p. 1 | CHOICE by Charlotte M. Packard

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 40.

CHOICE.

By Charlotte M. Packard

ONE turning backward, though her heart delays, To the old sweetness of familiar ways; One faring on, with courage nursed through tears, To meet the unknown promise of the years.

Back tho' the sunshine, though with loitering feet, One to unlifted shadows doth retreat, And Fancy reads her tale in briefest lines: “Orpah returneth unto Baal's shrines!”

Little she dreams, the wise and tender Ruth, What dower is hers of an immortal youth; That into every clime, in days afar, Her life shall gleam like a pure Syrian star!

Life's still-recurring mystery of choice; One heeds, and one rejects, the inward voice; Dimly may mortal vision trace the end, How paths to glory or to blackness trend.

The hours of Destiny no louder strike, Yet wary souls hear not all hours alike. Two mountain streams, a pebble may divide; This shrinks to sand, that finds the eternal tide! —Charlotte M. Packard.