THE STREET OF BY-AND-BYE.

“By the street of ‘By-and-bye,’ one arrives at the house of ‘Never.’” - Old Saying.

Oh! shun the spot, my youthful friend, I urge you to beware;
Beguiling is the pleasant way, and softly breaths the air;
Yet none have ever passed to scenes ennobling, great, and high,
Who once began to linger in the street of By-and Bye.

How varied are the images arising to my sight
Of those who wished to shun the wrong, who loved and prized the right!
Yet from the silken bongs of sloth they vainly strove to fly,
Which held them gently prisoned in the street of By-and-Bye.

A youth aspired to climb the height of Learning’s lofty hill;
What dimmed his bright intelligence – what quelled his earnest will?
Why did the object of his quest still mock his wistful eye?
Too long, alas! He tarried in the street of By-and Bye.

“My projects thrive,” the merchant said; “when doubled is my store,
How freely shall my ready gold be showered among the poor!”
Vast grew his wealth, yet strove he not the mourner’s tear to dry;
He never journeyed onward from the street of By-and Bye.

“Forgive thy erring brother, he hath wept and suffered long.”
I said to one, who answered, “He hath done my grievous wrong;
Yet will I seek my brother, and forgive him ere I die;”
Alas! Death shortly found him in the street of By-and-Bye.

The wearied wordling muses upon lost and wasted days,
Resolved to turn hereafter from the error of his ways,
To lift his grovelling thoughts from earth, and fix them on the sky;
Why does he linger fondly in the street of By-and-Bye.

Then shun the spot, my youthful friends; work on, while yet you may;
Let not old age o’ertake you as you slothfully delay,
Lest you should gaze around you, and discover with a sigh,
You have reached the house of “Never” by the street of By-and-Bye!