COTTAGE MUSIC.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1624, 30 October 1874, Page 409

COTTAGE MUSIC.

MABY FRANCES ADAMS. When the cottage door is open, and the air is bright and clear, Then the sound of children's laughter echoes on the listening ear. And the fall of little footsteps, pattering on the rustic floor, Gently lures the tired woodman to his peaceful home once more. O the music of young voices, O the tuneful little feet, How they rise and fall together, keeping time in cadence sweet; Like ever-moving planets making harmony above, So the happy notes of childhood vibrate on the chords of love. On the settle sits the grandsire with his eyes so old and dim, That the little sunny faces seem like fading dreams to him ; But he hears their merry voices, and it almost makes him young, As he tries to catch the meaning of each little prattling tongue. O the merry laughing voices, how melodiously they flow, Bringing to the old man's memory happy days of long ago, When he, too, could shout with gladness, when he, too, was bright and bold, Long before his children's children told him how the world grew old. And the music of young voices, long as this fair earth shall last, Will re-link the joyous present with the halff orgotton past; And the ring of little footsteps, pattering on the cottage floor, Will be heard, the wide world over, till there shall be time no more. —Leisure Hour.