DOMESTIC PRODUCTS

Sympathy

GEORGE S. CHAPPELL

I

I MET a crape-clad friend one day, Bereaved of whom I knew not Whereat, upon the public way, I paused, as who would do not?

And as I pressed his hand in mine

His grief to learn, its kind and cause, A solemn radiance seemed to shine

From him to me, which gave me pause.

II

MY wife," he murmured. Ah! the woe Those simple heart-felt words unfolded!

I knew her well, and knew also

The way she nearly always scolded.

"My friend," I said, "bear up; the cost You pay in time will seem but small,—

'Tis better to have loved and lost Than never to have lost at all!"