There is no good; there is no God; And Faith is a heartless cheat Who bares the back for the Devil's rod, And scatters thorns for the feet. What are prayers in the lips of death, Filling and chilling with hail? What are prayers but wasted breath Beaten back by the gale? The day is quenched, and the sun is fled; God has forgotten the world! The moon is gone and the stars are dead; God has forgotten the world! A SONG OF FAITH. Day will return with a fresher boon; God will remember the world! Night will come with a newer moon; God will remember the world! Evil is only the slave of Good; Sorrow the servant of Joy; And the soul is mad that refuses food Of the meanest in God's employ. The fountain of joy is fed by tears, And love is lit by the breath of sighs; The deepest griefs and the wildest fears Have holiest ministries. Strong grows the oak in the sweeping storm; Safely the flower sleeps under the snow; And the farmer's hearth is never warm Till the cold wind starts to blow. Day will return with a fresher boon; God will remember the world! Night will come with a newer moon; God will remember the world! FIRST MOVEMENT. LOCALITY--_The square room of a New England farmhouse_. PRESENT--ISRAEL, _head of the family_; JOHN, PETER, DAVID, PATIENCE, PRUDENCE, GRACE, MARY, RUTH, _and_ CHILDREN. THE QUESTION STATED AND ARGUED. _Israel_. Ruth, touch the cradle. Boys, you must be still! The baby cannot sleep in such a noise. Nay, Grace, stir not; she'll soothe him soon enough, And tell him more sweet stuff in half an hour Than you can dream, in dreaming half a year. _Ruth_. [_Kneeling and rocking the cradle_.] What is the little one thinking about? Very wonderful things, no doubt. Unwritten history! Unfathomed mystery! Yet he laughs and cries, and eats and drinks, And chuckles and crows, and nods and winks, As if his head were as full of kinks And curious riddles as any sphinx! Warped by colic, and wet by tears, Punctured by pins, and tortured by fears, Our little nephew will lose two years; And he'll never know Where the summers go;-- He need not laugh, for he'll find it so!