A Jewish Band of Hope.

The good alone are great.—Beattie.

Warm was the weather, and the sun was bright—
The lake lay ruffled by a gentle breeze;
Flowers were a-bloom in valley and on height,
And birds were warbling wild among the trees.

While Jewish mothers stood with anxious looks,
Watching the ranks of a young Naz'rite band:
As through the streets they marched to leafy nooks,
That fringed the bay above its pebbly strand.

Unto the cymbal's clash and timbrel's sound.
Merrily went they from the dusty town,
All through sweet orange groves, and orchards round
To thy my banks where each sat quiet down.

Then dainties rare were passed on every hand,
In painted baskets, lovely to the sight;
page 13 And fruits, the produce fair of many a land,
Were shared to please the youthful Nazarite.

The feasting over, up the merry bands
Arose and rambled round the sunny shore;
Some, mermaid-like, upon the yellow sands, [o'er.
Waded, and splashed, and sprayed each other

Others as gleesome, clomb the mossy rocks,
And, hid in pleasant arbours out of reach,
Were soon discovered by their flowing locks,
And dragged' mid laughter to the shingly beach.

Sated with mirth, with play nigh overdone,
They gather, listening to a leader true;
An ancient Rabbi, head-bare in the sun,
Descants on drinking to the wearied crew:

How Noah fell, and Eli's hopeful race
Belied the promise of their early youth;
How drinking ever leaves its baneful trace,
And lures its victim far from Love and Truth.

The speaker done, up rose a joyful shout
From many a youthful throat upon the grass;
And many a rock the echo bore about,
And carried far beyond the mountain pass.

Apart, a Boy from Nazareth silent stood,
And seemed to ponder on the glorious scene;
Then slowly, sadly, walking to the wood,
As homeward went the Youth, he passed unseen.

page 14

To find Bethsaida now we vainly strive,
The town's a ruin, all the people gone;
Yet four of her young Naz'rite band survive—
St. Andrew, Peter, James, and loving John.