Page:Pieces People Ask For.djvu/99

Rh Jem's faithful steeds had served him long, of mettle true and tried: One sought in vain for trace of blows upon their glossy hide; And to each low command he spoke, the leader's nervous ear Bent eager, as a lover waits his mistress' voice to hear.

With ringing crack the leathern whip, that else had idly hung, Kept time for many a rapid mile to English songs he sung; And yet, despite his smile, he seemed a lonely man to be, With not one soul to claim him kin on this side of the sea.

But after I had known him long, one mellow evening-time He told me of his English Rose, who withered in her prime; And how, within the churchyard green, he laid her down to rest With her sweet babe, a blighted bud, upon her frozen breast.

"I could not stay," he said, "where she had left me all alone! The very hedge-rose that she loved, I could not look upon. I could not hear the mavis sing, or see the long grass wave, And every little daisy-bank seemed but my darling's grave.

"Yet somehow—why, I cannot tell—but when I wandered here, I seemed to bring her with me too, that once had been so dear. I love these mountain summits, where the world is in the sky, For she is in it too,—my love!—and so I bring her nigh."

Next week I rode with Jem again. The coach was full, that day, And there were little children there, that pleased us with their play. A sweet-faced mother brought her pair of rosy, bright-eyed girls, And boy like one I left at home, with silken yellow curls.

We took fresh horses at Girard's, and as he led them out— A vicious pair they seemed to me—I heard the hostler shout,