University of Virginia Library

LIGHT FOR THE STRAYING.

“Every night,” said Mr. Peggotty, as re'glar as the night comes, the candle must be stood in its old pane of glass, that if ever she should see it, it may seem to say, “Come back, my child, come back!” —David Copperfield.

Yes I must go, since she has gone,
Who was our hope and pride;
She brought the sunshine to our home,
Who's turned it all aside;

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Yet now, though outcast she may be,
She's still our darling Emily.
“Our home! she used to love the place,
Though it is rude and poor;
And oft it welcomed her sweet face,
When coming o'er the moor.
Poor child! perhaps in princely bowers,
She sighs for hearts as warm as ours.
And soon he'll weary, he who strove,
To lure her from an old man's hearth;
And lone, heart-broken she will rove,
A wretched outcast o'er the earth.
Ah! let me go—I cannot rest,
Till her dear head lies on my breast.
Yet stay! should she return, poor child,
A weary dove to sheltering ark,
When o'er the moor she wanders wild;
She must not find the cabin dark.
O place each night within the pane
A light, for fear she'll come again.
Ah! may it draw her back once more,
And lead her from the path of sin;
And should she come heart-sick and sore,
O chide her not, but take her in;
You loved her, and I know you'll be,
Gentle and kind to Emily.”
O warm true heart! if such as thou
Wert moving on this earth of ours,
How bright would glow life's darken'd bough,

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With rainbow gleams 'mid beauteous flowers;
Where withered leaf and branches bare,
Hang mournfull in the chilly air.
O place the light in darkened pane,
And let its kindly ray
Allure from wind, and storm and rain,
All wanderers gone astray;
Weary and faint, without a home,
They rove the dreary moors alone.
More lights in alleys dark and damp,
Where all is wintry, cold and chill,
O place within a friendly lamp;
To guide the outcast o'er the sill,
And lure her from the paths of sin,
To pitying hearts that beat within.