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104 Works of Rosanna Eleanor Leprohon

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Virgin of Bethlehem

Story type: Literature

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Virgin of Bethlehem! spouse of the Holy One! Star of the pilgrim on life’s stormy sea! Humbler thy lot was than this world’s most lowly one, List to the prayers that we offer to thee! Not for the joys that this false earth bestoweth, Empty and fleeting as April sunshine, But for the grace that […]

I. Come tell me some olden storyOf Knight or Paladin,Whose sword on the field of gloryBright laurel wreaths did win:Tell me of the heart of fireHis courage rare did prove;Speak on–oh! I will not tire–But never talk of love. II. Or, if thou wilt, I shall hearkenSome magic legend rare–How the Wizard’s power did darkenThe […]

When Will It End?

Story type: Poetry

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Written during the Civil War in the United States. O when will it end, this appalling strife,With its reckless waste of human life,Its riving of highest, holiest ties,Its tears of anguish and harrowing sighs,Its ruined homes from which hope has fled,Its broken hearts and its countless dead? In fair Virginia the new-made gravesLie crowded thick […]

All hail to thee, noble and generous Land!With thy prairies boundless and wide,Thy mountains that tower like sentinels grand,Thy lakes and thy rivers of pride! Thy forests that hide in their dim haunted shadesNew flowers of loveliness rare–Thy fairy like dells and thy bright golden glades,Thy warm skies as Italy’s fair. Here Plenty has lovingly […]

Bright glittering lights are gleaming in yonder mansion proud,And within its walls are gathered a gemmed and jewelled crowd;Robes of airy gauze and satin, diamonds and rubies bright,Rich festoons of glowing flowers–truly ’tis a wondrous sight. Time and care and gold were lavished that it might be, every way,The success of all the season–brilliant fashionable […]

Nature’s Music

Story type: Poetry

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Of many gifts bestowed on earthTo cheer a lonely hour,Oh is there one of equal worthWith music’s magic power?‘Twill charm each angry thought to rest,‘Twill gloomy care dispel,And ever we its power can test,–All nature breathes its spell. There’s music in the sighing toneOf the soft, southern breezeThat whispers thro’ the flowers lone,And bends the […]

‘Mid silken cushions, richly wrought, a young Greek girl reclined,And fairer form the harem’s walls had ne’er before enshrined;‘Mid all the young and lovely ones who round her clustered there,With glowing cheeks and sparkling eyes, she shone supremely fair. ‘Tis true that orbs as dark as hers in melting softness shone,And lips whose coral hue […]

Around the castle turrets fiercely moaned the autumn blast,And within the old lords daughter seemed dying, dying fast;While o’er her couch in frenzied grief the stricken father bent,And in deep sobs and stifled moans his anguish wild found vent. “Oh cheer thee up, my daughter dear, my Maude, he softly said,As tremblingly he strove to […]

[The Battle of Inkerman: Won by the “Allies” during the Crimean war though with great losses in killed and wounded.] Rejoice! the fearful day is o’erFor the victors and the slain;Our cannon proclaim from shore to shore,The Allies have won again!Let our joy bells ring out music clear,The gayest they’ve ever pealed;Let bonfires flames the […]

Say, art thou angry? words unkindHave fallen upon thine ear,Thy spirit hath been wounded tooBy mocking jest or sneer,But mind it not–relax at onceThine o’ercast and troubled brow–What will be taunt or jest to theeIn a few short years from now? Or, perhaps thou mayst be piningBeneath some bitter grief,From whose pangs in vain thou […]

Warriors true, ’tis no false gloryFor which now you peril life,–For no worthless aim unholy,Do ye plunge into the strife;No unstable, fleeting visionBright before your gaze hath shone,No day dream of wild ambition,Now your footsteps urges on: But a cause both great and glorious,Worthy of a Christian’s might,One which yet shall be victorious,–‘Tis the cause […]

The day was o’er, and in their tent the weaned victors met,In wine and social gaiety the carnage to forget.The merry laugh and sparkling jest, the pleasant tale were there–Each heart was free and gladsome then, each brow devoid of care. Yet one was absent from the board who ever was the firstIn every joyous, […]

“Thou hast been to the forest, thou sorrowing maiden,Where Summer reigns Queen in her fairest array,Where the green earth with sunshine and fragrance is laden,And birds make sweet music throughout the long day.Each step thou hast taken has been over flowers,Of forms full of beauty–of perfumes most rare,Why comest thou home, then, with footsteps so […]

“Wo worth the chase. Wo worth the day,That cost thy life, my gallant grey!”–Scott The Hunter stooped o’er his dying steedWith sad dejected mien,And softly stroked its glossy neck,Lustrous as silken sheen;With iron will and nerve of steel,And pale lips tight compressed,He kept the tears from eyes that longWere strange to such a guest. Thou’rt […]

In a fair and sunny forest gladeO’erarched with chesnuts old,Through which the radiant sunbeams madeA network of bright gold,A girl smiled softly to herself,And dreamed the hours away;Lulled by the sound of the murmuring brookWith the summer winds at play. Jewels gleamed not in the tresses fairThat fell in shining showers,Naught decked that brow of […]

“O maiden, peerless, come dwell with me,And bright shall I render thy destiny:Thou shalt leave thy cot by the green hillside,To dwell in a palace home of pride,Where crowding menials, with lowly mien,Shall attend each wish of their lovely queen.” “Ah! stranger my cot by the green hillsideHath more charms for me than thy halls […]

Throughout the country for many a mileThere is not a nobler, statelier pileThan ivy crowned Rathmore Hall;And the giant oaks that shadow the wold,Though hollowed by time, are not as oldAs its Norman turrets tall. Let us follow that stream of sunset red,Crimsoning the portal overhead,Stealing through curtaining lace,Where sits in a spacious and lofty […]

‘Tis no wild and wond’rous legend, but a simple pious taleOf a gentle shepherd maiden, dwelling in Italian vale,Near where Arno’s glittering waters like the sunbeams flash and playAs they mirror back the vineyards through which they take their way. She was in the rosy dawning of girlhood fair and bright,And, like morning’s smiles and […]

With buoyant heart he left his home for that bright wond’rous landWhere gold ore gleams in countless mines, and gold dust strews the sand;And youth’s dear ties were riven all, for as wild, as vain, a dreamAs the meteor false that leads astray the traveller with its gleam. Vainly his father frowned dissent, his mother, […]

The Girl Martyr

Story type: Poetry

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Upon his sculptured judgment throne the Roman Ruler sate;His glittering minions stood around in all their gorgeous state;But proud as were the noble names that flashed upon each shield–Names known in lofty council halls as well as tented field–None dared approach to break the spell of deep and silent gloomThat hover’d o’er his haughty brow, […]

“Open the coffin and shroud untilI look on the dead againEre we place her in Grenada’s vaults,Where sleep the Monarchs of Spain;For unto King Charles must I swearThat I myself have seenThe regal brow of the royal corpse,Our loved, lamented Queen.” The speaker was Borgia, Gaudia’s Duke,A noble and gallant knight,Whose step was welcome in […]

‘Tis midnight, and solemn darkness broodsIn a lonely, sacred fane–The church of Our Lady of Montserrat,So famous throughout all Spain;For countless were the pilgrim hostsWho knelt at that sacred shrineWith aching hearts, that came to seekRelief and grace divine. Pure as the light of the evening starShines the lamp’s pale, solemn ray,That burns through midnight’s […]

The Four Wishes

Story type: Poetry

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“Father!” a youthful hero said, bending his lofty brow“On the world wide I must go forth–then bless me, bless me, now!And, ere I shall return oh say, what goal must I have won–What is the aim, the prize, that most thou wishest for thy son?” Proudly the father gazed upon his bearing brave and high,The […]

A glorious pageant filled the church of the proud old city of Rheims,One such as poet artists choose to form their loftiest themes:There France beheld her proudest sons grouped in a glittering ring,To place the crown upon the brow of their now triumphant king. The full, rich tones of music swelled out on the perfumed […]

Darkly falls the autumn twilight, rustles by the crisp leaf sere,Sadly wail the lonely night-winds, sweeping sea-ward, chill and drear,Sullen dash the restless waters ‘gainst a bleak and rock-bound shore,While the sea-birds’ weird voices mingle with their surging roar. Vainly seeks the eye a flow’ret ‘mid the desolation drear,Or a spray of pleasant verdure which […]

It is now two hundred years and moreSince first set foot on Canadian shoreThat saint-like heroine, fair and pure,Prepared all things for Christ to endure;Resigning rank and kindred ties,And her sunny home ‘neath France’s skies. A lonely sight for her to seeWas the wilderness town of Ville Marie!The proud St. Lawrence, with silver foam,Touched softly […]

Far West Emigrant

Story type: Poetry

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I. Mine eye is weary of the plainsOf verdure vast and wideThat stretch around me–lovely, calm,From morn till even-tide;And I recall with aching heartMy childhood’s village home;Its cottage roofs and garden plots,Its brooks of silver foam. II. True glowing verdure smiles around,And this rich virgin soilGives stores of wealth in quick returnFor hours of careless […]

The following verses were suggested by a touching ceremony which lately took place in the chapel of the Congregation Convent, Notre Dame, Montreal, the beloved Institution in which the happy days of my girlhood were passed. The ceremony in question was the renewal of her vows by the Venerable Mother Superior, just fifty years from […]

Oh! gladly do we welcome thee,Fair pleasant month of May;Month which we’ve eager longed to see,Through many a wintry day:And now with countless budding flowers,With sunshine bright and clear–To gild the quickly fleeting hours–At length, sweet month, thou’rt here! But, yet, we do not welcome theeBecause thy genial breathHath power our sleeping land to freeFrom […]

Thou art home at last, my darling one,Flushed and tired with thy play,From morning dawn until setting sunHast thou been at sport away;And thy steps are weary–hot thy brow,Yet thine eyes with joy are bright,–Ah! I read the riddle, show me nowThe treasures thou graspest tight. A pretty pebble, a tiny shell,A feather by wild […]

Young mother! proudly throbs thine heart, and well may it rejoice,Well may’st thou raise to Heaven above in grateful prayer thy voice:A gift hath been bestowed on thee, a gift of priceless worth,Far dearer to thy woman’s heart than all the wealth of earth. What store of deep and holy joy is opened to thy […]

Gentle Lily with this Album my warmest wishes take,I know its pages oft thou’lt ope and prize it for my sake,For, though a trifling offering, it bears the magic spellOf coming from the hand of one who loves thee passing well. O could thy young life’s course be traced by will or wish of mine,A […]

They grew together side by side,They filled one house with gleeTheir graves are severed far and wide–By mountain stream and tree. Mrs. Hemans They were as fair and bright a band as ever filled with prideParental hearts whose task it was children beloved to guide;And every care that love upon its idols bright may showerWas […]

The night lamp is faintly gleamingWithin my chamber still,And the heavy shades of midnightEach gloomy angle fill,And my worn and weary watchersScarce dare to move or weep,For they think that I am buriedIn deep and quiet sleep. But, hush! what are those voicesHeard on the midnight air,Of strange celestial sweetness,Breathing of love and prayer?Nearer they […]

Buried in childhood’s cloudless dreams, a fair-haired nursling lay,A soft smile hovered round the lips as if still oped to pray;And then a vision came to him, of beauty, strange and mild,Such as may only fill the dreams of a pure sinless child. Stood by his couch an angel fair, with radiant, glitt’ring wingsOf hues […]

“Child of my love, why wearest thouThat pensive look and thoughtful brow?Can’st gaze abroad on this world so fairAnd yet thy glance be fraught with care?Roses still bloom in glowing dyes,Sunshine still fills our summer skies,Earth is still lovely, nature glad–Why dost thou look so lone and sad?” “Ah! mother it once sufficed thy childTo […]

I sit by the fire musing,With sad and downcast eye,And my laden breast gives utt’ranceTo many a weary sigh;Hushed is each worldly feeling,Dimmed is each day-dream bright–O heavy heart, can’st tell meWhy I’m so sad to-night? ‘Tis not that I mourn the freshnessOf youth fore’er gone by–Its life with pulse high springing,Its cloudless, radiant eye–Finding […]

O say, dear sister, are you comingForth to the fields with me?The very air is gaily ringingWith hum of bird and bee,And crowds of swallows now are chirpingUp in our ancient thorn,And earth and air are both rejoicing,On this gay summer morn. Shall we hie unto the streamlet’s sideTo seek our little boat,And, plying our […]

A Boy’s Hopes

Story type: Poetry

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Dear mother, dry those flowing tears,They grieve me much to see;And calm, oh! calm thine anxious fears–What dost thou dread for me?‘Tis true that tempests wild oft rideAbove the stormy main,But, then, in Him I will confideWho doth their bounds ordain. I go to win renown and fameUpon the glorious sea;But still my heart will […]

Whilst others give thee wond’rous toys,Or jewels rich and rare,I bring but flowers–more meet are theyFor one so young and fair. ‘Tis not because that snowy browMight with the lily vie,Or violet match the starry glanceOf that dark, lustrous eye; Nor yet because a brighter blushE’en rose leaf never wore,But ’tis that in their leaves […]

Why turn from me thus with such petulant pride,When I ask thee, sweet Edith, to be my bride;When I offer the gift of heart fond and true,And with loyalty seek thy young love to woo?With patience I’ve waited from week unto week,And at length I must openly, candidly speak. But why dost thou watch me […]

TO MY HUSBAND ON OUR WEDDING-DAY. I leave for thee, beloved one,The home and friends of youth,Trusting my hopes, my happiness,Unto thy love and truth;I leave for thee my girlhood’s joys,Its sunny, careless mirth,To bear henceforth my share amidThe many cares of earth. And yet, no wild regret I giveTo all that now I leave,The […]

To My First Born

Story type: Poetry

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Fair tiny rosebud! what a tideOf hidden joy, o’erpow’ring, deep,Of grateful love, of woman’s pride,Thrills through my heart till I must weepWith bliss to look on thee, my son,My first born child–my darling one! What joy for me to sit and gazeUpon thy gentle, baby face,And, dreaming of far distant days,With mother’s weakness strive to […]

Given And Taken

Story type: Poetry

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The snow-flakes were softly fallingAdown on the landscape white,When the violet eyes of my first bornOpened unto the light;And I thought as I pressed him to me,With loving, rapturous thrill,He was pure and fair as the snow-flakesThat lay on the landscape still. I smiled when they spoke of the wearyLength of the winter’s night,Of the […]

The Young Novice

Story type: Poetry

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The lights yet gleamed on the holy shrine, the incense hung around,But the rites were o’er, the silent church re-echoed to no sound;Yet kneeling there on the altar steps, absorbed in ardent prayer,Is a girl, as seraph meek and pure–as seraph heav’nly fair. The blue eyes, veiled by the lashes long that rest on that […]

Amid the flowers of a garden gladeA lovely rose tree smiled,And the sunbeams shone, the zephyrs played,‘Round the gardens favorite child;And the diamond dew-drops glistening fellOn each rose’s silken vest,Whilst light winged bee and butterfly gayOn the soft leaves loved to rest. But one morn while a sunbeam brightLit up its delicate bloom,And a zephyr […]

Flirtation

Story type: Poetry

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Yes, leave my side to flirt with Maude,To gaze into her eyes,To whisper in her ear sweet words,And low impassioned sighs;And though she give you glance for glance,And smile and scheme and plot,You cannot raise a jealous thought,I know you love her not. Now turn to laughing Lulu,That Witty, gay coquette,With her teeth of shining […]

To all my fond rhapsodies, Charley,You have wearily listened, I fear;As yet not an answer you’ve givenSave a shrug, or an ill-concealed sneer;Pray, why, when I talk of my marriage,Do you watch me with sorrowing eye?‘Tis you, hapless bachelor, Charley,That are to be pitied– not I! You mockingly ask me to tell you,Since to bondage […]

Sea-Shore Musings

Story type: Poetry

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How oft I’ve longed to gaze on thee,Thou proud and mighty deep!Thy vast horizon, boundless, free,Thy coast so rude and steep;And now entranced I breathless stand,Where earth and ocean meet,Whilst billows wash the golden sand,And break around my feet. Lovely thou art when dawn’s red lightSheds o’er thee its soft hue,Showing fair ships, a gallant […]

What does time whisper, youth gay and light,While thinning thy locks, silken and bright,While paling thy soft cheek’s roseate dye,Dimming the light of thy flashing eye,Stealing thy bloom and freshness away–Is he not hinting at death–decay? Man, in the wane of thy stately prime,Hear’st thou the silent warnings of Time?Look at thy brow ploughed by […]

Hush, mourning mother, wan and pale!No sobs–no grieving now:No burning tears must thou let fallUpon that cold still brow;No look of anguish cast above,Nor smite thine aching breast,But clasp thy hands and thank thy God–Thy darling is at rest. Close down those dark-fringed, snowy lidsOver the violet eyes,Whose liquid light was once as clearAs that […]

She stands in front of her mirrorWith bright and joyous air,Smoothes out with a skilful handHer waves of golden hair;But the tell tale roses on her cheek,So changing yet so bright,And downcast, earnest eye betrayNew thoughts are hers to-night. Then say what is the fairy spell,Around her beauty thrown,Lending a new and softer charmTo every […]

After The Ball

Story type: Poetry

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Silence now reigns in the corridors wide,The stately rooms of that mansion of pride;The music is hushed, the revellers gone,The glitt’ring ball-room deserted and lone,–Silence and gloom, like a clinging pall,O’ershadow the house–’tis after the ball. Yet a light still gleams in a distant room,Where sits a girl in her “first season’s bloom;”Look at her […]

‘Twas a wild and stormy sunset, changing tints of lurid redFlooded mountain top and valley and the low clouds overhead;And the rays streamed through the windows of a building stately, high,Whose wealthy, high-born master had lain him down to die. Many friends were thronging round him, breathing aching, heavy sighs–Men with pale and awe-struck faces, […]

The earth was flooded in the amber hazeThat renders so lovely our autumn days,The dying leaves softly fluttered down,Bright crimson and orange and golden brown,And the hush of autumn, solemn and still,Brooded o’er valley, plain and hill. Yet still from that scene with rare beauty rifeAnd the touching sweetness of fading life,From glowing foliage and […]

Harvests

Story type: Poetry

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Other harvests there are than those that lieGlowing and ripe ‘neath an autumn sky,Awaiting the sickle keen,Harvests more precious than golden grain,Waving o’er hillside, valley or plain,Than fruits ‘mid their leafy screen. Not alone for the preacher, man of God,Do those harvests vast enrich the sod,For all may the sickle wield;The first in proud ambition’s […]

Faded and pale their beauty, vanished their early bloom,Their folded leaves emit alone a sweet though faint perfume,But, oh! than brightest bud or flower to me are they more dear,They come from that rose-haunted land, the bright Vale of Cashmere. Cashmere! a spell is in that name! what dreams its sound awakesOf roses sweet as […]

Hush! speak in accents soft and low,And treat with careful stealthThro’ that rich curtained room which tellsOf luxury and wealth;Men of high science and of skillStand there with saddened brow,Exchanging some low whispered words–What can their art do now? Follow their gaze to yonder couchWhere moans in fitful painThe mistress of this splendid home,With aching […]

Fair as a wreath of fresh spring flowers, a band of maidens layOn the velvet sward–enjoying the golden summer day;And many a ringing silv’ry laugh on the calm air clearly fell,With fancies sweet, which their rosy lips, half unwilling, seemed to tell. They spoke, as maidens often speak, of that ideal oneBy whom the wealth […]

THE NATIVITY, FOUNDRESS OF THE CONVENT OF VILLA MARIA (MONKLANDS.) Oh, Villa Maria, thrice favored spot,Unclouded sunshine is still thy lotSince first, ‘neath thy mortal old,The spouses of Christ–working out God’s will,Meekly entered, their mission high to fill‘Mid the “little ones” of His fold. But grief’s dark hour, that to all must come,At length is […]

“The heart knoweth its own bitterness” The heart hath its moments of hopeless gloom,As rayless as is the dark night of the tomb;When the past has no spell, the future no ray,To chase the sad cloud from the spirit away;When earth, though in all her rich beauty arrayed,Hath a gloom o’er her flowers–o’er her skies […]

Autumn Winds

Story type: Poetry

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“Oh! Autumn winds, what means this plaintive wailingAround the quiet homestead where we dwell?Whence come ye, say, and what the story mournfulThat your weird voices ever seek to tell–Whispering or clamoring, beneath the casements,Rising in shriek or dying off in moan,But ever breathing, menace, fear, or anguishIn every thrilling and unearthly tone?” “We come from […]

Flowers And Stars

Story type: Poetry

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“Beloved! thou’rt gazing with thoughtful lookOn those flowers of brilliant hue,Blushing in spring tide freshness and bloom,Glittering with diamond dew:What dost thou read in each chalice fair,And what does each blossom say?Do they not tell thee, my peerless one,Thou’rt lovelier far than they?” “Not so–not so, but they whisper lowThat quickly will fade their bloom;Soon […]

Friends! do you see in yon sunset sky,That cloud of crimson bright?Soon will its gorgeous colors dieIn coming dim twilight;E’en now it fadeth ray by ray–Like it I too shall pass away! Look on yon fragile summer flowerYielding its sweet perfume;Soon shall it have lived out its hour,Its beauty and its bloom:Trampled, ’twill perish in […]

Alain’s Choice

Story type: Poetry

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By the side of a silvery streamlet,That flowed through meadows green,Lay a youth on the verge of manhoodAnd a boy of fair sixteen;And the elder spake of the future,That bright before them lay,With its hopes full of golden promiseFor some sure, distant day. And he vowed, as his dark eye kindled,He would climb the heights […]

The moon from solemn azure skyLooked down on earth below,And coldly her wan light fell alikeOn scenes of joy and woe:A stately palace reared its dome,Within reigned warmth and lightAnd festive mirth–the moon’s faint raysSoft kissed its marble white. A little farther was the homeOf toil, alas! and want,That spectre grim that countless hearthsSeems ceaselessly […]

The clouds that promise a glorious morrowAre fading slowly, one by one;The earth no more bright rays may borrowFrom her loved Lord, the golden sun;Gray evening shadows are softly creeping,With noiseless steps, o’er vale and hill;The birds and flowers are calmly sleeping;And all around is fair and still. Once loved I dearly, at this sweet […]

On The Death Of The Same Reverend Nun, The Venerable Mother St. Madeleine, Ten Years Later. In Memoriam. Grief reigns now within the convent walls,And sadly float through its silent hallsThe notes of a requiem–solemn, clear,Falling like wail on each listening ear,And with tearful eyes and features pale,With low bowed head and close drawn veil,To […]

My simple story is of those times ere the magic power of steamFirst whirled the traveller o’er the plains with the swiftness of a dream,Reducing to a few days’ time the journey of many a week,That fell of old to the miner’s lot ere he “sighted” tall Pikes Peak. ‘Neath liquid sunshine filling the air, […]

Few poets yet in praise of theeHave tuned a passing lay,Yet art thou rich in beauties stern,Thou dark browed Saguenay! And those grand charms that surely formFor earth her rarest crownOn thee, with strangely lavish hand,Have all been showered down. Thine own wild flood, so deep, so dark;That holds the gaze enthralledAs if by some […]

“Oh, Earth, where is the mantle of pleasant emerald dyeThat robed thee in sweet summer-time, and gladdened heart and eye,Adorned with blooming roses, graceful ferns and blossoms sweet,And bright green moss like velvet that lay soft beneath our feet?” “What! am I not as lovely in my garb of spotless white?Was young bride in her […]

Beneath The Snow

Story type: Poetry

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‘Twas near the close of the dying year,And December’s winds blew cold and drear,Driving the snow and sharp blinding sleetIn gusty whirls through square and street,Shrieking more wildly and fiercely stillIn the dreary grave-yard that crowns the hill. No mourners there to sorrow or pray,But soon a traveller passed that way:He paused and leant against […]

Rich And Poor

Story type: Poetry

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‘Neath the radiance faint of the starlit skyThe gleaming snow-drifts lay wide and high;O’er hill and dell stretched a mantle white,The branches glittered with crystal bright;But the winter wind’s keen icy breathWas merciless, numbing and chill as death. It clamored around a handsome pile–Abode of modern wealth and styleWhere smiling guests had gathered to greetIts […]

Lonely and silent and calm it lies‘Neath rosy dawn or midnight skies;So densely peopled, yet so still,The murmuring voice of mountain rill,The plaint the wind ‘mid branches wakes,Alone the solemn silence breaks. Whatever changes the seasons bring,–The birds, the buds of joyous spring,The glories that come with the falling yearThe snows and storms of winter […]

The dusky warriors stood in groups around the funeral pyre,The scowl upon their knotted brows betrayed their vengeful ire.It needed not the cords, the stake, the rites so stern and rude,To tell it was to be a scene of cruelty and blood. Yet ‘mid those guilt-stained men could any vile enough be foundTo harm the […]

Monument to Irish Emigrants. It will be in the recollection of many of our readers that during the famine years of 1847 and 1848 there was an unusual emigration from Ireland to Canada and the United States. Numbers of those who thus left their native land expired from ship fever, caused by utter exhaustion, before […]

Winter In Canada

Story type: Poetry

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Nay tell me not that, with shivering fear,You shrink from the thought of wintering here;That the cold intense of our winter-timeIs severe as that of Siberian clime,And, if wishes could waft you across the sea,You, to-night, in your English home would be. Remember, no hedges there now are brightWith verdure, or blossoms of hawthorn white;In […]

The Maple Tree

Story type: Poetry

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Well have Canadians chosen theeAs the emblem of their land,Thou noble, spreading maple tree,Lord of the forest grand;Through all the changes Time has made,Thy woods so deep and hoarHave given their homesteads pleasant shade,And beauty to their shore. Say, what can match in splendor rareThy foliage, brightly green,Thy leaves that wave in summer’s air,Glossy as […]

Earnest and sad the solemn taleThat the sighing winds give back,Scatt’ring the leaves with mournful wailO’er the forest’s faded track;Gay summer birds have left us nowFor a warmer, brighter clime,Where no leaden sky or leafless boughTell of change and winter-time. Reapers have gathered golden storeOf maize and ripened grain,And they’ll seek the lonely fields no […]

How hushed and still are earth and air,How languid ‘neath the sun’s fierce ray–Drooping and faint–the flowrets fair,On this hot, sultry, summer day!Vainly I watch the streamlet blueThat near my cottage home doth pass,No ripple stirs its azure hue,Still–waveless, as a sheet of glass And if I woo from yonder treesA breath of coolness for […]

On proud Mount Royal’s Eastern side,In view of St. Lawrence’s silver tide,Are two stone towers of masonry rude,With massive doors of time-darken’d wood:Traces of loop-holes are in the walls,While softly across them the sun-light falls;Around broad meadows, quiet and green,With grazing cattle–a pastoral scene. Those towers tell of a time long past,When the red man […]

“Child of the Woods, bred in leafy dell,See the palace home in which I dwell,With its lofty walls and casements wide,And objects of beauty on every side;Now, tell me, dost thou not think it blissTo dwell in a home as bright as this?” “Has my pale-faced sister never seenMy home in the pleasant forest green,With […]

He stood on the wood-crowned summitOf our mountain’s regal height,And gazed on the scene before him,By October’s golden light,And his dark eyes, earnest, thoughtful,Lit up with a softer rayAs they dwelt on the scene of beautyThat, outspread, before him lay. Like a sea of liquid silver,St. Lawrence, ‘neath the sun,Reflected the forest foliageAnd the Indian […]

In the far green depths of the forest glade,Where the hunter’s footsteps but rarely strayed,Was a darksome dell, possessed, ’twas said,By an evil spirit, dark and dread,Whose weird voice spoke in the whisperings lowOf that haunted wood, and the torrent’s flow. There an Indian girl sat silent, lone,From her lips came no plaint or stifled […]

The White Canoe

Story type: Poetry

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A LEGEND OF NIAGARA FALLS. In days long gone by it was the custom of the Indian warriors of the forest to assemble at the Great Cataract and offer a human sacrifice to the Spirit of the Falls. The offering consisted of a white canoe, full of ripe fruits and blooming flowers, which was paddled […]

Ash-Wednesday

Story type: Poetry

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Glitt’ring balls and thoughtless revelsFill up now each misspent night–‘Tis the reign of pride and folly,The Carnival is at its height.Every thought for siren pleasure,And its sinful, feverish mirth;Who can find one moment’s leisureFor aught else save things of earth? But, see, sudden stillness fallingO’er those revels, late so loud,And a hush comes quickly overAll […]

I have passed the day ‘mid the forest gay,In its gorgeous autumn dyes,Its tints as bright and as fair to the sightAs the hues of our sunset skies;And the sun’s glad rays veiled by golden haze,Streamed down ‘neath its arches grand,And with magic power made scene and hourLike a dream of Faerie Land. The emerald […]

Come to the casement, we’ll watch the snowSoftly descending on earth below,Fairer and whiter than spotless downOr the pearls that gleam in a monarch’s crown,Clothing the earth in its robe’s bright flow;Is it not lovely–the pure white snow? See, as it falls o’er the landscape wide,How kindly it seeks all blots to hide,Shrouding each black, […]

The rose-tints have faded from out of the West,From the Mountain’s high peak, from the river’s broad breast.And, silently shadowing valley and rill,The twilight steals noiselessly over the hill.Behold, in the blue depths of ether afar,Now softly emerging each glittering star;While, later, the moon, placid, solemn and bright,Floods earth with her tremulous, silvery light. Hush! […]

The Recollect Church.* [* In process of demolition when this poem was written. The Recollect Friars purchased the ground on which the church in question was built in 1692, and on it they constructed a temporary chapel. The actual edifice, however, was not erected till about the year 1706. The order is now extinct. After […]

We welcome thy coming, bright, sunny Spring,To this snow-clad land of ours,For sunshine and music surround thy steps,Thy pathway is strewn with flowers;And vainly stern Winter, with brow of gloom,Attempted for awhileTo check thy coming–he had to bowTo the might of thy sunny smile. A touch of thy wand, and our streams and lakesAre freed […]

He sat by the dusty way-side,With weary, hopeless mien,On his furrowed brow the tracesOf care and want were seen;With outstretched hand and with bowed-down headHe asked the passers-by for bread. The palm-tree’s feathery foliageAround him thickly grew,And the smiling sky above himWore Syria’s sun-bright hue;But dark alike to that helpless oneWas murky midnight or noon-tide […]

O aptly named, Illustrious One!Thou art that flower fairThat filled this vast and changeful worldWith mystic perfume rare–Shedding on all the balmy breathOf countless virtues high,Rising like fragrant odours rich,To God’s far, beauteous sky. Mystical Rose! O aptly named!For, as ‘mid brightest flowersThe lovely Rose unquestioned reignsThe Queen of Nature’s bowers,So ‘mid the daughters fair […]

The place is fair and tranquil, Judaea’s cloudless skySmiles down on distant mountain, on glade and valley nigh,And odorous winds bring fragrance from palm-tops darkly green,And olive trees whose branches wave softly o’er the scene. Whence comes the awe-struck feeling that fills the gazer’s breast,The breath, quick-drawn and panting, the awe, the solemn rest?What strange […]

In the hour of grief and sorrow,When my heart is full of care,Seeking sadly hope to borrowFrom heaven’s promises and prayer;When around me roll the watersOf affliction’s stormy sea,Mary, gentle Queen of Mercy,In that hour, oh! pray for me! When life’s pulses high are boundingWith the tide of earthly joy,And when in mine ears are […]

O Madonna, pure and holy,From sin’s dark stain ever free,Refuge of the sinner lowly,I come–I come to thee!Now with wreaths of sinful pleasureYet my tresses twined among;From the dance’s giddy measure,From the idle jest and song. See! I tear away the flowersFrom my perfumed golden hair,Closely tended in past hoursWith such jealous, sinful care;Never more […]

( Written during sickness ). Soul —Oh! say must I leave this world of lightWith its sparkling streams and sunshine bright,Its budding flowers, its glorious sky?Vain ’tis to ask me–I cannot die! Angel —But, sister, list! in the realms above,That happy home of eternal love,Are flowers more fair, and skies more clearThan those thou dost […]

The Vesper Hour

Story type: Poetry

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Soft and holy Vesper Hour–Precursor of the night–How I love thy soothing power,The hush, the fading light;Raising those vain thoughts of oursTo higher, holier things–Mingling gleams from Eden’s bowersWith earth’s imaginings! How thrilling in some grand old faneTo hear the Vesper prayerRise, with the organ’s solemn strain,On incense-laden air;While the last dying smiles of dayAthwart […]

The noontide sun streamed brightly downMoriah’s mountain crest,The golden blaze of his vivid raysTinged sacred Jordan’s breast;While towering palms and flowerets sweet,Drooped low ‘neath Syria’s burning heat. In the sunny glare of the sultry airToiled up the mountain sideThe Patriarch sage in stately age,And a youth in health’s gay pride,Bearing in eyes and in features […]

‘Twas not a palace proud and fairHe chose for His first home;No dazz’ling pile of grandeur rare,With pillar’d hall and dome;Oh no! a stable, rude and poor,Received Him at His birth;And thus was born, unknown, obscure,The Lord of Heaven and Earth. No band of anxious menials there,To tend the new-born child,Joseph alone and Mary fairUpon […]

The Purification

Story type: Poetry

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Softly the sunbeams gleamed athwart the Temple proud and high–Built up by Israel’s wisest to the Lord of earth and sky–Lighting its gorgeous fretted roof, and every sacred foldOf mystic veil–from gaze profane that hid the ark of old. Ne’er could man’s gaze have rested on a scene more rich and bright:Agate and porphyry–precious gems–cedar […]

Close beside the crystal waters of Jacob’s far-famed well,Whose dewy coolness gratefully upon the parched air fell,Reflecting back the bright hot heavens within its waveless breast,Jesus, foot-sore and weary, had sat Him down to rest. Alone was He–His followers had gone to Sichar near,Whose roofs and spires rose sharply against the heavens clear,For food which […]

With what a flood of wondrous thoughtsEach Christian breast must swellWhen, wandering back through ages past,With simple faith they dwellOn quiet Nazareth’s sacred sod,Where the Child Saviour’s footsteps trod. Awe-struck we picture to ourselvesThat brow serene and fair,That gentle face, the long rich curlsOf wavy golden hair,And those deep wondrous, star-like eyes,Holy and calm as […]

The Ten Lepers

Story type: Poetry

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‘Neath the olives of Samaria, in far-famed Galilee,Where dark green vines are mirrored in a placid silver sea,‘Mid scenes of tranquil beauty, glowing sun-sets, rosy dawn,The Master and disciples to the city journeyed on. And, as they neared a valley where a sheltered hamlet lay,A strange, portentous wailing made them pause upon their way–Voices fraught […]