From days that are lit by a heaven-ray,
  To kindle our hearts and strengthen our faith;
  For Harry and I are changed in a way,
  Like people whose eyes have looked upon death.[2]

  My Harry has won such a patient mood,
  And has grown so resolute and so wise;
  He is always trying to do some good,
  And always succeeding in what he tries.

  The trials I trembled that he should bear,
  His noble heart has accepted as such;
  And I see they were sent with a tender care,
  And never intended to be too much.

  My heart is too full of its joy, I fear,
  When he whispers in fond caressing tone—­
  ’It was not my trials that won me, dear;
  It was watching my darling bear her own.

  Afar from the hut in the dusky wood,
  We sometimes recall with a yearning sigh,
  The days of our sorrowful solitude,
  When the world was nothing but he and I.

  [Footnote 2: 

    For she had look’d upon a great man’s death
    And she was changed.

    Queen Isabel, by MENELLA SMEDLEY.]