 | [Songs and sketches] |  |
THE INDIAN BOYS.
Shady and cool their home lay hid,
Where first the violet weaves
Its vernal beauty with the rose,
Among the forest leaves.
Where first the violet weaves
Its vernal beauty with the rose,
Among the forest leaves.
10
Where iris blossoms strew the sod,
And kalmias bloom around,
And where the green-sward meets the lake,
They had their sporting ground.
And kalmias bloom around,
And where the green-sward meets the lake,
They had their sporting ground.
Their wigwam opened on the vine,
That o'er its rafters hung;
And robins, building near the spot,
Above their roof-tree sung.
That o'er its rafters hung;
And robins, building near the spot,
Above their roof-tree sung.
Each morn they woke to brush the dew
From many a bush and lea,
And all their noon-day paths sloped down
Beside the chestnut tree.
From many a bush and lea,
And all their noon-day paths sloped down
Beside the chestnut tree.
They sought the hiding squirrel's nest,
Far up the woody hill,
And bathed their reeking foreheads cool
In bubbling mountain rill.
Far up the woody hill,
And bathed their reeking foreheads cool
In bubbling mountain rill.
They watched the stars drop silently,
On darkling bough and plain,
And they loved to hear the merry chime
Of summer evening rain;
On darkling bough and plain,
And they loved to hear the merry chime
Of summer evening rain;
They saw the early golden moon
Rise from her wavy bower,
And in her beams they chased the bat
From out his leafy tower.
Rise from her wavy bower,
And in her beams they chased the bat
From out his leafy tower.
11
They miss these haunts—the city air
To them no music brings,
They pine for brook and water-fall,
Where Nature ever sings.
To them no music brings,
They pine for brook and water-fall,
Where Nature ever sings.
They droop amid the noise and glare,
They sigh for fount and glen,—
Oh, take them back, far, far away,
To their own home again.
They sigh for fount and glen,—
Oh, take them back, far, far away,
To their own home again.
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