s: Calling out, "Attention, please!" and "Must I speak in vain?"


s: Such things as were not priced too high,


s: 'Excuse me if I sit on you,' the cup said to the saucer.


s: 'I fear I've been here all the afternoon.'


s: 'Now, the most important question is my chronic indigestion.'


s: 'Ah, you've taken too much tannin,' jeered the jug.


s: 'Hey, hey, hey!' sang the silver-plated tray,


s: 'It's time you had your faces washed.  I've come to clear away!'


s: How many o's are there in Woolloomooloo?


s: Four for the l's, and that's plenty for them.


s: I wonder what the Jacks have got to laugh and laugh about


s: I'm sure the worms don't see the joke when Jacky digs them out.


s: I wonder which is best: a rich plum-pudding stuffed with plums,


s: Or lemon ice, or plain boiled rice, or long-division sums.


s: I'd like to be a barber, and learn to shave and clip,


s: Calling out, "Next please!" and pocketing my tip.


s: All day I'd hear my scissors going, "Snip, Snip, Snip;"


s: I'd lather people's faces, and their noses I would grip


s: While I shaved most carefully along the upper lip.


s: But his lubra says, "Mine tink dat Jacky


s: He's a greedy glutton, also, and a ghoul,


s: Though she hasn't got a trace of blue upon her;


s: While her husband is a gentleman of honour.


s: Shirks her duties for a lazy life of ease.


s: But a cross between a whimper and a wheeze.


s: I'd like to be a sailor--a sailor bold and bluff--


s: Calling out, "Ship ahoy!" in manly tones and gruff.


s: I'd learn to box the compass, and to reef and tack and luff;


s: I'd sniff and snifff the briny breeze and never get enough.


s: Perhaps I'd chew tobacco, or an old black pipe I'd puff,


s: None in the manger, and none in the shed,


s: None in the box where the chickens are fed,


s: None in the tussocks and none in the tub,


s: I fear that the hens must be laying away.


s: Two in the manger, and four in the shed,


s: Six in the box where the chickens are fed,


s: And nearly two dozen right out in the scrub.


s: I think that the hens are beginning to lay.


s: Though he hardly had a thing to eat for dinner;


s: Could prevent himself from growing any thinner.


s: In his highly praised campaign against the snakes.


s: Though he certainly is cheerful when he wakes.


s: Once upon a time, a king, named Crawley Creep,


s: I wonder why I wear a tie. It is not warm to wear;


s: But if I left it off someone would say it was not there.


s: I wonder, if I took a whiff of father's pipe for fun,


s: Would I be big and strong like him, or just his small, sick son?


s: I wonder when our old white hen will know her squawk betrays her.


s: I'd like to be a publisher, And publish massive tomes


s: Written in a massive style by blokes with massive domes--


s: Books of psycho-surgery to mine the minds of momes,


s: And solemn pseudo-psychic stuff to tell where Topsy roams


s: When her poor clay is put away beneath the spreading holms;


s: Books about electrocuting little seeds with ohms


s: To sternly show them how to grow in sands, and clays, and loams,


s: And bravely burst infinitives, like angry agronomes;


s: Books on breeding aeroplanes and airing aerodromes,


s: On bees that buzz in bonnets and the kind that build the combs,


s: I'd set the scientists to work like superheated gnomes,


s: And make them write and write and write until the printer foams


s: And lino men, made "loony", go to psychopathic homes.


s: I'd publish books, I would--large books on ants and antinomes


s: And palimpsests and palinodes and pallid pallindromes:


s: But I wouldn't be a publisher if . . . .


s: If you are pleased, why, that's all right.


s: This very charming gentleman, extremely old and gruff,


s: He slowly shook his head and took a great big pinch of snuff,


s: Then he spluttered and he muttered and he loudly shouted "Fie!


s: To tear your books is wicked sir! and likewise all my eye!"


s: I don't know what he meant by that. He had such piercing eyes.


s: And, he said, "Mark--ME--boy! Books will make you wise."


s: This very charming gentleman said, "Hum," and "Hoity, Toit!


s: A book is not a building block, a cushion or a quoit.


s: Soil your books and spoil your books? Is that the thing to do?


s: Gammon, sir! and Spinach, sir! And Fiddle-faddle, too!"


s: We must get home! How could we stray like this?--


s: So far from home, we know not where it is,--


s: Of children's faces--and the mother's face--


s: We dimly dream it, till the vision clears


s: Even in the eyes of fancy, glad with tears.


s: The laughter of the world is like a moan


s: In our tired hearing, and its song as vain,--


s: We must get home--we must get home again!


s: We must get home! With heart and soul we yearn


s: To find the long-lost pathway, and return!...


s: The child's shout lifted from the questing band


s: Of old folk, faring weary, hand in hand,


s: But faces brightening, as if clouds at last


s: Were showering sunshine on us as we passed.


s: We must get home: It hurts so staying here,


s: Where fond hearts must be wept out tear by tear,


s: And where to wear wet lashes means, at best,


s: When most our lack, the least our hope of rest--


s: When most our need of joy, the more our pain--


s: We must get home--home to the simple things--


s: The morning-glories twirling up the strings


s: And bugling color, as they blared in blue-


s: And-white o'er garden-gates we scampered through;


s: The long grape-arbor, with its under-shade


s: We must get home: All is so quiet there:


s: The touch of loving hands on brow and hair--


s: Dim rooms, wherein the sunshine is made mild--


s: The lost love of the mother and the child


s: Restored in restful lullabies of rain,--


s: We must get home--we must get home again!


s: The rows of sweetcorn and the China beans


s: Beyond the lettuce-beds where, towering, leans


s: Guarding the barn-door and the lane outside;


s: We must get home, where, as we nod and drowse,


s: Time humors us and tiptoes through the house,


s: And loves us best when sleeping baby-wise,


s: With dreams--not tear-drops--brimming our clenched eyes,--


s: Pure dreams that know nor taint nor earthly stain--


s: We must get home! The willow-whistle's call


s: Trills crisp and liquid as the waterfall--


s: Mocking the trillers in the cherry-trees


s: And making discord of such rhymes as these,


s: That know nor lilt nor cadence but the birds


s: First warbled--then all poets afterwards.


s: We must get home; and, unremembering there


s: Rest--from the feverish victory, and the crown


s: Of conquest whose waste glory weighs us down.--


s: Fame's fairest gifts we toss back with disdain--


s: We must get home--we must get home again!


s: We must get home again--we must--we must!--


s: Creep back from the vain quest through endless strife


s: A happier happiness than blest us then ...


s: O we who find sin's billows wild and rough,


s: Would be the blameless life we led of old


s: While yet our lips knew but a mother's kiss?


s: To lift our hearts where they are understood;


s: To let the thirst for worldly power and place


s: Go unappeased; to smile back in God's face


s: With the glad lips our mothers used to kiss.


s: As, peering through the brightening gloom,


s: I missed you--missed you night and day--


s: Their sweethearts' and talk love to you."


s: We want just a little too little of one,


s: I am looking for Love. Has he passed this way,


s: And a face as fair as the summer dawn?--


s: For you say: "Oh, yes; but his eyes were gray,


s: Good friends, I query, I search for Love;


s: His eyes are as blue as the skies above,


s: And his smile as bright as the midst of May


s: When the truce-bird pipes: Has he passed this way?


s: Frowned as he passed, and his eyes were black."


s: His eyes are as blue as the mid-May sky,


s: And his face as bright as the morning sun;


s: That his eyes were dark, and his face was wan,


s: And he passed you frowning and wandered on.


s: Knowing _my_ Love is beyond--somewhere,--


s: And the bright, sweet smile unknown of you;


s: I shall sing sonnets the whole year round.


s: It's many's the scenes which is dear to my mind


s: As I think of my childhood so long left behind;


s: The home of my birth, with it's old puncheon-floor,


s: And the bright morning-glories that growed round the door;


s: The warped clab-board roof whare the rain it run off


s: Into streams of sweet dreams as I laid in the loft,


s: Countin' all of the joys that was dearest to me,


s: And a-thinkin' the most of the mulberry tree.


s: And to-day as I dream, with both eyes wide-awake,


s: I can see the old tree, and its limbs as they shake,


s: And the long purple berries that rained on the ground


s: Whare the pastur' was bald whare we trommpt it around.


s: And again, peekin' up through the thick leafy shade,


s: I can see the glad smiles of the friends when I strayed


s: With my little bare feet from my own mother's knee


s: To foller them off to the mulberry tree.


s: Leanin' up in the forks, I can see the old rail,


s: And the boy climbin' up it, claw, tooth, and toe-nail,


s: And in fancy can hear, as he spits on his hands,


s: The ring of his laugh and the rip of his pants.


s: But that rail led to glory, as certin and shore


s: As I'll never climb thare by that rout' any more--


s: What was all the green lauruls of Fame unto me,


s: With my brows in the boughs of the mulberry tree!


s: Then it's who can fergit the old mulberry tree


s: That he knowed in the days when his thoughts was as free


s: As the flutterin' wings of the birds that flew out


s: Of the tall wavin' tops as the boys come about?


s: O, a crowd of my memories, laughin' and gay,


s: Is a-climbin' the fence of that pastur' to-day,


s: And, a-pantin' with joy, as us boys ust to be,


s: They go racin' acrost fer the mulberry tree.


s: The tear that burns, the smile that hurts,


s: They's a kind o' _feel_ in the air, to me.


s: Fer instunce, now, whilse I gain in weight


s: They's a _goneness_ somers I can't quite state--


s: They's a feel in the Chris'mas-air goes right


s: And yit they's _somepin_'--I don't know what--


s: And ha'nts and worries and spares me not--


s: They's a _feel_, as I say, in the air that's jest


s: They's allus a kind o' sort of a' _ache_


s: But it comes with _Chris'mas_, and no mistake!--


s: Through the dusk, like glimmering stars,


s: Where warm winds loll on the shady deeps,


s: The great wild wave of the breaker weeps


s: Where the lily leans o'er an amber stream


s: That flows like a rill of wasted wine,--


s: Where the palm-trees, lifting their shields of green,


s: Whose splintering vengeance falls between


s: Where the stars drip down from the skies above


s: They tell us all that they have planned--


s: O the old trundle-bed where I slept when a boy!


s: What canopied king might not covet the joy?


s: The glory and peace of that slumber of mine,


s: Like a long, gracious rest in the bosom divine:


s: The quaint, homely couch, hidden close from the light,


s: But daintily drawn from its hiding at night.


s: O a nest of delight, from the foot to the head,


s: Was the queer little, clear little, old trundle-bed!


s: O the old trundle-bed, where I wondering saw


s: The stars through the window, and listened with awe


s: To the sigh of the winds as they tremblingly crept


s: Through the trees where the robin so restlessly slept:


s: Where I heard the low, murmurous chirp of the wren,


s: And the katydid listlessly chirrup again,


s: Till my fancies grew faint and were drowsily led


s: Through the maze of the dreams of the old trundle bed.


s: O the old trundle-bed! O the old trundle-bed!


s: With its plump little pillow, and old-fashioned spread;


s: Its snowy-white sheets, and the blankets above,


s: Smoothed down and tucked round with the touches of love;


s: The voice of my mother to lull me to sleep


s: With the old fairy-stories my memories keep


s: Still fresh as the lilies that bloom o'er the head


s: Once bowed o'er my own in the old trundle-bed.


s: Shall wear cool-wreathen laurel, wrought


s: I've known the least the greatest, too--


s: I want to sing something--but this is all--


s: I try and I try, but the rhymes are dull


s: As though they were damp, and the echoes fall


s: Words will not say what I yearn to say--


s: But they stumble and fall in the path of the way


s: On the ripening side of the great round earth


s: So's ever' _last_ line beats the _first_,


s: "_Is_ Marthy Ellen's basque ben _turned_


s: That's why I like _old_ friends like you,--


s: And smites, as long as the wrong resists,


s: With a knuckled faith and force like fists:


s: And loves where most is the need of love;


s: His voice is clear to the deaf man's ears,


s: And his face sublime through the blind man's tears;


s: The light shines out where the clouds were dim,


s: And the sick man sees the sun once more,


s: That God's own servant has come that way,


s: Through the Golden Gate where his loved have gone.


s: That time will teach us how more is just.


s: Of the doubts that rack us, heart and brain;


s: And, knowing this, as we grasp his hand,


s: Else, should we read, "Though our sins should glow


s: As scarlet, they shall be white as snow"?--


s: And, feeling still, with a grief half glad,


s: That the bad are as good as the good are bad,


s: He strikes straight out for the Right--and he


s: Them words a thousand times--that's right--


s: And kind: _"How did you rest, last night?"_


s: The land that the Lord's love rests upon;


s: Where one may rely on the friends he meets,


s: And the smiles that greet him along the streets:


s: Where the mother that left you years ago


s: Will lift the hands that were folded so,


s: And put them about you, with all the love


s: Where all of the friends of your youth have gone,--


s: Where the old schoolmate that laughed with you,


s: As lights like a moon the wondrous place


s: Our worn souls Home for the old home's sake.--


s: And watch the wreaths swoop up the flue,


s: ... They talk. I can't hear what they say--


s: But I am glad, clean through and through


s: Where are they?--the friends of my childhood enchanted--


s: The clear, laughing eyes looking back in my own,


s: And the warm, chubby fingers my palms have so wanted,


s: And mocked the quail's whir and the bumblebee's drone?


s: Have the breezes of time blown their blossomy faces


s: Forever adrift down the years that are flown?


s: Am I never to see them romp back to their places,


s: The meadow-larks trill, and the bumblebees drone?


s: Where are they? Ah! dim in the dust lies the clover;


s: The whippoorwill's call has a sorrowful tone,


s: And the dove's--I have wept at it over and over;--


s: Of faces asleep where the bumblebees drone!


s: "When it's _got_ to be,"--like! always say,


s: It's _got_ to be, and it's _goin'_ to be!


s: The time jes melts like a late, last snow,--


s: So I waved one hand at the soft young man,


s: For I'd said "Good-by" to my single life,


s: She jes' smiled up, like she always done,--


s: He gimme the slip, when the War broke out,


s: Never knowed till the first right's end ...


s: But it's _got_ to end, and it's _goin'_ to end!


s: With my last breath I will laugh, O Death,


s: I'll laugh--of course, in the kindest way,--


s: You think them "out of reach," your dead?


s: When snow is here, and the trees look weird,


s: And the knuckled twigs are gloved with frost;


s: When the breath congeals in the drover's beard,


s: And the old pathway to the barn is lost;


s: And the stamp of the stabled horse is vain,


s: And the tone of the cow-bell grieves the ear--


s: When the gears hang stiff on the harness-peg,


s: And the tallow gleams in frozen streaks;


s: And the old hen stands on a lonesome leg,


s: And the pump sounds hoarse and the handle squeaks;


s: When the woodpile lies in a shrouded heap,


s: And the frost is scratched from the window-pane


s: When the ax-helve warms at the chimney-jamb,


s: And hob-nailed shoes on the hearth below,


s: And the house-cat curls in a slumber calm,


s: And the eight-day clock ticks loud and slow;


s: When the harsh broom-handle jabs the ceil


s: 'Neath the kitchen-loft, and the drowsy brain


s: When the skillet seethes, and a blubbering hot


s: And the scent of the buckwheat cake grows plain--


s: He was jes a plain, ever'-day, all-round kind of a jour.,


s: Any shop-mate'll tell you there never was, on top o' dirt,


s: You want a favor, and couldn't git it anywheres else--


s: Most free-heartedest man thataway in the world, I guess!


s: And, ef you'd a-wanted it, and named it to him, and it was his,


s: Allus a-reachin' out, Jim was, and a-he'ppin' some


s: He'd a-never a-keered how hungry he was hisse'f,


s: Didn't make no differ'nee at all to him how _he_ was dressed,


s: Jim didn't have, ner never could git ahead, so overly much


s: Tie on his apern, and squat hisse'f on his old shoe-bench,


s: Patientest feller, too, I reckon, 'at ever jes natchurly


s: "_You fellers_," he'd sorto' twinkle his eyes and say,


s: Now there was a man 'at jes 'peared-like, to me,


s: "But death hain't a-showin' no favors," the old boss said--


s: And Wigger, who puts up the best sewed-work in the shop--


s: How slight a thing may set one's fancy drifting


s: Upon the dead sea of the Past!--A view--


s: In some wood's-pasture of the Long Ago--


s: A wilted apple that the worm had spurned.--


s: Yet hidden in the taste were happy hints


s: And so my heart, like some enraptured lute,


s: God's blessing must be resting on the fruit--


s: And ef folks don't work as they pray, i jings!


s: And _tears_ won't bring it, w'y, you try _sweat_,


s: But ef they can't write no book, ner rhyme


s: They can blaze the way fer the march sublime,


s: He knows each job 'at we're best fit fer,


s: And north and south, and worst and best.


s: _"Lord, I believe: help Thou mine unbelief."_


s: Being from birth endowed with love and trust--


s: That love--that faith!--even in the blossom-face


s: The babe drops dreamward in its resting-place,


s: And sweet and saintly as the mother's own,


s: Or the awed father's, as his arms are thrown


s: O'er wife and child, to round about them weave


s: And wind and bind them as one harvest-sheaf


s: Of love--to cleave to, and _forever_ cleave....


s: Impelled since infancy to seek some clear


s: Fulfillment, still withheld all seekers here;--


s: But we _have_ seen--all mortal souls as one--


s: Have seen its _promise_, in the morning sun--


s: Its blest assurance, in the stars of night;--


s: The ever-dawning of the dark to light;--


s: The tears down-falling from all eyes that grieve--


s: The eyes uplifting from all deeps of grief,


s: Yearning for what at last we shall receive....


s: For still all unappeased our hunger goes,


s: From life's first waking, to its last repose:


s: For these, then, of th' outworn, or unworn feet


s: Denied one toddling step--O there must be


s: Some fair, green, flowery pathway endlessly


s: Winding through lands Elysian! Lord, receive


s: And lead each as Thine Own Child--even the Chief


s: Of us who didst Immortal life achieve....


s: And the tears, like the rain of morning,


s: Fer forty year and better you have been a friend to me,


s: Through days of sore afflictions and dire adversity,


s: You allus had a kind word of counsul to impart,


s: Which was like a healin' 'intment to the sorrow of my hart.


s: When I burried my first womern, William Leachman, it was you


s: Had the only consolation that I could listen to--


s: But that time I'll long remember; how I wundered here and thare--


s: I turned my eyes to'rds heaven, but the sun was hid away;


s: I turned my eyes to'rds earth again, but all was cold and gray;


s: And the clock, like ice a-crackin', clickt the icy hours in two--


s: We set thare by the smoke-house--me and you out thare alone--


s: Me a-thinkin'--you a-talkin' in a soothin' undertone--


s: You a-talkin'--me a-thinkin' of the summers long ago,


s: And a-writin' "Marthy--Marthy" with my finger in the snow!


s: William Leachman, I can see you jest as plane as I could then;


s: And your hand is on my shoulder, and you rouse me up again,


s: And I see the tears a-drippin' from your own eyes, as you say:


s: "Be rickonciled and bear it--we but linger fer a day!"


s: At the last Old Settlers' Meetin' we went j'intly, you and me--


s: Your hosses and my wagon, as you wanted it to be;


s: And sence I can remember, from the time we've neghbored here,


s: In all sich friendly actions you have double-done your sheer.


s: It was better than the meetin', too, that nine-mile talk we had


s: Of the times when we first settled here and travel was so bad;


s: When we had to go on hoss-back, and sometimes on "Shanks's mare,"


s: And now we was a-trottin' 'long a level gravel pike,


s: In a big two-hoss road-wagon, jest as easy as you like--


s: Two of us on the front seat, and our wimmern-folks behind,


s: A-settin' in theyr Winsor-cheers in perfect peace of mind!


s: And we pinted out old landmarks, nearly faded out of sight:--


s: Thare the first griss-mill was put up in the Settlement, and we


s: Had tuck our grindin' to it in the Fall of Forty-three--


s: When we tuck our rifles with us, techin' elbows all the way,


s: And a-stickin' right together ev'ry minute, night and day.


s: And the old Plank-road they laid along in Fifty-one er two--


s: You know we talked about the times when that old road was new:


s: How "Uncle Sam" put down that road and never taxed the State


s: Was a problem, don't you rickollect, we couldn't _dim_-onstrate?


s: Ways was devius, William Leachman, that me and you has past;


s: But as I found you true at first, I find you true at last;


s: And, now the time's a-comin' mighty nigh our jurney's end,


s: I want to throw wide open all my soul to you, my friend.


s: I love you and respect you, and I venerate your name,


s: My fancies--doubtless, for ventilation--


s: Slipped out in street of "Auld Lang Syne."


s: Were thronging the shadowy side of the street


s: The same old dreams of our boyhood's days


s: That never come true, from the vague sensation


s: Of walking asleep in the world's strange ways.


s: And there was the selfsame clock that ticked


s: From the close of dusk to the burst of morn,


s: When life-warm hands plucked the golden corn


s: And the "chany-dog" on the mantel-shelf,


s: Looked just as at first, when I hugged myself


s: And down to the swing in the locust tree,


s: Where the grass was worn from the trampled ground


s: And where "Eck" Skinner, "Old" Carr, and three


s: Doin' "sky-scrapers," or "whirlin' round:"


s: And again Bob climbed for the bluebird's nest,


s: Of Guymon's barn, where still, unguessed,


s: The old ghosts romp through the best days dead!


s: And again I gazed from the old school-room


s: It seemed, toward me.--And again I thought


s: Kept in after school--for a girl was caught


s: And down through the woods to the swimming-hole--


s: Where the big, white, hollow, old sycamore grows,--


s: And we never cared when the water was cold.


s: Are pulseless now; and the scarf that clings


s: But the old guitar, with a lenient grace,


s: But the dainty fingers that danced o'er them--


s: That Fate weaves on, through a dull decay


s: His loosened collar, and swarthy throat;


s: By the kitchen-stove, when the day is o'er


s: And the light of the hearth is across the floor,


s: With a watery jingle of pans and spoons,


s: And a motherly chirrup of sweet content,


s: To have grown ambitious in worldly ways!--


s: To have rolled your shirt-sleeves down, to don


s: To yield you the office you still maintain?


s: To fill your pockets, but leave the dearth


s: Edging the drives where your blooded span


s: Where are the children about your knees,


s: The blinds of your mansion are battened to;


s: And your "finished" daughters will doubtless do


s: With the watery jingle of pans and spoons,


s: And the motherly chirrup of glad content,


s: And what do you see when lost in dreams,


s: And mermaids, smiling out--'way in where


s: Wade through the clews of the grasses tall,


s: And the Wee Folk--'way in there--in there--


s: And what do you do when you wake at dawn,


s: And visit a fellow out here in the woods--


s: And tan your wan face in the smile of a friend--


s: To lean at full-length in indefinite rest


s: To dangle your legs where the fishing is good--


s: What does our President, high in his chair,


s: Or shadow it here with the laurels of Spring!--


s: You can draw, not _complaints_, but a sketch of the hill


s: And a breath that your betters have drawn;


s: And their verdict of "Moo" will just satisfy you!--


s: What is it in old fiddle-chunes 'at makes me ketch my breath


s: And ripples up my backbone tel I'm tickled most to death?--


s: 'At happened 'fore yer dancin'-days wuz over!


s: I never understood it--and I s'pose I never can,--


s: But right in town here, yisterd'y, I heerd a pore blindman


s: A-fiddlin' old "Gray Eagle"--_And_-sir! I jes stopped my load


s: And loved, long 'fore my dancin'-days wuz over!--


s: At high noon in yer city,--with yer blame Magnetic-Cars


s: A-hummin' and a-screetchin' past--and bands and G.A.R.'s


s: It 'peared-like, kindo' callin' 'crost the darkness and the dew,


s: Them nights afore my dancin'-days wuz over.


s: With old Lew Church from Sugar Crick, with that old fiddle he


s: Had sawed clean through the Army, from Atlanty to the sea--


s: And yit he'd fetched, her home ag'in, so's he could play fer me


s: One't more afore my dancin'-days wuz over!


s: The woods 'at's all ben cut away wuz growin' same as then;


s: The youngsters all wuz boys ag'in 'at's now all oldish men;


s: And all the girls 'at _then_ wuz girls--I saw 'em, one and all,


s: Yer _po_-leece they can holler "Say! _you_, Uncle! drive ahead!--


s: Er the _smiles_ afore our dancin'-days is over.


s: My glorious treasure of beautiful hands!


s: They can coax roses to bloom in the strands


s: Of your brown tresses; and ribbons will twine.


s: And fetter the heart under such a control


s: As only the strength of my love understands--


s: My passionate love for your beautiful hands.


s: Of those beautiful hands that I love so much,


s: I seem to thrill as I then was thrilled,


s: Kissing the glove that I found unfilled--


s: When I met your gaze, and the queenly bow,


s: As you said to me, laughingly, "Keep it now!"


s: Kissing this ghost of your beautiful hand.


s: Pressed and caressed it and gave it a kiss,


s: And said "I could die for a hand like this!"


s: And prayers were vain in their wild demands


s: For one warm touch of your beautiful hands.


s: Where you are lingering, and give me, to-night,


s: My heart were soothed, and my weary brain


s: For there is no solace the world commands


s: Like the caress of your beautiful hands.


s: Let him who is minded to meet with a Glug


s: Pluck three hardy hairs from a rabbit-skin rug;


s: And who shall explain 'tis the talk of a fool,


s: He's a Glug!  He's a Glug of the old Gosh school!


s: And he'll climb a tree, if the East wind blows,


s: In a casual way, just to show he knows . . .


s: And don't blame me if you come to blows.


s: Hold your breath if they touch the latch,


s: Creep to the slip-rails, still as a mouse,


s: Then . . . run like mad for the bracken patch.


s: Worm your way where the fern fronds tall


s: Then, when the thrush calls once, stop dead.


s: Him prick-eared by the woollybutt tree--


s: Hush! There's another way left. Then come.


s: On a white, still night, where the dead tree bends


s: Follow it down where the wake of the moon


s: A traveller's tale to the listening land.


s: Till the lip of the languorous sea you greet;


s: Wait till the wash of the thirteenth wave


s: And sneers in your face like a fish possessed.


s: Wait till the clock in the tower booms three,


s: And the big bank opposite gnashes its doors,


s: Then glide with a gait that is carefully free


s: By the great brick building of seventeen floors;


s: Haste by the draper who smirks at his door,


s: Straining to lure you with sinister force,


s: Turn up the lane by the second-hand store,


s: And halt by the light bay carrier's horse.


s: By the carrier's horse with the long, sad face


s: And the wisdom of years in his mournful eye;


s: Bow to him thrice with a courtier's grace,


s: Proffer your query, and pause for reply.


s: Pause for reply with your hat in your hand;


s: Catch the four-thirty; your ticket in hand,


s: Punched by the porter who broods in his box;


s: Till the blood of a slain day reddens the West.


s: Of a corpulent frog with a white satin vest.


s: Treading with care on the slithery stones,


s: Heedless of night winds moaning and harsh


s: That seize you and freeze you and search for your bones.


s: Banishing thoughts of your warm wool rug;


s: Gaze in the depths of it, placid and cool,


s: And long in your heart for one glimpse of a Glug.


s: "Krock!" Was he mocking you? "Krock! Kor-r-rock!"


s: Well, you bought a return, and it's past ten o'clock.


s: Choose you a night when the intimate stars


s: Flat on your back, with your nose pointing Mars,


s: Search for the star who fled South from the Bears.


s: Gaze for an hour at that little blue star,


s: Giving him, cheerfully, wink for his wink;


s: Shrink to the size of the being you are;


s: Sneeze if you have to, but softly; then think.


s: Throw wide the portals and let your thoughts run


s: Ponder on pebbles or stock exchange shares,


s: On the mission of man or the life of a bug,


s: On planets or billiards, policemen or bears,


s: Alert all the time for the sight of a Glug.


s: On carraway seeds or the causes of bills,


s: Or the tattered white fleeces of clouds on blue hills.


s: Why hermits live lonely and grapes in a bunch,


s: On the ways of a child or the mind of a dog,


s: Or the oyster you bolted last Friday at lunch.


s: Heard you no sound like a shuddering sigh!


s: Or the great shout of laughter that swept down the sky?


s: Then there's naught left to you now but to pray.


s: Sit you at eve when the Shepherd in Blue


s: Calls from the West to his clustering sheep.


s: Then pray for the moods that old mariners woo,


s: For the thoughts of young mothers who watch their babes sleep.


s: Pray for the heart of an innocent child,


s: For the tolerant scorn of a weary old man,


s: For the petulant grief of a prophet reviled,


s: For the wisdom you lost when your whiskers began.


s: Pray for the pleasures that he who was you


s: For the fears that he felt and the joys that he knew


s: When a little green lizard crept into the school.


s: Pray as they pray who are maddened by wine:


s: For distraction from self and a spirit at rest.


s: Now, deep in the heart of you search for a sign--


s: If there be naught of it, vain is your quest.


s: Lay down the book, for to follow the tale


s: Were to trade in false blame, as all mortals who fail.


s: And may the gods salve you on life's dreary round;


s: For 'tis whispered: "Who finds not, 'tis he shall be found!"


s: That is partly pebbles and stones and sand


s: And the Glugs live there with their aunts and their wives,


s: In draught-proof tenements all their lives.


s: And they climb the trees when the weather is wet,


s: This is chiefly done when the weather is wet.


s: And every stream that glistens and glides


s: And laughs its way from a highland height,


s: And they say, "Our test is the best by far;


s: And they climb the trees when it drizzles or hails


s: Is a luckless Glug, if it drizzles or hails."


s: Now, the Glugs abide in the lands of Gosh;


s: And they work all day for the sake of Splosh.


s: For Splosh, the First, is the Nation's pride,


s: And King of the Glugs, on his uncle's side.


s: And they sleep at night, for the sake of rest;


s: For their doctors say this suits them best.


s: And they climb the trees, as a general rule,


s: To climb the trees when the weather is cool.


s: And the whispering grass on the gay green hills


s: And every cricket that skirls and shrills,


s: And they say, "It is safe, it is the test we bring;


s: And they climb the trees when there's a sign of fog,


s: Thro' dells in quest of a feasible dog."


s: And 'tis wholesome food the Glugs have got,


s: For it says so plain on the tin and pot.


s: And they climb the trees when the weather is dry


s: But they like to gaze on the pale green sky.


s: For they say, "Our test, it is safe and true;


s: And they climb the trees when the weather is hot,


s: For a birds'-eye view of the garden plot.


s: But they love that view of the garden plot."


s: He scoffed and sneered at the Chosen Plan.


s: "It's wrong!" said this Glug, whose name was Joi.


s: And they climbed the trees, as the West wind stirred,


s: But they're foolishly fond of the Guffer Bird.


s: By the gurgling river that plashes and plays,


s: And the beasts of the dread, neurotic night


s: And, "Why," say they; "It is easily done;


s: For a dexter Glug's like a sinister one!"


s: And they climb the trees.  Oh, they climb the trees!


s: And they bark their knuckles, and chafe their knees;


s: And 'tis one of the world's great mysteries


s: Now, here is a tale of the Glugs of Gosh,


s: Of the Glugs of Gosh and their great King Splosh,


s: Of their sayings and doings and plottings and brewings,


s: Oh, the King was rich, and the Queen was fair,


s: And whenever a Glug in that peaceful land,


s: The Knight, Sir Stodge, he looked in a book,


s: And charged that Glug with a crime called Crook.


s: And the great Judge Fudge, who wore for a hat


s: Then every Glug, he went home to his rest


s: With his head in a bag and his toes to the West;


s: Since their grandpas slept with their toes to the West.


s: With the Ogs of Podge, and their crafty dodge,


s: To trade with the Glugs came the Ogs to Gosh,


s: "We'll sell you pianers and pickels and spanners


s: And the King said, "What?" and the Queen said, "Why,


s: That is awfully cheap to the things I buy!


s: For that grocer of ours in the light brown hat


s: Asks two and eleven for pickles like that!"


s: But a Glug stood up with a wart on his nose,


s: And cried, "Your Majesties! Ogs is foes!"


s: But the Glugs cried, "Peace! Will you hold your jaw!


s: Said the Knight, Sir Stodge, as he opened his Book,


s: "When the goods were cheap then the goods we took."


s: So they fined the Glug with the wart on his nose


s: For wearing a wart with his everyday clothes.


s: And the goods were brought home thro' a Glug named Ghones;


s: And the Ogs went home with their loads of stones,


s: Which they landed with glee in the land of Podge.


s: In the following Summer the Ogs came back


s: And hand-painted screens, and sewing machines,


s: And they said, "For these excellent things we bring


s: And the King said, "Hum," and the Queen said, "Oo!


s: That curtain!  What a bee-ootiful blue!"


s: But a Glug stood up with some very large ears,


s: And said, "There is more in this thing than appears!


s: And we ought to be taxing those goods of the Ogs,


s: Or our industries soon will be gone to the dogs."


s: And the King said, "Bosh!  You're un-Gluggish and rude!"


s: And the Queen said, "What an absurd attitude!"


s: Then the Glugs cried, "Down with political quacks!


s: So the Knight, Sir Stodge, he opened his Book.


s: Then they fined the Glug with the prominent ears


s: For being old-fashioned by several years;


s: And the Ogs went home with the stones, full-steam.


s: Nor yet did the Glugs in their dreamiest dreams.


s: Then every month to the land of the Gosh


s: With buttons and hooks, and medical books,


s: Large cases with labels, occasional tables,


s: And the Glugs, while copncealing their joy in the dealing,


s: And the King said, "Haw!" and the Queen said, "Oh!


s: Of large overmantels, and whatnots, and chairs,


s: And a statue of Splosh at the head of the stairs!"


s: But a Glug stood up with a cast in his eye,


s: And he said, "Far too many baubles we buy;


s: With all the Gosh factories closing their doors,


s: And importers' warehouses lining our shores."


s: But the Glugs cried, "Down with such meddlesome fools!


s: What did our grandpas lay down in their rules?"


s: And the Knight, Sir Stodge, he opened his Book:


s: "To Cheapness," he said, "was the road they took."


s: Turned seventeen handsprings, and jumped on his hat.


s: They fined the Glug with the cast in his eye


s: For looking both ways--which he did not deny--


s: And for having no visible precedent, which


s: Is a crime in the poor and a fault in the rich.


s: So the Glugs continued, with greed and glee,


s: To buy cheap clothing, and pills, and tea;


s: Owned three clean shirts and a fourth in the wash.


s: But they all grew idle, and fond of ease,


s: And easy to swindle, and hard to please;


s: And the voice of Joi was a lonely voice,


s: When he railed at Gosh for its foolish choice.


s: But the great King grinned, and the good Queen gushed,


s: As the goods of the Ogs were madly rushed.


s: And the Knight, Sir Stodge, with a wave of his hand,


s: Declared it a happy and prosperous land.


s: In far, far Gosh where the tall trees wave.


s: Said Joi: "In Gosh there shall yet be one


s: To scorn this life of a self-made slave;


s: To spurn the law of the Knight, Sir Stodge,


s: And end the rule of the great King Splosh;


s: Who shall warn the Glugs of their crafty dodge,


s: And at last bring peace, sweet peace, to Gosh."


s: His golden treasure on grateful flowers,


s: With upturned faces and hearts bowed low,


s: The Glugs shall know what the wild things know."


s: Said he: "Wherever the broad fields smile,


s: They shall walk with clean minds, free of guile;


s: They shall scoff aloud at the call of Greed,


s: And turn to their labours and never heed."


s: And his eyes were wide as the eyes of Truth;


s: And there came to the wondering mind of him


s: Long thoughts of the riddle that vexes youth.


s: And, "Father," he said, "in the mart's loud din


s: Is there aught of pleasure?  Do some find joy?"


s: But his father tilted the beardless chin,


s: And looked in the eyes of the questing boy.


s: Said he: "Whenever the fields are green,


s: Lie still, where the wild rose fashions a screen,


s: While the brown thrush calls to his love-wise mate,


s: And know what they profit who trade with Hate."


s: Said he: "Whenever the great skies spread,


s: A tent for the blue wren building a nest,


s: Then, down in the heart of you, learn what's best."


s: And there came to Sym as he walked afield


s: Deep thoughts of the world and the folk of Gosh.


s: He marked them cringe to the name of Splosli.


s: Is it meet," he asked, "that a soul should crawl


s: But his father walked to the garden's wall


s: And stooped to a rose-bush flowering there.


s: Looks up to the sun, may a soul find room


s: For a measure of awe at the wondrous birth


s: Of one more treasure to this glad earth."


s: To a gossamer thread, and glitters and swings,


s: To a thing for a blundering rnortal's dread."


s: And there came to Sym in his later youth,


s: With the first clear glance in the face of guile,


s: Thirst for knowledge and thoughts of truth,


s: Of gilded baubles, and things worth while.


s: And he said, "There is much that a Glug should know;


s: But his mind is clouded, his years are few."


s: As his thoughts ran back to the youth he knew.


s: And birds in feathers and beasts in furs


s: Steal out to dance in the glade, lie still:


s: Thro' inlaced boughs, a'nd a shy star peeps


s: Adown from its crib in the cradling sky,


s: As 'midst his fellows he lived and toiled.


s: But the ways of the Glug folk puzzled him;


s: For some won honour, while some were foiled;


s: As they climbed their trees in an endless search.


s: But joi, the father, he mocked their quest,


s: When he marked a Glug on his hard-won perch.


s: Said he: "Whenever these tales are heard


s: Then laugh and laugh till the fat tears roll


s: To the roots of the joy-bush deep in your soul.


s: When you see them squat on the tree-tops high,


s: Lie flat on your back on the good, green earth


s: And roar till the great vault echoes your mirth."


s: As he walked in the city, to Sym there came


s: As Glug blamed Glug for his woeful state.


s: "This blame?" said Sym, "Is it mortal's right


s: But the father said, "Do we blame the night


s: When darkness gathers and none can see?"


s: Said he: "Whenever there springs from earth


s: A plant all crooked and marred at birth,


s: Shall we, unlearned in the Gardener's scheme,


s: Blame plant or earth for the faults that seem?"


s: Look out on the glory of earth and skies,


s: Shall you, 'mid the blessing of fields a-bloom,


s: Fling blame at the blind man, prisoned in gloom?"


s: Far from the ken of the great King Splosh.


s: Shared in the schooling of that strange boy,


s: Dreaming and planning to gather and hoard


s: Knowledge of all things precious to Joi.


s: Now Sym was a Glug; and 'tis mentioned so


s: That the tale reads perfectly plain as we go.


s: In his veins ran blood of that stupid race


s: Called Gosh, sad Gosh, where the tall trees sigh


s: When the gloaming creeps and the wind is high.


s: When the deep shades creep and the wind is high


s: Gods of the gloaming, who ride on the breeze,


s: Stooping to heaften the birds and the trees.


s: But each dull Glug sits down by his door,


s: And mutters, " 'Tis windy!" and nothing more,


s: Like the long-dead Glugs in the days of yore.


s: And his parents thought him a joy to view;


s: As his nurse remarked, "In the cut of his mug."


s: For he had their hair, and he had their eyes,


s: And the Glug expression of pained surprise,


s: And their predilection for pumpkin pies.


s: And his parents' claims were a deal denied


s: By his maiden aunt on his mother's side,


s: With a slight moustache of an auburn hue.


s: "Parental blither!" she said quite flat.


s: "He's an average Glug; and he's red and fat!


s: But the father, joi, when he gazed on Sym,


s: Dreamed great and wonderful things for him.


s: Said he, "If the mind of a Glug could wake


s: Then, Oh, what a wonderful Glug he'd make!


s: We shall teach this laddie to play life's game


s: With a different mind and a definite aim:


s: A Glug in appearance, yet not the same."


s: But the practical aunt said, "Fudge!  You fool!


s: We'll pack up his dinner and send him to school.


s: He shall learn about two-times and parsing and capes,


s: And how to make money with inches on tapes.


s: We'll apprentice him then to the drapery trade,


s: Where, I've heard it reported, large profits are made;


s: Besides, he can sell us cheap buttons and braid."


s: So poor young Sym, he was sent to school,


s: Where the first thing taught is the Golden Rule.


s: "Do unto others," the teacher said . . .


s: Then suddenly stopped and scratched his head.


s: "You may look up the rest in a book," said he.


s: "And now," said the teacher, "the day's task brings


s: If a man makes a profit of fifteen pounds


s: On one week's takings from two milk rounds,


s: How many . . ." And Sym went dreaming away


s: To the sunlit lands where the field-mice play,


s: He walked in the welcoming fields alone,


s: "If a man makes  . . .Multiply . . . Abstract nouns . . .


s: From B take   . . .Population of towns . . .


s: Rods, poles or perches . . . Derived from Greek


s: Oh, the hawthorn buds came out this week,


s: And robins are nesting down by the creek.


s: And his aunt repeatedly dubbed him "Dunce."


s: But, "Give him a chance," said his father, Joi.


s: "His head is abnormally large for a boy."


s: But his aunt said, "Piffie! It's crammed with bosh!


s: Why, he don't know the rivers and mountains of Gosh,


s: Nor the names of the nephews of good King Splosh!"


s: In Gosh, when a youth gets an obstinate look,


s: And copies his washing-bill into a book,


s: And blackens his boot-heels, and frowns at a joke,


s: "Ah, he's getting sense," say the elderly folk.


s: But Sym, he would laugh when he ought to be sad;


s: Said his aunt, "Lawk-a-mussy!  What's wrong with the lad?


s: He romps with the puppies, and talks to the ants,


s: And keeps his loose change in his second-best pants,


s: And stumbles all over my cauliflower plants!"


s: "There is wisdom in that," laughed the father, Joi.


s: But the aunt said, "Toity!" and, "Drat the boy!"


s: "He shall play," said the father, "some noble part.


s: Who knows but it may be in letters or art?


s: 'Tis a dignified business to make folk think."


s: But the aunt cried, "What!  Go messing with ink?


s: And smear all his fingers, and take to drink?


s: Paint hussies and cows, and end in the clink?"


s: So the argument ran; but one bright Spring day


s: Sym settled it all in his own strange way.


s: "'Tis a tramp," he announced, "I've decided to be;


s: And I start next Monday at twenty to three . . ."


s: When the aunt recovered she screamed, "A tramp?


s: Who steals people's washing, and sleeps in the damp?"


s: Sharp to the hour Sym was ready and dressed.


s: "Young birds," sighed the father, "must go from the nest.


s: When the green moss covers those stones you tread,


s: When the green grass whispers above my head,


s: They have reached the valley of peace who learn


s: That wise hearts cherish what fools may spurn."


s: And the father said, with a smile-masked sigh,


s: "It is meet that the young should leave the nest."


s: Said the aunt, "Don't spill that soup on your vest!


s: Nor mention his name! He's our one disgrace!


s: And he's probably sneaking around some place


s: With fuzzy black whiskers all over his face."


s: But, under a hedge, by a flowering peach,


s: A youth with a little blue wren held speech.


s: With his back to a tree and his feet in the grass,


s: He watched the thistle-down drift and pass,


s: And the cloud-puffs, borne on a lazy breeze,


s: Move by on their errand, above the trees,


s: "Now, teach me, little blue wren," said he.


s: "'Tis you can unravel this riddle for me.


s: I am 'mazed by the gifts of this kindly earth.


s: Which of them all has the greatest worth?"


s: He flirted his tail as he answered then,


s: He bobbed and he bowed to his coy little hen:


s: "Why, sunlight and worms!" said the little blue wren.


s: They climbed the trees . . . As was told before,


s: The Glugs climbed trees in the days of yore,


s: That even the cheeses could not have told


s: To give their lives to the climbing plan.


s: That the art was old as the mind of man.


s: And the billows that broke on Gosh's shore


s: For yesterday's Glug is the Glug of to-day.


s: And they climb the trees when the thunder rolls,


s: To solemnly salve their shop-worn souls.


s: That threaten to frizzle their shop-worn souls.


s: They climbed the trees. 'Tis a bootless task


s: And the habit of looking beyond its nose,


s: With the calm contempt of the One Who Knows.


s: And trusts to his luck when the day is fine,


s: Or reckless swings from an awful height,


s: "You can never mistake them," he will say;


s: And they climb the trees when the glass points fair,


s: And dared to muse on the acts of Splosh;


s: He dared to speak, and, worse than that,


s: "Why climb?" said he.  "When you reach the top


s: There's nowhere to go, and you have to stop,


s: And the higher you are the worse you flop."


s: And scoffs at the folly of fools who grieve,


s: And the furtive mice who revel at night,


s: For, "Why," they say, " in the land of Gosh


s: There is no one else who will bow to Splosh.


s: And they climb the trees when the rain pelts down


s: And feeds the gutters that thread the town;


s: When floods are frothy and waters brown."


s: Said the Glug called Joi, "This climbing trees


s: Cause much distress in the land of Gosh.


s: Let's stay on the ground and kill King Splosh!"


s: But Splosh, the king, he smiled a smile,


s: And beckoned once to his hangman, Guile,


s: Who climbed a tree when the weather was calm;


s: And they hanged poor Joi on a Snufflebust Palm;


s: Did those pious Glugs 'neath the Snufflebust Palm.


s: For they say, "'Tis a simple test we've got:


s: If you know one Glug, why, you know the lot!"


s: So, they climbed a tree in the bourgeoning Spring,


s: And they hanged poor Joi with some second-hand string.


s: To be hanged by Glugs with second-hand string.


s: Then Splosh, the king, rose up and said,


s: And there's not much room in the land of Gosh


s: For a Glug named Joi and a king called Splosh!"


s: And cried, "We're Glugs! and you can't change that!"


s: So they climbed the trees, since the weather was cold,


s: While the brazen bell of the city tolled


s: And they climb the trees when there's weather about,


s: If the climbing habit is good for gout."


s: So Joi was hanged, and his race was run,


s: And the Glugs were tickled with what they'd done.


s: And tell that tale with a chuckle of glee.


s: See naught of a joke in the fate of Joi,


s: Stern measures with such little girl or boy.


s: And they climb the trees, if it shines or rains,


s: To settle the squirming in their brains,


s: That are caused by rushing and catching trains.


s: Come mourn with me for the land of Gosh,


s: Of the land of Gosh, where the sad seas wash


s: The patient shores, and the great King Splosh


s: Where the fair Queen Tush weeps all the day,


s: And the Swank, the Swank, the naughty Swank,


s: 'Tis sorrow-swathed, as I know full well,


s: And garbed in gloom and the weeds of woe,


s: But bear with me for the briefest spell,


s: Of the land of Gosh, and Tush, and Splosh,


s: And Stodge, the Swank, the foolish Swank,


s: Oh, the tall trees bend, and green trees send


s: And the soft winds croon a jeering tune,


s: And the wee small birds chirp ribald words


s: His brain is dull, and his mind is dense,


s: In Gosh, sad Gosh, where the Lord Swank lives,


s: He holds high rank, and he has much pelf;


s: Are Swanks, and Swanks, ten dozen Swanks,


s: And says in tones surcharged with dread,


s: "Bow low, bow low, Glugs lean, Glugs fat!"


s: But the North wind snatches off his hat,


s: Are Swanks, and Swanks, distracting Swanks,


s: Poured wealth to Gosh, and the skies were blue,


s: Oh, then the Swanks, the bustled Swanks,


s: And the gay green trees joke to the breeze,


s: The Swank!  The Swank!  The pompous Swank!


s: But the wind-borne leaves await their chance


s: And the Swanks were called to the great King Splosh,


s: Who said that their system would not wash,


s: Then the Lord High Swank stretched forth a paw,


s: And the Swanks, the Swanks, the other Swanks,


s: He smote his throne as he thundered, "Bosh!


s: In the whole wide land is there not one sage


s: With a cool, clear brain, who'll straight engage


s: But the Lord High Stodge, from where he stood,


s: Cried, "Barley! . . . Guard your livelihood!"


s: And, quick as light, the teeming Swanks,


s: Sir Stodge, the Swank!  The noble Swank!"


s: But the West wind tweaks his nose in sport;


s: Then roared the King with a rage intense,


s: "Oh, who can cope with their magic tricks?"


s: But the Lord High Swank skipped nimbly hence,


s: The Swanks, the Swanks, dim forms of Swanks,


s: Cried the King of Gosh, "They shall not escape!


s: Am I set at naught by a crazed buffoon?"


s: The Lord Swank swaddled his portly shape,


s: Then round and round and round and round.


s: The Swanks, the Swanks, the whirling Swanks,


s: It flits and whirls and pipes and skirls,


s: The Swank, the Swank, the swollen Swank;


s: But the South wind blows his clothes awry,


s: While the Lord High Swank still ruled King Splosh


s: The Swanks, the Swanks, the under-Swanks,


s: Oh, weep with me for the slaves of tape!


s: Where the Lord High Swank still held command,


s: And wrote new rules in a fair round hand,


s: Where tape entwined all Gluggish things,


s: And the Swank, the Swank, the grievous Swank,


s: And says, "Just watch him!  Watch him now!


s: But the wild winds snatch his kerchief out,


s: Somewhere or other, 'tis doubtful where,


s: In the archives of Gosh is a volume rare,


s: A precious old classic that nobody reads,


s: Which makes it a classic, and famed thro' the land,


s: As well-informed persons will quite understand.


s: 'Tis a ponderous work, and 'tis written in prose,


s: For some mystical reason that nobody knows;


s: And it tells in a style that is terse and correct


s: Of the rule of the Swanks and its baneful effect


s: On the commerce of Gosh, on its morals and trade;


s: And it quotes a grave prophecy somebody made.


s: And this is the prophecy, written right bold


s: On a parchment all tattered and yellow and old;


s: So old and so tattered that nobody knows


s: But this is the writing that set Glugs agog


s: When 'twas called to their minds by the Mayor of Quog:


s: When Gosh groaneth bastlie thro Greed and bys plannes


s: Ye rimer shall mende ye who mendes pottes and pans.


s: Now, the Mayor of Quog, a small suburb of Gosh,


s: Was intensely annoyed at the act of King Splosh


s: With himself and the Queen on a Thursday at three;


s: When the King must have known that the sorriest dog,


s: If a native of Piphel, was hated in Quog.


s: An act without precedent!  Quog was ignored!


s: They met and considered this insult to Quog;


s: And they said, " 'Tis the work of the treacherous Og!


s: 'Tis plain the Og influence threatens the Throne;


s: And the Swanks are all crazed with this trading in stone."


s: Said the Mayor of Quog: "This has long been foretold


s: In a prophecy penned by the Seer of old.


s: We must search, if we'd banish the curse of our time,


s: For a mender of pots who's a maker of rhyme.


s: 'Tis to him we must look when our luck goes amiss.


s: But, Oh, where in all Gosh is a Glug such as this?"


s: O'er the archival prophecy zealously pored,


s: With a pursing of lips and a shaking of heads,


s: With a searching and prying for possible threads


s: That would lead to discover this versatile Glug


s: Who modelled a rhyme while he mended a mug.


s: They gave up the task and went home to their beds,


s: Where each lay awake while he tortured his brain


s: For a key to the riddle, but ever in vain . . .


s: Then, lo, at the Mayor's front door in the morn


s: A tinker called out, and a Movement was born.


s: Oh, the stars are the gods'; but the earth, it is man's.


s: But a fool is the man who has wants without end,


s: While the tinker's content with a kettle to mend.


s: For a tinker owns naught but the earth, which is man's.


s: Then, bring out your kettles!  Ho, kettles and pans!"


s: From the mayoral bed with unmayoral cries


s: The magistrate sprang ere he'd opened his eyes.


s: "Hold him!" he yelled, as he bounced on the floor.


s: "Oh, who is this tinker that rhymes at my door?


s: Go get me the name and the title of him 1"


s: They answered.  "Be calm, sir.  'Tis no one but Sym.


s: 'Tis Sym, the mad tinker, the son of old Joi,


s: Who ran from his home when a bit of a boy.


s: He went for a tramp, tho' 'tis common belief,


s: When folk were not looking he went for a thief;


s: Then went for a tinker, and rhymes as he goes.


s: 'Twas thus it began, the exalting of Sym,


s: And the mad Gluggish struggle that raged around him.


s: For the good Mayor seized him, and clothed him in silk,


s: And fed him on pumpkins and pasteurised milk,


s: And praised him in public, and coupled his name


s: With Gosh's vague prophet of archival fame.


s: The Press interviewed him a great many times,


s: And printed his portrait, and published his rhymes;


s: Till the King and Sir Stodge and the Swanks grew afraid


s: Of his fame 'mid the Glugs and the trouble it made.


s: For, wherever Sym went in the city of Gosh,


s: There were cheers for the tinker, and hoots for King Splosh.


s: His goings and comings were watched for and cheered;


s: And a crowd quickly gathered where'er he appeared.


s: All the folk flocked around him and shouted his praise;


s: For the Glugs followed fashion, and Sym was a craze.


s: They sued him for words, which they greeted with cheers,


s: For the way with a Glug is to tickle his ears.


s: "0, speak to us, Tinker!  Your wisdom we crave!"


s: They'd cry when they saw him; then Sym would look grave,


s: And remark, with an air, "'Tis a very fine day."


s: "Now ain't he a marvel?" they'd shout.  "Hip, Hooray!"


s: "To live," would Sym answer, "To live is to feel!"


s: "And ain't he a poet?" a fat Glug would squeal.


s: Sym had a quaint fancy in phrase and in text;


s: When he'd fed them with one they would howl for the next.


s: Thus he'd cry, "Love is love 1" and the welkin they'd lift


s: With their shouts of surprise at his wonderful gift.


s: He would say "After life, then a Glug must meet death!"


s: And they'd clamour for more ere he took the next breath.


s: But Sym grew aweary of this sort of praise,


s: And he longed to be back with his out-o'-door days,


s: With his feet in the grass and his back to a tree,


s: Rhyming and tinkering, fameless and free.


s: He said so one day to the Mayor of Quog,


s: And declared he'd as lief live the life of a dog.


s: But the Mayor was vexed; for the Movement had grown,


s: And his dreams had of late soared as high as a throne.


s: "Have a care! What is written is written," said he.


s: "And the dullest Glug knows what is written must be.


s: 'Tis the prophet of Gosh who has prophesied it;


s: And 'tis thus that 'tis written by him who so writ:


s: "'Lo, the Tinker of Gosh he shall make him three rhymes:


s: One on the errors and aims of his times,


s: One on the symptoms of sin that he sees,


s: And the third and the last on whatever he please.


s: And when the Glugs hear them and mark what they mean


s: The land shall be purged and the nation made clean."'


s: So Sym gave a promise to write then and there


s: Three rhymes to be read in the Great Market Square


s: To all Glugs assembled on Saturday week.


s: "And then," said the Mayor, "if still you must seek


s: To return to your tramping, well, just have your fling;


s: But I'll make you a marquis, or any old thing . . ."


s: Said Sym, "I shall tinker, and still be a king."


s: It might have been checked had but someone dared


s: To trace its beginnings; but nobody cared.


s: But 'twas clear to the wise that the Glugs of those days


s: Were crazed beyond reason concerning a craze.


s: They would pass a thing by for a week or a year,


s: With an air apathetic, or maybe a sneer:


s: Some ev'ryday thing, like a crime or a creed,


s: A mode or a movement, and pay it small heed,


s: Then all but the Nobodies followed the crowd.


s: Thus, Sym was a craze; tho', to give him his due,


s: He would rather have strayed from the popular view.


s: But once the Glugs had him they held him so tight


s: That he could not be nobody, try as he might.


s: For Craze is an appetite, governed by Greed.


s: So on Saturday week to the Great Market Square


s: Came every Glug who could rake up his fare.


s: They came from the suburbs, they came from the town,


s: There came from the country Glugs bearded and brown,


s: Rich Glugs, with cigars, all well-tailored and stout,


s: Jostled commonplace Glugs who dropped aitches about.


s: There were gushing Glug maids, well aware of their charms,


s: And stern, massive matrons with babes in their arms.


s: There were querulous dames who complained of the "squash,"


s: The pushing and squeezing; for, briefly, all Gosh,


s: With its aunt and its wife, stood agape in the ranks--


s: Excepting Sir Stodge and his satellite Swanks.


s: The Mayor of Quog took the chair for the day;


s: And he made them a speech, and he ventured to say


s: That a Glug was a Glug, and the Cause they held dear


s: Was a very dear Cause.  And the Glugs said, "Hear, hear."


s: Then Sym took the stage to a round of applause


s: From thousands who suddenly found they'd a Cause.


s: We strive together in life's crowded mart,


s: Keen-eyed, with clutching hands to over-reach.


s: We scheme, we lie, we play the selfish part,


s: Masking our lust for gain with gentle speech;


s: Our very selves behind a careless glance.


s: Ah, foolish brothers, seeking e'er in vain


s: The one dear gift that liesso near at hand;


s: Holds for his own, to hoard while yet he spends;


s: Seeking fresh treasure in the hearts of friends.


s: We preach; yet do we deem it worldly-wise


s: To count unbounded brother-love a shame,


s: So, ban the brother-look from out our eyes,


s: Lest sparks of sympathy be fanned to flame.


s: We smile; and yet withhold, in secret fear,


s: The word so hard to speak, so sweet to hear--


s: The magic word, to which stern eyes grow soft,


s: Have seared and scored, turn gentle--Nay, how oft


s: And dawning love is stifled with a joke.


s: Nay, brothers, look about your world to-day:


s: A world to you so drab, so commonplace--


s: The flowers still are blooming by the way,


s: As blossom smiles upon the sternest face.


s: In everv hour is born some thought of love;


s: In every heart is hid some treasure-trove.


s: With a modified clapping and stamping of feet


s: The Glugs mildly cheered him, as Sym took his seat.


s: But some said 'twas clever, and some said 'twas grand-


s: More especially those who did not understand.


s: And some said, with frowns, tho' the words sounded plain,


s: Yet it had a deep meaning they craved to explain.


s: But the Mayor said: Silence!  He wished to observe


s: That a Glug was a Glug; and in wishing to serve


s: This glorious Cause, which they'd asked him to lead,


s: They had proved they were Glugs of the noble old breed


s: That made Gosh what it was . . . and he'd ask the police


s: To remove that small boy while they heard the next piece.


s: "Now come," said the Devil, he said to me,


s: "This day, ere ever the clock strikes three,


s: For I've wagered a crown with Beelzebub,


s: Down there at the Gentlemen's Brimstone Club,


s: I shall tempt you once, I shall tempt you twice,


s: Yet thrice shall you fall ere I tempt you thrice."


s: But many there be, and I know them well,


s: All foul with sinning and ripe for Hell.


s: And I name no names, but the whole world knows


s: "How nowt' said the Devil.  "I'll spread my net,


s: Come, fill up a bumper of good red wine,


s: Your heart shall sing, and your eye shall shine,


s: You shall know such joy as you never have known.


s: For the salving of men was the good vine grown."


s: And my tongue shall shrink, and my throat go dry,


s: But greet you shall, as I know full well,


s: And I name no names, but the whole world wots


s: "Ah, ha!" said the Devil.  "You scorn the wine!


s: To win me a crown from a friend of mine,


s: 'Twere folly to shackle young love, hot Youth;


s: Have I looked on a woman with lustful eye,


s: But my brothers!  Alas! I am scandalized


s: By their evil passions so ill disguised.


s: And I name no names, but my thanks I give


s: That I loathe the lives my fellow-men live."


s: "Ho, ho!" roared the Devil in fiendish glee.


s: "But, nay," said I; "and I scorn your lure.


s: I have sinned no sin, and my heart is pure.


s: Come, show me a sign of the sin you see!"


s: But the Devil was gone . . . and the clock struck three.


s: With an increase of cheering and waving of hats-


s: While the little boys squealed, and made noises like cats--


s: The Glugs gave approval to Sym's second rhyme.


s: And some said 'twas thoughtful, and some said 'twas prime;


s: And some said 'twas witty, and had a fine end:


s: More especially those who did not comprehend.


s: And some said with leers and with nudges and shrugs


s: That, they mentioned no names, but it hit certain Glugs.


s: And others remarked, with superior smiles,


s: While dividing the metrical feet into miles,


s: That the thing seemed quite simple, without any doubt,


s: But the anagrams in it would need thinking out.


s: But the Mayor said, Hush!  And he wished to explain


s: That in leading this Movement he'd nothing to gain.


s: He was ready to lead, since they trusted him so;


s: And, wherever he led he was sure Glugs would go.


s: And he thanked them again, and craved peace for a time,


s: While this gifted young man read his third and last rhyme.


s: "I've found the authentic, identical beast!


s: The Feasible Dog, and the terror of Gosh!


s: Heralding death to the subjects of Splosh.


s: Oh, look at him glaring and staring, by thunder!


s: Now each for himself, and the weakest goes under!


s: He's ready to rend you with tooth and with claw.


s: "I've watched his abdominous, ominous shape


s: Abroad in the land while the nation has slept,


s: Good gracious!  Voracious is hardly the name for it!


s: Yet we have only our blindness to blame for it.


s: "My dear, I've autoptical, optical proof


s: That he's prowling and growling at large in the land.


s: Gurgles and groans of the beastliest brand.


s: Some may regard his contortions as comical.


s: But I've the proof that his game's gastronomical.


s: "Beware this obstreperous, leprous beast--


s: A treacherous wretch, for I know him of old.


s: For he's yearning and burning to snare the superior


s: Such a shouting and yelling of hearty Bravoes,


s: Such a craning of necks and a standing on toes


s: Seemed to leave ne'er a doubt that the Tinker's last rhyme


s: Had now won him repute 'mid the Glugs for all time.


s: And they all said the rhyme was the grandest they'd heard:


s: More especially those who had not caught a word.


s: But the Mayor said: Peace! And he stood, without fear,


s: As the leader of all to whom Justice was dear.


s: For the Tinker had rhymed, as the Prophet foretold,


s: And a light was let in on the errors of old.


s: Was the proof that Sir Stodge was a traitor, and worse!


s: Sir Stodge (said the Mayor), must go from his place;


s: And the Swanks, one and all, were a standing disgrace!


s: For the influence won o'er a weak, foolish king


s: Was a menace to Gosh, and a scandalous thing!


s: "And now," said the Mayor, "I stand here to-day


s: As your leader and friend." And the Glugs said, "Hooray!"


s: Then they went to their homes in the suburbs and town;


s: To their farms went the Glugs who were bearded and brown.


s: Portly Glugs with cigars went to dine at their clubs,


s: While illiterate Glugs had one more at the pubs.


s: And each household in Gosh sat and talked half the night


s: Of the wonderful day, and the imminent fight.


s: Forgetting the rhymer, forgetting his rhymes,


s: They talked of Sir Stodge and his numerous crimes.


s: There was hardly a C3lug in the whole land of Gosh


s: Who'd a lenient word to put in for King Splosh.


s: One and all, to the mangiest, surliest dog,


s: Were quite eager to bark for his Worship of Quog.


s: Forgotten, unnoticed, Sym wended his way


s: To his lodging in Gosh at the close of the day.


s: And 'twas there, to his friend and companion of years--


s: To his little red dog with the funny prick ears--


s: That he poured out his woe; seeking nothing to hide;


s: And the little dog listened, his head on one side.


s: "O you little red dog, you are weary as I.


s: It is days, it is months since we saw the blue sky.


s: And it seems weary years since we sniffed at the breeze


s: As it hms thro' the hedges and sings in the trees.


s: These we know and we love.  But this city holds fears,


s: O my friend of the road, with the funny prick ears.


s: And for what me we hope from his Worship of Quog?"


s: "Oh, and a bone, and a kick," said the little red dog.


s: The stern Sir Stodge and all his Swanks--


s: Turned out great hordes of learned fools:


s: His task well done, his three rhymes writ,


s: "Again the fields where wild things run!


s: But, "Halt!" exclaimed his Nibs of Quog.


s: The great Sir Stodge, filled full of hate,


s: "Ah!" cried his Worship.  "Sly; so sly!"


s: "I've read you thro'; I've marked you well.


s: You're cunning as an imp from Hell . . .


s: Are one!  Amen.  Down with King Splosh!"


s: Sir Stodge and all his Swanks were there.


s: "Glugs," said the chairman.  "Glugs of Gosh;


s: So, first shall speak this man of rhyme;


s: And, when Sir Stodge has voiced his view,


s: Said Sym: "Kind friends, and fellow Glugs;


s: ("He's minel" quoth Stodge, below his breath.)


s: Nay, brothers, why should hatred lodge . . .


s: Was heard, and someone growled, "Hear, hear."


s: "Kind friends," said Sym . . . But, at a glance,


s: The 'cute Sir Stodge had seen his chance.


s: Nay!" cried Sir Stodge.  "You must agree,


s: "O learned man! 0 seer!" cried they. . . .


s: And we have won!  Long live King Splosh!"


s: For months I've marked his crafty dodge,


s: And shamed him!" quoth his Nibs of Quog.


s: Cheers for Sir Stodge were long and loud;


s: Quoth Quog, "It was a task to bilk . . .


s: (I thank you; sugar, please, and milk) . . .


s: A scurvy rogue! . . . (Ah, two lumps, thanks.)


s: Ah, well, 'twas for my country's sake . . .


s: (Thanks; just one slice of currant cake.)"


s: It chanced one day, in the middle of May,


s: A policeman, who said, while scratching his head,


s: Took our last blue-metal, in order to settle


s: And the King said, "Well, we are stony-broke."


s: But the Queen could not see it was much of a joke.


s: And she said, "If the metal is all used up,


s: Pray what of the costume I want for the Cup?


s: It all seems so dreadfully simple to me.


s: The stones?  Why, import them from over the sea."


s: But a Glug stood up with a mole on his chin,


s: "Your Majesties, down in the country of Podge,


s: A spy has discovered a very 'cute dodge.


s: And the Ogs are determined to wage a war


s: On Gosh, next Friday, at half-past four."


s: Then the Glugs all cried, in a terrible fright,


s: "How did our grandfathers manage a fight?"


s: Then the Knight, Sir Stodge, he opened his Book,


s: And he read, "Some very large stones they took,


s: And flung at the foe, with exceeding force;


s: Which was very effective, tho' rude, of course."


s: The Glugs cried, "Where, Oh, where are the stones?"


s: And some rushed North, and a few ran West;


s: And they gathered the pillows and cushions and rugs


s: From the homes of the rich and middle-class Glugs.


s: And a hasty message they managed to send


s: Craving the loan of some bricks from a friend.


s: On the Friday, exactly at half-past four,


s: And the first of their stones hit poor Mister Ghones,


s: Then a pebble of Podge took the Knight, Sir Stodge,


s: He gurgled "Un-Gluggish!" His heart growing sluggish,


s: And the King said, "Ouch!" And the Queen said, "0o!


s: My bee-ootiful drawing-room!  What shall I do?"


s: But the warlike Ogs, they hurled great rocks


s: Thro' the works of the wonderful eight-day clocks


s: They had sold to the Glugs but a month before--


s: Which was very absurd; but, of course, 'twas war.


s: And the Glugs cried, "What would our grandfathers do


s: If they hadn't the stones that they one time threw?"


s: But the Knight, Sir Stodge, and his mystic Book


s: Then a Glug stood out with a pot in his hand,


s: As the King was bewailing the fate of his land,


s: Then hit them quite frequent with anything hard."


s: So the Glugs seized anvils, and editors' chairs,


s: And bottles of pickles, and clocks they threw,


s: And books of poems, and gherkins, and glue,


s: Which they'd bought with the stones--as, of course, you know--


s: From the Ogs but a couple of months ago.


s: Which was simply inane, when you reason it o'er;


s: When they'd fought for a night and the most of a day,


s: The Ogs threw the last of their metal away.


s: Then they went back to Podge, well content with their fun,


s: And, with much satisfaction, declared they had won.


s: And the King of the Glugs gazed around on his land,


s: And saw nothing but stones strewn on every hand:


s: Great stones in the palace, and stones in the street,


s: And stones on the house-tops and under the feet.


s: And he said, with a desperate look on his face,


s: "There is nothing so ghastly as stones out of place.


s: And, no doubt, this Og scheme was a very smart dodge.


s: But whom does it profit--my people, or Podge?"


s: Dread and distraction wherever he turned--


s: Oh, the great King Splosh was a sad, sore king,


s: With never a statesman to straighten the thing.


s: Glus all importunate urging their claims,


s: Glugs with petitions for this and for that,


s: Standing ten-deep on the royal door-mat,


s: Raging when nobody answered their ring--


s: Oh, the great King Splosh was a careworn king.


s: And he looked to the right, and he glanced to the left,


s: And he glared at the roof like a monarch bereft


s: Of his wisdom and wits and his wealth all in one;


s: And, at least once a minute, asked, "What's to be done?"


s: But the Swanks stood around him and answered, with groans,


s: "Your majesty, Gosh is half buried in stones!"


s: "How now?" cried the King.  "Is there not in my land


s: One Glug who can cope with this dreadful demand:


s: A rich man, a poor man, a beggar man, thief--


s: I reck not his rank so he lessen my grief--


s: A soldier, a sailor, a--" Raising his head,


s: With relief in his eye, "Now, I mind me!" he said.


s: "I mind me a Tinker, and what once befel,


s: When I think, on the whole, he was treated not well.


s: But he shall be honoured, and he shall be famed


s: If he read me this riddle.  But how is he named?


s: Some commonplace title, like-Simon?-No-Sym!


s: Go, send out my riders, and scour Gosh for him."


s: They rode for a day to the sea in the South,


s: Calling the name of him, hand to the mouth.


s: They rode for a day to the hills in the East,


s: But signs of a tinker saw never the least.


s: Then they rode to the North thro' a whole day long,


s: And paused in the even to hark to a song.


s: Oh, who can show tresses like Emily Ann's?


s: Brown in the shadow and gold at the tips,


s: Bright as the smile on her beckoning lips.


s: With his feet in the grass, and his back to a tree,


s: "Sym!" cried the riders.  " 'Tis thus you are styled?"


s: And he paused in his singing, and nodded and smiled.


s: Said he: "Last eve, when the sun was low,


s: Down thro' the bracken I watched her go--


s: Down thro' the bracken, with simple grace--


s: And the glory of eve shone full on her face;


s: And there on the sky-line it lingered a span,


s: With hands to their faces the riders smiled.


s: "Sym," they said--"be it so you're styled--


s: Behold, great Splosh, our sorrowing King,


s: That he may be honoured and justly famed."


s: "Yet," said Sym, as he tinkered his can,


s: "What should you know of her, Emily Ann?


s: As out of the East they frolicked and ran,


s: "King Splosh," said the riders, "is bowed with grief;


s: And the glory of Gosh is a yellowing leaf.


s: Up with you, Tinker!  There's work ahead.


s: With a King forsaken, and Swanks in dread,


s: To whom may we turn for the salving of man?"


s: With her skirts so high o'er the dew-wet grass,


s: It earns in the cause of her twinkling shoes.


s: Oh, the dew-wet grass, where this morn she ran,


s: "But haste!" they cried.  "By the palace gates


s: And what shall we answer our Lord the King


s: But Sym, he said to them, "Answer him this:


s: 'Every eve, when the clock chimes eight,


s: Then, full on the mouth because she's mine."'


s: "Calf!" sneered the riders.  "O Tinker, heed!


s: Garlands and greatness are waiting for him:


s: And a chaplet for crowning a conqueror's head."


s: "Listen," quoth Sym, as he stirred his fire.


s: Then, Oh, but the touch of her kindled a flame


s: That burns as a sun by the candle of fame.


s: And a blessing and boon for a poor tinker man


s: Looks out from the eyes of my Emily Ann."


s: Then they said to him, "Fool!  Do you cast aside


s: Promise of honour, and place, and pride,


s: Gold for the asking, and power o'er men-


s: Working your will with the stroke of a pen?


s: Vexed were the King if you ride not with us."


s: But Sym, he said to them, "Answer him thus:


s: These are the gifts that a king may give


s: And my lips grew parched like a man athirst


s: Oh, my treasure was ne'er in the gift of man;


s: But women there are in the city of Gosh--


s: Ay, even the daughters of good King Splosh. . ."


s: "Care," said Sym, "is a weed that springs


s: And I, who have lived 'neath the tent of the skies,


s: Know of the flowers, and which to prize . . .


s: Give you good even!  For now I must jog."


s: And he whistled him once to his little red dog.


s: Off went the tinker man, singing the while;


s: Down by the bracken patch, over the hill,


s: With the little red dog at the heel of him still.


s: And back, as he soberly sauntered along,


s: There came to the riders the tail of his song.


s: Strong is my arm if the cause it be man's.


s: But a fig for the cause of a cunning old king;


s: For Emily Ann will be mine in the Spring.


s: Then nought shall I labour for Splosh or his plans;


s: Tho' I'll mend him a kettle.  Ho, kettles and pans!"


s: The Glugs still live in the land of Gosh,


s: Under the rule of the great King Splosh.


s: And they climb the trees in the Summer and Spring,


s: Because it is reckoned the regular thing.


s: Down in the valley they live their lives,


s: Taking the air with their aunts and wives.


s: And they climb the trees in the Winter and Fall,


s: And count it improper to climb not at all.


s: And they name their trees with a thousand names,


s: And some, they climb for the fun of the thing,


s: Some scale a tree that they fear to name,


s: For it bears great blossoms of scarlet shame.


s: But they eat of the fruit of the nameless tree,


s: Because they are Glugs, and their choice is free.


s: Whose summit looks down on the city of Gosh,


s: Far from the reach of the great King Splosh,


s: And feel vague promptings to wondrous love.


s: And they whisper a tale of a tinker man,


s: Who lives in the mount with his Emily Ann.


s: A great mother mountain, and kindly is she,


s: Who nurses young rivers and sends them to sea.


s: And, nestled high up on her sheltering lap,


s: Is a little red house with a little straw cap


s: That bears a blue feather of smoke, curling high,


s: And a bunch of red roses cocked over one eye.


s: And the eyes of it glisten and shine in the sun,


s: As they look down on Gosh with a twinkle of fun.


s: There's a gay little garden, a tidy white gate,


s: And a narrow brown pathway that will not run straight;


s: For it turns and it twists and it wanders about


s: To the left and the right, as in humorous doubt.


s: 'Tis a humorous path, and a joke from its birth


s: Till it ends at the door with a wriggle of mirth.


s: And here in the mount lives the queer tinker man


s: With his little red dog and his Emily Arm.


s: And, once in a while, when the weather is clear,


s: When the work is all over, and even is near,


s: They walk in the garden and gaze down below


s: On the Valley of Gosh, where the young rivers go;


s: Where the houses of Gosh seem so paltry and vain,


s: Like a handful of pebbles strewn over the plain;


s: Where tiny black forms crawl about in the vale,


s: And stare at the mountain they fear them to scale.


s: And Sym sits him down by his little wife's knee,


s: With his feet in the grass and his back to a tree;


s: And he looks on the Valley and dreams of old years,


s: As he strokes his red dog with the funny prick ears.


s: And he says, "Still they climb in their whimsical way,


s: While we stand on earth, yet are higher than they.


s: Oh, who trusts to a tree is a fool of a man!


s: For the wise seek the mountains, my Emily Ann."


s: So lives the queer tinker, nor deems it a wrong,


s: When the spirit so moves him, to burst into song.


s: 'Tis a comical song about kettles and pans,


s: And the graces and charms that are Emily Ann's.


s: 'Tis a mad, freakish song, but he sings it with zest,


s: And his little wife vows it of all songs the best.


s: And he sings quite a lot, as the Summer days pass,


s: With his back to a tree and his feet in the grass.


s: And the little red dog, who is wise as dogs go,


s: He will hark to that song for a minute or so,


s: 'With his head on one side, and a serious air.


s: Then he makes no remark; but he wanders elsewhere.


s: And he trots down the garden to gaze now and then


s: At the curious pranks of a certain blue wren:


s: Not a commonplace wren, but a bird marked for fame


s: Thro' a grievance in life and a definite aim.


s: Now, they never fly far and they never fly high,


s: And they probably couldn't, suppose they should try.


s: So the common blue wren is content with his lot:


s: He will eat when there's food, and he fasts when there's not.


s: He flirts and he flutters, his wife by his side,


s: With his share of content and forgiveable pride.


s: And he keeps to the earth, 'mid the bushes and shrubs,


s: And he dines very well upon corpulent grubs.


s: But the little blue wren with a grievance in life,


s: He was rude to his neighbours and short with his wife.


s: For, up in the apple-tree over his nest,


s: There dwelt a fat spider who gave him no rest:


s: That he seemed hardly fitted to waddle about.


s: But his eyes were so sharp, and his legs were so spry,


s: That he could not be caught; and 'twas folly to try.


s: Said the wren, as his loud lamentations he hurled


s: At the little red dog, "It's a rotten old world!


s: But my heart would be glad, and my life would be blest


s: If I had that fat spider well under my vest.


s: Then I'd call back my youth, and be seeking to live,


s: And to taste of the pleasures the world has to give.


s: But the world is all wrong, and my mind's in a fog!"


s: "Aw, don't be a Glug!" said the little red dog.


s: Then, up from the grass, where he sat by his tree,


s: The voice of the Tinker rose fearless and free.


s: The little dog listened, his head on one side;


s: Then sought him a spot where a bored dog could hide.


s: "Kettles and pans!  Ho, kettles and pans!


s: The stars are the gods' but the earth, it is man's!


s: Yet down in the shadow dull mortals there are


s: Who climb in the tree-tops to snatch at a star:


s: Then make for the mountain, importunate man!


s: With a kettle to mend . . . and your Emily Ann.


s: As he cocked a sad eye o'er a sheltering log,


s: "Oh, a Glug is a Glug!" sighed the little red dog.


s: Set up and electrotyped October, 1899. Reprinted January, 1901;


s: Browning, when at his best in vigor, clearness, and beauty, is


s: "How they brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix"


s: The Bishop Orders his Tomb at Saint Praxed's Church


s: literary tastes and his vigorous health; in his father he found a


s: philosophy, history; to the contemplation of the lives of men and


s: In 1838 appeared his first published poem, _Pauline_. It bears


s: _Strafford_, in 1840 _Sordello_. From this time on, for the


s: ending with _Balaustion's Adventure_ (a transcript of Euripides'


s: _Alcestis_) in 1871, was by far the richest in poetic value.


s: No poet in our generation has fared so ill at the hands of the


s: subjects. They do not fit the theme. They are the discords of a


s: musician who either has not mastered his instrument or is not


s: sensitive to all the finer effects. Some of his work stands out


s: To Browning belongs the credit of having created a new poetic


s: smelting; often it yields enough to reward the greatest patience.


s: _Sordello_, written thirty years after its first publication, he


s: Duchess, the sordid and material soul of the old Bishop of St.


s: Ezra_, as a phase, a transit of the soul, wherein the material


s: To many young readers this method in art comes like a revelation.


s: more obviously, more intentionally, more insistently. It is well,


s: The thickest cloud earth ever stretched;


s: Nor what God blessed once, prove accurst."


s: _Andrea del Sarto_, this is the unbroken tone of his poetry.


s: matter of temperament: he is optimistic because he was born so.


s: not, like Shakespeare's, born of long and deep suffering from the


s: It is too early to guess at Browning's permanent place in our


s: Shakespeare is not our poet, but the world's,


s: Therefore, on him no speech! and brief for thee,


s: Browning! Since Chaucer was alive and hale


s: No man has walked along our roads with step


s: So varied in discourse. But warmer climes


s: Give brighter plumage, stronger wing: the breeze


s: Of Alpine heights thou playest with, borne on


s: The Siren waits thee, singing song for song.


s: Tennyson has a vivid feeling of the dignity and potency of


s: _law_.... Browning vividly feels the importance, the greatness


s: and beauty of passions and enthusiasms, and his imagination


s: is comparatively unimpressed by the presence of law and its


s: ... Hence, it is not obedience, it is not submission to the law


s: of duty, which points out to us our true path of life, but rather


s: ... Browning has not cared for that poetic form which bestows


s: Country_, he has been merely whimsical and dull; in those works


s: was his lot to be strong as the thinker, the moralist, with "the


s: And voiceless hangs the world beside his bier,


s: Our words are sobs, our cry or praise a tear:


s: We see a spirit on earth's loftiest peak


s: Shine, and wing hence the way he makes more clear:


s: See a great Tree of Life that never sere


s: Dropped leaf for aught that age or storms might wreak;


s: Such ending is not death: such living shows


s: From one big heart,--to conquer man's old foes:


s: The coward, and the tyrant, and the force


s: Of all those weedy monsters raising heads


s: When Song is muck from springs of turbid source.


s: "How they Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix."


s: Song: "Nay, but you,--who do not love her."


s: (including Natural Magic and Hervé Riel).


s: Browning's Complete Poetical Works, Cambridge Edition (Houghton,


s: Selections from Browning (Crowell & Co., one vol.).


s: Browning's Message to his Times, by Edward Berdoe (London, 1897).


s: _(Written for, and inscribed to W. M. the Younger)_


s: They fought the dogs and killed the cats,


s: And licked the soup from the cooks' own ladles,


s: "'Tis clear," cried they, "our Mayor's a noddy;


s: Rouse up, sirs! give your brains a racking


s: Or, sure as fate, we'll send you packing!"


s: "Bless us," cried the Mayor, "what's that?"


s: Save when at noon his paunch grew mutinous


s: For a plate of turtle, green and glutinous)


s: "Come in!"--the Mayor cried, looking bigger:


s: With light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,


s: Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,


s: Had walked his way from his painted tombstone!"


s: And, "Please your honors," said he, "I'm able,


s: To match with his coat of self-same cheque:


s: And his fingers, they noticed, were ever straying,


s: "One? fifty thousand!"--was the exclamation


s: Of the astonished Mayor and Corporation.


s: And green and blue his sharp eyes twinkled,


s: Like a candle-flame where salt is sprinkled;


s: And ere three shrill notes the pipe uttered,


s: And the grumbling grew to a mighty rumbling;


s: And out of the houses the rats came tumbling.


s: Great rats, small rats, lean rats, brawny rats,


s: Brown rats, black rats, gray rats, tawny rats,


s: From street to street he piped advancing,


s: And step for step they followed dancing,


s: Which was: "At the first shrill notes of the pipe,


s: And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,


s: And a drawing the corks of train-oil-flasks,


s: And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks:


s: (Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery


s: Is breathed) called out, 'Oh, rats, rejoice!


s: The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!


s: So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,


s: Just as methought it said, 'Come, bore me!'


s: You should have heard the Hamelin people


s: Ringing the bells till they rocked the steeple.


s: "Go," cried the Mayor, "and get long poles,


s: Poke out the nests and block up the holes!


s: Of the rats!"--when suddenly, up the face


s: Of the Piper perked in the market-place,


s: With a, "First, if you please, my thousand guilders!"


s: A thousand guilders! The Mayor looked blue;


s: "Beside," quoth the Mayor, with a knowing wink,


s: "Our business was done at the river's brink;


s: And what's dead can't come to life, I think.


s: So, friend, we're not the folks to shrink


s: From the duty of giving you something for drink,


s: And a matter of money to put in your poke;


s: Of them, as you very well know, was in joke.


s: Beside, our losses have made us thrifty.


s: Of the Head-Cook's pottage, all he's rich in,


s: With you, don't think I'll bate a stiver!


s: May find me pipe after another fashion."


s: "How?" cried the Mayor, "d'ye think I brook


s: Laid his long pipe of smooth straight cane;


s: And ere he blew three notes (such sweet,


s: There was a rustling that seemed like a bustling


s: Of merry crowds justling at pitching and hustling;


s: Small feet were pattering, wooden shoes clattering,


s: Little hands clapping, and little tongues chattering,


s: And, like fowls in a farm-yard, when barley is scattering,


s: And sparkling eyes and teeth like pearls,


s: Tripping and skipping, ran merrily after


s: The wonderful music with shouting and laughter.


s: As if they were changed into blocks of wood.


s: As the Piper turned from the High Street


s: Right in the way of their sons and daughters!


s: And to Koppelberg Hill his steps addressed,


s: When lo, as they reached the mountain-side,


s: And the Piper advanced, and the children followed,


s: The door in the mountain-side shut fast.


s: And could not dance the whole of the way;


s: "It's dull in our town since my playmates left!


s: For he led us, he said, to a joyous land.


s: Where waters gushed and fruit-trees grew,


s: The sparrows were brighter than peacocks here,


s: And horses were born with eagles' wings;


s: The Mayor sent East, West, North, and South,


s: But when they saw 'twas a lost endeavor,


s: And Piper and dancers were gone forever,


s: If, after the day of the month and year,


s: The place of the children's last retreat,


s: They called it the Pied Piper's Street--


s: Was sure for the future to lose his labour.


s: On which their neighbours lay such stress,


s: To their fathers and mothers having risen


s: Of scores out with all men--especially pipers!


s: And, whether they pipe us free from rats or from mice,


s: If we've promised them aught, let us keep our promise!


s: Which precipice smiled tempting Death ..."


s: You too without your host have reckoned!


s: "A beggar-child" (let's hear this third!)


s: Help, you the standers-by!' None stirred.


s: "'Up he comes with the child, see, tight


s: In mouth, alive too, clutched from quite


s: "'Here he comes, holds in mouth this time


s: --What may the thing be? Well, that's prime!


s: Have fished--the child's doll from the slime!'


s: How brain secretes dog's soul, we'll see!'"


s: Out 'twixt the battery-smokes there flew


s: "Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace


s: Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans


s: "You're wounded!" "Nay," the soldier's pride


s: "I'm killed, Sire!" And his chief beside,


s: I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;


s: I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;


s: "Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew;


s: "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;


s: Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,


s: And into the midnight we galloped abreast.


s: Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace


s: Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;


s: I turned in my saddle and made its girths tight,


s: Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,


s: Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,


s: Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.


s: 'Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near


s: To stare through the mist at us galloping past,


s: And I saw my stout galloper Roland, at last,


s: With resolute shoulders, each butting away


s: The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray:


s: And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back


s: For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;


s: And one eye's black intelligence,--ever that glance


s: O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!


s: And the thick heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon


s: His fierce lips shook upwards in galloping on.


s: By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur!


s: Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her,


s: We'll remember at Aix"--for one heard the quick wheeze


s: Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees,


s: And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,


s: As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.


s: So, we were left galloping, Joris and I,


s: Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;


s: The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,


s: 'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;


s: Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,


s: And "Gallop," gasped Joris, "for Aix is in sight!"


s: "How they'll greet us!"--and all in a moment his roan


s: Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;


s: And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight


s: Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,


s: With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,


s: And with circles of red for his eye-sockets' rim.


s: Then I cast loose my buff-coat, each holster let fall,


s: Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,


s: Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,


s: Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;


s: Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,


s: Till at length, into Aix Roland galloped and stood.


s: And all I remember is,--friends flocking round


s: As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground;


s: And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,


s: As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,


s: Which (the burgesses voted by common consent)


s: Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent.


s: On the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety two,


s: Did the English fight the French,--woe to France!


s: And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter thro' the blue.


s: Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue,


s: 'Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase;


s: First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville;


s: Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leapt on board;


s: Think to make the river-mouth by the single narrow way,


s: Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty tons,


s: "Here's the English at our heels; would you have them take in tow


s: Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach!


s: For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these


s: --A Captain? A Lieutenant? A Mate--first, second, third?


s: And, "What mockery or malice have we here?" cries Hervé Riel:


s: On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell


s: 'Twixt the offing here and Grève where the river disembogues?


s: Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying's for?


s: Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of Solidor.


s: And I lead them, most and least, by a passage I know well,


s: Not a ship that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground,


s: And just as Hervé Kiel hollas "Anchor!"--sure as fate


s: Hearts that bled are staunched with balm.


s: 'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Rance!"


s: How hope succeeds despair on each Captain's countenance!


s: Ask to heart's content and have! or my name's not Damfreville."


s: And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what is it but a run?--


s: Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore!"


s: That he asked and that he got,--nothing more.


s: In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell;


s: In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack


s: In my verse, Hervé Riel, do thou once more


s: Save the squadron, honour France, love thy wife the Belle Aurore!


s: First I salute this soil of the blessed, river and rock!


s: Gods of my birthplace, dæmons and heroes, honour to all!


s: Then I name thee, claim thee for our patron, co-equal in praise


s: Now, henceforth, and forever,--O latest to whom I upraise


s: Hand and heart and voice! For Athens, leave pasture and flock!


s: Crowned with the myrtle, did you command me, Athens and you,


s: "Run, Pheidippides, run and race, reach Sparta for aid!


s: Into their midst I broke: breath served but for "Persia has come!


s: O my Athens--Sparta love thee? did Sparta respond?


s: Every face of her leered in a furrow of envy, mistrust,


s: Malice,--each eye of her gave me its glitter of gratified hate!


s: Gravely they turned to take counsel, to cast for excuses. I stood


s: Thunder, thou Zeus! Athene, are Spartans a quarry beyond


s: Nowise precipitate judgment--too weighty the issue at stake!


s: Count we no time lost time which lags thro' respect to the Gods!


s: Ponder that precept of old, 'No warfare, whatever the odds


s: Wood and stream, I knew, I named, rushing past them again,


s: Love in its choice, paid you so largely service so slack!


s: "Oak and olive and bay,--I bid you cease to en-wreathe


s: Brows made bold by your leaf! Fade at the Persian's foot,


s: You that, our patrons were pledged, should never adorn a slave!


s: My speed may hardly be, for homage to crag and to cave


s: No deity deigns to drape with verdure?--at least I can breathe,


s: Fear in thee no fraud from the blind, no lie from the mute!"


s: Such my cry as, rapid, I ran over Parnes' ridge;


s: Gully and gap I clambered and cleared till, sudden, a bar


s: Jutted, a stoppage of stone against me, blocking the way.


s: Right! for I minded the hollow to traverse, the fissure across:


s: "Where I could enter, there I depart by! Night in the fosse?


s: Better!"--when--ha! what was it I came on, of wonders that are?


s: There, in the cool of a cleft, sat he--majestical Pan!


s: Ivy drooped wanton, kissed his head, moss cushioned his hoof;


s: All the great God was good in the eyes grave-kindly--the curl


s: Carved on the bearded cheek, amused at a mortal's awe


s: As, under the human trunk, the goat-thighs grand I saw.