Do
you remember all the summer places
Where,
in bright days long past, we played together?
Do
you remember all the old home faces
That
gather’d round the hearth in wintry weather?
Do
you remember all the happy meetings,
In
summer evenings round the open door—
Kind
looks, kind words, kind hearts, and tender greeting
And
clasping hands whose pulses beat no more!
Do
you remember when we first departed
From
midst the old companions who were round us,
How
very soon again we grew light-hearted,
And
talked with smiles of all the links that bound us
And
after when our footsteps were returning,
With
unfelt weariness, o’er the hill and plain,
How
our young hearts kept boiling up and burning,
To
think how soon we’d be at home again?
Montville,
May 3rd 1833
M.
Turner
[Complete Original:
Do you remember all the sunny
places,
Where in bright days, long past, we played together?
Do you remember all the old home faces
That gathered round the hearth in wintry weather?
Do you remember all the happy meetings,
In Summer evenings round the open door--
Kind looks, kind hearts, kind words and tender greetings,
And clasping hands whose pulses beat no more?
Do you remember them?
Do you remember all the merry
laughter;
The voices round the swing in our old garden:
The dog that, when we ran, still followed after;
The teasing frolic sure of speedy pardon:
We were but children then, young
happy creatures,
And hardly knew how much we had to lose--
But now the dreamlike memory of those features
Comes back, and bids my darkened spirit muse.
Do you remember them?
Do you remember when we first
departed
From all the old companions who were round us,
How very soon again we grew light-hearted,
And talked with smiles of all the links which bound us?
And after, when our footsteps were returning,
With unfelt weariness, o'er hill and plain;
How our young hearts kept boiling up, and burning,
To think how soon we'd be at home again.
Do you remember this?
Do you remember how the dreams of
glory
Kept fading from us like a fairy treasure;
How we thought less of being fam'd in story,
And more of those to whom our fame gave pleasure.
Do you remember in far countries, weeping,
When a light breeze, a flower, hath brought to mind
Old happy thoughts, which till that hour were sleeping,
And made us yearn for those we left behind?
Do you remember this?
Do you remember when no sound 'woke
gladly,
But desolate echoes through our home were ringing,
How for a while we talked--then paused full sadly,
Because our voices bitter thoughts were bringing?
Ah me! those days--those days! my friend, my brother,
Sit down and let us talk of all our woe,
For we have nothing left but one another;
Yet where they went, old playmate, we shall go--
Let us remember this.
Above, by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
(1808-1877)]
Night by Robert Montgomery
Another
day is added to the mass
Of
buried ages. Lo! The beauteous moon
Like
a fair shepherdess, now comes abroad,
With
her full flock of stars, that roam around
The
azure meads of heaven. And oh! how
charmed
Beneath
her loveliness creation looks!
Far
gleaming hills and light inweaving streams,
And
sleeping boughs with dewy lustre clothed,
And
green-haired valleys—all in glory dressed,
Make
up the pageantries of night. One glance
Upon
the ocean, where the woven beams
Have
braided his dark waves. Their roar is
hushed.
His
billow wings are folded up to rest;
Till
once again the wizard winds shall yell,
And
tear them into strife.
A lone
owl’s hoot—
The
waterfall’s faint drip—or insect stir
Among
the emerald leaves—or infant winds
Riffling
the pearly lips of sleeping flowers—
Alone
disturb the stillness of the scene.
Spirit
of all! As up yon star hung deep
Of
air, the eye and heart together mount,
Man’s
immortality within him stirs
And
thou art all around! Thy beauty walks
In
airy music o’er the midnight heavens;
Thy
glory is shadowed on the slumbering world.”
Mary E. Turner
Watch
Ye March 18th
’38
When
summer decks thy path with flowers
And
pleasure’s smile is sweetest;
Where
not a cloud above thee lours
And
sunshine leads thy happy hours,
Thy
happiest and thy fleetest;
O!
Watch thou then, lest pleasure’s smile
Thy
spirit of its hope beguile.
When
round thee gathering storms are nigh,
And
grief thy days hath shaded,
When
earthly joys bloom but to die
And
tears suffuse your weeping eye
And
hope’s bright bow hath faded;
O!
Watch thou then, lest anxious care
Invade
thy heart and ramble there.
Through
all life’s scenes, through weal and woe,
Through
days of mirth and sadness,
Where’er
thy wandering footsteps go,
Oh!
think how transient here below
Thy
sorrows and thy gladness:
And
watch thou always lest thou stray
From
him who points thy heavenward way.
Jane
Maria
SELECTED POETRY
"WATCH YE"
When summer decks thy path with
flowers,
And pleasure’s smile is sweetest;
When not a cloud above the lowers
And sunshine leads thy happy hours
Thy happiest and the fleetest;
Oh! Watch thou then, lest pleasure’s smile,
Thy spirit of its hope beguile.
When gathering round the storms are nigh,
And grief thy days hath shaded;
When earthly joys bloom but to die,
And tear suffuse this weaking eye,
And hope’s bright bow is faded;
Oh! Watch thou then, lest anxious care.
Invade thy heart and rankle there.
Through all life’s scenes- through weal and woe
Through days of mirth and sadness,
Where’er thy wandering footsteps go.
Oh! Think how transient here below
Thy sorrow and thy gladness;
And watch thou always, lest thou stray
From Him who points the heavenward way.
--as it appeared, without attribution, in:
Fond Du Lac (WI) Weekly Commonweath
Wednesday, January 21, 1857]
[on
left page]
Mary
E Latimer
Decr. 10th,
1891
[her 59th wedding anniversary]
Jane
M. Turner
Decr. 12th
1832
[two days after marriage]
[in
pencil]
“Memory
hath honey cells
And
some of them are ours.”
Mary