s: {182f}  The effects of his toil in battle.


s: {183b}  “Periglawr;” one who has to do with what is extreme, or


s: dangerous; one who administers extreme unction; a parish priest.


s: Harder to an enemy than a bone.  (Elegy on Cunedda.)


s: {185a}  Or, “whilst the foes range the sea.”


s: {185b}  Lit. “It was his characteristic or property.”


s: “In the face of blood, of the country, and of the tribes.”


s: {186c}  Or, “who caused the stream of blood.”


s: {188a}  “Tra;” “whilst the gory pool continued to fill.”


s: {188e}  Al. “Is there a place where the people do not relate the


s: {188g}  “Lliveit handit;” which were sharpened.


s: {188h}  Al. “Where his founding blade was seen.”


s: “Tri Gwrddvaglawg ynys Prydain; Rhineri mab Tangwn; a Thinwaed


s: A saying of Pryderi has been thus recorded;—


s: There is no wisdom like silence.”  (Iolo MSS. p. 661.)


s: “Cyn bum cain vaglawg, bum cyfes eiriawg,


s: Gwyr Argoed eirioed a’m porthes.”  (Elegy on Old Age.)


s: Before I appeared with crutches, I was eloquent in my complaint,


s: It will be extolled, what is not wonderful—


s: The men of Argoed have ever supported me!


s: A strenuous warrior from the woodland of Dyvnaint,


s: {192b}  Al. “There was a white badge on his shield.”


s: Under the thigh of Geraint were fleet runners,


s: They were red ones; their assault was like the bold eagles.


s: Lleduegin gwin gwyrt uual.”  (Myv. Arch. v. i. p. 225.)


s: {193d}  As the natural consequence of military operations.


s: “Before the son of Edeyrn ere his kingdom became fearful.”


s: “Tri marchlwyth ynys Prydain—ar ail marchlwyth aduc Cornann March


s: “Mi adaen iwrch er nas daliwyv.”  (Adage.)


s: I know a roebuck, though I may not catch him.


s: {197d}  “Derwenydd;” Derventio, the river Derwent in Cumberland.


s: {198d}  The head of the river Clyde in Scotland.


s: In Maelor the great, the hastening shout was heard,


s: And the dreadful shrieks of men with gashing wounds in pain;


s: When over horns two princes caused discord,


s: While in the banquet of Morach Morvran.  (Owain Cyveiliog.)


s: {199b}  One of these, we may presume, was Dyvnwal Vrych.


s: {199c}  The whole line may be thus translated;


s: {200b}  Or, “let it be forcibly seized in one entire region.”


s: {200c}  An allusion to his incarceration, see lines 440, 445.


s: {200d}  Gardith; i.e. garw deith (or teithi.)


s: “Gwr yn gware a Lloegyrwys.”  (Cynddelw.)


s: {201a}  “Dyvnuyt;” see also stanza, xlviii.


s: {201f}  Al. “with the gory trappings,” as in the other stanza.


s: {202a}  Al. “a dau,” the two sons, and two haughty boars.


s: {202d}  In a former stanza he is called Garthwys Hir.


s: {204d}  Probably the Cantii or people of Kent.


s: Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky


s: Because your father tumbled in the yellow


s: Point for them the virtue of the slaughter,


s: Make plain to them the excellence of killing


s: Mother whose heart hung humble as a button


s: On the bright splendid shroud of your son,


s: "Long has our brother been silent to us,


s: "Long will your brother be silent to you,


s: But it is only a little ink more or less.


s: Can my misery meal on an ordered walking


s: "And you will hear the thud of his defeat."


s: I explain the silvered passing of a ship


s: The dwindling boom of the steel thing's striving,


s: A shadow falling across the greyer night,


s: Then the waste, the far waste of waters,


s: "You don green spectacles before you look at roses."


s: And the gold of the knight's good banner


s: When he looked about him he was in a far


s: "My good fool," said a learned bystander,


s: "You are too candid," cried the candid man.


s: Or move at her will, swishing stealthily over


s: But always whispering, softly whispering.


s: And the wild fire makes shimmer of blood


s: Bands of moving bronze, emerald, yellow,


s: Is in the dance of the whispering snakes.


s: A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices


s: Which, bawled by boys from mile to mile,


s: While families cuddle the joys of the fireside


s: When spurred by tale of dire lone agony.


s: Where every one is kindly and unfairly tried


s: Where his error scores the player victory


s: Welcomes, farewells, love-calls, final moans,


s: Voices of joy, idiocy, warning, despair,


s: The senseless babble of hens and wise men--


s: A cluttered incoherency that says at the


s: With a strong voice he called to the deaf


s: A warrior's shout he raised to the suns.


s: Lo, at last, there was a dot on the clouds,


s: A figure thankful on the shore of money.


s: In guiltless ignorance, in ignorant guilt,


s: He delivered his secrets to the riven multitude.


s: A noise of men at work came the clear blue miles,


s: And the little black cities were apparent.


s: "O Master that knowest the meaning of raindrops,


s: "That we may sing Thy goodness to the sun."


s: The far valleys were sprinkled with tiny lights.


s: "Thou that knowest the value of kings and birds,


s: "Thou hast made us humble, idle, futile peaks.


s: The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-top.


s: The chatter of a death-demon from a tree-


s: Sweeping from the hearth rosily upon the


s: Cheeked against oak, France and a sabre,


s: Silly rich peasants stamp the carpets of men,


s: Dead men who dreamed fragrance and light


s: Forgetting state, multitude, work, and state,


s: "Once the violets of this place spoke thus:


s: "'Until some woman freely give her lover


s: In little songs of carmine, violet, green, gold.


s: The wondrous leaf-shadow no longer wavered,


s: Little songs of carmine, violet, green, gold.


s: None can doubt the truth of hour hymning.


s: When the marvellous chorus comes over the


s: Save the melancholy cry of a single owl--


s: And thou art the ashes of other men's love,


s: From I am come to where I know your lies


s: That I may strut before you, sweetheart,


s: Ah, God, the way your little finger moved,


s: Because of the way a little finger moved.


s: And chattering girlishly to other girls,


s: Careless with the stout heart of unscarred


s: I thought of the great storms of love as I


s: I thought of the thunders that lived in my


s: And hale and haul my beloved to a castle,


s: I see always the shadow of another lover?


s: Or is this the thrice damned memory of a


s: I would that I had not been a grand knight.


s: We were like two creatures by a dead camp-fire.


s: Where a heart still beat for thee, beloved.


s: In curam, Sanctissimi patris ----, doctoris divinitatis,


s: Armourville, our holy père, to be present on that occasion in his


s: California very soon, you'll have to let me know at once what the


s: "Mother," says I, "is that a pie?" in tones akin to scorning;


s: If you'll kindly pass the cheese, ma'am!"


s: For that pesky pie sticks grimly by my organs of digestion,


s: And that 't will stay by me till May or June I make no question.


s: Out yonder in the moonlight, wherein God's Acre lies,


s: Go angels walking to and fro, singing their lullabies.


s: Their radiant wings are folded, and their eyes are bended low,


s: The flowers within God's Acre see that fair and wondrous sight,


s: And hear the angels singing to the sleepers through the night;


s: And, lo! throughout the hours of day those gentle flowers prolong


s: So through all time, whose flight the Shepherd's vigils glorify,


s: God's Acre slumbereth in the grace of that sweet lullaby,--


s: An angel stands at the dream-ship's helm,


s: And an angel stands at the dream-ship's side


s: And some are dreams that thrill with joy,


s: Till, grudging him the dreams he dreamed,


s: What times soever I've been their guest,


s: A pitcher of glass that's cut, not pressed.


s: In Cupid's bonds, they could find their fate


s: For they've heaps of trumpery--so have the rest


s: Of those spinsters whose ware I'd like to own;


s: You can see why I say with such certain zest,


s: Prince, show me the quickest way and best


s: We've neither spinsters nor relics out West--


s: Though velvet bucks sped here and there,


s: Yet never a thing did the maid but sing--


s: Sweet friends of mine, be spoons once more,


s: Away down East where I was reared amongst my Yankee kith,


s: There used to live a pretty girl whose name was Mary Smith;


s: And though it's many years since last I saw that pretty girl,


s: And though I feel I'm sadly worn by Western strife and whirl;


s: Still, oftentimes, I think about the old familiar place,


s: Which, someway, seemed the brighter for Miss Mary's pretty face,


s: And in my heart I feel once more revivified the glow


s: I used to feel in those old times when I was Mary's beau.


s: I saw her home from singing school--she warbled like a bird.


s: A sweeter voice than hers for song or speech I never heard.


s: She was soprano in the choir, and I a solemn bass,


s: And when we unisoned our voices filled that holy place;


s: The tenor and the alto never had the slightest chance,


s: For Mary's upper register made every heart-string dance;


s: And, as for me, I shall not brag, and yet I'd have you know


s: I sung a very likely bass when I was Mary's beau.


s: On Friday nights I'd drop around to make my weekly call,


s: And though I came to visit her, I'd have to see 'em all.


s: With Mary's mother sitting here and Mary's father there,


s: The conversation never flagged so far as I'm aware;


s: Sometimes I'd hold her worsted, sometimes we'd play at games,


s: Sometimes dissect the apples which we'd named each other's names.


s: Now there was Luther Baker--because he'd come of age


s: And thought himself some pumpkins because he drove the stage--


s: He fancied he could cut me out; but Mary was my friend--


s: Elsewise I'm sure the issue had had a tragic end.


s: For Luther Baker was a man I never could abide,


s: And, when it came to Mary, either he or I had died.


s: I merely cite this instance incidentally to show


s: That I was quite in earnest when I was Mary's beau.


s: How often now those sights, those pleasant sights, recur again:


s: The little township that was all the world I knew of then--


s: The meeting-house upon the hill, the tavern just beyond,


s: Old deacon Packard's general store, the sawmill by the pond,


s: The village elms I vainly sought to conquer in my quest


s: Of that surpassing trophy, the golden oriole's nest.


s: And, last of all those visions that come back from long ago,


s: The pretty face that thrilled my soul when I was Mary's beau.


s: To each a true, maturer love came in good time, and yet


s: It brought not with its nobler grace the power to forget.


s: And would you fain begrudge me now the sentimental joy


s: That comes of recollections of my sparkings when a boy?


s: I warrant me that, were your heart put to the rack, 't would show


s: And, Mary, should these lines of mine seek out your biding place,


s: With faltering step and brimming eyes and aspect grimly gray;


s: But thoughts that picture me as fair and full of life and glee


s: As _we_ were in the olden times--as _you_ shall always be.


s: Think of me ever, Mary, as the boy you used to know


s: When time was fleet, and life was sweet, and I was Mary's beau.


s: Dear hills of old New England, look down with tender eyes


s: Upon one little lonely grave that in your bosom lies;


s: For in that cradle sleeps a child who was so fair to see


s: God yearned to have unto Himself the joy she brought to me;


s: And bid your winds sing soft and low the song of other days,


s: Instead of this poor idle song of being Mary's beau.


s: They seem to look you through and through


s: Good editor Dana--God bless him, we say--


s: Strange sights shall he see in that beautiful land


s: Which is famed for its soap and its Moor,


s: For moonlight of silver and sunlight of gold


s: Glint the orchards of lemons and mangoes,


s: As they twine in their lissome fandangoes.


s: What though our friend Dana shall twang a guitar


s: These castles are built as the builder may list--


s: The fragrance of sunflowers shall swoon on the air


s: When I am in New York, I like to drop around at night,


s: To visit with my honest, genial friends, the Stoddards hight;


s: Their home in Fifteenth street is all so snug, and furnished so,


s: That, when I once get planted there, I don't know when to go;


s: A cosy cheerful refuge for the weary homesick guest,


s: Combining Yankee comforts with the freedom of the west.


s: The first thing you discover, as you maunder through the hall,


s: Is a curious little clock upon a bracket on the wall;


s: 'T was made by Stoddard's father, and it's very, very old--


s: The connoisseurs assure me it is worth its weight in gold;


s: But in the parlor. Oh, the gems on tables, walls, and floor--


s: Rare first editions, etchings, and old crockery galore.


s: Why, talk about the Indies and the wealth of Orient things--


s: They couldn't hold a candle to these quaint and sumptuous things;


s: How I have sat and watched 'em and wished I had 'em all.


s: Now, Mr. Stoddard's study is on the second floor,


s: A wee blind dog barks at me as I enter through the door;


s: The Cerberus would fain begrudge what sights it cannot see,


s: The rapture of that visual feast it cannot share with me;


s: A miniature edition this--this most absurd of hounds--


s: A genuine unique, I'm sure, and one unknown to Lowndes.


s: Books--always books--are piled around; some musty, and all old;


s: Tall, solemn folios such as Lamb declared he loved to hold;


s: Large paper copies with their virgin margins white and wide,


s: And presentation volumes with the author's comps. inside;


s: I break the tenth commandment with a wild impassioned cry:


s: Oh, how came Stoddard by these things? Why Stoddard, and not I?


s: From yonder wall looks Thackeray upon his poet friend,


s: And underneath the genial face appear the lines he penned;


s: And here, gadzooks, ben honge ye prynte of marvaillous renowne


s: Yt shameth Chaucers gallaunt knyghtes in Canterbury towne;


s: And still more books and pictures. I'm dazed, bewildered, vexed;


s: And, furthermore, in confidence inviolate be it said


s: Friend Stoddard owns a lock of hair that grew on Milton's head;


s: Now I have Gladstone axes and a lot of curious things,


s: Such as pimply Dresden teacups and old German wedding-rings;


s: But nothing like that saintly lock have I on wall or shelf,


s: But Stoddard has a soothing way, as though he grieved to see


s: Invidious torments prey upon a nice young chap like me.


s: He waves me to an easy chair and hands me out a weed


s: And pumps me full of that advice he seems to know I need;


s: So sweet the tap of his philosophy and knowledge flows


s: That I can't help wishing that I knew a half what Stoddard knows.


s: And so we sit for hours and hours, praising without restraint


s: But wretched, oh, how wretched he that hath provoked our ire;


s: For I speak emphatic English when I once get fairly r'iled,


s: And Stoddard's wrath's an Ossa upon a Pelion piled.


s: Out yonder, in the alcove, a lady sits and darns,


s: And interjects remarks that always serve to spice our yarns;


s: She's Mrs. Stoddard; there's a dame that's truly to my heart:


s: A tiny little woman, but so quaint, and good, and smart


s: That, if you asked me to suggest which one I should prefer


s: Of all the Stoddard treasures, I should promptly mention her.


s: O dear old man, how I should like to be with you this night,


s: I shall tell you in rhyme how, once on a time,


s: Three tailors tramped up to the inn Ingleheim,


s: They were broke, but the worst of it all, they were curst


s: With that malady common to tailors--a thirst


s: "Sweet host," quoth the three, "we're hard up as can be,


s: Yet skilled in the practice of cunning are we,


s: And we pledge you we will impart you that skill


s: Right quickly and fully, providing you'll fill


s: But that host shook his head, and he warily said:


s: "Though cunning be good, we take money instead,


s: If ye fancy ye may without pelf have your way


s: You'll find that there's both host and the devil to pay


s: Then the first knavish wight took his needle so bright


s: And threaded its eye with a wee ray of light


s: And, in such a deft way, patched a mirror that day


s: That where it was mended no expert could say--


s: The second thereat spied a poor little gnat


s: Go toiling along on his nose broad and flat


s: "Aha, tiny friend, I should hate to offend,


s: But your stockings need darning"--which same did he mend,


s: And next there occurred what you'll deem quite absurd--


s: His needle a space in the wall thrust the third,


s: And then all so spry, he leapt through the eye


s: Of that thin cambric needle--nay, think you I'd lie


s: The landlord allowed (with a smile) he was proud


s: To do the fair thing by that talented crowd


s: So a thimble filled he as full as could be--


s: "Drink long and drink hearty, my jolly friends three,


s: A tortuous double iron track; a station here, a station there;


s: A locomotive, tender, tanks; a coach with stiff reclining chair;


s: Some postal cars, and baggage, too; a vestibule of patent make;


s: Beware, O sacred Mooley cow, the engine when you hear its bell;


s: From Nebo's mount to Nazareth will spread the cry "Repudiate"!


s: From Hebron to Tiberius, from Jordan's banks unto the sea,


s: Will rise profuse anathemas against "that ---- monopoly!"


s: And F.M.B.A. shepherd-folk, with Sockless Jerry leading them,


s: Will swamp that corporation line 'twixt Jaffa and Jerusalem.


s: (And that's what some sages are thinking),


s: We should moisten the bud with a health-giving flood


s: We should sprinkle the way with the rain while we may;


s: To induce pleasant dreams there is nothing, meseems,


s: Thought the youth, and spread his snare;


s: Whereat the Southland laughed and cried:


s: The Northland's heart was a heart of ice,


s: And over the leagues that rolled between,


s: But the sea wailed loud, and the sea wailed long,


s: "Oh, thou shalt sing us our bridal song,


s: At the foot of the Southland's golden throne


s: The heart of the Northland ever throbs--


s: For that true-heart speaks in the waves that moan,


s: Of the messenger pleading the Northland's part;


s: The summer shines in the Southland's eyes--


s: The sea wails loud, and the sea wails long,


s: Brings peace on earth, good will to men!


s: There were three cavaliers, all handsome and true,


s: On Valentine's day came a maiden to woo,


s: And quoth to your mother: "Good-morrow, my dear,


s: We came with some songs for your daughter to hear!"


s: Your mother replied: "I'll be pleased to convey


s: To my daughter what things you may sing or may say!"


s: Then the first cavalier sung: "My pretty red rose,


s: I'll love you and court you some day, I suppose!"


s: And the next cavalier sung, with make-believe tears:


s: "I've loved you! I've loved you these many long years!"


s: But the third cavalier (with the brown, bushy head


s: And the pretty blue jacket and necktie of red)


s: And he warbled: "O maiden, surpassingly fair!


s: I've loved you long years, and I love you to-day,


s: And, if you will let me, I'll love you for aye!"


s: I (the third cavalier) sang this ditty to you,


s: In my necktie of red and my jacket of blue;


s: I'm sure you'll prefer the song that was mine


s: And smile your approval on your valentine.


s: Grim is the face that looks into the night


s: _"Oh, is it the king that rides this way--


s: I have looked for the king this many a day,


s: 'T is not your king that shall ride to-night,


s: And the horse he shall ride is the Dream-horse white--


s: Aha, he shall speed through the ghostly light


s: While the Dream-Horse frettingly lingers near


s: Like a spirit come out of the mouldering years,


s: What though the fates would wreak on thee


s: My roistering friends impeached your fit,


s: She clutched this sleeve to stay my flight,


s: Three days she toiled, dear patient heart!


s: That two such friends should never part!


s: There was a certain gentleman, Ben Apfelgarten called,


s: Who lived way off in Germany a many years ago,


s: And he was very fortunate in being very bald


s: Who are very, very circumspect and very happy may;


s: They never heard him once complain or even heave a sigh!


s: The women of the province fell in love with genial Ben,


s: Among the callow students and the sober-minded men--


s: With the women-folk a-cuttin' up that way!


s: And knitted jaunty nightcaps to protect him when abed!


s: Those ladies deigned to tolerate--remonstrance was absurd!


s: Things finally got into such a very dreadful way


s: That the others (oh, how artful) formed the politic design


s: To send him to the reichstag; so, one dull November day,


s: They elected him a member from the Rhine!


s: But they marvelled when his speeches they listened to or read;


s: Of the smooth and shiny cranium his constituents deride!"


s: Well, when at last he up 'nd died--long past his ninetieth year--


s: For women came in multitudes to weep upon his bier--


s: The men all wond'ring why on earth the women had gone mad!


s: Inquired of those same ladies: "Why this fuss about deceased?"


s: "We doted on deceased for being bald--bald--bald!"


s: He was bald because his genius burnt that shock of hair away


s: Which, elsewise, clogs one's keenness and activity of mind;


s: And (barring present company, of course) I'm free to say


s: That, after all, it's intellect that captures womankind.


s: The women-folk have been in love with us bald-headed men!


s: Moves proudly through the radiant skies,


s: Where the willows and rushes bowed themselves


s: And the people that peopled the old-time dream


s: And the dreamer he walked with them again


s: Or was it tears from the dear, dead years


s: Of the summer that follows the careless spring


s: Of battles fought in the cause of right,


s: It breathed no breath of the dear old home


s: It gave no glimpse of the good old friends


s: These were the dreams that came one night


s: These were the dreams two dreamers dreamed--


s: 'Twas in the Crescent City not long ago befell


s: The tear-compelling incident I now propose to tell;


s: So come, my sweet collector friends, and listen while I sing


s: Unto your delectation this brief, pathetic thing--


s: No lyric pitched in vaunting key, but just a requiem


s: Of blowing twenty dollars in by nine o'clock a.m.


s: Let critic folk the poet's use of vulgar slang upbraid,


s: And I, who have been touched of that same mania, myself,


s: Am well aware that, when it comes to parting with his pelf,


s: The curio collector is so blindly lost in sin


s: That he doesn't spend his money--he simply blows it in!


s: In Royal street (near Conti) there's a lovely curio-shop,


s: And there, one balmy, fateful morn, it was my chance to stop;


s: To stop was hesitation--in a moment I was lost--


s: _That_ kind of hesitation does not hesitate at cost!


s: I spied a pewter tankard there, and, my! it was a gem--


s: And the clock in old St. Louis told the hour of eight a.m.!


s: Three quaint Bohemian bottles, too, of yellow and of green,


s: Cut in archaic fashion that I ne'er before had seen;


s: A lovely, hideous platter wreathed about with pink and rose,


s: With its curious depression into which the gravy flows;


s: Two dainty silver salts--oh, there was no resisting _them_--


s: And I'd blown in twenty dollars by nine o'clock a.m.


s: With twenty dollars, one who is a prudent man, indeed,


s: Can buy the wealth of useful things his wife and children need;


s: The man who's blown in twenty by nine o'clock a.m.


s: Oh, mean advantage conscience takes (and one that I abhor!)


s: In asking one this question: "What _did_ you buy it for?"


s: Why doesn't conscience ply its blessed trade _before_ the act,


s: _Before_ one's cussedness becomes a bald, accomplished fact--


s: _Before_ one's fallen victim to the Tempter's stratagem


s: And blown in twenty dollars by nine o'clock a.m.?


s: Ah me! now that the deed is done, how penitent I am!


s: I _was_ a roaring lion--behold a bleating lamb!


s: Is far away, and means to keep his distance--for his health!


s: The wind comes whispering to me of the country green and cool--


s: Of redwing blackbirds chattering beside a reedy pool;


s: It brings me soothing fancies of the homestead on the hill,


s: Where the sassafras and snakeroot and checkerberries grow.


s: What has become of Ezra Marsh, who lived on Baker's hill?


s: And what's become of Noble Pratt, whose father kept the mill?


s: And what's become of Lizzie Crum and Anastasia Snell,


s: And of Roxie Root, who 'tended school in Boston for a spell?


s: What has become of Levi and his little brother Joe,


s: Who lived next door to where we lived some forty years ago?


s: I'd like to see the Newton boys and Quincy Adams Brown,


s: Who I am sure would answer could they only hear my call!


s: I'd like to see Bill Warner and the Conkey boys again


s: And talk about the times we used to wish that we were men!


s: And one--I shall not name her--could I see her gentle face


s: And hear her girlish treble in this distant, lonely place!


s: The flowers and hopes of springtime--they perished long ago,


s: And the garden where they blossomed is white with winter snow.


s: O cottage 'neath the maples, have you seen those girls and boys


s: That but a little while ago made, oh! such pleasant noise?


s: You see I'm old and weary, and I've traveled long and far;


s: I am looking for my playmates--I wonder where they are!


s: Prate, ye who will, of so-called charms you find across the sea--


s: I've done the grand for fourteen months in every foreign clime,


s: Is that which teaches that this land's the land of lands for me.


s: Now, I am of opinion that a person should get some


s: Warmth in this present life of ours, not all in that to come;


s: So when Boreas blows his blast, through country and through town,


s: Go, guzzle in a pub, or plod some bleak malarious grove,


s: But let me toast my shrunken shanks beside some Yankee stove.


s: The British people say they "don't believe in stoves, y' know;"


s: Perchance because we warmed 'em so completely years ago!


s: What wonder they are wedded to their fads--catarrh and gin?


s: In Germany are stoves galore, and yet you seldom find


s: A fire within the stoves, for German stoves are not that kind;


s: The Germans say that fires make dirt, and dirt's an odious thing,


s: And since the fire costs pfennigs, why, the thrifty soul denies


s: Himself all heat except what comes with beer and exercise.


s: The Frenchman builds a fire of cones, the Irishman of peat;


s: The frugal Dutchman buys a fire when he has need of heat--


s: That is to say, he pays so much each day to one who brings


s: The necessary living coals to warm his soup and things;


s: In Italy and Spain they have no need to heat the house--


s: 'Neath balmy skies the native picks the mandolin and louse.


s: Now, we've no mouldy catacombs, no feudal castles grim,


s: No ruined monasteries, no abbeys ghostly dim;


s: Our ancient history is new, our future's all ahead,


s: And we've got a tariff bill that's made all Europe sick abed--


s: But what is best, though short on tombs and academic groves,


s: We double discount Christendom on sunshine and on stoves.


s: Dear land of mine! I come to you from months of chill and storm,


s: Blessing the honest people whose hearts and hearths are warm;


s: A fairer, sweeter song than this I mean to weave to you


s: When I've reached my lakeside 'dobe and once get heated through;


s: But, even then, the burthen of that fairer song shall be


s: That the land of stoves and sunshine is good enough for me.


s: We'll drink a health to good old friends


s: I'd like to be a cowboy an' ride a fiery hoss


s: Way out into the big an' boundless west;


s: I'd kill the bears an' catamounts an' wolves I come across,


s: An' I'd pluck the bal' head eagle from his nest!


s: An' to scalp the savage Injun in his wigwam would I ride--


s: I'd like to go to Afriky an' hunt the lions there,


s: I would track the fierce gorilla to his equatorial lair,


s: An' beard the cannybull that eats folks raw!


s: His nest down at the bottom of unfathomable lakes--


s: I would I were a pirut to sail the ocean blue,


s: I would scour the billowy main with my gallant pirut crew


s: And to deeds of heroism I'd incite my pirut band--


s: I'd lick the fellers that call round on sister after tea,


s: An' I'd keep on lickin' folks till I got through!


s: But the doctor-man in his two-wheel shay!


s: And he whoaed his horse and he cried "Ahoy!


s: He took out his box and he opened it wide,


s: And when they saw that cunning little mite,


s: They cried in a chorus expressive of delight:


s: They cut out his panties with a circular saw;


s: Which gave such a stress to his oval stride


s: That the people he met invariably cried:


s: And he sits so straight and he pedals so strong


s: That the folks all say as he bowls along:


s: With his eyes aflame and his cheeks aglow,


s: And the world is filled and thrilled with the joy


s: Of that jolly little human, the bow-leg boy--


s: With his wonderful box in his two-wheel shay,


s: I'll ask for the treasure I'd fain possess--


s: Way up at the top of a big stack of straw


s: Was the cunningest parlor that ever you saw!


s: And there could you lie when aweary of play


s: No matter how careworn or sorry one's mood


s: No worldly distraction presumed to intrude.


s: I think I approve of straw parlors, don't you?


s: On that straw parlor's ceiling had builded her nest;


s: And she flew in and out all the happy day long,


s: And twittered the soothingest lullaby song.


s: Now some might suppose that that beautiful bird


s: Performed for her babies the music they heard;


s: _I_ reckon she twittered her répertoire through


s: For the folk in the little straw parlor, don't you?


s: And down from a rafter a spider had hung


s: Some swings upon which he incessantly swung.


s: He cut up such didoes--such antics he played


s: Way up in the air, and was never afraid!


s: He never made use of his horrid old sting,


s: But was just upon earth for the fun of the thing!


s: Of these good-natured insects are met with, don't you?


s: And, down in the strawstack, a wee little mite


s: Of a cricket went chirping by day and by night;


s: And further down, still, a cunning blue mouse


s: In a snug little nook of that strawstack kept house!


s: When the cricket went "chirp," Miss Mousie would squeak


s: "Come in," and a blush would enkindle her cheek!


s: She thought--silly girl! 't was a beau come to woo,


s: But I guess it was only the cricket, don't you?


s: So the cricket, the mouse, and the motherly bird


s: Made as soothingsome music as ever you heard


s: And, meanwhile, that spider by means of his swings


s: Achieved most astounding gyrations and things!


s: No wonder the little folk liked what they saw


s: And loved what they heard in that parlor of straw!


s: In the shade, I opine they just sizzled, don't you?


s: But once there invaded that Eden of straw


s: She pounced on that cricket with rare promptitude


s: And she tucked him away where he'd do the most good;


s: And then, reaching down to the nethermost house,


s: She deftly expiscated little Miss Mouse!


s: And, as for the Swallow, she shrieked and withdrew--


s: I rather admire her discretion, don't you?


s: Now listen: That evening a cyclone obtained,


s: And the mortgage was all on that farm that remained!


s: Barn, strawstack and spider--they all blew away,


s: And nobody knows where they're at to this day!


s: And, as for the little straw parlor, I fear


s: It was wafted clean off this sublunary sphere!


s: When I think of this tragical ending, don't you?


s: "Though _she_ be _false_, _I_ will be true


s: 'T is there to find the loveliest plates


s: I'm sure you'd like to know that place--


s: "Out in the garden abides the Queen of the beautiful Roses--


s: Her do I love and to-night wooed her with passionate singing;


s: And he recketh naught of the ruin wrought


s: Cometh the Wind from the garden, bitter with sorrow of winter.


s: Sigheth and moaneth the Wind: "Out of the desolate garden


s: Come I from vigils with ghosts over the grave of the Summer!"


s: The Wind maketh ever more moan and ever it giveth this answer:


s: And the voice of the ghost in my heart is the voice that forever


s: Crieth such things as a true heart brings


s: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name;


s: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth, in Heaven the same;


s: Give us this day our daily bread, and may our debts to heaven--


s: As we our earthly debts forgive--by Thee be all forgiven;


s: When tempted or by evil vexed, restore Thou us again,


s: Of all the opry-houses then obtaining in the West


s: The one which Milton Tootle owned was, by all odds, the best;


s: Milt, being rich, was much too proud to run the thing alone,


s: So he hired an "acting manager," a gruff old man named Krone--


s: A stern, commanding man with piercing eyes and flowing beard,


s: And his voice assumed a thunderous tone when Jack and I appeared;


s: And would have to have some armies by the time he reached St. Jo!


s: O happy days, when Tragedy still winged an upward flight,


s: When actors wore tin helmets and cambric robes at night!


s: O happy days, when sounded in the public's rapturous ears


s: The creak of pasteboard armor and the clash of wooden spears!


s: O happy times for Jack and me and that one other supe


s: That then and there did constitute the noblest Roman's troop!


s: With togas, battle axes, shields, we made a dazzling show,


s: When we were Roman soldiers with Brutus in St. Jo!


s: We wheeled and filed and double-quicked wherever Brutus led,


s: The folks applauding what we did as much as what he said;


s: 'T was work, indeed; yet Jack and I were willing to allow


s: 'T was easier following Brutus than following father's plough;


s: And at each burst of cheering, our valor would increase--


s: We tramped a thousand miles that night, at fifty cents apiece!


s: For love of Art--not lust for gold--consumed us years ago,


s: To-day, while walking in the Square, Jack Langrish says to me:


s: "My friend, the drama nowadays ain't what it used to be!


s: These farces and these comedies--how feebly they compare


s: With that mantle of the tragic art which Forrest used to wear!


s: My soul is warped with bitterness to think that you and I--


s: Co-heirs to immortality in seasons long gone by--


s: Now draw a paltry stipend from a Boston comic show,


s: We, who were Roman soldiers with Brutus in St. Jo!"


s: And so we talked and so we mused upon the whims of Fate


s: That had degraded Tragedy from its old, supreme estate;


s: And duly, at the Morton bar, we stigmatized the age


s: As sinfully subversive of the interests of the Stage!


s: For Jack and I were actors in the halcyon, palmy days


s: Long, long before the Hoyt school of farce became the craze;


s: Yet, as I now recall it, it was twenty years ago


s: That we were Roman soldiers with Brutus in St. Jo!


s: We were by birth descended from a race of farmer kings


s: Who had done eternal battle with grasshoppers and things;


s: But the Kansas farms grew tedious--we pined for that delight


s: We read of in the _Clipper_ in the barber's shop by night!


s: We would be actors--Jack and I--and so we stole away


s: From our native spot, Wathena, one dull September day,


s: And started for Missouri--ah, little did we know


s: We were going to train as soldiers with Brutus in St. Jo!


s: Our army numbered three in all--Marc Antony's was four;


s: Our army hankered after fame, but Marc's was after gore!


s: And when we reached Philippi, at the outset we were met


s: With an inartistic gusto I can never quite forget.


s: For Antony's overwhelming force of thumpers seemed to be


s: Resolved to do "them Kansas jays"--and that meant Jack and me!


s: I've known the slow-consuming grief and ostentatious pain


s: Accruing from McKean Buchanan's melancholy Dane;


s: Away out West I've witnessed Bandmann's peerless hardihood,


s: With Arthur Cambridge have I wrought where walking was not good;


s: In every phase of horror have I bravely borne my part,


s: And even on my uppers have I proudly stood for Art!


s: And, after all my suffering, it were not hard to show


s: That I got my allopathic dose with Brutus at St. Jo!


s: That army fell upon me in a most bewildering rage


s: And scattered me and mine upon that histrionic stage;


s: My toga rent, my helmet gone and smashed to smithereens,


s: They picked me up and hove me through whole centuries of scenes!


s: I sailed through Christian eras and mediæval gloom


s: And fell from Arden forest into Juliet's painted tomb!


s: Oh, yes, I travelled far and fast that night, and I can show


s: The scars of honest wounds I got with Brutus in St. Jo!


s: Ah me, old Davenport is gone, of fickle fame forgot,


s: And Barrett sleeps forever in a much neglected spot;


s: Fred Warde, the papers tell me, in far woolly western lands


s: Still flaunts the banner of high Tragic Art at one-night stands;


s: And Jack and I, in Charley Hoyt's Bostonian dramas wreak


s: Our vengeance on creation at some eensty dolls per week.


s: By which you see that public taste has fallen mighty low


s: Since we fought as Roman soldiers with Brutus in St. Jo!


s: There were two little skeezucks who lived in the isle


s: They clambered and rollicked in heathenish style


s: They didn't fret much about clothing and such


s: The two little skeezucks once heard of a Fair


s: And they asked of King Fan if they mightn't go there


s: And howbeit he swore that all Fairs were a bore,


s: So the two little skeezucks sailed off to the Fair


s: The two little skeezucks fell down on the sand,


s: Till his majesty graciously bade them stand


s: And how did they dare to indulge in a Fair


s: The two little skeezucks assured their king


s: That the Fair would have been a different thing


s: Had a much harder time in that land far away


s: While, with forks and with spoons, they're denied the sweet boons


s: "And now that you're speaking of things to eat,"


s: "We beg to inquire if you happened to meet


s: "No, that we did not; in that curious spot


s: Where were gathered the fruits of the earth,


s: Then loud laughed that monarch in heathenish mirth


s: And they cried: "There is elsewhere no land upon earth


s: Where they still may be seen with no shirts to keep clean


s: They look like me--those lambs--they say,


s: And is freed from ill by the potent skill


s: The buzzard's breath that smells of death,


s: "While thou art gone to hunt," said she,


s: From bootless chase, cold, gaunt, and grim,


s: Leaps on a bench and screams with fright


s: "Where are you going and what is your game?"


s: And some folks thought it a dream they dreamed


s: Lyman and Frederick are bankers and sich


s: So keep your eyes open and mind your tricks,


s: When the fire of youth is spent, forsooth,


s: Out of the woods by the creek cometh a calling for Peter,


s: And from the orchard a voice echoes and echoes it over;


s: Down in the pasture the sheep hear that strange crying for Peter,


s: Once on a time, long ago, lived in the State of Kentucky


s: And, when the people awoke, seeing that hillside and valley


s: Fonder of books than of chores, you can imagine that Peter


s: Led a sad life on the farm, causing his parents much trouble.


s: Peter neglected his work; therefore that nagging at Peter!


s: Peter got hold of some books--how, I'm unable to tell you;


s: Some have suspected the witch--this is no place for suspicions!


s: It is sufficient to stick close to the thread of the legend.


s: Nor is it stated or guessed what was the trend of those volumes;


s: What thing soever it was--done with a pen and a pencil,


s: So, when the mornings were hot, under the beech or the maple,


s: Peter neglected his chores; therefore that outcry for Peter;


s: Therefore the neighbors allowed evil would surely befall him--


s: Yes, on account of these things, ruin would come upon Peter!


s: Surely enough, on a time, reading and lazing and dreaming


s: Wrought the calamitous ill all had predicted for Peter;


s: For, of a morning in spring when lay the mist in the valleys--


s: Peter derided these things held in such faith by the farmer,


s: Scouted at magic and charms, hooted at Jonahs and hoodoos--


s: Thinking and reading of books must have unsettled his reason!


s: "There ain't no witches," he cried; "it isn't smoky, but foggy!


s: I will go out in the wet--you all can't hender me, nuther!"


s: Surely enough he went out into the damp of the morning,


s: Into the smudge that the witch spread over woodland and meadow,


s: Into the fleecy gray pall brooding on hillside and valley.


s: Laughing and scoffing, he strode into that hideous vapor;


s: Just as he said he would do, just as he bantered and threatened,


s: Ere they could fasten the door, Peter had done gone and done it!


s: Wasting his time over books, you see, had unsettled his reason--


s: Soddened his callow young brain with semi-pubescent paresis,


s: And his neglect of his chores hastened this evil condition.


s: Out of the woods by the creek cometh a calling for Peter


s: And from the orchard a voice echoes and echoes it over;


s: Down in the pasture the sheep hear that shrill crying for Peter,


s: Up from the spring house the wail stealeth anon like a whisper,


s: Over the meadows that call is aye and forever repeated.


s: Such were the voices that whooped wildly and vainly for Peter


s: Decades and decades ago down in the State of Kentucky--


s: Such _are_ the voices that cry now from the woodland and meadow,


s: "Peter--O Peter!" all day, calling, reminding, and chiding--


s: Taking us back to the time when Peter he done gone and done it!


s: These are the voices of those left by the boy in the farmhouse


s: Into the smoke of that witch brewing her damnable porridge!


s: "Peter!" they shrieked in alarm, "Peter!" and evermore "Peter!"--


s: Ran to the corn-crib anon, then to the smoke-house proceeded;


s: Sought him in lane and on pike, called him in orchard and meadow,


s: And from the neighboring farms gathered the men and the women,


s: Who, upon hearing the news, swelled the loud chorus for Peter.


s: Came to engage in the search, gathered and bellowed for Peter.


s: All, famed in Kentucky of old for prowess prodigious at farming,


s: To ascertain where he was at, to help out the chorus for Peter.


s: _Still_ on those farms shall you hear (and still on the turnpikes


s: That pitiful, petulant call, that pleading, expostulant wailing,


s: Croaking of Peter, the boy who didn't believe there were hoodoos,


s: Crying of Peter for aye, forever outcalling for Peter!"


s: This is the story they tell; so in good sooth saith the legend;


s: As I have told it to you, so tell the folk and the legend.


s: That it is true I believe, for on the breezes this morning


s: Come the shrill voices of birds calling and calling for Peter;


s: Out of the maple and beech glitter the eyes of the wailers,


s: Peeping and peering for him who formerly lived in these places--


s: Peter, the heretic lad, lazy and careless and dreaming,


s: Sorely afflicted with books and with pubescent paresis,


s: Hating the things of the farm, care of the barn and the garden,


s: Always neglecting his chores--given to books and to reading,


s: Which, as all people allow, turn the young person to mischief,


s: Harden his heart against toil, wean his affections from tillage.


s: This is the legend of yore told in the state of Kentucky


s: When from the dirt roads and pikes cometh that calling for Peter;


s: Of "Peter" and "Peter" for aye, of "Peter" and "Peter" forever!


s: Which the great poets prefer, being less labor than rhyming


s: I'd not complain of Sister Jane, for she was good and kind,


s: Combining with rare comeliness distinctive gifts of mind;


s: Nay, I'll admit it were most fit that, worn by social cares,


s: She'd crave a change from parlor life to that below the stairs,


s: And that, eschewing needlework and music, she should take


s: Herself to the substantial art of manufacturing cake.


s: At breakfast, then, it would befall that Sister Jane would say:


s: "Mother, if you have got the things, I'll make some cake to-day!"


s: For father hinted sister's cooking cost a frightful lot--


s: But neither _she_ nor _he_ presumed to signify dissent,


s: Accepting it for gospel truth that what she wanted went!


s: No matter what the rest of 'em might chance to have in hand,


s: The whole machinery of the house came to a sudden stand;


s: The pots were hustled off the stove, the fire built up anew,


s: With every damper set just so to heat the oven through;


s: The kitchen-table was relieved of everything, to make


s: That ample space which Jane required when she compounded cake.


s: And, oh! the bustling here and there, the flying to and fro;


s: And butter? Mother said such waste would ruin father, quite!


s: But Sister Jane preserved a mien no pleading could confound


s: As she utilized the raisins and the citron by the pound.


s: Oh, hours of chaos, tumult, heat, vexatious din, and whirl!


s: Of deep humiliation for the sullen hired-girl;


s: Of grief for mother, hating to see things wasted so,


s: And of fortune for that little boy who pined to taste that dough!


s: But, oh! how sister scolded if he stuck his finger in!


s: The chances were as ten to one, before the job was through,


s: That sister'd think of something else she'd great deal rather do!


s: Leaving the girl and ma to finish up as best they might;


s: These tactics (artful Sister Jane) enabled her to take


s: Or shift the credit or the blame of that too-treacherous cake!


s: And yet, unhappy is the man who has no Sister Jane--


s: For he who has no sister seems to me to live in vain.


s: I never had a sister--may be that is why today


s: I'm wizened and dyspeptic, instead of blithe and gay;


s: A boy who's only forty should be full of romp and mirth,


s: But _I _(because I'm sisterless) am the oldest man on earth!


s: Had I a little sister--oh, how happy I should be!


s: I'd never let her cast her eyes on any chap but me;


s: I'd love her and I'd cherish her for better and for worse--


s: I'd buy her gowns and bonnets, and sing her praise in verse;


s: And--yes, what's more and vastly more--I tell you what I'd do:


s: I'd let her make her wondrous cake, and I would eat it, too!


s: I have a high opinion of the sisters, as you see--


s: Another fellow's sister is so very dear to me!


s: I love to work anear her when she's making over frocks,


s: When she patches little trousers or darns prosaic socks;


s: But I draw the line at one thing--yes, I don my hat and take


s: A three hours' walk when she is moved to try her hand at cake!


s: _When Father Time swings round his scythe,


s: Ed was a man that played for keeps, 'nd when he tuk the notion,


s: You cudn't stop him any more'n a dam 'ud stop the ocean;


s: For when he tackled to a thing 'nd sot his mind plum to it,


s: When on a Sunday he remarked uz how he'd gin up smokin'.


s: Now this remark, that Ed let fall, fell, ez I say, on Sunday--


s: Which is the reason we wuz shocked to see him sail in Monday


s: A-puffin' at a snipe that sizzled like a Chinese cracker


s: An' smelt fur all the world like rags instead uv like terbacker;


s: Recoverin' from our first surprise, us fellows fell to pokin'


s: A heap uv fun at "folks uz said how they had gin up smokin'."


s: But Ed--sez he: "I found my work cud not be done without it--


s: So, wholly in a sperrit uv denial 'nd concession,


s: I mortify the flesh 'nd smoke for the sake uv my perfession!"


s: Happy the man that, when his day is done,


s: Lies down to sleep with nothing of regret--


s: The battle he has fought may not be won--


s: The fame he sought be just as fleeting yet;


s: Folding at last his hands upon his breast,


s: Breathing these only works: "I am content."


s: But happier he, that, while his blood is warm,


s: See hopes and friendships dead about him lie--


s: Bares his brave breast to envy's bitter storm,


s: And 'mid it all, stands sturdy and elate,


s: For him who 'neath the buffetings of fate


s: For this vain trash which moderns teach?


s: When the things of earth seemed full of life,


s: And tender the grace of my darling's face


s: But a voice--a spectre's, that mocked at love--


s: "Tick-tock, tick-tock!" 't was the solemn clock


s: Love--love was the theme of the sweet, sweet dream


s: But the spectre stood in that yonder gloom,


s: "Tick-tock, tick-tock"--and they seemed to mock


s: And I'm thinking again of that old time when


s: I am sitting alone by the old hearthstone,


s: "Tick-tock, tick-tock!"--for so the clock


s: "Tick-tock, tick-tock!"-'tis so the clock


s: The kings of earth, whose fleeting pow'r


s: While this one follows pathways martial--


s: Nay, I'd not share your sumptuous cheer,


s: Great smears of soap were here and there--


s: The gray ghosts throng; their whispers steal


s: Dear trysting-place for boys and maids--


s: Where psalmists brood and prophets throng,


s: His palette's wealth, absolved from sin,


s: Lost shades that search in vain for home.


s: They sing, amidst the rain-drenched pines,


s: That shiver still with words like these.


s: So hush, my sweet, and close thine eyes,


s: JEST as atween the awk'ard lines a hand we love has penn'd


s: So, in your simple, homespun art, old honest Yankee friend,


s: A power o' tearful, sweet seggestion lies.


s: We see it all--the pictur' that our mem'ries hold so dear--


s: An' the vision is so nat'ral-like we almost seem to hear


s: The voices that were heshed but yesterday.


s: Ah, who'd ha' thought the music of that distant childhood time


s: Would sleep through all the changeful, bitter years


s: To waken into melodies like Chris'mas bells a-chime


s: An' to claim the ready tribute of our tears!


s: Why, the robins in the maples an' the blackbirds round the pond,


s: The crickets an' the locusts in the leaves,


s: The brook that chased the trout adown the hillside just beyond,


s: An' the swallers in their nests beneath the eaves--


s: They all come troopin' back with you, dear Uncle Josh, to-day,


s: An' they seem to sing with all the joyous zest


s: Of the days when we were Yankee boys an' Yankee girls at play,


s: With nary thought of "livin' way out West"!


s: God bless ye, Denman Thomps'n, for the good y' do our hearts,


s: With this music an' these memories o' youth--


s: God bless ye for the faculty that tops all human arts,


s: By Bethlehem's star that brightly beamed,


s: The swan's sweet song is hushed at last,


s: Lay all unkiss'd 'neath pall and shroud:


s: In one, the head of the state lies dead,


s: But the sword leaps not from that mildewed spot


s: In the market of Clare, so cheery the glare


s: Of the shops and the booths of the tradespeople there;


s: That I take a delight on a Saturday night


s: In walking that way and in viewing the sight.


s: For it's here that one sees all the objects that please--


s: New patterns in silk and old patterns in cheese,


s: For the girls pretty toys, rude alarums for boys,


s: And baubles galore while discretion enjoys--


s: But here I forbear, for I really despair


s: Of naming the wealth of the market of Clare.


s: A rich man comes down from the elegant town


s: And looks at it all with an ominous frown;


s: He seems to despise the grandiloquent cries


s: Of the vender proclaiming his puddings and pies;


s: And sniffing he goes through the lanes that disclose


s: Much cause for disgust to his sensitive nose;


s: And free of the crowd, he admits he is proud


s: That elsewhere in London this thing's not allowed;


s: He has seen nothing there but filth everywhere,


s: And he's glad to get out of the market of Clare.


s: But the child that has come from the gloom of the slum


s: Is charmed by the magic of dazzle and hum;


s: He feasts his big eyes on the cakes and the pies,


s: And they seem to grow green and protrude with surprise


s: At the goodies they vend and the toys without end--


s: And it's oh! if he had but a penny to spend!


s: But alas, he must gaze in a hopeless amaze


s: At treasures that glitter and torches that blaze--


s: What sense of despair in this world can compare


s: With that of the waif in the market of Clare?


s: So, on Saturday night, when my custom invites


s: A stroll in old London for curious sights,


s: Where goodies are spread in a motley array,


s: The things which some eyes would appear to despise


s: Impress me as pathos in homely disguise,


s: And my battered waif-friend shall have pennies to spend,


s: So long as I've got 'em (or chums that will lend);


s: And the urchin shall share in my joy and declare


s: That there's beauty and good in the market of Clare.


s: I'm weary of this weather and I hanker for the ways


s: Which people read of in the psalms and preachers paraphrase--


s: The grassy fields, the leafy woods, the banks where I can lie


s: And listen to the music of the brook that flutters by,


s: Or, by the pond out yonder, hear the redwing blackbird's call


s: Where he makes believe he has a nest, but hasn't one at all;


s: And by my side should be a friend--a trusty, genial friend,


s: With plenteous store of tales galore and natural leaf to lend;


s: Oh, how I pine and hanker for the gracious boon of spring--


s: For _then_ I'm going a-fishing with John Lyle King!


s: How like to pigmies will appear creation, as we float


s: Upon the bosom of the tide in a three-by-thirteen boat--


s: Forgotten all vexations and all vanities shall be,


s: As we cast our cares to windward and our anchor to the lee;


s: Anon the minnow-bucket will emit batrachian sobs,


s: And the devil's darning-needles shall come wooing of our bobs;


s: The sun shall kiss our noses and the breezes toss our hair


s: (This latter metaphoric--we've no fimbriae to spare!);


s: And I--transported by the bliss--shan't do a plaguey thing


s: But cut the bait and string the fish for John Lyle King!


s: Or, if I angle, it will be for bullheads and the like,


s: While he shall fish for gamey bass, for pickerel, and for pike;


s: I really do not care a rap for all the fish that swim--


s: But it's worth the wealth of Indies just to be along with him


s: In grassy fields, in leafy woods, beside the water-brooks,


s: And hear him tell of things he's seen or read of in his books--


s: To hear the sweet philosophy that trickles in and out


s: The while he is discoursing of the things we talk about;


s: A fountain-head refreshing--a clear, perennial spring


s: Is the genial conversation of John Lyle King!


s: Should varying winds or shifting tides redound to our despite--


s: In other words, should we return all bootless home at night,


s: I'd back him up in anything he had a mind to say


s: Of mighty bass he'd left behind or lost upon the way;


s: I'd nod assent to every yarn involving piscine game--


s: I'd cross my heart and make my affidavit to the same;


s: For what is friendship but a scheme to help a fellow out--


s: And what a paltry fish or two to make such bones about!


s: Nay, Sentiment a mantle of sweet charity would fling


s: O'er perjuries committed for John Lyle King.


s: At night, when as the camp-fire cast a ruddy, genial flame,


s: He'd bring his tuneful fiddle out and play upon the same;


s: No diabolic engine this--no instrument of sin--


s: No relative at all to that lewd toy, the violin!


s: But a godly hoosier fiddle--a quaint archaic thing


s: Full of all the proper melodies our grandmas used to sing;


s: Beneath the wizard sorcery of John Lyle King.


s: The subsequent proceedings should interest me no more--


s: Wrapped in a woolen blanket should I calmly dream and snore;


s: The finny game that swims by day is my supreme delight--


s: And _not_ the scaly game that flies in darkness of the night!


s: Let those who are so minded pursue this latter game


s: But not repine if they should lose a boodle in the same;


s: For an example to you all one paragon should serve--


s: He towers a very monument to valor and to nerve;


s: No bob-tail flush, no nine-spot high, no measly pair can wring


s: A groan of desperation from John Lyle King!


s: A truce to badinage--I hope far distant is the day


s: When from these scenes terrestrial our friend shall pass away!


s: We like to hear his cheery voice uplifted in the land,


s: To see his calm, benignant face, to grasp his honest hand;


s: We like him for his learning, his sincerity, his truth,


s: His gallantry to woman and his kindliness to youth,


s: For the lenience of his nature, for the vigor of his mind,


s: For the fulness of that charity he bears to all mankind--


s: That's why we folks who know him best so reverently cling


s: (And that is why I pen these lines) to John Lyle King.


s: And now adieu, a fond adieu to thee, O muse of rhyme--


s: I do remand thee to the shades until that happier time


s: When fields are green, and posies gay are budding everywhere,


s: And there's a smell of clover bloom upon the vernal air;


s: When by the pond out yonder the redwing blackbird calls,


s: And distant hills are wed to Spring in veils of water-falls;


s: When from his aqueous element the famished pickerel springs


s: Two hundred feet into the air for butterflies and things--


s: _Then_ come again, O gracious muse, and teach me how to sing


s: The glory of a fishing cruise with John Lyle King!


s: And slept, and dreamed strange things to see.


s: When out popped the noble stag--hush, hush!


s: As ahead of the clamorous pack he sprang,


s: I pelted him hard in the hide--piff, bang!


s: Frisked his heels at those huntsmen three,


s: Then leagues o'er hill and dale was he--


s: I used to think that luck wuz luck and nuthin' else but luck--


s: It made no diff'rence how or when or where or why it struck;


s: But sev'ral years ago I changt my mind, an' now proclaim


s: That luck's a kind uv science--same as any other game;


s: It happened out in Denver in the spring uv '80 when


s: Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten.


s: Salty wuz a printer in the good ol' Tribune days,


s: An', natural-like, he fell into the good ol' Tribune ways;


s: So, every Sunday evenin' he would sit into the game


s: Which in this crowd uv thoroughbreds I think I need not name;


s: An' there he'd sit until he rose, an', when he rose, he wore


s: Invariably less wealth about his person than before.


s: But once there came a powerful change; one sollum Sunday night


s: Occurred the tidal wave that put ol' Salty out o' sight.


s: He win on deuce an' ace an' Jack--he win on king an' queen--


s: Clif Bell allowed the like uv how he win wuz never seen.


s: An' how he done it wuz revealed to all us fellers when


s: He said he teched a humpback to win out ten.


s: There must be somethin' in it, for he never win afore,


s: An' when he told the crowd about the humpback, how they swore!


s: For every sport allows it is a losin' game to luck


s: Agin the science uv a man who's teched a hump f'r luck;


s: And there is no denyin' luck wuz nowhere in it when


s: Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten.


s: Cats, funerils, cripples, beggers have I treated with regard,


s: An' charity subscriptions have hit me powerful hard;


s: But what's the use uv talkin'? I say, an' say again:


s: You've got to tech a humpback to win out ten!


s: So, though I used to think that luck wuz lucky, I'll allow


s: That luck, for luck, agin a hump aint nowhere in it now!


s: An' though I can't explain the whys an' wherefores, I maintain


s: Salty teched a humpback an' win out ten!


s: In these rushful days an apology is advisable, if not absolutely


s: interruption of other, as it seemed to me, more important--and


s: They are for the most part, simply attempts at concrete and


s: Most writers, I imagine, find themselves at times in that same


s: predicament--worried by some thought which dances within them and


s: evolve, and so put an end to its buzzing.


s: In their previous states these little Bonnet-Bees of mine have


s: apparently given pleasure to quite a number of intelligent and


s: thoughtful folk; and now--chiefly, I am bound to say, for my own


s: satisfaction in seeing them all together--I have gathered


s: Our eager keels quest unaccustomed waters,


s: And, from the vast uncharted waste in front,


s: To greet our prows with mightiest possibilities;


s: And, maybe, Death!--and so, the Larger Life!


s: And, maybe, Life,--Life on a bounding tide,


s: Of help swift-born to drowning mariners;


s: Of cheer to ships dismasted in the gale;


s: --And wide free seas of unimagined bliss,


s: --And Treasure Isles, and Kingdoms to be won,


s: The Mills of God grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small--


s: So soft and slow the great wheels go they scarcely move at all;


s: But the souls of men fall into them and are powdered into dust,


s: And in that dust grow the Passion-Flowers--Love, Hope, Trust.


s: Some grow up tall and stately, and some grow sweet and small,


s: But Life out of Death is in each one--with purpose grow they all.


s: NOTE.--The first line only is adapted from the Sinngedichte of


s: That climbs through Darkness up to Light,--


s: Not so the temple of thy grace is reared.


s: His Christ shall enter and shall dwell therein.


s: _Thy temple face is chiselled from within_.


s: Than through much increase to be lifted up on high,


s: Better by one sweet soul, constant and true,


s: Than all the kingdoms of delight to trample through,


s: Yet best--the need that broke me at Thy feet,


s: And cast my chastened heart, a sacrifice complete,


s: For all the world is nought, and less than nought,


s: That my dear Lord, with His own life, my ransom bought,


s: A Potter, playing with his lump of clay,


s: Than this that I have fashioned of my clay.


s: And I, of mine own skill, did fashion it,--


s: The Master, looking out on Pots and Men,


s: Heard his vain boasting, smiled at that he said.


s: "_The clay is Mine, and I the Potter made,


s: As I made all things,--stars, and clay, and men.


s: In what doth this man overpass the rest?


s: He touched the Image,--and it fell to dust,


s: He touched the Potter,--he to dust did fall.


s: Gently the Master,--"_I did make them all,--


s: All things and men, heaven's glories, and the dust.


s: Who with Me works shall quicken death itself,


s: The night draws on, though night and day are one


s: Its pole all broken, and its cover rent,--


s: I hear a clear voice calling, calling clear,--


s: What vast expansions shall be ours that day?


s: What transformations of this house of clay,


s: To fit the heavenly mansions and the light of day?


s: A tiny, shapeless thing, shrivelled and dry,


s: And, in the fulness of its time, is seen


s: A form of peerless beauty, robed and crowned


s: Instinct with loveliness, and sweet and rare,


s: For man is but the seed of what he shall be.


s: He drops the husk and cleaves his upward way,


s: No fetters then! No bonds of time or space!


s: But powers as ample as the boundless grace


s: That suffered man, and death, and yet, in tenderness,


s: Set wide the door, and passed Himself before--


s: Dropped into earth for heavenly blossoming.


s: Perchance, when comes the time of harvesting,


s: May find some use for even a humble tare.


s: We know not what we shall be--only this--


s: That we shall be made like Him--as He is.


s: When the Bells of Ys rang softly,--softly,


s: Not a sound was heard in the old gray town,


s: As the silvery tones came floating down,


s: But life stood still with uncovered head,


s: _When the bells aloft sang softly--softly,


s: And still those Bells ring softly--softly,


s: Though full twelve hundred years have gone,


s: Since the waves rolled over the old gray town,


s: Bold men of the sea, in the grip of the flow,


s: Still hear the Bells, as they pass and go,


s: _When the Bells below sing softly--softly,


s: O the Mystical Bells, they still ring softly,


s: For the sound of their singing shall never die


s: In the hearts that are tuned to their melody;


s: And down in the world's wild rush and roar,


s: That sweeps us along to the Opening Door.


s: Hearts still beat high as they beat of yore,


s: _When the Bells sing softly--softly--softly,


s: For, first, his thoughts of his own self are full;


s: For them, life's best is centred round their love;


s: Till younger lives come all their love to prove.


s: For every Guest who comes with him to sup,


s: The Host compounds a strangely mingled cup;--


s: And, will-he, nil-he, each must drink it up.


s: For the shuttle, once sped, is sped--is sped;--


s: The threads we see, but the pattern is known


s: The fair life-giving sun doth scatter blessings


s: But the shadows that come of the life-giving sun


s: No mortal life but has its shadowed times--


s: Life without shadow could not taste the full


s: No shadow falls, but there, behind it, stands


s: Behind the wrongs and sorrows of life's troublous ways


s: Hither and thither moves, and mates and slays,


s: And one by one back in the Closet lays."


s: A Chequer-Board of mingled Light and Shade?


s: Moved and removed, without a word to say,


s: By the Same Hand that Board and Pieces made?


s: Each Soul doth tend its own immortal flame,


s: Fans it to Heaven, or smothers it in shame.


s: "This Road?--or That?" and as he chooses them,


s: So shall his journey end in Night or Day.


s: And a rich, rich harvest for his sowing.


s: What is death to such an one as Great-Heart?


s: One sigh, perchance, for work unfinished here;--


s: Then a swift passing to a mightier sphere,


s: New joys, perfected powers, the vision clear,


s: Nor dead nor sleeping! He lives on! His name


s: Shall kindle many a heart to equal flame.


s: The fire he lighted shall burn on and on,


s: Till all the darkness of the lands be gone,


s: And all the kingdoms of the earth be won,


s: But lives and loves and works through all eternity_.


s: Yet there are burdens we can share with none,


s: And paths remote where we must walk alone,


s: If these but serve to bring the burdened heart


s: Time beats out all things with his iron flail,


s: With slow, sure strokes of his iron flail,


s: Shimmering, glimmering Pearl of the sea!


s: With the long sweet kiss of the Silver Sea,


s: With the rainbow kiss of the Silver Sea,--


s: When calm and white, in the mystic light


s: Of her quivering pathway, broad and bright,


s: The Queen of the Night, in silver dight,


s: The joy and the longing are there with me,--


s: The gleam and the glamour come back to me,--


s: In a mystical rapture there comes to me,


s: Bright stars of Faith and Hope, her eyes


s: Shall shine for us through all the years.


s: Through all her life, and ne'er was shut.


s: She'll greet us with her soft, "Come ben!"


s: In the sorrowful great silence of the peoples_?


s: In the silence and the sorrow of the peoples.


s: In the hearts of her true and faithful peoples.


s: The soul's deliverance of a mighty people.


s: The long-low-hanging war-cloud rolled away,


s: And night glowed brighter than the brightest day.


s: Great ocean, was your mighty calm unstirred


s: As through your depths, unseen, unheard,


s: And sheathed once more the keen, reluctant sword?


s: The word came to us as we knelt in prayer


s: Peace found us on our knees, and prayer for Peace


s: Was changed to prayer of deepest thankfulness.


s: We knelt in War, we rose in Peace to bless


s: No matter now the rights and wrongs of it;


s: You fought us bravely, and we fought you fair.


s: The fight is done. Grip hands! No malice bear!


s: We greet you, brothers, to the nobler strife


s: Join hands! Join hands! Ye nations of the stock!


s: And make henceforth a mighty Trust for Peace.


s: A great enduring peace that shall withstand


s: The shocks of time and circumstance; and every land


s: Shall rise and bless you--and shall never cease


s: To bless you--for that glorious gift of Peace.


s: Stephen, who died while I stood by consenting,


s: Wrought in his death the making of a life,


s: Bruised one hard heart to thought of swift repenting,


s: Stephen, the Saint, triumphant and forgiving,


s: Prayed while the hot blows beat him to the earth.


s: Was that a dying? Rather was it living!--


s: Through his soul's travail my soul came to birth.


s: Stephen, the Martyr, full of faith and fearless,


s: Smiled when his bruised lips could no longer pray,--


s: Smiled with a courage undismayed and peerless,--


s: Smiled!--and that smile is with me, night and day.


s: O, was it _I_ that stood there, all consenting?


s: _I_--at whose feet the young men's clothes were laid?


s: Was it _my_ will that wrought that hot tormenting?


s: My heart that boasted over Stephen, dead?


s: Yes, it was I. And sore to me the telling.


s: Yes, it was I. And thought of it has been


s: God's potent spur my whole soul's might compelling


s: Bond-slave to Christ, and in my bonds rejoicing,


s: Earmarked to Him I counted less than nought;


s: His man henceforward, eager to be voicing


s: That wondrous Love which Saul the Roman sought.


s: Sought him and found him, working bitter sorrow;


s: Found him and claimed him, chose him for his own;


s: Bound him in darkness, till the glorious morrow


s: Unsealed his eyes to that he had not known.


s: But, in the moment when the light fails here,


s: The darkness opens, and the vision clear


s: On his enraptured gaze heaven's glory breaks,


s: He was asleep, and in that moment wakes.


s: You may close your heart, but you cannot shirk


s: But he played our game, so we kept the Turk,


s: For our own sake's sake we kept the Turk.


s: There is blood on the hearth, and blood in the well,


s: And the whole fair land is a red, red hell,--


s: --"_For the sake of our women and children_!"


s: Yea, cleanse them in blood if it _must_ be!


s: For blood that is shed in the cause of right


s: Has power, as of old, to wash souls white.


s: But grace grows dim and the fire grows cold,


s: We are heavy with greed and lust and gold,


s: We have stained our hands in the times that are past,


s: _Hear the voices of the women on the road_!


s: _Hear the laughter of the children on the road_!


s: _Hear the clink of breaking fetters on the road_!


s: _Hear the slow, sure tread of Freedom on the road_!


s: The sky hangs low with its weight of snow,


s: They are snug and warm, and safe from harm,


s: And the dogs and I, by the blazing fire,


s: A full, fat year has brought good cheer,


s: Laugh loud and long, with jest and song,


s: Let them laugh and sing, let them have their fling,


s: The old house moans, and sighs and groans,


s: We have seen brave times, you and I, old friend,


s: We have stood foursquare to many a storm,


s: Her mother sleeps on the hill out there,


s: She is free from care, she is happier there,


s: And I've sometimes hoped they may have met,


s: Can it be ... I thought I heard ... but no,


s: 'Twas only a branch that shed its snow,--


s: It is!... It is!... Now I thank Thee, Lord,


s: A look or a sign that my love shall divine


s: She dropped him a rose--'twas a white one,


s: Life's truest harvest is in what we _would_,


s: And measures less the body than the soul.


s: And _would_ for _could_ shall oft, perchance, atone.


s: Not equal to the soul's outreaching hope.


s: Then, with brave patience, leave the rest


s: He'll judge you justly ere the record close.


s: Still breaks and blows, still gleams and glows,


s: The Golden Rose still breaks and blows;--


s: What good to us that Thou hast made him whole,


s: Of Love, and Hope, and Tenderness divine;


s: Christ stands without _your_ door and gently knocks;


s: But if your gold, or swine, the entrance blocks,


s: He forces no man's hold--he will depart,


s: And leave you to the treasures of your heart.


s: No cumbered chamber will the Master share,


s: By cleansing fires, then plenished fresh and fair


s: With meekness, and humility, and prayer.


s: There will He come, yet, coming, even there


s: He stands and waits, and will no entrance win


s: And they seek little babies who aren't sleeping!


s: Lie still, lie still, and maybe you'll hear--


s: The swinging bells and the singing bells,--


s: The bells that are heard but never are seen,


s: The wind and the wolves, and the bells in between,--


s: My man and my lad--their bones are white,


s: Their hearts were bold and their faces bright;


s: The sun was red and the clouds were black,


s: And the sky was heavy with flying wrack,


s: When forth they fared,--and they came not back;


s: Forth they fared and they came not back,


s: Thou hast not left us wholly comfortless.


s: Thou hast sent down the glory of the Light.


s: He only sees both sides of that dark vail


s: For knowledge would bring Hope to sudden death,


s: And cloud the present with the coming ill.


s: Who gave me Freedom with the air and light.


s: We need no priest to tell us God is Love.--


s: We need no priest to point a way to heaven.--


s: Man's birthright, with the light and air,--


s: Let no man strive to rob us of this right!


s: And, by God's help, we'll keep our heritage!


s: The good intent of God became the Christ.


s: And lived on earth--the Living Love of God,


s: That men might draw to closer touch with heaven,


s: Since Christ in all the ways of man hath trod.


s: For there they would bury the dead who died


s: And a quag that boiled and writhed and coiled


s: Till his sad soul came, all black with shame,


s: On the quivering face of that dread place,


s: Then there came by the soul of Iscariot,


s: They chased him near, they chased him far,


s: "_The nails through thy dear hands and feet,--


s: The thorns that on thy brow they plied,--


s: And ever they came by the Potter's Field,


s: Red was the Rood still with his blood,--


s: But the black quag boiled and writhed and coiled,


s: Bright was that Light, and wondrous bright,


s: Where the Christ had gone His footsteps shone,


s: And the full of his sin was known to him


s: They flailed him with their dead bodies,


s: For the Lord Christ came dead souls to claim


s: Who shall declare this good--that ill?--


s: When earthly treasure proves but dross,--


s: But sees the root, the flower, the fruit,


s: Strike home, strike home for Truth and Right!


s: To where the city walls rose fair and white


s: Above the darkening plain,--a goodly sight.


s: My eyes did seek the Gates--the Great White Gates


s: That close not ever, day or night, but stand


s: Wide as the love of Christ that opened them.


s: But nought could I discern of gate or breach,


s: The wall stood flawless far as eye could reach.


s: So small, a man might hardly enter there,


s: Low-browed and shadowed, and close-pressed to earth--


s: I looked and wondered. Could this trivial way


s: Be the sole entrance to the light of day?


s: And as I stood perplext, a clear voice cried,--


s: _Come! Enter in! The Gate is open wide_."


s: And while I stood in doubt, there came along


s: Of Kings. He looked for gates that should swing wide


s: To meet his high estate and welcome him.


s: He stood and gazed, then raised his voice and cried,


s: "My work on earth is done. I would within,"


s: And from the City wall the voice replied,--


s: "_Come! Enter in! The Gate is open wide_."


s: He stood perplext, then set himself to wait,


s: Till Might should help him to discern the Gate.


s: He scarce had breathed the common earthly air.


s: Knowledge was his, and wisdom so profound,


s: All things he knew in heaven and earth. No bound


s: The great wide-opened Gate,--and found it not.


s: He stood perplext, and then cried wearily,


s: "Pray give me entrance. I am done with earth."


s: And from the City wall the clear voice cried,--


s: He looked in vain, then set himself to wait,


s: Till Wisdom should direct him to the gate.


s: And pure of heart, and in her goodly deeds


s: More richly robed than Fashion's fairest queen.


s: She said no word, but stood and looked upon


s: The shining walls, with eyes that answering shone.


s: She looked in vain, then set herself to wait,


s: Till Love should help her to discern the Gate.


s: And one there came, with clear keen face--a Judge


s: Of men on earth, and famed for fearless truth.


s: His robes were stainless and his heart was clean.


s: "Entrance I crave," he cried, "to well-earned rest,--


s: And mercy-tempered justice and no more."


s: "_Come! Enter in! The Gate is open wide_."


s: He looked in vain, then set himself to wait


s: Till Judgment should direct him to the Gate.


s: And one there came, sad-eyed, his brow still raw


s: From pressure of an earthly crown. He too


s: Sought glorious entrance through wide-opened gates,


s: And stood perplext. He had borne well his part,


s: And served his people and his God, and died


s: The Martyr's death, and yet he found no gate.


s: "I fain would rest," he cried. "My life has been


s: One ceaseless striving. I would enter in."


s: And from the City wall the clear voice cried,--


s: Perplext he stood, then set himself to wait,


s: Till Patient Waiting should discern the Gate.


s: And yet subserved them to his Master's good,


s: Came searching for the heavenly gates, and stood


s: "I gave of all I had," he cried, "and held


s: Nought as my own,--yet entrance is denied."


s: "_Come! Enter in! The Gate is open wide_."


s: He stood perplext, then set himself to wait


s: Till Charity should point him to the Gate.


s: And many more there were who entrance craved,


s: And sought the Great White Gates, and stood perplext.


s: And ever, from within, the clear voice cried,--


s: They sought in vain, and set themselves to wait


s: Till Light was given them to discern the Gate.


s: And then--a child in white came carolling


s: He stopped and looked, then laughed with childish glee,--


s: "_Why wait ye here without? Come, follow me_!"--


s: And passed, scarce bending, through the lowly door,--


s: We heard his singing,--him we saw no more.


s: The woman stooped and looked, with eyes that shone,


s: Into the doorway where the child had gone;


s: Then loosed her robes and dropped, and in a shift


s: Of pure white samite, on her hands and knees


s: She crept into the doorway and was gone,


s: And we stood gazing at the way she went.


s: And, one by one, they followed. First the Judge


s: Laid by his robes, and bowed him to the ground,


s: And followed--where the little child had led.


s: And he whose brow had borne that weighty crown


s: Bent low and followed,--where the little child had led.


s: And he who knew so much of earthly things


s: Discarded them, and, on his hands and knees,


s: Crept through the doorway,--where the little child had led.


s: And followed,--where the little child had led.


s: And, last of all, the War Lord cast aside


s: His victor's wreaths, and all his pomp and pride,


s: And, groping through my fears, I bowed my head


s: O, you who have never been bond or blind,


s: Are the sweet chords strained and jangled?


s: Trembling chords make heaven's sweet singers.


s: Our feet have wandered, wandered far and wide,--


s: From that strait path in which the Master died,--


s: Low have we fallen from our high estate,


s: Long have we lingered, lingered long and late;


s: There is no sin His Love can not forgive;--


s: No soul so stained His Love will not receive;


s: No load of sorrow but His touch can move,


s: No hedge of thorns that can withstand His Love;


s: Nought but ourselves can keep us from His side;--


s: What though no place we win in life's rough race,


s: Our loss may prove the measure of His grace.


s: With five small casual loaves of bread,--


s: Since Thou hast trod life's common ways.


s: Still runs through life's remotest vein;


s: All down the years, despite men's fears,


s: There is darkness still, gross darkness, Lord,


s: There are prisoners still in the prison-house,


s: There are doors still bolted against Thee,


s: And the children,--the little children,--


s: Till those that see not have their sight;


s: When earth's discordant strains shall blend--


s: A land of lights and shadows intervolved,


s: A land of blazing sun and blackest night,


s: A fortress armed, and guarded jealously,


s: With every portal barred against the Light.


s: A land in thrall to ancient mystic faiths,


s: A land of iron creeds and gruesome deeds,


s: And all the noisome growths that Darkness breeds.


s: Like sunny waves upon an iron-bound coast,


s: The Light beats up against the close-barred doors,


s: And seeks vain entrance, yet beats on and on,


s: In hopeful faith which all defeat ignores.


s: But--time shall come, when, like a swelling tide,


s: The Word shall leap the barriers, and The Light


s: Shall sweep the land; and Faith and Love and Hope


s: Shall win for Christ this stronghold of the night.


s: To lift the sombre fringes of the Night,


s: To open lands long darkened to the Light,


s: To heal grim wounds, to give the blind new sight,


s: Like Him he served, he walked life's troublous ways,


s: With heart undaunted, and with calm, high face,


s: And gemmed each day with deeds of sweetest grace;


s: In His Master's might, to spread the Light,


s: Like him he served, he would not turn aside;


s: Nor home nor friends could his true heart divide;


s: He served his Master, and naught else beside,


s: He passed like light across the darkened land,


s: And dying, left behind him this command,


s: "The door is open! So let it ever stand!"


s: Worn with long journeyings through the Great Dark Land,


s: Rests for a season from his mighty labours,


s: And seeks fresh vigour in a change of toil.


s: With his own hands he helps to build a temple,


s: Here, in the wilds, a temple to his God,


s: Rough-hewn and roughly thatched, but still a house


s: To Him whose noblest temples are not built


s: With hands, but in the opened hearts of men.


s: Thus, as he toils, with axe, and nail, and hammer,


s: His heart rejoices,--so the Master worked,


s: To alter life's complexion for eternity!


s: And half my heart is buried there with you,


s: He'll take me home and give me well-earned rest.


s: Long lagoons of softest azure, curving beaches white as snow,


s: Lap in sweetness and in beauty all the isles of Owhyhee.


s: Land more lovely sun ne'er shone on than these isles of Owhyhee,


s: On the slope of Mauna Loa, in the pit of Kilauea,


s: In the lake of molten lava, in the sea of living fire,


s: Pélé of the place of torment, Pélé of the Lake of Fire.


s: In the dim far-off beginnings, Pélé flung the islands up


s: From the bottom of the ocean, from the darksome underworld;


s: Built them for a house to dwell in, built them for herself alone,


s: Then in wrath the goddess thundered from the Lake of Ceaseless


s: Flamed and thundered in her anger, till the very skies were red,


s: Poured black ruin on the island, shook it to its rocky bed.


s: Chose the fairest youth or maiden, pointed with a deadly finger,


s: Led them weeping up the mountain, victims to the Lake of Fire.


s: On the snowy beach of coral, youths and maidens full of laughter,


s: Louder still and louder, Pélé roars within her lake of fire,


s: And the youths and maidens trembling look in fear up Mauna Loa,


s: Now he stands in dreadful menace, seeking with a baleful eye


s: For the sweetest and the fairest--for the meetest sacrifice.


s: For we each die deaths while waiting, till dread Pélé's choice be


s: Slowly points the dreadful finger, marks the newly-wedded bride;


s: For the common good and safety,--_Pélé must be satisfied_!


s: One is there whose life is broken, parted from his chosen bride,


s: But the threatening finger, heedless of the lives it may divide,


s: Lights upon a tiny maiden,--_Pélé must be satisfied_!


s: But a greater one than Pélé walked the mountain side that day;--


s: Swiftly as a saving angel, gleaming like a heavenly flame,


s: Thirsting like a sword for battle, fair Kapiolani came.


s: Radiant with the faith of martyrs, all aglow with new-born zeal,


s: Burning to release the people from the bondage and the thrall,


s: From the deadly thrall of Pélé, from the ever-threatening doom,


s: From the everlasting menace, from the awful lake of fire,


s: Like a bright avenging angel fair Kapiolani came!


s: "Hear me now, you priest of Pélé, and ye men of Owhyhee!


s: Hearken! ye who cringe and tremble, at the sound of Kilauea,


s: Fearful of the wrath of Pélé, fearful of the lake of fire!--


s: Priest, I say there is no Pélé! Pélé is not--never was!


s: Pélé lives but in your legends--there is only one true God!"


s: "Curséd, thrice accurséd, you who thus great Pélé do defy,


s: Here, upon her sacred mountain, of a surety you shall die!


s: Pélé, mighty Pélé, Vengeance! Strike her with thy dreadful doom!


s: So let every scoffer perish!--Pélé! Pélé! Pélé! come!"


s: And Kapiolani answered--"Pélé! Pélé! Pélé! come!"


s: Dauntless stood Kapiolani, dauntless with her faithful few.


s: Pélé, is not, never has been. All your worship is a lie.


s: But if Pélé does not end me, then her worship ends this day."


s: Then the great high priest of Pélé turned to fiery Kilauea.


s: "Come!" he said, "the goddess calls you!"--and they climbed the


s: Up the slopes of Mauna Loa, to the hell of Kilauea,


s: Fearful, hopeful, all the people crept along the shaking path,


s: Certain that Kapiolani would be sacrificed that day,


s: To the vengeance of the goddess, to the anger of Pélé.


s: Thus, Kapiolani, dauntless, singing softly as she went,


s: With a face as calm and fearless as a child on pleasure bent,


s: Climbed the side of Mauna Loa, to the dreadful lake of fire,


s: Climbed to Halé-Mau-Mau,--to the dreadful lake of fire.


s: Come now, Pélé, or for ever own that you are overcome!


s: "Pélé comes not. Is she sleeping? Is she wandering to-day?


s: Is she busy with her burnings? Has the goddess nought to say?


s: Hear me, friends!--There is no Pélé! One true God alone there is.


s: Goodness, Mercy, Loving-Kindness, Life Eternal--all are His!


s: We come from the gloom of the shadowy trail


s: Where no man could tell, when the darkness fell,


s: To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,--


s: There are wanderers still, without ever a guide,


s: They are bond and blind,--to their darkness resigned,


s: To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night,


s: We come from the land of the blazing sun,


s: From the land that was blacker than night,--


s: From the white-hot sand of the Great Dark Land,


s: To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,


s: There are sorrows still, there is darkness still,


s: There are still gross wrongs to set right;


s: There are grim black stains, there are peoples in chains,


s: To be loosed from the grip of the Night.


s: We come from the East, from the glowing East,


s: Still reaches across through its ages of loss,


s: O, the sorrowful ones of the caste-bound lands,


s: How they sigh in the gloom of their close-barred tomb


s: We come from the Isles, from the Western Isles,


s: Where the smiles and the wiles, with which Nature beguiles,


s: To the darkness and the sorrow of the Night,--


s: There is Darkness more deadly than Death itself,


s: There is Blindness beyond that of sight.


s: There are souls fast bound in the depths profound


s: To the darkness and the sorrow of their Night,


s: Lord, give me faith!--to live from day to day,


s: With tranquil heart to do my simple part,


s: And, with my hand in Thine, just go Thy way.


s: Lord, give me faith!--to trust, if not to know;


s: With quiet mind in all things Thee to find,


s: And, child-like, go where Thou wouldst have me go.


s: Lord, give me faith!--to leave it all to Thee,


s: The future is Thy gift, I would not lift


s: The vail Thy Love has hung 'twixt it and me.


s: For all things beautiful, and good, and true;


s: For things that seemed not good yet turned to good;


s: For all the sweet compulsions of Thy will


s: That chased, and tried, and wrought us to Thy shape;


s: For things unnumbered that we take of right,


s: And value first when first they are withheld;


s: For light and air; sweet sense of sound and smell;


s: For ears to hear the heavenly harmonies;


s: For hearts to apprehend Thee everywhere;


s: For all the wonders of this wondrous world;--


s: The pure pearl splendours of the coming day,


s: The breaking east,--the rosy flush,--the Dawn,--


s: For that bright gem in morning's coronal,


s: That one lone star that gleams above the glow;


s: For that high glory of the impartial sun,--


s: The golden noonings big with promised life;


s: The matchless pageant of the evening skies.


s: The wide-flung gates,--the gleams of Paradise,--


s: The sweet, soft gloaming, and the friendly stars;


s: The vesper stillness, and the creeping shades;


s: The moon's pale majesty; the pulsing dome,


s: Wherein we feel Thy great heart throbbing near;


s: For sweet laborious days and restful nights;


s: For work to do, and strength to do the work;


s: For those first tiny, prayerful-folded hands


s: That pierce the winter's crust, and softly bring


s: Life out of death, the endless mystery;--


s: For all the first sweet flushings of the Spring;


s: The greening earth, the tender heavenly blue;


s: The rich brown furrows gaping for the seed;


s: For all Thy grace in bursting bud and leaf,--


s: The bridal sweetness of the orchard trees,


s: Rose-tender in their coming fruitfulness;


s: The fragrant snow-drifts flung upon the breeze;


s: The grace and glory of the fruitless flowers,


s: For hedgerows sweet with hawthorn and wildrose;


s: For meadows spread with gold and gemmed with stars;


s: For every bird that builds in joyous hope;


s: For every lamb that frisks beside its dam;


s: For every leaf that rustles in the wind;


s: For spiring poplar, and for spreading oak;


s: For queenly birch, and lofty swaying elm,


s: For the great cedar's benedictory grace;


s: For earth's ten thousand fragrant incenses,--


s: Sweet altar-gifts from leaf and fruit and flower;


s: For every wondrous thing that greens and grows;


s: For wide-spread cornlands,--billowing golden seas;


s: For rippling stream, and white-laced waterfall;


s: For purpling mountains; lakes like silver shields;


s: For white-piled clouds that float against the blue;


s: For tender green of far-off upland slopes;


s: For fringing forests and far-gleaming spires;


s: For those white peaks, serene and grand and still;


s: For that deep sea--a shallow to Thy love;


s: For round green hills, earth's full benignant breasts;


s: For sun-chased shadows flitting o'er the plain;


s: For gleam and gloom; for all life's counter-change;


s: For hope that quickens under darkening skies;


s: For all we see; for all that underlies,--


s: For that sweet impulse of the coming Spring,


s: For ripening Summer, and the harvesting;


s: For all the rich Autumnal glories spread,--


s: The flaming pageant of the ripening woods;


s: The fiery gorse, the heather-purpled hills;


s: The rustling leaves that fly before the wind.


s: For meadows silver-white with hoary dew;


s: That first crisp breath of winter in the air;


s: The pictured pane; the new white world without;


s: The sparkling hedgerow's witchery of lace;


s: The soft white flakes that fold the sleeping earth;


s: The cold without, the cheerier warmth within;


s: For red-heart roses in the winter snows;


s: For all the flower and fruit of Christmas-tide;


s: For all the glowing heart of Christmas-tide;


s: For morning mist, and gently-falling dew;


s: For summer rains, for winter ice and snow;


s: For whispering wind and purifying storm;


s: For the reft clouds that show the tender blue;


s: For the forked flash and long tumultuous roll;


s: For mighty rains that wash the dim earth clean;


s: For the sweet promise of the seven-fold bow;


s: For the soft sunshine, and the still calm night;


s: For dimpled laughter of soft summer seas;


s: For latticed splendour of the sea-borne moon;


s: For gleaming sands, and granite-frontled cliffs;


s: For flying spume, and waves that whip the skies;


s: For rushing gale, and for the great glad calm;


s: For Might so mighty, and for Love so true,


s: For maiden sweetness, and for strength of men;


s: For love's pure madness and its high estate;


s: For parentage--man's nearest reach to Thee;


s: For kinship, sonship, friendship, brotherhood


s: For glimpses of the greater in the less;


s: For touch of Thee in wife and child and friend;


s: For saintly maiden lives of rare perfume;


s: For little pattering feet and crooning songs;


s: For children's laughter, and sweet wells of truth;


s: For sweet child-faces and the sweet wise tongues;


s: For childhood's faith that lifts us near to Thee


s: For childhood's sweet unconscious beauty sleep;


s: For all that childhood teaches us of Thee;


s: For doubts that led us to the larger trust;


s: For ills to conquer; for the love that fights;


s: For that strong faith that vanquished axe and flame


s: For clouds and darkness, and the still, small voice;


s: For sorrows bearing fruit of nobler life;


s: For those sore strokes that broke us at Thy feet;


s: For peace in strife; for gain in seeming loss;


s: For every loss that wrought the greater gain;


s: For that sweet juice from bitterness out-pressed;


s: For all this sweet, strange paradox of life;


s: For friends above; for friends still left below;


s: For Thine unsearchable greatness; for the vails


s: Between us and the things we may not know;


s: For those high times when hearts take wing and rise


s: And float secure above earth's mysteries;


s: For sweet hearts tuned to noblest charity;


s: For great hearts toiling in the outer dark;


s: For friendly hands stretched out in time of need;


s: For every gracious thought and word and deed;


s: For songbird answering song on topmost bough;


s: For myriad twitterings of the simpler folk;


s: For that sweet lark that carols up the sky;


s: For that low fluting on the summer night;


s: For distant bells that tremble on the wind;


s: For great round organ tones that rise and fall,


s: Entwined with earthly voices tuned to heaven,


s: And bear our hearts above the high-arched roof;


s: For Thy great voice that dominates the whole,


s: And shakes the heavens, and silences the earth;


s: For hearts alive to earth's sweet minstrelsies;


s: For souls attuned to heavenly harmonies;


s: For apprehension, and for ears to hear,--


s: For that pure life beneath the Syrian sky--


s: The humble toil, the sweat, the bench, the saw,


s: The nails well-driven, and the work well-done;


s: For all its vast expansions; for the stress


s: His hunger, thirst, His homelessness and want,


s: His weariness that longed for well-earned rest;


s: For labour's high ennoblement through Him,


s: Who laboured with His hands for daily bread;


s: For that high cross upraised on Calvary;


s: The broken seals,--the rolled-back stone--The Way,


s: For ever opened through His life in death;


s: For that brief glimpse vouchsafed within the vail;


s: For all His gracious life; and for His Death,


s: With low-bowed heads and hearts impassionate,


s: For all life's beauties, and their beauteous growth;


s: For Nature's laws and Thy rich providence;


s: For faith, and works, and gentle charity;


s: For all that makes for quiet in the world;


s: For all that lifts man from his common rut;


s: For all that knits the silken bond of peace;


s: For all that lifts the fringes of the night,


s: And lights the darkened corners of the earth;


s: For every wide-flung window of the soul;


s: For that Thou bearest all that Thou hast made;


s: For perfect childlike confidence in Thee;


s: For childlike glimpses of the life to be;


s: For trust akin to my child's trust in me;


s: For hearts at rest through confidence in Thee;


s: For hearts triumphant in perpetual hope;


s: For hope victorious through past hopes fulfilled;


s: For mightier hopes born of the things we know;


s: For faith born of the things we may not know;


s: For hope of powers increased ten thousand fold;


s: For that last hope of likeness to Thyself,


s: When hope shall end in glorious certainty;


s: I stood, unseen, within a sumptous room,


s: Where one clothed all in white sat silently.


s: So sweet his presence that a pure soft light


s: Rayed from him, and I saw--most wondrous sight!--


s: The Love of God shrined in the flesh once more,


s: His back was towards me. Had I seen his face


s: Methought I must have fallen. I was wrong.


s: Came one in royal robes and all the pride


s: A helmet with an eagle poised for flight.


s: He stood amazed at sight of him in white,


s: But no words came. Breathless, he raised his hand


s: And doffed his helm, and stood. And in his eyes I saw


s: The Master spoke. His voice so soft and sweet


s: Thrilled my heart's core and shook me where I stood,--


s: "_Time runs apace. The New Time is at hand.


s: Shall it be Peace or War? It rests with_ THEE."


s: "_Thy brother of the North has cast his lot


s: But never swerved a hair's breadth in his gaze.


s: "_Shall it be Peace or War? Join hands with him,


s: Thy Northern brother, with the Western Isles,


s: And with their brethren of the Further West,


s: And Peace shall reign to Earth's remotest bound_."


s: And still the other shook his head amazed.


s: "_Shall it be Peace or War? Millions of lives


s: Are in thy hand, women and men and those


s: My little ones. Their souls are mine. Their lives


s: Are in thy hand. Of thee I shall require them.


s: The other answered with reluctant tongue.


s: "_Thou art_ THE _one and so I come to thee.


s: For Peace or War the scales are in thy hand.


s: Shall it be Peace or War? Nay--look_!--"


s: And at the word--where stood the wall--a space;


s: And at their feet, like mighty map unrolled,--


s: The kingdoms of the earth, and every kingdom


s: Groaned with the burden of its armour-plate.


s: And the weight grew till man was crushed beneath,


s: And, as he watched, the War-Lord's eyes flamed fire,


s: His nostrils panted like a mettled steed's.