THE WORLD FROM THE SIDE-WALK

Temuka Leader, Issue 243, 16 March 1880, Page 2

THE WORLD FROM THE SIDE-WALK

Did you ever stand in the crowded street* In the glare of the city lamp, And list to the tread of the million feet, In their quaintly musical tratnp ; As the surging crowd go to and fro 1 'Tis a pleasant sight, I ween, To mark the figures that come and go .In tho over-changing sceco.

Here tho publican walks with tho ainnor proud, And the priest in his gloomy cowl, And Dives walks in the motley crowd With Lazarus cheek by jowl, And the daughter of toil, with her fresh young heart, A» pure as her spotless fnme, Keeps step with tho woman who makca her mart In the haunts of sin and shame.

How lightly trips the country lasa In the midst of the city's i'ls, As fresh and pure as the daisied grass That grows on her native hills. And the beggar, too, with his hungry eya And his lean, wan face and crutch, Gives ;i blessing the same to the pas3«r-by As he gives him little or much.

When Time has beaten the world's tattoo, And in dusky armor light, Is treading with echoless footsteps through The gloom of the silent night How many of these shall be dainty ffcd And shad sink to slumber sweet, While many will go to & sleepless bed And never a crumb to cat 1

Ah me ! when the hours go joyfully by, How little we stop to heed Our brothers' and sisters' despairing cry In their woe and their bitter need ! Yet 6iu-h a world as the angels sought This world of ours we'd call, If the brotherly love the father taught Was felt by each for all.

Yet a few short years, and this motly throng Will all have passed away, And the rkh and poor, and old and young Will he undistinguished clay. And lips that laugh, and lips that moan Shall in silnn e like l>e sealed, And some will lie under a stately s ono t And some in the Potter's Field.

But ihe sun shall be shining just as bright And so will tho silver moon, And just such a crowd wiil be hero at night Anil j ist such a crowd at noon. And men will be wicked and women will

am, As ever since Adam's fall With tho same old world to labor in, And tae same God over nil.