XX.

      The brook’s rest
        Is rest indeed;
      The brook’s quest
        Is daily need. 
    Thoughts of to-morrow
    They bring no sorrow;
    And so it babbles away,
    And does the work of to-day.

XXI.

    The brook knows the joy
    Down in the heart of a boy,
    And the swallow kens the whirl
    Up in the head of a girl.

XXII.

    How many a psalm is heard
    From yon rejoicing bird,
    That finds its daily food
    And feels that God is good! 
    That little life’s employ
    Is toil and song and joy. 
    Hast music in thy heart,
     O toiler day by day,
     Along life’s rugged way? 
    Then what thou hast thou art.

XXIII.

    True, Good, and Beautiful! 
     A perfect line
    Of love and sainthood full—­
     And it is thine.

XXIV.

    Thou doest well, dear friend,
     Thy labor is not lost. 
    As notes in music blend,
     So here Affection’s host. 
    Their names thy book within,
     Their thoughts of love and truth,
    Are worth the cost to win—­
     First trophies of thy youth. 
    This little Album thine
     Suggests to Book Divine—­
    The Book of Life, God’s own. 
     What names are written there! 
    What names are there unknown! 
     Hast thou no thought or care? 
    I do thee wrong to ask—­
    God speed the nobler task
    Until thy labor prove
    Indeed a work of love!

XXV.

     True friends
     Are through friends
     To the next world—­
     That unvexed world. 
    What will friends be good for
    When the witness is needless they stood for?

XXVI.

    Wouldst have another gem
    In Friendship’s diadem? 
    Then take this name of mine;
    Thy light will make it shine.

XXVII.

    Thou comest beauty-laden,
    Thou sprightly little maiden,
    And dancing everywhere
    Like sunbeams in the air;
    And for thy cheery laugh
    Here is my autograph.

XXVIII.

    Something for nothing?  No! 
     A false device. 
    For all things here below
     We pay the price. 
    For even grace we pay,
     Which is so free;
    And I have earned to-day
     A smile from thee.

XXIX.