J" ~«:'Z*rs TO, -l* A* ^» ' o 7- ^°- ^ en 4 / ?5 <^ Be z ^^ Co V** ' V * *< * o , -4^ V * * * * /■ ^V o v> \> ^ "■* L. MAYNARD'S English • Classic • Series *—?& — * J i -i— i— i—i-»— i— i— i— i— i— i— i— i - t ± VOICES OF THE NIGHT m -.i ^ i— » i n i .. w^ ijij.p BY H.W.LONGFELLOW. i->— i-i-i— i— i— i— i— i-i— i— i-i-i NEW YORK Maynard, Merrill 6c Co. 43, 45 & 47 East lO™ St. II I I 1 ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES, FOR Classes in English Literature, Reading, Grammar, et< EDITED BY EMINENT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SCHOLARS, Each Volume contains a Sketch of the Author's Life, Prefatory and Explanatory Notes, etc., etc. Dante. 1 Byron's Prophecy of (Cantos I. and II.) 2 Milton's L' Allegro, and II Pen- seroso. 3 Lord Bacon's Essays, Civil and Moral. (Selected.) 4 Byron's Prisoner of Chillon. 5 Moore's Fire AVorshippers. (Lalla Kookh. Selected.) 6 Goldsmith's Deserted Village. 7 Scott's Marmion. (Selections from Panto VI.) 8 Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. (Introduction and Canto 1.) 9 Burns'sCotter'sSaturdayNight, and other Poems 10 Crabbe's The Village. 11 Campbell's Pleasures of Hope. (Abridgment of Part I.) 12 Macaulay's Essay on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 13 Macaulay's Armada, and other Poems. 14 Shakespeare's Merchant of Ve- nice. (Selections from Acts I., III., and IV.) 15 Goldsmith's Traveller. 16 Hogg's Queen's Wake, and Kil- nieuy. 17 Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 18 Addison's Sir ltoger de Cover- ley. 19 Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard. 20 Scott's Lady of the Lake. (Canto I.) 21 Shakespeare's As You Like It, et< lections.) 22 Shakespeare's King John, and Richard II. (Selections.) 23 Shakespeare's Henry IV., Hen- ry V., Henry VI. (Selection! 24 Shakespeare's Henry VIII., and Julius Caesar. (Selection 25 Wordsworth's Excursion. (Bk.I.) 2G Pope's Essay on Crit hi mo. 27 Spenser'sFaerieQueene. (Cantos I. andH.) 28 Cowper's Task. (Book I.) 29 Milton's Comus. 30 Tennyson's Enoch Arden, The Lotus Eaters, Ulysses, and Tit bonus. Sketch Book. (Selec Carol 31 Irving's tions.) 32 Dickens's Christmas (Condensed.) 33 Carlyle's Hero as a Prophet. 34 Macaulay's Warren Hastings (Condensed.) 35 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake field. (Condensed.) 36 Tennyson's The Two Voices and A Dream of Fair Women 37 Memory Quotations. 38 Cavalier Poets. 39 Dryden's Alexander's Feas' and MacFlecknoe. 40 Keats's The Eve of St. Agnes. 41 Irving.'s Legend of Sleepy Hoi low. 42 Lamb's Tales from Shake speare. 43 Le Row's How to Teach Read- ing. 44 Webster*! Bunker Hill Ora- tions. 45 The Academy Orthoepist. A Manual of Pronunciation. 46 Hilton's Lycidas, and HyniLi OH the Nativity. 47 Bryant's Thana'topsis, and othei Poems. 48 Raskin's Modern Painters, lections.) 4 9 The Shakespeare Speaker. 50 Thackeray's Roundabout a- pei «*. 51 Webster's Oration on Adams, and Jellerson. 52 Brown's Kab and his Friends. 53 Morris's Life and Death of Jason. 54 Burke- speech on American Taxation. 55 Pope's Rape of the Lock. 56 Tennyson's lllaine. 57 Tennyson's In Memorlam. 58 Church's Story of the JEneid. 59 Church's story of the Iliad. 60 Swift's Gulliver's Voyage to; Lilliput. 61 Macaulay's Essay on Lord Ba- con. (Condensed.) 62 The Alcest is of Euripides. Eng- lish Version by Rev. R. Potter.M.A. (Additional numbers on next page.) l MAYNARD'S ENGLISH CLASSIC SERIES.— No. 167 Voices of the Night AND OTHER POEMS BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW M TlHlitb JSiograpbical Sftetcb, Critical ©pinions, anD Explanatory IRotes .it) o » * iUH 24! 895 NEW YORK MAYNARD, MERRILL, & CO. New Series, No. 113. January 30, 1893. Published Semi-weekly. Sub- scription Price, $10. Entered at Post Office, New York, as Second- class Matter. K CONTENTS PAGE LIFE OF LONGFELLOW 3 CRITICAL OPINIONS ? VOICES OF THE NIGHT I3 Prelude ij Hymn to the Night t y A Psalm of Life j.s The Reaper and the Flowers 20 The Light of Stars 2I I totsteps 1 >f Angels 22 I"l« m 24 The Beleaguered ( ity 26 Midnight Ma r the Dying Year 28 MISCELLANEi >US 31 The Skeleton in Armor 31 The Wreck of the I [esperus 38 The I ,uck 1 >f I'.denhall 41 The I l( cted Knight . H The Village Blacksmith |£ I iidymion }S The Two I .ay 51 God'fl Aire 52 To the River Charles 53 Blind Bartimeus 55 Maidenhood 56 Excelsior 58 iz-tbil- 1 Copyright, 1895, bv Mavnard, Merrill, & Co. V) 6,1 CRAIGIE HOUSE, LONGFELLOW'S HOME, CAMBRIDGE, MASS. Life of Longfellow. • Those scientists who hold that genius is a morbid distil- lation from a tainted ancestry would be puzzled to account for Longfellow's undeniable genius. He was descended from two Yorkshire families, whose natural healthiness of mind and body had been developing for several generations in the bracing air of New England. The Longfellows, his father's family, were a sturdy race, who had always done their duty without inquiring into their metaphysical mo- tives for doing it ; and his mother's family, the Wadsworths, traced their descent to John Alden, — as wholesome an old Puritan warrior as could well be found. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the poet, was born at Portland, Maine, February 27th, 1807. Like Emerson and Hawthorne, he was a quiet boy, fond of books, and averse to taking part in the sports of his schoolfellows. His 3 4 LIFE OF LONGFELLOW nerves shrank from all loud noises. There is a tradition of his having begged a servant on a glorious Fourth of July to put cotton in his ears to deaden the roar of the cannon, and in later life one of his book-plates bore the motto " Non Clamor, sed Amor." At the age of fifteen this shy, studious lad was sent to Bowdoin College at Brunswick, Maine, after Portland Academy had taught him all it knew. He came prepared to make the most of his opportunities, and after four years of hard work graduated with distinction, and with the promise of a professorship after a year of travel had broadened his mental horizon. The next summer found Longfellow at Paris with alC Europe before him. He wandered through England, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, and Spain ; everywhere studying the languages, and absorbing the rich associations of foreign places. His impressions of what he saw wore in later years embodied in the prose works Outre-Ma' and Hyperion, On his return he at once assumed the duties of his professorship, finding little time for literature. In 1831 he married an acquaintance of former years, Mary Storer Poller, with whom he lived most happily until her prema- ture death in 1835. In 1S34 a pleasant surprise came in the shape of an oiTer of the Chair of Modern Languages at Harvard, an offer which Longfellow was only too glad to accept. The new professor's oificial duties were light, and he had leisure for the literary pursuits which had ever been his delight. Hyperion t a romance in two volumes, and The Void* of the Niyht, a volume of poems containing "The Reaper and the Flowers," and "The Psalm of Life," were published in 1839. Two years later appeared Ballads and other Poems, containing the " Wreck of the Hesperus," "The Village Blacksmith," and "Excelsior"; and in the following year Pa m$ on Shin /•//. This quiet life of work LIFE OF LONGFELLOW 5 was interrupted in 1842 by a visit to Dickens in London, but speedily resumed. In July, 1843, Longfellow married his second wife, a Miss Appleton, whose acquaintance he had made for the first time during his Swiss tour. Longfellow's ambition was to be the national poet of America, — an ambi- tion to which he was spurred on by Margaret Fuller, prob- ably the most intellectual woman of the time in America. She called his poems exotic flowers, with no smell of American soil about them. The outcome of this criticism was the writing of Evangeline, followed later by Hiawatha and Miles Standish, all refreshingly American in flavor. Hia- watha, a poem founded on Indian myths, is cast in the form of the Eddas, the ancient epics of Finland, a form with which Longfellow had become familiar in his studies of the Scandinavian languages. The Courtship of Miles Standish pictures the deeds and sufferings of the early Plymouth colony, a recital enlivened only by the description of the courting of Priscilla by proxy. It is not to be un- derstood that Longfellow's fame rested on these American poems alone : he had already written a quantity of poetry which had established his reputation as a poet, but it was on these that he based his claim to be considered the national poet of America. In 1854, after about eighteen years of academic work, Longfellow felt warranted in resigning his Harvard profes- sorship, to be free for purely literary pursuits. His home at Cambridge was the large Craigie House, which could boast of having once been the headquarters of Washington. Here, surrounded by a brilliant circle of friends, he lived in all the flush of a happy, successful life until 1861, — that fatal year, — when his peace was invaded by a frightful calamity: Mrs. Longfellow, while playing with her children,, set fire to her dress, and was mortally injured by the flames.. The poet never recovered from the shock of this bereave- G LIFE OF LONGFELLOW ment, although he continued his work with unabated vigor until the time of his death in March 1882. After Tennyson, Longfellow has been the most popular poet of his day. Some critics have said that had Tennyson never written the Idylls, or In Memoriam, his inferiority to Longfellow would have been manifest, but the power displayed in these high realms of poetry was quite beyond Longfellow's reach. His range is domestic. He lacks the power of depicting deep passion, or of robing purely imag- inative subjects with ideal grace and color. The forces necessary to the execution of an heroic poem are not his, but on the other hand, in such a description of quiet love and devoted patience as he gives us in Evangeline, Long- fellow may be ranked with i,he greatest of poets. Chronological List of the Principal Works of Longfellow. Coplas de Manrique . 1833 Outre-Mer 1835 Hyperion 1839 Voices of the Night . 1839 Ballads and other Poems 1841 Poems on Slavery . . 1842 Spanish Student . . . 1848 Poets and Poetry of Europe 1845 Belfry of Bruges. . . 1846 Evangeline .... 1847 Kavanagh 1849 Seaside and the Fireside 1 Golden Legend . . .1851 Hiawatha 1855 Miles Standish . . . 1858 Tales of a Wayside Inn 1863 Flower-De-Luce . . . 1867 Divine Comedy of Dante ▲lighter! . . . 1867-70 New England Tragedies 1868 Divine Tragedy . Three Hooks of Song Christns .... Aftermath .... Banging of the Crane Masque of Pandora . Keramos .... ritimaThule. . . In the Harbor [Pltima Thole, Pi ii.] . . Michael Angelo . . 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1878 1880 1882 1884 Ceitical Opinions. Child of New England, and trained by her best influences; of a temperament singularly sweet and serene, and with the sturdy rectitude of his race ; refined and softened by wide contact with other lands and many men ; born in prosperity, accomplished in all literatures, and himself a literary artist of consummate elegance, — he was the fine flower of the Puritan stock under its changed modern con- ditions. Out of strength had come forth sweetness. The grim iconoclast, "humming a surly hymn," had issued in the Christian gentleman. Captain Miles Standish had risen into Sir Philip Sidney. The austere morality that relentlessly ruled the elder New England reappeared in the genius of this singer in the most gracious and captivating form. . . . The foundations of our distinctive literature were largely laid in New England, and they rest upon morality. Literary New England had never a trace of literary Bohemia. The most illustrious group, and the earliest, of American authors and scholars and literary men, the Boston and Cambridge group of the last generation, — Channing, the two Danas, Sparks, Everett, Bancroft, Ticknor, Prescott, Norton, Rip- ley, Palfrey, Emerson, Parker, Hawthorne, Longfellow, Holmes, Whittier, Agassiz, Lowell, Motley, — have been sober and industrious citizens, of whom Judge Sewall would have approved. Their lives as well as their works have ennobled literature. They have illustrated the moral sanity of genius. Longfellow shares this trait with them all. It is the moral purity of his verse which at once charms the heart ; and in his first most famous poem, the "Psalm of Life," it is the direct inculcation of a moral purpose. Those who insist that literary art, like all other art, should not concern itself positively with morality, must reflect that the heart 7 8 CRITICAL OPINIONS of this age has been touched as truly by Longfellow, how- ever differently, as that of any time by its inaster-poet. This, indeed, is his peculiar distinction. Among the great poetic names of the century in English literature, Burns, in a general way, is the poet of love ; Wordsworth, of lofty contemplation of nature ; Byron, of passion ; Shelley, of aspiration; Keats, of romance; Scott, of heroic legend; and not less, and quite as distinctively, Longfellow, of the domestic affection-. He is the poet of the household, of the fireside, of the universal home feeling. The infinite tenderness and patience, the pathos and the beauty, of daily life, of familiar emotion, and the common Bcene, — these are the significance of thai verse whose beautiful and simple melody, softly murmuring for more than forty years, made the singer the most widely beloved of living men. — Oeonjc William Ourt\ He is in a high a literary man ; and next a literary artist ; and thirdly, a literary artist in the domain of poetry. It would not he true to say that his art is o[' the intent kind or most magical potency ; hut it is art, and imbues whatever he performs. In BO Ear as a literary arti>t in poetry is a poet, Longfellow Is a j>«»«-t, and should (to the silencing of all debates and demurs) be freely confessed and handsomely installed as such. How far he IS a poet in a further st than this remains t<> 1- ermined. Having thus summarily considered "the actual quality of the work" ss derived fr<»m the endowments of the worker, I next proceed to "the grounds npon which the vast popularity of the poems has rested. n One main and in itself all-SOfficient irrmmd lias just been stated : that the s<»rt of intelligence of which Longfellow Is so conspicuous an example includes pre-eminently " a great Busceptibility to the spirit of the age." The man who meets the spirit of the e half-way will he met half-waj by that ; will be adopted as a favorite child, and warmly reposited in the heart. Such has been the case with Longfellow, in sentiment, in percep- CRITICAL OPINIONS 9 tion, in culture, in selection^ in utterance, he represents, with adequate and even influential but not overwhelm- ing force, the tendencies and adaptabilities of the time ; he is a good type of the ' ' bettermost, " not the exceptionally very best, minds of the central or later-central period of the nineteenth century ; and, having the gift of persuasive speech and accomplished art, he can enlist the sympathies of readers who approach his own level of intelligence, and can dominate a numberless multitude of those who belong to lower planes, but who share none the less his own general conceptions and aspirations. Evangeline, whatever may be its shortcomings and blem- ishes, takes so powerful a hold of the feelings that the fate which would at last merge it in oblivion could only be a very hard and even a perverse one. Who that has read it has ever forgotten it ? or in whose memory does it rest as other than a long-drawn sweetness and sadness that has become a portion, and a purifying portion, of the experi- ences of the heart ? — William Michael Rossetti. Mr. Longfellow was easily first amongst his own coun- trymen as a poet, and in certain directions as a prose writer ; but he was also a good deal more than this. There has been a tendency to doubt whether he was entitled to a place in the first rank of poets ; and the doubt, although we are not disposed to think it well founded, is perhaps intelligible. Some of the qualities which gave his verse its charm and its very wide popularity and influence also worked, not to perplex — for the essence of his style was simplicity — but perhaps to vex, the critical mind. There is no need to dwell now upon various pieces of verse by Mr. Longfellow, which no doubt owed much of their fame to qualities that were less prominent in some of his produc- tions which perhaps were, not unnaturally, less popular. . . . But it may be said as a general rule, that when Long- fellow was commonplace in sentiment he was far from 10 CRITICAL OPINIONS commonplace in expression. His verse was full of gra< and, if one may use the word in this connection, of tact ; and it cannot perhaps be said to have been want of tact that prevented him from correcting the one odd blunder that he made after it had gone forth to the world and be- come somewhat surprisingly popular. That he could he and generally was much the reverse of commonplace, will hardly he denied by any one who has made a real study of his work. He had a keen observation, a vivid fancy, a scholarlike touch, a not i mnnon gentiUe$96 t and m- ingly easy command of rhyme and rhythm. . . . When tin- qualities which we have touched upon are united in a man \vh<> has come before the world as a poet, idently in consequence of the promptings of his nature, and n<>t of malice prepense and with carefully deviled affectation, it seen newhal ra^h to deny him the high place which the great bulk <>t' hie admirers would assign to him, because he has, perhaps t<><> frequently, Lapsed into thought, it not Into diction, which may seem unworthy of such a writer at his h< Nor, perhaps, la it fair In this regard to leave out account that Longfellow began his poetic career as the poet — the poet pa \Ci — Oi 'Wintry which had Ltfl literature to make, . . . His position as the spokesman in [ ■ young country had its advantages and its draw lb wa- mon free from thedisndvanfau-e^ol' critical verity and opposition than an Kagliflh writ uhl well have been ; but BUCh edom has it^ dan and t<> this it might not be tOO fanciful to trace the la] i which BOme mention lias been made. That it \va>. to these lapses that he owed a c< msiderable portion of his inlluence with the mass of the reading or devouring public in England irafl not his fault ; and thifl fact BUOUld not. we think, be allowed t«» obscure in any way the exceptionally tine quali- ties which he undoubtedly possessed and cultivated." — London 8a .f the genu Iffitell 1 tiled (roan the ■tape of its pod. It li ill K r <."<-' n 'sli flower. PRELUDE 15 And ever whispered, mild and low, " Come, be a child once more ! " And waved their long arms to and fro, And beckoned solemnly and slow ; O, I could not choose but go 5 Into the woodlands hoar ; Into the blithe and breathing air, Into the solemn wood, Solemn and silent everywhere ! Nature with folded hands seemed there, 10 Kneeling at her evening prayer ! Like one in prayer I stood. Before me rose an avenue Of tall and sombrous pines ; Abroad their fan-like branches grew, k And, where the sunshine darted through, Spread a vapor soft and blue, In long and sloping lines. And, falling on my weary brain, Like a fast-falling shower, 20 The dreams of youth came back again ; Low lispings of the summer rain, Dropping on the ripened grain, As once upon the flower. Visions of childhood ! Stay, O stay ! 25 Ye were so sweet and wild ! And distant voices seemed to say, " It cannot be! They pass away ! Other themes demand thy lay ; Thou art no more a child ! 30 1 6 PRELUDE " The land of Song within thee lies, Watered by living springs ; The lids of Fancy's sleepless eyes Are gates unto that Paradise, c Holy thoughts, like stars, arise, Its clouds are angels' wings. u Learn, that henceforth thy song shall be, Not mountains capped with snow, Nor forests sounding like the sea, 10 Nor rivers flowing carelessly, Where the woodlands bend to see The bending heavens below. "There is a forest where the din Of iron brand ounds ! 15 A mighty liver roars between, And whosoever looks therein Sees the heavens all black with sin, Sees not its depths, nor bounds. " Athwart the swinging branches cast, 20 Soft rays of sunshine pour ; Then comes the Fearful wintry blast ; Our hopes, like withered leaves, lall fast, Pallid lips say, ' It is past I We can return no more ! ' 25 "Look, then, into thine heart, and write! Yes, into Lite's deep stream ! All forms of sorrow and delight, All solemn Voices of the Night, That can soothe thee, or affright, — ^o Be these henceforth thy theme." HYMN TO THE NIGHT *7 HYMN TO THE NIGHT Uorvia, TzOrvia vvg, virvoddreipa royv ttoTivttovdv (3poro)v ) "'Epeftodev idi \jlo\e /uoXe Kardirrepog ^Ayajuejuvoviov etti do/uov vnb yap aTiyeov, vtto re avjU(f>opdc Euripides. 'Agttciolt], TpiXktaroq. I HEARD the trailing garments of the Night Sweep through her marble halls ! 1 saw her sable skirts all fringed with light From the celestial walls ! I felt her presence, by its spell of might, Stoop o'er me from above ; The calm, majestic presence of the Night, As of the one I love. 10 *5 i. noTvia, noTvia vv£, etc. [Awful queen, whose gentle power Brings sweet oblivion of our woes, And in the calm and gentle hour Distils the blessings of repose ; — Come, awful Night ;] Come from the gloom of Erebus profound, And spread thy sable tinctured wings around; Speed to this royal house thy flight ; For pale-eyed Grief, and wild Affright, And all the horrors of Despair, Here pour their rage, and threaten ruin here. Euripides' Orestes, 178-188, tr. by R. Potter. 8. 'Ao-irao-i'rj, rptAAioTOs . . . vi/| — most welcome, earnestly prayed for night. Itiad, 8, 488. 1 8 A PSALM OF LIFE I heard the sounds of sorrow and delight, The manifold, soft chimes, That fill the haunted chambers of the Night, Like some old poet's Rhymes. 5 From the cool cisterns of the midnight air My spirit drank repose ; The fountain of perpetual peace Hows there, — From those deep cisterns tlows. O holy Night ! from thee I learn to bear 'o What man has borne betop ! Thou layest thy linger on tin- lips of Care, And they complain no mor P< ' On Stes-llke I breathe this pi Descend with broad-winged flight, 15 The welcome, the thrice-prayed for, the most fair, The best beloved N ight ! A PSALM OF LI1 WHAT THE Hi.Aki 01 THE IrOUNG MAN SAID TO 1 in PSALMIS r. Tell me not, in mournful number " Life is but an empty dream ! " For the soul is dead that slumbei 20 And things are not what the\ ii. 13, Orestes. In classic mythology a son <>f Agamemnon and Clytem- nestra ; he was pursued by the Furies, who fir. >vc him mad as ,\ punishment for the murder of his mother. In the tflgody "Orestes" by Euripid Orestes calls on sleep as his greatest boon. A PSALM OF LIFE 19 Life is real ! Life is earnest ! And the grave is not its goal ; " Dust thou art, to dust returnest," Was not spoken of the soul. Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 5 Is our destined end or way ; But to act, that each to-morrow Find us farther than to-day. Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, 10 Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave, In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle \ Be a hero in the strife ! x 5 Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant ! Let the dead past bury its dead ! Act,— act in the living Present 1 Heart within, and God o'erhead ! 20 Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footsteps on the sands of time ; — 3. " Dust thou art, to dust returnest.'' Genesis iii. 19. 9. Art is long, and time is fleeting. Compare : "Ars longa, vita ibrevis" {art is long, time short) — Hippocrates, Aphorism I.; " The lyfe so ne thy hopes depart, lie resolute and (aim. 20 O fear not in a world like this, And thou shalt know en long, Know how sublime a thing it is To Suffer and be stron. n K)TSTEPS OF ANGELS ,. Whin the hours ol I> e numbered, And the VOiees <>t the Night Wake the better soul, that slumbered, 1 a holy, calm delight ; 23 FOOTSTEPS OF ANGELS Ere the evening lamps are lighted, And, like phantoms grim and tall, Shadows from the fitful fire-light Dance upon the parlor wall ; Then the forms of the departed Enter at the open door ; The beloved, the true-hearted, Come to visit me once more ; He, the young and strong, who cherished Noble longings for the strife, By the road-side fell and perished, Weary with the march of life ! They, the holy ones and weakly, Who the cross of suffering bore, Folded their pale hands so meekly, x - Spake with us on earth no more ! And with them the Being Beauteous, Who unto my youth was given, More than all things else to love me, And is now a saint in heaven. With a slow and noiseless footstep Comes that messenger divine, Takes the vacant chair beside me, Lays her gentle hand in mine. And she sits and gazes at me With those deep and tender eyes, Like the stars, so still and saint-like, Looking downward from the skies. 17. Being beauteous. An allusion to his first wife. IO 20 2 5 24 FLOWERS Uttered not, yet comprehended, Is the spirit's voiceless prayer, Soft rebukes, in blessings ended, Breathing from her lips of air. O, though oft depressed and lonely, All my fears are laid aside, If I but remember only Such as these have lived and died ! 20 FLOWERS Spake full well, in language quaint and olden, 10 One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine. Stars they are, wherein we read our history, As astrologers and seers of eld ; 15 Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery, Like the burning stars, which they beheld. Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, God hath written in those stars above ; But not less in the bright flowerets under us Stands the revelation of his love. Bright and glorious is that revelation, Written all over this great world of ours ; Making evident our own creation, In these stars of earth, — these golden flowers. 10. One who dwelleth. He who thus spake so well was Carove" in his Story without an End. FLOWERS 21 And the Poet, faithful and far-seeing, Sees, alike in stars and flowers, a pare Of the self-same, universal being, Which is throbbing in his brain and heart. Gorgeous flowerets in the sunlight shining, 5 Blossoms flaunting in the eye of day, Tremulous leaves, with soft and silver lining, Buds that open only to decay ; Brilliant hopes, all woven in gorgeous tissues, Flaunting gayly in the golden light ; 10 Large desires, with most uncertain issues, Tender wishes, blossoming at night ! These in flowers and men are more than seeming ; Workings are they of the self-same powers ; Which the Poet, in no idle dreaming, Y t Seeth in himself and in the flowers. Everywhere about us are they glowing, Some like stars, to tell us Spring is born ; Others, their'blue eyes with tears o'erflowing, Stand like Ruth amid the golden corn ; 2 o Not alone in Spring's armorial bearing, And in Summer's green-emblazoned field, But in arms of brave old Autumn's wearing, In the centre of his brazen shield ; Not alone in meadows and green alleys, On the mountain-top, and by the brink Of sequestered pools in woodland valleys, Where the slaves of Nature stoop to drink ; 20 Ruth amid the golden corn. Ruth ii. 3. «S 26 THE BELEAGUERED CITY Not alone in her vast dome of glory, Not on graves of bird and beast alone, But in old cathedrals, high and hoary, On the tombs of heroes, carved in stone ; 5 In the cottage of the rudest peasant, In ancestral homes, whose crumbling towers, Speaking of the Past unto the Present, Tell us of the ancient Games of Flowers ; In all places, then, and in all seasons, 10 Flowers expand their light and soul-like wings, Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons, How akin they are to human things. And with childlike, credulous affection We behold their tender buds expand ; 15 Emblems of our own great resurrection, Emblems of the bright and better land THE BELEAGUERED CITY I have read, in some old marvellous tale, Some legend strange and vague, That a midnight host of spectres pale 20 Beleaguered the walls of Prague. Beside the Moldau's rushing stream, With the wan moon overhead, There stood, as in an awful dream, The army of the dead. 25 White as a sea-fog, landward bound, The spectral camp was seen, And, with a sorrowful, deep sound, The river flowed between. THE BELEAGUERED CITY 27 No other voice nor sound was there, No drum, nor sentry's pace ; The mist-like banners clasped the air, As clouds with clouds embrace. But, when the old cathedral bell 5 Proclaimed the morning prayer, The white pavilions rose and fell On the alarmed air. Down the broad valley fast and far The troubled army fled ; 10 Up rose the glorious morning star, The ghastly host was dead. I have read, in the marvellous heart of man, That strange and mystic scroll, That an army of phantoms vast and wan 15 Beleaguer the human soul. Encamped beside Life's rushing stream, In Fancy's misty light, Gigantic shapes and shadows gleam Portentous through the night. 20 Upon its midnight battle-ground The spectral camp is seen, And, with a sorrowful, deep sound, Flows the River of Life between. No other voice, nor sound is there, 25 In the army of the grave ; No other challenge breaks the air, But the rushing of Life's wave. I 28 MIDXIGHT MASS FOR THE DYIXG YEAR And, when the solemn and deep church-bell Entreats the soul to pray, The midnight phantoms feel the spell, The shadows sweep away. Down the broad Vale of Tears afar The spectral camp is fled ; Faith shineth as a morning star, Our ghastly fears are dead. MIDNIGHT MASS FOR THE DYING YEAR Yes, the Year is growing old, >o And his eye is pale and bleared ! Death, with frosty hand and cold, Plucks the old man by the beard, Sorely, — sorely ! The leaves are falling, falling, *.S Solemnly and slow ; "Caw ! caw ! " the rooks are calling, It is a sound ot woe, A sound of woe ! Through the woods and mountain passes 20 The winds, like anthems, roll ; They are chanting solemn masses, Singing ; " Pray for this poor soul, Pray, — pray ! " And the hooded clouds, like friars, 25 Tell their beads in drops of rain, And patter their doleful prayers ; — But their prayers are all in vain, All In vain ! MIDNIGHT MASS FOR THE DYING YEAR 29 There he stands in the foul weather, The foolish, fond Old Year, Crowned with wild flowers and with heather, Like weak, despised Lear, A king, — a king ; -> 5 Then comes the summer-like day, Bids the old man rejoice ! His joy ! his last ! O, the old man gray Loveth that ever-soft voice, Gentle and low. 10 To the crimson woods he saith, — To the voice gentle and low Of the soft air, like a daughter's breath, — "Pray do not mock me so ! Do not laugh at me ! " 15 And now the sweet day is dead ; Cold in his arms it lies ; No stain from its breath is spread Over the glassy skies, No mist or stain ! 20 Then, too, the Old Year dieth, And the forests utter a moan, Like the voice of one who crieth In the wilderness alone, " Vex not his ghost ! " 25 4. Weak, despised Lear. Lear, mythical king of Britain, at the age of fourscore resolved to divide his kingdom among his three daughters in proportion to their love. The two eldest said they loved him more, than tongue could express, but the youngest said she loved him as it became a daughter to love her father. This answer of his youngest daughter dis- pleased the old king and he disinherited her. When the elder daughters were put to the test, however, they proved ungrateful and treated their father with scant courtesy, while the youngest showed herself loving and true. Shakespeare's King Lear, 30 MIDXIGHT MASS FOR THE DYIXG YEAR Then comes, with an awful roar, Gathering and sounding on, The storm- wind from Labrador, The wind Euroclydon, 5 The storm-wind ! Howl ! howl ! and from the forest Sweep the red leaves away ! Would the sins that thou abhorrest, O Soul ! could thus decay, 10 And be swept away ! For there shall come a mightier blast, There shall be a darker day ; And the stars, from heaven downcast, Like red leaves be swept away ! 15 Kyrie, eleyson ! Christe, eleyson ! 4. Euroclydon. A tempestuous southeast wind, which raises great waves. The name is derived from the Greek euros, the southeast wind and k/ydoft, a wave. 15. Kyrie, Eleyson ! Christe, Eleyson. In Greek, " Lord have pity, Christ have pity." Brief petitions used as responses in the Roman Catholic Church. MISCELLANEOUS THE SKELETON IN ARMOR [The following ^allad was suggested to me while riding on the seashore at Newport. A year or two previous a skeleton had been dug up at Fall River, clad in broken and corroded armor ; and the idea occurred to me of connecting it with the Round Tower at Newport, generally known hitherto as the Old Wind-Mill, though now claimed by the Danes as a work of their early ancestors. Professor Rafn, in the Memoires de la Societe Roy ale des Antiquaires du Nord, for 1 838-1839, says : " There is no mistaking in this instance the style in which the more ancient stone edifices of the North were constructed, the style which belongs to the Roman or Ante-Gothic archi- tecture, and which, especially after the time of Charlemagne, diffused itself from Italy over the whole of the West and North of Europe, where it continued to predominate until the close of the 1 2th century; that style, which some authors have, from one of its most striking characteristics, called the round arch style, the same which in England is denominated Saxon and sometimes Norman architecture. " On the ancient structure in Newport there are no orna- ments remaining, which might possibly have served to guide us in assigning the probable date of its erection. That no vestige whatever is found of the pointed arch, nor any approx- imation to it, is indicative of an earlier rather than of a later period. From such characteristics as remain, however, we can scarcely form any other inference than one, in which I am persuaded that all, who are familiar with Old-Northern archi- tecture, will concur, that this building was erected at a PERIOD DECIDEDLY NOT LATER THAN THE 1 2TH CENTURY. This remark applies, of course, to the original building only, and not to the alterations that it subsequently received ; for there are several such alterations in the upper part of the building which cannot be mistaken, and which were most likely occasioned by its being adapted in modern times to various 31 <( IO '5 3 2 THE SKELE TON IN A RMOR uses, for example as the substructure of a wind-mill, and lat- terly as a hay magazine. To the same times may be referred the windows, the fireplace, and the apertures made above the columns. That this building could not have been erected for a wind-mill, is what an architect will easily/discern." I will not enter into a discussion of the point. It is suffi- ciently well established for the purpose of a ballad ; though doubtless many an honest citizen of Newport, who has passed his days within sight of the Round Tower, will be ready to exclaim with Sancho : " God bless me ! did I not warn you to have a care of what you were doing, for that it was nothing but a wind-mill ; and nobody could mistake it, but one who had the like in his head." Speak ! speak ! thou fearful guest ! Who, with thy hollow breast Still in rude armor drest, Comest to daunt me ! Wrapt not in Eastern balms, But with thy fleshless palms Stretched, as if asking alms, Why dost thou haunt me ? " Then, from those cavernous eyes Pale flashes seemed to rise, As when the Northern skies Gleam in December ; And, like the water's flow Under December's snow, Came a dull voice of woe From the heart's chamber. 5. Eastern balms. In ancient Egypt and in other Eastern countries, it was common to embalm the bodies of the dead with spices and various aromatic substances. 11. Northern skies. The aurora borealis, or streams of light that ap- pear in the northern sky in winter, is probably caused by the passage of electricity through the upper regions of the air, though under conditions not as yet entirely understood. THE SKELETON IN ARMOR 33 " I was a Viking old ! My deeds, though manifold, No Skald in song has told, No Saga taught thee ! Take heed, that in thy verse 5 Thou dost the tale rehearse, Else dread a dead man's curse ! For this I sought thee. " Far in the Northern land, By the wild Baltic's strand, 1Q I, with my childish hand, Tamed the ger-falcon ; And, with my skates fast-bound, Skimmed the half-frozen Sound, That the poor whimpering hound 15 Trembled to walk on. " Oft to his frozen lair Tracked I the grisly bear, While from my path the hare Fled like a shadow ; Oft through the forest dark Followed the were-wolf's bark, Until the soaring lark Sang from the meadow. 3. Skald. The Skalds were the ancient Scandinavian minstrels who composed poems in honor of distinguished men and sang them on public occasions. <■ 4. Saga. The long legends or tales of mythological or historical events which formed the literature of the ancient Norsemen. 12. Ger=falcon. The large falcon of northern Europe, in great demand for the sport of hawking. Ger comes from the same root as the German gierigy eager, greedy. 22. Were=wolf. A human being turned into a wolf while retaining human intelligence. The transformation could be voluntarily made by 3 20 34 THE SKELETON IN ARMOR u But when I older grew, Joining a corsair's crew, O'er the dark sea I flew With the marauders. $ Wild was the life we led ; Many the souls that sped, Many the hearts that bled, By our stern orders. " Many a wassail-bout io Wore the long Winter out ; Often our midnight shout Set the cocks crowing, As we the Berserk's tale Measured in cups of ale, j- Draining the oaken pail, Filled to o'erflowing, " Once as I told in glee Tales of the stormy sea, Soft eyes did gaze on me, 20 Burning yet tender ; And as the white stars shine On the dark Norway pine, On that dark heart of mine Fell their soft splendor. "1 wooed the blue-eyed maid, Yielding, yet half afraid, Infernal aid or by witchcraft. Men were tried on the charge of being irate* wofrae'at late ai the seventeenth century. The snpersthiofl still exists in certain parts of Europe where wolves abound. From the Anglo-S.i\on :eer t man and wolf, a man-wolf, literally 1 1. Berserk. Berserker was a redoubtable hero in Scandinavian mythol- who had twelve sons who inherited the battle fren/yor berserker rage. The sagas are full of tales of heroes who are seized with this fierce longing for carnage The name means Afar shirt. ^5 a THE SKELETON IN ARMOR 35 ■ And in the forest's -shade Our vows were plighted. Under its loosened vest Fluttered her little breast, Like birds within their nest 5 By the hawk frighted. Bright in her father's hall Shields gleamed upon the wall, Loud sang the minstrels all, Chanting his glory ; 10 When of old Hildebrand I asked his daughter's hand, Mute did the minstrels stand To hear my story. " While the brown ale he quaffed, 15 Loud then the champion laughed, And as the wind-gusts waft The sea-foam brightly, So the loud laugh of scorn, Out of those lips unshorn, 20 From the deep drinking-horn Blew the foam lightly. " She was a Prince's child, I but a Viking wild, And though she blushed and smiled, 25 I was discarded ! Should not the dove so white Follow the sea-mew's flight, Why did they leave that night Her nest unguarded ? 30 36 THE SKELETON IN ARMOR <« Scarce had I put to sea, Bearing the maid with me, — Fairest of all was she Among the Norsemen ! — When on the white sea-strand, Waving his armed hand, Saw we old Hildebrand, With twenty horsemen. "Then launched they to the blast, 10 Bent like a reed each mast, Vet we were gaining fast, When the wind tailed us ; And with a sudden flaw- Came round the gusty Skaw, 15 So that our foe we saw Laugh as he hailed us. •« And as to catch the gale Round veered the flapping sail, Death! was the helmsman's hail, 20 Death without quartei Mid-ships with iron keel Struck we her ribs of steel ; Down her black hulk did reel Through the black water ! 25 " As with his wings aslant, Sails the tierce cormorant, Seeking some rocky haunt, With his prey laden, 1 j. Skaw. A word of Icelandic extraction meaning headland. THE SKELE TON IN A RMOR 3 7 So toward the open main, Beating to sea again, Through the wild hurricane, Bore I the maiden. " Three weeks we westward bore, 5 And when the storm was o'er, Cloud-like we saw the shore Stretching to lee-ward ; There for my lady's bower Built I the lofty tower, IO Which, to this very hour, Stands looking sea-ward. " There lived we many years ; Time dried the maiden's tears ; She had forgot her fears, 15 She was a mother ; Death closed her mild blue eyes, Under that tower she lies ; Ne'er shall the sun arise - On such another ! 20 " Still grew my bosom then, Still as a stagnant fen ! Hateful to me were men, The sunlight hateful ! In the vast forest here, 25 Clad in my warlike gear, Fell I upon my spear, O, death was grateful ! "Thus, seamed with many scars, Bursting these prison bars, 30 Up to its native stars My soul ascended ! 38 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS There from the flowing bowl Deep drinks the warrior's soul, Skoal! to the Northland ! skoal J" — Thus the tale ended. THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS 15 It was the schooner Hesperus, That sailed the wintry sea ; And the skipper had taken his little daughter To bear him company. Blue were her eyes as the fairy-flax, 10 Her cheeks like the dawn of day, And her bosom white as the hawthorn buds, That ope in the month of May. The skipper he stood beside the helm, With his pipe in his mouth, 15 And watched how the veering Haw did blow The smoke now West, now South. Then 11 p and spake an old Sailor, Had sailed the Spanish Main, " I pray thee, put into yonder port, 20 For I fear a hurricane. 3. Skoal. "In Scandinavia this is the customary salutation when drinking a health. I have slightly changed the orthography of the word, in order t<> preserve the ( <>rrec t pronunciation." Author s note. 18. Spanish Main. The northeast coatl <>i Smith America, between the Orinoco River and the Isthmus of Panama, and the ad joining pari <>f the Caribbean Se.u The Spanish maiu used to be a favorite hauut of piral THE WRECK OE THE HESPERUS 39 " Last night, the moon had a golden ring, And to-night no moon we see ! " The skipper, he blew a whiff from his pipe, And a scornful laugh laughed he. 1 Colder and louder blew the wind, * A gale from the Northeast ; The snow fell hissing in the brine, And the billows frothed like yeast. Down came the storm, and smote amain, The vessel in its strength ; I0 She shuddered and paused, like a frightened steed, Then leaped her cable's length. "Come hither! come hither ! my little daughter, And do not tremble so ; For I can weather the roughest gale, !q That ever wind did blow." He wrapped her warm in his seaman's coat, Against the stinging blast ; He cut a rope from a broken spar And bound her to the mast. 20 " O father ! I hear the church-bells ring, O say, what may it be ? " 'T is a fog-bell on a rock-bound coast ! " And he steered for the open sea. 11 O father ! I hear the sound of guns, 2 e O say, what may it be ? " " Some ship in distress that cannot live In such an angry sea ! " 40 THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS " O father ! I see a gleaming light, O say, what may it be ? " But the father answered never a word, A frozen corpse was he. 5 Lashed to the helm, all stiff and stark, With his face to the skies, The lantern gleamed through the gleaming snow On his fixed and glassy eyes. Then the maiden clasped her hands and prayed 10 That saved she might be ; And she thought of Christ who stilled the wave, On the Lake of Galilee. And fast through the midnight dark and drear, Through the whistling sleet and snow, 15 Like a sheeted ghost, the vessel swept Towards the reef of Norman's Woe. And ever the fitful gusts between A sound came from the land ; It was the sound of the trampling surf, 20 On the rocks and the hard sea-sand. The breakers were right beneath her bows, She drifted a dreary wreck, And a whooping billow swept the crew Like icicles from her deck. 2 r She struck where the white and fleecy waves Looked soft as carded wool, But the cruel rocks, they gored her side Like the horns of an angry bull. THE LUCK OF EDENHALL 41 Her rattling shrouds, all sheathed in ice, With the masts went by the board ; Like a vessel of glass, she strove and sank. Ho ! ho ! the breakers roared I At daybreak, on the bleak sea-beach, 5 A fisherman stood aghast, To see the form of a maiden fair, Lashed close to a drifting mast. The salt sea was frozen on her breast, The salt tears in her eyes ; 10 And he saw her hair, like the brown sea-weed, On the billows fall and rise. Such was the wreck of the Hesperus, In the midnight and the snow ! Christ save us all from a death like this, 15 On the reef of Norman's Woe ! THE. LUCK OF EDENHALL FROM THE GERMAN OF UHLAND. [The tradition, upon which this ballad is founded, and the " shards of the Luck of Edenhall," still exist in England. The goblet is in the possession of Sir Christopher Musgrave, Bart., of Eden Hall, Cumberland; and is not so entirely shattered, as the ballad leaves it.] Of Edenhall, the youthful Lord Bids sound the festal trumpet's call ; He rises at the banquet board, 16. Norman's Woe. A dangerous reef at the entrance to the harbor of Gloucester, Massachusetts. A schooner called the Hesperus actually went to pieces on the rocks here in the winter of 1839. Longfellow heard of it in a newspaper and composed the famous balled in a single night. 42 THE LUCK 01 EDENHALL And cries, 'mid the drunken revell 11, • Now bring; me the Luck of Kdenhall ! " The butler hears the words with pain, The house's oldest seneschal, 5 Takes slow from its silken cloth again The drinking glass of crystal tall ; They call it the Luck of Kdenhall. Then said the Lord : " This glass to prais- Fill with red win >m Portugal ! " io The [ ird with trembling hand obeys ; A purple light shines 1 1 ill, It beams from the Luck of Kdenhall. en speaks the Lord, and w. t light, rhis i Lshing 1 tall ) my sires the Fountain-Sprit< She wrote in it : //*///: /// /r its keeper tak <»i might, The fragile goblet ol il tall ; THE LUCK OF EDENHALL 43 It has lasted longer than is right ; Kling ! klang ! — with a harder blow than all Will I try the Luck of Edenhall ! " As the goblet ringing flies apart, Suddenly cracks the vaulted hall ; 5 And through the rift, the wild flames start ; The guests in dust are scattered all ; With the breaking Luck of Edenhall ! In storms the foe, with fire and sword ; He in the night had scaled the wall, 10 Slain by the sword lies the youthful Lord, But holds in his hand the crystal tall, The shattered Luck of Edenhall. On the morrow the butler gropes alone, The gray-beard in the desert hall, j . He seeks his Lord's burnt skeleton, He seeks in the dismal ruin's fall The shards of the Luck of Edenhall. "The stone wall," saith he, "doth fall aside, Down must the stately columns fall ; 20 Glass is this earth's Luck and Pride ; In atoms shall fall this earthly ball One day like the Luck of Edenhall ! " 44 THE ELECTED KNIGHT THE ELECTED KNIGHT FROM THE DANISH. [The following strange and somewhat mystical ballad i> from Nyenip and Rahbek's Danshe Vtserot the Middle It seems to refer to the first preaching of Christianity in the North, and to the institution of Knight-Errantry. The three maidens I suppose to be Faith. Hope, and Charity. Tin- irregularities of the original have been carefully preserved in the translation.] Sir ( M it he ricleth over the plain, Full Seven miles broad and seven miles wid But never, ah never can meet with the man A tdt with him dare rich 5 He saw under the hill-side A Knight full well equipped ; His Steed was black, bis helm was barred ; 1 le was riding at full speed. I le wore Upon bis spurs i T .vclve little golden bird ion he spurred bis steed with a clai And tin it all the birds and sang. He wore upon bis mail Twelve little- golden wheels ; ,- Anon in eddies the wild wind blew, And round and round the wheels they ilew. I le wore before bis breast A Lance that was poised in rest ; And it was sharper than diamond-stone, 2Q It made Sir Olut's heart to n. THE ELECTED KNIGHT 45 He wore upon his helm, A wreath of ruddy gold ; And that gave him the Maidens Three, The youngest was fair to behold. Sir Oluf questioned the Knight eftsoon 5 If he were come from heaven down ; " Art thou Christ of Heaven," quoth he, 11 So will I yield me unto thee." " I am not Christ the Great, Thou shalt not yield thee yet ; 10 I am an unknown Knight, Three modest Maidens have me bedight." " Art thou a Knight elected, And have three Maidens thee bedight ; So shalt thou ride a tilt this day, 15 For all the Maidens' honor ! " The first tilt they together rode They put their steeds to the test ; The second tilt they together rode, They proved their manhood best. 20 The third tilt they together rode, Neither of them would yield ; The fourth tilt they together rode, They both fell on the field. Now lie the lords upon the plain, 25 And their blood runs unto death ; Now sit the Maidens in the high tower, The youngest sorrows till death. 46 THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH Under a spreading chestnut tree The village smithy stands ; The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands ; c And the muscles of his brawny arms Are strong as iron hands. His hair is crisp, and black, and long, 1 lis face is like the tan ; His brow is wet with honest sweat, I0 He earns whate'er he can, And looks tin- whole world in the face, For he owes not any man. Week in, week out, from morn till night, You can hear his billows blow ; 15 You can hear him swing his heavy sledge, With measured beat and slow, Like a sexton ringing the village bell, When the evening sun is low. And children coming home from school 20 Look in at the open door ; They love to see the flaming forge, And hear the bellows roar, And catch the burning sparks that fly Like chaff from a threshing floor. 25 lie goes on Sunday to the church, And sits among his boys ; He hears the parson pray and preach, He hears his daughter's voice THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH 47 Singing in the village choir, And it makes his heart rejoice. It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise ! He needs must think of her once more, 5 How in the grave she lies ; And with his hard, rough hand he wipes A tear out of his eyes. Toiling, — rejoicing, — sorrowing, Onward through life he goes ; 10 Each morning sees some task begin, , Each evening sees it close ; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose. Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, 15 For the lesson thou hast taught ! Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought ; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought ! 20 48 ENDMYION ENDYMION The rising moon has hid the stars ; Her level rays, like golden bars, Lie on the landscape green, With shadows brown between. 5 And silver white the river gleams, As if Diana, in her dreams, • Had dropt her silver bow Upon the meadows low. On such a tranquil night as this, io She woke Kndymion with a kis^, When, sleeping in tin- grove, He dreamed not of her love. Like Dian's kiss, unasked, unsought, Love gives itself, but is not bought ; 15 Nor voice, nor sound betrays Its deep, impassioned ga/e. It comes, — the beautiful, the free, Tl: >wn of all humanity, — In silence and alone 2Q To seek the elected one. 10. Endymion. In classic mythology Kndymion was a beautiful youth who, while sleeping 00 Mount I.atmus. een by tin Moon Godd Diana, whose <<>ld heart was so wanned by his beauty that she came to him and kissed him. The ttOTy is a peitonification ol the moon sinking down behind the mountains. THE TWO LOCKS OF HAIR 49 It lifts the boughs, whose shadows deep Are Life's oblivion, the soul's sleep, And kisses the closed eyes Of hirn, who slumbering lies. O, weary hearts ! O, slumbering eyes ! c O, drooping souls, whose destinies Are fraught with fear and pain, Ye shall be loved again ! No one is so accursed by fate, No one so utterly desolate, 10 But some heart, though unknown, Responds unto his own. Responds, — as if with unseen wings, An angel touched its quivering strings ; And whispers, in its song, " Where hast thou stayed so long ? " THE TWO LOCKS OF HAIR FROM THE GERMAN OF PFIZER. A youth, light-hearted and content, I wander through the world ; Here, Arab-like, is pitched my tent And straight again is furled. Yet oft I dream, that once a wife Close in my heart was locked, And in the sweet repose of life A blessed child I rocked. 20 SO IT IS NOT AL IVA VS MA Y I wake. Away that dream, — away ! Too long did it remain ! So long-, that both by night and day It ever comes again. 5 The end lies ever in my thought ; To a grave so cold and deep The mother beautiful was brought ; Then dropt the child asleep. But now the dream is wholly o'er, 10 I bathe mine eyes and see ; And wander through the world once more, A youth so light and free. Two locks, — and they are wondrous fair, — Left me that vision mild ; 15 The brown is from the mother's hair, The blond is from the child. And when I sec that lock of gold, Pale grows the evening-red ; And when the dark lock I behold, 20 I wish that I were dead. IT IS NOT ALWAYS MAY No hay pijarofl m los oidofl de antafio. uiish Proverb* THE sun is bright, — the air is clear, The darting swallows soar and sing, And from the stately elms I hear The blue-bird prophesying Spring. 21. No hay pajaros en los nidus de antafio. lor translation sec k\st line of third stanza. THE RAINY DAY 51 So blue yon winding river flows, It seems an outlet from the sky, Where waiting till the west wind blows, The freighted clouds at anchor lie. All things are new ; — the buds, the leaves, 5 That gild the elm-tree's nodding crest, And even the nest beneath the eaves ; — There are no birds in last year's nest ! All things rejoice in youth and love, The fulness of their first delight ! 10 And learn from the soft heavens above The melting tenderness of night. Maiden, that read'st this simple rhyme, Enjoy thy youth, it will not stay ; Enjoy the fragments of thy prime, 15 For O ! it is not always May ! Enjoy the Spring of Love and Youth, To some good angel leave the rest ; For Time will teach thee soon the truth, There are no birds in last year's nest ! 20 THE RAINY DAY The day is cold, and dark, and dreary ; It rains, and the wind is never weary ; The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, But at every gust the dead leaves fall, And the day is dark and dreary. 4. Freighted clouds. Longfellow was fond of comparing clouds to §hips. Compare the fifth stanza of the Prelude to Voices of the Night, 52 GOD'S ACRE My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; It rains, and the wind is never weary ; My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 5 And the days are dark and dreary. Be still, sad heart ! and cease repining ; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining ; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall, 10 Some days must be dark and dreary. GODS-ACRE I LIKE that ancient Saxon phrase, which calls The burial-ground God's-Acn It is just; It consecrates each grave within its walls, And breathes a benison o'er the sleeping dust. 15 God's-Acn Yes, that blessed name imparts 1 omfort to those, who in the grave have sown The seed, that they had garnered in their hearts, Their bread of life, alas ! no more their own. Into its furrows shall we all be cast, 20 In the sure faith that we shall ris ain At the great harvest, when tin- archangel's blast Shall winnow, like a fan, the chaff and grain. Then shall the I stand in immortal bloom, In the fair gardens of that second birth ; 25 And each bright blossom, mingle its perfume With that of Bowers, which never bloomed on earth. TO THE RIVER CHARLES 53 With thy rude ploughshare, Death, turn up the sod, And spread the furrow for the seed we sow ; This is the held and Acre of our God. This is the place, where human harvests grow ! TO THE RIVER CHARLES River ! that in silence windest c Through the meadows, bright and free, Till at length thy rest thou findest In the bosom of the sea ! Four long years of mingled feeling, Half in rest, and half in strife, I0 I have seen thy waters stealing Onward, like the stream of life. Thou hast taught me, Silent River ! Many a lesson, deep and long ; Thou hast been a generous giver ; lr - I can give thee but a song. Oft in sadness and in illness, I have watched thy current glide, Till the beauty of its stillness Overflowed me, like a tide. 20 And in better hours and brighter, When I saw thy waters gleam, I have felt my heart beat lighter, And leap onward with thy stream. 5. River Charles. Craigie House, Longfellow's home in Cambridge, overlooked the Charles River. 54 TO THE RIVER CHARLL Not for this alone I love tin Nor because thy waves ot blue From celestial seas above thee Take their own celestial hue. 5 Where yon shadowy woodlands hide thee, And thy waters disappear, Friends I love have dwelt beside thee, And have made thy margin dear. More than this ; — thy name remind 10 I >f three friends, all true and tried ; And that n.ime, like magic, binds me Closer, closer to thy sid< Friends my soul with joy remembei How like quivering flames they start, 15 When I tan the living embers On the hearth-stone of my heart ! ris t«»r this, thou Silent Rivei That my spirit leans to the Thou hast been .1 generous giver, 20 Take this idle ^<>n^ from m I rirruls I luxe. I rdl Ikmik , BlfflWQ tint up the ri . Three friends. Pi !>.il>ly Charici Sumner, Clurlcs Ward, .nut BLIND BARTIMEUS 55 BLIND BARTIMEUS Blind Bartimeus at the gates Of Jericho in darkness waits ; He hears the crowd ; — he hears a breath Say, " It is Christ of Nazareth ! " And calls, in tones of agony, 5 'Ir/oov, kMrjoov fie ! The thronging multitudes increase ; Blind Bartimeus, hold thy peace ! But still, above the noisy crowd, The beggar's cry is shrill and loud ; 10 Until they say, " He calleth thee ! " Qdpaeij eyeipcu (povel ge Then saith the Christ, as silent stands The crowd, " What wilt thou at my hands ? " And he replies, " O give me light ! i$ Rabbi, restore the blind man's sight. And Jesus answers, "Tnaye, 'H TCLOTig GOV GEGUKE GE / Ye that have eyes, yet cannot see, In darkness and in misery, 20 Recall those mighty Voices Three, 'Itjgov, fkerjoov /ue ! QdpGEf, eyeipai, viraye ! 1 H TTlGTiq GOV GEGOKe GE ! i. Blind Bartimeus. Mark x. 46. 6. 'IrjcroO, eAe'Tjow fie ! Jesus pity me. 12. ©aptrei, eyetpat, » t 1 1 » > > 56 MAIDENHOOD MAIDENHOOD Maiden ! with the meek, brown eyes, In whose orbs a shadow lies Like the dusk in evening skies ! Thou whose locks outshine the sun, 5 Golden tresses, wreathed in one, As the braided streamlets run ! Standing, with reluctant feet, Where the brook and river meet, Womanhood and childhood fleet ! 10 Gazing, with a timid glance, On the brooklet's swift advance, 1 >n the river's broad expans Deep and Still, that gliding stream Beautiful to thee must seem, 15 As the river of a dream. Then why pause with indeeision, When bright angels in thy vision I'm . kon thee to fields Klysian ? Seest thou shadows sailing bj 20 As the dove, with startled eye, Sees the falcon's shadow tly ? I [earest thou voices on the shoi 1 That our . ive no moi Deafened by the cataract's roar ? F ields Elysian. In Greek mythology, the abode of the Messed after death. MAIDENHOOD 57 O, thou child of many prayers ! Life hath quicksands, — Life hath snares ! Care and age come unawares ! Like the swell of some sweet tune r Morning rises into noon, 5 May glides onward into June. Childhood is the bough, where slumbered Birds and blossoms many-numbered ; — Age, that bough with snows encumbered. Gather, then, each flower that grows, 10 When the young heart overflows, To embalm that tent of snows. Bear a lily in thy hand ; Gates of brass cannot withstand One touch of that magic wand. 15 Bear through sorrow, wrong, and ruth, In thy heart the dew of youth, On thy lips the smile of truth. O, that dew, like balm, shall steal Into wounds, that cannot heal, 20 Even as sleep our eyes doth seal ; And that smile, like sunshine, dart Into many a sunless heart, For a smile of God thou art 58 EXCELSIOR EXCELSIOR The shades of night were falling fast, As through an Alpine village passed A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, A banner with the strange device 5 Excelsior ! His brow was sad ; his eye beneath, Flashed like a faulchion from its sheath, And lik clarion rung The accents of that unknown tongue, 10 Excelsior ! In happy homes he saw the light ( >f household tires gleam warm and bright ; Above, the spectral glaciers shone, And from his lips i groan, i ; Excelsior ! not the 1 " the old man said ; Dark lowers the tempc erhead, The roaring torrent is deep and wide !" And loud that clarion voire replied, jo Excelsior ly," the maiden said, •• and rest Thy w head upon this breast ! " A tear stood in his bright blue eye, Bill still he answered with a sigh, •o Excelsior ! RxcellJOT. ["hii poem d to I ongfellow by the arms of ik State with the motto " 1 tcclnt EXCELSIOR " Beware the pine-tree's withered branch ! Beware the awful avalanche ! " This was the peasant's last Good-night, A voice replied, far up the height, Excelsior ! At break of day, as heavenward The pious monks of Saint Bernard Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, A voice cried through the startled air, Excelsior ! A traveller, by the faithful hound, Half-buried in the snow was found, Still grasping in his hand of ice, That banner with the strange device Excelsior ! There in the twilight cold and gray, Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay, And from the sky, serene and far, A voice fell, like a falling star, Excelsior ! 59 10 15 20 Maynard's German Texts A Series of German School Texts CAREFULLY EDITED BY SCHOLARS FAMILIAR WITH THE NEEDS OF THE CLASS-ROOM The distinguishing - features of the Series are as follows: The Texts are chosen only from modern German authors, in order to give the pupil specimens of the language as it is now written and spoken. The German prose style of the present differs so largely from that of the classical period of German literature, from which the books in the hands of pupils are gener- ally taken, that the want of such texts must have been felt by every teacher of German. 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