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[Illustration: THE GIRL’S OWN PAPER

VOL. XX.—NO. 1014.]      JUNE 3, 1899.      [PRICE ONE PENNY.]




ERE THE HARVEST TIME.

BY CHRISTIAN BURKE.


[Illustration: “UNDERNEATH THE SUMMER SUN.”]

_All rights reserved._]

    All the earth lies hushed and silent,
      Underneath the summer sun,
    Gardens blush with later roses,
    In the pleasant orchard closes
      Fruits are ripening one by one.

    Cool between its fringing grasses,
      Drowsily the river flows,
    Singing, but the sudden hushes,
    Not as in the spring it rushes,
      Widened by the melting snows.

    Full-leafed trees scarce lift their branches,
      Voiceless all the feathered band;
    Fledglings faltering flights are trying,
    Ere the moment comes for flying
      To some far-off foreign land.

    Gone the thrill and stir of Springtide—
      Ere the year had reac