The second, with a bearded face,
Stood singing in the market place,
And stirred with accents deep and loud
The hearts of all the listening crowd.

A

And those who heard the Singers three

Disputed which the best might be;
For still their music seemed to start

Discordant echoes in each heart.

L

But the great Master said, "I see

No best in kind, but in degree;

To charm, to strengthen, and to teach.

"These are the three great chords of might,

And he whose ear is tuned aright

Will hear no discord in the three,

But the most perfect harmony."

SUSPIRIA.

TAKE them, O Death! and bear away

Whatever thou canst call thine own!

Thine image, stamped upon this clay,

Doth give thee that, but that alone!

Take them, O Grave! and let them lie
Folded upon thy narrow shelves,

As garments by the soul laid by,

And precious only to ourselves!

Take them, O great Eternity!

Our little life is but a gust,

That bends the branches of thy tree,
And trails its blossoms in the dust!

HYMN.

FOR MY BROTHER'S ORDINATION.

CHRIST to the young man said: "Yet one thing more;

If thou wouldst perfect be,

Sell all thou hast and give it to the poor,

And come and follow me!"

Within this temple Christ again, unseen,

Those sacred words hath said,

And His invisible hands to-day have been Laid on a young man's head.

And evermore beside him on his way
The unseen Christ shall move,

That he

may lean upon his arm and say, "Dost thou, dear Lord, approve?"

Beside him at the marriage feast shall be,
To make the scene more fair;

Beside him in the dark Gethsemane
Of pain and midnight prayer.

O holy trust! O endless sense of rest!
Like the beloved John

To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast,

And thus to journey on!