p. 188 | The Home Circle by Joel Swartz

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Mar 23, 1888

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 14, No. 12.

The Home Circle.

By Joel Swartz

RETROSPECTION.

LIFE'S pilgrim looks from peak to peak, Across a hazy vale of years, In whose soft light he loves to seek Each desert step or fount of tears.

Each obvious cliff or stream or hill, Which marks the intervening way, Though distant, seems familiar still, But fairer in the grand survey.

Thus do the long receding years, Contracting into months and days, Throw o'er life's rugged toils and tears A softening and a golden haze.

'Tis but the large events we see Which turned our feet, as round a slope, Down thro' some vale of agony, Or up some sun-lit cliff of hope.

Thanks for the hazy, golden hue, Which rounds the angles of the past, And from the whole presents a view So mellow and so sweet at last.

Thus may the charity of friends, Broad as the bending heavens above, Drop where each pilgrim's journey ends The softening mantle of its love. —Joel Swartz, D. D., in N. Y. Observer.