The Contrast: A Poem

THE DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVID UALITY IN CHILDREN. 889

with them, study them, play with them, read with them, pray with them; and then place them and yourselves in the hands of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps, and "He will give His angels charge concerning" these lives of your life, and in the end your glad ears shall hear, ' 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."

Salt Lake City, Utah.

THE CONTRAST.

BY ALFRED OSMOND, PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH, BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY.

(For the Improvement Era )

Love swept with his passion-fingers Love swept with his passion-fingers The harp of a maiden's life; The harp of a maiden's life, But no music of joy now lingers And the music of joy still lingers In the soul of the weeping wife. In the soul of the trusting wife.

While fairies of life were weaving Soon the fairies of life were weaving Their crown for the mother's brow, Their crown for the mother's brow,

The serpent of sin was breathing Till the sigh of her infant's breathing

Distrust in the father's vow. Was as sweet as her lover's vow.

And the harp of her soul was playing And the harp of her soul was playing The dirges of faithless love, The airs of an ardent love, As the cherubs of life came straying As the cherubs of life came straying From the realms of the stars above. From the realms of the stars above.

Thus the life of a trusting maiden Thus the life of this noble mother, Was ruined and cast away, Enriched with its years of bliss,

madness, it sought that Aiden Till, in Advanced to the realms of another Where honor and truth bear sway. That is sweeter by far than this.

Provo, Utah.