SELECTED POETRY.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 103, 31 October 1871, Page 2

SELECTED POETRY.

•—O — i 1 •mS THREE LITTLE .CHAIRS. They sat alone by the bright wood £re, The grey-haired dame and aged sire, Dreaming 6i days gone by ; The tear-drops fell on-each, wrinkled cheek, They both had thoughts they could not speak, And each heart uttered a sigh. For their sad and tearful eyes descried Three little chairs placed side by side Against the aitting-room wall; Old-fashioned enough as there they stood, •"»'9i j Their seats of flag and their frames of wood, 7*With their backs so high and tall. .'. /■ Then the sire shook his silvery head, And with trembling voice he gently said : " Mother, these empty chairs ! They bring us suoh sad thoughts to-night, We'll put them for ever out ot sight, In the small dark room upstairs !" But she answered : " Father, not yet, For I look at them, and I forget That the children are away ; The boys come back, and our Mary, too, With her apron on, of checkered blue, And sit here every day. Johnny comes back from the billows deep, Willie wakes from his battle-field sleep, To say good-nighfc to me ; Mary's a wife and mother no more, But a tired child whose playtime is o'er, And comes to rest at my kuee. So let them stand there, though empty now, And every time when alone we bow At the Father's throne to pray, We'll ask to meet the children above, In our Saviour's home of rest and love, Where no child goeth away."