"It will be always seen by One,
Who knows each wrong that you have done;
And I shall know it too, no doubt,
For sin must always find you out.
"I cannot let you here to-day
With me and little sisters stay;
But you must go up stairs alone,
Till you a better boy have grown."
[Illustration]
THE BALLAD.
[Illustration: Letter C.]
"Come hither, little brothers,
And listen now to me,
And I will read a story
To both, while at my knee."
Then Johnnie's flag hung idly,
And Charlie hushed his drum;
To hear sweet Mary's story
The mimic soldiers come.
"'Tis of a boy no larger,
My little Charles, than you;
But he had been in battle,
And all its terrors knew.
"His father was a captain;
He had no child beside;
And while he was an infant
His mother dear had died.
"And so from camp to battle,
From fight to camp again,
Had lived, this little hero,
On many a bloody plain.
"One day, when shouts were loudest
Upon the reddened field,--
When came the victor's war-cry,
'See! see! they fly! they yield!'--
"Forth then, to seek his father,
He went with eager joy;
But with a chance ball wounded,
Low lay the fearless boy!
"The son of a brave chieftain,
He made no sigh or groan;
His father's hand yet tighter
He clasped within his own!
"And so, when strife was ended,
No more to be begun,
In conquest's very moment
Thus fell the chieftain's son.
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