if all were apportioned to me?
Could I then "lift my head,"
Nor a single tear shed?--
Has such faith been allotted to thee?

I have sought to be true to my God,
I have sought to be faithful as you;
But such "tumult and strife"
Have embittered my life
That I am not so faultlessly true.

TO L. W.

When the path of my life
Lay through trouble and strife,
And temptation encompassed me round,
As a light in the shade
Thou wast sent to mine aid;
And a harbour of refuge was found.

I beheld in thine eye,
As a beam from on high,
The ray of compassion revealed;
And I turned in relief
From the Valley of Grief;
I turned to be strengthened and healed.

In the words that you breathed
All my sorrow was sheathed,
And peace, like a dove, settled down.
And the calm of your presence,
Like mercy's pure essence,
Recaptured the faith that had flown.

Since then, if perplexed,
If harassed or vexed,
If tempted, afflicted or tried,
I have sought thee to cheer,
Thou hast ever been near
To comfort, to soothe and to guide.

Thus a thrill of affection
Must greet the reflection
That thou hast considered my needs;
And my heart can but move
With a reverent love
As I ponder thy merciful deeds.

Though feeble and weak
Are the words that I speak,
Such gratitude wells in my soul,
That I dare not express
What I fain would confess,
Lest my pen should escape my control.

Yet these measures restrained
Will have surely attained
The purpose that caused them to be,
If of all that I feel
They should chance to reveal
But a hint, in a whisper, to thee.

YOU WRONG ME, KATE.

You wrong me, Kate, you wrong me
In harbouring the thought
That he who loves so fondly
Would injure thee in aught.
The pang that I must feel, Kate,
When dark suspicion lurks
Within thy breast, is real, Kate,
And mischievously works.

The tone with doubt inflected,
The calm, reproachful look,
The name of one suspected
In light arraignment spoke;
These, these enforce the heart-ache,
And instigate the strife,
And these, in chiefest part, take
The joy from out my life.

For bright within my soul, dear,
On Love's unsullied throne,
With absolute control, dear,
Thou reignest Queen alone.
With reverence I chose thee,
With pride I placed thee there;
And none did e'er oppose thee,
And none shall ever dare.

All womankind shall merit
A just regard from me,
And all the sex i