life it seemed at first,
Chaotic, dull, with beauty none,
But rays of sunshine on it burst
And changed it to a paragon.

Two alders sprang from near its edge
And twined in close embrace,
While ferns and grass gave certain pledge
That Time should give it smiling face.
But when the frosts of autumn fell
It sank from sight, perchance to rest;
No searching mind could ever tell
The secret of its rising crest.
For years, at each returning spring,
The isle would rise from 'neath the wave,
As if to memory to bring
PONOMO and ALMETA'S grave.
But when the harvest-moon shone bright,
It meekly sank; as years before
When on that dread, but fatal night,
The faithful sank by rock-bound shore.

Its verdure grew, its alders spread,
Its fame extended many a mile,
'Twas type of resurrected dead--
This hibernating, floating isle.

But vandal hands destroyed the prize
And sank it 'neath a weight of stones,
While ALMETA sends forth her sighs,
And PONOMO emits his groans.
Here let them rest, if rest they may,
Amid the beauteous scenes around,
And wait in peace the final day,
When at the angel's trumpet sound,
The water shall give up its prey,
The earth shall full surrender make,
For heaven has not a type to-day,
More perfect than this sky-blue lake.

FINIS.

After our labor is finished,
After the struggle is done,
A restful surcease awaits us
At the setting of life's sun.
If when our toil seemed the sorest
The heart refused to retreat
From a grand and noble purpose,
Till the vic'try was complete,
Then shall joyous crown await us,
Resplendent with jewels rare,
And a radiance of honor
The face shall benignly wear;
Not that our works were all faultless
And free from error and wrong,
But because our sincere purpose
Made us brave and true and strong.

Results of labor thus rendered,
Are safely trusted to Heaven,
For He who knows ev'ry motive,
Understands _why_ we have striven.
If to man were given the balance
To adjust with equity,
His weakness and imperfection,
His greed and his jealousy,
Might sway the poise from adjustment,
And his judgment go astray,
Through the frailties of his nature--
Imperf