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sabbath days.
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SABBATH DAYS.
THE dear old Sabbath days,
The quiet Sabbath days of long ago!
Across these shadeless ways
The upstart mornings boldly come and go.
None lingers on our gaze,—
No Sabbath now will shine upon us so.

Those gentle days are gone,
At our unworthy doors their dust off-shaken.
No more that noiseless dawn,
For which no other dawn could be mistaken,—
The reverent night withdrawn,—
Looks at us with calm eyes, till we awaken.

If any straggler walked
Through the hushed town, he met a spirit there,
That with his conscience talked
In low upbraidings, murmured through the air.
The very wild birds flocked
To the safe shelter of the house of prayer.