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Show AN OLD SWEETHEART OF MINE As ono who cons nt evening o'er nn album all alone, And muses on tho faces ot tho friends that ho has known, So I turn the 'leaves of fancy " till, In shadowy design, . ' . ; , I find tho smiling features of an old sweetheart of mine. , Tho, lamplight seems to glimmer with a.fllckcr of surprise. As I turn It low to rest mo of tho dazzle.. In" my eyes, And light my pipe In silence, save a sigh that seems to yoke Its fate with my tobacco and to vanish with the smoke. 'TIs a fragrant retrospection for the 'loving thoughts that start Into being aro llko perfumes from 'tho blossom of tho heart; And to dream tho old dreams over Is a -luxury divine di-vine When my trunnt fancy wanders with that old sweotheart of mlno. - Though I henr, beneath my study, llko a fluttering flutter-ing ot wings, . Tho voices of my children, and tho mother as she sings, ' f, I feel no twlngo of consclcnco to deny, mo any themo When coro hns cast her anchor In tho harbor of a dream. ' ' 1 In fact, to speak In earnest, I believe It adds a charm To spice the good a trifle with a little dust of harm For I find an extra flavor In Memory's mellow wine That makes me drink tho deeper to that old sweetheart sweet-heart of mlno. A face of Illy beauty, with a form of airy grace, Floats out of my tobacco as tho genii from the vnso; And I thrill beneath the glances of a pair ot azure eyes As glowing as the summer and ns tender as 'the skies. ' I can seo tho pink sunbonnet and tho llttlo checkered check-ered dress She wore when first I kissed hor and she answered an-swered the"chrcB8 With the written declaration that, "as surely as . tho vino Grow round tho stump," sho loved me that old sweetheart of mine. And again I fejl tho prcssuro of her slender little lininl. ''a As wo used to walk together of tho futuro we had planned When I should bo n poet, and with nothing clso to do Hut wrlto tho tender verses that she'd set music to; When we should llvo together In a cozy llttlo cot Hid In a nest of roses, with a fairy garden spot, Where tho vines wero over fruited nnd the weather weath-er over line, And tho birds wero over singing for that old swectj heart of mine. When I should bo her lover forevorand a day, And sho my faithful sweetheart till tho golden hair was gray; And wo should bo so happy that when cither's lips wero dumb They would not smllo In heaven till the other's klsB had come. Dut, ah I my dream Is broken by H step upon tho Btalr, And tho door Is softly opened, nnd my wlfo is standing there; Yet with eagerness and rapturo all my visions I resign To greet the living presence of that old sweetheart of mlno. James Whltcomb Mley |
