 | Lyrical Poems |  |
86
THE COTTAGE MANSE.
—By the liberality for which the Free Church is so famous, very few of these cottage vicarages are now to be seen; but the verses in the text refer to a period shortly after the Disruption, when Free Church manses were not known.
The little cot on the hill side
So brown and bare,
The lonely cot all white and trim,
On the swift mountain torrent's brim,
Where the old ash-tree's shattered pride
Tells tales of many a storm defied—
Who liveth there?
So brown and bare,
The lonely cot all white and trim,
On the swift mountain torrent's brim,
Where the old ash-tree's shattered pride
Tells tales of many a storm defied—
Who liveth there?
Who liveth there? —no common man,
A man of God.
Though now within this lowly cot
He shares the humble peasant's lot,
Late, when a public-stationed man,
A large house on a goodly plan
Was his abode.
A man of God.
Though now within this lowly cot
He shares the humble peasant's lot,
Late, when a public-stationed man,
A large house on a goodly plan
Was his abode.
87
A minister of sacred things,
He bound together,
By higher ties than human law,
The men that shared his faith with awe,
He had his seat at power's right hand,
And lords and ladies of the land
Did call him brother.
He bound together,
By higher ties than human law,
The men that shared his faith with awe,
He had his seat at power's right hand,
And lords and ladies of the land
Did call him brother.
But when a fatal strife arose,
Hard choice compelling,
Snapping old bonds of Church and State,
Not with himself held he debate,
But with a faithful foot unbought,
He with his loved ones sadly sought
This low-roofed dwelling.
Hard choice compelling,
Snapping old bonds of Church and State,
Not with himself held he debate,
But with a faithful foot unbought,
He with his loved ones sadly sought
This low-roofed dwelling.
And here he lives, and serves his God
On this bare spot;
And, though no more in pride he stand
Before the mighty of the land,
A dear and a devoted few
Surround with love, and service true,
His humble cot.
On this bare spot;
And, though no more in pride he stand
Before the mighty of the land,
A dear and a devoted few
Surround with love, and service true,
His humble cot.
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