Sunshine through the Shadows

500 IMPROVEMENT ERA.

of California. Enough material is at hand to show that the cave- dwellers date unquestionably from glacial times.

SUNSHINE THROUGH THE SHADOWS. WRITTEN FOR THE IMPROVEMENT ERA.

What use to spend our precious time in grieving About some real or fancied woe or wrong? Make it a poem your burdened heart relieving; Tis sorrow gives to earth her sweetest song.

Oft our inspired thoughts are made the sweetest By melancholy mingling in the strain; The fairest flowers would wither in the sunshine, Did not God send to earth refreshing rain.

The friends beloved, whom we so fondly cherish, Gain greater friendship through the test of years; Love born of happiness alone, must perish; True love is sanctified through sorrow's tears.

The oak tree gains its strength by being wrested By storm and tempest, finding firmer hold; Love's choicest flowers by sorrow must be tested, And purified by tears as they unfold. I loved not thee, beloved, when youthful pleasure And earth's ambitions lured us on to fame; 'Twas when we parted with our precious treasure I loved thee truly, after sorrow came.

I loved not God so well when his choice blessings Descended bounteously upon my head. As when deep sorrow came my soul distressing, And all my earthly hopes lay crushed and dead. The human heart by sorrow must be furrowed. The seed of Love be moistened with Grief's tears; The human soul by sufferings must be harrowed. If we would reap Love's fruit in coming years. —Annie G. Lauritzen. Richfield, Utah, 1903.