• Author: Whittier, John G.
• Editor: B-7413
• Newspaper: The Umpire volume 6
• Page Number:
• Date: 1 10 1917
• Tags:
• poetry

The RewardBy John G. WhittierWho, looking backward from his manhood's prime,See not the specter of his misspent time? And through the shadeOf funeral cypress, planted thick behind, Hears no reproachful whisper on the windFrom his loved dead?Who hears no trace of passion's evil force? Who shuns thy sting, 0 terrible remorse?Who does not castOn the thronged pages of his memory'sbook,At times, a sad and half reluctant look,Regretful of the past?Alas! the evil' which we fain would shun We do, and leave the wished for good ~n-done;Our strength todayIs but tomorrow's weakness, prone to fall; Poor, blind unprofitable servants allAre we always. 'Yet who, thus looking backward o'er his years, •Feels not his eyelids wet with grateful tears,If he hath beenPermitted, weak and sinful as he was,To cheer and aid in some ennobling cause His fellow men? 'If he hath hidden the outcast, or let in A ray of sunshine to the cell of sin-If he hath lentStrength to the weak, and ·in an hour ofneed,Over the suffering, mindless of his creedOr home, hath bent-He has not lived in vain. And while he givesThe praise to Him, in whom he moves and lives,With thankful heartHe gazes backward, and with hope before, Knowing that from his works he nevermoreCan henceforth part.