Ruth

What shall be the baby's name?
Shall we catch from sounding fame
Some far-echoed word of praise
Out of other climes or days?
Put upon her brow new-born
Crowns that other brows have worn?

Shall we take some dearer word,
Once within our circle heard,
Cherished yet, though spoken less, —
Shall we lay its tenderness
On the baby's little head,
So to call again our dead?

Shall we choose a name of grace
That befits the baby's face, —
Something full of childish glee,
To be spoken joyously?
Something sweeter, softer yet,
That shall say, "Behold our pet!"

Nay; the history of the great
Must not weigh our baby's fate;
Nay; the dear ones disenthralled
Must not be by us recalled;
We shall meet them soon again, —
Let us keep their names till then!

Nay; we do not seek a word
For a kitten or a bird;
Not to suit the baby ways,
But to wear in after days, —
Fit for uses grave and good,
Wrapped in future womanhood, —

For the mother's loving tongue
While our daughter still is young;
For the manly lips that may
Call the maiden heart away;
For the time, yet tenderer,
When her children think of her.

Let us choose a Bible name,
One that always bides the same,
Sacred, sweet, in every land
All men's reverence to command;
For our earthly uses given,
And yet musical in heaven.

One I know, these names amid, —
"Beauty" is its meaning hid;
She who wore it made it good
With her gracious womanhood:
Name for virtue, love, and truth.
Let us call the baby Ruth.