The kind of a man for me and you!
However little of worth we do
He credits full, and abides in trust
That time will teach us how more is just.
He walks abroad, and he meets all kinds
Of querulous and uneasy minds,
And, sympathizing, he shares the pain
Of the doubts that rack us, heart and brain;
And, knowing this, as we grasp his hand,
We are surely coming to understand!
He looks on sin with pitying eyes--
E'en as the Lord, since Paradise,--
Else, should we read, "Though our sins should glow
As scarlet, they shall be white as snow"?--
And, feeling still, with a grief half glad,
That the bad are as good as the good are bad,
He strikes straight out for the Right--and he
Is the kind of a man for you and me!
[Illustration]
"HOW DID YOU REST, LAST NIGHT?"
"How did you rest, last night?"--
I've heard my gran'pap say
Them words a thousand times--that's right--
Jes them words thataway!
As punctchul-like as morning dast
To ever heave in sight
Gran'pap 'ud allus haf to ast--
"How did you rest, last night?"
[Illustration]
Us young-uns used to grin,
At breakfast, on the sly,
And mock the wobble of his chin
And eyebrows belt so high
And kind: _"How did you rest, last night?"_
We'd mumble and let on
Our voices trimbled, and our sight
Was dim, and hearin' gone.
* * * * *
Bad as I used to be,
All I'm a-wantin' is
As puore and ca'm a sleep fer me
And sweet a sleep as his!
And so I pray, on Jedgment Day
To wake, and with its light
See _his_ face dawn, and hear him say--
"How did you rest, last night?"
[Illustration]
[Illustration]