s: St. George, I learned to love thee in my youth


s: When of thy deeds I read in deathless song;


s: Hard by the castle-gates of Love and Truth,


s: I feel the world's great need of thee, forsooth,


s: To strike the heavy blow delayed too long.


s: Where thou wert bravest, yet the first in ruth,


s: Armed with thy sacred sign go forth to fight


s: Than this--the world's knight-errantry of God!


s: Through shimmering skies the big clouds slowly sail;


s: A faint breeze lingers in the rustling beech;


s: Atop the withered oak with vagrant speech


s: The brawling crows call down the sleepy vale;


s: Unseen the glad cicadas trill their tale


s: Of deep content in changeless vibrant screech,


s: And where the old fence rambles out of reach,


s: Floats on the mellow stillness like a sigh;


s: One butterfly, ghost of a vanished June,


s: Soars dimly where in realms of purple sky


s: Dips the wan crescent of the vapory moon.


s: Poor shape grotesque that careless hands have wrought!


s: Frail wistful thing, left gaping at the sun


s: With empty grin, 'tis well no blood shall run


s: Within thy frozen veins, no kindling thought


s: Light up those eyeless sockets wherein naught


s: But hate could dwell if once they flashed the fire


s: Should curse thy life, unbidden and unsought.


s: Poor snow man with thy tattered hat awry,


s: And broomstick musket toppling from thy hands,


s: 'Tis well thou hast no language to decry


s: No tear to shed that thou so soon must die,


s: No voice to lift in prayer where no god understands!


s: Her eyes some trace of cold, white light


s: An Earthworm once loved a Star. In the hush of the summer night,


s: He lay quite close to the ground and gazed on its golden light;


s: Creeps wearily across Time's burning sands


s: To look into her face, and lift weak hands


s: That crowns her stony brow.... But all in vain


s: Doom speaks still from her unrelenting eye--


s: From age to age the voice of Love is heard


s: Pleading above the tumult of the throng,


s: "The answer is the same," the stern voice saith:


s: "Death yesterday, today and still tomorrow--Death!"


s: Beyond the tumult and the proud acclaim,


s: With withering light upon the mighty seats,


s: They hear the far-resounding trump of fame;


s: On other lips they hear the one-loved name


s: To know that they shall never lull to sleep


s: Those tired heads, crowned with desolating flame.


s: Beyond the towering pomp they dimly see,


s: They sit and watch the fateful pageants go


s: Through war's red arch, or up to Calvary,


s: The First Love still within their hearts impearled--


s: Mothers of all the masters of the world!


s: To mask deception with a wanton's guile,


s: And save the tears that now begin to start.


s: I might have worn my guilty crown of thorn,--


s: But, oh! more bitter than his rage or scorn,


s: He left me with forgiveness in his eyes.


s: At the world-old drama, "From God to God,"


s: And her lips and brow were red with stains


s: Or the lips of the witch that Adam loved


s: And Lilith, the witch, dropped down and prayed


s: And the blood red stain on the brow of Cain


s: With the light just quenched in their eyes


s: They lie in their graves 'neath the skies,


s: The lily shrivels in the shriveling hand.


s: They sought their silent beds at his command,


s: Shall find them no more,--never bid them arise


s: And go forth with a glory in their eyes.


s: Know them no more in the dark ways they take.


s: About it. Something--(what, let no man say,)--


s: The rest shall be with them and God alway.


s: You have builded your ships in the sun-lands,


s: They are boweled with your stanchest engines,


s: With a prayer on your lips for the goal--


s: Than the sting of the frost king's wrath,


s: Thine anguished cry when fell the iron gin


s: That all but broke thy soul, yet gave thy word


s: The strength to ask forgiveness of thy sin.


s: Of thine own fame; I saw thee hide thy face


s: I knew thy creed, although thy lips were mute;


s: I knew the gods thou didst not dare to own;


s: Of thy last flower of song, in prison blown.


s: "No law but freedom for the vagrant bee--


s: The eloquence of ardent lips grown mute,


s: The mourning mother's heart-cry for her dead,


s: The flower of faith that grows to unseen fruit.


s: I am the speech of prophets when their eyes


s: Behold some splendid vision of the soul;


s: The song of morning stars, the hills' replies,


s: And, since I must be mateless, I shall win


s: One boon beyond the meed of common clay:


s: My life shall end where other lives begin,


s: And live when other lives have passed away.


s: (Written on the exhumation and reburial in Spain of the bones of


s: Once more upon the ocean's heaving breast


s: He lays his head, not like the lover bold


s: Wooed from her lips the secret of the West,


s: No hopes to thrill, no yearnings to inspire,


s: No tasks to burden, and no toil to tire,


s: About him as of yore the wild winds play;


s: Behind him lies the world he gave to men,


s: Peace, winds and tides! Be calm, thou guardian sky,--


s: The lordliest dust of earth is passing by!


s: Feast and song and a long, long sleep;--


s: And which of us dreamed at the drama's close


s: That either has once been stained with sin;


s: It was blood and wine in the old, old years,


s: We have met once more, and the truth is clear


s: That our heart's own blood no surer pays


s: For our sin in the past than atonement here;


s: "Give us this day our daily bread!" O prayer


s: For starveling mouths in Famine's ghastly lair--


s: To carp with sordid tradesmen face to face;


s: No more we hear the Sinaian thunders roll,


s: The money-changers flaunt their silks and gold;


s: Within the Temple gates they ply their trade,


s: Forgetful of the Voice that cried of old:


s: "A den of thieves my Father's house is made!"


s: You are blue, you are blue like the sky,


s: While we drink from the cups of the Temple


s: We have stilled the tongue of our Daniel


s: An unreaped field and Death, the harvester,


s: Passion, with pilfered hour-glass in her hand


s: Jarring the sluggish sands to haste their flow.


s: The sign I promised from the farthest goal,


s: Nor knows, as I know now, that when we meet,


s: 'Twill be as dewdrop on the hawthorn spray,--


s: He still remembers that my eyes were blue,


s: Still dreams the autumn russet of my hair;


s: "In God's own time," he said, "I'll come to you;


s: You will be waiting; I will find you there!"


s: For should I breathe the secret in his ear


s: His soul would hearken--but 'twould break his heart!


s: Might sit beside a violet's stem and view


s: Its opening petals, watch the wondrous blue


s: Thrill through their fibers, and their secret gain


s: Of how the earth and sky and wind and rain


s: Had given them life and form and scent and hue,--


s: Those rare blue eyes, and have not looked in vain;


s: For they have told me all that I would know,


s: Ay, more than this, for, in their tender glow,


s: I've learned their secret, found their winsome spell,


s: The sweet and simple message of their love.


s: Eagle-heart, child-heart, bonnie lad o' dreams,


s: Far away thy soul hears passion-throated Art


s: Farther down the vista that is calling to thy heart.


s: Bend thine ear to listen for the lute of Love is sighing:


s: Answer, for thy bride awaits, and fragile hours are flying!"


s: Far away thy soul hears Love's enraptured strain,


s: Burning, yearning, ever turning back to one refrain:


s: Lift thy head to listen for the voice of Art is calling:


s: Answer, for thy bride awaits, and moonless night is falling!"


s: For the kiss was a message from God; I felt it and understood,


s: Men hear me sing but they know not the source of my song;


s: I hold them enthralled with my mysterious eyes;


s: They quiver when I purr with the voice of a wanton woman;


s: I am a dream of the Creator made visible;


s: My voice is an echo of the Voice that taught


s: The force that binds me to the marts of men


s: Is the force that holds the planets in a leash while God


s: Drives them in glittering galaxy around the sun.


s: Here I am a weakling's symbol of a power


s: That spins the luminous girdle of Saturn in sure hands,


s: And frames the awful face of God in the shifting boreal light.


s: It flashes in the eyes of the tempest, glows along


s: The phosphorescent billows where the hand of the Almighty


s: Is laid for a moment on the breast of the sea,


s: That flies from zone to zone and speaks suddenly out of the void.


s: I shall soar like an evil bird over the warring camps of men,


s: I shall be the sinew of a strange wing,--


s: A wing that shall bear men into the forge of the thunder and the


s: But when I fail the groundlings shall look up


s: And see their brothers through the ether plunge,


s: Stricken, a haggard rout of flame-flotillas of the sun!


s: I shall be a servant in the house of men;


s: I shall breathe unutterable music on the spindle and the loom;


s: I shall sing, exultant, with the choristers of dreams fulfilled,


s: And light shall be bound like sandals on my feet.


s: For the kiss was a message from God; I felt it and understood,


s: Here is a tale the North Wind sang to me:


s: Hell hath set Mammon o'er a frozen land,


s: Crowned him with gold, put gold into his hand,


s: And men forsake their God to bow the knee


s: Whose rule is wheresoe'er man's feet go forth,


s: Whether they track the grim and icy North,


s: Or Afric's scorching sweeps of sandy sea.


s: About his throne they crawl and curse and weep;


s: The tenfold pangs of darkness and of cold


s: Bite at their hearts, and hound them as they creep,


s: Thief-like, to catch his scattered crumbs of gold;--


s: And over all still burns God's warning scroll:


s: "What profit it if ye shall lose your soul?"


s: What will I say when face to face with God


s: My naked soul shall come, seared with the stain


s: That men call sin? Why, God will understand;


s: My frail dust quickened with the breath of life;


s: When, thrilled with virgin wonder, I should come


s: I do not fear His judgment; He knows all.


s: Who taught my heart to love; and, surely, One


s: Who wrought a perfect note from these poor strings


s: Will not condemn to discord when the strain


s: Has reached the fullness of its harmony.


s: Too full of passion's rapture; if I speak


s: In that transcendent moment when I stand


s: To hear my sentence, I shall answer still:


s: "I loved him; that was all that I could do;


s: I love him; that is all that I can say!"


s: Beyond the wall the passion flower is blooming,


s: Strange hints of life along the winds are blown;


s: Within, the cowled and silent men are kneeling


s: And on their lifted faces, wan as death,


s: I read this simple message of their faith:


s: Beyond the wall lies Babylon, the mighty;


s: Faint echoes of her songs come drifting by;


s: A psalm that lifts the fervent soul on high;


s: And yet, sometimes, where bows the hooded choir,


s: There comes the old call of the World's Desire:


s: Where falls the shadow of the Kofel cross


s: Athwart the Alpine snows, the rose of faith


s: Is blooming still in consecrated hearts,


s: Whereon the symboled Christ again shall die


s: To cleanse the world of sin. Within the vale


s: Where flows the Ammer like a trail of tears


s: The men and women, faithful to their vows,


s: I see the godless traders scourged; I see


s: Their wares strewn on the temple floor, their doves


s: The multitude half-sob, half-wail, "The Cross!"


s: Crowned with the thorn, and then, last bitter scene,


s: The eagle wheels around the Kofel crags;


s: The chamois leaps the tumbling glacier stream;


s: The sunbeams dance upon the glistening snows


s: Like pixies, and the wooded mountain slopes


s: Thrill with the notes of songbirds; hymns of joy


s: Break from the forests and the smiling plains,


s: And where the Ammer winds its silvery way,


s: The wild swan ever follows like a prayer.


s: Who of God's creatures, then, has lost his way?


s: 'Tis not the chamois, eagle or the swan;


s: 'Tis not the mountain torrent, or the birds


s: That twitter all day long within the wood;


s: The fresh-hewn cross is lifted to the sky;


s: That marks Christ's passion in a silent awe,


s: And think a moment on the world of Man--


s: Man, made in God's own image, yet the one


s: Of all God's creatures who has lost his way.


s: When, on the brooding darkness of the void


s: Wherein the world swung like a tiny star,


s: Death hovered with his sable wings outspread,


s: And Hell yawned far below, God gave to man


s: His promise of redemption through the blood


s: That dripped from pierced hands high on Calvary--


s: Cities have risen on the shores of Time,


s: Then passed away like footprints in the sand;


s: Empires have vanished, kings have laid them down


s: "Forgive them, for they know not what they do."


s: Once more the fresh-hewn cross lifts to the sky


s: Once more I see the Christ in humble guise


s: Teaching the multitudes, and hear his voice


s: Ah, could the world but gaze upon that Christ


s: With heart attuned unto the symboled love


s: The world hath need of thy great lesson now;


s: The money-changers throng the Temple gates;


s: The kiss of Judas burns from lips to brow;


s: Of scorners, and the poisoned crown of thorns


s: Bites like the chaplet that the Saviour wore


s: The day that He was crowned and crucified.


s: Phantoms that shudder when the name of Christ


s: Grim Avarice with shriveled fingers clutch


s: Oppression stands and hugs a clanking chain,


s: While deeper in the gloom, with eyes aglow


s: And matted hair still dripping red with gore,


s: Sits War, her trembling hand enclasped within


s: The spectral hand of Death. O Christus, thou


s: Approach thy task with heart inspired by love,


s: And when the Saviour's words fall from thy lips,


s: The helpless tools within the Master's hand


s: He blends our souls with iron, fire or clay,


s: He shapes our doom according as He planned


s: The scheme of life, and who shall understand


s: Somewhere the universal loom shall catch


s: These broken, flying threads like thee and me,


s: And twined with other broken threads to match


s: As fly the years' swift shuttles ceaselessly,


s: Till lo! the finished woof is brighter than the sun.


s: The grim piles lift against the sunset sky;


s: Down drops the night, and shuts the horrid maw--


s: I listen, breathless, but there comes no cry.


s: Life is like an old mother whom trouble and toil


s: Have sufficed the best part of her nature to spoil,


s: Whom her children, the Passions, so worry and vex


s: That the good are forgot while the evil perplex.


s: When the north wind, riding o'er the uplands,


s: Shouted to the red leaves: "I am Death!"


s: Was it fear that sent them all a-flying,


s: Sighing, flying o'er the withered heath?


s: And straight her lips grew cold on mine,


s: Men shed their blood for honor or renown,


s: For freedom's sake to nameless graves go down,


s: But there's one cause alone 'neath heaven above


s: For which they shed their tears, and that is--Love.


s: Though dawn to stricken wretch may bring


s: Hail, sceptered Mars, great god of wars!


s: Keep truckling pace the fete to grace,--


s: The day when these black birds shall fly


s: When they shall meet 'twixt sea and sky,


s: And blood shall trickle through the waves


s: And yet Christ's gentle teaching scrolls


s: God sent a frost from His clear blue sky.


s: Her light feet tripped to the lilting tune,


s: That her glad eyes searched with eager look


s: The snowy clouds, soft sleeping lambkins, lie


s: And the bright stars, like golden daffodils,


s: Keeps near her flock and guards it with her smile;


s: With airy step he hastes the pastures through,


s: She starts; the little lambs aroused from sleep,


s: Fly hence; but Luna near her swain doth keep.


s: I saw thee for a moment, friend of mine,


s: And all at once my blood leapt fast and fine


s: And a new light broke on my shadowed heart.


s: For when he passed me by and gave no sign,


s: The bitter truth came back with sudden start.


s: Thy dust forever in its four-walled cell,


s: Heedless of all except thy Seer's commands--


s: Holds thee enraptured with the charms that dwell


s: Entered according to act of Congress, In the year 1897, by


s: In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.


s: A dull little station, a man with the eye


s: Of a dreamer; a bevy of girls moving by;


s: A swift moving train and a hot Summer sun,


s: The curtain goes up, and our play is begun.


s: The drama of passion, of sorrow, of strife,


s: Which always is billed for the theatre Life.


s: It runs on forever, from year unto year,


s: With scarcely a change when new actors appear.


s: It is old as the world is--far older in truth,


s: For the world is a crude little planet of youth.


s: And back in the eras before it was formed,


s: The passions of hearts through the Universe stormed.


s: Maurice Somerville passed the cluster of girls


s: Who twisted their ribbons and fluttered their curls


s: In vain to attract him; his mind it was plain


s: Was wholly intent on the incoming train.


s: That great one eyed monster puffed out its black breath,


s: Shrieked, snorted and hissed, like a thing bent on death,


s: Paused scarcely a moment, and then sped away,


s: And two actors more now enliven our play.


s: A graceful young woman with eyes like the morn,


s: With hair like the tassels which hang from the corn,


s: And a face that might serve as a model for Peace,


s: Moved lightly along, smiled and bowed to Maurice,


s: Then was lost in the circle of friends waiting near.


s: A discord of shrill nasal tones smote the ear,


s: As they greeted their comrade and bore her from sight.


s: (The ear oft is pained while the eye feels delight


s: In the presence of women throughout our fair land:


s: God gave them the graces which win and command,


s: But the devil, who always in mischief rejoices,


s: Slipped into their teachers and ruined their voices.)


s: There had stepped from the train just behind Mabel Lee


s: A man whose deportment bespoke him to be


s: A child of good fortune.  His mien and his air


s: Were those of one all unaccustomed to care.


s: His brow was not vexed with the gold seeker's worry,


s: His manner was free from the national hurry.


s: Repose marked his movements.  Yet gaze in his eye,


s: And you saw that this calm outer man was a lie;


s: And you knew that deep down in the depths of his breast


s: There dwelt the unmerciful imp of unrest.


s: He held out his hand; it was clasped with a will


s: In both the firm palms of Maurice Somerville.


s: "Well, Reese, my old Comrade;" "Ha, Roger, my boy,"


s: They cried in a breath, and their eyes gemmed with joy


s: (Which but for their sex had been set in a tear),


s: As they walked arm in arm to the trap waiting near,


s: And drove down the shining shell roadway which wound


s: Through forest and meadow, in search of the Sound.


s: I smell the salt water--that perfume which starts


s: The blood from hot brains back to world withered hearts;


s: You may talk of the fragrance of flower filled fields,


s: You may sing of the odors the Orient yields,


s: You may tell of the health laden scent of the pine,


s: But give me the subtle salt breath of the brine.


s: Steal back to my soul in their sweetness and truth;


s: Small wonder the years leave no marks on your face,


s: Time's scythe gathers rust in this idyllic place.


s: You must feel like a child on the Great Mother's breast,


s: With the Sound like a nurse watching over your rest?


s: There is beauty and truth in your quaint simile,


s: I love the Sound more than the broad open sea.


s: The ocean seems always stern, masculine, bold,


s: The Sound is a woman, now warm, and now cold.


s: It rises in fury and threatens to smite,


s: Then falls at your feet with a coo of delight;


s: Capricious, seductive, first frowning, then smiling,


s: And always, whatever its mood is, beguiling.


s: Look, now you can see it, bright beautiful blue,


s: And far in the distance there loom into view


s: The banks of Long Island, full thirty miles off;


s: A sign of wet weather to-morrow.  Don't scoff!


s: We people who chum with the waves and the wind


s: Know more than all wise signal bureaus combined.


s: But come, let us talk of yourself--for of me


s: There is little to tell which your eyes may not see.


s: Since we finished at College (eight years, is it not?)


s: I simply have dreamed away life in this spot.


s: With my dogs and my horses, a book and a pen,


s: And a week spent in town as a change now and then.


s: Fatigue for the body, disease for the mind,


s: Are all that the city can give me, I find.


s: Yet once in a while there is wisdom I hold


s: In leaving the things that are dearer than gold,--


s: Loved people and places--if only to learn


s: But you, I remember, craved motion and change;


s: You hated the usual, worshiped the strange.


s: Adventure and travel I know were your theme:


s: Well, how did the real compare with the dream?


s: You have compassed the earth since we parted at Yale,


s: Has life grown the richer, or only grown stale?


s: Stale, stale, my dear boy! that's the story in short,


s: I am weary of travel, adventure and sport;


s: At home and abroad, in all climates and lands,


s: I have had what life gives when a full purse commands,


s: I have chased after Pleasure, that phantom faced elf,


s: And lost the best part of my youth and myself.


s: And now, barely thirty, I'm heart sick and blue;


s: Life seems like a farce scarcely worth sitting through.


s: I dread its long stretch of dissatisfied years;


s: Ah! wealth is not always the boon it appears.


s: And poverty lights not such ruinous fires


s: As gratified appetites, tastes and desires.


s: Fate curses, when letting us do as we please--


s: It stunts a man's soul to be cradled in ease.


s: You are right in a measure; the devil I hold


s: Is oftener found in full coffers of gold


s: Than in bare, empty larders.  The soul, it is plain,


s: Needs the conflicts of earth, needs the stress and the strain


s: Of misfortune, to bring out its strength in this life--


s: The Soul's calisthenics are sorrow and strife.


s: But, Roger, what folly to stand in youth's prime


s: And talk like a man who could father old Time.


s: You have life all before you; the past,--let it sleep;


s: Its lessons alone are the things you should keep.


s: There is virtue sometimes in our follies and sinnings;


s: Right lives very often have faulty beginnings.


s: Results, and not causes, are what we should measure.


s: You have learned precious truths in your search after pleasure.


s: You have learned that a glow worm is never a star,


s: You have learned that Peace builds not her temples afar.


s: And now, dispossessed of the spirit to roam,


s: You are finely equipped to establish a home.


s: That's the one thing you need to lend savor to life,


s: A home, and the love of a sweet hearted wife,


s: And children to gladden the path to old age.


s: Alas! from life's book I have torn out that page;


s: I have loved many times and in many a fashion,


s: Which means I know nothing at all of the passion.


s: I have scattered my heart, here and there, bit by bit,


s: 'Til now there is nothing worth while left of it;


s: And, worse than all else, I have ceased to believe


s: In the virtue and truth of the daughters of Eve.


s: There's tragedy for you--when man's early trust


s: Before I remember; a saint, I have heard,


s: While she lived; there are scores of good women to-day,


s: _Temptation has chanced not to wander their way._


s: The devil has more than his lordship can do,


s: He can't make the rounds, so some women keep true.


s: You think then each woman, if tempted, must fall?


s: Yes, if tempted her way--not one way suits them all--


s: They have tastes in their sins as they have in their clothes,


s: The tempter, of course, has to first study those.


s: One needs to be flattered, another is bought;


s: One yields to caresses, by frowns one is caught.


s: One wants a bold master, another a slave,


s: With one you must jest, with another be grave.


s: But swear you're a sinner whom she has reformed


s: And the average feminine fortress is stormed.


s: She loses her head--and herself tumbles in.


s: The mind of a woman was shaped for a saint,


s: But deep in her heart lies the devil's own taint.


s: With plans for salvation her busy brain teems,


s: While her heart longs in secret to know how sin seems.


s: And if with this question unanswered she dies,


s: Temptation came not in the right sort of guise.


s: There's my estimate, Reese, of the beautiful sex;


s: I see by your face that my words wound and vex,


s: But remember, my boy, I'm a man of the world.


s: Thank God, in the vortex I have not been hurled.


s: If experience breeds such a mental disease,


s: I am glad I have lived with the birds and the bees,


s: And the winds and the waves, and let people alone


s: So far in my life but good women I've known.


s: My mother, my sister, a few valued friends--


s: A teacher, a schoolmate, and there the list ends.


s: But to know one true woman in sunshine and gloom,


s: From the zenith of life to the door of the tomb,


s: To know her, as I knew that mother of mine,


s: Is to know the whole sex and to kneel at the shrine.


s: Then you think saint and woman synonymous terms?


s: Oh, no! we are all, men and women, poor worms


s: Crawling up from the dampness and darkness of clay


s: To bask in the sunlight and warmth of the day.


s: Some climb to a leaf and reflect its bright sheen,


s: Some toil through the grass, and are crushed there unseen.


s: Some sting if you touch them, and some evolve wings;


s: Yet God dwells in each of the poor, groping things.


s: They came from the Source--to the Source they go back;


s: The sinners are those who have missed the true track.


s: We can not judge women or men as a class,


s: Each soul has its own distinct place in the mass.


s: There is no sex in sin; it were folly to swear


s: All women are angels, but worse to declare


s: All are devils as you do.  You're morbid, my boy,


s: In what you thought gold you have found much alloy


s: And now you are doubting there is the true ore.


s: But wait till you study my sweet simple store


s: Of pure sterling treasures; just wait till you've been


s: A few restful weeks, or a season, within


s: The charmed circle of home life; then, Roger, you'll find


s: These malarial mists clearing out of your mind.


s: As a ship cuts the fog and is caught by the breeze,


s: And swept through the sunlight to fair, open seas,


s: So your heart will be caught and swept out to the ocean


s: Of youth and youth's birthright of happy emotion.


s: I'll wager my hat (it was new yesterday)


s: That you'll fall in love, too, in a serious way.


s: Our girls at Bay Bend are bewitching and fair,


s: And Cupid lurks ever in salt Summer air.


s: I question your gifts as a prophet, and yet,


s: I confess in my travels I never have met


s: A woman whose face so impressed me at sight,


s: As one seen to-day; a mere girl, sweet and bright,


s: Who entered the train quite alone and sat down


s: Surrounded by parcels she'd purchased in town.


s: A trim country lass, but endowed with the beauty


s: Which makes a man think of his conscience and duty.


s: Some women, you know, move us that way--God bless them,


s: While others rouse only a thirst to possess them


s: The face of the girl made me wish to be good,


s: I went out and smoked to escape from the mood.


s: When conscience through half a man's life has been sleeping


s: What folly to wake it to worry and weeping!


s: But, Roger, you make a poor cynic, my lad.


s: Your heart at the core is as sound as a nut,


s: Though the wheels of your mind have dropped into the rut


s: Of wrong thinking.  You need a strong hand on the lever


s: Of good common sense, and an earnest endeavor


s: To pull yourself out of the slough of despond


s: Back into the highway of peace just beyond.


s: And now, here we are at Peace Castle in truth,


s: And there stands its Chatelaine, sweet Sister Ruth,


s: To welcome you, Roger; you'll find a new type


s: In this old-fashioned girl, who in years scarcely ripe,


s: And as childish in heart as she is in her looks,


s: And without worldly learning or knowledge of books,


s: Yet in housewifely wisdom is wise as a sage.


s: She is quite out of step with the girls of her age,


s: For she has no ambition beyond the home sphere.


s: Ruth, here's Roger Montrose, my comrade of dear


s: Looked into the face oft in fancy she'd seen


s: When her brother had talked of his comrade at Yale.


s: His stature was lower, his cheek was more pale


s: Than her thought had portrayed him; a look in his eye


s: Made her sorry, she knew not for what nor knew why,


s: But she longed to befriend him, as one needing aid


s: While he, gazing down on the face of the maid,


s: Spoke some light words of greeting, the while his mind ran


s: On her "points" good and bad; for the average man


s: When he looks at a woman proceeds first to scan her


s: As if she were horse flesh, and in the same manner


s: Notes all that is pleasing, or otherwise.  So


s: And eyes full of motherhood; color too warm,


s: And too round in the cheek and too full in the form


s: For the highest ideal of beauty and art.


s: Domestic--that word is the cue to her part


s: She would warm a man's slippers, but never his veins;


s: She would feed well his stomach, but never his brains.


s: And after she looks on her first baby's face,


s: Her husband will hold but a second-class place


s: In her thoughts or emotions, unless he falls ill,


s: When a dozen trained nurses her place can not fill.


s: She is sweet of her kind; and her kind since the birth


s: Of this sin ridden, Circe-cursed planet, the Earth,


s: Has kept it, I own, with its medleys of evil


s: From going straight into the hands of the devil.


s: It is not through its heroes the world lives and thrives,


s: But through its sweet commonplace mothers and wives.


s: We love them, and leave them; deceive, and respect them,


s: We laud loud their virtues and straightway neglect them.


s: They are daisy and buttercup women of earth


s: Who grace common ways with their sweetness and worth.


s: We praise, but we pass them, to reach for some flower


s: That stings when we pluck it, or wilts in an hour.


s: "You are thornless, fair Ruth! you are useful and sweet!


s: But lovers shall pass you to sigh at the feet


s: Of the selfish and idle, for such is man's way;


s: Your lot is to work, and to weep, and to pray.


s: To give much and get little; to toil and to wait


s: For the meager rewards of indifferent fate.


s: Yet so wholesome your heart, you will never complain;


s: You will feast on life's sorrow and drink of its pain,


s: And thank God for the banquet; 'tis women like you


s: Who make the romancing of preachers seem true.


s: The earth is your debtor to such large amounts


s: There must be a heaven to square up accounts,


s: Or else the whole scheme of existence at best


s: Is a demon's poor effort at making a jest."


s: That night as Ruth brushed out her bright hazel hair


s: Her thoughts were of Roger, "His bold laughing air


s: Is a cloak to some sorrow concealed in his breast,


s: His mind is the home of some secret unrest."


s: She sighed; and there woke in her bosom once more


s: The impulse to comfort and help him; to pour


s: Soothing oil from the urn of her heart on his wounds.


s: Where motherhood nature in woman abounds


s: It is thus Cupid comes; unannounced and unbidden,


s: In sweet pity's guise, with his arrows well hidden.


s: But once given welcome and housed as a guest,


s: He hurls the whole quiver full into her breast,


s: While he pulls off his mask and laughs up in her eyes


s: With an impish delight at her start of surprise.


s: So intent is this archer on bagging his game


s: He scruples at nothing which gives him good aim.


s: Ruth's heart was a virgin's, in love menaced danger


s: While she sat by her mirror and pitied the stranger.


s: But just as she blew out her candle and stood


s: Robed for sleep in the moonlight, a change in her mood


s: Quickly banished the dreamer, and brought in its stead


s: The practical housekeeper.  Sentiment fled;


s: And she puzzled her brain to decide which were best,


s: Corn muffins or hot graham gems, for the guest!


s: The short-sighted minister preached at Bay Bend


s: His long-winded sermon quite through to the end,


s: Unmindful there sat in the Somerville pew


s: A stranger whose pale handsome countenance drew


s: All eyes from his own reverend self; nor suspected


s: What Ruth and her brother too plainly detected


s: From the face of the preacher, his heart has not heard,"


s: Ruth said to herself; and her soft mother-eye


s: Was fixed on his face with a look like a sigh


s: In its tremulous depths, as they rose to depart.


s: Then suddenly Roger, alert, seemed to start


s: And his dull, listless glance changed to one of surprise


s: And of pleasure.  Ruth saw that the goal of his eyes


s: Was her friend Mabel Lee in the vestibule; fair


s: As a saint that is pictured with sun tangled hair


s: And orbs like the skies in October.  She smiled,


s: And the saint disappeared in the innocent child


s: With an unconscious dower of beauty and youth


s: She paused in the vestibule waiting for Ruth


s: And seemed not to notice the warm eager gaze


s: Of two men fixed upon her in different ways.


s: One, the look which souls lift to a being above,


s: Born of fancy and destined to grow in an hour


s: To a full fledged emotion of mastering power.


s: She spoke, and her voice disappointed the ear;


s: It lacked some deep chords that the heart hoped to hear.


s: It was sweet, but not vibrant; it came from the throat,


s: And one listened in vain for a full chested note.


s: While something at times like a petulant sound


s: Seemed in strange disaccord with the peace so profound


s: The ear is an organ that may be believed.


s: The faces of people are trained to conceal,


s: But their unruly voices are prone to reveal


s: What lies deep in their natures; a voice rarely lies,


s: But Mabel Lee's voice told one tale, while her eyes


s: Told another.  Large, liquid, and peaceful as lakes


s: Where the azure dawn rests, ere the loud world awakes,


s: Were the beautiful eyes of the maiden.  "A saint,


s: Without mortal blemish or weak human taint,"


s: Said Maurice to himself.  To himself Roger said:


s: "The touch of her soft little hands on my head


s: Would convert me.  What peace for a world weary breast


s: To just sit by her side and be soothed into rest."


s: Daring thoughts for a stranger.  Maurice, who had known


s: Mabel Lee as a child, to himself would not own


s: Such bold longings as those were.  He held her to be


s: Too sacred for even a thought that made free.


s: And the voice in his bosom was silenced and hushed


s: Lest the bloom from her soul by his words should be brushed.


s: There are men to whom love is religion; but woman


s: Is far better pleased with a homage more human.


s: Though she may not be able to love in like fashion,


s: She wants to be wooed with both ardor and passion.


s: Had Mabel Lee read Roger's thoughts of her, bold


s: Though they were, they had flattered and pleased her, I hold.


s: I am sure, has no least recollection of me,


s: But the pleasure is mine to have looked on her face


s: From my shopping excursion in town by the same


s: Fast express which brought you?  Had I known that the friend


s: Of my friends, was so near me en route for Bay Bend,


s: I had waived all conventions and asked him to take


s: One-half of my parcels for sweet pity's sake.


s: You sadden me sorely.  As long as I live


s: I shall mourn the great pleasure chance chose not to give.


s: Take courage, mon ami.  Our fair friend, Miss Lee,


s: Fills her time quite as full of sweet works as the bee;


s: Like the bee, too, she drives out the drones from her hive.


s: You must toil in her cause, in her favor to thrive.


s: She need but command me.  To wait upon beauty


s: And goodness combined makes a pleasure of duty.


s: Who serves Mabel Lee serves all Righteousness too.


s: Pray, then, that she gives you some labor to do.


s: The cure for the pessimist lies in good deeds.


s: Who toils for another forgets his own needs,


s: Has the town on her shoulders.  Whatever may be


s: The cause that is needy, we look to Miss Lee.


s: Have you gold?  She will make you disgorge it ere long;


s: Are you poor?  Well, perchance you can dance--sing a song--


s: Make a speech--tell a story, or plan a charade.


s: Whatever you have, gold or wits, sir, must aid


s: Are but loans from the Master.  He meant them, 'tis plain,


s: To be used in His service; and people are kind,


s: When once you can set them to thinking.  I find


s: It is lack of perception, not lack of good heart


s: Which makes the world selfish in seeming.  My part


s: Is to call the attention of Plenty to need,


s: And to bid Pleasure pause for a moment and heed


s: From the rosy and eloquent lips of Miss Lee


s: Would make Avarice pour out his coffers of gold


s: At her feet, I should fancy; would soften the cold,


s: Selfish heart of the world to compassionate sighs,


s: And bring tears of pity to vain Pleasure's eyes.


s: As the sunset a color on lily leaves throws,


s: The words and the glances of Roger Montrose


s: O'er the listener's cheeks sent a pink tinted wave;


s: While Maurice seemed disturbed, and his sister grew grave.


s: With an unpleasant ring when the heart is sincere.


s: Yet the man whose mind pockets are filled with this ore,


s: Though empty his brain cells, is never a bore


s: Roger's wealth in that coin that does duty for gold


s: The cheap metal offered to sweet Mabel Lee.


s: (Yet, perchance, the hurt came, not so much that 'twas offered,


s: As in seeing her take, with a smile, what was proffered.)


s: They had walked, two by two, down the elm shaded street,


s: Which led to a cottage, vine hidden, and sweet


s: With the breath of the roses that covered it, where


s: Mabel paused in the gateway; a picture most fair.


s: "I would ask you to enter," she said, "ere you pass,


s: But in just twenty minutes my Sunday-school class


s: Claims my time and attention; and later I meet


s: A Committee on Plans for the boys of the street.


s: We seek to devise for these pupils in crime


s: Right methods of thought and wise uses of time.


s: May I join your street class, and be taught like a child?


s: If you come I will carefully study your case.


s: I must go along, too, just to keep him in place.


s: I was, but am changed since one-half hour ago.


s: The change is too sudden to be of much worth;


s: The deepest convictions are slowest of birth.


s: Conversion, I hold, to be earnest and lasting,


s: Begins with repentance and praying and fasting,


s: And (begging your pardon for such a bold speech),


s: You seem, sir, a stranger to all and to each


s: When, unseen, I first saw you (believe me in this),


s: I have deeply repented my sins of the past.


s: To-night I will pray, and to-morrow will fast--


s: Or, make it next week, when my shore appetite


s: May be somewhat subdued in its ravenous might.


s: That's the way of the orthodox sinner!  He waits


s: Until time or indulgence or misery sates


s: All his appetites, then his repentance begins,


s: When his sins cease to please, then he gives up his sins


s: And grows pious.  Now prove you are morally brave


s: By actually giving up something you crave!


s: We have fricasseed chicken and strawberry cake


s: I could easily do what you ask, were it not


s: Most unkind to Miss Ruth, who gave labor and thought


s: To that menu, preparing it quite to my taste.


s: But the thought and the dinner will both go to waste,


s: If we linger here longer; and Mabel, I see,


s: Is reluctant to turn from the lily although


s: And leave her to muse in the sunlight alone.


s: Yet when the rose calls him, his sorrow, I own,


s: Has its recompense.  So from delight to delight


s: Maurice Somerville from his turreted den


s: Looked out of the window and laid down his pen.


s: A soft salty wind from the water was blowing,


s: Below in the garden sat Ruth with her sewing.


s: And stretched on the grass at her feet Roger lay


s: Piped the Katydids' voices, Jack Frost's tally-ho


s: Commanding Queen Summer to pack up and go.


s: Maurice leaned his head on the casement and sighed,


s: Strong and full in his heart surged love's turbulent tide.


s: And thoughts of the woman he worshiped with longing


s: Took shape and like angels about him came thronging.


s: The world was all Mabel! her exquisite face


s: Seemed etched on the sunlight and gave it its grace;


s: Her eyes made the blue of the heavens, the sun


s: Was her wonderful hair caught and coiled into one


s: Shining mass.  With a reverent, worshipful awe,


s: It was Mabel, fair Mabel, dear Mabel he saw,


s: Through all the bright stretches of midsummer weather,


s: But the four were united in work or in play.


s: Not in love had seemed labor.  Recital, charade,


s: Garden party, church festival, musical, hop,


s: Were all planned by Miss Lee without respite or stop.


s: The poor were the richer; school, hospital, church,


s: The heathen, the laborer left in the lurch


s: By misfortune, the orphan, the indigent old,


s: Which she filched from the pockets of pleasure--God's spoil,


s: And God's blessing will follow such lives when they toil


s: Loved to rule and to lead.  She was eager to be


s: In the eyes of the public.  That modern day craze


s: Possessed her in secret, and this was its phase.


s: Which filled empty larders and cheered up the sad.


s: She loved to do good.  But, alas! in her heart,


s: She loved better still the authoritative part


s: Lurked the feminine tyrant who longed to control,


s: And who never would serve; but her sway was so sweet,


s: That her world was contented to bow at her feet.


s: Who toils in the great public vineyard must needs


s: Let other hands keep his own garden from weeds.


s: She gave little thought to her home or its cares.


s: Mrs. Lee, like the typical modern day mother,


s: Was maid to her daughter; the father and brother


s: Were slaves at her bidding; an excellent plan


s: Yet where was the man who, beholding the grace


s: Of that slight girlish creature, and watching her face


s: With its infantile beauty and sweetness, would dare


s: Think aught but the rarest of virtues dwelt there?


s: Rare virtues she had, but in commonplace ones


s: Which make happy husbands and home loving sons


s: She was utterly lacking.  Ruth Somerville saw


s: In sorrow and silence this blemishing flaw


s: In the friend whom she loved with devotion!  Maurice


s: Saw only the angel with eyes full of peace.


s: The faults of plain women are easily seen.


s: But who cares to peer back of beauty's fair screen


s: Is not quite in love when his sharp eyes discover


s: Looked dreamily down on the garden of bloom,


s: Where Ruth sat with Roger; he smiled as he thought


s: How quickly the world sated cynic was brought


s: Into harness by Cupid.  The man mad with drink,


s: And the man mad with love, is quite certain to think


s: All other men drunkards or lovers.  In truth


s: Maurice had expected his friend to love Ruth.


s: "She was young, she was fair; with her bright sunny art


s: She could scatter the mists from his world befogged heart.


s: She could give him the one heaven under God's dome,


s: A peaceful, well ordered, and love-guarded home.


s: And he? why of course he would worship her!  When


s: Cupid finds the soft spot in the hearts of such men


s: They are ideal husbands."  Maurice Somerville


s: Felt the whole world was shaping itself to his will.


s: And his heart stirred with joy as, by thought necromancy,


s: He made the near future unfold to his fancy,


s: And saw Ruth the bride of his friend, and the place


s: She left vacant supplied with the beauty and grace


s: Of this woman he longed for, the love of his life,


s: Fair Mabel, his angel, his sweet spirit wife.


s: Maurice to his desk turned again and once more


s: His heart out on paper--the poet's relief,


s: When drunk with life's rapture or sick with its grief.


s: When shall I tell my lady that I love her?


s: Will it be while the sunshine woos the world,


s: Or when the mystic twilight bends above her,


s: Or when the day's bright banners all are furled?


s: Will wild winds shriek, or will the calm stars glow,


s: When I shall tell her that I love her so,


s: I think the sun should shine in all his glory;


s: Again, the twilight seems the fitting time.


s: Yet sweet dark night would understand the story,


s: Wild storms should rage to chord with my desire,


s: Yet faithful stars should shine and never tire,


s: All hours, all times, shall hear my story told.


s: In amorous dawns, on nights when pale stars glisten


s: In dim hushed gloamings and in noon hours bold,


s: While thunders crash, and while the winds breathe low,


s: The October day had been luscious and fair


s: Like a woman of thirty.  A chill in the air


s: As the sun faced the west spoke of frost lurking near.


s: All day the Sound lay without motion, and clear


s: As a mirror, and blue as a blond baby's eyes.


s: A change in the tide brought a change to the skies.


s: The bay stirred and murmured and parted its lips


s: And breathed a long sigh for the lost lovely ships,


s: Was stirred into passionate pain and unrest.


s: Not a sail, not a sail anywhere to be seen!


s: The soft azure eyes of the sea turned to green.


s: A sudden wind rose; like a runaway horse


s: Unchecked and unguided it sped on its course.


s: The waves bared their teeth, and spat spray in the face


s: Of the furious gale as they fled in the chase.


s: The sun hurried into a cloud; and the trees


s: Bowed low and yet lower, as if to appease


s: The wrath of the storm king that threatened them.  Close


s: To the waves at their wildest stood Roger Montrose.


s: The day had oppressed him; and now the unrest


s: Of the wind beaten sea brought relief to his breast,


s: Or at least brought the sense of companionship.  Lashed


s: By his higher emotions, the man's passions dashed


s: On the shore of his mind in a frenzy of pain,


s: Like the waves on the rocks, and a frenzy as vain.


s: Since the day he first looked on her face, Mabel Lee


s: Had seemed to his self sated nature to be,


s: On life's troubled ocean, a beacon of light,


s: To guide him safe out from the rocks and the night.


s: Her calm soothed his passion; her peace gave him poise;


s: She seemed like a silence in life's vulgar noise.


s: He bathed in the light which her purity cast,


s: And felt half absolved from the sins of the past.


s: He longed in her mantle of goodness to hide


s: And forget the whole world.  By the incoming tide


s: He talked with his heart as one talks with a friend


s: Who is dying.  "The summer has come to an end


s: And I wake from my dreaming," he mused.  "Wake to know


s: That my place is not here--I must go--I must go.


s: Who dares laugh at Love shall hear Love laughing last,


s: As forth from his bowstring barbed arrows are cast.


s: I scoffed at the god with a sneer on my lip,


s: And he forces me now from his chalice to sip


s: A bitter sweet potion.  Ah, lightly the part


s: Of a lover I've played many times, but my heart


s: Has been proud in its record of friendship.  And now


s: The mad, eager lover born in me must bow


s: To the strong claims of friendship.  I love Mabel Lee;


s: Dared I woo as I would, I could make her love me.


s: The soul of a maid who knows not passion's fire


s: Is moth to the flame of a man's strong desire.


s: With one kiss on her lips I could banish the nun


s: Mighty love of her life.  If I leave her, I know


s: She will be my friend's wife in a season or so.


s: He loves her, he always has loved her; 'tis he


s: Who ever will do all the loving; and she


s: Will accept it, and still be the saint to the end,


s: And she never will know what she missed; but my friend


s: Has the right to speak first.  God! how can he delay?


s: I marvel at men who are fashioned that way.


s: He has worshiped her since first she put up her tresses,


s: And let down the hem of her school-girlish dresses


s: And now she is full twenty-two; were I he


s: A brood of her children should climb on my knee


s: By this time!  What a sin against love to postpone


s: The day that might make her forever his own.


s: The man who can wait has no blood in his veins.


s: Maurice is a dreamer, he loves with his brains


s: Not with soul and with senses.  And yet his whole life


s: Will be blank if he makes not this woman his wife.


s: She is woof of his dreams, she is warp of his mind;


s: Who tears her away shall leave nothing behind.


s: No, no, I am going: farewell to Bay Bend


s: I am no woman's lover--I _am_ one man's friend.


s: Still-born in the arms of the matron eyed year


s: Lies the beautiful dream that my life buries here.


s: Its tomb was its cradle; it came but to taunt me,


s: It died, but its phantom shall ever more haunt me."


s: He turned from the waves that leaped at him in wrath


s: To find Mabel Lee, like a wraith, in his path.


s: The rose from her cheek had departed in fear;


s: The tip of her eyelash was gemmed with a tear.


s: The rude winds had disarranged mantle and dress,


s: And she clung with both hands to her hat in distress.


s: "I am frightened," she cried, in a tremulous tone;


s: As I came by the church yard the wind felled a tree,


s: And invisible hands seemed to hurl it at me;


s: I hurried on, shrieking; the wind, in disgust,


s: Tore the hat from my head, filled my eyes full of dust,


s: And otherwise made me the butt of its sport.


s: Just then I spied you, like a light in the port,


s: And I steered for you.  Please do not laugh at my fright!


s: I am really quite bold in the calm and the light,


s: But when a storm gathers, or darkness prevails,


s: My courage deserts me, my bravery fails,


s: And I want to hide somewhere and cover my ears,


s: And give myself up to weak womanish tears."


s: Her ripple of talk allowed Roger Montrose


s: A few needed moments to calm and compose


s: His excited emotions; to curb and control


s: The turbulent feelings that surged through his soul


s: He said in a voice that was under command


s: Of his will, "All your fears in a storm of this kind.


s: There is something uncanny and weird in the wind;


s: Intangible, viewless, it speeds on its course,


s: And forests and oceans must yield to its force.


s: What art has constructed with patience and toil,


s: The wind in one second of time can despoil.


s: It carries destruction and death and despair,


s: And bind it or stay it--this thing without form.


s: Ah! there comes the rain! we are caught in the storm.


s: Put my coat on your shoulders and come with me where


s: Yon rock makes a shelter--I often sit there


s: To watch the great conflicts 'twixt tempest and sea.


s: Let me lie at your feet!  'Tis the last time, Miss Lee,


s: I shall see you, perchance, in this life, who can say?


s: I leave on the morrow at break o' the day."


s: Indeed?  Why, how sudden! and may I inquire


s: The reason you leave us without one desire


s: To return? for your words seem a final adieu.


s: Alas, yes! and therein lies the cause of disaster.


s: Myself bids me go, my calm, reasoning part,


s: The will is the man, not the poor, foolish heart,


s: Which is ever at war with the intellect.  So


s: Were I less my own master, I then might remain.


s: Your words are but riddles, I beg you explain.


s: No, no, rather bid me keep silent!  To say


s: Why I go were as weak on my part as to stay.


s: I think you most cruel!  You know, sir, my sex


s: Loves dearly a secret.  Then why should you vex


s: And torment me in this way by hinting at one?


s: Let us talk of the weather, I think the storm done.


s: Very well!  I will go!  No, you need not come too,


s: And I will not shake hands, I am angry with you.


s: And you will not shake hands when we part for all time?


s: Against honor and friendship; girl, girl, have a care--


s: You are goading my poor, tortured heart to despair.


s: His last words were lost in the loud thunder's crash;


s: The sea seemed ablaze with a sulphurous flash.


s: From the rocks just above them an evergreen tree


s: Was torn up by the roots and flung into the sea.


s: The waves with rude arms hurled it back on the shore;


s: The wind gained in fury.  The glare and the roar


s: Of the lightning and tempest paled Mabel Lee's cheek,


s: Her pupils dilated; she sprang with a shriek


s: Of a terrified child lost to all save alarm,


s: And clasped Roger Montrose with both hands by the arm,


s: While her cheek pressed his shoulder.  An agony, sweet


s: And unbearable, thrilled from his head to his feet,


s: His veins were like rivers, with billows of fire:


s: His will lost control; and long fettered desire


s: Slipped its leash.  He caught Mabel Lee to his breast,


s: Drew her face up to his, on her frightened lips pressed


s: Wild caresses of passion that startled and shocked.


s: Like a madman he looked, like a madman he talked,


s: Waiting not for reply, with no pause but a kiss,


s: While his iron arms welded her bosom to his.


s: "Girl, girl, you demanded my secret," he cried;


s: "Well, that bruise on your lips tells the story!  I tried,


s: Good God, how I tried! to be silent and go


s: Without speaking one word, without letting you know


s: That I loved you; yet how could you look in my eyes


s: And not see love was there like the sun in the skies?


s: Ah, those hands on my arm--that dear head lightly pressed


s: On my shoulder!  God, woman, the heart in my breast


s: Was dry powder, your touch was the spark; and the blame


s: Must be yours if both lives are scorched black with the flame.


s: Do you hate me, despise me, for being so weak?


s: No, no! let me kiss you again ere you speak!


s: You are mine for the moment; and mine--mine alone


s: Is the first taste of passion your soft mouth has known.


s: Whoever forestalls me in winning your hand,


s: Between you and him shall this mad moment stand--


s: You shall think of me, though you think only to hate.


s: There--speak to me--speak to me--tell me my fate;


s: On your words, Mabel Lee, hangs my whole future life.


s: I covet you, covet you, sweet, for my wife;


s: I want to stay here at your side.  Since I first


s: Saw your face I have felt an unquenchable thirst


s: To be good--to look deep in your eyes and find God,


s: And to leave in the past the dark paths I have trod


s: In my search after pleasure.  Ah, must I go back


s: Into folly again, to retread the old track


s: Which leads out into nothingness?  Girl, answer me,


s: Shone with sudden pink splendor.  The riotous wind


s: Swooned away with exhaustion.  Each dark cloud seemed lined


s: With vermilion.  The tempest was over.  A word


s: Floated up like a feather; the silence was stirred


s: By the soul of a sigh.  The last remnant of gray


s: In the skies turned to gold, as a voice whispered, "Stay."


s: Of the city, Maurice sat alone.  It was so


s: (In this nearness to life's darkest phases of grief


s: And despair) that his own bitter woe found relief.


s: Joy needs no companion; but sorrow and pain


s: Long to comrade with sorrow.  The flowery chain


s: Flung by Pleasure about her gay votaries breaks


s: With the least strain upon it.  The chain sorrow makes


s: Links heart unto heart.  As a bullock will fly


s: To far fields when an arrow has pierced him, to die,


s: So Maurice had flown over far oceans to find


s: No balm for his wounds, and no peace for his mind.


s: Cosmopolitan, always, is sorrow; at home


s: In all countries and lands, thriving well while we roam


s: In vain efforts to slay it.  Toil only, brings peace


s: To the tempest tossed heart.  What in travel Maurice


s: Failed to find--self-forgetfulness--came with his work


s: For the suffering poor in the slums of New York.


s: He had wandered in strange heathen countries--had been


s: Among barbarous hordes; but the greed and the sin


s: Of his own native land seemed the shame of the hour.


s: In his gold there was balm, in his pen there was power


s: The unfortunate.  Close in their midst, as a friend


s: And companion, for more than twelve months he had dwelt.


s: Like a ray of pure light in a cellar was felt


s: This strong, wholesome presence.  His little room bare


s: Of all luxuries, taught the poor souls who flocked there


s: For his counsel and aid, how by mere cleanliness


s: The grim features of want lose some lines of distress.


s: The slips from the plants on his window ledge, given


s: To beauty starved souls, spoke more clearly of heaven


s: And God than did sermons or dry creedy tracts.


s: Maurice was no preacher; and yet his kind acts


s: To wake in dark minds a bright image of Christ--


s: The Christ often heard of, but doubted before.


s: Maurice spoke no word of religion.  Of yore


s: His heart had accepted the creeds of his youth


s: Without pausing to cavil, or question their truth.


s: Faith seemed his inheritance.  But, with the blow


s: Which slew love and killed friendship, faith, too, seemed to go.


s: It is easy to be optimistic in pleasure,


s: But when Pain stands us up by her portal to measure


s: The actual height of our trust and belief,


s: Ah! then is the time when our faith comes to grief.


s: The woes of our fellows, God sends them, 'tis plain;


s: But the devil himself is the cause of _our_ pain.


s: We question the wisdom that rules o'er the world,


s: And our minds into chaos and darkness are hurled.


s: Pouring into the ears of his fellows each doubt


s: Which assails him.  One truth he fails wholly to heed;


s: That a doubt oft repeated may bore like a creed.


s: Maurice kept his thoughts to himself, but his pen


s: Was dipped in the gall of his heart now and then,


s: And his muse was the mouthpiece.  The sin unforgiven


s: I hold by the Cherubim chanting in heaven


s: Is the sin of the poet who dares sing a strain


s: Which adds to the world's awful chorus of pain


s: And repinings.  The souls whom the gods bless at birth


s: With the great gift of song, have been sent to the earth


s: To better and brighten it.  Woe to the heart


s: Which lets its own sorrow embitter its art.


s: Unto him shall more sorrow be given; and life


s: After life filled with sorrow, till, spent with the strife,


s: He shall cease from rebellion, and bow to the rod


s: In submission, and own and acknowledge his God.


s: Maurice, with his unwilling muse in the gloom


s: Of a mood pessimistic, was shut in his room.


s: A whistle, a step on the stairway, a knock,


s: Then over the transom there fluttered a flock


s: Of white letters.  The Muse, with a sigh of content,


s: Left the poet to read them, and hurriedly went


s: Back to pleasanter regions.  Maurice glanced them through:


s: There were brief business epistles from two


s: Daily papers, soliciting work from his pen;


s: A woman begged money for Christ's sake; three men


s: Asked employment; a mother wrote only to say


s: How she blessed him and prayed God to bless him each day


s: For his kindness to her and to hers; and the last


s: Was a letter from Ruth.  The pale ghost of the past


s: Rose out of its poor shallow grave, with the scent


s: And the mold of the clay clinging to it, and leant


s: O'er Maurice as he read, while its breath fanned his cheek.


s: "Forgive me," wrote Ruth; "for at last I must speak


s: Of the two whom you wish to forget.  Well I know


s: How you suffered, still suffer, from fate's sudden blow,


s: Though I am a woman, and women must stay


s: And fight out pain's battles where men run away.


s: But my strength has its limit, my courage its end,


s: The time has now come when I, too, leave Bay Bend.


s: Maurice, let the bitterness housed in your heart


s: For the man you long loved as a comrade, depart,


s: And let pity replace it.  Oh, weep for his sorrow--


s: From your fountain of grief, held in check, let me borrow;


s: I have so overdrawn on the bank of my tears


s: That my anguish is now refused payment.  For years


s: You loved Mabel Lee.  Well, to some hearts love speaks


s: His whole tale of passion in brief little weeks.


s: As Minerva, full grown, from the great brow of Jove


s: Sprang to life, so full blown from our breasts may spring Love.


s: Love hid like a bee in my heart's lily cup;


s: I knew not he was there till his sting woke me up.


s: Maurice, oh Maurice!  Can you fancy the woe


s: Of seeing the prize which you coveted so


s: Misused, or abused, by another?  The wife


s: Of the man whom I worshiped is spoiling the life


s: That was wax in her hands, wax to shape as she chose.


s: You were blind to her faults, so was Roger Montrose.


s: Both saw but the saint; well, let saints keep their places,


s: And not crowd the women in life's hurried races.


s: As saint, Mabel Lee might succeed; but, oh brother,


s: She never was meant for a wife or a mother.


s: Of a house that is ruled by its servants.  The care--


s: The thought of the _woman_ (that sweet, subtle power


s: Pervading some rooms like the scent of a flower),


s: Which turns house into home--_that_ is lacking.  She goes


s: On her merciful rounds, does our Lady Montrose,


s: Looking after the souls of the heathen, and leaving


s: The poor hungry soul of her lord to its grieving.


s: He craves her companionship; wants her to be


s: At his side, more his own, than the public's.  But she


s: Holds such love is but selfish; and thinks he should make


s: Some sacrifice gladly for charity's sake.


s: Her schools, and her clubs, and her fairs fill her time;


s: He wants her to travel; no, that were a crime


s: To go seeking for pleasure, and leave duty here.


s: God had given her work and her labor lay near.


s: No, the stage is an evil that needs putting down


s: By good people.  So, scheme as he will, the poor man


s: Has to finally yield every project and plan


s: To this sweet stubborn saint; for the husband, you see,


s: Stands last in Her thoughts.  He has come, after three


s: Patient years, to that knowledge; his wishes, his needs


s: Must always give way to her whims, or her creeds.


s: She knows not the primer of loving; her soul


s: Is engrossed with the poor petty wish to _control_.


s: And she chafes at restriction.  Love loves to be bound,


s: And its sweetest of freedom in bondage is found.


s: She pulls at her fetters.  One worshiping heart


s: And its faithful devotion play but a small part


s: In her life.  She would rather be lauded and praised


s: By a crowd of inferior followers, raised


s: To the pitiful height of their leader, than be


s: One man's goddess.  There, now, is the true Mabel Lee!


s: Grieve not that you lost her, but grieve for the one


s: Who with me stood last night by the corpse of his son,


s: And with me stood alone.  Ah! how wisely and well


s: Other women the way to train children to be


s: An honor and pride to their parents!  Yet she,


s: From the first, left her child to the nurses.  She found


s: 'Twas a tax on her nerves to have baby around


s: When it worried and cried.  The nurse knew what to do,


s: And a block down the street lived Mama! 'twixt the two


s: Little Roger would surely be cared for.  She must


s: Keep her strength and be worthy the love and the trust


s: Of the poor, who were yearly increasing, and not


s: Bestow on her own all the care and the thought--


s: But yesterday morning a flush on its face


s: And a look in its eye worried Roger.  The mother


s: Was due at some sort of convention or other


s: In Boston--I think 'twas a grand federation


s: Of clubs formed by women to rescue the Nation


s: From man's awful clutches; and Mabel was made


s: The head delegate of the Bay Bend Brigade.


s: Once drop in a small, selfish nature the seed


s: Of ambition for place, and it grows like a weed.


s: The fair village angel we called Mabel Lee,


s: As Mrs. Montrose, has developed, you see,


s: To a full fledged Reformer.  It quite turned her head


s: To be sent to the city of beans and brown bread


s: As a delegate!  (Delegate! magical word!


s: The heart of the queer modern woman is stirred


s: Far more by its sound than by aught she may hear


s: In the phrases poor Cupid pours into her ear.)


s: Mabel chirped to the baby a dozen good-byes,


s: And laughed at the trouble in Roger's grave eyes,


s: As she leaned o'er the lace ruffled crib of her son


s: And talked baby-talk: "Now be good, 'ittle one,


s: While Mama is away, and don't draw a long breath,


s: Unless 'oo would worry Papa half to death.


s: And don't cough, and, of all things, don't _sneeze_, 'ittle dear,


s: Now, good-bye, once again, 'ittle man; mother knows


s: There is no other baby like Roger Montrose


s: The nurse sent a messenger speeding in fright


s: For the Doctor; a second for Grandmama Lee


s: And Roger despatched still another for me.


s: All in vain! through the gray chilly paths of the dawn


s: The soul of the beautiful baby passed on


s: To stand by his side, yet denied the relief


s: Of sharing, as wife, and as mother, his grief.


s: Enough!  I have borne all I can bear.  The role


s: Of friend to a lover pulls hard on the soul


s: Of a sensitive woman.  The three words in life


s: Which have meaning to me are home, mother and wife--


s: Or, rather, wife, mother and home.  Once I thought


s: Men cared for the women who found home the spot


s: Next to heaven for happiness; women who knew


s: No ambition beyond being loyal and true,


s: And who loved all the tasks of the housewife.  I learn,


s: Instead, that from women of that kind men turn,


s: With a yawn, unto those who are useless; who live


s: For the poor hollow world and for what it can give,


s: And who make home the spot where, when other joys cease,


s: Left the home I have kept since our dear Mother died,


s: With such sisterly love and such housewifely pride,


s: And you wandered afar, and for what cause, forsooth?


s: Oh! because a vain, self-loving woman, in truth,


s: Had been faithless.  The man whom I worshiped, ignored


s: The love and the _comfort_ my woman's heart stored


s: In its depths for his taking, and sought Mabel Lee.


s: Well, I'm done with the role of the housewife.  I see


s: There is nothing in being domestic.  The part


s: Is unpicturesque, and at war with all art.


s: The senile old Century leers with dim eyes


s: At our sex and demands that we shock or surprise


s: His thin blood into motion.  The home's not the place


s: To bring a pleased smile to his wicked old face.


s: To the mandate I bow; since all strive for that end,


s: I must join the great throng!  I am leaving Bay Bend


s: This day week.  I will see you in town as I pass


s: To the college at C----, where I enter the class


s: Like to see my name thus--Dr. Ruth Somerville."


s: Maurice dropped the long, closely written epistle,


s: Stared hard at the wall, and gave vent to a whistle.


s: A Doctor! his sweet, little home-loving sister.


s: A Doctor! one might as well prefix a Mister


s: To Ruth Somerville, that most feminine name.


s: And then in the wake of astonishment came


s: Keen pity for all she had suffered.  "Poor Ruth,


s: She writes like an agonized woman, in truth,


s: And like one torn with jealousy.  Ah, I can see,"


s: He mused, "how the pure soul of sweet Mabel Lee


s: Revolts at the bondage and shrinks from the ban


s: That lies in the love of that sensual man.


s: He is of the earth, earthy.  He loves but her beauty,


s: He cares not for conscience, or honor or duty.


s: Like a moth she was dazzled and lured by the flame


s: Of a light she thought love, till she learned its true name;


s: When she found it mere passion, it lost all its charms.


s: No wonder she flies from his fettering arms!


s: God pity you, Mabel! poor ill mated wife;


s: But my love, like a planet, shall watch o'er your life,


s: Though all other light from your skies disappear,


s: Like a sun in the darkness my love shall appear.


s: Unselfish and silent, it asks no return,


s: But while the great firmament lasts it shall burn."


s: Muse, muse, awake, and sing thy loneliest strain,


s: Song, song, be sad with sorrow's deepest pain,


s: Heart, heart, bow down and never bound again,


s: Night, night, draw close thy filmy mourning veil,


s: Moon, moon, conceal thy beauty sweet and pale,


s: Wind, wind, sigh out thy most pathetic wail,


s: Time, time, speed by, thou art too slow, too slow,


s: Grief, grief, pass on, and take thy cup of woe,


s: Life, life, be kind, ah! do not wound her so,


s: Sleep, sleep, dare not to touch mine aching eyes,


s: Love, love, watch on, though fate thy wish denies,


s: Heart, heart, sigh on, since she, my Lady, sighs,


s: Wooed, wedded and widowed ere twenty.  The life


s: Of Zoe Travers is told in that sentence.  A wife


s: For one year, loved and loving; so full of life's joy


s: That death, growing jealous, resolved to destroy


s: The Eden she dwelt in.  Five desolate years


s: She walked robed in weeds, and bathed ever in tears,


s: Through the valley of memory.  Locked in love's tomb


s: Lay youth in its glory and hope in its bloom.


s: At times she was filled with religious devotion,


s: Again crushed to earth with rebellious emotion


s: And the years seemed to bring her no balm of relief.


s: When a heart from its sorrow time cannot estrange,


s: God sends it another to alter and change


s: The current of feeling.  Zoe's mother, her one


s: Tie to earth, became ill.  When the doctors had done


s: All the harm which they dared do with powder and pill,


s: They ordered a trial of Dame Nature's skill.


s: Dear Nature! what grief in her bosom must stir


s: When she sees us turn everywhere save unto her


s: For the health she holds always in keeping; and sees


s: Us at last, when too late, creeping back to her knees,


s: Begging that she at first could have given!


s: Mother Nature's heart grieved o'er the mother of Zoe,


s: Who came but to die on her bosom.  She died


s: Where the mocking bird poured out its passionate tide


s: Of lush music; and all through the dark days of pain


s: That succeeded, and over and through the refrain


s: Of her sorrow, Zoe heard that wild song evermore.


s: It seemed like a blow which pushed open a door


s: In her heart.  Something strange, sweet and terrible stirred


s: In her nature, aroused by the song of that bird.


s: It rang like a voice from the future; a call


s: That came not from the past; yet the past held her all.


s: To the past she had plighted her vows; in the past


s: Lay her one dream of happiness, first, only, last.


s: Alone in the world now, she felt the unrest


s: Of an unanchored boat on the wild billow's breast.


s: Two homes had been shattered; the West held but tombs.


s: She drifted again where the magnolia blooms


s: And the mocking bird sings.  Oh! that song, that wild strain,


s: Whose echoes still haunted her heart and her brain!


s: How she listened to hear it repeated!  It came


s: Through the dawn to her heart, and the sound was like flame.


s: It chased all the shadows of night from her room,


s: And burst the closed bud of the day into bloom.


s: It leaped to the heavens, it sank to the earth


s: It gave life new rapture and love a new birth.


s: It ran through her veins like a fiery stream,


s: And the past and its sorrow--was only a dream.


s: The call of a bird in the spring for its lover


s: Is the voice of all Nature when winter is over.


s: The heart of the woman re-echoed the strain,


s: And its meaning, at last, to her senses was plain.


s: Grief's winter was over, the snows from her heart


s: Were melted; hope's blossoms were ready to start.


s: The spring had returned with its siren delights,


s: And her youth and emotions asserted their rights.


s: Then memory struggled with passion.  The dead


s: Seemed to rise from the grave and accuse her.  She fled


s: From her thoughts as from lepers; returned to old ways,


s: And strove to keep occupied, filling her days


s: With devotional duties.  But when the night came


s: She heard through her slumber that song like a flame,


s: And her dreams were sweet torture.  She sought all too soon


s: To chill the warm sun of her youth's ardent noon


s: With the shadows of premature evening.  Her mind


s: Lacked direction and purpose.  She tried in a blind,


s: Groping fashion to follow an early ideal


s: Of love and of constancy, starving the real


s: Affectional nature God gave her.  She prayed


s: For God's help in unmaking the woman He made,


s: As if He repented the thing He had done.


s: With the soul of a Sappho, she lived like a nun,


s: Hid her thoughts from all women, from men kept apart,


s: And carefully guarded the book of her heart


s: From the world's prying eyes.  Yet men read through the cover,


s: And knew that the story was food for a lover.


s: (The dullest of men seemed possessed of the art


s: To read what the passions inscribe on the heart.


s: Though written in cipher and sealed from the sight,


s: Yet masculine eyes will interpret aright.)


s: Worn out with the unceasing conflict at last,


s: Zoe fled from herself and her sorrowful past,


s: And turned to new scenes for diversion from thought.


s: New York! oh, what magic encircles that spot


s: In the feminine mind of the West!  There, it seems,


s: Waits the realization of beautiful dreams.


s: There the waters of Lethe unceasingly roll,


s: With blessed forgetfulness free to each soul,


s: While the doorways that lead to success open wide,


s: With Fame in the distance to beckon and guide.


s: Mirth lurks in each byway, and Folly herself


s: Wears the look of a semi-respectable elf,


s: And is to be courted and trusted when met,


s: For she teaches one how to be gay and forget,


s: And to start new account books with life.


s: Since she first heard the name of the city, that Zoe


s: Dreamed of life in New York.  It was thither she turned


s: To smother the heart that with restlessness burned,


s: And to quiet and calm an unsatisfied mind.


s: Her plans were but outlines, crude, vague, undefined,


s: Of distraction and pleasure.  A snug little home,


s: With seclusion and comfort; full freedom to roam


s: Where her fancy and income permitted; new faces,


s: New scenes, new environments, far from the places


s: Where brief joy and long sorrow had dwelt with her; free


s: From the curious eyes that seemed ever to be


s: Bent upon her.  She passed like a ship from the port,


s: Without chart or compass; the plaything and sport


s: When Zoe reached New York.  The rain and the breeze


s: Had freshened the gowns of the Northern pine trees


s: Till they looked bright as new; all the willows were seen


s: In soft dainty garments of exquisite green.


s: Young buds swelled with life, and reached out to invite


s: And to hold the warm gaze of the wandering light.


s: The turf exhaled fragrance; among the green boughs


s: The unabashed city birds plighted their vows,


s: Or happy young house hunters chirped of the best


s: And most suitable nook to establish a nest.


s: There was love in the sunshine, and love in the air;


s: Youth, hope, home, companionship, spring, everywhere.


s: There was youth, there was spring in her blood; yet she only,


s: In all the great city, seemed loveless and lonely.


s: The trim little flat, facing north on the park,


s: Was not homelike; the rooms seemed too sombre and dark


s: To her eyes, sun-accustomed; the neighbors too near


s: And too noisy.  The medley of sounds hurt her ear.


s: Sudden laughter; the cry of an infant; the splash


s: Of a tenant below in his bath-tub; the crash


s: Of strong hands on a keyboard above, and the light,


s: Merry voice of the lady who lived opposite,


s: The air intertwined in a tangled sound ball,


s: And flung straight at her ear through the court and the hall.


s: Ah, what loneliness dwelt in the rush and the stir


s: Of the great pushing throngs that were nothing to her,


s: And to whom she was nothing!  Her heart, on its quest


s: For distraction, seemed eating itself in her breast.


s: She longed for a comrade, a friend.  In the church


s: Which she frequented no one abetted her search,


s: For the faces of people she met in its aisle


s: Gazed calmly beyond her, without glance or smile.


s: The look in their eyes, when translated, read thus,


s: "We worship God here, what are people to us?"


s: In some masculine eyes she read more, it is true.


s: What she read made her gaze at the floor of her pew.


s: The blithe little blonde who lived over the hall,


s: In the opposite rooms, was the first one to call


s: Or to show friendly feeling.  She seemed sweet and kind,


s: But her infantile face hid a mercantile mind.


s: Her voice had the timbre of metal.  Each word


s: Clinked each word like small change in a purse; and you heard,


s: In the rustling silk of her skirts, just a hint


s: Of new bills freshly printed and right from the mint.


s: There was that in her airs and her chatter which made


s: Zoe question and ponder, and turn half afraid


s: From her proffers of friendship.  When one July day


s: The fair neighbor called for a moment to say,


s: "I am off to Long Branch for the summer, good-bye,"


s: Zoe seemed to breathe freer--she scarcely knew why,


s: But she reasoned it out as alone in the gloom


s: Of the soft summer evening she sat in her room.


s: "The woman is happy," she said; "at the least,


s: Her heart is not starving in life's ample feast.


s: She lives while she lives, but I only exist,


s: And Fate laughs in my face for the things I resist."


s: New York in the midsummer seems like the gay


s: Upper servant who rules with the mistress away.


s: She entertains friends from all parts of the earth;


s: Her streets are alive with a fictitious mirth.


s: She flaunts her best clothes with a devil-may-care


s: Sort of look, and her parks wear a riotous air.


s: There is something unwholesome about her at dusk;


s: Her trees, and her gardens, seem scented with musk;


s: And you feel she has locked up the door of the house


s: And, half drunk with the heat, wanders forth to carouse,


s: Packed off (moth-protected) with garments for Fall.


s: Zoe felt out of step with the town.  In the song


s: Which it sang, where each note was a soul of the throng,


s: She seemed the one discord.  Books gave no distraction.


s: She cared not for study, her heart longed for action,


s: For pleasure, excitement.  Wild impulses, new


s: To her mind, came like demons and urged her to do


s: All sorts of mad things.  Mischief breathed through the air.


s: One could do as one liked in New York--who would care--


s: Who would know save the God who had left her alone


s: In his world, unprotected, unloved?  From her own


s: Restless mind and sick heart she attempted once more


s: To escape.  One reads much of gay life at the shore--


s: Narragansett, she fancied, would suit her.  The sea


s: Would at least prove a friend; and, perchance, there might be


s: Some heart, like her own, seeking comradeship there.


s: The days brought no friend.  But the moist, salty air


s: Was a stimulant, giving existence new charms.


s: Every day to embrace her.  And life in this place


s: Held something of pleasure, and sweetness and grace,


s: Though the eyes of the men were too ardent and bold,


s: And the eyes of the women suspicious and cold,


s: She yet had the sea--the sea, strong and mighty,


s: Both father and mother of fair Aphrodite.


s: Mabel grieved for her child with a sorrow sincere,


s: But she bowed to the will of her Maker.  No tear


s: Came to soften the hard, stony look in the eye


s: Of her husband; she heard no complaint and no sigh


s: From his lips, but he turned with impatience whenever


s: She spoke of religion, or made one endeavor


s: To lead his thoughts up from the newly turned sod


s: Where the little form slept, to its spirit with God.


s: Long hours by that grave, Roger passed, and alone.


s: The woes of her neighbors his wife made her own,


s: But her husband she pointed to Christ; and in grief


s: Prayed for light to be cast on his dark unbelief.


s: She flung herself into good works more and more,


s: And saw not that the look which her husband's face wore


s: Was the look of a man starved for love.  In the mold


s: Of a nun she was fashioned, chaste, passionless, cold.


s: (Such women sin more when they take marriage ties


s: Than the love-maddened creature who lawlessly lies


s: In the arms of the man whom she worships.  The child


s: Not conceived in true love leaves the mother defiled.


s: Though an army of clergymen sanction her vows,


s: God sees "illegitimate" stamped on the brows


s: Of her offspring.  Love only can legalize birth


s: In His eyes--all the rest is but spawn of the earth.)


s: Mabel Lee, as the maid, had been flattered and pleased


s: By the passion of Roger; his wild wooing teased


s: That inquisitive sense, half a fault, half a merit,


s: Which the daughters of Eve, to a woman, inherit.


s: His love fanned her love for herself to a glow;


s: She was stirred by the thought she could stir a man so.


s: That was all.  She had nothing to give in return.


s: One can't light a fire with no fuel to burn;


s: And the love Roger dreamed he could rouse in her soul


s: Was not there to be wakened.  He stood at his goal


s: As the Arctic explorer may finally stand,


s: To see all about him an ice prisoned land,


s: Like the snows which envelop the bleak arid waste


s: Of the desert; once melted, alas! what remains


s: But the poor, unproductive, dry soil of the plains?


s: However he toil there, to thrive in such ground.


s: Mabel Montrose was held in the highest esteem


s: By her neighbors; I think neighbors everywhere deem


s: Such women to be all that's noble.  They sighed


s: When they spoke of her husband; they told how she tried


s: To convert him, and how they had thought for a season


s: His mind was bent Christ-ward; and then, with no reason,


s: He seemed to drift back to the world, and grew jealous


s: Of Mabel, and thought her too faithful and zealous


s: Only hardened his heart against God.  He grew wild,


s: Took to drink; spent a week at a time in the city,


s: Neglecting his saint of a wife--such a pity.


s: It was true.  Our friends keep a sharp eye on our deeds


s: But the fine interlining of causes--who heeds?


s: The long list of heartaches which lead to rash acts


s: Would bring pity, not blame, if the world knew the facts.


s: There are women so terribly free from all evil,


s: They discourage a man, and he goes to the devil.


s: There are people whose virtues result in appalling,


s: And they prove a great aid to his majesty's calling.


s: Roger's wife rendered goodness so dreary and cold,


s: His tendril-like will lost its poor little hold


s: On the new better life he was longing to reach,


s: And slipped back to the dust.  Oh! to love, not to preach.


s: Is a woman's true method of helping mankind.


s: The sinner is won through his heart, not his mind.


s: As the sun loves the seed up to life through the sod,


s: So the patience of love brings a soul to its God.


s: But when love is lacking, the devil is sure


s: To stand in the pathway with some sort of lure.


s: Roger turned to the world for distraction.  The world


s: Smiled a welcome, and then like an octopus curled


s: All its tentacles 'round him, and dragged him away


s: He awoke with a headache, which will not surprise,


s: When you know that his bedtime had been at sunrise,


s: And that gay Narraganset, the world renowned "Pier,"


s: Was the scene.  Through the lace curtained window the clear


s: Yellow rays of the hot August sun touched his bed


s: And proclaimed it was mid-day.  He rose, and his head


s: Seemed as large and as light as an air filled balloon


s: The follies of night show their makeup, and seem


s: Like hideous monsters evoked by some dream.


s: The sea called to Roger: "Come, lie on my breast


s: And forget the dull world.  My unrest shall give rest


s: To your turbulent feelings; the dregs of the wine


s: On your lips shall be lost in the salt touch of mine.


s: Come away, come away.  Ah! the jubilant mirth


s: Of the sea is not known by the stupid old earth."


s: The beach swarmed with bathers--to be more exact,


s: Swarmed with people in costumes of bathers.  In fact,


s: Many beautiful women bathed but in the light


s: Of men's eyes; and their costumes were made for the sight,


s: Not the sea.  From the sea's lusty outreaching arms


s: The waves, too, were swelling sea meadows, a-flower


s: With faces of swimmers.  All dressed for his bath,


s: Roger paused in confusion, because in his path


s: Surged a crowd of the curious; all eyes were bent


s: On the form of a woman who leisurely went


s: From her bathing house down to the beach.  "There she goes,"


s: Roger heard a dame cry, as she stepped on his toes


s: With her whole ample weight.  "What, the one with red hair?


s: Why, she isn't as pretty as Maude, I declare."


s: A man passing by with his comrade, cried: "Ned,


s: Look! there is La Travers, the one with the red


s: Braid of hair to her knees.  She's a mystery here,


s: And at present the topic of talk at the Pier."


s: Roger followed their glances in time to behold


s: For a second a head crowned with braids of bright gold,


s: And a form like a Venus, all costumed in white.


s: Then she plunged through a billow and vanished from sight.


s: It was half an hour afterward, possibly more,


s: As Roger swam farther and farther from shore,


s: With new life in his limbs and new force in his brain,


s: That he heard, just behind him, a sharp cry of pain.


s: Ten strokes in the rear on the crest of a wave


s: Shone a woman's white face.  "Keep your courage; be brave;


s: I am coming," he shouted.  "Turn over and float."


s: His strong shoulder plunged like the prow of a boat


s: Through the billows.  Six overhand strokes brought him close


s: To the woman, who lay like a wilted white rose


s: On the waves.  "Now, be careful," he cried; "lay your hand


s: Well up on my shoulder; my arms, understand,


s: Must be free; do not touch them---please follow my wishes,


s: Unless you are anxious to fatten the fishes."


s: The woman obeyed him.  "You need not fear me,"


s: She replied, "I am wholly at home in the sea.


s: I knew all the arts of the swimmer, I thought,


s: But confess I was frightened when suddenly caught


s: With a cramp in my knee at this distance from shore."


s: With slow even breast strokes the strong swimmer bore


s: His fair burden landward.  She lay on the billows


s: As lightly as if she were resting on pillows


s: Of down.  She relinquished herself to the sea


s: And the man, and was saved; though God knows both can be


s: False and fickle enough; yet resistance or strife,


s: On occasions like this, means the forfeit of life.


s: The throng of the bathers had scattered before


s: Roger carried his burden safe into the shore


s: And saw her emerge from the water, a place


s: Where most women lose every vestige of grace


s: Or of charm.  But this mermaid seemed fairer than when


s: She had challenged the glances of women and men


s: As she went to her bath.  Now her clinging silk suit


s: Revealed every line, from the throat to the foot,


s: Of her beautiful form.  Her arms, in their splendor,


s: Gleamed white like wet marble.  The round waist was slender,


s: And yet not too small.  From the twin perfect crests


s: And the virginlike grace of her beautiful breasts


s: To the exquisite limbs and the curve of her thigh,


s: And the arch of her proud little instep, the eye


s: Drank in beauty.  Her face was not beautiful; yet


s: The gaze lingered on it, for Eros had set


s: His seal on her features.  The mouth full and weak,


s: The blue shadow drooping from eyelid to cheek


s: Like a stain of crushed grapes, and the pale, ardent skin,


s: By her tip tilted nose and low brow, it was plain


s: To read how her impulses ruled o'er her brain.


s: She had given the chief role of life to her heart,


s: And her intellect played but a small minor part.


s: Her eyes were the color the sunlight reveals


s: When it pierces the soft, furry coat of young seals.


s: The thickly fringed lids seemed unwilling to rise,


s: But drooped, half concealing them; wonderful eyes,


s: Full of secrets and bodings of sorrow.  As coarse


s: And as thick as the mane of a finely groomed horse


s: Was her bright mass of hair.  The sea, with rough hands,


s: Had made free with the braids, and unloosened the strands


s: Till they hung in great clusters of curls to her knees.


s: Her voice, when she spoke, held the breadth and the breeze


s: Of the West in its tones; and the use of the _R_


s: Made the listener certain her home had been far


s: From New England.  Long after she vanished from view


s: The eye and the ear seemed to sense her anew.


s: There was that in her voice and her presence which hung


s: In the air like a strain of a song which is sung


s: By a singer, and then sings itself the whole day,


s: From meadow to tree branch, now there and now here,


s: So, from beach to Casino, each day at the Pier


s: Flock the gay pleasure seekers.  The balconies glow


s: With beauty and color.  The belle and the beau


s: Promenade in the sunlight, or sit tete-a-tete,


s: While the chaperons gossip together.  Bands play,


s: Glasses clink; and 'neath sheltering lace parasols


s: There are plans made for meeting at drives or at balls.


s: Roger gat at a table alone, with his glass


s: Of mint julep before him, and watched the crowd pass.


s: There were all sorts of people from all sorts of places.


s: He thought he liked best the fair Baltimore faces.


s: The South was the land of fair women, he mused,


s: Because they were indolent.  Women who used


s: Mind or body too freely.  Changed curves into angles,


s: For beauty forever with intellect wrangles.


s: The trend of the fair sex to-day must alarm


s: Every lover of feminine beauty and charm.


s: As he mused Roger watched with a keen interest


s: For a sight of his Undine.  "All coiffured and drest,


s: With her wonderful body concealed, and her hair


s: Knotted up, well, I doubt if she seem even fair,"


s: He soliloquized.  "Ah!" the word burst from his lips,


s: For he saw her approaching.  She walked from the hips


s: With an undulous motion.  As graceful and free


s: From all effort as waves swinging in from the sea


s: Were her movements.  Her full molded figure seemed slight


s: In its close fitting gown of black cloth; and the white


s: Of her cheek seemed still whiter by contrast.  Her clothes


s: Were tasteful and quiet; yet Roger Montrose


s: Knew in some subtle manner he could not express


s: ('Tis an instinct men have in the matters of dress)


s: That they never were made in New York.  By her hat


s: One can oft read a woman's whole character.  That


s: Which our fair Undine wore was a thing of rich lace,


s: Flowers and ribbons like others one saw in the place.


s: Yet the width of the brim, or the twist of its bows,


s: Or the way it was worn made it different from those.


s: As it drooped o'er the eyes full of mystery there,


s: It seemed, all at once, both a menace and dare;


s: She bowed as she passed Roger's table; and then


s: Took a chair opposite, spread her shade of red silk,


s: Called a waiter and ordered a cup of hot milk,


s: Which she leisurely sipped.  She seemed unaware


s: Of the curious eyes she attracted.  Her air


s: Was of one quite at home, and entirely at ease


s: With herself, the sole person she studied to please.


s: She had been for three weeks at the Pier, and alone,


s: Without maid or escort, and nothing was known


s: Of her there, save the name which the register bore,


s: "Mrs. Travers, New York."  Men were mad to learn more


s: But the women were distant.  One can't, at such places,


s: Accept as credentials good figures or faces.


s: There was an unnameable _something_ about


s: Mrs. Travers which filled other women with doubt


s: And all men with interest.  Roger, blasé,


s: Disillusioned with life as he was, felt the sway


s: Of her strong personality, there as she sat


s: Looking out 'neath the rim of her coquettish hat


s: With dark eyes on the sea.  Few people had power


s: To draw his gray thoughts from himself for an hour


s: As this woman had done; she was food for his mind,


s: And he sought by his inner perceptions to find


s: in what class she belonged.  "An adventuress?  No,


s: Though I fancy three-fourths of the women think so


s: And one-half of the men; but that role leaves a trace,


s: An expression, I fail to detect in her face.


s: Her past is not shadowed; my judgment would say


s: That her sins lie before her, and not far away.


s: She's a puzzle, I think, to herself; and grim Fate


s: Will aid her in solving the riddle too late.


s: Her soul dreams of happiness; but in her eyes


s: As the rain is drawn up by some moods of the sun,


s: Some natures draw trouble from life; her's is one."


s: She rose and passed by him again, and her gown


s: Brushed his knee.  A light tremor went shivering down


s: His whole body.  She left on the air as she went


s: A subtle suggestion of perfume; the scent


s: Which steals out of some fans, or old laces, and seems


s: Full of soft fragrant fancies and languorous dreams.


s: She haunted the mind, though she passed from the sight.


s: When Roger Montrose sought his pillow that night,


s: 'Twas to dream of La Travers.  He thought she became


s: A burning red rose, with each leaf like a flame.


s: He stooped down and plucked it, and woke with a start,


s: As it turned to an adder and struck at his heart.


s: The dream left its impress, as certain dreams should,


s: For, as warnings of evil, precursors of good,


s: They are sent to our souls o'er a mystical line,


s: Night messages, couched in a cipher divine.


s: Roger knew much of life, much of women, and knew


s: Even more of himself and his weaknesses.  Few


s: Of us mortals look inward; our gaze is turned out


s: To watch what the rest of the world is about,


s: And logic were clear.  But his will played him treason.


s: If you looked at his hand, you would see it.  Hands speak


s: More than faces.  His thumb (the first phalanx) was weak,


s: Undeveloped; the second, firm jointed and long,


s: Which showed that the reasoning powers were strong,


s: But the will, from disuse, had grown feeble.


s: He looked on his dream in the light of a warning


s: And made sudden plans for departure.  "To go


s: Is to fly from some folly," he said, "for I know


s: What salt air and dry wine, and the soft siren eyes


s: Of a woman, can do under midsummer skies


s: With a man who is wretched as I am.  Unrest


s: Is a tramp, who goes picking the locks on one's breast


s: That a whole gang of vices may enter.  A thirst


s: For strong drink and chance games, those twin comrades accursed,


s: Are already admitted.  Oh Mabel, my wife,


s: Reach, reach out your arms, draw me into the life


s: That alone is worth living.  I need you to-day,


s: Have pity, and love me, oh love me, I pray.


s: I will turn once again from the bad world to you.


s: Though false to myself, to my vows I am true."


s: When a soul strives to pull itself up out of sin


s: The devil tries harder to push it back in.


s: And the man who attempts to retrace the wrong track


s: Needs his God and his will to stand close at his back.


s: Through what are called accidents, Roger was late


s: At the train.  Are not accidents servants of Fate?


s: The first coach was filled; he passed on to the second.


s: That, too, seemed complete, but a gentleman beckoned


s: And said, "There's a seat, sir; the third from the last


s: On your left."  Roger thanked him and leisurely passed


s: Down the aisle, with his coat on his arm, to the place


s: Indicated.  The seat held a lady, whose face


s: Was turned to the window.  "Pray pardon me, miss"


s: (For he judged by her back she was youthful), "is this


s: Seat engaged?"  As he spoke, the face turned in surprise,


s: And Roger looked into the long, languid eyes


s: Of La Travers.  She smiled, moved her wraps from the seat,


s: And he sat down beside her.  The same subtle, sweet


s: Breath of perfume exhaled from her presence, and made


s: The place seem a boudoir.  The deep winey shade


s: 'Neath her eyes had grown larger, as if she had wept


s: Or a late, lonely vigil with memory kept.


s: A man who has rescued a woman from danger


s: Or death, does not seem to her wholly a stranger


s: When next she encounters him; yet both essayed


s: To be formal and proper; and each of them made


s: The effort a failure.  The jar of a train


s: At times holds a mesmeric spell for the brain


s: And a tense excitation for nerves; and the shriek


s: Of the engine compels one to lean near to speak


s: Or to list to his neighbor.  Formality flies


s: With the smoke of the train and floats off to the skies.


s: Roger led his companion to talk; and the theme


s: Which he chose, was herself, her life story.  The dream


s: Of the previous night was forgotten.  The charm


s: Of the woman outweighed superstitious alarm.


s: When the sunlight began to play peek-a-boo


s: Through the tunnels, which told them the journey was through,


s: Roger looked at his time-piece; the train for Bay Bend


s: Left in just twenty minutes; but what a rude end


s: To the day's pleasant comradeship--rushing away


s: With a hurried good-bye!  He decided to stay


s: Over night in the city.  He was not expected


s: At home.  Mrs. Travers was quite unprotected,


s: And almost a stranger in Gotham.  He ought


s: To see her safe into her doorway, he thought.