan, twoscore years and ten,
  Walked blameless through the evil world, and then
  Just as the almond blossomed in his hair,
  Met a temptation all too strong to bear,
  And miserably sinned.  So, adding not
  Falsehood to guilt, he left his seat, and taught
  No more among the elders, but went out
  From the great congregation girt about
  With sackcloth, and with ashes on his head,
  Making his gray locks grayer.  Long he prayed,
  Smiting his breast; then, as the Book he laid
  Open before him for the Bath-Col’s choice,
  Pausing to hear that Daughter of a Voice,
  Behold the royal preacher’s words:  “A friend
  Loveth at all times, yea, unto the end;
  And for the evil day thy brother lives.” 
  Marvelling, he said:  “It is the Lord who gives
  Counsel in need.  At Ecbatana dwells
  Rabbi Ben Isaac, who all men excels
  In righteousness and wisdom, as the trees
  Of Lebanon the small weeds that the bees
  Bow with their weight.  I will arise and lay
  My sins before him.”