Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: The Indian has toil'd in the dusky mine, For the gold that has made him a slave; Or, plucking the pearl from the sea-god's shrine, Has tempted the wrath of the wave But ne'er has he sought, with a love like mine, The flower that holds the heart in thrall; Oh ! rather I'd win that charm divine, Than their gold and their pearl and all! I've sought it by day, from morn till eve, I've won it—in dreams at night; And then how I grieve my couch to leave, And sigh at the morning's light: Yet sometimes I think in a hopeful hour, The blissful moment I yet may see To win the fair flower from the fairy's bower And give it, love—to thee. THE RING AND THE WINDING-SHEET. Why sought you not the silent bower, The bower, nor hawthorn tree ; Why came you not at evening hour, Why came you not to me ? Say, does thy heart beat colder now, Oh ! tell me, truly tell, Than when you kissed my burning brow. When last you said " Farewell " ? As late my taper I illumed, To sigh and watch for thee, It soon thy mystic form assumed, Which lovers smile to see ; But fondly while I gazed upon And trimm'd the flame with care, The pledge of plighted love was gone, The sign of death t was there ! Oh say, was this forboding truth ? And wilt thou break thy vow ? And wilt thou blight my opening youth ? And must I—must I now Meet death's embrace for that chaste kiss, That holy kiss you vow'd J And must I for my bridal dress, Be mantled in the shroud 1 A small exfoliation of wax from the candle, called, by the superstitious, "a ring," and considered indicative of marriage. t When this waxen symbol, instead of being circular, becomes lengthened and pendulous, it is then called " a winding-sheet," and forebodes death. THE ANGEL'S WHI...