God's Gift: A Mother

God's Gift— a Mother

When sunshine bathes the purple hills,

Full many a truant, golden beam

Will steal down through the alder frills

And twinkle in the mountain stream:

So smiles oft bathe the countenance

Of one I love and idolize,

They steal into her loving heart

And twinkle in her kindly eyec.

As fleecy clouds sail high above,

When summer-time is on the wane,

I watch the shadows as they move

Across the fields of rip'ning grain,

And think of that sweet, wrinkled face,

Beneath a crown of silver hair,

O'er which the shadows often chase,

Caused by some drifting cloud of care.

Thus light and shadow deftly blend

Within the soul God gave to be

My mother, counselor, and friend,

On earth and through eternity.

Denver, Colo. Samuel H. Fletcher.

Thoughts of a Farmer

By Dr. Joseph M. Tanner