s: Never in jail before, was you, old blatherskite, say?


s: How did I get in here?  Well what 'ud you give to know?


s: 'Twasn't by sneakin' round where I hadn't no call to go;


s: 'Twasn't by hangin' round a-spyin' unfortnet men.


s: Grin! but I'll stop your jaw if ever you do that agen.


s: For I'm werry highly connected, as a gent, sir, can understand,


s: For 'twas all, sir, a put-up job on a pore young man like me;


s: Slings me a tract on the evils o' keepin' bad company,


s: As if all the saints was howlin' to stay here along o' we.


s: No, I hain't no complaints.  Stop, yes; do you see that chap,--


s: Him standin' over there, a-hidin' his eyes in his cap?


s: Perhaps it's his bringin' up; but he's sickenin' day by day,


s: And he doesn't take no food, and I'm seein' him waste away.


s: And it isn't the thing to see; for, whatever he's been and done,


s: Starvation isn't the plan as he's to be saved upon.


s: And perhaps if a gent like you, with whom I've been sorter free,


s: Don't you give it to me; now, don't ye, don't ye, DON'T!


s: You think it's a put-up job; so I'll thank ye, sir, if you won't.


s: And, if it's a comfort to you, why, I don't intend that he shall.


s: It was the stage-driver's story, as he stood with his back to the


s: Quietly flecking his whip, and turning his quid of tobacco;


s: I have seen danger?  Oh, no! not me, sir, indeed, I assure you:


s: "It was the Geiger Grade, a mile and a half from the summit:


s: Black as your hat was the night, and never a star in the heavens.


s: Over the precipice side,--a thousand feet plumb to the bottom.


s: "Half-way down the grade I felt, sir, a thrilling and creaking,


s: Then a lurch to one side, as we hung on the bank of the canyon;


s: Then, looking up the road, I saw, in the distance behind me,


s: The off hind wheel of the coach, just loosed from its axle, and


s: "One glance alone I gave, then gathered together my ribbons,


s: Shouted, and flung them, outspread, on the straining necks of my


s: Screamed at the top of my voice, and lashed the air in my frenzy,


s: "Speed was our only chance, when again came the ominous rattle:


s: Leaped the wild horses, and shrieked in advance of the danger


s: "But to be brief in my tale.  Again, ere we came to the level,


s: "This is my story, sir; a trifle, indeed, I assure you.


s: Perhaps I don't care if I do: you may give me the same, Jim,--no


s: To wipe up with his person casual dust upon the floor.


s: And we've come home free and merry from the peaceful cemetery,


s: leavin' Cutter there with Sutter--that mebbee just a stutter


s: On the part of Mr. Cutter caused the loss we deeply mourn.


s: But they all allow that Sutter had begun a kind of mutter, when


s: uprose Mr. Cutter with a sickening kind of ease,


s: And proceeded then to wade in to the subject then prevadin': "Is


s: Profanity degradin'?" in words like unto these:


s: "Onlike the previous speaker, Mr. Sutter of Yreka, he was but a


s: humble seeker--and not like him--a cuss"--


s: Drawled "he guessed he must fall--back--as--Mr. Cutter owned the


s: pack--as--he just had played the--Jack--as--" (here Cutter's gun


s: went crack! as Mr. Sutter gasped and ended) "every man can see!"


s: But William Henry Pryor--just in range of Sutter's fire--here


s: evinced a wild desire to do somebody harm,


s: But if some gent will lend us a twenty, we'll hide it whar folks


s: Softly dropped that coin in his coat pocket, ez the hull crowd


s: For we knew we'd the dead thing on Billson--even more than we


s: Draggin' me and the rest of us arter, while we larfed till we


s: Or, if PASSED, woz it passed thar by William; and I listens, and


s: Waltz in, waltz in, ye little kids, and gather round my knee,


s: And drop them books and first pot-hooks, and hear a yarn from me.


s: For I hold it is unchristian to deceive a simple child;


s: But as from school yer driftin' by, I thowt ye'd like to hear


s: Of a "Spelling Bee" at Angels that we organized last year.


s: It warn't made up of gentle kids, of pretty kids, like you,


s: But gents ez hed their reg'lar growth, and some enough for two.


s: There woz Lanky Jim of Sutter's Fork and Bilson of Lagrange,


s: And "Pistol Bob," who wore that day a knife by way of change.


s: You start, you little kids, you think these are not pretty names,


s: Likewise was Jack, in after-years, for shootin' of that same.


s: The nights was kinder lengthenin' out, the rains had jest begun,


s: When all the camp came up to Pete's to have their usual fun;


s: But we all sot kinder sad-like around the bar-room stove


s: Till Smith got up, permiskiss-like, and this remark he hove:


s: "Thar's a new game down in Frisco, that ez far ez I can see


s: Then Brown of Calaveras simply hitched his chair and spake,


s: "Poker is good enough for me," and Lanky Jim sez, "Shake!"


s: And Bob allowed he warn't proud, but he "must say right thar


s: That the man who tackled euchre hed his education squar."


s: This brought up Lenny Fairchild, the schoolmaster, who said


s: He knew the game, and he would give instructions on that head.


s: "For instance, take some simple word," sez he, "like 'separate:'


s: Now who can spell it?"  Dog my skin, ef thar was one in eight.


s: This set the boys all wild at once.  The chairs was put in row,


s: And at the head was Lanky Jim, and at the foot was Joe,


s: And high upon the bar itself the schoolmaster was raised,


s: And the bar-keep put his glasses down, and sat and silent gazed.


s: The first word out was "parallel," and seven let it be,


s: Till Joe waltzed in his "double l" betwixt the "a" and "e;"


s: For since he drilled them Mexicans in San Jacinto's fight


s: Thar warn't no prouder man got up than Pistol Joe that night--


s: Till "rhythm" came!  He tried to smile, then said "they had him


s: And Lanky Jim, with one long stride, got up and took his chair.


s: O little kids, my pretty kids, 'twas touchin' to survey


s: As they sat down again I saw in Bilson's eye a flash,


s: And Brown of Calaveras was a-twistin' his mustache,


s: Then with a tremblin' voice and hand, and with a wanderin' eye,


s: Then certain gents arose and said "they'd business down in camp,"


s: They'd"--here got up Three-fingered Jack and locked the door and


s: Was huntin' up authorities thet no one else could see;


s: And Brown got down behind the stove, allowin' he "was cold,"


s: Till it upsot and down his legs the cinders freely rolled,


s: And several gents called "Order!" till in his simple way


s: Poor Smith began with "O-r"--"Or"--and he was dragged away.


s: O little kids, my pretty kids, down on your knees and pray!


s: You've got your eddication in a peaceful sort of way;


s: Each child was sent, with tasks undone and lessons all unsaid,


s: Halt!  Here we are.  Now wheel your mare a trifle


s: Just where you stand; then doff your hat and swear


s: Never yet was scene you might cover with your rifle


s: Half as complete or as marvelously fair.


s: Dropped from Olympus or lifted out of Tempe,


s: Swung like a censer betwixt the earth and sky!


s: He who in Greece sang of flocks and flax and hemp,--he


s: Here might recall them--six thousand feet on high!


s: Well you may say so.  The clamor of the river,


s: Hum of base toil, and man's ignoble strife,


s: Halt far below, where the stifling sunbeams quiver,


s: But never climb to this purer, higher life!


s: Not to this glade, where Jones of Mariposa,


s: Simple and meek as his flocks we're looking at,


s: Tends his soft charge; nor where his daughter Rosa--


s: Bullet, I think.  You were speaking of his daughter?


s: Yes; but--your hat you were moving through the leaves;


s: Likely he thought it some eagle bent on slaughter.


s: Still, he improves!  This time YOUR hat has got it,


s: Quite near the band!  Eh? Oh, just as you please--


s: Down through the hollow, and up among the trees.


s: Trot, trot, trot, where the bullets cannot follow;


s: Trot down and up again among the laurel trees.


s: Thanks, that is better; now of this shot-dispensing


s: I--hang it all!--Oh! what's the use of fencing!


s: Sir, I confess it!--these shots were meant for ME.


s: I love this coy nymph, who, coldly--as yon peak


s: Shines on the river it feeds, yet keeps asunder--


s: Long have I worshiped, but never dared to speak.


s: Till she, no doubt, her love no longer hiding,


s: Waked by some chance word her father's jealousy;


s: Slips her disdain--as an avalanche down gliding


s: Sweeps flocks and kin away--to clear a path for ME.


s: Chiefly, I think, in your idyl, so to speak,


s: Is the cool modesty that checks your youthful fire,--


s: Absence of self-love and abstinence of cheek!


s: Still, I might mention, I've met the gentle Rosa,--


s: Danced with her thrice, to her father's jealous dread;


s: And, it is possible, she's happened to disclose a--


s: Ahem!  You can fancy why he shoots at ME instead.


s: Me.  But kindly take your hand from your revolver,


s: I am not choleric--but accidents may chance.


s: And here's the father, who alone can be the solver


s: Of this twin riddle of the hat and the romance.


s: EF I shoot anything--I only shoot to kill.


s: That ain't what's up.  I only kem to tell ye--


s: Sportin' or courtin'--trot homeward for your life!


s: Gals will be gals, and p'r'aps it's just ez well ye


s: Larned there was one had no wish to be--a wife.


s: She saw ye comin'.  My gun was standin' by;


s: She made a grab, and 'fore I up could strike it,


s: Blazed at ye both!  The critter is SO shy!


s: Shrewdly you question, Senor, and I fancy


s: You are no novice.  Confess that to little


s: Am I not right?  Ah! believe me, that ever


s: I've watched you closely, and--pardon an old priest--


s: Smiling to hear an old fellow like me talk


s: Now!--by that twist of the wrist on the bridle,


s: By that straight line from the heel to the shoulder,


s: By that curt speech,--nay! nay! no offense, son,--


s: No?  Then a man of affairs?  San Sebastian!


s: 'Twould serve me right if I prattled thus wildly


s: To--say a sheriff?  No?--just caballero?


s: Ah! what we want here's a man of your presence;


s: Joined with a boldness and dash, when the time comes,


s: One not TOO hard on the poor country people,


s: By reckless skill, and, perchance, reckless largesse,


s: No?  You would crush THEM as well as the robbers,--


s: Root them out, scatter them?  Ah you are bitter--


s: And yet--quien sabe, perhaps that's the one way


s: As to myself, now, I'd share your displeasure;


s: Certain good points.  He still comes to confession--


s: Ah, if you did at such times, you might lead him


s: Home by a thread.  Good!  Again you are smiling:


s: You have no faith in such shrift, and but little


s: Bueno!  We take no offense, sir; whatever


s: It please you to say, it becomes us, for Church sake,


s: To bear in peace.  Yet, if you were kinder--


s: I might still prove to you, Jack of the Tules


s: Shames not our teaching; nay, even might show you,


s: Hard by this spot, his old comrade, who, wounded,


s: If--ah, you listen!--I see I can trust you;


s: Then, on your word as a gentleman--follow.


s: Under that sycamore stands the old cabin;


s: Eh!--are you mad?  You would try to ARREST him?


s: You, with a warrant?  Oh, well, take the rest of them:


s: Pedro, Bill, Murray, Pat Doolan.  Hey!--all of you,


s: There!--that'll do, boys!  Stand back!  Ease his elbows;


s: Take the gag from his mouth.  Good!  Now scatter like devils


s: After his posse--four straggling, four drunken--


s: You--help me off with these togs, and then vamos!


s: You're so derned 'cute!  Kinder sick, ain't ye, bluffing


s: They ran through the streets of the seaport town,


s: They peered from the decks of the ships that lay;


s: The cold sea-fog that came whitening down


s: Good cause for fear!  In the thick mid-day


s: Said a hard-faced skipper, "God help us all!


s: She will not float till the turning tide!"


s: Said his wife, "My darling will hear MY call,


s: And she lifted a quavering voice and high,


s: Till they shuddered and wondered at her side.


s: The fog drove down on each laboring crew,


s: Veiled each from each and the sky and shore:


s: There was not a sound but the breath they drew,


s: And they felt the breath of the downs, fresh blown


s: O'er leagues of clover and cold gray stone,


s: But not from the lips that had gone before.


s: They came no more.  But they tell the tale


s: That, when fogs are thick on the harbor reef,


s: For the signal they know will bring relief;


s: For the voices of children, still at play


s: Through channels whose waters never fail.


s: But still, when the mists of Doubt prevail,


s: And we lie becalmed by the shores of Age,


s: They say that she died of a broken heart


s: But her spirit lives, and her soul is part


s: Her lover was fickle and fine and French:


s: When he sailed away from her arms--poor wench!--


s: Won the heart of this sentimental Quaker,


s: At what gold-laced speech of those modish days


s: That he gave; and ever as their bloom failed


s: And faded (though with her tears still wet)


s: Till one night, when the sea-fog wrapped a shroud


s: And ever since then, when the clock strikes two,


s: And the air is filled that she passes through


s: And I trust that this Quaker woman might,


s: For the laugh is fled from porch and lawn,


s: And the bugle died from the fort on the hill,


s: And the twitter of girls on the stairs is gone,


s: Somewhere in the darkness a clock strikes two:


s: And there is no sound in the sad old house,


s: From the library door, but has gone astray


s: In the depths of the darkened hall. Small doubt


s: But I swear that the air just now was fraught


s: So still lies the ocean--to hear the beat


s: In my neighbor's windows the gas-lights flare,


s: As the dancers swing in a waltz of Strauss;


s: But the breath of morn on the dewy lawn;


s: And mayhap from causes as slight as this


s: But the soul of that subtle, sad perfume,


s: As the spiced embalmings, they say, outlast


s: And I think of the passion that shook my youth,


s: Of its aimless loves and its idle pains,


s: And am thankful now for the certain truth


s: For now that the ghosts of my heart are laid,


s: But whether she came as a faint perfume,


s: I feel, as I pass from the darkened room,


s: Thou seest the white seas strike their tents,


s: Thou drawest all things, small, or great,


s: By scattered rocks and turbid waters shifting,


s: To feverish men thy calm, sweet face uplifting,


s: The delicate thought that cannot find expression,


s: That, like thy petals, trembles in possession,


s: Laughingly calls unto his comrade-neighbor


s: Some sweet home face his foolish thought surprises,


s: Some boyish vision of his Eastern village,


s: Where golden harvests followed quiet tillage


s: One moment only; for the pick, uplifting,


s: And on the muddy current slowly drifting


s: For on the turbid current of his passion


s: Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew,


s: Half bold and half timid, yet lazy all through;


s: Loath ever to leave, and yet fearful to stay,


s: He limps in the clearing, an outcast in gray.


s: A shade on the stubble, a ghost by the wall,


s: Now leaping, now limping, now risking a fall,


s: Lop-eared and large-jointed, but ever alway


s: Here, Carlo, old fellow,--he's one of your kind,--


s: Go, seek him, and bring him in out of the wind.


s: What! snarling, my Carlo!  So even dogs may


s: Deny their own kin in the outcast in gray.


s: Well, take what you will,--though it be on the sly,


s: Marauding or begging,--I shall not ask why,


s: But will call it a dole, just to help on his way


s: Little thou heedest the surf that sings,


s: The bar that thunders, the shale that rings,--


s: Little thou hast, old friend, that's new;


s: Storms and wrecks are old things to thee;


s: Something in common, old friend, have we:


s: And the Woman stopped, as her babe she tossed,


s: And thought of the one she had long since lost,


s: And said, as her teardrops back she forced,


s: And the Children said, as they closer drew,


s: "'Tis some witch that is cleaving the black night through,


s: 'Tis a fairy trumpet that just then blew,


s: And the Man, as he sat on his hearth below,


s: But the Poet listened and smiled, for he


s: Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting,


s: The roaring camp-fire, with rude humor, painted


s: On haggard face and form that drooped and fainted


s: Till one arose, and from his pack's scant treasure


s: And cards were dropped from hands of listless leisure


s: And then, while round them shadows gathered faster,


s: He read aloud the book wherein the Master


s: Perhaps 'twas boyish fancy,--for the reader


s: But, as he read, from clustering pine and cedar


s: The fir-trees, gathering closer in the shadows,


s: While the whole camp with "Nell" on English meadows


s: Their cares dropped from them like the needles shaken


s: Lost is that camp and wasted all its fire;


s: Ah! towering pine and stately Kentish spire,


s: Lost is that camp, but let its fragrant story


s: With hop-vine's incense all the pensive glory


s: And on that grave where English oak and holly


s: Deem it not all a too presumptuous folly,


s: And the mullein-stalks tilted each lance;


s: Have been dreaming just now when you spoke,


s: Of the years that slow fashioned the crust


s: On that bottle whose seal you last broke.


s: Twenty years?  Ah, my friend, it is true!


s: All the dreams that have flown since that day,


s: Old friend, I've been drinking with you!


s: "The sky is clouded, the rocks are bare,


s: The spray of the tempest is white in air;


s: The winds are out with the waves at play,


s: And the lion's whelps are abroad at play,


s: And I shall not join in the chase to-day."


s: But the ship sailed safely over the sea,


s: And the hunters came from the chase in glee;


s: And the town that was builded upon a rock


s: Was swallowed up in the earthquake shock.


s: I marked not that the hills looked near,


s: Nor that the moon, though curved and clear,


s: Through curd-like scud did drive and float.


s: "I come through night and storm," he said.


s: "Through storm and night and death," said he,


s: That strife still holds 'twixt her and me,


s: The wind and wave can soothe their strife


s: He stooped and kissed his sleeping wife,


s: And when the slow weeks brought him not,


s: That was the signal that Guild, 'tis said--


s: As through the sleeping town, and thence,


s: Down past the farms, lying white, he sped!


s: As a husband's greeting, scant, no doubt,


s: Working or waiting, good-night!" it said.


s: Pierced through the shadows of Providence:


s: Only Guild calling his wife," they said.


s: Rang o'er the billows of ripening grain,


s: Pierced through the budding boughs o'erhead,


s: Flew down the track when the red leaves burned


s: Like living coals from the engine spurned;


s: First of all, duty.  Good-night!" it said.


s: And then, one night, it was heard no more


s: From Stonington over Rhode Island shore,


s: And the folk in Providence smiled and said


s: As they turned in their beds, "The engineer


s: The physical charms of Miss Addie De Laine,


s: Surpassed in complexion the lily and rose;


s: With a very sweet mouth and a retrousse nose;


s: A figure like Hebe's, or that which revolves


s: In a milliner's window, and partially solves


s: That question which mentor and moralist pains,


s: If grace may exist minus feeling or brains.


s: Of course the young lady had beaux by the score,


s: All that she wanted,--what girl could ask more?


s: Lovers that sighed and lovers that swore,


s: Lovers that danced and lovers that played,


s: Men of profession, of leisure, and trade;


s: But one, who was destined to take the high part


s: Of holding that mythical treasure, her heart,--


s: This lover, the wonder and envy of town,


s: Was a practicing chemist, a fellow called Brown.


s: I might here remark that 'twas doubted by many,


s: In regard to the heart, if Miss Addie had any;


s: But no one could look in that eloquent face,


s: With its exquisite outline and features of grace,


s: And mark, through the transparent skin, how the tide


s: Ebbed and flowed at the impulse of passion or pride,--


s: None could look, who believed in the blood's circulation


s: As argued by Harvey, but saw confirmation


s: That here, at least, Nature had triumphed o'er art,


s: And as far as complexion went she had a heart.


s: But this par parenthesis.  Brown was the man


s: Preferred of all others to carry her fan,


s: Hook her glove, drape her shawl, and do all that a belle


s: May demand of the lover she wants to treat well.


s: Folks wondered and stared that a fellow called Brown--


s: Abstracted and solemn, in manner a clown,


s: Ill dressed, with a lingering smell of the shop--


s: Should appear as her escort at party or hop.


s: Some swore he had cooked up some villainous charm,


s: Or love philter, not in the regular Pharm-


s: Acopoeia, and thus, from pure malice prepense,


s: Had bewitched and bamboozled the young lady's sense;


s: Others thought, with more reason, the secret to lie


s: And judgment impartial, stood ready to damn


s: For a fortnight the townfolk had all been agog


s: With a party, the finest the season had seen,


s: Who was just coming out as a belle of sixteen.


s: The guests were invited; but one night before


s: A carriage drew up at the modest back door


s: Of Brown's lab'ratory, and, full in the glare


s: Of a big purple bottle, some closely veiled fair


s: Alighted and entered: to make matters plain,


s: Spite of veils and disguises, 'twas Addie De Laine.


s: As a bower for true love, 'twas hardly the one


s: That a lady would choose to be wooed in or won:


s: No odor of rose or sweet jessamine's sigh


s: Breathed a fragrance to hallow their pledge of troth by,


s: Nor the balm that exhales from the odorous thyme;


s: But the gaseous effusions of chloride of lime,


s: And salts, which your chemist delights to explain


s: As the base of the smell of the rose and the drain.


s: Think of this, O ye lovers of sweetness! and know


s: What you smell when you snuff up Lubin or Pinaud.


s: I pass by the greetings, the transports and bliss,


s: Which of course duly followed a meeting like this,


s: And come down to business,--for such the intent


s: Of the lady who now o'er the crucible leant,


s: In the glow of a furnace of carbon and lime,


s: Like a fairy called up in the new pantomime,--


s: And give but her words, as she coyly looked down


s: In reply to the questioning glances of Brown:


s: "I am taking the drops, and am using the paste,


s: And the little white powders that had a sweet taste,


s: Which you told me would brighten the glance of my eye,


s: And I'm charmed with the trial; and now, my dear Brown,


s: I have one other favor,--now, ducky, don't frown,--


s: Only one, for a chemist and genius like you


s: But a trifle, and one you can easily do.


s: Now listen: to-morrow, you know, is the night


s: Of the birthday soiree of that Pollywog fright;


s: And I'm to be there, and the dress I shall wear


s: Is TOO lovely; but"--  "But what then, ma chere?"


s: Said Brown, as the lady came to a full stop,


s: And glanced round the shelves of the little back shop.


s: "Well, I want--I want something to fill out the skirt


s: To the proper dimensions, without being girt


s: In a stiff crinoline, or caged in a hoop


s: That shows through one's skirt like the bars of a coop;


s: Something light, that a lady may waltz in, or polk,


s: With a freedom that none but you masculine folk


s: Ever know.  For, however poor woman aspires,


s: She's always bound down to the earth by these wires.


s: Are you listening?  Nonsense! don't stare like a spoon,


s: Something like--well, in fact--something like a balloon!"


s: Here she paused; and here Brown, overcome by surprise,


s: Gave a doubting assent with still wondering eyes,


s: And the lady departed.  But just at the door


s: Something happened,--'tis true, it had happened before


s: In this sanctum of science,--a sibilant sound,


s: Like some element just from its trammels unbound,


s: Or two substances that their affinities found.


s: The night of the anxiously looked for soiree


s: Had come, with its fair ones in gorgeous array;


s: With the rattle of wheels and the tinkle of bells,


s: And the "How do ye do's" and the "Hope you are well's;"


s: And the crush in the passage, and last lingering look


s: You give as you hang your best hat on the hook;


s: The rush of hot air as the door opens wide;


s: And your entry,--that blending of self-possessed pride


s: And humility shown in your perfect-bred stare


s: At the folk, as if wondering how they got there;


s: With other tricks worthy of Vanity Fair.


s: Meanwhile, the safe topic, the beat of the room,


s: Already was losing its freshness and bloom;


s: Young people were yawning, and wondering when


s: The dance would come off; and why didn't it then:


s: When a vague expectation was thrilling the crowd,


s: Lo! the door swung its hinges with utterance proud!


s: And Pompey announced, with a trumpet-like strain,


s: The entrance of Brown and Miss Addie De Laine.


s: She entered; but oh! how imperfect the verb


s: To express to the senses her movement superb!


s: To say that she "sailed in" more clearly might tell


s: Her grace in its buoyant and billowy swell.


s: Her robe was a vague circumambient space,


s: With shadowy boundaries made of point-lace;


s: The rest was but guesswork, and well might defy


s: To define or describe: 'twere as futile to try


s: The gossamer web of the cirrus to trace,


s: Floating far in the blue of a warm summer sky.


s: 'Midst the humming of praises and glances of beaux


s: That greet our fair maiden wherever she goes,


s: Brown slipped like a shadow, grim, silent, and black,


s: With a look of anxiety, close in her track.


s: Once he whispered aside in her delicate ear


s: A sentence of warning,--it might be of fear:


s: "Don't stand in a draught, if you value your life."


s: (Nothing more,--such advice might be given your wife


s: Or your sweetheart, in times of bronchitis and cough,


s: Without mystery, romance, or frivolous scoff.)


s: But hark to the music; the dance has begun.


s: The closely draped windows wide open are flung;


s: The notes of the piccolo, joyous and light,


s: Like bubbles burst forth on the warm summer night.


s: Round about go the dancers; in circles they fly;


s: Trip, trip, go their feet as their skirts eddy by;


s: And swifter and lighter, but somewhat too plain,


s: Whisks the fair circumvolving Miss Addie De Laine.


s: Taglioni and Cerito well might have pined


s: For the vigor and ease that her movements combined;


s: E'en Rigelboche never flung higher her robe


s: In the naughtiest city that's known on the globe.


s: 'Twas amazing, 'twas scandalous; lost in surprise,


s: Some opened their mouths, and a few shut their eyes.


s: But hark!  At the moment Miss Addie De Laine,


s: Circling round at the outer edge of an ellipse


s: Which brought her fair form to the window again,


s: From the arms of her partner incautiously slips!


s: And a shriek fills the air, and the music is still,


s: And the crowd gather round where her partner forlorn


s: Still frenziedly points from the wide window-sill


s: Into space and the night; for Miss Addie was gone!


s: Gone like the bubble that bursts in the sun;


s: Gone like the grain when the reaper is done;


s: Gone like the dew on the fresh morning grass;


s: Gone without parting farewell; and alas!


s: When the weather is pleasant, you frequently meet


s: A white-headed man slowly pacing the street;


s: His trembling hand shading his lack-lustre eye,


s: Half blind with continually scanning the sky.


s: Rumor points him as some astronomical sage,


s: But the reader, sagacious, will recognize Brown,


s: Trying vainly to conjure his lost sweetheart down,


s: And learn the stern moral this story must teach,


s: That Genius may lift its love out of its reach.


s: And the Rhine and the steamers' smoky throats;


s: Above the chimneys and quaint-tiled roofs,


s: Where the genuine bones of the Magi seen are,


s: Whose houses threaten the timid passer,--


s: And spires like delicate limbs in splinters,


s: Climb through the storms of eight hundred winters.


s: The hope of its architect quite frustrated.


s: Instead of that sermon Shakespeare stated,


s: By Cologne's Archbishop was consecrated.


s: To be marked with the largest, whitest stone


s: To be found in the towers of all Cologne!


s: The people flowed like their own good wine.


s: From the famed Cat's Castle of St. Goarshausen,


s: To the pictured roofs of Assmannshausen,


s: Where the robber chieftains kept their "swag,"


s: Shone with the pomp of knight and vassal;


s: As the Rhine to its bosom draws the Ahr,


s: So in Cologne, knight, squire, and losel,


s: Nor faith in the virgins' bones to heal;


s: Drew these, who, dyed in deep transgression,


s: By the devil, before a soul could part 'em.


s: That the church, in fact, was the devil's own;


s: Had confessed to the Bishop that he had wrecked


s: With the thought that the enemy might prevail,


s: On a Christian soul in that devil's trap.


s: Cologne's Archbishop, replied, "Pooh, pooh!


s: You'll find that the Bishop will give checkmate."


s: The devil is something quite proper for each.


s: In spite of the proverb--it's something you'll rue.


s: From Job up to Faust is the way to receive him,


s: That the "Father of Lies" ever yet broke HIS word,


s: To be taken alone by the "truth-loving" Christian!


s: The host pours in, in its pomp and power


s: And crosiers and other processional sticks,


s: To gladden the souls of all true antiquaries;


s: Who trusted their bones more to mail and cuirasses)--


s: To the square of the Dom with processional song,


s: And the chanting of hundred perfunctory lips;


s: And the Quirinuskirche to show off their voice:


s: File right and left, leaving alone and quite bare


s: The rumor--the victim to take off the ban.


s: Of the porch with a sanctified Eau de Cologne,


s: Of a sulphurous presence in that sacred place.


s: Of the covered sedan chair, to wait the command


s: Is a WOMAN!--by all that is good and is fair!


s: TOO WELL KNOWN to the many, to-day to be shown


s: Of pleasance and revel, of glitter and sheen;


s: And declared 'twas an outrage to suffer one curst,


s: To martyr herself for the Church's relief.


s: On the whole felt a strong disposition to cheer.


s: Of the pitiless sun and their pitying stare,--


s: To a figure, though wasted with passion and wrung


s: A woman most surely--but hardly a saint!


s: And the high swinging doors she wide open has thrown,


s: On her cheeks, and with one sudden gesture she spurns


s: And her voice rings out high from the vault of the choir.


s: What I AM, as I stand here, One knoweth alone.


s: Lost, curst, and degraded, I reckon no ill;


s: One soul shall be saved, He hath blessed more than mine.


s: A faith like to this, or more fit to atone,


s: To stand and confront Him, like me, face to face!"


s: Breaks the silence that fills the celestial roof.


s: Then enters!... A flood from the roof to the floor


s: Who is this leaning forward with glorified head


s: Of the Powers of Darkness, with aspect so brave!


s: Naught remains but a woman's form prone on the floor;


s: That they saw in the light of the altar's high blaze


s: Enshrined in the churches of all Christian lands.


s: With praise, benediction, and incense wide-flung,


s: Is the Dom for the trial--in fact, the REVERSE;


s: The Evil One's faith, they gained one of his choosing.


s: Vaulted aisles of the Dom, stiff in marble or cold


s: The knights, priests, and bishops who came to that Mass;


s: For the woman most worthy to walk in her train.


s: 'Midst the ghosts of a life that has long passed away,


s: That stained-glass procession, I scarce miss the one


s: That these are but shadows--the woman was real!


s: "Bring forth the horse!"  The commissaire


s: Like the shaving-brushes that soldiers wear,


s: Lord knows, she'd little enough to spare.


s: That stare and frown the Frenchman knew,


s: Joined his thumbs with the fingers down,


s: And said, "Ah, Heaven!"--then, "Mademoiselle,


s: These things are managed so well in France


s: And the bob-tailed mare had a flowing tail.


s: The would-be critic will misquote Trench;


s: And you always wink with your weakest eye:


s: She did some things that you couldn't but feel


s: She wouldn't have done had her tail been real.


s: Sous-lieutenants and cent-gardes (strange


s: And two gray mares that were thoroughbred:


s: Was turned by the turnout,--and 'twas said


s: By "ribbons" that graced her head and hand.


s: Your highest wishes should let you down!


s: Or Fate should turn, by your own mischance,


s: From cloudless heavens her lightnings glance!


s: (And these things happen, even in France.)


s: The sweet fatigue that seemed a pleasure,


s: The blazing slopes, the red dust rising,


s: And then the dim, brown, columned vault,


s: With its cool, damp, sepulchral spicing.


s: From some high yard his broad blue pennant.


s: That thou, sweet woodland waif, art able


s: As throng thy friend's--the poet's--table:


s: The "modern popes," "the later Byrons,"--


s: That on thy woodland tomb were scattered?


s: Stocks in Wall Street.  Make or break,--


s: As I stand by the cross on the lone mountain's crest,


s: In the gloom of the mountain a ship lies at rest,


s: One spreads its white wings on a far-reaching track,


s: One hides in the shadow with sails laid aback,--


s: But lo! in the distance the clouds break away,


s: And I hear from the outgoing ship in the bay


s: So I think of the luminous footprints that bore


s: And wait for the signal to go to the shore,


s: Brief words, when actions wait, are well:


s: Your shifting scenes: the league of sand,


s: Whose clinging folds clasp half the world,--


s: The faith that soars, the deeds that shine,


s: And Earth's green curtain hides our face,


s: With the world's plaudit of "Well done!"


s: Those charms that held our sense in thrall


s: Where shall we find thy like?  Ah, stay!


s: In chintz that flowered, as one might say,


s: The chairs were French in gold and white,


s: "But whence," I cried, "this masquerade?


s: Leave all ceremony behind you, leave all thought of aught but


s: Outspoken heart-impulse than ever growled under this grizzling


s: And pray the Nine Gods to avert you what time the Three Sisters


s: And you'll lose your high-comedy figure, and sit more at ease in


s: Was I such an ass?  No, I fancy.  Indeed, I remember quite plain


s: He's gone!  There's the slam of his cab door, there's the clatter


s: Is there naught in the halo of youth but the glow of a passionate


s: A race that is not to the swift, a prize that no merits enforce,


s: But is won by some faineant youth, who shall simply walk over the


s: 'Twas oxygen's absence she felt, but never the presence of him?


s: Recalled with perfunctory tears, but lost in unsanctified mirth?


s: On the past?  Shall I speak of my first love--Augusta--my Lalage?


s: I forget.  Was it really Augusta?  No. 'Twas Lucy!  No.  Mary!


s: A few billets-doux, invitations, and--what's this?  My name, I


s: You know her, I think; 'twas on dit she once was engaged to your


s: "Master said you would wait"--  Hang your master!  "Have I ever a


s: Yes, tell him I've gone to the German to dance with the friend of


s: Why dost thou murmur and ponder and stare?


s: Cheeks that are rosy and eyes that are blue.


s: Dost thou still wonder, and ask why these arms


s: Swaying so wickedly?  Are they misplaced


s: Clasping or shielding some delicate waist?


s: Hands whose coarse sinews may fill you with fear


s: Little Red Riding-Hood, when in the street,


s: Why do I press your small hand when we meet?


s: Why, when you timidly offered your cheek,


s: Why, well: you see--if the truth must appear--


s: I'm not your grandmother, Riding-Hood, dear!


s: "Of course," he replied, "she would know me; there never was


s: "I sat by her side half an hour--what else was I doing the while?


s: "What, sit by the side of a woman as fair as the sun in the sky,


s: "Three more to be duly presented; three more ere I saw her again;


s: "Oh, that was the style of the stage-coach; we travel to-day by


s: Forty miles to the hour," he answered, "won't admit of a passion


s: "What happens when signals are wrong or switches misplaced?" he


s: "Very well, I must bow to your wisdom," the elder returned, "but


s: "My wife, Mr. Rapid--  Eh, what!  Why, he's gone--yet he said he


s: How rude!  I don't wonder, my dear, you are properly crimson and


s: Now shift the blanket pad before your saddle back you fling,


s: Our limbs are stiffer now than when we first set out to ride,


s: And worse, the horses know it, and feel the leg-grip tire,


s: Since in the days when, long ago, we sought the old camp-fire.


s: You know the shout that would ring out before us down the glade,


s: And send the squirrels scampering back to their holes again,


s: Until we saw, blue-veiled and dim, or leaping like desire,


s: That flame of twenty years ago, which lit the old camp-fire.


s: Till up the soaring redwood's shaft our shadows danced and came,


s: As if to draw us with the sparks, high o'er its unseen spire,


s: To the five stars that kept their ward above the old camp-fire,--


s: Those picket stars whose tranquil watch half soothed, half shamed


s: The near coyote's snarling snap, the grizzly's deep-drawn sigh,


s: The brown bear's blundering human tread, the gray wolves' yelping


s: Beyond the magic circle drawn around the old camp-fire.


s: And then that morn!  Was ever morn so filled with all things new?


s: The fainter stir of lower life in fern and brake and brier,


s: Well, well! we'll see it once again; we should be near it now;


s: And yet above the shattered wreck and ruin, curling higher--


s: Perhaps some friend of twenty years still lingers there to raise


s: To weary hearts and tired eyes that beacon of old days.


s: Perhaps but stay; 'tis gone! and yet once more it lifts as though


s: Whirls by us in a rush of sound,--the vanished funeral pyre


s: Of hopes and fears that twenty years burned in the old camp-fire!


s: Rein in!  Rein in!  The quest is o'er.  The goal of our desire


s: Is but the train whose track has lain across the old camp-fire!


s: An empty bench, a sky of grayest etching,


s: A bare, bleak shed in blackest silhouette,


s: Twelve years of platform, and before them stretching


s: Twelve miles of prairie glimmering through the wet.


s: North, south, east, west,--the same dull gray persistence,


s: The tattered vapors of a vanished train,


s: The narrowing rails that meet to pierce the distance,


s: Or break the columns of the far-off rain.


s: Naught but myself; nor form nor figure breaking


s: The long hushed level and stark shining waste;


s: Nothing that moves to fill the vision aching,


s: When the last shadow fled in sullen haste.


s: Nothing beyond.  Ah yes!  From out the station


s: A stiff, gaunt figure thrown against the sky,


s: Beckoning me with some wooden salutation


s: Caught from his signals as the train flashed by;


s: We sit apart, yet wrapped in that one vesture


s: Each following his own thought,--around us darkening


s: The rain-washed boundaries and stretching track,--


s: Each following those dim parallels and hearkening


s: For long-lost voices that will not come back.


s: Until, unasked,--I knew not why or wherefore,--


s: He yielded, bit by bit, his dreary past,


s: Like gathered clouds that seemed to thicken there for


s: Some dull down-dropping of their care at last.


s: Long had he lived there.  As a boy had started


s: From the stacked corn the Indian's painted face;


s: Heard the wolves' howl the wearying waste that parted


s: His father's hut from the last camping-place.


s: Nature had mocked him: thrice had claimed the reaping,


s: With scythe of fire, of lands she once had sown;


s: Sent the tornado, round his hearthstone heaping


s: Rafters, dead faces that were like his own.


s: Then came the War Time.  When its shadow beckoned


s: Through swamp and fen,--unknown, unpraised, unreckoned,--


s: Till the storm passed, and the slow tide returning


s: Cast him, a wreck, beneath his native sky;


s: Here, at his watch, gave him the chance of earning


s: Scant means to live--who won the right to die.


s: All this I heard--or seemed to hear--half blending


s: With the low murmur of the coming breeze,


s: The call of some lost bird, and the unending


s: And tireless sobbing of those grassy seas.


s: Broke with a trembling star and far-off cry.


s: The coming train!  I glanced around the station,


s: Naught but myself; nor form nor figure waking


s: The long hushed level and stark shining waste;


s: Naught but myself, that cry, and the dull shaking


s: Of wheel and axle, stopped in breathless haste!


s: "Now, then--look sharp!  Eh, what?  The Station-Master?


s: THAR'S NONE!  We stopped here of our own accord.


s: The man got killed in that down-train disaster


s: This time last evening.  Right there!  All aboard!"


s: Till from that reddened coast-line sprang


s: *  This poem was set to music by Monsieur Charles Gounod.


s: Cold rocks with half-warmed lichens scarred,


s: For round thee, thrilling air and space,


s: The wild bird hears; smote with the sound,


s: The hare, transfixed, with trembling lip,


s: Lights those slit orbs, where, some think, dwell


s: Searchest the grass with tongue of flame,


s: O poor Romancer--thou whose printed page,


s: Filled with rude speech and ruder forms of strife,


s: Was given to heroes in whose vulgar rage


s: No trace appears of gentler ways and life!--


s: Thou who wast wont of commoner clay to build


s: Thou whose free brush too oft was wont to gild


s: Some single virtue till it dazzled all;--


s: What right hast thou beside this laureled bier


s: Whereon all manhood lies--whereon the wreath


s: Of Harvard rests, the civic crown, and here


s: Seest thou these hatchments?  Knowest thou this blood


s: Those sad-eyed Puritans with hymns of praise?


s: Look round thee!  Everywhere is classic ground.


s: There Greylock rears.  Beside yon silver "Bowl"


s: Great Hawthorne dwelt, and in its mirror found


s: Those quaint, strange shapes that filled his poet's soul.


s: Still silent, Stranger?  Thou who now and then


s: Touched the too credulous ear with pathos, canst not speak?


s: Hast lost thy ready skill of tongue and pen?


s: What, Jester!  Tears upon that painted cheek?


s: Pardon, good friends!  I am not here to mar


s: His laureled wreaths with this poor tinseled crown--


s: This man who taught me how 'twas better far


s: I bring no lesson.  Well have others preached


s: This sword that dealt full many a gallant blow;


s: I come once more to touch the hand that reached


s: Its knightly gauntlet to the vanquished foe.


s: So cold, so silent!  Couldst thou not in grace


s: Have borne with us still longer, and so spare


s: The scorn we see in that proud, placid face?


s: "Hail and farewell!"  So the proud Roman cried


s: O'er his dead hero.  "Hail," but not "farewell."


s: With each high thought thou walkest side by side;


s: We feel thee, touch thee, know who wrought the spell!


s: That the birds of Cisseter--"Cisseter!" eh?


s: Where the river goes curving and broadening down


s: From tree-top to spire, and spire to mast,


s: Till it tumbles outright in the Channel at last--


s: A hundred miles from that flat foreshore


s: That the Danes and the Northmen haunt no more--


s: There's a little cup in the Cotswold hills


s: Which a spring in a meadow bubbles and fills,


s: Spanned by a heron's wing--crossed by a stride--


s: That is the source of the lordly Thames!


s: Both "Tames" and Thames--you must SAY "Tems!"


s: But WHY? no matter!--from them you can see


s: Cirencester's tall spires loom up o'er the lea.


s: Had forced the lines of the Britons through;


s: Was fiercely beleaguered by foes, who'd catch


s: The folk that so boldly were holding out.


s: For the streets of the town--as you'll see to-day--


s: Were twisted and curved in a curious way


s: Was stopped ere a dozen of yards it flew,


s: By a turn in the street, and a law so true


s: That even these robbers--of all laws scorners!--


s: Knew you couldn't shoot arrows AROUND street corners.


s: So they sat them down on a little knoll,


s: And stared at the sky, where, clear and high,


s: The birds of that summer went singing by,


s: Till the jeering crow and the saucy linnet


s: Seemed all to be saying: "Ah! you're not in it!"


s: And the "throstle," with his "note so true"


s: (You remember what Shakespeare says--HE knew);


s: And the soaring lark, that kept dropping through


s: Like a bucket spilling in wells of blue;


s: And the merlin--seen on heraldic panes--


s: With legs as vague as the Queen of Spain's;


s: And the dashing swift that would ricochet


s: From the tufts of grasses before them, yet--


s: Like bold Antaeus--would each time bring


s: New life from the earth, barely touched by his wing;


s: And the swallow and martlet that always knew


s: The straightest way home.  Here a Saxon churl drew


s: His breath--tapped his forehead--an idea had got through!


s: So they brought them some nets, which straightway they filled


s: With the swallows and martlets--the sweet birds who build


s: In the houses of man--all that innocent guild


s: Who sing at their labor on eaves and in thatch--


s: And they stuck on their feathers a rude lighted match


s: Made of resin and tow.  Then they let them all go


s: To be free!  As a child-like diversion?  Ah, no!


s: For straight to each nest they flew, in wild quest


s: Of their homes and their fledgelings--that they loved the best;


s: And straighter than arrow of Saxon e'er sped


s: They shot o'er the curving streets, high overhead,


s: Bringing fire and terror to roof tree and bed,


s: Till the town broke in flame, wherever they came,


s: To the Briton's red ruin--the Saxon's red shame!


s: Yet they're all gone together!  To-day you'll dig up


s: From "mound" or from "barrow" some arrow or cup.


s: Their fame is forgotten--their story is ended--


s: 'Neath the feet of the race they have mixed with and blended.


s: But the birds are unchanged--the ouzel-cock sings,


s: Still gold on his crest and still black on his wings;


s: And the lark chants on high, as he mounts to the sky,


s: Still brown in his coat and still dim in his eye;


s: While the swallow or martlet is still a free nester


s: In the eaves and the roofs of thrice-built Cirencester.


s: June 4th!  Do you know what that date means?


s: Well,--only you know how I hate scenes,--


s: For perhaps, sir, you'll kindly remember--


s: That you last wrote the 4th of DECEMBER,--


s: From this spot, that you said was "the fairest


s: My "triumphs," my "tours," and all that;


s: And YOU'RE not to be found in the ditches


s: (I've heard that some things took a "drop.")


s: You'll not believe one blessed word, Joe;


s: You called him Job-lotski, you know, Joe,


s: She thought it would shame me!  I met her


s: With a look, Joe, that made her eyes drop;


s: And I said that your "love-suit fared better


s: In this brand-new hotel, called "The Lily"


s: On that hill there are stores that I knew not;


s: There's a street--where I once lost my way;


s: And the copse where you once tied my shoe-knot


s: And that bank by the spring--I once drank there,


s: And you called the place Eden, you know;


s: Now I'm banished like Eve--though the bank there


s: There's the rustle of silk on the sidewalk;


s: But there's gloom in this "boom" and this wild talk


s: There's a decorous chill in the air, Joe,


s: And I hear they've been making a mayor, Joe,


s: But there's still the "lap, lap" of the river;


s: There's the song of the pines, deep and low.


s: In the park that they call Fontainebleau!)


s: There's the snow-peak that looked on our dances,


s: And blushed when the morning said, "Go!"


s: There's a lot that remains which one fancies--


s: For you might have been changed like the rest;


s: Though it's strange that I'm trusting this letter


s: You might have been here, Joe, if merely


s: Well, well! that's all past; so good-night, Joe;


s: Good-night to what's wrong and what's right, Joe;


s: To the moon, and the white peak of snow;


s: And good-night to the canyon that answers


s: And it's YOU'VE built this house, and the bank, too,


s: And the mills, and the stores, and all that!


s: And for everything changed I must thank YOU,


s: How dared you get rich--you great stupid!--


s: Just to think you sent never a word, dear,


s: Now I know why they had me transferred here,


s: And "the health of papa"--what THAT meant!


s: Now I know why they call this "The Lily;"


s: You made mayor!  'Twas because--oh, you silly!--


s: I've been fooled to the top of my bent here,


s: That you've still got to get MY consent, dear!


s: And just think what that echo said--Joe!


s: Behind the footlights hangs the rusty baize,


s: Of flaring gas and curious eyes that gaze.


s: The stage, methinks, perhaps is none too wide,


s: And hardly fit for royal Richard's stride,


s: Or Falstaff's bulk, or Denmark's youthful pride.


s: Ah, well! no passion walks its humble boards;


s: O'er it no king nor valiant Hector lords:


s: The simplest skill is all its space affords.


s: The song and jest, the dance and trifling play,


s: For these no trumpets that announce the Moor,


s: No blast that makes the hero's welcome sure,--


s: "Speak, O man, less recent!  Fragmentary fossil!


s: Hid in lowest drifts below the earliest stratum


s: "Older than the beasts, the oldest Palaeotherium;


s: Older than the trees, the oldest Cryptogami;


s: Older than the hills, those infantile eruptions


s: "Eo--Mio--Plio--whatsoe'er the 'cene' was


s: That those vacant sockets filled with awe and wonder,--


s: Whether shores Devonian or Silurian beaches,--


s: "Or has the professor slightly antedated


s: By some thousand years thy advent on this planet,


s: Giving thee an air that's somewhat better fitted


s: "Wert thou true spectator of that mighty forest


s: When above thy head the stately Sigillaria


s: Reared its columned trunks in that remote and distant


s: "Tell us of that scene,--the dim and watery woodland,


s: Songless, silent, hushed, with never bird or insect,


s: Veiled with spreading fronds and screened with tall club mosses,


s: "When beside thee walked the solemn Plesiosaurus,


s: And around thee crept the festive Ichthyosaurus,


s: While from time to time above thee flew and circled


s: "Tell us of thy food,--those half-marine refections,


s: Crinoids on the shell and Brachipods au naturel,--


s: Cuttlefish to which the pieuvre of Victor Hugo


s: "Speak, thou awful vestige of the earth's creation,


s: Tell the wondrous secret of thy past existence,--


s: Even as I gazed, a thrill of the maxilla,


s: And a lateral movement of the condyloid process,


s: With post-pliocene sounds of healthy mastication,


s: And from that imperfect dental exhibition,


s: Stained with express juices of the weed nicotian,


s: Came these hollow accents, blent with softer murmurs


s: "Which my name is Bowers, and my crust was busted


s: Falling down a shaft in Calaveras County;


s: But I'd take it kindly if you'd send the pieces


s: Oh, say, have you seen at the Willows so green--


s: It trots all around with its head on the ground,


s: And the ladies all cry, when its figure they spy,


s: One day to this spot, when the weather was hot,


s: And beside her there came a youth of high name,--


s: With two loaves of bread then they fed it, instead


s: Which once was its food in that wild neighborhood


s: Old saws and gimlets but its appetite whets,


s: There's nothing so hard that the bird will discard,


s: The time slipped away in this innocent play,


s: "Where's that specimen pin that I gayly did win


s: "Quick! tell me his name whom thou gavest that same,


s: "Nay, dearest," she cried, as she clung to his side,


s: Down she dropped at his feet, all as white as a sheet,


s: He thought 'twas her sin,--for he knew not the pin


s: Maud only blushed, and stammered, "Ha-ow?"


s: And spoke of her "pa," and wondered whether


s: He'd give consent they should wed together.


s: Begged that the Judge would lend him "ten;"


s: And the "craps," this year, were somewhat slow.


s: And the Judge was blest, but thought it strange


s: That bearing children made such a change;


s: And the waist that his arm once clasped about


s: And thought of the twins, and wished that they


s: Looked less like the men who raked the hay


s: And the sentimental,--that's one-half "fudge;"


s: And the Judge would have bartered Maud's fair face


s: The birds that once walked on the ground.


s: And I loved you the more for that wish--


s: What fairy tales seemed things of course!


s: They were days when my heart was volcanic,


s: But my thoughts they were palsied and sear,--


s: And I said: "This looks perfectly regal,


s: Till it sorrowfully trailed in the dust.


s: But were stopped by the warning of doom,--


s: By some words that were warning of doom.


s: And I said, "What is written, sweet sister,


s: She sobbed, as she answered, "All liquors


s: That I journeyed, I journeyed down here,--


s: On this night of all nights in the year!


s: And this Nightingale, kept by one Shear."


s: Lo! where the castle of bold Pfeiffer throws


s: Its sullen shadow on the rolling tide,--


s: No more the home where joy and wealth repose,


s: But now where wassailers in cells abide;


s: See yon long quay that stretches far and wide,


s: Well known to citizens as wharf of Meiggs:


s: There each sweet Sabbath walks in maiden pride


s: The pensive Margaret, and brave Pat, whose legs


s: Encased in broadcloth oft keep time with Peg's.


s: Here cometh oft the tender nursery-maid,


s: While in her ear her love his tale doth pour;


s: Meantime her infant doth her charge evade,


s: Till the sly sea-crab, low in ambush laid,


s: Seizeth his leg and biteth him full sore.


s: Ah me! what sounds the shuddering echoes bore


s: When his small treble mixed with Ocean's roar!


s: Hard by there stands an ancient hostelrie,


s: And at its side a garden, where the bear,


s: And when Augusta--that unconscious fair--


s: Lo! the green parrot claweth her back hair,


s: And the gray monkey grabbeth fruits that she


s: On her gay bonnet wears, and laugheth loud in glee!


s: High on the Thracian hills, half hid in the billows of clover,


s: Vainly the Maenid and the Bassarid gamboled about her,


s: The free-eyed Bacchante sang, and Pan--the renowned, the


s: accomplished--Executed his difficult solo.  In vain were their


s: High o'er the Thracian hills rose the voice of the shepherdess,


s: Her then Zeus answered slow: "O daughter of song and sorrow,


s: Hapless tender of sheep, arise from thy long lamentation!


s: He wore, I think, a chasuble, the day when first we met;


s: A stole and snowy alb likewise,--I recollect it yet.


s: And then, in thrilling undertones, he asked, "Would I confess?"


s: O mother dear! blame not your child, if then on bended knees


s: I dropped, and thought of Abelard, and also Eloise;


s: Or when, beside the altar high, he bowed before the pyx,


s: I envied that seraphic kiss he gave the crucifix.


s: The cruel world may think it wrong, perhaps may deem me weak,


s: And, speaking of that sainted man, may call his conduct "cheek;"


s: And, like that wicked barrister whom Cousin Harry quotes,


s: May term his mixed chalice "grog," his vestments "petticoats;"


s: But, whatsoe'er they do or say, I'll build a Christian's hope


s: On incense and on altar-lights, on chasuble and cope.


s: Let others prove, by precedent, the faith that they profess:


s: "His can't be wrong" that's symbolized by such becoming dress.


s: Oh, come, my beloved, from thy winter abode,


s: From thy home on the Yuba, thy ranch overflowed;


s: For the waters have fallen, the winter has fled,


s: And the river once more has returned to its bed.


s: Oh, mark how the spring in its beauty is near!


s: How the fences and tules once more reappear!


s: How soft lies the mud on the banks of yon slough


s: By the hole in the levee the waters broke through!


s: All nature, dear Chloris, is blooming to greet


s: The glance of your eye and the tread of your feet;


s: For the trails are all open, the roads are all free,


s: And the highwayman's whistle is heard on the lea.


s: Again swings the lash on the high mountain trail,


s: And the pipe of the packer is scenting the gale;


s: The oath and the jest ringing high o'er the plain,


s: Where the smut is not always confined to the grain.


s: Once more glares the sunlight on awning and roof,


s: Once more the red clay's pulverized by the hoof,


s: Once more the dust powders the "outsides" with red,


s: Once more at the station the whiskey is spread.


s: Then fly with me, love, ere the summer's begun,


s: And the mercury mounts to one hundred and one;


s: Ere the grass now so green shall be withered and sear,


s: In the spring that obtains but one month in the year.


s: Let these folks with champagne stuffing,


s: Though Friendship's offering buried lies


s: Next door, just as skating was over, and marbles about to begin;


s: For the fence in our back yard was broken, and I saw, as I peeped


s: There were "Johnny-jump-ups" all around her, and I knew it was


s: And she wasn't a girl that would flatter--"that she thought I was


s: And they've got her a coffin of rosewood, and they say they have


s: But I am so clumsy and awkward, I know I shall be in the way,


s: Round her feet the first day that I saw her, and, Papa, I'll give


s: And you'll take the flowers in to her, and surely they'll never


s: But, Papa, don't SAY they're from Johnny; THEY won't understand,


s: My Papa knows you, and he says you're a man who makes reading for


s: But I never read nothing you wrote, nor did Papa,--I know by his


s: So I guess you're like me when I talk, and I talk, and I talk all


s: But Papa said if I was good I could ask you--alone by myself--


s: But the reading that runs all around them, you know,--just the


s: You needn't mind what it's about, for no one will see it but me,


s: And Jane,--that's my nurse,--and John,--he's the coachman,--just


s: This cat, she was virtuous and meek, and kind to her parents, and


s: And when John drank my milk,--don't you tell me!  I know just the


s: They said 'twas the cat,--and she sitting and washing her face in


s: As if cats couldn't play with a feather without people thinking


s: No matter whatever happened, it was laid at the door of that cat.


s: Why, they blamed that on HER.  I shall never--no, not to my dying


s: Forget the pained look that she gave me when they slapped ME and


s: And I might have been badder than that but for the example I had.


s: And get your brains softened like uncle's.  Dr. Jones says you're


s: And she's older and cries just from meanness,--for a ribbon or


s: And she'd "like to know where you learnt manners."  Oh yes!  Kick


s: What stories?  Pretend you don't know that they're saying I broke


s: Twixt old Money-grubber and Mary, by saying she called him


s: When the only allusion I made him about sister Mary was, she


s: Cared more for his cash than his temper, and you know, Jack, you


s: By and by get my name in the papers!  Who cares?  Why, 'twas only


s: I was reading how Pa and the sheriff were selling some lots, and


s: You think it ain't true about Ilsey?  Well, I guess I know girls,


s: There's nothing I see about Ilsey to show she likes you, anyway!


s: I know what it means when a girl who has called her cat after one


s: Goes and changes its name to another's.  And she's done it--and I


s: Don't try the front way, but come over the fence--through the


s: Don't mind the big dog--he won't bite you--just see him obey me!


s: What's your name?  Mary Ellen?  How funny!  Mine's Edith--it's


s: But yours does for you, for you're plainer, though maybe you're


s: Come in!  It's quite dark in the parlor, for sister will keep the


s: Though Jack says that isn't the reason she likes to sit here with


s: If you like, you can try our piano.  'Tain't ours.  A man left it


s: To rent by the month, although Ma says he hasn't been paid for a


s: Sister plays--oh, such fine variations!--why, I once heard a


s: Ain't I funny?  And yet it's the queerest of all that, whatever I


s: One half of the folks die a-laughing, and the rest, they all look


s: Though maybe you're naturally silly, and that makes your eyes so


s: Our window's not much, though it fronts on the street;


s: There's a fly in the pane that gets nothin' to eat;


s: But it's curious how people think it's a treat


s: Why, when company comes, and they're all speaking low,


s: With their chairs drawn together, then some one says, "Oh!


s: Edith dear!--that's a good child--now run, love, and go


s: And amuse yourself there at the window!"


s: Or Bob--that's my brother--comes in with his chum,


s: And they whisper and chuckle, the same words will come.


s: And it's "Edith, look here!  Oh, I say! what a rum


s: Lot of things you can see from that window!"


s: And yet, as I told you, there's only that fly


s: Buzzing round in the pane, and a bit of blue sky,


s: And the girl in the opposite window, that I


s: And yet, I've been thinking I'd so like to see


s: If what goes on behind HER, goes on behind ME!


s: And then, goodness gracious! what fun it would be


s: How we'd know when the parcels were hid in a drawer,


s: Or things taken out that one never sees more;


s: What people come in and go out of the door,


s: And that night when the stranger came home with our Jane


s: I might SEE what I HEARD then, that sounded so plain--


s: Like when my wet fingers I rub on the pane


s: (Which they won't let ME do on my window).


s: And I'd know why papa shut the door with a slam,


s: And said something funny that sounded like "jam,"


s: And then "Edith--where are you?"  I said, "Here I am."


s: "Ah, that's right, dear, look out of the window!"


s: They say when I'm grown up these things will appear


s: More plain than they do when I look at them here,


s: But I think I see some things uncommonly clear,


s: What things?  Oh, the things that I make up, you know,


s: Out of stories I've read--and they all pass below.


s: Ali Baba, the Forty Thieves, all in a row,


s: That's only at church time; other days there's no crowd.


s: Don't laugh!  See that big man who looked up and bowed?


s: That's our butcher--I call him the Sultan Mahoud


s: And THAT man--he's our neighbor--just gone for a ride


s: Has three wives in the churchyard that lie side by side.


s: So I call him "Bluebeard" in search of his bride,


s: And what do I call you?  Well, here's what I DO:


s: When my sister expects you, she puts me here, too;


s: But I wait till you enter, to see if it's you,


s: "Dear child!"  Yes, that's me!  "Oh, you ask what that's for?


s: Well, Papa says you're 'Poverty's self,' and what's more,


s: I open the window, when YOU'RE at the door,


s: Do you know why they've put us in that back room,


s: And made believe our nursery's a cloak-room?


s: No more I don't, nor why that Sammy's mother,


s: What Ma thinks horrid, 'cause he bunged my eye,


s: Eats an ice cream, down there, like any other!


s: Do you know why Nurse says it isn't manners


s: For you and me to ask folks twice for pie,


s: And no one hits that man with two bananas?


s: No more I don't, nor why that girl, whose dress is


s: Off of her shoulders, don't catch cold and die,


s: When you and me gets croup when WE undresses!


s: Perhaps she ain't as good as you and I is,


s: And God don't want her up there in the sky,


s: And lets her live--to come in just when pie is--


s: Do you know why that man that's got a cropped head


s: Could it be, Bobby, something that I dropped?


s: Good boys behaves, and so they don't get scolded,


s: Nor drop hot milk on folks as they pass by.


s: Marbles would bounce on Mr. Jones' bald head--


s: Do you know why Aunt Jane is always snarling


s: And she don't slap that man that called her darling?


s: No more I don't, nor why that man with Mamma


s: He made it well, the very way that Mamma


s: I feel so sleepy.... Was that Papa kissed us?


s: What made him sigh, and look up to the sky?


s: We weren't downstairs, and he and God had missed us,


s: THE LOST GALLEON.  As the custom on which the central incident of


s: repeat here that it is the habit of navigators to drop a day from


s: voyages of La Perouse and Anson, and the charts of 1640.  In the


s: degrees from the meridian of the Isle of Ferro.  For the sake of


s: perspicuity before a modern audience, the more recent meridian of


s: arbitrary point in crossing the Pacific westerly, I need not say,


s: State Survey of the Geology of California states that man existed


s: that he was here before the mastodon was known to exist."


s: Epigram on Reading Grim's Attack upon Clinton


s: On Hearing that Morse Did Not Invent the Telegraph


s: The Maid of Saxony:  Or, Who's the Traitor?


s: Rejoice!  Rejoice!  We're Safe and Sound


s: Bless thou thy lot; thy simple strains have led


s: The high-born muse to be the poor man's guest,


s: And wafted on the wings of song, have sped


s: Their way to many a rude, unlettered breast.


s: The distinction with which the name of General Morris is now


s: appreciate the extent to which they, and the profession to which


s: they belong, are indebted to his animated exertions, his varied


s: law; as a conservative in taste, skilful to keep the tone of the


s: Morris succeeded him under increased advantages, in some respect


s: with higher powers, in a different, and certainly a vastly more


s: extended sphere of influence.  The manifold and lasting benefits


s: brought him in contact; of a quick, true eye to discern in the


s: advice, and a generosity to aid with the most important kind of


s: assistance; the firm and open temper which his example tended to


s: painting, and dramatic exhibition, which the singular variety and


s: to maintain and vindicate; these, in the multiplicity of their


s: at the commencement of the period alluded to, and observing what


s: about to make a new flight, from a higher vantage-ground, into


s: loftier depths of airy distance, the capacity to take that flight


s: Besides these particulars of past effort, which ought to make his


s: regret that our limits forbid us to speak at large of those more


s: To us it is an instinctive feeling that a wrong is done to the


s: proper grandeur of our complex nature--that a violence is offered


s: intellectual quality is extolled tot he neglect of a moral one.


s: of active life, is a talent which outshines all praise of mental


s: passionate impression which is the fate of the man; and earth and


s: grace more native and familiar--whose spontaneous sentiments have


s: jealousies, and littlenesses, and envyings, which prey upon


s: the spirits of many men, as the vulture on the heart that chained


s: "This is the reward of moral excellence."


s: For the success of our special purpose, in this notice, which is


s: to explain his claims to that title which the common voice of the


s: universal praise, he erased it as diverting applause from that


s: In a review of literary reputations, perhaps nothing is fitted to


s: are illustrated in eight-and-forty books:  the remains of Sappho


s: might be written on the surface of a leaf of the laurus nobilis.


s: Yet if the one expands before us with the magnificent extent, the


s: a single couplet; but that is the very stuff of Eternity, which


s: any human being the fire of the Everlasting, it bows with equal


s: awe, whether that fire is displayed by only an occasional flash,


s: or by a prolonged and diffusive blaze.  There is a certain tone


s: which, hear it when we may, and where we may, we know to be the


s: accents of the gods; and whether its quality be shown in a single


s: them alike as seraphs of a brighter sphere--sons of the morning.


s: This is natural, and it is reasonable.  Genius is not a degree of


s: by the nature of the work which he undertakes, but by the kind of


s: he toils, but by the perfectness of the result which he attains.


s: Mr. Wordsworth has vindicated the capacity of the sonnet to be


s: a casket of the richest gems of fame.  We have no doubt that the


s: necessarily, a more inborn and genuine gift of poetic conception,


s: heart, to whose perfection, turbulence and effort are fatal.  Of


s: the latter kind is the song.  While the ode allows of exertion


s: and strain, what is done in it must be accomplished by native and


s: Speaking with that confidence which may not improperly be assumed


s: no professed writer of songs, in this day, who has conceived the


s: or determined by the casual taste or arbitrary will of authors:


s: they exist in nature; they are dependent upon those fixed laws of


s: in the force with which it is made to spring from the mind of its


s: the work; but rather, as we suppose, obviously, and in all cases,


s: it, is attained.  This is the kind of excellence which we ascribe


s: jealous and exclusive; to be less flexible in character and to


s: The just notion and office of the modern song, as we think of it,


s: of those sentiments or thoughts, gay, moral, pensive, joyous, or


s: melancholy, which are as natural and appropriate, in particular


s: purpose is to exhibit an incident in the substance of an emotion,


s: accidentally encounters the current of thought and bubbles forth


s: with a gentle fret of sparkling foam.  Self-evolved, almost, and


s: obedient in its development and shaping to some inward spark of


s: beauty which appears to possess and control its course, it might


s: not an artificial structure built up by intellect after a model


s: foreshaped by fancy, or foreshadowed by the instincts of the


s: an effluence of creative vigor; a graceful feeling thickened into


s: is obviously arranged in reference to a particular ending.  This


s: is the short-reaching power of Moore--guilty, by design, of that


s: departure from simplicity, by which he fascinated one generation


s: at the expense of being forgotten by another.  The song, while it


s: of pattern songs--being embodiments of some general feeling, or


s: reflection, but lacking that sufficient reference to some season


s: or occurrence which would justify their appearing, and take away


s: from them the aspect of pretension and display.


s: The only satisfactory method of criticism is by means of clinical


s: the song.  The ballad of "Woodman, spare that tree"--one of those


s: take "We were boys together."  In manly pathos, in tenderness and


s: with the gentlest truth of deep devotion, is shown in "When other


s: probable sincerity--which is a characteristic that the cavalier


s: style of courting never loses.  "The Star of Love" might stand as


s: a literary creator of a high order.  It is a thoroughly fresh and


s: ease.  "The Rock of the Pilgrims," and the "Indian Songs," are


s: a very clear evidence of this.  We would willingly go on with our


s: Such are some of the compositions, original in style, natural in


s: spirit, beautiful with the charm of almost faultless execution,


s: which may challenge for their author the title of the lauraete of


s: A writer in "Howitt's and the People's Journal" furnishes the


s: "Before us lies a heap of songs and ballads, the production of


s: heard speak on the ground of his connection with the public press


s: "Morris accomplished an infinity of good in the twenty years


s: it, and looked abroad anxiously for such as could aid him in his


s: "To him a writer in 'Graham's Magazine' attributes the present


s: he overrates his merits in the least.  From other sources we have


s: and his gigantic labors as a literary pioneer.  Considering


s: its juvenility as a nation, republican America, indeed, has been


s: "Morris seems to have had juster notions of what was required in


s: a song than many who have achieved celebrity as song-writers in


s: thought or sentiment--gay, pensive, moral, or sentimental--which


s: "We wonder they do not seek for an equivalent in high Dutch or in


s: with all our heart and soul.  We have no objection, provided the


s: green who would fain be thought of the nightingale species.  Did


s: the reader ever contemplate a child engaged in the interesting


s: operation of sucking a lollipop?--we assure him that that act was


s: gentlemen.  Let the reader mark the surprising excellence of the


s: love songs; their perfect naturalness; the quiet beauty of the


s: similes; the fine blending of graceful thought and tender feeling


s: disappeared from our brow, and the years from our shoulder, and


s: the marks of the branding-iron of experience from our heart; and


s: again we are a careless child, gathering primroses, and chasing


s: butterflies, and drinking spring-water from out the hollow


s: of our hands.  Around us are the hedges 'with golden gorse bright


s: potent in the hour of temptation; and the cap of rushes woven for


s: a helmet of steel in the hour of battle.  No, no; we will never


s: "There is one quality in his songs to which we can not but direct


s: remarked, his lays can bring to the cheek of purity no blush save


s: 'Mingling its marble with the dust of Rome;'


s: or it is like its own fabled first temple built to God, in the


s: new earth--a multitude of gems, swallowed by an earthquake, and


s: "It were absurd to compare the light and graceful poems of Morris


s: an Icarus flight of magnificent absurdities.


s: "It has been said that the author of 'Long time ago' has rung


s: too many changes on the sentiment and passion of LOVE.  Love, the


s: And make our eyes bright as we speak of them;'


s: 'love ever-new, everlasting, fresh, and beautiful, now as when


s: the silence of young Eden was thrilled, but scarce broken, by the


s: "Love and liberty are fast becoming mere abstractions to the


s: "This cynical objection to the lays of our minstrel, surely never


s: to love--that tender and yearning principle in the bosom of the


s: Father, from which and by which the feminine nature was created.


s: 'Poets are all who love--who feel great truths,


s: And tell them; and the truth of truths is LOVE.'


s: "The muse of Morris was Poesy's own 'summer child.'  Hope, love,


s: and happiness, sunny-winged fancies and golden-hued imaginings,


s: "His verse does not cause one to tremble and turn pale--it charms


s: host--it is like the visitation of gentle spirits,


s: 'Coming and going with a musical lightness.'


s: It is not a turbulent mountain-torrent, hurling itself down rocky


s: in whose waves the sweet stars are mirrored, on whose bosom the


s: an OPPRESIVE sadness, and we know that the rainbow beauty of the


s: verse could only be born in the wedlock of smiles and tears.  In


s: a word, his lays are not 'night and storm and darkness'--they are


s: tact, or, to use one of Sir James Mackintosh's happy expressions,


s: containing the truest philosophy.  'Lines after the manner of the


s: of a lover's breast, set to music; and 'One balmy summer night,


s: Mary,' 'The heart that owns thy tyrant sway,' and 'When I was in


s: my teens,' the distillation of the subtlest sweets lodged in the


s: innermost cells of all flowers dedicated to love.


s: "I come now to my favorite, 'Where Hudson's wave;' a poem which


s: I never read but that it glows upon my lip and heart, and leaves


s: the air of my thoughts tremulous with musical vibrations.  What a


s: move the 'fitly chose words,' tripping along like silver sandaled


s: "General Morris has recently published some songs, which have all


s: first season of popularity--are lying on the pianos and 'rolling


s: over the bright lip' of all song-dom, they call for no further


s: "I think I cannot better close this somewhat broken and imperfect


s: of the true spirit of patriotism, a sentiment which throbs like a


s: The biography of Morris would not be complete without a word from


s: "My Dear Sir:  To ask me for my idea of General Morris, is like


s: separating from him (except by precedence of ferriage over the


s: Styx), that it is hard to shove him from me to the perspective


s: easy to do.  They have a momentum, somehow, that it is difficult


s: for others to give, and that speeds them to the far goal of


s: popularity--the best proof consisting in the fact that he can, at


s: is prodigally full of the poetry of every-day feeling.  These are


s: Morris's songs, than in the writings of any other American poet;


s: "As for the man--Morris, my friend--I can hardly venture to 'burn


s: under his very nose--but as far off as Philadelphia, you may pay


s: the proper tribute to his loyal nature and manly excellencies.


s: In 1825, General Morris wrote the drama of "Briercliff," a play,


s: in five acts, founded upon events of the American Revolution.  It


s: He wrote a number of the "Welcomes to Lafayette," and songs and


s: ballads, which were universally popular, besides many prologues


s: From the period when General Morris commenced his career as


s: a writer, his pen has been constantly employed in writing poems,


s: They were highly commended by the press throughout the country,


s: and these and other editions have had large sales.  A portion of


s: his prose writings, under the title of "The Little Frenchman and


s: his Water-Lots," were published by Lea & Blanchard, which edition


s: General Morris has edited a number of works; among them are the


s: the cover and engravings, was taxed by the post-office department


s: The daily "Evening Mirror" was next commenced, and continued for


s: A few months after withdrawing from the "Evening Mirror," General


s: Journal;" but as many mistook its object from its name, the first


s: and ability, and which has a circulation of many thousand copies.


s: General Morris is still in the prime and vigor  of life, and it


s: is not unlikely that the public will yet have much to admire from


s: Although he possesses abilities which eminently qualify him for


s: public station, his literary taste and habits have, in spite of


s: the strenuous solicitations of his friends, led him to prefer the


s: We can not close this sketch without adverting to the following


s: incident, which occurred in the British House of Commons:--


s: "Mr. Cagley, a member from Yorkshire," says the "London Times,"


s: "Concluded a long speech in favor of protection, by quoting


s: the ballad of 'Woodman, spare that tree' (which was received with


s: Suggested by a scene in the play of the hunchback.


s: Tears!--Well, let them flow!--His bride?


s: Love I him?--Thus scorned and slighted--


s: Hopes and feelings seared and blighted--


s: Opposed to love, 'twill strike the beam:


s: In all their bloom and brightness given,


s: Glides the rock-king's dove-eyed daughter,


s: The burdened boughs with pale scouts quiver,


s: Their barks, like foaming war-steeds, spring!


s: They come--like buffaloes for slaughter!


s: Right they forget while strength they feel;


s: Our veins they drain, our land they steal;


s: Like lightning from storm-clouds on high,


s: The green leaves on the blithe boughs quiver,


s: UP, UP WITH THE SIGNAL!--The land is in sight!


s: We'll be happy, if never again, boys, to-night!


s: The cold cheerless ocean in safety we've passed,


s: And the warm genial earth glads our vision at last.


s: In the land of the stranger true hearts we shall find,


s: To soothe us in absence of those left behind.


s: Land!--land-ho!--All hearts glow with joy at the sight!


s: THE SIGNAL IS WAVING!--Till morn we'll remain,


s: Then part in the hope to meet one day again!


s: Round the hearth-stone of home in the land of our birth,


s: The holiest spot on the face of the earth!


s: Dear country! our thoughts are as constant to thee


s: As the steel to the star, or the stream to the sea.


s: Ho!--land-ho!--We near it!--We bound at the sight!


s: Then be happy, if never again, boys, to-night!


s: THE SIGNAL IS ANSWERED!--The foam-sparkles rise


s: Like tears from the fountain of joy to the eyes!


s: May rain-drops that fall from the storm-clouds of care,


s: Melt away in the sun-beaming smiles of the fair!


s: One health, as chime gaily the nautical bells:


s: To woman--God bless her!--wherever she dwells!


s: THE PILOT'S ON BOARD!--thank heaven, all's right!


s: So be happy, if never again, boys, to-night!


s: Hard by I've a cottage that stands near the wood--


s: Where all who will tarry, 'tis well understood,


s: To cheer that the brook and the thicket afford,


s: You're welcome to freely partake at the board,


s: The birds in the morning will sing from the trees,


s: Then, with him uprising, depart if you please--


s: You're coin for our service we sternly reject;


s: And all the reward that we wish or expect


s: Mankind are all pilgrims on life's weary road,


s: If all would their duty discharge as they should


s: The world would resemble my cot near the wood,


s: "A song for our banner?"--The watchword recall


s: The union of lakes--the union of lands--


s: The union of hearts--the union of hands--


s: What God in his mercy and wisdom designed,


s: Not all the earth's despots and factions combined


s: Oh, keep that flag flying!--The pride of the van!


s: Then the union of lakes--the union of lands--


s: Where sea-nymphs sport beneath the waves.


s: Love rules "the court, the camp, the grove"--


s: Love's genial warmth melts high and low.


s: Scorn nerves her proud, disdainful heart!


s: But burn through life with all its fires.


s: But time and change their healing brought,


s: The chieftain's daughter knelt in tears,


s: Ho! brothers--come hither and list to my story--


s: Here, like a monarch, I reign in my glory--


s: Where once frowned a forest, a garden is smiling--


s: The meadow and moorland are marshes no more;


s: And there curls the smoke of my cottage, beguiling


s: The children who cluster like grapes round my door.


s: Then enter, boys; cheerly, boys, enter and rest;


s: The land of the heart is the land of the West!


s: Talk not of the town, boys--give me the broad prairie,


s: Where man, like the wind, roams impulsive and free:


s: Behold how its beautiful colors all vary,


s: Like those of the clouds, or the deep-rolling sea!


s: A life in the woods, boys, is even as changing;


s: With proud independence we season our cheer,


s: And those who the world are for happiness ranging,


s: Won't find it at all if they don't find it here.


s: Then enter, boys; cheerly, boys, enter and rest!


s: I'll show you the life, boys, we live in the West!


s: Here, brothers, secure from all turmoil and danger,


s: We reap what we sow, for the soil is our own;


s: We spread hospitality's board for the stranger,


s: And care not a jot for the king on his throne.


s: We never know want, for we live by our labor,


s: And in it contentment and happiness find;


s: We do what we can for a friend or a neighbor,


s: And die, boys, in peace and good-will to mankind.


s: Then enter, boys; cheerly, boys, enter and rest;


s: You know how we live, boys, and die in the West!


s: To ward the death-spear from his side!--


s: No more those waters slake their thirst,


s: Who round the hearth-stone used to close


s: They're gone, with my last shilling, [See Notes (1)]


s: And Worth to Sunny-side. [See Notes (3)]


s: A wheel rigged on a tiller, [See Notes (5)]


s: Long live the valiant Mayor! [See Notes (6)]


s: In the days that are gone, by this sweet-flowing water,


s: Two lovers reclined in the shade of a tree;


s: She was the mountain-king's rosy-lipped daughter,


s: The brave warrior-chief of the valley was he.


s: Then all things around them, below and above,


s: Were basking as now in the sunshine of love--


s: In the days that are gone, by this sweet-flowing stream.


s: In the days that are gone, they were laid 'neath the willow,


s: The maid in her beauty, the youth in his pride;


s: Both slain by the foeman who crossed the dark billow,


s: And stole the broad lands where their children reside;


s: Whose fathers, when dying, in fear looked above,


s: And trembled to think of that chief and his love,


s: In the days that are gone, by this sweet flowing stream.


s: Returned, with throbbing pulse and brain,


s: To you came wealth with manhood's prime,


s: Which led our thoughts from earth to heaven,


s: The sun, whose setting shuts the flower.


s: And our skiff with the stream is flowing.


s: While our skiff with the stream is flowing!


s: So breaks on life's dark, murm'ring stream,


s: But his soul, which in heaven had birth,


s: The earth, wrapped in flames, will expire;


s: Though man's proud brow were bound with flowers,


s: That once would gleam like morning's beam,


s: Where files of time-marked veterans come


s: Her thoughts or her footsteps may stray:


s: Thou hast woven the spell that hath bound me,


s: And the smiles that I wore when I found thee,


s: Like the poor, wounded fawn from the mountain,


s: Thou hast taught me that Love's rosy fetters


s: Like the lone bird that flutters her pinion,


s: I love the night when the moon streams bright


s: When cascades shout as the stars peep out,


s: I love to stray at the close of the day,


s: When gushing notes from song-birds' throats


s: Old Nick, who taught the village-school,


s: "Less freedom, ma'am!"--Jane sighed and said,


s: Could once my heart-strings madly thrill!


s: And time went by with birds and flowers,


s: To lose--but love thee, false one, still!


s: Wealth vanished!--Last went rosy Health--


s: Who slept, while others watched and prayed,


s: And heaven was pierced with shafts of flame!


s: Wreathes of dense smoke obscured the sky!


s: And all--save one--shrieked out, "We die."


s: "Not so!" he cried.--"Help!--Clear the sedge!


s: You take the ground its roots have bound,


s: They wove a crown, and hailed me Queen of May!


s: They brought to cheer and shade the Queen of May.


s: Though years have passed, and Time has strown


s: When in girlhood I was crowned the Queen of May.


s: "The plaint of the wailing Whip-poor-will,


s: Still "Whip poor Will!"--Art thou a sprite,


s: Hast thou to meet writs, duns, and debt--


s: What, none of these?--Then, whence thy pain?


s: As streams at morn, from seas that glide,


s: The guide by which the wave-tossed steer,


s: Yet none of all the swains who sought her,


s: The town-gallants crossed hill and plain,


s: From home they could not lure the fairy.


s: A maid without a heart they thought her,


s: With that true faith which can not falter,


s: And faithful was the heart he brought her


s: I heard him--blushed--"Would ask mamma"--


s: "Love's wings," he said, "when fringed with gold,


s: And when thou hast the falsehood proved,


s: The fresh'ning breeze now swells our sails!


s: The star, the breeze, the wave, the trees,


s: The light of noon streams from the moon,


s: Thus all that's bright--the moon, the night,


s: Which gave our fathers birth, there roves


s: When thou art named, what memories throng!


s: Fond words were breathed, by you forgot,


s: And all the bright joys of life's season


s: Which lights us through life to its close,


s: To meet, and part, as we have met and parted,


s: One moment cherished and the next forgot,


s: To wear a smile when almost broken-hearted,


s: I know full well is hapless woman's lot;


s: Yet let me, to thy tenderness appealing,


s: Content that close beside the thorn of feeling,


s: Grows memory, like a rose, in guarded bloom.


s: Love's history, dearest, is a sad one ever,


s: Yet often with a smile I've heard it told!


s: Oh, there are records of the heart which never


s: My eyes to thine may scarce again aspire--


s: Still in thy memory, dearest let me dwell,


s: And hush, with this hope, the magnetic wire,


s: Wild with our mingled welcome and farewell!


s: E'en thus the sweets to flowerets given--


s: Oh, sing once more those dear, familiar lays,


s: Whose gliding measure every bosom thrills,


s: And takes my heart back to the happy days


s: When first I sang them on my native hills!


s: With the fresh feelings of the olden times,


s: The simple music and the artless rhymes!


s: Oh, sing those dear, familiar lays once more,


s: Oh, sing once more those joy-provoking strains,


s: Which, half forgotten, in my memory dwell;


s: They send the life-blood bounding thro' my veins,


s: The songs of home are to the human heart


s: Far dearer than the notes that song-birds pour,


s: Then sing those dear, familiar lays once more!


s: "I suppose she was right in rejecting my suit,


s: When she thinks of the bill that's unpaid.


s: I've thought of the means--yet I shudder


s: But drown?--oh, the thought makes me shiver--


s: "Lord of the castle! oh, where goest thou?


s: Why is the triumph of pride on thy brow?"


s: List'ning for thee in the shade of the groves."


s: "Guided by honor, how brilliant the road


s: "Pilgrim, its dictates I learned to obey,


s: The leaves that deck the mouldering brows


s: He took them in their strength and bloom,


s: The funeral train--the dirge--the bier--


s: "Come, list to the lay of the olden time,"


s: "A century back--and love is the theme."


s: Love was the theme of the troubadour's rhyme,


s: "Knelt at the close of the vesper-chime:


s: "Her beads she numbered in silent prayer


s: "For one far away, whom to love was her crime.


s: "Love," sang the troubadour, "love was a crime,


s: "When fathers were stern, in the olden time.


s: "The warder had spurned from the castle gate


s: "The minstrel who wooed her in flowing rhyme--


s: "He came back from battle in regal estate--


s: "The bard was a prince of the olden time.


s: "Love," sand the troubadour, "listened to rhyme,


s: "And welcomed the bard of the olden time.


s: "The prince in disguise had the lady sought;


s: "To chapel they hied in their rosy prime:


s: "The moral," the troubadour sang, "of my rhyme,


s: "Was well understood in the olden time."


s: Sought like the Christian knights of old,


s: He whistles his dog--he mounts his steed,


s: The lightsome tramp of the deer he'll mark,


s: And his rifle startles the cheerful lark


s: My steed, dog, and gun, and the cheerful lark


s: Joyous the carol that rings in the mountains,


s: While the cleared vales are refreshed by the fountains--


s: After the harvest the cheerful notes fall,


s: And all the glad reapers re-echo the call!


s: Oh, how the heart bounds at that simple refrain!


s: Dear haunts of my childhood, I'm with you again!


s: Green be your valleys, enriched by the rills,


s: And long may that carol be sung on your hills!


s: To know a man well, it is said, Walter Gay,


s: If this maxim's true, then well I know you,


s: For we sailed together the sea, Walter Gay,


s: I now watch the star from the strand, Walter Gay,


s: Like that all alone you sparkled and shone,


s: The clear northern star among men, Walter Gay,


s: May your future course, like the past, Walter Gay,


s: your sorrows and care fade into the air,


s: Or vanish like foam on the sea, Walter Gay,


s: The friendship that's formed on the wave, Walter Gay,


s: That can not decay till we lose our way,


s: Or death runs the vessel aground, Walter Gay,


s: When life's voyage ends, may your bark, Walter Gay


s: And, when lulls the wind, safe anchorage find


s: Within the good harbor above, Walter Gay,


s: What can a man do when a woman's perverse,


s: At the altar you took me for better or worse:


s: For an angel I took you in beauty and worth--


s: A MAN would prefer a true woman on earth,


s: Forgetting a button to sew on your shirt


s: Well, marriage a lottery is, and a blank


s: Such fellows as you, sir, themselves have to thank;


s: (Written for the lady by whom it was sung.)


s: Some love to stroll where the wassail-bowl


s: Like cheerful streams when morning beams,


s: Bend to your oars for the wood-tangled shore;


s: We're off and afloat with earth's loveliest daughters,


s: Pull away gallantly--pull away valiantly--


s: Pull with a swoop, boys; and pull for the shore:


s: Pull away cheerily!--land is before us--


s: Green groves are flinging their balm to the spray;


s: The sky, like the spirit of love, bending o'er us,


s: Lights her bright torches to show us the way.


s: Pull with a nerve, boys; together give way:


s: Pull away heartily--light winds are blowing,


s: Crisping the ripples that dance at our side;


s: The moon bathes in silver the path we are going,


s: And night is arrayed in her robes like a bride.


s: Pull with a will, boys, and sing as we glide


s: A rock in the wilderness welcomed our sires,


s: From bondage far over the dark-rolling sea;


s: On that holy altar they kindled the fires,


s: Jehovah, which glow in our bosoms for Thee.


s: Thy blessings descended in sunshine and shower,


s: Or rose from the soil that was sown by Thy hand;


s: The mountain and valley rejoiced in Thy power,


s: And heaven encircled and smiled on the land.


s: The Pilgrims of old an example have given


s: Of mild resignation, devotion, and love,


s: Which beams like the star in the blue vault of heaven,


s: A beacon-light swung in their mansion above.


s: In church and cathedral we kneel in OUR prayer--


s: Their temple and chapel were valley and hill--


s: But God is the same in the isle or the air,


s: And He is the Rock that we lean upon still.


s: Victorious the hero returns from the wars,


s: His brow bound with laurels that never will fade,


s: While streams the free standard of stripes and of stars,


s: Whose field in the battle the foeman dismayed.


s: When the Mexican hosts in their fury came on,


s: Like a tower of strength in his might he arose,


s: Where danger most threatened his banner was borne,


s: Waving hope to his friends and despair to his foes!


s: His deeds in the temple of Fame are enrolled;


s: His precepts, like flower-seeds sown by the gale,


s: Take root in the hearts of the valiant and bold.


s: The warrior's escutcheon his foes seek to blot,


s: But vain is the effort of partisan bands--


s: For freemen will render full justice to SCOTT,


s: And welcome him home with their hearts in their hands.


s: Passed, like an ice-bolt, through the brain;


s: As hope?--What hope?--That boundless One


s: Two years have elapsed since the verse of S. W. [See Notes]


s: Met your bright eyes like a fanciful gem;


s: With that kind of stanza the muse will now trouble you,


s: As New Year approaches, she whispers of coaches,


s: And lockets and broaches [See Notes], without any end,


s: Of sweet rosy pleasure, of joy without measure,


s: And plenty of leisure to share with a friend.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of the griefs of society--


s: And public misfortunes, in all their variety,


s: The troubles of Wall-street, I'm sure that you all meet,


s: And they're not at all sweet--but look at their pranks:


s: Usurious cravings, and discounts and shavings,


s: With maniac ravings and Lombardy banks. [See Notes]


s: 'Tis useless to speak of our dealers in cotton too,


s: The failure of merchants should now be forgotten too,


s: Nor sadden the prospects of this festive day.


s: Though Fortune has cheated the hope near completed,


s: And cruelly treated the world mercantile,


s: The poet's distresses, when Fortune oppresses,


s: Are greater, he guesses--but still he can smile.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of the gas-lights [See Notes] so beautiful,


s: Eagles and tigers and elephants, dutiful,


s: Dazzle the vision with columns of light.


s: The lamb and the lion--ask editor Tryon,


s: His word you'll rely on--are seen near the Park,


s: From which such lights flow out, as wind can not blow out,


s: Yet often they go out, and all's in the dark.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of the seats on the Battery [See Notes],


s: They're too expensive to give to the town;


s: Then our aldermen think it such flattery,


s: Our fortune to harden, they show Castle Garden--


s: Kind muses, your pardon, but rhyme it I must--


s: Where soldiers were drilling, you now must be willing


s: To pay them a shilling--so down with the dust.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of our writers poetical [See Notes],


s: Of Halleck and Bryant and Woodworth, to write;


s: There are others, whose trades are political--


s: There's Lang the detector, and Coleman the hector,


s: And King the accuser, and Stone the abuser,


s: And Grim the confuser of morals and news.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of the many civilities


s: Shown to Fayette [See Notes] in this country of late,


s: Or even to mention the splendid abilities


s: The union of water and Erie's bright daughter


s: Since Neptune has caught her they'll sever no more;


s: And Greece and her troubles (the rhyme always doubles)


s: Have vanished like bubbles that burst on the shore.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of Broadway and the Bowery,


s: Who would have thought that old Stuyvesant's dowery


s: Would hold in its precincts a play-house [See Notes] at last?


s: Well, wonder ne'er ceases, but daily increases,


s: And pulling to pieces, the town to renew,


s: So often engages the thoughts of our sages,


s: That when the fit rages, what will they not do?


s: 'Tis useless to speak of the want of propriety


s: In forming our city so crooked and long;


s: Our ancestors, bless them, were fond of variety--


s: 'Tis naughty to say that they ever were wrong!


s: Tho' strangers may grumble, and thro' the streets and stumble,


s: Take care they don't tumble through crevices small,


s: For trap-doors we've plenty, on sidewalk and entry,


s: And no one stands sentry to see they don't fall.


s: 'Tis useless to speak of amusements so various,


s: Of opera-singers [See Notes] that few understand;


s: Of Kean's [See Notes] reputation, so sadly precarious


s: When he arrived in this prosperous land.


s: The public will hear him--and hark! how they cheer him!


s: Though editors jeer him--we all must believe