apeless shadows of the by-gone years,
I saw them in the mist and they were gone--
Gone!--and the sea moaned on and seemed to say--
_'Gone--and forever!_'--So I gladly turned
To look upon the throne--the blazoned throne
That sat upon the everlasting cliff.
The throne had vanished!--Lo where it had stood,
A bed of ashes and a gray-haired man
Sitting upon it bowed and broken down.
And so the vision passed.

"The rising sun
Beamed full upon my face and wakened me,
And there beside me lay my pet--the lamb--
Gazing upon me with his wondering eyes,
And all the fields were bright and beautiful,
And brighter seemed the world. I rose resolved.
I let the cottage and disposed of all;
The lamb went bleating to a neighbor's field;
And oft my heart ached, but I mastered it.
This was the constant burden of my brain--
_'Beggar!_'--I'll teach him that I am a man;
I'll speak and he shall listen; I will rise,
And he shall see my course as I go up
Round after round the ladder of success.
Even as the pine upon the mountain-top
Towers o'er the maple on the mountain-side,
I'll tower above him. Then will I look down
And call him _Father_:--He shall call me _Son_.'

"Thus hushing my sad heart the day drew nigh
Of parting, and the promised sign was given.
The night was dismal darkness--not one star
Twinkled in heaven; the sad, low-moaning wind
Played like a mournful harp among the pines.
I groped and listened through the darkling grove,
Peering with eager eyes among the trees,
And calling as I peered with anxious voice
One darling name. No answer but the moan
Of the wind-shaken pines. I sat me down
Under the dusky shadows waiting for her,
And lost myself in gloomy reverie.
Dim in the darksome shadows of the night,
While thus I dreamed, my darling came and crept
Beneath the boughs as softly as a hare,
And whispered 'Paul'--and I was at her side.
We sat upon a mound moss-carpeted--
No eyes but God's upon us, and no voice
Spake to us save the moaning of the pines.
Few were the words we spoke; her silent tears,
Our clasping, trembling, lingering embrace,
Were more than words. Into one solemn hour,
Were pressed the fears and hopes of coming years.
Two tender hearts that only dared to hope
There swelled and throbbed to the electric touch
Of love as holy as the love of Christ.
She gave her picture and I gave a ring--
My mother's--almost with her latest breath
She gave it me and breathed my darling's name.
I