GENTLE MARY ANN.

The artless and the beautiful,
     The fairest of the fair,
Around her shoulders clustering
     Her sunny, light-brown hair,
Her meek blue eye intelligent,

     God’s wondrous works would scan,
And a smile would animate the face
     Of our Gentle Mary Ann.

The parted lip, betokening
     The peaceful soul within,

That soul as yet unsullied,
     Unendangered by a sin;
The brow where earnest thoughtfulness
     Some goodly work would plan,
Combined to make us idolize

     Our Gentle Mary Ann.

And thus for sixteen summers,
     She grew upon our sight,
A patient girl of tenderness,
     A sinless child of light;

As free from worldly wilfulness
     As when her life began,
Was this, our lovely charge from heaven,
     Our Gentle Mary Ann.

The angels from their starry homes,

     Looked on her smiling face, [Page 90]
And beckoned our darling child
     Unto their resting-place;
When, lo! from out the graceful throng
     An infant cherub ran,

And nestled in the guileless breast
     Of our Gentle Mary Ann.

“Sister,” she said, “we wait for thee,
     Yon angel host and I,
To bear thee in thy innocence

     To our dwelling in the sky.”
The heavens, slowly opening,
     A psalm of love began,
And the cherub, pointing upwards,
     Said, “come, Gentle Mary Ann.”

Calmly she faded from our sight,
     In that infant soul’s embrace,
And we watched her passing upwards
     With a smile upon her face,—
Passing upward towards heaven,

     Upward to the Son of Man,
In whose bosom rests the spirit
     Of our Gentle Mary Ann. [Page 91]