125 py 1 On a moss covered rock by tier grotto door A. Siren sat gazing along the shore. iilii ^^ w i ■A:s tlpe l;)ead." COPYRIGHTED. PRICE, 25 CENTS. CRANBURY, N. J., G. W. Burroughs, Printer, 1905. /<\ There's a limit to every wave a license for all kinds of feet This side o' the moss covered grave Where time and eternity meet. — Fordvce. ^ to f c INTRODUCTION •^pjHE creation of Bermudas is herein attributed to the tempera- ^^ tureof the water and the action of the currents of the Atlantic Ocean, in that particular latitude and longitude. Bermudas, as we know it to-day, is a coral formation built upon a mountain which owing to volcanic action sank beneath the surface of the ocean. Afterwards, the wonder working Zoophyte, began to build its grave upon the ponderous head and shoulders of this sub- merged mid-ocean monument, that may have been a part of the lost Atlantis ? or of the fabeled Atlas, who was condemned by Zeus to bear upon his head and hands the vault of heaven. Bermudas is peculiarly favored in location. The Gulf Stream, or warm ocean currents acting as a protective shield in warding off the northern blasts. Frost never takes foothold in Bermudas, although severe thunder storms accompanied by hail, frequently occur. The problem of the distribution of seed, and the origin of vegetation upon the coral formation is attributed to the agency of the Sylvans. The Fairies of the woods making the voyage in Neptune's car, drawn by the sea horse are the natural agents, the winds and tides, carrying and scattering seed upon the waste places throughout the globe. Some species of seed being provided with wings while others can float a long distance without injury. The conference of the gods ending in combat, shows the highest ideals of the heathen mythology investing them witla superhuman power, yet having all the frailties and passions flesh is heir to. The Song of the Siren is a voice crying in the wilderness ; or the ceaseless murmur of the mighty ocean, which reaches from Pole to Pole ; and which will find response in the human soul until there be no more sea. There are as lonely souls amidst the hilarious multitude, as in the house of mourning. Calypso, the lonely Nymph, whose heart yearns amongst the shoals of time, is not dead. Her voice resounds in every empty shell and echoes along the enchanted shores of dear old Greece, the cradle of the Immortal Muse. THE AUTHOR. MI|E 6iiEaticn cf BEr^muflas. julGES yet ere the mighty Shakespere wrote, "jfij Or ere the Grecian Homer told the world The genius of Poetic Fantasj^ : The formative and world-wonder ocean From out of her fecund slime created forests,* And castles made of shells, airy castles, And from the debris reared above the waves Isles, for her own self wherewith to wanton. The old ocean and all of Neptune's band Built better than they knew, a place they made Fit for the abode of man to come, so pure This goodly pearl of the ambient wave. Unto the envious gods becoming prey From Mount Olympus' ever verdant top; The flaming ministers of thundering Jove, Hurled great shafts of fire and monstrous hail. Chafing the virgin bosom of the Isle. The snarling progeny of the Bear, chill hearted f Boreas, unleashed, hunger ravened. Rage and malice allied in the clouds; The furies mingling their poisoned breath; Onward their flight astride the barbed blast. Shrieking, reeling, toward the northern gate; But, powerless fell their shafts upon the shield X The great Hyperion gave to Ocean us. * Submarine forests. Zoophyte formations. t All the powers of the north. JThe Gulf stream. Warm ocean currents shield Bermuda. Through countless moons and cycles of the sun, Has been renewed this ineffectual warfare; Within the outer gate they ne'er encroached. The south winds lulled the raging waves to sleep; And fruitful rain fell on her virgin breast. In wave-carved grottos, pearly fingered mermaids Dressed their flowing hair, and worshipped Their visage, reflected in the glassy deep, Or sat upon the coral reefs and sang Their witching songs to Dagon; melodious strains* To far off shores were borne by wind and wave. Upon the pendulous clouds remnants of day Still lingered, an incense spread athwart the sky: — From out their dreamy couch Sylvan and Nymph Emerged, renewing their amorous discourse; It is their wont to woo, what time the stars Peep forth, then, nature yields the magic wand That sways and melts in one, the thought and substance Of the world. When winds and waves are still Music o-rows mellow in its flight. * Dagon, au aucieut sea dog On a moss aovered roch hy hei^ grotto door fi Siren sat gazing- along the shore. I^N a moss covered rock by her grotto door X[?i A Siren sat gazing along the shore; * A Queen of her tribe in palmy days, She was pondering over some ancient lays. Her bosom heaved, and tears 'gan to flow As her soul caught the echoes of long ago. With trembling fingers attuning her lyre, As the sun set the evening clouds afire; His glory reflecting from every wave As he glanced through the crystal roof of her cave: Attuned to the distant dirge of the sea Melody, sacred to bond and free. As the currents, the passions of nature did throng, So wild, yet sweetly sad, her song; A ballad by love and madness born; The convent choir on the Matterhorn ; The outcast's song in the gloomy street. Begging in tones that sorrow makes sweet. Hesper spoke love from her throne in the East, As the day's glowing embers died in the West, The night winds stooped, the Siren to greet, And frolicsome wavelets kissed her feet; The voice of her song rolled over the waves, And echoed through distant mermaid's caves. 'Sireti, a sea nymph. M!l8 ^ii|pn's ^cng. ^^WlY heart is restless and sad to-night, (s'sijl^ As throbbing winds in their airy flight, Floating in bubbles, moaning through caves, A dirge they are playing o'er mariners' graves. Murmuring winds I am sad to-night How sweetly ye wing my soul to flight. O! where are my lovers of long ago, Ulysses loved dearly his Calypso.'^ My charms are broken, their voices are mute, They came at my call or sound of my flute. Out came they, from dreamy deeps And caverns, down where the ocean sleeps. * Homeric legend. I remember the shores of fair old Greece, When Jason brought Medea, and the Golden Fleece, f As the wave toss'd, fifty oar'd x\rgo advanced, Orpheus' sweet song the Sirens entranced. They all passed us, 'cept Butes the coxswain. For a sea-maiden's love, he plunged in the main. The strings o' my harp and heart are torn, To the shores of old Greece may I never return ; Ulysses, aye bright as the evening star, Or golden sunbeams crossing the bar. As her bright wings Aurora spreads on the wave, His shade seeks refuge in Calypso's cave. While slumbering last night on my old settee, I dreamt I again was a queen of the sea ; Neptune stood smiling by my grotto door, A smile I remember in days o' yore; The sweet sound I heard o' Triton's horn, Far out on the shimmering sea at morn. The incoming flood brought the Eumenides, Sweet Iris, and all the Oceanides.^ In the dome of dreams we meet many friends, Strange things see and hear, ye babbling winds, Hark! voices I hear from over the sea, Rouse, Sylvan and Nymph, and come to me. tArgonautic expedition. I Mythical characters. ENTER SYLVANS, FAUNS AND NYMPHS. Calypso we come at your command. Children are we of the land; ^-^^ We live in trees, we sleep in bowers, Ride on the winds, whisper in flowers; We feast on honey, we revel in song. By frisky brooks and streams along. All seasons, are the time to sow; We scatter seed where e're we go. CALYPSO, t Sweet welcome ye children of the forests. While I was singing I did hear distant voices. Did you hear ? FAUNS. Yes ! we did hear, — Softly through the forest creeping A far off song of joy and weeping. * Legendary creatures. t Calypso, a beautiful nymph companion to Ulysses in his exile. CALYPSO. Born on waves while you were sleeping, Hark! hark! it is a mermaid's greeting; My gentle Fauns and Nymphs arouse, Satyri, waken from your drouse. Listen to the mermaid's song. 12 jVfermciiil's InYitcitinn 5rnm ti|E ^I^orEs cij BEi|mu5as. SONG. tCOME ye children of the woods, ' With you bring all j^our earthly goods; Your seeds, yoiu' flowers, your lily hoods; Make haste sweet fairies of the woods. Neptune's car is on the way, Let naught detain you, come to-da}^; Come, O come, O come away, Let naught detain 3'ou, come to-day. CALYPSO. Nox, has rolled the day up in her blanket, * We all are waiting for Luna, and Neptune, We will all aboard when his car arrives. *.Nox, the goddess of night. 13 ARRIVAL OF NEPTUNE. Neptune at parting of the day f Cast anchor in the sheltered bay, His smile like wave and moonbeams play, A smile, coaxed Nymphs and Fauns away. At midnight when the moon was high, And roguish clouds besieged the sky. Farewell was said through sob and sigh; His car the Seahorse 'gan to ply. .j; Far out upon the traitorous main Mid lightning, thunder, blinding rain, Starlight steering, all was vain. The Nymphs' poor hearts were wrung by pain. The raging sea his car assailed. The seahorse thrashed his tail, and whaled The waters into foam ; low-wailed The wind: and all on board bewailed. 'Bove the resounding waves at morn Was heard the blast o' Triton's horn * Neptune's trident calmed the waves That, saved the crew from watery graves. Bermudas, snow white came in view; Virgin islands bathed in dew; Mermaids be-decked their hair anew. And patient, waited on the crew. t Neptuue, sea god. I Neptune's car was drawu bj' the Seahorse. * Triton, Neptune's trumpeter. 14 15 Sun'd fish was served till all were filled, And wine of seaweed fresh distilled; The Fauns, expertly played the flute, The Nymphs, according on the lute. Soon jealousy began to burn. The mermaids hearts began to turn Toward the goat-tailed, agile Faun, Because he was more like a man. A Queen Nymph entered stout objection, "The Fauns came here by my direction. We are the children of the woods So pray return our earthly goods." But here I'm face to face with truth, A mermaid deeply in her mouth Thrust her long fish-like tail; then tied Her to a stake, and had her fried. The Fauns and Nymphs arranged their flight. And under cover of the night. Laden down with precious seeds. Nor were there any grains of weeds. In every crevice, storm battered. By Nymph and Sylvan seed was scattered; Taking root in hearted coral. Therefrom, let us find a moral. i6 Ml]E 6oml3eit at tI|E Qctls. '^P)HE gods convened, and they suggested ■^^ That soon the world would be congested; "Nor brooks nor springs shall relegate, The rain fall must we regulate. To dolphins we'll transform the elfs And all the horde of Nymphs, and Sylphs; Satyrs, and Mermaids place in keep, And part their jugulars, while they sleep. Will claim these islands as our own, And all the virtuous powers disown; Neptune shall protect the ring, And Jupiter shall be our king." 17 Pluto, from the under seas * His colors floating in the breeze, Ventured among the god-like throng; In his heart Neptune thrust his prong. Like to the wind-driven spray of ocean, Spurted his blood by rage and motion; Where e're it fell the ground was spotted; From every spot a Life Plant rooted, f Envy, malicious, unrestrained. The blue blood of the gods inflamed, 'Twas fatal combat for a throne, Jupiter dared them all come on. By thrust, and flash, and blow. Hot blood gushed high and low; O bane upon his skillful art, Jove conquered by his subtile dart.;{: * Pluto, god of the infernal regions. t Life Plant is a native of Bermudas. t Jove, god of thunder, conquered by killing them with a stroke of lightning. 2 RAGING peace great God On Thought hast thou bestowed, A torrent dashing o'er, Furious in its roar: — Down in the gulf beneath. Simmer, glimmer, seethe; — Swirling in eddying glee Onward, downward, to the sea: — Voyager to the great profound; By creative motion wound : Reached is the goal at last — Wild convulsions — all are past: Rocked by the lunar tides. Universal law presides: — In morning vapors rise again, To fall upon some other plain. 19 C^APPLED grey at dawn of day, '^fS Sombre clouds speed on their way ; Eastward, the scene is laid; A fleeting picture's being made; The sun the sombre clouds transforming — Now, the azure vault is burning, The red, the grey float o'er the blue, The god of day appears to view: Scenes very old, but ever new. j^citm|E's fficmplc. _fp,HERE is a Temple here below, '^^^ Where all eternal truth may know; 'Tis fashioned not by mortal hand, Its lines encompass every land. Foundations laid in azure deeps. Its spires and towers the mountain steeps; Through her great dome the planets turn; Her altar fires forever burn. The firmament of heavenly blue. The distant stars that twinkle through, The clouds that drift along the sky, Are lights and shadows in the eye. Hark! the impulsive gusty winds Wake lyric nature's many strings; Beyond the gamut of the ear, They wake the chords of love and fear. The flowers we trample 'neath our feet, In honeyed tongues our senses greet; Thoughtless in mood, we pass them by; Nor mark the loom, where God doth pl}\ The rustling leaves on shady tree Sing melodies so pure and free, In voice so clear, it is Divine: This is the Eternal Altar Shrine. Yes, everywhere His bounties swell The universe: to lift from hell Men's sordid souls; but, no! yes! no, The dross of life is most we know. MI^c Olfl Spruce ffirEB. CiVf7T0RE gloomy than wintry gloom, (s<^i|p Is the form of the tall spruce tree Standing alone by the well ; night's noon : Nor moon, nor stars, shoot through the gloom: — Darker than drizzly night to me Are the waving black plumes o' the old spruce tree. Pallor on pallor ; gloom on gloom : What a story is there to that wind-tossed tree : — It was planted by Father, years ago ! Nurtured by Mother so long ago ! Scanned by Wife, Child, Sister, Brother ; Who lie very close, one to the other Within the sigh, the distant cry : Yes ! close by — The woof and the roots, O' The Old Spruce Tree. Mr^B 'Bccfllcifs Song. f|HERE was a love feast in honor of Dick Turpen given by his ^s> great, great, grand nephew. It was held on the great slab which marks Dick's grave somewhere upon the blasted heath where Macbeth entertained the witches. After they had dined and wined to the fullest extent, a celebrated clown was called upon to sing a song. A remnant of the song was found some j-ears ago in the Old Curiosity Shop, where the late Charles Dickens spent so many hours looking for relics. The clown was dressed a la mode. After describing many fantastic acrobatic feats, blowing his nose, and clearing his husky throat, he ren- dered the following, sung to the tune of A MORMONITE TO BE. They call me Nick the Lobbyist, I'm proud o' the honest name. What friends we meet upon the street, confederates in the game ; Some like the head, some the feet, others claim the tail. For beauty and fine action, saddle, and follow up the trail. They style me Boss, and Senator, Mr. Ways and Means, Distinguishment's a virtue front as well's behind the scenes ; If you need the franchise badly you may have it if you try. But you must have the boodle there, sufficient for to buy. Chorus. Give me the man or beast or bird, that's fat and full of grease, If he is not too stingy I'll fix it as you please ; I'll pluck, and draw, and baste the carcass through and through ; Put money in ni}' pock and I'll roast the goose for you. 23 They brand me a monopolist, which is reallj^ not the thing, I'm a guardian of the people's rights, a champion of the ring ; An engine unconnected to the boiler, don't yer see. Is a very useless factor to the hulk far out to sea. They dub me Mr. Syndicate, most outrageous name of all ; I'm only a poor middleman, subject to their beck and call. We all have our aspirations, our little hates and loves ; But I like to do the dainty work for these turtle doves. The people are always grunting and keeping up a wail, 'Cause the little thieves are on the chain, the big ones out of jail; We have got to do the best we know, in every honest way, The people can reclaim what's lost upon some other day. The ballot box is made a hoax, 'tis often bought and sold ; The people have themselves to blame, thieves are ever bold : Some day we'll all be boodlers, not boodle'd don't yer know. Then have dumb conscience purified, white as muddy snow. 24 iJnclE ^am ^tanrls ^fit. fURRENDER the Philippines, never _ ^ The gate to the golden East ; We'll keep them, aye, and ever. We'll rule from East to West. W^e have sacrificed men and millions And we'll sacrifice more if need be, If it run up into the billions. We'll rule right, from sea to sea. An outlet we'll make for our products To the uttermost parts of the sea, No surrender to Panama pirates, For the U. S. we have to be. Seven hundred millions of people, Their markets, deny it who can ? We'll climb from the base to the steeple. Uncle Sam is a strenuous man. The Graft Band plays "Annie Laurie," That dwelt by the old river Dee, The Boss nearly drowned in his quarry. And the Tiger went on a spree. 25 Other things I would like to tell you 'Bout the army and navy and all — That would say to the world, behave you ! Or we'll fla5' you with shell and ball. The world is marching, marching, We must lay old doctrine aside. An old rubbish heap is not catching. By progress we must abide. Then hurrah for Theodore Roosevelt ! The daring, the friendly, the free, No treachery lives under his belt. He's free as the deep, rolling sea. ¥e Sons O' Ti^nrlc Sinu. (A Patriotic Song. ) I'^UR ship lies at anchor in the bay, ^X To-morrow we sail, we sail away ; I^et us dance and sing ere the kettle ring, The soul o' music is in everything ; There's fire in the heart o' every man, 'Tis sacred in the sons o' Uncle Sam. There's fire in the heart o' ever}' man, 'Tis sacred in the sons o' Uncle Sam. Sweet liberty is a kingly feast. We carried it down to the golden East : Millions will live to bless the day The Yankee cruisers entered the bay ; Let's down ever}- vile political sham, Hand, heart and soul to Uncle Sam, Let's down every vile political sham. Hand, heart and soul to Uncle Sam. Now Cuba's with us heart and hand, And Panama knows where we stand. We will build the inter-ocean canal For fleets of nations great and small ; We are now on the rock above the mire. But there's cinders alway in human fire. We are now on the rock above the mire. But there's cinders alway in human fire. Pirates may prey on the heart of state, They in due time will meet their fate ; For aye shall Justice guard the helm And all internal foes o'erwhelm ; And lest we forget and ere we part, Mind, Uncle Sam is sound at heart. Come let us toast the flowing bowl. Uncle Sam's stronghold is in his soul. Awa}^ away, we all sail away, Our bark lies yonder in the bay ; Defend, great Heaven, the Ship of State Let not corruption seal her fate ; May Freedom's watch-fires ever burn. And Vengeance guard her sacred urn. May Freedom's watch-fires ever burn, And Vengeance guard her sacred urn. 28 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 015 762 184 1