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LINES ADDRESSED TO M. FAIRLIE, Esq., VIEWFIELD HOUSE,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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132

LINES ADDRESSED TO M. FAIRLIE, Esq., VIEWFIELD HOUSE,

ON RECEIVING HIS PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAIT.

My valued friend, long tried and true,
Thanks warm, sincere, I render you,
And haste to say with high regard
I viewed your photographic card.
Your form and features pleased to scan,
God's noblest work, an honest man.
To calls of business prompt and ready,
In principle and practice steady;
Of honour bright, unstained, unsullied,
Calm, civil, yet must not be bullied;
No pleasure-seeker, given to roam,
And why? you answer, “Home, sweet home.”
A gentle, graceful, loving wife,
A babe the angel of my life,
And duteous children growing up
To prop my life and wreathe my cup
With flowers and fruits of filial love.
May peace on earth, a home above,
Be theirs—the mimic form to trace
No more, but seeing face to face
All these to whom such bliss is given:
They take no photographs in heaven.