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Female Scriptural Characters: Hannah

No. X.

By Mrs. R. Hyneman.

HANNAH.

A Picture rises from the buried past,
A mother and her boy stand limned there
In act to part. Not for a little space,
Not for a childish holiday, nor yet,
In the death-struggle; sickness hath not paled
The roseate flush upon that blooming cheek,
Nor dimmed the gladness of that clear, bright eye;
And his sweet ringing laugh comes gushingly,
As from a heart untainted yet by care.
And she, that fair young mother, with low voice,
And with a struggle to force back her tears,
Thus breathes her sad farewell:

“Again I return to my desolate dwelling,
    No child’s gentle accents will fall on my ear,
But memory will point to the deep fount of pleasure
    My lonely heart treasures in holiness here.

“Thou wert asked of my God, and to Him I resign thee,
    A sacrifice worthy, a gilt undefiled;
He heard my lone prayer, and sent thee to cheer me,
    Bright hope of my bosom, my innocent child!

“Oh, would not that bosom be more than ungrateful,
    If its own selfish promptings would plead for thee now,
If the joy of thy presence could make me unmindful
    Of all my soul pledged in that grief-stricken vow!

“Go, stainless and pure; may the Being thou servest,
    The God of thy fathers, Watch over thee still;
From childhood till age may all heavenly blessings
    Float o’er thee like sunlight and shield thee from ill.

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“Go, ere the cold world casts a shadow to darken
    Thy glorious pathway, or dim thy career;
Ere thy young heart repents o’er a sin-blighted moment,
    Or thy cheek feels the shame of a penitent tear.

“I return to my home, but thy image goes with me,
    And though the lip writhe, and the throbbing heart swell,
I may not embitter thy young spirit’s gladness,
    Nor dim by a tear-drop, my mournful farewell!”