So, with choking tears, and throbbing pulses, she followed many brilliant fancies and hopes to their last resting-place.  Henceforth her path was open and clear, her duties defined, and with daily occupation of hand and thought she strove to displace all that had ever made her other than the cheerful and busy Dorcas.  For the last time, she closed and put away the box.

* * * * *

THRENODY.

[Among the imprinted papers of the author of “Charles Auchester” and “Counterparts” was found this poem, addressed to a father on the death of a favorite son, whose noble disposition and intellectual gifts were all enlisted on the side of suffering humanity.]

  O mourner by the ever-mourning deep,
    Full as the sea of tears! imperial heart,
  King in thy sorrow over all who weep! 
    O wrestler with the darkness set apart

  In clouds of woe whose lightnings are the throb
    Of thy fast-flashing pulses! pause to hear
  The lullabies of many an alien sob,
    A storm of alien sighs,—­so far! so near!

  Oh that our vigils with thy gentle dead
    Could charm thee from thy night-long agonies,
  Could steep thy brain in slumber mild, and shed
    Elysian dreams upon thy closing eyes!

  In vain! all vain!—­’tis yet the feast of tears;
    Sorrow for sorrow is the only spell;
  Nor wanders yet to melt in unspent years
    The wringing murmur of our fresh farewell!

  Thousands bereft strew wide the ashes dim;
    Rich hearts, poor hands, the lovely, the unlearned,
  Bemoan the angel of the age in him,
    A star unto its starlight strength returned,

  The City of Delights hath lost its gem,
    The Sea the changeful glance so like its own,
  Genius the darling of her diadem,
    Whose smile made moonlight round her awful throne.

  Those elfin steps their music moves no more
    Beneath light domes to tune the festal train,
  Nor at the moony eves along the shore
    To brim with fairy forms that wizard brain.

  Cold rocks, wild winds, and ever-changing waves,
    Sad rains that fret the sea and drown the day,
  We hail,—­well pleased that stricken Autumn raves,
    Though not with Winter shall our griefs decay.

  On lurid mornings, when the lustrous sea
    Is violet-shadowed from the warm blue air,
  When the dark grasses brighten over thee,
    And the winged sunbeams flutter golden there,—­

  Then to the wild green slope, thy chosen rest,
    The blossoms of our spirits we will bring,
  (Again a babe upon thy mother’s breast,
    An infant seed of the eternal Spring,)—­

  Thoughts bright and dark as violets in their dew,
    Unfading memories of a smile more sweet
  Than perfume of pale roses, hopes that strew
    Ethereal lilies on those silent feet