 | Studies in verse (1865) |  |
85
And fostered up a niece beside his child;
And made her as a daughter in his home.
For he had pledged his sister near her death
That he would love the child and shelter it.
But Lucy Moore was elder of a year
Than Ruth: and these together in one nest,
Each orphan of her mother, throve and grew.
And now the tranquil, secret influence
Of day and year and season, like the air
And wind and sunny blue that set the bud,
Moulded the cottage maidens, like a dream,
Into the fragrant germ of womanhood.
| Studies in verse (1865) | |