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 91 ^ 
 
 ^ POEM 
 
 GEORGE ALFRED TOWNSEND 
 
 READ AT 
 
 Drawyer'S 
 Presbyterian Church, 
 
 NEW CASTLE COUNTY, DELAWARE, 
 JUNE isi, 1902, 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE 
 JCIETY OF FRIENDS OF OLn 
 
 From " Every Evening," 
 
V \- 
 
 ?)'3 
 
^ .dfToP ^X 
 
 MliMORIAL POI^i^'^'" 
 
 AT Tin: 
 
 One Hundred and Ninety- first Celebration 
 
 DRAWYER'S CHURCH, 
 
 JUNE I, 1902. 
 
 BY GKORGH AI^FRED TOWNSEND. 
 
 -ixtv Years alter tlio flcv. George Foofs Historic 
 Address. (1; 
 
 Calm, restful scene, along the Drawyer's 
 
 creek 
 That points its fdaments to Chesapeake, 
 And in old days the carrying ferry thero 
 Received the vesseis of the Delaware' 
 
 I seem to see the periaugers woik 
 
 By p(de and sail up to the ancient kirli: 
 
 Towed throug-h the marshes, see the 
 
 Dutchman's barge 
 lloU out its barrels and its slaves dis- 
 charge, 
 To take Lord Herman's forest-blazed way 
 To Maryland and the Bohemia. (2) 
 
 1 — Rev. George Foot's sermon, delivered 
 when Mr. Townsend was fifteen months 
 old, was, with other of Mr. Foot's writ- 
 ings, the earliest history of Delaware. 
 
 - — Augustine Herman, Lord of Bohemia 
 Manor, Md., blazed a path to the Dela- 
 ware in 1671. 
 

 
 ICre sounds of picachins" from the churcli 
 
 of l<igs 
 Haunted the cleaiiugs and the lilied bogs. 
 In that raw time when, past the lish- 
 
 hawk's nest. 
 This was the postern of the weanling: 
 
 West. 
 
 They seemed right old who worshipi>ed in 
 
 that van. 
 And had no altar service from Queen 
 
 Anne! 
 Four conquests had already theirs been, 
 
 then— 
 The Swede, the Dutch, the English, and 
 
 the Penn! 
 
 Soon will two centuries their funerals 
 
 hold 
 Above this graveyard filled with human 
 
 mold: 
 How long! how short! — all is comparative. 
 The New World is that span in which to 
 
 live. 
 Death and Eternity once had their prime; 
 Life now is victor,— everlasting' Time! 
 
 Tlie slender bendings of the pure white 
 
 stream, 
 Like children's limbs meandering- in their 
 
 dream 
 Oer the green coverlets of marsh and 
 
 wood, 
 Fill with the morning tide in bounding 
 
 flood. 
 The Moon that- over Drawyer's grey 
 
 abides 
 Draws the fresh sea through young pube- 
 scent tides;- 
 Not even old is this old Kirk's sound core. 
 Straight in its lines and stately pillared 
 
 door 
 As gallant as a widower's sviggest, 
 Who looks around and takes new interest. 
 
 'I'lPerstr). 
 
Come to the old householdci- with your 
 
 plumes. 
 AiitJ le;ive him n«>t foicver lo liis tombs. 
 Young nymphs! ami ye of more meriOian 
 
 charms, 
 ^^'ho have been slieltered in liis timber 
 
 arms! 
 Hay not ht-'s old. but \v<'aUby and retired, 
 And hale euoufcdi to be again admired! 
 I'erhaps your footstep on the stepping 
 
 stih- 
 Thrills Ihiough his marrow up the solid 
 
 aisle 
 And the green (Jilead trees beside the 
 
 gate 
 Droi) balm to liim, who is not all sedate, 
 lie knows what bright thoughts to your 
 
 mothers came 
 ^Vhen he w-as young and they were ves- 
 tal llame; 
 Up to his skirt the green woods creep in 
 
 youth, 
 Like Boaz courted by the willowy Ruth. 
 
 There's ivy on the walls that still arc red; 
 
 The robin sips the dew-drops o'er the 
 dead; 
 
 The cedars are so dark, the popiars shine. 
 
 And hold the bank the creek would un- 
 dermine; 
 
 Like the collection-silver flash the perch; 
 
 The turtle on the tussock sleeps by 
 church, — 
 
 What boy did never of a Sunday wnsh 
 
 It was not wicked that day to catch 
 fish?— 
 
 Ihe speckled Holsteins graze on clover 
 hills; 
 
 The saucy cat-bird morn and evening 
 trills; 
 
 Shall we not think in fields "sc fresh, 'se- 
 rene 
 
 All of our life is not the clor ng scene? 
 
 But touch the hymnal key, when long ere 
 while, 
 
 God looked upon creation with a smile? 
 
Land of my \x>utlil wlicii pa^l three score 
 
 I am.— 
 liiUe to the beaver to his beaver-dam 
 I do return, these streams and levels to. 
 And what was old. to my old age seems 
 
 new ; 
 Because I here Youth's Orient reclaim, 
 Like an old picture in its picture frame. 
 
 I see myself a child in fancy big. 
 Riding the circuits in my father's gig. 
 Past the thorn hedges and the plains of 
 
 peach. 
 To sit so long and hear the puli)it pieach. 
 
 But what was Nature also seemed of 
 
 heaven: 
 To see the swallows in the church re- 
 plevin 
 Their nests amidst the naked timber 
 
 work. 
 The good psalm singer drop his tuning 
 
 fork. 
 The queer old lady with the bonnet deep. 
 The wasp that stung us when we were 
 
 asleep. 
 The wakening and that, incerest squeal, — 
 How hard the knots! it eased us some to 
 
 kneel! 
 How, with horse-sense the horses 
 
 neighed for oats! 
 Why had the sermon so few anecdotes? 
 WTiy did he say so many times "once 
 
 more," 
 And argue that, all argued out before? 
 Why could those deacons doze, elect and 
 
 well. 
 Amidst the furious accounts of Hell?* 
 And after, why at dinner, happy, bright, 
 The preacher, splendid in his appetite. 
 His son respited, though he knew not 
 
 why. 
 
Wlii'ii after turlu'v c;iiii<> preserves and 
 pie, 
 
 And some sweet t?iil tlic dinner did be- 
 guile, 
 
 To seek the parlor and to live awiiiie? 
 
 jj.r l)iiyht face flashes <Iowii the void L. 
 me. 
 
 Tile l.)eain of Ijeauty's iininoitalit \ '. 
 
 To keep the Law, back in the days of old. 
 I had persimmon custard, Sunday, cold; 
 liut onl\- once, — I never can forget- — 
 I shrink, I whistle, .and I pucker yet. 
 Cold apple pie and milk were somewhat 
 
 sad; 
 Cold huckleberries plagued the growing 
 
 lad 
 But O persimmons; let me i)luck thy 
 
 tree! 
 For in the custard tht-y do not agree! 
 
 In Urawyer's Church we gather now, to 
 
 be 
 Heirs in its fruitful genealogy. 
 Our parents loved; the ashes in the earth 
 Were flambeaus for the dear descend- 
 ants' birth. 
 The human fire, immortal aye recurs 
 Rekindled by eternal worshippers. 
 
 Is it for Death we hold this feast of Life, 
 Or altar fire of man and love and wife? 
 See the old shrine left off its time and 
 
 sphere, 
 Aw-akoned to its youth but once a year!— 
 How this one day restores its nuptial joys 
 As to a mother comes her grown-up 
 
 boys ! 
 Sweet spirits verdured in the turf to be! 
 We are successors of your ecstacy! 
 We the elect of your beloved caress! 
 That ye did love, to us is Holiness. 
 Love rambled from the heaven in its 
 
 search 
 
Alul found the maid tliat was the living 
 
 cliurch: 
 Raised man and woman unto heaven's 
 
 degree. 
 And made the Faith, the Holy Family! 
 
 I^ong- as the j'oung breathe influence from 
 
 the morn 
 Earth will be fresh and confidence be 
 
 born ! 
 Only the old are pious In despair: 
 Eden is endless to the strong and fair! 
 
 How much of piety was that they wed! 
 And that the pastor eulogized their dead! 
 The mystic union of the man and wife! 
 The church as motor of the social life! 
 The new-born babe and its short shrift of 
 
 breath ! 
 The impotence of prayers, the mocker, 
 
 Death! 
 Still the soothsayers round these weird 
 
 flames rove 
 And sell their philters or for death or 
 
 love. 
 Yet they who lost, oft love a second time 
 And o'er the grave full soon the bride- 
 flowers climb. 
 Awhile we carry wreaths; then less and 
 
 less, 
 Visit the mound, till comes forgetfulness. 
 This is the thing so magnified before. 
 So incidental when the struggle's o'er! 
 Then we consider death was for the best. 
 Some others are not safe, all ours are 
 
 blest! 
 To earth again the choice of heaven was 
 
 uife 
 And Joseph's children made a heaven' of 
 
 life. 
 
 Fair is our land where affluent and wide 
 The river rises in its magic tide 
 And grim Newcastle's solid bulwark laves 
 Around the pier, the battery and graves. 
 
There, while l^ord Oliver had killed a 
 
 King-, 
 'J'he Dutch Reformed sal staidly worship- 
 ping, 
 Till came New TOtmd;in«l on the ships of 
 
 ( 'a rr. 
 And. as it rose fell Nassau's Hat;- in war. 
 Conliseate then was llinoyossas rid^e 
 And Sheriff! Cantwell built the Toll Mouse 
 
 Bridge 
 And ^)raw^■er■s Ci-eek ((•<)]< nanii', as 1 
 
 opine, (3) 
 From one whose ta\-ern drew new ale and 
 
 wine. 
 Which might account for many a mi.shap 
 Which gave MacDonough's inn the name 
 
 of Trap. 
 Whisper it soft! our sailor Dutch were 
 
 fond 
 Of liquor, as a bull-frog of Ins pond; 
 They brewed Newcastle sleepy as a dunce 
 And e'en Port Penn five taverns had at 
 
 once. 
 
 No doubt malaria was in the air 
 
 And spirits worked the other end of 
 
 prayer! 
 Tliuse backwoods JNlarylanders,- -not a 
 
 few- 
 Came through our province for their 
 
 mountain dew 
 And making harbor tow'rd their native 
 
 East. 
 They fell like Noah before ark and beast. 
 So much more reason for repentance lay! 
 As Tarn O Shanter found Kirk Alio way 
 The Dutch, the Irish and the Huguenots 
 The Puritans, Palatinates and Scots! 
 Elders evolved and congi-egations rose 
 
 3 — "Give us leave, drawer!" 
 
 "Put on two leather jerVins and 
 aprons and wait upon him at his table as 
 
 drawers." — Shakespeare. 
 
l*|ioii tlio di'Vil's tnipifc l«» Jofccloso. 
 At Pigeon Run the kirkless giavosloiies 
 
 se<^'! 
 'I'his old brick Kiik of Ai>poquinimyI 
 'J'he Forest Kirk, Pencader's b\' llu- 
 
 Forf^e, 
 ^Vllitecla^• and the seceders of St. George! 
 
 The Presbyter, he i.s no Pisliop's man: 
 
 ]']cclesia.stical Republican. 
 
 lie reasons from his own di\'init\- 
 
 And his Election, what a God .'^houM I^c! 
 
 He sets the earth in older and in lule; 
 
 Ilis inspiration is a liuman seliool; 
 
 "Pis education trims his altar lights 
 
 And stern his courage for his country's 
 
 rights. 
 Go read the tombstones where to liol\' 
 
 word 
 The heroes of the Kirk awn it the Lord! 
 Never in tyrants' battle did they fall. 
 And Kirkwood of the Kirk he leads tlu-m 
 
 all. 
 The voice of Haslet to his I'egiment 
 Had rung in church before he took a tent 
 And he whose life-blood nourished 
 
 Princeton's sod 
 Had poured the wine and given the bread 
 
 of God. 
 
 Fresh were these bricks in Drawyer's 
 
 second shrine 
 AVheh .swept Knyphauseji on to Brandy- 
 
 .wiae 
 And brief the time and striking like a 
 
 knell 
 Came back the. news thgt Philadelphia 
 
 fell. 
 
 No star so bright can from the heaven 
 
 glide 
 As a great city leaning on our side. 
 Then with our sun eclipsed, sad could we 
 
 say. 
 Our Delaw^are ^as a peninsula. 
 
The Vailey Forge amidst the hills of sleet 
 
 Shod horses' hoofs but not our soldiers' 
 feet, 
 
 ['nless the shoes by Newark women 
 stitched 
 
 In the deserted school their lads enriched. 
 
 Sad was it, then, to sell the foe our flocks 
 
 And have our soldiers eat their fighting- 
 cocks, — 
 
 The same which crowed so cavalierly 
 wlien 
 
 They heard the Drawyer's elders crow 
 "Amen" 
 
 Foi- saints and chickens to be fed at last: 
 
 All love to pray but few to pray and fast. 
 
 The boundary stones the weird surveyors 
 
 lun, 
 Were hardly old before the war was done. 
 And like a babe, born neadwards, stood 
 
 the line; 
 A fairy ciicle on a slender spine. 
 The graceful state a milestone seenit'd to 
 
 be 
 To end contentions of a centuiy. 
 Since subtle Herman did the line prepare 
 Which ruled the Calverts fiom the I^ela- 
 
 ware 
 Saved to the Penn his ocean load and 
 
 gate 
 And gave the young Republic one more 
 
 state. (4) 
 
 They sent a herald with a trumpet rutlv 
 To challenge Philadelphia's latitude; 
 "■J'hey might have owned the cil\- had lh«\ 
 
 sent 
 To measure latitude an instrument; 
 
 4 — Augustine Herman at Patuxent. Md.. 
 drew the distinction that Lord Kalti- 
 more'.s. charter was for sa\age lands and 
 not those settled i)re\iously l)y the Dulch; 
 (In* cause of Deiawaie's bouhdary .split- 
 ting the Eastern Shore, 
 
10 
 
 They had it not and not a i)oint they 
 
 scored. 
 The William Penn was mightier than the 
 
 sword. 
 
 Deep boundary, that midst a century's 
 
 storms, 
 Divided Labor in its rival forms I 
 Then on its border glowed with battle 
 
 lamps 
 As if the ghost surveyors broke their 
 
 camps I 
 
 To be our mart young Willing's city 
 
 strove 
 Born like Minerva in the head of Jove. 
 A Quaker bride beheld the blending kills. 
 From the hiffh shelf of Pennsylvania 
 
 hills. 
 Where in the offing wide the river gleam.s 
 And said: "A spirit put it in my dreams 
 To be my home and yours." So beauty 
 
 won. 
 The Inner Light still beacons Wilmington. 
 
 And when hard Stuyvesant whipped them 
 at the cart 
 
 His sister Bayard pleaded with his honrt 
 
 His Quaker slaves to let go free and 
 s))are: 
 
 Her children's children ruled the Dela- 
 ware, (5) 
 
 While Stuyvesant forfeiting his people's 
 love. 
 
 Against their conquest they no longer 
 strove; 
 
 uommarian bigotry had done its work, 
 
 5 — Anne Stuyvesant, married to a Bay- 
 ard, was the progenitor of the Delaware 
 Bayards. O'Callaghan says that Peter 
 Stuyvesant's persecution of the New Yoik 
 Quakers reacted to make the English con- 
 quest welcome. 
 
]1 
 
 ir5ine as the Romish heart of James ot' 
 
 Yoik; 
 The Quaker scourged, with his pi-oscrin- 
 
 er dealt 
 Like the shed blood of John of Barnevelt. 
 New Netherlands forgot its ancient name 
 And Holland by intolerance lost its fame. 
 
 Long had the church with images been 
 
 wroth. 
 The Quaker banished church and image 
 
 both 
 Long had man's mind contended for con- 
 trol, 
 The Quaker's man was woman in the 
 
 soul: 
 No oaths, no fashions and no gallant 
 
 words 
 The Holy Spirit was the gentle Lord's. 
 Swords put aside, Peace wrought its 
 
 pleasant ends 
 And our first gentlemen were Quaker 
 
 Friends. 
 
 Penn's welcome brought the Quaker 
 
 beauties back 
 From Maryland, Vii-ginia, Accomack, 
 The boors rebuked such radiant health to 
 
 see 
 Heard the plain speech and turned to 
 
 courtesy. 
 Swede, Dutchman learned from inter- 
 course reprove: 
 Of ardent spirits the best brand is Love I 
 
 See Lady Baltimore in love with Fox 
 AVho dined with Lovelace in his curling 
 
 locks 
 And Edmund Andross, once the tyrant 
 
 man. 
 Happier here than with the PuiitanI 
 Penn landing at Newcastle locked the foi-t 
 And locked out wai-, tVie eonquerur'.s re- 
 sort; 
 
1-2 
 
 With Quakers settled PhiladelpViia's 
 heights 
 
 And at the capes the peaceful Mennon- 
 ites ; 
 
 Baptists like them but men of warrior- 
 wills. 
 
 He put his Welch on the disputed hills. 
 
 To fend the Talbot's kern from Naaman's 
 creek 
 
 And guard the back-door from the Chesa- 
 peake. 
 
 Those still, drab Quakers must perforce 
 prevail; 
 
 They had been Ironsides and charged in 
 mail; 
 
 They put off armor to prevail again. 
 
 A Roundhead's daughter was the Lady 
 Penn. 
 
 His father's fleet against the Spanish 
 swam. 
 
 His mother was of Dutch from Rotter- 
 dam. 
 
 So had his coming nothing to provoke 
 
 For he was cousin to the Holland folk. 
 
 The name of William Penn by time di- 
 lates. 
 Founder of two, naj' three potential 
 
 states; (6) 
 His large brain melted in their disson- 
 ance. 
 His old age softened to a childish trance. 
 This day let prejudice forget to work, 
 And make us kindly to the Duke of York! 
 Him whom to Penn his territories sold 
 And took our counties in his great free- 
 hold! 
 The persecuted have the kin of teais, 
 Quaker and Catholic were soi-row's peers. 
 Conscience is obstinate till Love is free, 
 
 6 — Penn's hf>.nd was influential to create 
 Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. 
 
i::i 
 
 Misfortune leaves pathetic victory. 
 
 The banished King, — whose daughters, as 
 severe. 
 
 As were the off-spring- of the fierce King- 
 Lear, 
 
 Their husbands joined and pushed him 
 from his realm, — 
 
 Left Penn, Cordelia, at our shallop's 
 helm; 
 
 But eighteen years beneath his princely 
 care 
 
 James, Duke of York, was I^oid of Dela- 
 ware. 
 
 Bishops and Kings are of the self same 
 
 trade 
 And yet how easily they can be made! 
 Asbury, Coke, from roaming Presbyters, 
 Ordained themselves while gaped the 
 
 worshippers, 
 They came afoot and went away ahorse — 
 Bishops we make quicker than Senators! 
 'J'he grain that Whitfield thrashed they 
 
 gathered in 
 And starved the ritual Bishops from the 
 
 bin; 
 These hunted foxes far. those chickens 
 
 neai', 
 And perfect love is said to cast out fear. 
 Camps and revivals killed the harvest 
 
 home 
 And made our Barratt's Chapel Peter's 
 
 Rome. 
 Ye Methodists! however far ye go, 
 Ye must come here to kiss St. Peter's toe! 
 
 (7) 
 How many ye have grown we do not 
 
 caie 
 We did set up your See in Delaware. 
 
 The Kirk was strong when on her pilion 
 slow 
 
 7— The Methodist Episcopal Church be- 
 gan at Barratt's Chapel, Delaware. 
 
u 
 
 The elect lady rode behind her beau. 
 
 And when tlie sermon touched the sub- 
 jects new 
 
 Of Derry's seige and Saint Bartholemew; 
 
 Could woman then the (ater problem 
 span 
 
 That Eve w^as ape and Adam not a man? 
 
 No wonder she some fresher themes be- 
 spoke! 
 
 Doctrine was long and dying was no joke. 
 
 Still might she start, to hear the pastor 
 say, 
 
 "The fashions of this world they pass 
 away," — 
 
 Thankful the while her Easter hat over- 
 spread, 
 
 One merc5'' yet was left above her head! 
 
 Scowl not that speech and spirit are so 
 free! 
 
 This is a Sunday but a jubilee. 
 
 If one had died for all to burst the grave 
 Ijife is no "quarry dungeon of the slave," 
 To all condemned, the proclamation give. 
 Gloom's gates are broke that faith and 
 joy may live! 
 
 Many regret the fear of death is faint, 
 And most of all the Life Insurance Saint, 
 Whose taxes early from our fears begin 
 Takes but the long-lived and they die to 
 win. 
 
 So well has Science measvn-ed Time's 
 abyss 
 
 Time seems a chain of small eternities. 
 
 Words have no terrors when the mind is 
 free 
 
 And space, harmonious with geometry. 
 
 Taint. impuissance, they can never 
 thrive : 
 
 The sound, the hale, the fit, alone sur- 
 vive ; 
 
 If we appeal from natural selection 
 
 'Tis not as hard as foreordained election. 
 
ir. 
 
 still stein and just is Life whose laws wo 
 
 fear 
 And more than Hell's, we still have judg- 
 ment here. 
 
 Some day our minds from idols shall dis- 
 perse 
 And grasp the safety of the Universe, 
 Not held in tyrant wilfulness and spite, 
 But balanced into orbits exquisite; 
 Spheres rounded like the pebble to the 
 
 stream 
 That gives propulsion with its s>ivan 
 
 gleam 
 And know^s not why it trickles to the sea 
 Except that everything is energs^ 
 
 Women so take away the male employ 
 Girl seems to us only a smarter boy. 
 Churches to town must move, for modern 
 
 style 
 Will not to Drawyer's walk a half a mile! 
 Sermons on earthquakes do no more 
 
 deter 
 Than former fires that burnt some thea- 
 tre. 
 A science primer studied by the cook 
 Giandmothor convert to a Darwin book. 
 The small boy ciphering on arcs and volts 
 Insurers stolid about thunderbolts, — 
 'Tis getting hard new judgments to in- 
 vent 
 Or step a man in business "to renent." 
 
 Time is so occupied none love the slow 
 And life is comfortable as a show. 
 Mourn as I may about that dear old Past, 
 I hope the Undertaker nailed it fast! 
 'I'he butterfly enjoys his gaudy ])liss. 
 'i'he caterpillor loves his chrysalis; 
 Wlio with events keeps energetic tryst 
 A'alues not life that's merely to exist. 
 Nor tells the dreams that nawl about his 
 
 rest, — 
 The soundest sleeper ia the healthiest. 
 
IC 
 
 Death is a bore we will not halt until 
 He comes to business and we pay his bill. 
 Why shall we cring^e to him more than 
 
 the brave 
 Who storm the ramparts to a glorious 
 
 grave ? 
 Life is such battle that whom can go 
 
 through 
 Is also hero, to his colors true! 
 The fear of death, gone with the death of 
 
 fear. 
 I^eaves life artistic and the soul sincere, 
 Not like those fancies in my youth I saw 
 Of people dressed in white with smirks of 
 
 awe, 
 AVaiting to rise to heaven in our sight. 
 Predicted that day by some Milleritc; 
 And ostentatious piety makes pain 
 Ijike calling history "sacred and profane." 
 Sheep need not labels to be told from 
 
 goats 
 And natuies turn not when men tuin 
 
 their coats. 
 ^Ji'cat pa.gans blessed the world with wis- 
 dom's ken 
 lOre in a Temple cried a Jew "Amen." 
 
 The sacred are the mighty sages gone 
 Whose light led in the fiuctuating dawn, 
 
 Sdiiic sncerdota! and some st-cular. — 
 r.iil iKiiuiaiu-c has not a single Star. 
 
 One likes to preach whom preachingoften 
 
 tired. 
 And ill the pulpit feels a. bit inspired. 
 
 Yon island diowned in la\-a, ne\er starts 
 Tii<- thoiigiii of Judgment bul in l:i\a 
 
 It sjicaks the less(m of material might. 
 
 Tile suns (•oml)Ustion for our i>ower and 
 ligbt, 
 
 The ei.-iters th;it ai-e s].ots ni)on its face. 
 
 'l~b.- vviiiiling world that nnx ks the en- 
 gine's i>ace, 
 
17 
 
 Yet is not fast as Thought, that can for- 
 
 see 
 '■J'he comet's voyage back with certainty! 
 
 Pliny, when Paul was preaching, learning 
 
 drew 
 To climb Vesuvius for a nearer view. 
 Science was his religion and his guide. 
 He breathed the vapors and the hero died. 
 
 The young- Duponts acquired their chem- 
 
 i.st skill 
 With great Lavoisier in his powder mill — 
 Him who took air apart with balance 
 
 keen 
 And lost his wise head on the guillotine. 
 
 Why shall we over all occasions cant. 
 And find a moral like an elephant? 
 Idlest be the preacher Priestly by whose 
 
 care. 
 Rose soda fountains in a brewer's i)eer! 
 J'.lcst among doctors ))e that woililiiig"s 
 
 ken 
 VVlio did l)ring forth the baby Oxygen! 
 Clory to all, who when our fight is fought, 
 Liiive for tht-m, after us, a nol)lei- 
 
 thought! 
 
 Wheie is our peach, exquisite to th(^ eye? 
 (lone to a soil wheie it can live, not die. 
 Within the seed may tree and fiiiii be 
 
 found 
 Wo bui-ii the b.arren orch;ii-d to the 
 
 ground. 
 
 Seven hundred years all of our modern 
 
 l)ioo<ls. 
 Wore W(.lves and l)oais out of the (lei-- 
 
 man woods; 
 A thousand moro rcvt-nging- of tho Lord, 
 Tbi-y haiiied k'sscr wolves with fhc and 
 
 sword. 
 Wfic cvci-y deed cleinally fort'som 
 Whv not Columbus in his bold maiin.-?— 
 
IS 
 
 Why not the lialf -world that he was to 
 
 roam 
 When orphan Judah wailed to liaxe a 
 
 home? 
 But having claimed it with the crucilix 
 They hanged each other up as heretics. 
 
 Who can find God on this a]:»oi-tive plan. — ■ 
 Man as a God and God another man? 
 Just civilized above the crawling clod. 
 Why is he so precocious to see God? — • 
 The footstool leave and to the throne re- 
 pair? 
 When instinct tells him God is every- 
 where? 
 
 'Tis the material universe which pulls 
 The faith far out from signs and miracles. 
 Phlogiston, spirits, anima, have been; 
 The ghost of Ether walks to stars unseen. 
 Electric pulses visit streets and rooms. 
 And ghosts are everywhere, excei^t in 
 
 tombs : 
 All honest ghosts, good stewards, without 
 
 stilt. 
 Who came abroad from neither good nor 
 
 guilt: 
 The spirits of the ring and lamp who hie 
 Through caverns served by mighty genii. 
 
 Till ck'T'ioal imagination sees. 
 Beyond the crone"s or cnild's credulities, 
 This Matter, without end or substitute. 
 Whose revelations nothing can dispute, 
 Which has its laws no mote can di-sobey. 
 Cannot remove and must forever stay, — 
 Its hold upon the living will )io less. 
 Wild stand in Nature's ni>)>lo diocoss. . 
 
 The world explo<led, still an orb will be. 
 lirought to its foim by cential gra\'ily! 
 AVhy do all bodies in attraction nnnc? 
 Is that material motor also love? 
 Man's bieaking laws unto our thuutvht ai)- 
 pears 
 
19 
 
 Part of tlic aberration of the spheres. 
 
 Dogma has slain more tlian the pest's ef- 
 feet: 
 
 The dire voleano in its intelleet. 
 
 This text of Solomon shall bend thy knee: 
 
 "Through Knowledge shall the just de- 
 livered be!" 
 
 The source of all ideas is the Mind; 
 The weakest heads most obstinate we 
 tind. 
 
 Good sense did man nor woman ever 
 
 smirch; 
 It beats all fashions of the state or 
 
 church! 
 The slavish queens in their confessors' 
 
 chains. 
 The fires of Inquisition in their veins, 
 Aye had aversion to reality, 
 And left to scorn a demon pedigree. 
 In love of children is devotion shown! — 
 We love the ang-els when we love our 
 
 own! 
 
 Unto Nodines and Vandegrifts, — whose 
 dust 
 
 Rises through dews, like memories of the 
 just. — 
 
 Whom he ejected from their land of 
 Fiance 
 
 And broke the edict of their Tolerance. 
 
 To emigrate these forest slews upon! — 
 
 Louis was less the wretch than Main- 
 tenon! 
 
 Cold hearted piety was in her trade! 
 
 To her own parents" creed, the renegade; 
 
 Propriety, conformity, her blots; 
 
 How hate the Jezebel our Huguenots! 
 
 Though all men die, 'tis seldom learning 
 liies. 
 
 And from theii- graves walk lost discover- 
 ies. 
 
'20 
 
 Thus, dowered by nations which liave 
 
 died before — 
 The Greek, Egyptian, Mongol and the 
 
 Moor — 
 Learning has set its bow on raindrops 
 
 small. 
 From each refracted to the arch of all. 
 
 Philosophy the growling- heavens to feel 
 
 Brought down the Jove behind the thvni- 
 der peal, 
 
 Taught him to read, to message and to 
 write. 
 
 And in slow time to manufacture Light. 
 
 He signals from the shore to ships un- 
 seen, 
 
 He grinds like Samson in tlie vast ma- 
 chine, 
 
 So practical, exhaustless, recondite, 
 
 W^isdom seems energy, and Mind said 
 "Light.' 
 
 Waves like a river to the stars traverse; 
 
 Of like constituents the universe; 
 
 So small our knowledge that it seems a. 
 mite 
 
 And Man's probation almost infinite. 
 
 Each world, its note haimonious as a 
 
 flute. 
 Nothing but Ignorance Is absolute: 
 Its (lictmn must the fii-m:iment tiansci'iid, 
 And find its comfort in "All this must 
 
 end! " 
 
 One half the glol)e was to the priests un- 
 known 
 
 Who legislate<l for the half alone 
 
 And Mother Earth, twin-breasted, is 'so 
 young 
 
 Her tirst sweet lullai)y is h.udly sung; 
 
 Health, ti'uth, blown on liim fiom the 
 Westein bieeze, 
 
 Hei- boy shall grow and 1k' a 1 Icrciibs. 
 
 StJanglc tlu^ seri)t-nt and the kmU uiilie. 
 
 That coils o'er intellect and destiny. 
 
21 
 
 Scaiee died the echoes clankrd from slav- 
 ery's chain 
 
 Ere fell the thousand years of bloody 
 Spain. 
 
 The avarice of England staggeis poor 
 
 Before the ancient spirit of the Boer. 
 
 Asia from trance awakens and from form: 
 
 Trodden too hard will turn at last the 
 worm. 
 
 It is the Mind, delivered from the thonff. 
 
 Rising- to sunlight like the skylark's song-. 
 
 Which speaks melodious to the brooding- 
 soul: 
 
 "No man another's thinking- shall con- 
 trol. 
 
 Young: feet are in the footprints of the 
 
 dead ; 
 Old lore is sprouting in the offspring's 
 
 head; 
 Cupids are pushing- on the golden ball; 
 The gain of one is heritage of all! 
 
 By cultivation Eden is refound. 
 
 Mind needs rotation as we seed the 
 
 ground. 
 Pumpkins and beans alone the Indian eat. 
 He died because he never planted wheat. 
 Hotate the thoughts! Ideas old reverse! 
 Which follow us like the primeval curse! 
 
 Nothing- but liearning- this can comiire- 
 
 heiid: 
 Man is continuous though mortals end; 
 lie i)asses like the sunbeam through the 
 
 in ism 
 And in crrulgciicc loses egotism. 
 
 O better is the church that loves the 
 
 world. 
 When Satan's standards aie foi-ever 
 
 fui-led! 
 And ))etter arc^ (lie l.eople and the s(:il.', 
 When llie.\ who teiioiized di> educalel 
 
No longer ki(lnai)p.ed l)y our whiK' pol- 
 troons. 
 
 Are freeborn men sold to the barracoons. 
 
 No longer I'rinceton's rolls do Belials 
 blur, 
 
 Faithless to everything like Aaron Burr. 
 
 The creed is changing out of despotism 
 
 And human kindness cools the blistering 
 chrism. 
 
 Perpetual morals rather sour than bless: 
 There is a Bible in our consciousness! 
 One only sin the Puritan could see. 
 The sin tliat he had bad, of gallantry; 
 His Sunday Blue Laws beat the drum and 
 
 fife 
 Ai^ound the rake who that day kissed his 
 
 wife. 
 If that loud warning still to sin adheres 
 We would have Sundays, music of the 
 
 spheres. 
 
 "When on the Sabbath the Disciples took 
 Some roasting corn contrary to the Book, 
 The Pharisee, if we have sti-ictly read, 
 Went in the Temple and stood on his 
 head. 
 
 The sects, like chanticleers, have cut 
 
 their comb; 
 As Drawyer's is deserted, so is Rome! 
 Yet is the world gentle to men of gowns, 
 Like the republics lenient to crowns; 
 ^^'e make concessions for the good intent. 
 And to the Friars are benevolent. 
 To the old trees awhile we spare the axe, 
 'J'hough in their top boughs, Physics 
 
 thunders tacts. 
 
 Right is the course twixt dogma's stiff 
 
 extremes 
 As l>y opi^osing tides we sail the streams. 
 Tiara. l>ioa<llnim, they are out of date, 
 I'ope, J\in.g and l']Uh:-r, love our happy 
 
 state, — 
 
23 
 
 Thrill as its flag the Western zephyrs fan. 
 And stand together on the Riglits of Man. 
 
 The Jesuits, once feared, now make no 
 din. 
 
 The common schools have stuffed that old 
 coonskin. 
 
 The public schools have ushered out the 
 monk. 
 
 Whose last Armada graduated junk. 
 
 And out with them, forgetting, we for- 
 give. 
 
 Goes also "Calvin, the Accusative." 
 
 Choked is the fame of Calvin to inspire. 
 Since for a fellow saint he lit the fire! 
 No worldly judge would ever be so stein 
 And light a lire eternally to burn! 
 Who can desire those dismal doctiinos 
 
 back 
 Need say no more al)Out the l'.':pal rack. 
 Both are abhorrent to a people free 
 Linked in the faith of mutual liberty! 
 
 The General Assembly, full of praise. 
 Has sold out Tophet just eleven days; 
 Horns, hoofs and l»rimstone, quit the 
 
 saints' corral; 
 Devils on earth were only doctrinal. 
 
 They found, they loosed and made the 
 future rosy. 
 
 But could not do it but by viva voce; 
 
 Consistency was saved in the correction — 
 
 Infants and all are spared, — but by elec- 
 tion. 
 
 When Berkeley said there was not matter 
 
 any, 
 No matter real was in old Gehenna, 
 Though in the heads of some will still be 
 
 Sheol, 
 Who do incorporate it their ideal; 
 Such, may we hope, in their next Sala- 
 
 magundi, 
 
24 
 
 Will not make off with other peoples' 
 Sunday! 
 
 For holy days were holidaj's' beginning. 
 
 And week-day smiles cannot be Sunday 
 sinning. 
 
 Respite from work, from debt, from dirt, 
 for one day, 
 
 Is holiness enough for human Sunday. 
 
 Sabbath was made for man — and contri- 
 butions. 
 
 And man guessed out most other institu- 
 tions; 
 
 The first was life; next love, and last was 
 Knowledge, 
 
 And those degrees are old as Eden's col- 
 lege. 
 
 Tile nosthorn breaks the seals, the dread- 
 ful trumii, 
 
 And all the laggard creeds make haste to 
 hump. 
 
 These modern times dispense with inter- 
 cessors, 
 
 Willi doctors, writers, iirophots and ]>r(i- 
 f essors ; 
 
 'J'here comes a voice of diocesian reach: 
 
 "Stop all the trains! — Kirkpatrick wnnts 
 lo preach!" 
 
 Anotlier voice, more feminine, piwails: 
 
 "Yes, stop the cars, but let us have the 
 males." 
 
 The churches must from trance and 
 sloth rise un. 
 
 And from the woild take the ooinmnnii>n 
 cup. 
 
 Not bank their fires on every day but one, 
 
 And brand the tavern where our Christ 
 begu n ! 
 
 Open two doors, instead of closing nil! 
 
 Give fiuits for wealth ecclesiastical! 
 
 Kxample. more than admoniUon. cries: 
 
 'Start hands ti> skill and hearts to sym- 
 pathies." 
 
iVlny nut. tlics.> kirks. witli household 
 (•(hies linked. 
 
 'r);iiii us un servants Mho are near ex- 
 tinct? 
 
 Be manual schools the artist to niatinc 
 
 Or raise the hope of totterin,c: literature? 
 
 No tiine nor class a statesman need.s to 
 search 
 
 More than religion, with its g-arnished 
 chui'ch. 
 
 Forms, names, assumidions to the sca1(j 
 
 aie twiii'd. 
 And weighed upon tlie steel >aid of tht^ 
 
 world. 
 A .gentle spirit, warmed to ])ubnc love, 
 Is the descending of the mystic dove. 
 
 Nor yet concede when j^riestliness alone 
 Claims every mighty agent for its own! 
 . he public schools, the factories, the arts, 
 The v'l'iiiting types, the banks, the checks, 
 
 the marts. 
 Credit and faith and freedom were and 
 
 are 
 Born of a spirit mundane, secular. 
 
 A century had Calvin been interr'd 
 
 Before Westminster's creed our fathers 
 heard ; 
 
 They saw it born, we saw its hearse go 
 hence. 
 
 And the birds sing and know no differ- 
 ence. 
 
 Let sermons like the birds take song- and 
 singri 
 
 The world can alter by hearts softening. 
 
 T.h.G head, also, must shed its- dreams "of 
 dread, 
 
 For the whole' universe is- in our head,— 
 
 Each blood-drop tear-drop, spherically 
 pure, — 
 
 And head and mind are worlds in minia- 
 ture. 
 
26 
 
 The jr>ints, the eyes, ino\ c like the woilds 
 
 in space, 
 On curvatures they run their tranduil 
 
 race; 
 Shadows obscure but lij^ht disperses 
 
 fright; 
 We liope that God is Ivove; we l^now He's 
 
 T.isHt. 
 l>iglit has so many eyes from far afnr, 
 All tender influences seem a star. 
 And out of hollow hea\'en rhyme mi 
 
 rhyme. 
 Infinite lights a paeon sing to Time, 
 Blessing the orbed systems which on 
 
 arcs 
 Wheel in their orbits like the wheeling 
 
 larks. 
 Strike not each other, but each other 
 
 bend. 
 And fly in circles that disclose no end; 
 Yet each, perhaps, its species oft sup- 
 plants. 
 Quickened to life bj^ dead inhabitants; 
 The golden-tinted cloud that dies in 
 
 storms 
 Rose from the exhalatjon of the worms. 
 Rise, man! from fears of omen and of 
 
 fate 
 Time's life to lengthen and appreciate! 
 Revere yon tombs, wherein the dust is 
 
 spent 
 Of them who left us heir and resident! 
 Repeat the life that gave us life's be- 
 quest. 
 And trust to God and Nature for the rest. 
 
 Manhattan's child v/ithin our slender 
 state, ^ 
 
 The self-same pulses beat which made 
 hep great; 
 
 With Pennsylvania our motions run 
 
 Harmonious as the trigger in the gun. 
 
 Our boundary floats to Jersey's highest 
 tide; 
 
 The sap of Maryland is in our side. 
 
21 
 
 SniHll as WL' scoin. our liistor.N tnaturcs 
 In patlis as long as EuroiR-s litcratuixs. 
 
 Seven thousand sermons in old Drawyer's 
 
 spun 
 Leave on the memorv a single one 
 When Parson Foot, now sixt>- years gone 
 
 by, 
 Turned from the clouds to local history. 
 He hrought the annals to our darkened 
 
 sight 
 And gave to them a personal delight. 
 The wakened congregation heard him 
 
 speak, 
 JJke Homer singing legends to the Greek; 
 Faded away the prophets like the elves; 
 The people heard the story of themselves. 
 Like stocks made human by the pipe of 
 
 Pan 
 Came music strains of former man to 
 
 man> 
 Still down the three-score years this Kirk 
 
 is blest, 
 Inliabited by history's interest; 
 And to the silent marshes where the 
 
 crane 
 And ospreys hermit, worshippers again, 
 Migrate to be within the haunted mark 
 Where Letters found a youthful patri- 
 arch ! 
 
 Oft ha^•e I seen him, in my tender age, 
 At Newark, from the rival i^arsonage, 
 Come down the steps with something in 
 
 his look, — 
 I know it now: the spirit of a book. 
 
 It made him lofty where the rest seemed 
 
 low. 
 They knew so little that he loved to know. 
 That he did grope our broken records 
 
 through 
 Invites me here to pay his shade its due, 
 And join you in this annual jubilee. 
 With echoes of liis sober poetry! 
 
28 
 
 Kind clergymen! whoso windmill aitns 
 are furled 
 
 P.y stefimmiils and the i^-cnii of (lie world! 
 
 Draw from (he clouds! C'ondense the hu- 
 man mists: 
 
 To >our own chureh.\ards hi; evangelists! 
 
 r;i\>" us that tah; in every family fresli 
 
 \\'h<re Salan and Divinity in flesh 
 
 On our three Counties left a weird de- 
 aeent 
 
 An old Leviticus, a Testament! 
 
 Trace down the rivers to the under zone 
 
 The Delawareans from the burial stone. — 
 
 ]01k folks, and Chester, Sassafras invoke! 
 
 The Choptank and the winding Nanti- 
 coke! 
 
 The Cypress swamp that feeds the Po- 
 komoke! 
 
 Each to a wider world ran off its springs 
 And from their Exodus descended Kings. 
 Of all these preachings the perennial fruit 
 Is Danker, Sluyter, Lednum, Parson 
 
 Foot. (8) 
 Draw out our spin wheel to a weaver's 
 
 heam ! 
 Relate our state to the Imperial theme! 
 Our lyric to the epic poem span 
 And be our limits wide American! 
 
 The Jews are rich, the patriarchs are 
 
 blest! 
 Come to the dawn of modern interest! 
 Push on like Moses in inspired spell 
 And write account of your own funeral! 
 
 In Dover did a dying Preacher grieve; 
 His heart was in the world he was. to 
 
 leave; ^ 
 
 He l«ft a son and no provision left 
 
 8 — Annalists of Delaware -vvere Dank- 
 ers and Sluyter, and Reverends Lednum 
 and Foot. 
 
29 
 
 But heavens f(ir the orphan bny bereft. 
 "What is it, brotlicr, plagues thy labors 
 
 done?" 
 A politician said; the prifst: "My son!" 
 "Leave him to me! That suiruw Ije thy 
 
 least." 
 And statesmen weie deseended from tlie 
 
 priest. 
 Their educati(>n lipened golden alms. 
 The music of the deed excelled tlie 
 
 ))siilms. 
 O! bread upon the waters is like rain, 
 That falls u])on the suffocated grain; 
 The gospel is but mercy; help but prayer 
 That on the place beneath falls every- 
 where. 
 
 Small is the Avorld amidst the worlds re- 
 plete 
 
 As was the apple that the woman eat, 
 
 But knowledge, boundless, juiceful in the 
 bite, 
 
 Still flavors life with lifeful appetite. 
 
 Far in the West our children's children 
 rise. 
 
 Like to the brood expelled from Paradise, 
 
 But tow'rd the East their intuitions 
 burn. 
 
 And to the East the wave will yet return! 
 
 Still do the wild fowl from the Arctic 
 steer. 
 
 To pasture in the salt depths year by 
 year. 
 
 Still do the shellfish fatten in the sounds, 
 
 The foxes double on the yelping hounds. 
 
 The ancient wheatfieldb. \-ield their flour, 
 still, 
 
 The broad ponds turn the old Color.ial 
 mill. 
 
 The ploughmen whistle to the same blue 
 jay, 
 
 And in tho stacks the Blue Hen's chick- 
 ens play. 
 
30 
 
 In tJie canal the inuskrat.s rnick abiclp 
 
 'Neath the broad feeder wheie the ves- 
 sels ride; 
 
 The railway souii<l.\- to exei-y "Jlundied" 
 mails. 
 
 The lork l.r.akw;it. T snelters tl'-els of 
 sails. 
 
 The shii»wiig]ils rivtt winre Ih'- WHr^Uiijtj; 
 lean 
 
 I'pon the ways above (lie sp;ire Chrisfin*^; 
 
 (^)ur matehes to the farthest nations sent, 
 
 Our powder shakes the mountain conti- 
 nent. 
 
 The cannon of our forts on foeman bear. 
 
 And guard the cliannel of the Delaware. 
 
 Part of the nation, in its fame we w'n, 
 In the near Indies or the far Pekin, 
 Fresh as the Lotus lilies in our seas. 
 We scent the future with our destinies. 
 
 United States from Holland took address 
 Which had been styled United Provinces. 
 To Congress the States-General led the 
 
 way 
 Before Columbus and America. 
 How like to Holland are our river views I 
 Our dikes of cattle and our reedy slews! 
 But joining earliest a nation's thought 
 We are the empire that the Dutchman 
 
 sought. 
 And they by Orange princes cramped to 
 
 dearth. 
 Are unto us an orange to an earth. 
 
 Our yjoy. MacDonough, England did con- 
 front ; 
 In iron rain, to prayers, beat great Du- 
 
 pont; ^ . 
 
 Our step-son, Wilson, on the Yellow Sea, 
 Shakes out our flag to easy victory, — 
 The flag that knows no difference in its 
 
 stai-s. 
 And holds no slave behind its blood- 
 scoured bars. 
 
Love thou thy iii-ighbor than thyself no 
 
 less. 
 Is sum and substance of religiousness. 
 
 Those saints who to the churchyard add 
 their grime 
 
 Moved tow'rd tlie light in their imperfect 
 time; 
 
 They had departed from a former date. 
 
 They would not tithe nor transsubstanti- 
 ate. 
 
 Resistance was their progress, God's de- 
 cree. 
 
 A step toward the civil liberty. 
 
 Strike reveille, as to the muster drum! 
 Christ, never dead, is in His childhood 
 
 come! 
 Sound trump to them who moulder on 
 
 their swords! 
 "The Earth and all its fulness, are the 
 
 Lord's!" 
 
 '^v;?-^^^ 
 
k-/-- 
 

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