THE PICTURE.
(OF JAMES LOWELL PUTNAM, IN ATHENÆUM GALLERY.)
A calm, sweet face, with earnest eyes
And thoughtful brow, full-arched above it,
A mouth whose graveness won surprise,
Whose tender sweetness made one love it;
A face that told how souls aspire
That look beyond to-day's revealing;
A boy, with all of manhood's fire,—
A man, with all of boyhood's feeling.
And thoughtful brow, full-arched above it,
A mouth whose graveness won surprise,
Whose tender sweetness made one love it;
A face that told how souls aspire
That look beyond to-day's revealing;
A boy, with all of manhood's fire,—
A man, with all of boyhood's feeling.
They told his life, his honored name,
His spotless worth, his spirit's beauty,
His few fair years—yet known to fame,
His sacrifice for right and duty:
His earnest love, his winning grace,—
But while they spoke of death and glory,
I only read the silent face,
And dreamed its eyes told all the story.
His spotless worth, his spirit's beauty,
His few fair years—yet known to fame,
His sacrifice for right and duty:
His earnest love, his winning grace,—
But while they spoke of death and glory,
I only read the silent face,
And dreamed its eyes told all the story.
The soul that waited not for time,
But sprang at once to perfect flower,
When the first peal of freedom's chime
Rang out for the appointed hour;
The answering cry, the answering hand,
Which brooked no weak or base delay,
But, swift for God and native land,
Flung life and all it loved away;
But sprang at once to perfect flower,
When the first peal of freedom's chime
Rang out for the appointed hour;
The answering cry, the answering hand,
Which brooked no weak or base delay,
But, swift for God and native land,
Flung life and all it loved away;
Yet saw beyond his loss the gain,
And laid, with step that would not falter,
His blessed gift of love and pain,
An offering fair, on Freedom's altar:
Wrapped all the future from his sight,
Thrust back the ties he might not sever,
Then proud, as one who walks in light,
Gave up himself to God forever!
And laid, with step that would not falter,
His blessed gift of love and pain,
An offering fair, on Freedom's altar:
Wrapped all the future from his sight,
Thrust back the ties he might not sever,
Then proud, as one who walks in light,
Gave up himself to God forever!