Page:Songs, Legends, and Ballads.djvu/329

Rh Ere that brief day was o'er, from far and near The children gathered, wondering; and though fear Of scenes a long time shunned at first restrained. The spell was broken, and soon naught remained But gladsome features, where of old was dearth Of happy things and cheery sounds of mirth. The lizards fled, the snakes and bright-eyed things Found other homes, where childhood never sings; And all because poor Jacob, old and wild, White-haired and fur-clad, was himself a child. Each day he lived amid these scenes, his ear Heard far-off voices growing still more clear; And that dim light that first he saw in gleams Now left him only in his troubled dreams.

From far away the children loved to come And play and work with Jacob at his home. He learned their simple words with childish lip, And told them often of a white-sailed ship That sailed across a mighty sea, and found A beauteous harbor, all encircled round