s: "The Cable Story Book," and to MRS. KATHERINE MILLER and


s: _Scribner's Magazine_ for "Stevenson's Birthday."


s: To J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY we are indebted for the use of


s: "Sheridan's Ride," from the complete works of T. Buchanan Read.


s: To HARPER & BROTHERS for the use of "Driving Home the Cows,"


s: To LITTLE, BROWN & COMPANY, of Boston, "How the Leaves Came


s: To the WHITAKER & RAY COMPANY, of San Francisco, "Columbus,"


s: by Joaquin Miller, from his complete works published and


s: To D. APPLETON & COMPANY for "The Planting of the Apple-Tree"


s: To the MACMILLAN COMPANY for "The Forsaken Merman," by Matthew


s: Arnold, from the complete volume of his poems published by that


s: To the HOWARD UNIVERSITY PRINT, Washington, D.C., for Jeremiah


s: Rankin's little poem, "The Babie," from "Ingleside Rhaims."


s: To the heirs of MARY EMILY BRADLEY for "A Chrysalis."


s: To HENRY HOLCOMB BENNETT for "The Flag Goes By."


s: "Spring's at the Morn," from "Pippa Passes," by Robert Browning


s: But they both of 'em talked to butterflies


s: Or play with a silly old cork and string


s: So, Binkie's the same as the First Friend was,


s: And there she stays till the morning light;


s: But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,


s: I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,


s: And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.


s: He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;


s: And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.


s: The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow--


s: Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;


s: For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball,


s: And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all.


s: He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play,


s: And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.


s: He stays so close beside me, he's a coward, you can see;


s: I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!


s: One morning, very early, before the sun was up,


s: I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;


s: But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head,


s: Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.


s: This poem (George Macdonald, 1828-) finds a place in this volume


s: "How the Leaves Came Down," by Susan Coolidge (1845-), appeals to


s: "I'll tell you how the leaves came down,"


s: "You're getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown,


s: Frolicked and danced, and had their way,


s: And ere the leaves could urge their prayer,


s: The great bare Tree looked down and smiled.


s: "Good-night, dear little leaves," he said.


s: Wee Willie Winkie rins through the town,


s: Up-stairs and doon-stairs, in his nicht-gown,


s: Tirlin' at the window, cryin' at the lock,


s: "Are the weans in their bed?--for it's now ten o'clock."


s: The cat's singin' gay thrums to the sleepin' hen,


s: The doug's speldered on the floor, and disna gie a cheep;


s: But here's a waukrife laddie that winna fa' asleep.


s: Onything but sleep, ye rogue! glow'rin' like the moon,


s: Rattlin' in an airn jug wi' an airn spoon,


s: Rumblin' tumblin' roun' about, crowin' like a cock,


s: Skirlin' like a kenna-what--wauknin' sleepin' folk.


s: Hey, Willie Winkie! the wean's in a creel!


s: Waumblin' aff a body's knee like a vera eel,


s: Ruggin' at the cat's lug, and ravellin' a' her thrums,--


s: Hey, Willie Winkie!--See, there he comes!


s: Wearie is the mither that has a storie wean,


s: A wee stumpie stoussie that canna rin his lane,


s: That has a battle aye wi' sleep before he'll close an ee;


s: But a kiss frae aff his rosy lips gies strength anew to me.


s: They took some honey, and plenty of money


s: Oh, let us be married,--too long we have tarried,--


s: "Dear Pig, are you willing to sell for one shilling


s: So they took it away, and were married next day


s: They dined upon mince and slices of quince,


s: And hand in hand on the edge of the sand


s: "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod," by Eugene Field (1850-95), pleases


s: children, who are all by nature sailors and adventurers.


s: "Where are you going, and what do you wish?"


s: "We have come to fish for the herring-fish


s: And the wind that sped them all night long


s: "Now cast your nets wherever you wish,--


s: So cried the stars to the fishermen three,


s: Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,


s: And some folk thought 'twas a dream they'd dreamed


s: But I shall name you the fishermen three:


s: And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies


s: Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three,


s: "The Duel," by Eugene Field (1850-95), is almost the most popular


s: collection as this it is not easy to find poems at once delicate,


s: 'Twas half-past twelve, and (what do you think!)


s: The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate


s: What was told to me by the Chinese plate_!)


s: While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place


s: What the old Dutch clock declares is true_!)


s: And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"


s: And, oh! how the gingham and calico flew!


s: I got my views from the Chinese plate_!)


s: 'Twas said, "There goes the honest youth."


s: Oh where! and oh where! is your Highland laddie gone?


s: He's gone to fight the French for King George upon the throne;


s: And it's oh! in my heart how I wish him safe at home.


s: Oh where! and oh where! does your Highland laddie dwell?


s: He dwells in merry Scotland at the sign of the Bluebell;


s: And it's oh! in my heart that I love my laddie well.


s: My fairest child, I have no song to give you;


s: No lark could pipe to skies so dull and gray;


s: Yet, ere we part, one lesson I can leave you


s: Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever;


s: Do noble things, not dream them all day long:


s: And so make life, death, and that vast forever


s: "Casabianca," by Felicia Hemans (1793-1835), is the portrait of a


s: While o'er him fast, through sail and shroud,


s: But the noblest thing that perished there


s: Week in, week out, from morn till night,


s: You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,


s: It sounds to him like her mother's voice,


s: Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,


s: While my little one, while my pretty one sleeps.


s: Father will come to his babe in the nest,


s: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep.


s: 'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house


s: Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;


s: The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,


s: In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;


s: The children were nestled all snug in their beds,


s: While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;


s: And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,


s: Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,


s: When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,


s: I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.


s: Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.


s: The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow


s: Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below,


s: When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,


s: But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer.


s: With a little old driver, so lively and quick,


s: More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,


s: And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:


s: To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!


s: Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"


s: As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,


s: When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;


s: So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,


s: With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas, too.


s: And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof


s: The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.


s: As I drew in my head, and was turning around,


s: Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.


s: He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,


s: And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;


s: A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,


s: And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.


s: His eyes--how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!


s: His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!


s: His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,


s: And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;


s: The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,


s: And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;


s: He had a broad face and a little round belly,


s: That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly.


s: He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,


s: And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;


s: A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,


s: Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;


s: He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,


s: And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,


s: And laying his finger aside of his nose,


s: And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;


s: He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,


s: And away they all flew like the down on a thistle.


s: But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,


s: "_Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night_."


s: O! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,


s: What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming--


s: Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,


s: And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,


s: Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;


s: O! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave?


s: On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,


s: Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,


s: What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,


s: As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?


s: Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,


s: In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;


s: 'Tis the star-spangled banner; O long may it wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!


s: And where is that band who so vauntingly swore


s: That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion


s: A home and a country should leave us no more?


s: Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps, pollution.


s: No refuge could save the hireling and slave


s: From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave;


s: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave


s: O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.


s: O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand


s: Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!


s: Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land


s: Praise the power that hath made and preserved us a nation.


s: Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,


s: And this be our motto--"_In God is our trust_":


s: And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave


s: "You are old, Father William," the young man said,


s: And yet you incessantly stand on your head--


s: Do you think, at your age, it is right?"


s: "In my youth," Father William replied to his son,


s: But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,


s: "You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,


s: Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--


s: "In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his gray locks,


s: By the use of this ointment--one shilling the box--


s: "You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak


s: Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak:


s: "In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,


s: And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw


s: "You are old," said the youth; "one would hardly suppose


s: Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--


s: "I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"


s: Said his father, "don't give yourself airs!


s: Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?


s: The Frost looked forth, one still, clear night,


s: And whispered, "Now I shall be out of sight;


s: So through the valley and over the height,


s: I will not go on with that blustering train,


s: The wind and the snow, the hail and the rain,


s: Who make so much bustle and noise in vain,


s: Then he flew to the mountain and powdered its crest;


s: He lit on the trees, and their boughs he dressed


s: He went to the windows of those who slept,


s: And over each pane, like a fairy, crept;


s: Wherever he breathed, wherever he slept,


s: Most beautiful things--there were flowers and trees;


s: There were bevies of birds and swarms of bees;


s: There were cities with temples and towers, and these


s: But he did one thing that was hardly fair;


s: He peeped in the cupboard, and finding there


s: That all had forgotten for him to prepare--


s: I'll bite this basket of fruit," said he,


s: "This costly pitcher I'll burst in three,


s: And the glass of water they've left for me


s: Shall '_tchich!_' to tell them I'm drinking."


s: And the cock hath sung beneath the thatch


s: There were three sailors of Bristol city


s: But first with beef and captain's biscuits


s: There was gorging Jack and guzzling Jimmy,


s: There's little Bill, he's young and tender,


s: "Oh! Billy, we're going to kill and eat you,


s: "Make haste, make haste," says guzzling Jimmy


s: So Billy went up to the main-topgallant mast,


s: He scarce had come to the Twelfth Commandment


s: There's the British flag a-riding at anchor,


s: So when they got aboard of the Admiral's


s: Out 'twixt the battery smokes there flew


s: "Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace


s: Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans


s: "You're wounded!" "Nay," the soldier's pride


s: "I'm killed, Sire!" And his chief beside,


s: White are his shoulders, and white his crest,


s: Pretty and quiet, with plain brown wings,


s: Broods in the grass while her husband sings,


s: Braggart, and prince of braggarts is he,


s: When you can pipe that merry old strain,


s: And Age was pleased, in heights of noon,


s: Had cooled ten thousand parchéd tongues,


s: Young buds sleep in the root's white core.


s: "Old Ironsides," by Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-94), is learned


s: Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,


s: An' wash the cups and saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,


s: We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun


s: A-list'nin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,


s: Onc't they was a little boy wouldn't say his pray'rs--


s: An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,


s: His mammy heerd him holler, an' his daddy heerd him bawl,


s: An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wasn't there at all!


s: But all they ever found was thist his pants an' roundabout!


s: An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,


s: An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;


s: An' onc't when they was "company," an' ole folks was there,


s: She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!


s: An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an' hide,


s: They was two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,


s: An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'fore she


s: An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,


s: An' the lampwick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!


s: An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,


s: An' the lightnin'-bugs in dew is all squenched away,--


s: You better mind yer parents, an' yer teachers fond an' dear,


s: An' churish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,


s: An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,


s: O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,


s: The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,


s: The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,


s: While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;


s: O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;


s: Rise up--for you the flag is flung--for you the bugle trills,


s: My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,


s: My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will.


s: The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,


s: From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;


s: "Ingratitude," by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), is an incisive


s: Of right choice food are his meals, I ween,


s: The walls must be crumbled, the stones decayed.


s: And the mouldering dust that years have made


s: Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings,


s: How closely he twineth, how tight he clings


s: Whole ages have fled, and their works decayed,


s: For the stateliest building man can raise


s: Or standing long an oak, three hundred year


s: To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sear


s: In small proportions we just beauties see;


s: And in short measures life may perfect be.


s: Stand! the ground's your own, my braves!


s: When the heated guns of the camps allied


s: Brave hearts, from Severn and from Clyde,


s: With scream of shot, and burst of shell,


s: Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,


s: Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.


s: Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying:


s: And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying.


s: There never was a boy who did not like "Sheridan's Ride," by T.


s: Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain's door,


s: The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,


s: As he thought of the stake in that fiery fray,


s: But there is a road from Winchester town,


s: And there, through the flush of the morning light,


s: He stretched away with his utmost speed;


s: Hills rose and fell; but his heart was gay,


s: Still sprung from those swift hoofs, thundering South,


s: The dust, like smoke from the cannon's mouth;


s: Or the trail of a comet, sweeping faster and faster,


s: Foreboding to traitors the doom of disaster.


s: The heart of the steed and the heart of the master


s: Were beating like prisoners assaulting their walls,


s: Impatient to be where the battle-field calls;


s: Every nerve of the charger was strained to full play,


s: And the steed, like a bark fed with furnace fire,


s: Swept on, with his wild eye full of ire.


s: But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire;


s: He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray,


s: The first that the General saw were the groups


s: Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops.


s: What was done--what to do? A glance told him both,


s: Then striking his spurs, with a terrible oath,


s: He dashed down the line, mid a storm of huzzas,


s: And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because


s: The sight of the master compelled it to pause.


s: With foam and with dust the black charger was gray;


s: By the flash of his eye, and the red nostrils' play,


s: He seemed to the whole great army to say:


s: "I have brought you Sheridan all the way


s: And when their statues are placed on high,


s: Be it said, in letters both bold and bright:


s: The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.


s: The wild waves reach their hands for it,


s: The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,


s: Stanch friends are we, well tried and strong,


s: Said: "Who was this that went from thee?"


s: "O God be thank'd!" said Alice the nurse,


s: "Are ye out of your mind, my nurse, my nurse,"


s: Said Lady Clare, "that ye speak so wild?"


s: "The old Earl's daughter died at my breast;


s: "Nay now, my child," said Alice the nurse,


s: "Nay now, what faith?" said Alice the nurse,


s: "And he shall have it," the lady replied,


s: The lily-white doe Lord Ronald had brought


s: He turn'd and kiss'd her where she stood:


s: Warriors with their plumes and war-clubs,


s: "Tis the heaven of flowers you see there;


s: Learned their names and all their secrets,


s: That floats on high o'er vales and hills,


s: "John Barleycorn" is a favourite with boys because it pictures a


s: successful struggle. One editor has made a temperance poem of it,


s: And they have taken his very heart's blood,


s: advantages of the unknown and untried future.


s: And the winter winds are wearily sighing:


s: He gave me a friend, and a true true-love,


s: The night is starry and cold, my friend,


s: And the New-year blithe and bold, my friend,


s: The cricket chirps: the light burns low:


s: There's a new foot on the floor, my friend,


s: "Abou Ben Adhem" has won its way to the popular heart because the


s: Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)


s: Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,


s: And saw within the moonlight in his room,


s: Making it rich and like a lily in bloom,


s: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold;


s: And to the presence in the room he said,


s: "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,


s: And, with a look made of all sweet accord,


s: Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."


s: "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"


s: But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,


s: Write me as one that loves his fellow-men."


s: The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night


s: It came again, with a great wakening light,


s: And showed the names whom love of God had blessed;


s: And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.


s: "A Farm-Yard Song" was popular years ago with Burbank, the great


s: With grateful heart, at the close of day;


s: The straw's in the stack, the hay in the mow;


s: Goes seeking those that have gone astray,--


s: The cattle come crowding through the gate,


s: About the trough, by the farm-yard pump,


s: The frolicsome yearlings frisk and jump,


s: But the old cow waits with tranquil eye;


s: And the white stream into the bright pail flows,


s: And sits and milks in the twilight cool,


s: Makes shrill the silence all night long;


s: The housewife's hand has turned the lock;


s: Drums in the pail with the flashing streams,


s: Wee, sleekit, cow'rin', tim'rous beastie,


s: What then? poor beastie, thou maun live!


s: Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste,


s: Now thou's turned out for a' thy trouble,


s: The flaunting flowers our gardens yield,


s: High sheltering woods and wa's maun shield,


s: Till she, like thee, all soiled, is laid


s: Who long with wants and woes has striven,


s: Even thou who mourn'st the Daisy's fate,


s: Till crushed beneath the furrow's weight


s: To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,


s: When Lee marched over the mountain-wall,


s: She took up the flag the men hauled down.


s: "Halt!"--the dust-brown ranks stood fast.


s: Quick, as it fell, from the broken staff


s: "Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,


s: But spare your country's flag," she said.


s: And the rebel rides on his raids no more.


s: Fall, for her sake, on Stonewall's bier.


s: Oh, young Lochinvar is come out of the west.


s: Through all the wide Border his steed was the best,


s: And save his good broadsword he weapons had none;


s: He rode all unarmed, and he rode all alone.


s: So faithful in love, and so dauntless in war,


s: There never was knight like the young Lochinvar.


s: He stayed not for brake, and he stopped not for stone,


s: He swam the Eske River where ford there was none;


s: The bride had consented, the gallant came late:


s: Was to wed the fair Ellen of brave Lochinvar.


s: Among bridesmen and kinsmen and brothers and all:


s: Then spoke the bride's father, his hand on his sword


s: (For the poor craven bridegroom said never a word),


s: "Oh, come ye in peace here, or come ye in war,


s: Or to dance at our bridal, young Lord Lochinvar?"


s: "I long woo'd your daughter, my suit you denied;--


s: Love swells like the Solway, but ebbs like its tide--


s: And now am I come, with this lost love of mine,


s: To lead but one measure, drink one cup of wine.


s: There are maidens in Scotland more lovely by far,


s: That would gladly be bride to the young Lochinvar."


s: The bride kissed the goblet; the knight took it up;


s: He quaffed of the wine, and he threw down the cup.


s: She looked down to blush, and she looked up to sigh,


s: With a smile on her lips and a tear in her eye.


s: He took her soft hand ere her mother could bar,--


s: "Now tread we a measure!" said young Lochinvar.


s: So stately his form, and so lovely her face,


s: That never a hall such a galliard did grace;


s: While her mother did fret, and her father did fume,


s: And the bridegroom stood dangling his bonnet and plume,


s: And the bridemaidens whispered, "'Twere better by far


s: To have matched our fair cousin with young Lochinvar."


s: One touch to her hand, and one word in her ear,


s: When they reached the hall door, and the charger stood near;


s: So light to the croupe the fair lady he swung,


s: So light to the saddle before her he sprung!


s: "She is won! we are gone, over bank, bush, and scaur;


s: They'll have fleet steeds that follow," quoth young Lochinvar.


s: There was mounting 'mong Græmes of the Netherby clan;


s: Forsters, Fenwicks, and Musgraves, they rode and they ran:


s: There was racing and chasing, on Cannobie Lee,


s: But the lost bride of Netherby ne'er did they see.


s: So daring in love, and so dauntless in war,


s: Have ye e'er heard of gallant like young Lochinvar?


s: For sore dismay'd through storm and shade,


s: "Come back! come back!" he cried in grief,


s: 'Twas vain the loud waves lashed the shore,


s: Bright shone the lists, blue bent the skies,


s: To the tournament under the ladies' eyes,


s: Where the jousters were Heart and Brain.


s: But Brain sat still, with never a sound,


s: While Brain wore a plumeless casque; not he


s: But Brain gazed straight ahead, his lance


s: They charged, they struck; both fell, both bled;


s: Said the Wind to the Moon, "I will blow you out,


s: I hate to be watched; I'll blow you out."


s: The Wind blew hard, and out went the Moon.


s: Muttering low, "I've done for that Moon."


s: He turned in his bed; she was there again!


s: The Moon shone white and alive and plain.


s: Said the Wind, "I will blow you out again."


s: The Wind blew hard, and the Moon grew dim.


s: The creature will soon be dimmer than dim."


s: He blew and he blew, and she thinned to a thread.


s: One good puff more where the last was bred,


s: And glimmer, glimmer, glum will go the thread."


s: He blew a great blast, and the thread was gone


s: Far off and harmless the shy stars shone--


s: The Wind he took to his revels once more;


s: He leaped and hallooed with whistle and roar--


s: "What's that?" The glimmering thread once more!


s: For still the broader the Moon-scrap grew,


s: The broader he swelled his big cheeks and blew.


s: Slowly she grew--till she filled the night,


s: Radiant and lovely, the queen of the night.


s: Said the Wind: "What a marvel of power am I


s: First blew her away right out of the sky--


s: Then blew her in; what strength have I!"


s: But the Moon she knew nothing about the affair;


s: She had never heard the great Wind blare.


s: "Jesus the Carpenter"--"same trade as me"--strikes a high note in


s: "Isn't this Joseph's son?"--ay, it is He;


s: Joseph the carpenter--same trade as me--


s: I thought as I'd find it--I knew it was here--


s: I don't know right where as His shed must ha' stood--


s: But often, as I've been a-planing my wood,


s: I've took off my hat, just with thinking of He


s: He warn't that set up that He couldn't stoop down


s: And work in the country for folks in the town;


s: And I'll warrant He felt a bit pride, like I've done,


s: The parson he knows that I'll not make too free,


s: But on Sunday I feels as pleased as can be,


s: When I wears my clean smock, and sits in a pew,


s: I think of as how not the parson hissen,


s: As is teacher and father and shepherd o' men,


s: Not he knows as much of the Lord in that shed,


s: And when I goes home to my missus, says she,


s: For she knows my queer ways, and my love for the shed


s: So I comes right away by mysen, with the book,


s: And I turns the old pages and has a good look


s: For the text as I've found, as tells me as He


s: But I think I'd as lief, with your leaves, let it go:


s: It do seem that nice when I fall on it sudden--


s: When Letty had scarce pass'd her third glad year,


s: And her young, artless words began to flow,


s: One day we gave the child a colour'd sphere


s: Of the wide earth, that she might mark and know,


s: By tint and outline, all its sea and land.


s: She patted all the world; old empires peep'd


s: Was welcome at all frontiers. How she leap'd,


s: And laugh'd and prattled in her world-wide bliss!


s: But when we turn'd her sweet unlearned eye


s: On our own isle, she rais'd a joyous cry,


s: "Oh! yes, I see it! Letty's home is there!"


s: And, while she hid all England with a kiss,


s: Bright over Europe fell her golden hair!


s: Heaven is not reached at a single bound,


s: But we build the ladder by which we rise


s: From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies,


s: And we mount to its summit round by round.


s: That a noble deed is a step toward God,--


s: That was so large, and smooth, and round.


s: "'Tis some poor fellow's skull," said he,


s: "Great praise the Duke of Marlborough won,


s: And mists that spread the flying shroud;


s: But that enormous barrier binds it fast.


s: This Dog had been through three months space


s: Yes, proof was plain that, since the day


s: How nourished here through such long time


s: And gave that strength of feeling, great


s: People are more and more coming to recognise the fact that each


s: This is the ship of pearl, which, poets feign,


s: On the sweet summer wind its purpled wings


s: In gulfs enchanted, where the Siren sings,


s: Where the cold sea-maids rise to sun their streaming hair.


s: Its webs of living gauze no more unfurl;


s: Where its dim dreaming life was wont to dwell,


s: As the frail tenant shaped his growing shell,


s: Its irised ceiling rent, its sunless crypt unsealed!


s: He left the past year's dwelling for the new,


s: Stole with soft step its shining archway through,


s: Stretched in his last-found home, and knew the old no more.


s: Thanks for the heavenly message brought by thee,


s: From thy dead lips a clearer note is born


s: Than ever Triton blew from wreathed horn!


s: Through the deep caves of thought I hear a voice that sings:--


s: Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,


s: Let each new temple, nobler than the last,


s: Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,


s: Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!


s: Tennyson's (1809-92) "Crossing the Bar" is one of the noblest


s: When that which drew from out the boundless deep


s: And may there be no sadness of farewell,


s: For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place


s: In the name of the Empress of India, make way,


s: O Lords of the Jungle wherever you roam,


s: The woods are astir at the close of the day--


s: We exiles are waiting for letters from Home--


s: Let the robber retreat; let the tiger turn tail,


s: In the name of the Empress the Overland-Mail!


s: With a jingle of bells as the dusk gathers in,


s: He turns to the foot-path that leads up the hill--


s: The bags on his back, and a cloth round his chin,


s: And, tucked in his belt, the Post-Office bill;--


s: "Despatched on this date, as received by the rail,


s: _Per_ runner, two bags of the Overland-Mail."


s: Is the torrent in spate? He must ford it or swim.


s: Has the rain wrecked the road? He must climb by the cliff.


s: Does the tempest cry "Halt"? What are tempests to him?


s: The service admits not a "but" or an "if";


s: While the breath's in his mouth, he must bear without fail,


s: In the name of the Empress the Overland-Mail.


s: From aloe to rose-oak, from rose-oak to fir,


s: From level to upland, from upland to crest,


s: From rice-field to rock-ridge, from rock-ridge to spur,


s: Fly the soft-sandalled feet, strains the brawny brown chest.


s: From rail to ravine--to the peak from the vale--


s: Up, up through the night goes the Overland-Mail.


s: There's a speck on the hillside, a dot on the road--


s: A jingle of bells on the foot-path below--


s: There's a scuffle above in the monkeys' abode--


s: The world is awake, and the clouds are aglow--


s: For the great Sun himself must attend to the hail;--


s: When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent,


s: In dreams, through camp and court, he bore


s: Then pressed that monarch's throne--a king;


s: True as the steel of their tried blades,


s: There had the Persian's thousands stood,


s: There had the glad earth drunk their blood


s: "To arms! they come! the Greek! the Greek!"


s: "Strike--till the last armed foe expires;


s: Strike--for the green graves of your sires;


s: They fought--like brave men, long and well;


s: They piled that ground with Moslem slain,


s: For the first time, her first-born's breath;


s: The groan, the knell, the pall, the bier,


s: Come, when his task of fame is wrought--


s: Come, with her laurel-leaf, blood-bought--


s: Like torn branch from death's leafless tree


s: Thinks of thy fate, and checks her tears;


s: In his bosom there waged a fiercer fight


s: They knew, by his glazed and unearthly eye,


s: That he dreamed of days when the nations shook,


s: He dreamed that the Frenchman's sword still slew,


s: Where the wave of the lordly Danube flows,


s: On the snowy cliffs where mountain streams


s: He died at the close of that darksome day,


s: To bless the turf that wraps their clay;


s: Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,


s: March of a strong land's swift increase;


s: Then shook the hills with thunder riven,


s: The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home;


s: The corn-top's ripe, and the meadow's in the bloom,


s: The young folks roll on the little cabin floor,


s: By-'n'-by hard times comes a-knocking at the door:--


s: We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home,


s: They hunt no more for the 'possum and the coon,


s: They sing no more by the glimmer of the moon,


s: The day goes by like a shadow o'er the heart,


s: The time has come when the darkeys have to part:--


s: The head must bow, and the back will have to bend,


s: A few more days, and the trouble all will end,


s: In the field where the sugar-canes grow.


s: A few more days for to tote the weary load,--


s: A few more days till we totter on the road:--


s: And the skipper had taken his little daughter,


s: And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds


s: And he watched how the veering flaw did blow


s: The skipper he blew a whiff from his pipe,


s: She shuddered and paused, like a frighted steed,


s: "Come hither! come hither! my little daughter,


s: He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat


s: "O father! I hear the church-bells ring,


s: "Tis a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast!"--


s: "Some ship in distress, that cannot live


s: Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark,


s: The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow


s: Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed


s: And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave


s: And fast through the midnight dark and drear,


s: The breakers were right beneath her bows,


s: She struck where the white and fleecy waves


s: Her rattling shrouds all sheathed in ice,


s: Like a vessel of glass she stove and sank,--


s: And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed,


s: Christ save us all from a death like this,


s: Her sails from heaven received no motion;


s: Without either sign or sound of their shock,


s: The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;


s: So little they rose, so little they fell,


s: Had placed that Bell on the Inchcape Rock;


s: On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,


s: When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell,


s: The sea-birds screamed as they wheeled round,


s: And he fixed his eye on the darker speck.


s: And I'll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok."


s: And he cut the Bell from the Inchcape float.


s: Down sank the Bell with a gurgling sound;


s: Quoth Sir Ralph, "The next who comes to the Rock


s: And now grown rich with plundered store,


s: He steers his course for Scotland's shore.


s: Quoth Sir Ralph, "It will be brighter soon,


s: For there is the dawn of the rising moon."


s: "Canst hear," said one, "the broken roar?


s: For methinks we should be near the shore."


s: But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell."


s: They hear no sound; the swell is strong;


s: Though the wind hath fallen, they drift along


s: Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock:


s: One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,--


s: Then tossed it high where sand-drifts dry


s: The rains had soaked, the sun had burned it;


s: "Why, here," cried he, "the thing of things


s: So said, so done; the chords he strained,


s: Dead shell, of soul and thought forsaken,


s: That was not fruit, nor flower, nor seed;


s: Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine,


s: That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth,


s: Ring out, wild bells, and tame ones too!


s: They dipped their noses deep in the sea,


s: They racked their stays and stanchions free


s: Till the bow-gun drooped like a lily tired


s: 'Twere well to rest for an hour or twain,


s: And the great stern-gun shot fair and true,


s: With the heave of the ship, to the stainless blue,


s: As the White Whale faces the Thresher's ire,


s: To bide in the heart of an eight-day clock,


s: Lay bare as the paunch of the purser's sow,


s: "Captain, they lack us through and through;


s: We have emptied the bunkers in open sea,


s: Their shrapnel bursts where our coal should be."


s: And the blood and the bubbling steam ran forth,


s: And he answered, "Grapple her stern and bow.


s: They have asked for the steel. They shall have it now;


s: As they rolled in the waist and heard the fight,


s: They fought as they fought in Nelson's fleet;


s: They were stripped to the waist, they were bare to the feet,


s: To the cod and the corpse-fed conger-eel,


s: The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold,


s: And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;


s: And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,


s: When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.


s: Like the leaves of the forest when the Summer is green,


s: That host with their banners at sunset were seen:


s: Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,


s: That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.


s: For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,


s: And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;


s: And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,


s: And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!


s: And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,


s: But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;


s: And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,


s: And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.


s: And there lay the rider distorted and pale,


s: With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail,


s: And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,


s: The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.


s: And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,


s: And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;


s: And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,


s: Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!


s: And the frogs were loud in the meadow-swamp,


s: And stealthily followed the footpath damp.


s: Across the clover, and through the wheat,


s: Though the dew was on his hurrying feet,


s: And the blind bat's flitting startled him.


s: Thrice since then had the lanes been white,


s: And the orchards sweet with apple-bloom;


s: And now, when the cows came back at night,


s: That three were lying where two had lain;


s: And the old man's tremulous, palsied arm


s: He went for the cows when the work was done;


s: But down the lane, as he opened the gate,


s: Shaking their horns in the evening wind;


s: Cropping the buttercups out of the grass,


s: And worn and pale, from the crisping hair,


s: For close-barred prisons will sometimes yawn,


s: And the day that comes with a cloudy dawn,


s: The great tears sprang to their meeting eyes;


s: Eugene Field, above all other poets, paid the finest tribute to


s: "How I should like a birthday!" said the child,


s: She spoke to Stevenson--the Master smiled--


s: "Mine is to-day; I would with all my heart


s: That it were yours; too many years have I!


s: Too swift they come, and all too swiftly fly"


s: To have and hold, to sell or give away,--


s: Then signed, and gave it to the little maid.


s: Joyful, yet fearing to believe too much,


s: She took the deed, but scarcely dared unfold.


s: Ah, liberal Genius! at whose potent touch


s: All common things shine with transmuted gold!


s: Haughty, being great--purse-proud, being rich--


s: Who went from England in his patron's suit,


s: One day, at table, flushed with pride and wine,


s: His honour, proudly free, severely merry,


s: "Young man," he said, "by what art, craft, or trade,


s: Did your good father gain a livelihood?"--


s: The joke applauded, and the laugh went round.


s: Said (craving pardon, if too free he made),


s: "My father's trade! by heaven, that's too bad!


s: My father's trade? Why, blockhead, are you mad?


s: My father, sir, did never stoop so low--


s: Modestus said, with archness on his brow,


s: "The Legend of Bishop Hatto" is doubtless a myth (Robert Southey,


s: That in winter the corn was growing yet:


s: 'Twas a piteous sight to see, all around,


s: For he had a plentiful last-year's store,


s: And they should have food for winter there.


s: The poor folk flocked from far and near;


s: The great barn was full as it could hold


s: Of women and children, and young and old.


s: Then, when he saw it could hold no more,


s: And while for mercy on Christ they call,


s: He set fire to the barn and burned them all.


s: "I' faith, 'tis an excellent bonfire!" quoth he;


s: "And the country is greatly obliged to me


s: And he slept that night like an innocent man;


s: Where his picture hung against the wall,


s: For the Rats had eaten it out of the frame.


s: As he looked, there came a man from his farm;


s: "My Lord, I opened your granaries this morn,


s: "I'll go to my town on the Rhine," replied he;


s: The walls are high, and the shores are steep,


s: And the stream is strong, and the water deep."


s: And reached his tower, and barred with care


s: All windows, doors, and loop-holes there.


s: On his pillow, from whence the screaming came.


s: He listened and looked; it was only the cat:


s: But the Bishop he grew more fearful for that;


s: At the army of Rats that was drawing near.


s: For they have swum over the river so deep,


s: And they have climbed the shore so steep;


s: To do the work for which they were sent.


s: They are not to be told by the dozen or score;


s: By thousands they come, and by myriads and more;


s: Such numbers had never been heard of before,


s: Such a judgment had never been witnessed of yore.


s: And faster and faster his beads did tell,


s: The gnawing of their teeth he could hear.


s: And in at the windows and in at the door,


s: And through the walls, helter-skelter they pour,


s: And down from the ceiling and up through the floor,


s: From the right and the left, from behind and before,


s: They have whetted their teeth against the stones;


s: For they were sent to do judgment on him!


s: They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow,


s: They sailed, they sailed, then spoke his mate:


s: And thro' the darkness peered that night.


s: Fearless, or brimmed their eyes with dew.


s: Three times his kingly beard he smoothed,


s: He sat and watched the dead leaves fall,


s: For, in mere weeds, and stones, and springs,


s: They laughed, and called him good-for-naught.


s: I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he;


s: I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three;


s: "Good speed!" cried the watch as the gate-bolts undrew;


s: "Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through;


s: Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest,


s: And into the midnight we galloped abreast.


s: Not a word to each other; we kept the great pace


s: Neck by neck, stride by stride, never changing our place;


s: I turned in my saddle and made its girth tight,


s: Then shortened each stirrup, and set the pique right,


s: Rebuckled the cheek-strap, chained slacker the bit,


s: Nor galloped less steadily Roland a whit.


s: 'Twas moonset at starting; but while we drew near


s: Lokeren, the cocks crew and twilight dawned clear;


s: At Boom, a great yellow star came out to see;


s: At Düffeld, 'twas morning as plain as could be;


s: And from Mecheln church-steeple we heard the half-chime,


s: So Joris broke silence with, "Yet there is time!"


s: At Aershot, up leaped of a sudden the sun,


s: And against him the cattle stood black every one,


s: To stare through the mist at us galloping past,


s: And I saw my stout galloper Roland at last,


s: With resolute shoulders, each butting away


s: The haze, as some bluff river headland its spray:


s: And his low head and crest, just one sharp ear bent back


s: For my voice, and the other pricked out on his track;


s: And one eye's black intelligence,--ever that glance


s: O'er its white edge at me, his own master, askance!


s: And the thick, heavy spume-flakes which aye and anon


s: His fierce lips shook upward in galloping on.


s: By Hasselt, Dirck groaned; and cried Joris, "Stay spur!


s: Your Roos galloped bravely, the fault's not in her,


s: We'll remember at Aix"--for one heard the quick wheeze


s: Of her chest, saw the stretched neck and staggering knees,


s: And sunk tail, and horrible heave of the flank,


s: As down on her haunches she shuddered and sank.


s: So, we were left galloping, Joris and I,


s: Past Looz and past Tongres, no cloud in the sky;


s: The broad sun above laughed a pitiless laugh,


s: 'Neath our feet broke the brittle bright stubble like chaff;


s: Till over by Dalhem a dome-spire sprang white,


s: And "Gallop," gasped Joris, "for Aix is in sight!"


s: "How they'll greet us!"--and all in a moment his roan


s: Rolled neck and croup over, lay dead as a stone;


s: And there was my Roland to bear the whole weight


s: Of the news which alone could save Aix from her fate,


s: With his nostrils like pits full of blood to the brim,


s: And with circles of red for his eye-sockets' rim.


s: Then I cast loose my buff-coat, each holster let fall,


s: Shook off both my jack-boots, let go belt and all,


s: Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear,


s: Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without peer;


s: Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good,


s: Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood.


s: And all I remember is--friends flocking round


s: As I sat with his head 'twixt my knees on the ground;


s: And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine,


s: As I poured down his throat our last measure of wine,


s: Which (the burgesses voting by common consent)


s: Was no more than his due who brought the good news from Ghent.


s: Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,


s: Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot


s: O'er the grave where our hero we buried.


s: By the struggling moonbeam's misty light,


s: Not in sheet nor in shroud we wound him;


s: But he lay like a warrior taking his rest,


s: But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead,


s: We thought, as we hollowed his narrow bed,


s: That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head,


s: Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that's gone,


s: But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on


s: In the grave where a Briton has laid him.


s: When the clock struck the hour for retiring;


s: From the field of his fame fresh and gory;


s: We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone--


s: The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men.


s: A thousand hearts beat happily; and when


s: Soft eyes looked love to eyes which spake again,


s: But hush! hark! a deep sound strikes like a rising knell!


s: Did ye not hear it? No; 'twas but the wind,


s: Or the car rattling o'er the stony street.


s: On with the dance! let joy be unconfined!


s: No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet


s: To chase the glowing hours with flying feet!


s: But hark!--that heavy sound breaks in once more,


s: And nearer, clearer, deadlier, than before!


s: Arm! arm! it is--it is the cannon's opening roar!


s: Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro,


s: And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress


s: And cheeks all pale, which, but an hour ago,


s: Blushed at the praise of their own loveliness;


s: And there were sudden partings, such as press


s: The life from out young hearts, and choking sighs


s: Which ne'er might be repeated: who could guess


s: If ever more should meet those mutual eyes,


s: Since upon night so sweet such awful morn could rise?


s: And there was mounting in hot haste: the steed,


s: The mustering squadron, and the clattering car,


s: Went pouring forward with impetuous speed,


s: And swiftly forming in the ranks of war;


s: Roused up the soldier ere the morning star;


s: Or whispering with white lips, "The foe! They come! They come!"


s: And Ardennes waves above them her green leaves,


s: Dewy with Nature's tear-drops, as they pass,


s: Grieving, if aught inanimate e'er grieves,


s: Ere evening to be trodden like the grass


s: Which, now beneath them, but above shall grow


s: In its next verdure, when this fiery mass


s: And burning with high hope, shall moulder cold and low.


s: Last noon beheld them full of lusty life,


s: Last eve in Beauty's circle proudly gay;


s: The midnight brought the signal-sound of strife,


s: The morn the marshalling in arms,--the day,


s: The thunder-clouds close o'er it, which, when rent,


s: The earth is covered thick with other clay,


s: Which her own clay shall cover, heaped and pent,


s: Rider, and horse--friend, foe--in one red burial blent!


s: Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are!


s: And glory to our Sovereign Liege, King Henry of Navarre!


s: Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance,


s: Through thy corn-fields green, and sunny vines, O pleasant


s: And thou, Rochelle, our own Rochelle, proud city of the waters,


s: Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters.


s: As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy,


s: Oh! how our hearts were beating, when, at the dawn of day,


s: We saw the army of the League drawn out in long array;


s: With all its priest-led citizens, and all its rebel peers,


s: And Appenzel's stout infantry, and Egmont's Flemish spears.


s: There rode the brood of false Lorraine, the curses of our land;


s: And dark Mayenne was in the midst, a truncheon in his hand;


s: And, as we looked on them, we thought of Seine's empurpled flood,


s: And we cried unto the living God, who rules the fate of war,


s: To fight for His own holy name, and Henry of Navarre.


s: The King is come to marshal us, in all his armour drest,


s: And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest.


s: He looked upon his people, and a tear was in his eye;


s: He looked upon the traitors, and his glance was stern and high.


s: Right graciously he smiled on us, as rolled from wing to wing,


s: For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody fray,


s: Press where ye see my white plume shine, amid the ranks of war,


s: And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre."


s: Hurrah! the foes are moving. Hark to the mingled din


s: Of fife, and steed, and trump, and drum, and roaring culverin.


s: The fiery Duke is pricking fast across St. André's plain,


s: With all the hireling chivalry of Guelders and Almayne.


s: Now by the lips of those ye love, fair gentlemen of France,


s: Charge for the golden lilies,--upon them with the lance.


s: A thousand spurs are striking deep, a thousand spears in rest,


s: Their ranks are breaking like thin clouds before a Biscay gale;


s: "Remember St. Bartholomew!" was passed from man to man.


s: But out spake gentle Henry, "No Frenchman is my foe:


s: Down, down with every foreigner, but let your brethren go."


s: Oh! was there ever such a knight, in friendship or in war,


s: As our Sovereign Lord, King Henry, the soldier of Navarre?


s: Right well fought all the Frenchmen who fought for France to-day;


s: But we of the Religion have borne us best in fight;


s: And the good lord of Rosny has ta'en the cornet white.


s: Our own true Maximilian the cornet white hath ta'en,


s: The cornet white with crosses black, the flag of false Lorraine.


s: Up with it high; unfurl it wide; that all the host may know


s: Ho! maidens of Vienna; Ho! matrons of Lucerne;


s: Weep, weep, and rend your hair for those who never shall return.


s: Ho! Philip, send, for charity, thy Mexican pistoles,


s: That Antwerp monks may sing a mass for thy poor spearman's souls.


s: Ho! burghers of Saint Genevieve, keep watch and ward to-night.


s: Then glory to His holy name, from whom all glories are;


s: And glory to our Sovereign Lord, King Henry of Navarre.


s: King Francis was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport,


s: And one day as his lions fought, sat looking on the court;


s: The nobles filled the benches, with the ladies in their pride,


s: Valour, and love, and a king above, and the royal beasts below.


s: Ramp'd and roar'd the lions, with horrid laughing jaws;


s: They bit, they glared, gave blows like beams, a wind


s: With wallowing might and stifled roar they rolled on one another,


s: The bloody foam above the bars came whisking through the air;


s: De Lorge's love o'erheard the King,--a beauteous lively dame


s: He surely would do wondrous things to show his love of me;


s: King, ladies, lovers, all look on; the occasion is divine;


s: I'll drop my glove, to prove his love; great glory will be mine."


s: She dropped her glove, to prove his love, then look'd


s: He bowed, and in a moment leapt among the lions wild:


s: His leap was quick, return was quick, he has regain'd his place,


s: "No love," quoth he, "but vanity, sets love a task like that."


s: A traveller came to the Well of St. Keyne:


s: For from cock-crow he had been travelling


s: He drank of the water so cool and clear,


s: There came a man from the neighbouring town


s: "Now, art thou a bachelor, stranger?" quoth he,


s: The happiest draught thou hast drunk this day


s: "Or has your good woman, if one you have,


s: For an if she have, I'll venture my life


s: She has drunk of the Well of St. Keyne."


s: "I have left a good woman who never was here,"


s: "But that my draught should be better for that,


s: "St. Keyne," quoth the countryman, "many a time


s: "But if the wife should drink of it first,


s: The stranger stoop'd to the Well of St. Keyne,


s: "You drank of the well, I warrant, betimes?"


s: But the countryman smiled as the stranger spake,


s: "I hastened as soon as the wedding was done,


s: But i' faith she had been wiser than me,


s: For each could swim on the ocean's brim,


s: And sink to sleep in the great sea-deep,


s: And theirs was a bliss more fair than this


s: They swam 'mid isles whose summer smiles


s: Whose groves were palm, whose air was balm,


s: They sailed all day through creek and bay,


s: They saw them ride in their power and pride,


s: And hand in hand, from strand to strand,


s: These fairy shells, with their crystal cells,


s: And they came at last to a sea long past,


s: The Almighty's breath spoke out in death,


s: Thus tempest-tossed, seek the loved, the lost,


s: Where heart meets heart, and no more they part


s: And the swan glides past them with the sound


s: There woman's voice flows forth in song,


s: Solemn, yet sweet, the church-bell's chime


s: They are smiling o'er the silvery brooks,


s: Through glowing orchards forth they peep,


s: Where first the child's glad spirit loves


s: Like an eagle's nest, hangs on the crest


s: Short time was there, ye well may guess,


s: As that great host, with measured tread,


s: And spears advanced, and ensigns spread,


s: To earth they sprang, their swords they drew,


s: From that gray crag where, girt with towers,


s: The blow, though turned, came yet too nigh;


s: It missed his helm, but gashed his thigh:


s: Boughs where the thrush, with crimson breast,


s: Shall haunt, and sing, and hide her nest;


s: Flowers for the sick girl's silent room,


s: While children come, with cries of glee,


s: Shall think of childhood's careless day,


s: And loosen, when the frost-clouds lower,


s: The crisp brown leaves in thicker shower.


s: 'Tis said he made some quaint old rhymes


s: Then Heaven tries the earth if it be in tune,


s: An instinct within it that reaches and towers,


s: And, groping blindly above it for light,


s: The buttercup catches the sun in its chalice,


s: And there's never a leaf nor a blade too mean


s: The little bird sits at his door in the sun,


s: His mate feels the eggs beneath her wings,


s: He sings to the wide world, and she to her nest,--


s: In the nice ear of Nature which song is the best?


s: The huge waves wash, the high waves roll,


s: "Home, Sweet Home" (John Howard Payne, 1791-1852) is a poem that


s: reaches into the heart. What is home? A place where we experience


s: 'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,


s: Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;


s: A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,


s: Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.


s: There's no place like Home! there's no place like Home!


s: An exile from Home, splendour dazzles in vain;


s: O, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!


s: The birds singing gaily, that came at my call,--


s: Give me them,--and the peace of mind, dearer than all!


s: How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,


s: And the cares of a mother to soothe and beguile!


s: Let others delight 'mid new pleasures to roam,


s: But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of Home!


s: To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;


s: The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;


s: No more from that cottage again will I roam;


s: Be it ever so humble, there's no place like Home.


s: I heard last night a little child go singing


s: 'Neath Casa Guidi windows, by the church,


s: The same words still on notes he went in search


s: So high for, you concluded the upspringing


s: Must leave the whole bush in a tremble green,


s: While such a voice had leave to rise serene


s: 'Twixt church and palace of a Florence street;


s: A little child, too, who not long had been


s: By mother's finger steadied on his feet,


s: The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide!


s: When other helpers fail, and comforts flee,


s: Swift to its close ebbs out life's little day;


s: Earth's joys grow dim, its glories pass away;


s: Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom,


s: The night is dark, and I am far from home,


s: The distant scene; one step enough for me.


s: I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou


s: I loved to choose and see my path; but now


s: I loved the garish day; and, spite of fears,


s: Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.


s: So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still


s: O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till


s: And with the morn those angel faces smile,


s: Which I have loved long since, and lost a while.


s: Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.


s: Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,


s: Not with the roll of the stirring drums,


s: They shook the depths of the desert gloom


s: And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang


s: And the rocking pines of the forest roared,--


s: The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?--


s: They have left unstained what there they found,


s: "Courage!" he said, and pointed toward the land,


s: "This mounting wave will roll us shoreward soon."


s: All round the coast the languid air did swoon,


s: Breathing like one that hath a weary dream.


s: Full-faced above the valley stood the moon;


s: And like a downward smoke, the slender stream


s: Along the cliff to fall and pause and fall did seem.


s: A land of streams! some, like a downward smoke,


s: Slow-dropping veils of thinnest lawn, did go;


s: And some thro' wavering lights and shadows broke,


s: Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.


s: They saw the gleaming river seaward flow


s: From the inner land: far off, three mountain-tops,


s: Stood sunset-flush'd: and, dew'd with showery drops,


s: Up-clomb the shadowy pine above the woven copse.


s: In the red West: thro' mountain clefts the dale


s: Was seen far inland, and the yellow down


s: Border'd with palm, and many a winding vale


s: A land where all things always seem'd the same!


s: And round about the keel with faces pale,


s: Dark faces pale against that rosy flame,


s: The mild-eyed melancholy Lotos-eaters came.


s: Branches they bore of that enchanted stem,


s: Laden with flower and fruit, whereof they gave


s: And taste, to him the gushing of the wave


s: Far, far away did seem to mourn and rave


s: On alien shores; and if his fellow spake,


s: His voice was thin, as voices from the grave;


s: And deep-asleep he seem'd, yet all awake,


s: And music in his ears his beating heart did make.


s: They sat them down upon the yellow sand,


s: Between the sun and moon upon the shore;


s: And sweet it was to dream of Fatherland,


s: Of child, and wife, and slave; but evermore


s: Most weary seem'd the sea, weary the oar,


s: Weary the wandering fields of barren foam.


s: Then some one said, "We will return no more;"


s: And all at once they sang, "Our island home


s: Is far beyond the wave; we will no longer roam."


s: "Moly" (mo'ly), by Edith M. Thomas (1850-), in the best possible


s: presentation of the value of integrity. This poem ranks with "Sir


s: Then what d'ye think I did?--I drank him.


s: The hapless heart that's stung by thee!"


s: His mother's doves and team of sparrows.


s: Growing on his cheek, but none knows how;


s: When George the Third was reigning, a hundred years ago,


s: He ordered Captain Farmer to chase the foreign foe,


s: "Quebec was once a Frenchman's town, but twenty years ago


s: King George the Second sent a man called General Wolfe, you know,


s: As you'd look down a hatchway when standing on the deck.


s: But since the town was won for us it is a lucky name,


s: Then Farmer said, "I'll try, sir," and Farmer bowed so low


s: That George could see his pigtail tied in a velvet bow.


s: George gave him his commission, and that it might be safer,


s: Then proud was Captain Farmer in a frigate of his own,


s: And grander on his quarter-deck than George upon his throne.


s: He'd two guns in his cabin, and on the spar-deck ten,


s: And twenty on the gun-deck, and more than ten-score men.


s: And as a huntsman scours the brakes with sixteen brace of dogs,


s: With two-and-thirty cannon the ship explored the fogs.


s: From Cape la Hogue to Ushant, from Rochefort to Belleisle,


s: She hunted game till reef and mud were rubbing on her keel.


s: The Frenchmen's captain had a name I wish I could pronounce;


s: A Breton gentleman was he, and wholly free from bounce,


s: One like those famous fellows who died by guillotine


s: For honour and the fleur-de-lys, and Antoinette the Queen.


s: How each was bound to win or die for flag and native land.


s: Sore smitten were both captains, and many lads beside,


s: And still to cut our rigging the foreign gunners tried.


s: A sail-clad spar came flapping down athwart a blazing gun;


s: We could not quench the rushing flames, and so the Frenchman won.


s: Our quarter-deck was crowded, the waist was all aglow;


s: Men hung upon the taffrail half scorched, but loth to go;


s: The guns were hushed on either side, the Frenchmen lowered boats,


s: They risked their lives, good fellows! to bring their rivals aid.


s: _La Surveillante_ was like a sieve; the victors had no rest;


s: They had to dodge the east wind to reach the port of Brest.


s: And where the waves leapt lower and the riddled ship went slower,


s: They dealt with us as brethren, they mourned for Farmer dead;


s: And as the wounded captives passed each Breton bowed the head.


s: Then spoke the French Lieutenant, "Twas fire that won, not we.


s: You never struck your flag to us; you'll go to England free."


s: Twas the sixth day of October, seventeen hundred seventy-nine,


s: A year when nations ventured against us to combine,


s: _Quebec_ was burned and Farmer slain, by us remembered not;


s: But thanks be to the French book wherein they're not forgot.


s: Think of the Breton gentlemen who took our lads to Brest,


s: And treat some rescued Breton as a comrade and a guest.


s: At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,


s: And a pinnace, like a fluttered bird, came flying from away:


s: "Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!"


s: Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: "'Fore God, I am no coward;


s: But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear,


s: And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick.


s: We are six ships of the line; can we fight with fifty-three?"


s: Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: "I know you are no coward;


s: You fly them for a moment, to fight with them again.


s: But I've ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.


s: I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard,


s: To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain."


s: So Lord Howard passed away with five ships of war that day,


s: Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven;


s: But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land


s: And we laid them on the ballast down below;


s: He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight,


s: And he sail'd away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight,


s: With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow.


s: "There'll be little of us left by the time this sun be set"


s: And Sir Richard said again: "We be all good Englishmen.


s: Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil,


s: For I never turn'd my back upon Don or devil yet."


s: Sir Richard spoke and he laugh'd, and we roar'd a hurrah, and so


s: The little _Revenge_ ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,


s: With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;


s: Took the breath from our sails, and we stay'd.


s: And while now the great _San Philip_ hung above us like a cloud


s: And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard lay,


s: And the battle-thunder broke from them all.


s: But anon the great _San Philip_, she bethought herself and went,


s: Having that within her womb that had left her ill content;


s: And a dozen times we shook 'em off as a dog that shakes his ears


s: When he leaps from the water to the land.


s: Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead


s: For some were sunk and many were shatter'd, and so could


s: God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before?


s: But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly dead,


s: And himself he was wounded again in the side and the head,


s: And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far


s: Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain,


s: And half of the rest of us maim'd for life


s: In the crash of the cannonades and the desperate strife;


s: And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side;


s: But Sir Richard cried in his English pride:


s: "We have fought such a fight for a day and a night


s: Sink me the ship, Master Gunner--sink her, split her in twain!


s: Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!"


s: And the gunner said. "Ay, ay," but the seamen made reply:


s: We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;


s: We shall live to fight again, and to strike another blow."


s: And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.


s: And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then,


s: Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last,


s: "I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true;


s: I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do.


s: With a joyful spirit I, Sir Richard Grenville, die!"


s: And he fell upon their decks, and he died.


s: And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true,


s: And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap


s: That he dared her with one little ship and his English few.


s: Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,


s: But they sank his body with honour down into the deep,


s: And they mann'd the _Revenge_ with a swarthier alien crew,


s: And away she sail'd with her loss and long'd for her own;


s: When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from sleep,


s: And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,


s: And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,


s: And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,


s: Till it smote on their hulls, and their sails, and their masts,


s: My good blade carves the casques of men,


s: The splintered spear-shafts crack and fly,


s: The stalls are void, the doors are wide,


s: The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,


s: And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;


s: This weight and size, this heart and eyes,


s: The last of life, for which the first was made."


s: "The Voice of Spring," by Felicia Hemans (1749-1835), becomes


s: "The larch has hung all his tassels forth,"


s: I come o'er the mountains, with light and song.


s: Ye may trace my step o'er the waking earth


s: By the winds which tell of the violet's birth,


s: By the primrose stars in the shadowy grass,


s: I have breathed on the South, and the chestnut-flowers


s: By thousands have burst from the forest bowers,


s: And the ancient graves and the fallen fanes


s: Are veiled with wreaths on Italian plains;


s: But it is not for me, in my hour of bloom,


s: I have looked o'er the hills of the stormy North,


s: And the larch has hung all his tassels forth;


s: And the reindeer bounds o'er the pastures free,


s: And the pine has a fringe of softer green,


s: And the moss looks bright, where my step has been.


s: I have sent through the wood-paths a glowing sigh,


s: And called out each voice of the deep blue sky,


s: From the night-bird's lay through the starry time,


s: In the groves of the soft Hesperian clime,


s: To the swan's wild note by the Iceland lakes,


s: When the dark fir-branch into verdure breaks.


s: From the streams and founts I have loosed the chain;


s: They are sweeping on to the silvery main,


s: They are flashing down from the mountain brows,


s: They are flinging spray o'er the forest boughs,


s: They are bursting fresh from their sparry caves,


s: And the earth resounds with the joy of waves.


s: And the little gray church on the windy shore;


s: She will not come though you call all day;


s: Where the spent lights quiver and gleam,


s: Where the salt weed sways in the stream,


s: Feed in the ooze of their pasture-ground;


s: On a red gold throne in the heart of the sea,


s: She comb'd its bright hair, and she tended it well,


s: When down swung the sound of a far-off bell.


s: She sigh'd, she look'd up through the clear green sea;


s: She said: "I must go, for my kinsfolk pray


s: In the little gray church on the shore to-day.


s: 'Twill be Easter-time in the world--ah me!


s: And I lose my poor soul, Merman! here with thee."


s: I said: "Go up, dear heart, through the waves;


s: Say thy prayer, and come back to the kind sea-caves!"


s: She smil'd, she went up through the surf in the bay.


s: "The sea grows stormy, the little ones moan;


s: Long prayers," I said, "in the world they say;


s: Come!" I said; and we rose through the surf in the bay.


s: Where the sea-stocks bloom, to the white-wall'd town;


s: Through the narrow pav'd streets, where all was still,


s: To the little gray church on the windy hill.


s: From the church came a murmur of folk at their prayers,


s: But we stood without in the cold blowing airs.


s: We climb'd on the graves, on the stones worn with rains,


s: And we gaz'd up the aisle through the small leaded panes.


s: She sate by the pillar; we saw her clear:


s: "Margaret, hist! come quick, we are here!


s: Dear heart," I said, "we are long alone;


s: The sea grows stormy, the little ones moan."


s: For her eyes were seal'd to the holy book!


s: Loud prays the priest: shut stands the door.


s: She sits at her wheel in the humming town,


s: For the humming street, and the child with its toy!


s: For the priest, and the bell, and the holy well;


s: She steals to the window, and looks at the sand,


s: For the cold strange eyes of a little Mermaiden,


s: Thou'lt break my heart, thou bonnie bird


s: Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,


s: The brook that springs in yonder heights;


s: To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not."


s: In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.


s: And singing still dost soar and soaring ever singest.


s: Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun.


s: Thou art unseen, but yet I hear thy shrill delight.


s: The moon rains out her beams, and heaven is overflowed.


s: As from thy presence showers a rain of melody:--


s: To sympathy with hopes and fears it heeded not.


s: That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine.


s: A thing wherein we feel there is some hidden want.


s: What love of thine own kind? what ignorance of pain?


s: The world should listen then, as I am listening now!


s: The western wind was wild and dark with foam


s: The western tide crept up along the sand,


s: The rolling mist came down and hid the land;


s: Oh! is it weed, or fish, or floating hair,--


s: They rowed her in across the rolling foam,


s: But still the boatmen hear her call the cattle home


s: Each fragrant flower that drinks the dew;


s: Where first our marriage-vows were given,


s: Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,


s: All seasons through his minstrelsy we meet,


s: Breathing by field and covert haunting-sweet


s: From organ-lofts in forests old he pours:


s: To smooth autumnal pipes he moves his feet,


s: Or with the tingling plectrum of the sleet


s: In winter keen beats out his thrilling scores.


s: Leave me the reed unplucked beside the stream.


s: And he will stoop and fill it with the breeze;


s: Leave me the viol's frame in secret trees,


s: Unwrought, and it shall wake a druid theme;


s: Leave me the whispering shell on Nereid shores.


s: "The great god sighed for the cost and the pain."


s: Splashing and paddling with hoofs of a goat,


s: High on the shore sat the great god Pan,


s: And hack'd and hew'd as a great god can,


s: With his hard bleak steel at the patient reed,


s: Till there was not a sign of a leaf indeed


s: Then drew the pith, like the heart of a man,


s: "This is the way," laugh'd the great god Pan


s: To make sweet music, they could succeed."


s: Then, dropping his mouth to a hole in the reed


s: And the lilies reviv'd, and the dragon-fly


s: The true gods sigh for the cost and pain,--


s: For the reed which grows nevermore again


s: popular. But the pathos is that which endears it.


s: Good ringers, pull your best," quoth he.


s: By millions crouch'd on the old sea wall.


s: My thread brake off, I raised myne eyes;


s: Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot;


s: Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot,


s: Bin full of floating bells (sayth shee),


s: The steeple tower'd from out the greene;


s: They sayde, "And why should this thing be?


s: "The olde sea wall," he cried, "is downe,


s: "God save you, mother!" straight he saith


s: Then bankes came downe with ruin and rout--


s: Stream from the church tower, red and high--


s: Thou didst, thou didst, my daughter deare


s: That flow strew'd wrecks about the grass,


s: But each will mourn his own (she saith);


s: "Come uppe, Whitefoot, come uppe, Lightfoot;


s: audience of young people when correlated with the study of North


s: "L'Envoi," by Rudyard Kipling, is a favourite on account of its


s: sweeping assertion of the individual's right to self-development.


s: When Earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are


s: Till the Master of All Good Workmen shall set us to work anew!


s: And those who were good shall be happy: they shall sit


s: meditation--people to whom the world of activity is closed. To be


s: Though much I want that most would have,


s: And hearts, that once beat high for praise,


s: How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,


s: When fond recollection presents them to view!


s: The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,


s: And every loved spot which my infancy knew!


s: The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,


s: The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,


s: The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,


s: And e'en the rude bucket that hung in the well--


s: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,


s: The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.


s: That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,


s: For often at noon, when returned from the field,


s: I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,


s: The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.


s: How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,


s: And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;


s: Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,


s: And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well--


s: The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.


s: How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it


s: As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!


s: Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,


s: The brightest that beauty or revelry sips.


s: And now, far removed from the loved habitation,


s: The tear of regret will intrusively swell.


s: As fancy reverts to my father's plantation,


s: And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well--


s: The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,


s: The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well!


s: boyhood. The poem caught me when a child by its refrain and weird


s: Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,


s: Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore--


s: While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,


s: As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door"


s: 'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--


s: Ah! distinctly I remember, it was in the bleak December,


s: And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor;


s: Eagerly I wished the morrow; vainly I had sought to borrow


s: From my books surcease of sorrow--sorrow for the lost Lenore--


s: For the rare and radiant maiden whom the angels name Lenore--


s: And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain


s: Thrilled me--filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;


s: So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating,


s: Some late visitor entreating entrance at my chamber door:


s: Presently my soul grew stronger; hesitating then no longer,


s: "Sir," said I, "or madam, truly your forgiveness I implore;


s: But the fact is, I was napping, and so gently you came rapping,


s: And so faintly you came tapping, tapping at my chamber door,


s: That I scarce was sure I heard you." Here I opened wide the door:


s: Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering,


s: Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before;


s: But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token,


s: And the only word there spoken was the whispered word, "Lenore!"


s: This I whispered, and an echo murmured back the word, "Lenore!"


s: Back into my chamber turning, all my soul within me burning,


s: Soon again I heard a rapping, something louder than before:


s: "Surely," said I, "surely that is something at my window lattice;


s: Let my heart be still a moment, and this mystery explore.


s: Perched above a bust of Pallas, just above my chamber door--


s: Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling,


s: By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it wore;


s: "Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou," I said, "art


s: Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,


s: For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being


s: Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door--


s: Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door


s: But the Raven, sitting lonely on that placid bust, spoke only


s: That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour;


s: Nothing further then he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered,


s: Startled by the stillness broken by reply so aptly spoken,


s: "Doubtless," said I, "what it utters is its only stock and store,


s: But the Raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,


s: Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird, and


s: Then upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking


s: Fancy into fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore--


s: Thus I sat engaged in guessing, but no syllable expressing


s: To the fowl whose fiery eyes now burned into my bosom's core;


s: This and more I sat divining, with my head at ease reclining


s: On the cushion's velvet lining, that the lamp-light gloated o'er,


s: "Wretch," I cried, "thy God hath lent thee--by these angels He


s: Respite--respite and nepenthe from my memories of Lenore!


s: Desolate, yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted,


s: On this home by horror haunted--tell me truly, I implore,


s: Tell this soul, with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aiden


s: It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore!


s: Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?"


s: Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken,


s: And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,


s: Till time to dust their frames should wear;


s: Whose polished points before them shine,


s: From flank to flank, one brilliant line,


s: Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke


s: Marshalled, once more, at Freedom's call,


s: Yet, while the Austrians held their ground,


s: How could they rest within their graves,


s: And leave their homes, the homes of slaves!


s: Would not they feel their children tread,


s: Tell where the bolt would strike, and how.


s: Their keen points crossed from side to side;


s: As rushed the spears through Arnold's heart.


s: Through pleasant and through cloudy weather;


s: Tis hard to part when friends are dear--


s: Say not Good Night,--but in some brighter clime


s: fragments from Shakespeare, 1564-1616), find a place in this book


s: It droppeth as the gentle rain from Heaven


s: Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd;


s: It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:


s: 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes


s: The throned monarch better than his crown:


s: His scepter shows the force of temporal power,


s: Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;


s: And earthly power doth then show likest God's


s: See thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,


s: Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar:


s: The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,


s: Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;


s: But do not dull thy palm with entertainment


s: Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade. Beware


s: Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,


s: Bear 't that th' opposed may beware of thee.


s: Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:


s: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment.


s: But not expressed in fancy; rich, not gaudy:


s: For loan oft loses both itself and friend,


s: And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.


s: This above all: to thine own self be true;


s: And it must follow, as the night the day,


s: Thou canst not then be false to any man.


s: Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;


s: And common good to all, made one of them.


s: So mix'd in him, that Nature might stand up,


s: And say to all the world, "This was a man!"


s: Sweet be thy matin o'er moorland and lea!


s: Love gives it energy, love gave it birth.


s: Thy lay is in heaven, thy love is on earth.


s: O'er the red streamer that heralds the day,


s: Sweet will thy welcome and bed of love be!


s: "The Choir Invisible" (by George Eliot, 1819-80) is a fitting


s: exposition in poetry of this "Shakespeare of prose."


s: In minds made better by their presence; live


s: In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars,


s: And with their mild persistence urge men's minds


s: The cup of strength in some great agony,


s: Enkindle generous ardour, feed pure love,


s: Whose music is the gladness of the world.


s: The world is too much with us; late and soon,


s: Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;


s: We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!


s: This sea, that bares her bosom to the moon,


s: The winds that will be howling at all hours,


s: And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers--


s: For this, for everything, we are out of tune;


s: It moves us not. Great God! I'd rather be


s: So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,


s: Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;


s: Have sight of Proteus, rising from the sea,


s: Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.


s: Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,


s: And that one talent which is death to hide,


s: Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent


s: To serve therewith my Maker, and present


s: My true account, lest He, returning, chide;


s: Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?


s: That murmur, soon replies, God doth not need


s: Either man's work, or His own gifts; who best


s: Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best; His state


s: Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,


s: And post o'er land and ocean without rest;


s: They also serve who only stand and wait.


s: Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles.


s: Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill;


s: "The path of glory leads but to the grave."


s: It would almost seem that poetry has for its greatest mission the


s: The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,


s: The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,


s: The plowman homeward plods his weary way,


s: And leaves the world to darkness and to me.


s: Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,


s: And all the air a solemn stillness holds,


s: Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,


s: And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.


s: The moping owl does to the moon complain


s: Of such as, wandering near her secret bow'r,


s: Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,


s: Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,


s: The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.


s: The breezy call of incense-breathing morn,


s: The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,


s: The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,


s: No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.


s: For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,


s: No children run to lisp their sire's return,


s: Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.


s: Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,


s: Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;


s: How jocund did they drive their team afield!


s: How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!


s: Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,


s: Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile,


s: The short and simple annals of the Poor.


s: The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,


s: And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,


s: The paths of glory lead but to the grave.


s: Forgive, ye Proud, th' involuntary fault


s: Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault


s: The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.


s: Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?


s: Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,


s: Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?


s: Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire,


s: Hands that the rod of empire might have sway'd,


s: But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page


s: Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;


s: Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,


s: And froze the genial current of the soul.


s: The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:


s: Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,


s: And waste its sweetness on the desert air.


s: Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast


s: The little tyrant of his fields withstood;


s: Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,


s: Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.


s: Th' applause of listening senates to command,


s: The threats of pain and ruin to despise,


s: And read their history in a nation's eyes,


s: Their lot forbad: nor circumscribed alone


s: Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined


s: Forbad to wade through slaughter to a throne,


s: The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,


s: To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,


s: With incense, kindled at the Muse's flame.


s: Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,


s: Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;


s: They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.


s: Yet e'en those bones from insult to protect


s: With uncouth rhimes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,


s: Their name, their years, spelt by th' unlettered Muse,


s: This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned,


s: Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,


s: Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?


s: On some fond breast the parting soul relies,


s: Some pious drops the closing eye requires;


s: E'en from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,


s: E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.


s: For thee, who, mindful of th' unhonour'd dead,


s: Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;


s: Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,


s: "Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn


s: Brushing with hasty steps the dews away,


s: "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech


s: That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,


s: His listless length at noon-tide would he stretch,


s: And pore upon the brook that babbles by.


s: "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,


s: Muttering his wayward fancies he would rove;


s: Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,


s: Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love.


s: "One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,


s: Along the heath, and near his favourite tree;


s: Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he.


s: Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.


s: Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,


s: Graved on the stone beneath yon agèd thorn."


s: Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth


s: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,


s: Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,


s: Heaven did a recompense as largely send:


s: He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.


s: Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,


s: (There they alike in trembling hope repose,)


s: The last of life for which the first was made."


s: " ... Trust God; see all, nor be afraid!"


s: The last of life, for which the first was made:


s: Youth shows but half; trust God: see all nor be afraid!"


s: Which lily leave and then as best recall?"


s: Mine be some figured flame which blends, transcends them all!"


s: Finish'd and finite clods, untroubled by a spark.


s: On joy, to solely seek and find and feast:


s: Irks care the crop-full bird? Frets doubt the maw-cramm'd beast?


s: And not partake, effect and not receive!


s: Who gives, than of His tribes that take, I must believe.


s: Each sting, that bids nor sit nor stand, but go!


s: Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!


s: Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail:


s: A brute I might have been, but would not sink i' the scale.


s: Whose spirit works lest arms and legs want play?


s: How far can that project thy soul on its lone way?


s: Of power each side, perfection every turn:


s: Should not the heart beat once "How good to live and learn?"


s: I, who saw power, see now love perfect too:


s: Maker, remake, complete,--I trust what Thou shalt do!"


s: Pull'd ever to the earth, still yearns for rest;


s: Possessions of the brute,--gain most, as we did best!


s: I strove, made head, gained ground upon the whole!"


s: Are ours, nor soul helps flesh more, now, than flesh helps soul!"


s: Life's struggle having so far reached its term:


s: From the developed brute; a god though in the germ.


s: Once more on my adventure brave and new:


s: What weapons to select, what armour to indue.


s: Leave the fire ashes, what survives is gold:


s: Young, all lay in dispute; I shall know, being old.


s: The deed off, calls the glory from the gray:


s: Take it and try its worth: here dies another day."


s: Let me discern, compare, pronounce at last,


s: The Future I may face now I have proved the Past"


s: Hints of the proper craft, tricks of the tool's true play.


s: Toward making, than repose on aught found made:


s: Further. Thou waitedest age: wait death nor be afraid!


s: Be named here, as thou callest thy hand thine own,


s: From fools that crowded youth, nor let thee feel alone.


s: Announced to each his station in the Past!


s: Right? Let age speak the truth and give us peace at last!


s: Shun what I follow, slight what I receive;


s: They this thing, and I that: whom shall my soul believe?


s: Things done, that took the eye and had the price;


s: Found straightway to its mind, could value in a trice:


s: So pass'd in making up the main account;


s: That weigh'd not as his work, yet swell'd the man's amount:


s: Fancies that broke through language and escaped,


s: This, I was worth to God, whose wheel the pitcher shaped.


s: Why time spins fast, why passive lies our clay,--


s: "Since life fleets, all is change; the Past gone, seize to-day!"


s: Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure;


s: Time's wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure.


s: This Present, thou, forsooth, wouldst fain arrest


s: Try thee and turn thee forth, sufficiently impress'd.


s: Around thy base, no longer pause and press?


s: Grow out, in graver mood, obey the sterner stress?


s: The festal board, lamp's flash and trumpet's peal,


s: And since, not even while the whirl was worst


s: Bound dizzily,--mistake my end, to slake Thy thirst:


s: What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim!


s: Lest age approve of youth, and death complete the same!


s: "The journey is done, the summit attained,


s: "I would hate that Death bandaged my eyes and forebore,


s: Fear death?--to feel the fog in my throat,


s: When the snows begin, and the blasts denote


s: The power of the night, the press of the storm,


s: Where he stands, the Arch Fear in a visible form,


s: For the journey is done and the summit attained,


s: Though a battle's to fight ere a guerdon be gained,


s: I was ever a fighter, so--one fight more.


s: I would hate that death bandaged my eyes, and forebore,


s: No! let me taste the whole of it, fare like my peers


s: Bear the brunt, in a minute pay glad life's arrears


s: For sudden the worst turns the best to the brave,


s: And the elements' rage, the fiend-voices that rave


s: Shall change, shall become first a peace out of pain,


s: O thou soul of my soul! I shall clasp thee again,


s: The "Recessional" (by Rudyard Kipling, 1865-) is one of the most


s: "Reverence is the master-key of knowledge."


s: Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe--


s: Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone


s: Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,


s: Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown


s: And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command


s: Tell that its sculptor well those passions read


s: Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,


s: The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed;


s: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'


s: Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,


s: The lone and level sands stretch far away;"


s: O why should the spirit of mortal be proud?


s: Like a fast-flitting meteor, a fast-flying cloud,


s: A flash of the lightning, a break of the wave,


s: He passes from life to his rest in the grave.


s: The leaves of the oak and the willow shall fade,


s: Be scattered around and together be laid;


s: And the young and the old, and the low and the high,


s: Shall moulder to dust and together shall lie.


s: The child that a mother attended and loved,


s: The mother that infant's affection that proved,


s: The husband that mother and infant that blessed,


s: Each, all, are away to their dwelling of rest.


s: The maid on whose cheek, on whose brow, in whose eye,


s: Shone beauty and pleasure,--her triumphs are by;


s: And the memory of those that beloved her and praised


s: Are alike from the minds of the living erased.


s: The hand of the king that the scepter hath borne,


s: The brow of the priest that the miter hath worn,


s: The eye of the sage, and the heart of the brave,


s: Are hidden and lost in the depths of the grave.


s: The peasant whose lot was to sow and to reap,


s: The herdsman who climbed with his goats to the steep,


s: The beggar that wandered in search of his bread,


s: Have faded away like the grass that we tread.


s: The saint that enjoyed the communion of heaven,


s: The sinner that dared to remain unforgiven,


s: The wise and the foolish, the guilty and just,


s: Have quietly mingled their bones in the dust.


s: So the multitude goes, like the flower and the weed


s: So the multitude comes, even those we behold,


s: To repeat every tale that hath often been told.


s: For we are the same that our fathers have been;


s: We see the same sights that our fathers have seen,--


s: We drink the same stream, and we feel the same sun,


s: And we run the same course that our fathers have run.


s: The thoughts we are thinking, our fathers would think;


s: From the death we are shrinking from, they too would shrink;


s: To the life we are clinging to, they too would cling;


s: But it speeds from the earth like a bird on the wing.


s: They loved, but their story we cannot unfold;


s: They scorned, but the heart of the haughty is cold;


s: They grieved, but no wail from their slumbers may come;


s: They died, ay! they died! and we things that are now,


s: Who walk on the turf that lies over their brow,


s: Who make in their dwellings a transient abode,


s: Meet the changes they met on their pilgrimage road.


s: Yea! hope and despondence, and pleasure and pain,


s: Are mingled together like sunshine and rain;


s: And the smile and the tear, and the song and the dirge,


s: Still follow each other, like surge upon surge.


s: 'Tis the wink of an eye, 'tis the draught of a breath,


s: From the blossom of health to the paleness of death,


s: From the gilded saloon to the bier and the shroud,--