Classic Poem

“M Y husband's second wife am I,—
The first had early died;
Two little ones she left behind;
And I her place supplied.

But they, when first I came to them,
By strange ideas misled,
Me for their own dear mother took,
And thus the elder said:—

‘O mother, mother, up in Heaven,
How long you've been away!
But now that you've at last come back,
We hope you come to stay.’

Then with a tear, I thus replied,—
Kissing the little brow,—
‘My child, I am not her; you have
Another mother now.

O happy things! to whom the Lord
Has two fond mothers given;—
One to protect them here, and one
To pray for them in Heaven!’”

Such was the tale that once I heard
Beneath Helvetia's sky;—
A lady of Geneva's sect,
Geneva's creed bely!

O Nature, Nature! thou art strong;—
False creeds their work may do;
But Truth and thou, I think, ere long
Will break an entrance through.