Old Times and New

"Ah me, but times are sadly changed,
    Since days of long ago,"
Says Grandma from her easy chair,
    In flick'ring firelights glow;
"Maids then at home were well content,
    To bake, and brew, and sew,
There was no gadding here and there
    In days of long ago."

The girl beside the window smiles,
    'Twas but the other day,
That in a long-forgotten chest
    She found a brave array
Of old-world gowns of silken sheen,
    A painted fan, a shoe,
Some yellow, faded valentines,
    And letters tied with blue.

"Nay; tell me, Gran, of Hallowe'en,
    And all its mystic ways,
Of Harvest Home, and May Day dance,
    In those same olden days."
"Ah! lads were braw and lasses fair,
    And summer twilights long;"
And all unconsciously she hums
    A half-forgotten song.

The girl beside the window smiles,
    A well-known step she hears,
And grandmamma is lost in
    Dreams of happy, bygone years.
He kissed her once, he kissed her twice,
    I shall not tell you more;
The times have changed, but love remains,
    As in the days of yore.

-- "The Messenger."

Published in The Witness, 13th February 1914

Image: fotosvintagegratis.blogspot.co.uk/