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ROSALINE 
 
 BY B. M. 3ESHSHURE 
 
 " Go little book from this my solitude. 
 
 I cast thee on the waters — go thy ways! 
 And if, as I believe, thy vein is good, 
 
 The world will find thee after many days." 
 
 - Byron 
 
 Copyright 1908 
 
 1908 
 
 PRESS OF TIMES-SUN 
 
 WEST NEWTON, PA. 
 
LIBRARY of congress: 
 I wo Copies ttecetve< 
 
 JUL 22. wa 
 
 
 
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 J, C. AiiEr^OY, D. D. 
 
DEDICA TOR Y 
 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 In you I found a heart that throbs with affection, a 
 soul that flutters with peace and good will along the riotous 
 fretting shore of life; in you I met a human that walks in 
 the footsteps of the divine ; in you I have found a friend. 
 
 Accept, I pray, these golden dreams of my youth, 
 these rhythmic beats of my young heart, these sighs on the 
 vanities of modern society, these aspiring hopes and wishes 
 sung in the bosom of this glorious Republic. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 B. M. BESHSHURE 
 
 West Newton, Pa.. June I, 1908. 
 
ERRATA 
 
 Page 9, line 1, read "against" instead of 'gainst. 
 
 Page 14, line 27, read "bid me nearer" instead of 
 bid nearer. 
 
 Page 14, line 28, read " lap " instead of lips. 
 
 Page 23, line 42, read " advance " instead of progress. 
 
 Page 31, line 18, read " utter" instead of outer. 
 
 Page 32, line 27, read " throbs" instead of thorb.s. 
 
 Page 36, line 31, read "patriotism" instead of pa- 
 trotism. 
 
 Page 35, line 40, read " success" instead of progress. 
 
 Page 47, line 18, read " the" instead of thy. 
 
[yosalioe 
 
 The sun was sinking in the west, 
 ■Emitting from his couch of death. 
 Soft crimson rays that lit the crests 
 Of yon high tufted hills that swoop'd 
 Along the moaning, rocky, shore ; 
 And lent the eve more awe, and wrapt 
 Within their dales' a nightly gloom. 
 
 There was a fire within the clouds ; 
 
 There was a fire beyond the hills; 
 
 There was a raging fire in our 
 
 Young hearts as we together moved 
 
 Along the shore, from rock to rock, 
 
 Her hand in mine, my heart in hers — 
 
 Both fiying on the wings of love 
 
 Two beings— one soul, one heart, one mind. 
 
 Each being the other's world and life. 
 
 The air he breathes, and the light 
 
 That guides him and the gentle heart 
 
 That throbs within his heaving breast. 
 
 And beats' a music known to love. 
 
 Enchanted, and bewilder'd by 
 
 The grandeur of that golden eve. 
 
 We lastly settled on a rock 
 
 Just by a pretty little cove, 
 
 Where weaklings of the dreadful sea, 
 
 And wee young fishes swarmed around. 
 
 And found a refuge peaceful, safe. 
 
 That shelter'd their little, harmless lives. 
 
 And free from cares, they jostled about. 
 
 And sparkled in that shaded cove 
 
 Like little pearly stars of night. 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 She sat beside me, fair, divine. 
 Voluptuously adding to 
 The beauty of the scenes around 
 And shared my silence and my dreams. 
 I gazed upon the heaving main, 
 And gazed upon her brilliant eyes, 
 In whose profoundness I did loose 
 My heart, my soul, my life, my all. 
 My sobbing and my tears could not 
 Quell that love tempest within me. 
 I dropped into the fath'mless depth, 
 My dreams, my fancies and m}' cares. 
 That with the plashing, murm'ring tide 
 Beat 'gainst the rocks, and in the cove, 
 Both died out 'neath her sacred feet. 
 
 O ! happy and rueful hour that passed, 
 And buried itself deep in the clasps 
 Of love adventures and love haps ! 
 Come back to me ! Oh ! back to me. 
 All nature twit me of thy grief 
 That, mixed with a voluptuous joy. 
 Shakes all the bonds of heart and soul. 
 And leaves the lover, smiling, sad. 
 And to the mercy of the tears. 
 
 The sun sat down behind the hills. 
 And twilight followed, and the gloom, 
 The faded gloom, that usher'd the night, 
 Reign'd o'er the ocean and the shore, 
 And nature, dreamless, slept beneath. 
 The wind was calmed into a breeze, 
 Fresh, cheering, and melodious, too. 
 The waves quelled down to ripples mild. 
 And silence, deep, all over reign'd. 
 Save in our hearts that louder beat. 
 
 The darkness made us oftener gaze. 
 And gaze more ardently upon 
 Each other, fearing lest the gloom 
 Would hide us both behind her screen. 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 But love, a power that holds a sway 
 
 O'er nature, and reforms her laws, 
 
 Showed her fair face more bright and fair 
 
 More gentle, more attractive, and 
 
 The crimson rays that linger'd still 
 
 Above the dark horizon lent 
 
 Her cheeks a faded hue divine. 
 
 Her golden ringlets veered and swayed 
 
 And flr.tter'd with the breeze and cast 
 
 Faint shadows on her white forehead 
 
 That looked like ocean shaded with 
 
 The shadows of the evening clouds. 
 
 The day grew paler, darker, and 
 The twilight crept into the night 
 That hid beneath its sullen wings 
 All things and silenc'd time and life. 
 I summon'd my shatter'd senses, and 
 With a reverential spirit looked 
 At that fair angel by my side. 
 That with a halo bright was crowned. 
 I saw her tearful— and her tears 
 Were glistening, dropping in her lap 
 And running there in runnels fast, 
 And rivulets with murmur sweet. 
 
 O! What a doleful tempest broke 
 
 And stirred the elements in my heart. 
 
 I drew little nearer to her side, 
 
 I clasped her gentle pretty hand. 
 
 And quivering, knelt and stammer'd words 
 
 That meant more worship than did love. 
 
 She turned to me, a ravishing being 
 Whose silence e'en was plenitude 
 To my repining, famished heart. 
 
 Distracted with our love and hopes 
 
 And fancies and love's esctasy, ' 
 
 We totter'd in each others' arms, 
 
 And sighed, and sobbed, and wept and washed 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 Our cheeks with kisses and with tears — 
 The souvenirs of Parting Day, 
 Viaticum of murder'cl love. 
 
 The scintillating stars began 
 
 To wan and loose themselves in space. 
 
 The hills assumed a silv'ry hue 
 
 As their crests toward the bright'ning east 
 
 Were towering gigantically. 
 
 The queen of night sat on her throne, 
 
 And darkness fled before the moon, 
 
 Who rose with all her heavenly sheen 
 
 To solemnize our parting eve. 
 
 We were still by the sacred rock 
 
 That witnessed our sad last farewell* 
 
 And were, upon its sacred breast, 
 
 Invoking all the bliss of heaven, 
 
 And heaping there our warmest love. 
 
 We both knelt down in sight of all 
 
 The wakening powers of heaven and earth. 
 
 That all with hark'ning ears and hearts, 
 
 Dismayed by that sad touching scene, 
 
 Cast down o'er us a solemn gaze. 
 
 And as I felt her hand in mine 
 
 And saw her kneeling by my side 
 
 With eyes, uplifted, utt'ring soft 
 
 Her sweet, sweet prayer of love ; I felt 
 
 As if my heart and all were blown 
 
 Ofif on her charming, madd'ning looks 
 
 To some far region of the skies, 
 
 To those dense groupings of the stars 
 
 That aren't but glances from her eyes. 
 
 It was then chilly, and the dew 
 Was forming on the scarped rocks, 
 And on the sands and gravels we trod 
 And making them wet, slippery. 
 The sharp, loud, monotonous sound 
 Of insects and the harsh loud croak 
 Of toads, and murmur of the waves, 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 That quietly broke 'gainst the rocks, 
 
 Were tilling our ears and tilling the shore, 
 
 And echoing in our broken hearts 
 
 An awe combined with dread and fear. 
 
 We traveird homeward, speechless, mute, 
 
 And frenzied b}' the morrow's cares. 
 
 And pond'ring o'er the happy past, 
 
 And o'er the barren future days. 
 
 And wishing that night would but expand 
 
 Itself into eternity. 
 
 How sweet it was to gaze at her, 
 
 And fill up my poor wretched heart 
 
 With her divine, immaculate grace ; 
 
 And sweeter still to shut mine eyes 
 
 And contemplate her radiancy, 
 
 That in my bleak and dreary heart 
 
 Did shed the rays of paradise. 
 
 Or to come closer to her side 
 
 And touch her pretty tidy dress. 
 
 At which cohabitation, I 
 
 Did shudder like an autumn leaf. 
 
 She was more than a friend to me, 
 
 So her I pledged all love I had ; 
 
 She was m^ore than a sister dear, 
 
 So, her, embraced most dearly 
 
 And said, fair Rosaline, beloved. 
 
 Have pity on my sighs and tears ; 
 
 Have pity on the heart that thou 
 
 With golden chains of love hast bound 
 
 And kept in bondage at thy feet. 
 
 O, keep him yet lest he should die ! 
 
 O, do not leave me, dear, to go 
 
 Where neither I nor my night dreams, 
 
 Xor my bereft and darken'd hopes 
 
 Can reach a smile, or bitter tear ! 
 
 She all suffused with blushes turn'd 
 Her violet eyes, whose glances shone 
 More bright than all the silv'ry rays 
 That poured down from the glorious moon 
 And danced upon her golden cheeks ; 
 
10 ROSALINE 
 
 Then utter'd a sigh whose ravishing warmth 
 
 Commingled with the bounteous wave 
 
 Of her commotioned, sadden'd breast 
 
 Did bring me nearer to my grave. 
 
 Ah, happy hour ! when she did break 
 
 The silence and into my ears 
 
 She whisper'd her sweet words and said : 
 
 "Beloved, thou cleft my heart in twain, 
 
 Where cherish I a love for thee, 
 
 That time nor fate can e'er subdue, 
 
 Nor distance canker or decrease. 
 
 Ask those dim stars of night how oft 
 
 I watched them on my sleepless nights ; 
 
 Ask that bright lapsing moon if she 
 
 E'er met on her long endless course. 
 
 But fragrant, faithful, silent prayers 
 
 That my fond heart breathed up for thee ; 
 
 Or hear the moaning deep repeat 
 
 As it enfolds her favorite beach, 
 
 My yearning to thy sweet old side. 
 
 I'm bound to leave thee for a time. 
 
 For Marg'ret, whom you know, so kind, 
 
 Our dear old friend to me dispatched 
 
 A message, with a cordial call 
 
 To spend these summer's months with her 
 
 In Paris, where at present she staj's. 
 
 She tells me of a jolly time 
 
 The}^ have, of all the social clubs. 
 
 Of balls and dances which the Counts 
 
 And Lords and barons do attend 
 
 And make the gath'rings glitter with 
 
 Their jovial spirits and their golds. 
 
 There's now a chance for me to quote 
 
 The latest fashions and the rules 
 
 Of etiquette and modern styles 
 
 At their congenial grand abode. 
 
 Our land is flooded with all these. 
 
 And our esteemed magnates have all 
 
 Recoursed to them and gave to them 
 
 Their best attention and their hearts. 
 
 I wish, beloved, you could spare 
 
 A time, along with me to go, 
 
ROSALINE 11 
 
 But oh, how oft our best desires 
 Betray the heart that gave them birth, 
 And wrap it o'er with endless hopes." 
 
 I felt a violent horrible shock 
 
 Within my soul, that was to bid 
 
 Her last farewell to peace and life ; 
 
 And felt as if my breath was lost. 
 
 And ghastly silence grapped my tongue. 
 
 The city lights came to our sight, 
 
 And glitter'd through the sluggish air, 
 
 Breaking awa}^ the spell of night. 
 
 The hum and hubbub in the streets ; 
 
 The noise of traffic and of life 
 
 Were looming louder in our ears. 
 
 We passed the precincts, plunged into 
 
 The wide and narrow streets and lanes 
 
 And passed the thickest thoroughfares, 
 
 Yet heedless of the hottest rush 
 
 And closest jostling of the crowd. 
 
 Our path expired at last, and lo ! 
 
 Upon a gently sloping knoll 
 
 We stood, beside a wicket gate 
 
 On which the ivy wove her leaves 
 
 And flowers cluster'd dewy gay. 
 
 There Rosaline went in, alone, 
 
 Caressing those tame plants that Ijent 
 
 Their foliage round her gentle arms. 
 
 I watched her glancing back at me. 
 
 I watched her stalk in gracefully 
 
 And quietly across the yard. 
 
 Then through the door that she unlocked. 
 
 My strength gave way I tottered down. 
 
 I lied upon the chilly grass 
 
 And grapped the lattice of the fence. 
 
 The moon had climbed high in the heavens, 
 
 Shone down on dales and nooks and brooks, 
 
 And bathed in her soft balmy rays 
 
 The rose, the bud, the leaf, the twig 
 
 The rampant thicket and the mound 
 
 On which her mansion quietly stood, , 
 
12 ROSALINE 
 
 Amidst the most delicious charm 
 
 Of most enchanting summer nights. 
 
 A window in the lower floor 
 
 Was oped, and there the silv'ry rays, 
 
 That pertly danced upon the blinds, 
 
 Poured in with balmy lavishment. 
 
 Lo ! Rosaline, with all her grace 
 
 And captivating looks appeared. 
 
 With yearning heart and ardent eyes, 
 
 Half screened with tears of piety, 
 
 I watched the moon of heavens salute 
 
 And hail her sister of the earth. 
 
 She laid her elbows on the sill. 
 
 And laid her cheeks upon her hands. 
 
 And there, more like an angel fair 
 
 That hails the world with peace, she stood. 
 
 And gazed on nature slumb'ring in 
 
 The vales and wakening in the skies ; 
 
 And mused and mused, then stalked across 
 
 The room, then she showed up no more. 
 
 Not e'err the full moon's brilliant rays, 
 
 That struck and knelt down on the floor 
 
 In supplication near her bed. 
 
 Could show her shadow or her form. 
 
 And not until a while elapsed 
 
 Could I retrieve my shatter'd thoughts 
 
 And gain a strength to raise myself. 
 
 And stumble homeward down the slope. 
 
 My fancy, stirred with dismal hue 
 
 And tunes of sad and empty world. 
 
 Did peal on me and break my heart. 
 
 I planned to follow her abroad. 
 
 And ever be at her sweet side, 
 
 And ever look at her bright face, 
 
 And ever beg her looks, and bask 
 
 My heart in their benign sweet rays. 
 
 Then cares and hardships did assail 
 
 My plans, that seemed could not be swerved, 
 
 And duties called me back and chained 
 
 My aspirations and my dreams. 
 
 O heaven and earth ! Has she indeed 
 
ROSALINE 13 
 
 For me in her chaste dewy breast 
 
 E'er cherished a love ; or how could she 
 
 Let go an one like nie who lived. 
 
 So solely, on her smiles and looks, 
 
 And far from her, so wretched he was 
 
 And liltle cared to live his life? 
 
 But didn't she say, she did ; and what 
 
 A symphony, a bliss, her words 
 
 Did ring and echo in my ears? 
 
 -Oh. yes ; and she avowed it too. 
 
 "What ails thee, then, my heart?" I cried 
 
 "x\nd what in heaven and on earth. 
 
 In life and in eternity, 
 
 For sweeter, gravest thou beside?" 
 
 "Remand thy passions, heart, and hold 
 
 Them in that golden leash of love 
 
 That her sweet lips to thee avowed." 
 
 A happy consolation did 
 
 Then flutter in my dismal breast. 
 
 And toppled down the loads of cares 
 
 That crushed the flower of my youth. 
 
 O, blessed confidence of love, 
 
 O, pilot of the trouble-tost, 
 
 O, anchor of the wavering hearts ; 
 
 Akin to chaste young children trust 
 
 To worship of the Deity. 
 
 The road was rough'ning as I went. 
 
 And swerving to the right and left ; 
 
 And leading me through tilth and groves. 
 
 Through thickets and through narrow creeks, 
 
 Up hill, down hill, by granges, folds, 
 
 By quarries and through shaded swamps. 
 
 Through many a hedge and thorny fence. 
 
 But gained the city streets at last. 
 
 And soon into my room I stepped 
 
 And locked up soon myself and plunged 
 
 In bed fatigued, disturbed, dismayed. 
 
 Now hopeful, now without a hope 
 
 With passions veering, here and there. 
 
 And fancies steering, far and wide, 
 
 And mem'ries sweet and mem'ries sad. 
 
 Stripped off m}- slumber, choked with sobs. 
 
14 ROSALINE 
 
 F'or she between my eyelids posed 
 And stole away my meager sleep. 
 The clock struck ten, then struck eleven. 
 Then round to twelve, then its click-clock 
 Died out within my ears, for lo ! 
 
 I saw her in a garden, gay 
 With blossoms of the early spring. 
 While singing what could never sing 
 So sweetly all the linnets of May. 
 
 She was then sitting by a spring. 
 Her eyes bewitched the atmosphere, 
 The tiny plants and daisies were 
 Around her clasping in a ring. 
 
 The birds w^ere sporting with sunshine. 
 Leaves rustling, water murm'ring, too, 
 And her sweet tunes were soaring through 
 The purple space to realms divine. 
 
 She seemed to me a being from heaven, 
 A part of nature's grandest themes; 
 I stood so dazzled in her beams. 
 But with her glance my hope was risen. 
 
 With throbbing heart I 'proached her side ; 
 My tears were brimming, streaming out ; 
 I laid my heart and life about 
 Her feet and spoke my prayers and sighed. 
 
 Another glance from her did charm 
 My soul and bid nearer pace. 
 In her sweet lips I hid my face, 
 And round my neck she laid her arm. 
 
 All things then changed; lo, there, I stood 
 Upon a cliff that tower'd high, 
 And loomed with me into the sky, 
 And kept me o'er my fate to brood. 
 
ROSALINE 15 
 
 Deep sighs and frets and furious roar 
 Were crowding all the valley's bed 
 From waters rushing down so red 
 As if were fed with human gore. 
 
 The threaten'd cliff opposed the act 
 Of its unappeasable mad foe 
 That, in its vehement furious flow, 
 Pour'd through its heart a cataract. 
 
 And howled at times with howling gusts 
 And filled the chasm with froth and spray 
 As its deep fathomless pathway 
 Was hewing through the rocky crust. 
 
 I sorrowed and did shudder with fear 
 As there I stood bereft, forlorn. 
 Deserted, broken down, lovelorn. 
 Who lost all things in love but tears. 
 
 There I called back love's vanished days, 
 Whose splendor did, of old, to me. 
 Eclipse time, life, eternity 
 And flood creation with his rays. 
 
 And pond'ring gazed upon the line 
 Of scooping hills around with grief, 
 And counted every falling leaf. 
 To every falling hope of mine. 
 
 No consolation, nay, all things 
 Around breathed horror and alarm ; 
 The woods, the river, and the arm 
 Of fate that flung me on death's wings. 
 
 The sun then at mid heaven posed. 
 The trees half-stripped at autumn rounds 
 Cast slight little shadows on their grounds, 
 And all the forest's nooks exposed. 
 
1() ROSALINK 
 
 Lo ! there beneath an aged tree 
 My Rosaline had smiling stood, 
 I leapt with joy and scarcely could 
 Appease the heart that throbbed in me. 
 
 1 summon'd my strength to fly to her ; 
 I hurried back and hurried forth; 
 T hurried wildly south and north ; 
 But found I was imprison'd up there. 
 
 To jump! A death infernal in 
 The gorge's jaws, so ragged and stiff. 
 Yet bitterer death upon the cliff, 
 A death of yearning blazed within. 
 
 But suddenly from the forest's heart 
 Appeared a strange, suspicious beast 
 That grovell'd stealthily abreast. 
 Then on my Rosaline did dart ; 
 
 •\nd through the forest with her sped : 
 I shouted loud and wept and cried. 
 And wakening, on a tearful tide 
 I found me floating in my bed. 
 
 ISiy heart was beating like a drum, 
 My breath was dashing like a wave ; 
 And looked as if out of the grave 
 I, back to life and light did come. 
 
 Absorbed in fancies scorched and burnt 
 
 .-vn'.l shuddering still with horror fierce, 
 
 Made to the door and soon was off 
 
 With breathless hurry through the streets. 
 
 The sun had climbed high in the East, 
 
 Dispersing with his brilliant rays 
 
 The thick, dark morning mist and lent 
 
 The universe a joyous hue. 
 
 But all was dark within my heart 
 
 As on the depot's platform stood 
 
 1, summoning him with silent blush 
 
 To bid his angel sweet farewell. 
 
ROSALINfl 17 
 
 Surrounded with her friends, and mates, 
 
 And relatives fair Rosaline 
 
 Came dressed up in a trav'ling suit. 
 
 And stalking like a goddess of old. 
 
 She had upon her breast a rose 
 
 Still damp with balmy morning dew ; 
 
 And to her stylish hat was pinned 
 
 A beautiful bunch of violets. 
 
 But fairest, sweetest than all buds. 
 
 And blossoms and flowers of the spring, 
 
 Were her fair bonny cheeks and eyes 
 
 That dawned on me that parting morn. 
 
 A distant, deep, resounded roar 
 Did warn me of her train's approach ; 
 A roar that billowed sadly in 
 The crypts and arches of my heart. 
 She looked around, and as her eyes 
 Met mine in wavering, solemn gaze, 
 She beckoned to me and stepped aside, 
 I followed in a humble pace, 
 And stood bewilder'd by her side. 
 She stretched her arm to me, and as 
 I pressed her hand in mine I felt 
 That all my sorrows cower'd and shrank, 
 And vanished, fading at her feet. 
 "Good-bye, beloved" ! I mutter'd to her, 
 'And when the quiet hours to come 
 Shall stir within thy youthful breast 
 The reminiscence of the past, 
 Recall a friend that cherished thee, 
 And plighted thee all love he had. 
 And pledged at thy love's sacred shrine 
 His heart, his life, his destiny." 
 
 Oh! there, panted the giant train. 
 As she bore down along the track. 
 And smoked and whistled thunder-like, 
 And flashed a hubbub in the crowd 
 That stirred and rushed up to the cars; 
 Then last of all beings followed I 
 With broken heart and pleading looks, 
 
18 ROSALINE 
 
 Helpless and tearful, mute, aghast, 
 
 And watched her going up the steps. 
 
 And watched the wheels and heard them screech, 
 
 And saw them glide along the rails, 
 
 And bear my sweetest life away. 
 
 From rock to rock, from shade to shade ; 
 
 Alone with my ill fated heart ; 
 
 From park to park, from haunt to haunt ; 
 
 From brook to grove, to yard, to bower, 
 
 And seats of matchless, boundless joy. 
 
 Where \\ e immiortalized our love, 
 
 And our undreamt of wretchedness. 
 
 How tediously my days did crawl ! 
 
 How sadly crept my eves and nights! 
 
 I spurned all social transient joys 
 
 And fled to nature's bosom, where, 
 
 1 met a soothing, kind caress. 
 
 So sweet, eternal, and benign. 
 
 Where laid I down my grief and cares, — 
 
 Where I did tell my rueful tales ; 
 
 For nature was a gentle friend 
 
 That cared to wipe my tears awa}-. 
 
 And in the rustling of the leaves, 
 
 And in the murm'ring of its brooks. 
 
 It lulled the pangs that chafed my heart. 
 
 How oft, alone, upon the hills, 
 
 Or 'neath a stooping, arched rock. 
 
 Or lying on the grassy lawns, 
 
 I dreamt my days from dawn to eve, 
 
 From early, pearly gleam until 
 
 The sunset blushing ceased to glare. 
 
 Revolving deep within my breast 
 
 The contemplations of my youth. 
 
 And ever grasping in my hands 
 
 Her beautiful picture that I loved, 
 
 And cherished like a relic of saints, 
 
 And gazing on and on until 
 
 The rolling tears did screen my eyes. 
 
 How oft I read out to the bright, 
 
 Attentive, silent skies the sweet 
 
 And tender, missives she had sent 
 
ROSALINE 19 
 
 To me from board her sailing ship ; 
 
 In which she told me of her sad, 
 
 And lonely, tedious, gloomy hours ; 
 
 Of all her longings, once again. 
 
 Upon this happy shore, to stand, 
 
 To tread upon the beautiful soil 
 
 Of her free, glorious fatherland ; 
 
 And read them o'er and o'er until 
 
 Their sweet, harmonious echo could 
 
 Be heard reverberated by 
 
 The mould'ring rums of my heart. i 
 
 One blithesome morning of the spring 
 
 When verdure clothed the meads and vales ; 
 
 After a drizzling shower past 
 
 And left behind upon the grass. 
 
 And on the leaflets of the trees, 
 
 Bright drops of rain that spangled like 
 
 Little pearly stars in sky of green. 
 
 That morn I left out for my haunts 
 
 Still worried by the old, old cares. 
 
 And sighing still my favorite sighs 
 
 That time for them had made a path 
 
 Within the archives of my breast ; 
 
 And made them sound more deep and sad. 
 
 I was more restless, more dismayed, 
 
 Despondent than ever before ; 
 
 For since a tedious, great long lapse 
 
 Of time she had not written me; 
 
 And so forgotten by her felt 
 
 I was upon this dreadful earth 
 
 A sheer exile without a home, 
 
 Without a cheerful ray of light. 
 
 That morn I had a letter from her, 
 
 The which I hugged a thousand times, 
 
 But oh, to my all ruining despair 
 
 It told an alter'd, false, base heart 
 
 That reared an utter faithless love. 
 
 I clenched her message in my fist 
 
 And gnashed my teeth with anguish that 
 
 Drove out my fancy, frantic, wild. 
 
 I lost my way and dived amidst 
 
 The shrubs and brambles in the woods. 
 
20 ROSALINE 
 
 And roved astray till suddenly came 
 
 To a big tree that stood upon 
 
 A grassy solitary lawn. 
 
 I sat me down in its thick shade 
 
 And mused and ponder'd and recalled; 
 
 And wept more tears than ever did. 
 
 "Forbid it, Heaven!!" shouted I, 
 
 '"Forbid it thou great God of Heaven. 
 
 O, Rosaline's kind, noble heart ; 
 
 Forgive it. Oh ! Forgive it all" ! 
 
 I blushed with stinging sad remorse. 
 
 My eyes were filled and clouded thick, 
 
 My breast was choked, my breath withheld 
 
 I sobbed and wept so bitterly. 
 
 Dear Rosaline, that sacred being, 
 
 Her words that chanted earth and heaven ; 
 
 Her simple, noble heart that bloomed 
 
 Beneath the sky of this free land. 
 
 Have changed into a mockery, 
 
 And she into a mere coquette ! 
 
 "What ails thee, lad?" A soft low voice 
 
 Rang in my ears, I turned my face, 
 
 Lo ! there behind me stood a man 
 
 With stately figure crowned with all 
 
 The chaste and snowy glow of age. 
 
 That leaning on his staff approached 
 
 My side and took his seat upon 
 
 The bed of grass. He laid his staff 
 
 Upon his trembling succumbed knees 
 
 And patted pertly with its tip 
 
 His chobby-hairy, huge old dog 
 
 That felt the quiet, comely spell 
 
 Of his old master's gravity. 
 
 And quietly lied beside him, and 
 
 There gnarled those breezy hours away. 
 
 "What raked that fire in thee, young man?" 
 
 Resumed the old man, turning his 
 
 Diqi foibled eyes askew at me. 
 
 "What turned thee wild and made thee spurn 
 
 Society to haunt the woods? 
 
 What made thy tears so glibly flow, 
 
ROSALINE 21 
 
 And thy young heart so wildly heave? 
 
 Are all the consolations and 
 
 The graces of God's heaven o'er done? 
 
 Has God used up all his sweet peace? 
 
 Brace up, O, passionate, tender lad ! 
 
 For sorrow is a double sin : 
 
 A crime 'gainst nature and a crime 
 
 Against the great Creator, God. 
 
 All eddying sobs and rolling tears 
 
 Can ne'er restore the flying past, 
 
 While cheer will make the present worth 
 
 A thousand past, a thousand fold.'" 
 
 And when he paused a while to gain 
 
 His breath and pat his slumb'ring dog. 
 
 I raised my head and gazed at him 
 
 With eyes half dried up of their tears 
 
 At his caressing, helpful w^ords ; 
 
 Then suddenly broke again in sobs 
 
 As a dear thought had flutter'd by 
 
 The gateways of my mind, and leapt 
 
 Away across the gorgeous skies 
 
 With dear love mem'ries on its wings. 
 
 ''Break down that grasp of hopeless grief," 
 
 He added, with compassionate tune ; 
 
 "Thy looks, thy sighs and tears do all 
 
 To me betray and tell a love." 
 
 "Xay, more they tell a love, betrayed," 
 
 Sobbed I, with quiv'ring, broken voice. 
 
 "A maiden whom I loved, my sire, 
 
 A maiden sweet and chanting, whom 
 
 I worshipped next to the divine. 
 
 She had the charm of muses and 
 
 Upon her virginic cheeks and lips 
 
 A lavishing rosy flush of youth 
 
 E'er glowed with blithesome chastity. 
 
 Her hair possessed the color of gold 
 
 And was like those soft ruddy rays 
 
 That falter in the sunset skies. 
 
 And garland heaven and champion day. 
 
 Her eyes, blue as the summer sky. 
 
 Had cheer'd the gloomiest darkest souls 
 
22 ROSALINE 
 
 And set the calmest heart on dreams, 
 
 And with their cheerful, balmy rays 
 
 Dried up the tears of time and fate. 
 
 She was as gay and cheerful as 
 
 The robin in the month of May. 
 
 She had the prudence of the sage 
 
 And had the mind of Socrates. 
 
 Beneath the sky of this land she' 
 
 Thrived as the lily of the field, 
 
 And was at home a mountain nymph, 
 
 A rose through winter and through spring. 
 
 Together to the same school went ; 
 
 And sat together at one desk ; 
 
 And daily when the school was o'er 
 
 Her books I carried home for her. 
 
 She learned about the Saviour Christ, 
 
 She learned of God in nature, and 
 
 She studied nature and her laws, 
 
 ' And traced through countless ages life 
 
 In all its stages and its growth. 
 
 : She read of saints and patriots 
 
 And heroes of the days of yore. 
 And learned to walk in their footsteps. 
 She had all that was to her sex 
 Denied all o'er the world of man. 
 
 They tell me we were born in May, 
 
 The same day, almost the same hour. 
 
 Out in our suburban cottage homes 
 
 Amidst the flowers and at the song 
 
 Of birds and tinkling of the brooks. 
 
 We grew so much together and 
 
 Our prattling infancy gave way 
 
 To joyous, playful childhood and 
 
 To friendliest companionship. 
 
 We used to join the neighbors' tots 
 
 And share them their playthings and toys. 
 
 And join them in their outings, and 
 
 Together hop on meads and fields. 
 
 I always followed by her side. 
 
 And she did always shed a bright 
 
 And happy smile along my path. 
 
ROSALINE 23 
 
 I picked her all the flowers she liked 
 
 And never failed to deck her breast 
 
 With roses that did match her cheeks ; 
 
 And pin to her gay golden hair 
 
 The dewy tufts of hyacinth. 
 
 I had a satisfaction sweet, 
 
 And doubtless in obeying her will 
 
 I often wished her to suggest 
 
 To me some errand or some deed. 
 
 I asked her once if she desired 
 
 Me chase a gaudy butterfly 
 
 That lighted on a twig nearby. 
 
 "No, thanks," replied she with a smile, 
 
 '"Let him enjoy his life, for I 
 
 Do hate all pleasures that would cause 
 
 Somebody else's misery."' 
 
 So frankl}', sweetly utter'd she 
 
 Xhose words that did her heart bespeak, 
 
 And did my heart with virtue touch. 
 
 So deep in my young soul they were 
 
 Impressed that now they sound so fresh 
 
 As if were told but yesterday; 
 
 For we, my sire, are simply what 
 
 Our maidens' hearts want us to be. 
 
 Whene'er I missed her, but one day 
 
 I grieved and felt my heart ablaze. 
 
 Whene'er I wept naught soothed my heart 
 
 Save her sweet looks, and gentle hand 
 
 That wiped my "precious" tears away. ] 
 
 (She always called them precious, alas!) 
 
 And brought my cheeks in touch with hers. 
 
 And with her bounteous, radiant smile 
 
 Reflected glorious, sparkling hues 
 
 That ne'er a sun could form on rains. 
 
 No milder passions later years 
 
 Could introduce into our hearts. i 
 
 The innocent simplicity 
 
 Of childhood passed to blushing youth. 
 
 'Tis true we lessen'd frequency 
 
 To our dear haunts and rendezvous. 
 
 'Tis true we were less seen together 
 
 But naught could thwart our love's progress 
 
24 ROSALINE 
 
 Or could abate our eddying zeal. 
 
 Nay ! came we to a fuller sense 
 
 Of our unique attachment and 
 
 Produced more tears, more sighs, more love. 
 
 The sunny days of summer to us 
 
 More charm than ever did portend. 
 
 The birds sang sweeter and the flowers 
 
 In deeper tacit eloquence 
 
 Addressed our throbbing, spell-bound hearts. 
 
 The brightness of the outer world 
 
 Was blended with the inner joy 
 
 And sweet felicity of love, 
 
 And made our youth a grace, a bliss. 
 
 So fair and charming Rosaline 
 
 Was looming in my chanted eyes. 
 
 That oft I wonder'd whether God 
 
 Could e'er create an angel like 
 
 Herself, for she, oh she, did stand 
 
 The masterpiece of Deity. 
 
 Was that belief of mine a trance? 
 
 Was it a fancy or a whim ? 
 
 That love did picture to my mind, 
 
 My heart, my senses and niy soul? 
 
 But let that loe whate'er it might 
 
 I know (and don't want know no more) 
 
 It ruled my thoughts; it governed my life; 
 
 It formed my most resplendent dreams ; 
 
 It sensatized my stolid heart ; 
 
 It purified my youth and set 
 
 My soul on path of piety. 
 
 One day we climbed upon the hill 
 
 Whose sumptuous verdure and whose wide 
 
 Untrammell'd lovely sceneries 
 
 Did oft attract us and infuse 
 
 Great happiness into our hearts ; 
 
 Simplicity into our thoughts, 
 
 And loftiness into our love. 
 
 We called that hill the "Thur of Youth," 
 
 It was so dear to Rosaline 
 
 (And certainly as dear to me) 
 
 That many a time she dreamt of it 
 
ROSALINE -^ 
 
 And told to me those dreams of her 
 Pure heart that harmonized in my 
 Attentive ears like tales of heaven. _ 
 That day wa.s glorious, clear and bright. 
 We had v^^ith us our favorite books; 
 As then we planned to lull the hours 
 With pretty poems and with songs. 
 I had "The Works of Robert Burns," 
 That never left my pocket; she had 
 Great Byron's "Hours of Idleness." 
 So cheering was the eastern breeze 
 That swept the ocean's purple stretch 
 And whisper'd through the orchards and 
 Rose up to us so fragrant fresh. 
 Taking Burns' precious booklet I 
 Read out his "Highland Mary" to 
 Her, and she shared my sighs and wept 
 While leaning on my arm her cheeks. 
 She made me oft repeat that song; 
 But seeing how the Scottish lovelorn 
 Made her emotion stir so wild, 
 I paused at last and cheered her up 
 By loving consolations and 
 By earnest, prayerful words of love. 
 "My Rosaline," said I, when she 
 Had her old cheerful mood resumed, 
 "A song ! You've always been so kind." 
 She paused a moment then broke out 
 The silence that o'erwhelmed our hearts, 
 With most melodious, cheering tunes 
 That ever swelled 'neath azure skies. 
 Oh ! gloomy is the human heart 
 That never dreamt his youthful^ dreams, 
 And worthless is the life that ne'er 
 Did worship in the shrine of love ! 
 The sweetest happiest dreams of youth 
 Did then possess our hearts, my sire. 
 "Rise up," she said to me in one 
 Of those energetic tunes that 
 Characterize the daughters of 
 This land when 'roused by duty's call 
 Or moved to do their master's will. 
 
26 ROSALINE 
 
 "Rise up, let ns be true, beloved. 
 
 To God and virtue, as to love. 
 
 I heard my mother talk last night 
 
 Of a poor family that dw^ells 
 
 In yon house by the railroad track, 
 
 Of a sick mother, and a child. 
 
 All whose incessant labor does 
 
 Not e'en purchase their daily food. 
 
 Our visit might prove a blessing to them; 
 
 We might bring cheer to their sad hearts." 
 
 So off w^ith unremitting zeal 
 
 We went, no briers or thorns, no slopes 
 
 Or ragg'd rocks could tire her down 
 
 Or check my watchful care of her. 
 
 The sun shone down with scorching heat 
 
 And made us crave the pleasant hours 
 
 We had upon the breezy hill. 
 
 It was lunch time in that little cot, 
 
 A piece of cheese, a loaf of bread 
 
 Laid on a table gnawed with age, 
 
 Did represent the family's meal. 
 
 There was a stir within the cot, 
 
 The son had then come home from work, 
 
 Had on the table laid his meal 
 
 (The simple poor same old meal) and 
 
 Was helping his ill mother to share 
 
 His food and living to live with him 
 
 And dying they together die. 
 
 "May heaven bless thee, my son," the old, 
 
 Half paralyzed, gaunt mother said. 
 
 As he had braced her in her chair 
 
 And gave her half his bread and cheese. 
 
 "May God, the Father of all good. 
 
 The Giver of all gifts, grant you, 
 
 My son. His all-abiding grace. 
 
 And shield your path and fill your sheds 
 
 With corn, and fill 3'our home with peace ; 
 
 For He won't pass His children by 
 
 Or fail to help them at their need 
 
 Or ever mock a mother's tear." 
 
ROSALINE 27 
 
 There was quite an estrangement when 
 
 Fair Rosaline stood at the door 
 
 And hailed them with angelic smile. 
 
 They never speculated on 
 
 A visit like that or they ne'er dreamt 
 
 That men of wealth and glittering gold 
 
 Were made like them of common clay. 
 
 The mother whose tears soaked up her hread, 
 
 The son whose cares choked up his heart, 
 
 Both were amazed and kept aghast 
 
 And silent for a lapse of time, 
 
 As if of their poor means ashamed. 
 
 Encourag'd by Rosaline's kind words 
 
 And her sweet smiles, they brightened up 
 
 And welcomed us with generous hearts. 
 
 They offer'd their chairs to us, but we 
 
 Took seats upon a bench and had 
 
 Them both resume their lunch the while. 
 
 Fair Rosaline kept teaching them 
 
 And telling them the words of God 
 
 And tales of sweet and soothing truth 
 
 That were from her fair rosy lips 
 
 Told out with double grace and charm. 
 
 When lunch was o'er she helped the sick 
 
 Old mother to her bed and laid 
 
 In her lap all the coins she had 
 
 And hugged her with a kind embrace. 
 
 How touching ! were the mother's looks, 
 
 That wander'd all around the cot — 
 
 From empty cupboard toward her son. 
 
 From Rosaline up toward her God — 
 
 And muttered out just one soft prayer 
 
 Afloat o'er tears of gratitude. 
 
 O ! ye, all men of gold and wealth 
 
 Who own the trophies of this world 
 
 Have ye e'er tasted poverty 
 
 Or cared to see the suffering poor? 
 
 Have ye descended from your high 
 
 And breezy halls to visit those homes 
 
 Where men with souls like yours reside? 
 
 If not, dear friends, then do it now. 
 
28 ROSALINE 
 
 The years rolled on and Rosaline 
 
 Left school, my sire, and faced the great, 
 
 Wide, outer, tempting world and got 
 
 In closer contact with her friends 
 
 And shared society its fads. 
 
 And gave to foreign vanities 
 
 Her heart that was as pure as snow. 
 
 'Tis not yet a full, gloomy year 
 
 Since to the old world she has crossed. 
 
 Alas ! all those celestial gifts 
 
 With which our nation vies the world, 
 
 All that high breeding totter'd down, 
 
 And worshiped vanity beneath 
 
 Her French colossal cenotaph. 
 
 Whose shadow mars Christianit3^ 
 
 I could no more bear up to tell 
 
 To him those woes and sad details ; 
 
 I hid within my hands my face 
 
 And sobbed with a heart-rending grief. 
 
 Moved by my pitiful tears he 'proached 
 
 To me and by his gentle words 
 
 And soothing consolation my 
 
 High eddying grief abated, thence 
 
 I raised my eyes and looked at him 
 
 With a reverential, thankful glance. 
 
 And from his half-closed, half-ope'd eyes 
 
 That age enfeebled by his strain 
 
 I saw two glistening, silent tears 
 
 So slowly rolling down the folds 
 
 And wrinkles of his trembling cheeks ; 
 
 Then heard them tinkle in his lap. 
 
 I realized, I felt his love, 
 
 And his kind interest in me, 
 
 I felt my sorrows shared by him. 
 
 "She gave me up," continued I. 
 "And did her fatherland eschew. 
 She spurned the simple, honest love. 
 And shunned to dwell in sacred hearts 
 And be a goddess in a shrine ; 
 And chose to dwell within the walls 
 
ROSA LINK 2?) 
 
 Of monld'ring, crumbling castles of yore, 
 And be a captive and a slave. 
 She gave a 'busted' count her hand, 
 And bowed with solemn oath her head 
 To decked grave-like hypocrisy. 
 
 God, God what a dream absurd. 
 An empty drum, a chimera, 
 
 A loathsome burden, hateful task, 
 A worthless bauble, and a jest, 
 Appeal to me this life of mine ! 
 How can T live while my dear heart 
 Departed and within my breast. 
 Left aught but pangs disquietude 
 And mould'ring ruins of a, once. 
 Fair, gay and flourishing paradise, 
 But now a barren, desolate waste. 
 An herbless, budless, springless life, 
 A surging sea, a lump of death." 
 
 1 then with jealous anguish, wild. 
 Threw down myself upon the ground 
 And aimed to tear then myself up. 
 "Don't sin against just heaven, poor lad," 
 Cried he while in his fondling arms 
 Embraced me fainting in his lap. 
 
 When next I ope'd my eyes I was 
 
 Laid down upon a bed of grass, 
 
 Beneath a tuft of hanging rocks, 
 
 And gales froro rustling trees nearby 
 
 Were blowing life into my veins. 
 
 His dog was guarding by my side ; 
 
 Now snarling, barking sullenly ; 
 
 Now sniffing about with eager watch, 
 
 Or licking lovingly my hands. 
 
 And shaking soberly his tail. 
 
 I raised my head and looked around; 
 
 There was no human to be seen. 
 
 My clothes were wet and so my hair, 
 
 And so the trodden grassy bed. 
 
 When seeing me restored to life 
 
 The speechless dog leapt wild with joy, 
 
oO ROSALINE 
 
 And rushed amidst the bushes down 
 
 The slope to break the happy news 
 
 To his compassionate human friend, 
 
 Who in a little w^iile appeared, 
 
 Escorted by that faithful dog 
 
 And carrying in his hat, along, 
 
 Cold water from the bubbling spring. 
 
 I rose up and toward him I sped 
 
 And thanked him in a cordial tone 
 
 And words dictated by a heart 
 
 That felt immortal gratitude. 
 
 I took the hat from him and meant 
 
 To spill its contents on the ground. 
 
 He got it back and watering a 
 
 Sere little with'ring plant he said 
 
 ' Ne'er fail, young man, to shed a smile 
 
 And scatter sunshine where'er you go, 
 
 'For life conceals within its folds 
 
 More misery, more darkened hearts 
 
 Than e'er we thought of or divined. 
 
 For in that smile and that sunshine, 
 
 A weary, haggard soul may bathe 
 
 And find an everlasting bliss. 
 
 Oh, when on my inspection tour. 
 
 This morn, I left my lonely home 
 
 And found thee 'neath that aged tree 
 
 That rears its head beyond the hill. 
 
 And saw thee moaning, dank with tears; 
 
 Thy loneliness, th}' looks all told 
 
 The world to move and pass thee by, 
 
 And let thee wail thy life away. 
 
 I felt more sorrow than could bear. 
 
 And to thy notice hence 1 stepped 
 
 And did accost thee to thy grief. 
 
 For I, young man, was brought up in 
 
 An age in which humanity 
 
 Was ne'er from its own self estranged. 
 
 An age in which all forms of wealth 
 
 And vain pastimes of life were for 
 
 The peace that human souls infuse 
 
 Each into each, poor substitutes. 
 
 Oh, what a flatt'ring, shameful and 
 
ROSALIiNE '^l 
 
 iMi-.-itic, tantalizing whim, 
 Oh, what a selfish, wrong belief 
 Appeals to me a certain creed 
 That rules the spirit of this age. 
 A whim that placed impassable bars 
 Amidst our social human race ; 
 That made the social ties so loose 
 And shame to gloat o'er selfish aims; 
 And man to curse his brother man, 
 That hid his faults behind a screen 
 Of crimeful, wicked, self-interest 
 Which he mistermed a lawful war 
 And a survival of the fit. 
 An abominable wrong that would 
 Drive off its maker wildly mad, 
 If he from his old grave would rise 
 To judge the fakers of his laws. 
 It cast not few to outer despair. 
 It turned good many wild as beasts ; 
 It ruined well-meaning, zealous souls." 
 
 And having squeezed up his wetted hand 
 
 Picked up his staff, and coming to 
 
 A sunny spot he placed it there 
 
 To dry up in the high-day sun. 
 
 I watched him with an earnest gaze. 
 
 Amazed of his uncommon zeal, 
 
 Despite all his decrepitude. 
 
 'My sire," I said as he stooped down 
 
 To take a soft seat by my side, 
 
 ' How can I e'er repay you for 
 
 Thy care of me that does surpass 
 
 All great rewards all human gifts?" 
 
 "By never mentioning it, young man. 
 
 By living up to Heaven's commands 
 
 And never sinning as you did 
 
 Against the sacred Christian peace. 
 
 By casting all thy troubles away." 
 
 "Is there a sinning in pure love?" 
 
 Cried I, raising my sunken face ; 
 
 "Is there an error and a crime 
 
 In what the Heavenly Father breathed 
 
32 ROSALINE 
 
 Within our human hearts, my sire? 
 
 In what the whole creation moves 
 
 And has its most harmonious being? 
 
 A crime? An error? You say, sir, 
 
 Of what God, Himself, is? A' fake? 
 
 Of that most actual virtue that 
 
 Does make religion possible?"' 
 
 "Forbid it, God ! That e'er I should 
 
 Deny what nature all around. 
 
 With sweetest, truest, echoes proclaims ! 
 
 Deny what my corporeal sense 
 
 In soundest truth conveys to me ; 
 
 What I do hear, do breathe and touch, 
 
 And do behold in earth and sky 
 
 And all the nooks of existence. 
 
 From that litlc wee seed in the field 
 
 To those gigantic worlds that whirl 
 
 In space ; but this does manifest 
 
 A wholly different phase, young man. 
 
 What makes the good, a good, is not 
 
 A virtue in itself, inheres 
 
 As much as 'tis the way applied. 
 
 For bad in virtuous hands may turn 
 
 Out good while ignorance does make 
 
 Of good a venom and a curse. 
 
 I praise the love in thee, young man, 
 
 I praise thy faithful heart that thorbs 
 
 With sweetest, fond affection, but 
 
 Do hesitate if to pronounce 
 
 It a consistent, wholesome love. 
 
 It far excells that ravenous sort 
 
 That governs the motives of this age ; 
 
 That base, ignoble, sordid lust 
 
 So flirting, so seditious, that 
 
 Does gloat o'er virtue's sweetest flowers 
 
 Disguised in. love habilaments ; 
 
 E'en in an age like this that claims 
 
 A reaching toward the true ideal. 
 
 "We are not made to weep and mourn, 
 We have a nobler aim in view ; 
 'Tis true, all sorrow emanates 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 From tender, faithful, loving hearts, 
 From souls replete with meekness and 
 Abounding with docility, 
 But ne'er devoid of hopelessness 
 Which mars the pure implicit trust 
 That binds the human and divine. 
 Wherein love giving birth to grief, 
 And grief to undivine despair, 
 Religion suffers in their strife. 
 And gives discredit to the heart. 
 Wherein, young man, affections, while 
 Are boasting o'er the lustful love 
 Had climbed too high and fell. 
 But I would rather see the race 
 Climb high and fall and climb and fall 
 Than see him ravishing in his lust 
 Down by the morbid foot of time. 
 
 "Pluck out this thorn of sorrow from 
 Thy heart and fill thy days with good ; 
 Go teach the erring world to spurn 
 That noxious most pernicious lust 
 That has been cank'ring human life. 
 And has been making man a beast. 
 And love a wretched infamy, 
 A curse for youth, a desp'rate code 
 That mesmerized the will of man. 
 
 'Like a sweet spectral strain his words 
 Rang in that quiet vale and pealed 
 Up through the billowy foliage of 
 The heaving, rustling trees, and struck 
 Harmonious quivers in my veins. 
 I felt he was the ghost of peace 
 On earth ; the conduit of God's truth." 
 '"Will then this age that swarms with true 
 And marked progress be doomed?" said I. 
 '"Yes, to some marked extent, for that 
 Bright light that has for man dispelled 
 The gloom of ignorance has cast 
 A dark profile upon his soul, 
 In which he hid his worldly loot. 
 
34 EOSALINE 
 
 The virtues of this age, young man. 
 
 Are numerous, but oh, how oft ! 
 
 Its gay society displays 
 
 So much of riotous living and 
 
 So much corruption that would shame 
 
 The vilest ages of the past. 
 
 Tis e'en in this our glorious land, 
 
 This land on whose free blessed soil, 
 
 Beneath whose starlit loving skies 
 
 The weary, haggard souls of all 
 
 The human race a refuge seek. 
 
 This land that stands for truth and love, 
 
 For- freedom and morality, 
 
 Has been polluted and defamed : 
 
 It has been bowing down its head ; 
 
 And has accepted what it had 
 
 Eschewed and cursed in days of yore. 
 
 And there the East now scoffs and jeers 
 
 The West ; and there the broken down, 
 
 Decrepit old does fool the new. 
 
 Look to the myriad evils that 
 
 Has flooded to this land in shape 
 
 Of desp'rate aimless, reckless life 
 
 Of luxury, of vanity. 
 
 Observe our wealthy potentates, 
 
 How they've to despotism recoursed ; 
 
 How they are smothering virtue's cry; 
 
 How they are copying revelrous modes 
 
 And vain, foul customs from the East, 
 
 And paying their prepond'rous gold 
 
 To buy a name, or buy a badge. 
 
 Oh shame ! ye sons of those esteemed. 
 
 Illustrious fathers whose great deeds 
 
 Immortalized their precious names 
 
 In marble cold and hearts so warm. 
 
 And whose dead sacred mute bones from 
 
 The threshold of eternity 
 
 E'er curse 3'our selfish, aimless lives.'' 
 
 That is what caused thy misery, 
 That is the life's boat on which thou 
 Had cargoed all thy love and hope ; 
 That has been tempted by the depths 
 
ROSALINE 35 
 
 And sailed with all her buoyancy, 
 
 But smitten by just one gale, young man, 
 
 It wrecked and dashed thy heart and all 
 
 Against the ragged shoals of grief 
 
 On which thou lie now sad, forlorn, 
 
 Bemoaning all thy youth away. 
 
 Wake up, young man, prepare to hear 
 
 What might to thee sound wondrous strange. 
 
 'lis time, young man, we should awake 
 
 To our gross errors and atone 
 
 For our imprudence and our pride. 
 
 That have hoodwinked us in the race. 
 
 We've set a higher prize to things 
 
 So worldly transient and so vain. 
 
 And turned to heaven's concerns our backs, 
 
 And in great many ways we all 
 
 Have misapplied our ample means 
 
 And swerved our efforts toward the wrong, 
 
 The very system of our thoughts; 
 
 The very education we 
 
 Do suckle with the childhood milk 
 
 And glean in schools and galleries 
 
 Of knowledge is deficient, wrong; 
 
 It banished idealistic truth 
 
 And made us worship matter in sooth. 
 
 Oh 'tis that flatt'ring, wheedling and 
 
 Seductive "code of interest." 
 
 It has its own dupes 'midst our ranks i 
 
 That preach its gospel zealously, 
 
 So unaware of myriad crimes 
 
 That lurk beneath its air^ings. 
 
 Trace wrong and folly to their depths 
 
 You'll find there couching interest. 
 
 Trace revelry, trace vanity. 
 
 Trace luxury, trace recklessness, 
 
 Trace selfishness, debauchery. 
 
 Trace misery, trace all known crimes, 
 
 There at the bottom interest you'll find. 
 
 Is it then meet, young man, to build 
 
 Our superstructure of progress 
 
 On such a dangerous quick-sand? 
 
 But this is what we have achieved, 
 
36 ROSALINE 
 
 We teach it to our guiltless child, 
 Who'll make, no doubt, the morrow's man : 
 Thus sow in his receptive mind 
 The very seeds of selfishness. 
 
 The pendulum had swung with lack 
 
 Of "interest" and thence produced 
 
 The bleak, dark ages of the past ; 
 
 And dealt a fatal blow to all 
 
 The possible culture of the mind. 
 
 But in the present age it knocked 
 
 With "interest" the other extreme 
 
 And dealt a fatal blow to all 
 
 The possible culture of the heart 
 
 And shut the gates of "heaven within." 
 
 It then drove men to horrible grots 
 
 Of sordid dry religion and 
 
 To virtue's prairies where he hoped 
 
 To win the promised paradise. 
 
 It now drives men to revel with sin 
 
 Hoodwinked by pride to stroll upon 
 
 The highways of materialism 
 
 In hope eternity to win. 
 
 O. twin poor, grov'lling, straying worms. 
 
 O, crude, erratic beings, alas ! 
 
 This is what made thee shed thy tears 
 
 And sob with an incessant grief; 
 
 What made thy days as dark as nights, 
 
 Thy nights as sleepless as thy days, 
 
 'Tis interest, eccentric, wild 
 
 That swept in its resistless flood 
 
 All patrotism, virtue, love. 
 
 'Tis interest that played its course 
 
 In childhood years unhinder'd, free, 
 
 Whence passions let so loose without 
 
 The slightest impressive command 
 
 Had erred, were ditched and went a prey 
 
 To worldly vain concerns of wealth. 
 
 Now here, so helpless as we are. 
 
 We stand and watch our wealth consumed 
 
 And squander'd in base, wicked pursuits. 
 
ROSALINE 87 
 
 This is the odious spirit that 
 
 Fills many a home with misery 
 
 And makes our courts our busiest shops 
 
 Our jails as crowded as our schools 
 
 And our grog shops and filthy clubs 
 
 The graves digged for humanity. 
 
 Alas ! young man, if this our dear 
 
 Great, lovely fatherland be doomed 
 
 Before we take up to our guard ; 
 
 For though my eyes with age are dim 
 
 Aly mind, distracted and decayed, 
 
 Lo ! there above the dim profile 
 
 Of time a gath'ring storm behold. 
 
 E'er bigg'ning dark'ning creeping on 
 
 With a terrific weight that might 
 
 Crush down the very pillars that 
 
 Hold up our social dignity. 
 
 Waste not thy time 'mongst sighs and tears, 
 
 Go teach the world in words and deeds 
 
 To stand for virtue and for love, 
 
 'Tis sweet to shed a tear and breathe 
 
 A sigh when our dear ones are missed. 
 
 'Tis sweet to love; 'tis sweet to love, 
 
 'Tis holy,* sacred and divine ; 
 
 But let us not depart with love 
 
 And pour it off in wasteful tears 
 
 But keep it e'er within our hearts 
 
 To purify them and redress 
 
 The wrongs and inclements of time. i 
 
 Thrilled up by his kind helpful words, 
 
 Absorbed in their immaculate truth. 
 
 That like a pealing voice from heaven 
 
 Stirred up the elements in my soul. 
 
 And like miraculous seasonal clouds 
 
 Precipitated in my breast ; 
 
 The deluge of another life. 
 
 I mused and roved and roved again, 
 
 Then suddenly stood up on my feet. 
 
 Addressing him with humble words. 
 
 But all alone I was ! He left 
 
 No trace ! I searched amongst the trees ; 
 
38 ROSALINE 
 
 I rushed down toward the fount, but none 
 
 Was there ; I climbed the hanging cliff 
 
 And cast around a watchful gaze, 
 
 I saw him plodding his steep way 
 
 Up yonder hill through bushes and thorns, 
 
 Supported by his staff and lead 
 
 By his big, sprightly, tireless dog. 
 
 He looked to me like virtue's ghost 
 
 Fighting its arduous course in life 
 
 And tramping down the snares of sin, 
 
 Triumphing, marching heavenward. 
 
 I felt a godly stir within, 
 
 And on that high, commanding cliff 
 
 Under the crimson evening sky 
 
 Down on my knees I knelt and prayed 
 
 And pledged my heart and life in sight 
 
 Of nature, that did echo my cry 
 
 .And time that ceased his hurried fly 
 
 Smiling above the reddish west 
 
 To encore my true, humble prayer, 
 
 "O Rosaline, I'll live to pray 
 
 For thee and love to live and do 
 
 Thy will, O God ! Thy will, O God !" 
 
 -,;< :^ -Jf. -^f z'ti- 
 
 The fall succeeded summer, and 
 The snowy winters usher'd the spring. 
 The fields did bud and flower and bloom. 
 Rich harvests came ; rich harvests went. 
 The leaves let fall again their leaves. 
 Thus time drew toward eternity. 
 And life drew nearer to its goal. 
 The days were bright'ning cheerfully 
 .\nd filling the once sad heart with peace. 
 The sable hue of life exchanged 
 With pearly dawn that did announce 
 The brightness of the soul within. 
 
 The orchards bloomed three times ; the young 
 
 Apple tree that Rosaline and I 
 
 Had planted in weird youth grew tall 
 
 And almost shaded all our porch. 
 
 Our pet sheep did give birth to three 
 
ROSALINE 39 
 
 Young lambs with coats as white as snow. 
 
 The lirst was very dear to me ; 
 
 I loved him so I called him "Rose," 
 
 x^nd alwa^'S hang (to make the name 
 
 IVIore tit) upon his horns a flower. 
 
 The past was still so dear to me 
 
 You see ; its shadows often stirred 
 
 ]\Iy meditations ; but its gloom, 
 
 All its despondence and despair 
 
 Could not becloud the peace that reigned 
 
 In my new heart or shake the trust 
 
 My Saviour breathed within my soul. 
 
 The tangible objects, time and space, 
 
 The Ego and the Self are not 
 
 The only fact realities. 
 
 That form, the universe — there are 
 
 Invisibilities that rule 
 
 All matter, life and time and space 
 
 And do establish harmony 
 
 To their reactive entities 
 
 And keep the human in direct 
 
 Communion with the ones on high. 
 
 It is true and established that 
 
 The outer tangible things reflect 
 
 Upon the hearts contentment, joy 
 
 And pleasure ; but all these fade out 
 
 When habit holds a sway upon 
 
 The frail nerves of our mortal coil. 
 
 Not so with that eternal joy 
 
 That takes its rise within the soul, 
 
 Replenished by the grace divine ; 
 
 That like an ever-flowing stream 
 
 Floods out all sorrow and despair. 
 
 I had a constant cheer within 
 
 My heart no day brought in new cares, 
 
 No night new terrifying dreams. 
 
 Not that big Mother Nature changed 
 
 Her stable, uniform old laws. 
 
 But that my soul gave up her whims 
 
 The papers never failed to trace 
 
 And give exhaustive long accounts 
 
40 ROSALINE 
 
 Of Rosaline's in married life. 
 
 To journalism that was not 
 
 A mere dry, private, stale event. 
 
 Nay, was indeed a national one, 
 
 A vivid symposium of the faults 
 
 And follies of our vain home life. 
 
 I read all that and marvelled at 
 
 The gossips that did till the land 
 
 And did to me first sound so gross. 
 
 One writer stated that the gold 
 
 Which Rosaline had squander'd with 
 
 Her count would weigh three thousand pounds. 
 
 Another wrote, "Her fortune would 
 
 (H nobly have been used) effect 
 
 Converting millions back to Christ.*' 
 
 A third one wrote : "Our fleet is not 
 
 As strong as ought to be. The hulls 
 
 Of some of our big battleships 
 
 Are not enough thick-plated with 
 
 Strong steel, for when in time of war 
 
 The crew and ammunitions get 
 
 On board they sink and show up but 
 
 Few inches of protected hull. 
 
 The gold that stie has wasted in 
 
 The bars and cafes of Europe, would 
 
 If to equip our fleet bequeathed, 
 
 Give us the strongest naval force." 
 
 What those surmises had in them 
 
 Of worth, I did not know, forsooth. 
 
 I was then chiefly more concerned 
 
 About her home life, and the way 
 
 Her count was wont to treat her in. 
 
 All that, alas ! read out a sad 
 
 And shameful, vile disgrace. 
 
 They had no mutual, trustful love. 
 
 She did suspect him and he did 
 
 Suspect her of the sycophants 
 
 Of whom each kept a petted horde. 
 
 He married her to get her gold 
 
 She married him but to assume 
 
 His social title ; but at last 
 
 When all her millions dwindled out. 
 
ROSALINE 41 
 
 Ami when boliind his title she 
 Met all the woes of scand'lous life, 
 Dark Hades gulped within their souls. 
 A cutting of their marriage tie 
 Was by the papers predicted, 
 And it was rumored that her folks 
 Would not restore their prodigal child. 
 
 Few weeks elapsed but nothing new 
 Was told about her status till 
 One Sunday morning when I took 
 The paper and glanced rapidly 
 O'er its lirst title page on which 
 My glance caught in what read like this; 
 "Confined in bed out on a farm, 
 Attacked with fever, Rosaline, 
 
 The Countess of , the daughter of , 
 
 One of our multi-millionaires. 
 Deserted by her count, is now 
 A victim of continuous spells 
 That might result in heart collapse. 
 She is nursed b}" a mother and son 
 Who were somehow conected with 
 Her, as they say, wdien they were poor. 
 The doctors gave no hope that she 
 Will e'er recuperate." The rest 
 Was soaked off in my tears. I ran 
 Down to the depot and got on 
 The train that soon was off amidst 
 The outskirts of the town, and though 
 She dashed like lightning I wished she 
 Would take the tire that was raked in 
 My heart and bear me sooner to 
 The presence of fair Rosaline. 
 
 The whole face of the farm was changed. 
 The fields that but few years before 
 Had been all cover'd with weeds were then 
 All ploughed and terraced and fenced around, 
 And green with grass and gay with flowers 
 And blossoming shrubs of various plants. 
 
42 ROSALINE 
 
 I Stole in 'midst the piles of ha}', 
 
 And went around from shed to shed, 
 
 But could not find my way therein; 
 
 I went about and traced the road 
 
 That Rosaline and I did take 
 
 When once we visited that spot. 
 
 I found the rock that she sat on 
 
 Before we went into the cot, 
 
 And saw the little shrub on which 
 
 She leaned and whose little green leaves she 
 
 Touched with her gentle hand ; and saw 
 
 The very stone I stood on then 
 
 When laid my cheeks upon her lap 
 
 And listened to her sweet words and watched 
 
 The drops of sweat that glided o'er 
 
 Her rosy cheeks and fell upon 
 
 My face with sacred soothing charm 
 
 That will outlive eternity. 
 
 The brook that murmur'd by that rock 
 
 Was lending still a boundless charm. 
 
 I also found the greenish toad 
 
 Still leap from hole to hole, then post 
 
 Himself upon a stone then dive 
 
 Into the water, then spout out 
 
 And sing his loud ancestral croak. 
 
 Just as when Rosaline stood there. 
 
 And listened with a pensive mood 
 
 And praised the God of Nature who 
 
 In ever}' form of life has placed 
 
 A soothing form of happiness. 
 
 I also saw the pebbles grind 
 
 And chafe as ever in the brook, 
 
 And whirl around, then tumble down 
 
 Into the gliding current, and 
 
 Wash off into the ocean wide ; 
 
 Just like all other molds of life 
 
 That struggle with time, and living their share, 
 
 Glide on into the infinite. 
 
 All that dear spot was heeded by 
 
 The cruel hands of time, for love 
 
 Divine was hov'ring o'er its seats; 
 
ROSALINE 43 
 
 But all around it man's great hand 
 Had wrought extensive change in sheds, 
 In bowers, in fences and canals ; 
 Thus could no further trace my way. 
 
 A colunm of smoke that slowly furled 
 
 And floated in the sluggish air 
 
 Above a bunch of trees, to me 
 
 Did then suggest the dwelling place. 
 
 I walked on toward the smoke, and soon 
 
 I found the road that led me to 
 
 The mansion Rosaline stayed at. 
 
 On knocking at the door an aged, 
 
 Tall, stately woman soon came out 
 
 With a rich smile upon her face. 
 
 We recognized each other, but 
 
 I was amazed at that big change, 
 
 That proved to me how God ne'er fails 
 
 To help his trusting children, and 
 
 "Does never mock a mother's tear." 
 
 She told me then how Rosaline 
 
 Was anxious to see me, and how 
 
 She often, on her bed of pain. 
 
 Had sung of our past, happy days. 
 
 "This morning," said the mother, while 
 
 Wiping her feeble eyes, from whose 
 
 Deep wells the tears gushed forth, "she is. 
 
 Poor Rosaline, in critical swoon. 
 
 We fancied for a time we lost 
 
 Her, but about an hour ago 
 
 She woke up, and begged us to send 
 
 For you ; but we, not knowing where 
 
 You live, we then attempted to 
 
 Console her, but all was in vain. 
 
 We prayed to God, and ere our knees 
 
 Sank to the floor we heard your knock. 
 
 She led me through the parlor to 
 A large adjoining room, where, on 
 Her bed lay Rosaline, as pale 
 As death, and drooping like a flower 
 That faced the autumn of her life. 
 
44 ROSALINE 
 
 She smiled when I approached her side, 
 
 And stretched out her pale hand to me, 
 
 Whose grasp I felt in my hand like 
 
 A fluffy lump of melting snow. 
 
 Her eyes and mine met in a glance 
 
 At which each turned his face aside, 
 
 And wept the remnant of our tears. 
 
 "The fault was mine," cried she, and gave 
 
 Herself up to her sobs, with which 
 
 Her soul was nearly gushed away. 
 
 Feeling what error I fell in 
 
 I 'proached her with a loving tune. 
 
 And cheered up her sad heart, and said: 
 
 "My Rosaline, (if yet thou do 
 
 Allow this friend to call thee his) 
 
 My Rosaline, save thy dear self, 
 
 And live again for love and me." 
 
 "Too late, too late," she mutter'd to me ; 
 
 "Too late, beloved, for I've now passed 
 
 The threshold of existence, and 
 
 Now stand upon eternal soil. 
 
 But oh ! beloved, how drearily 
 
 The grave yawns to receive my soul ! 
 
 How horrible that Ghost of Death 
 
 That comes to pluck my heart awa}' ! 
 
 How dark the world I fall into ! 
 
 How fearful ! O ! my God, my God ! 
 
 O let me live betwixt thine arms ! 
 
 O guard me 'gainst this hideous death 
 
 That'll snatch me from thy bosom, dear." 
 
 "O Rosaline, dear Rosaline," 
 
 Cried I with broken voice, "Lay all 
 
 Thy burden at the Saviour's feet. 
 
 For e'en the darkest valley of death 
 
 Will brighten at his loving smile." 
 
 "Too late, beloved, for what will that 
 
 Repentence of the wretch'd avail 
 
 Him while he slumbers in his grave?" 
 
 "Nay, Rosaline, thou ne'er have been 
 
 So wretch'd and lost that God's wide grace 
 
 Cannot encompass and restore 
 
 Thv soul to his salvation fold." 
 
ROSALINE 45 
 
 *T have denied my Christ, beloved. 
 
 I have, on death bed, spurned his grace ; 
 
 And mocked His bleeding wounds upon 
 
 The cross of human cruelty; 
 
 And scorned His humble death for me; 
 
 And doubted God's inlinite love 
 
 And His infinite mercy; and 
 
 Hurled down with my blaspheming hand 
 
 All Godhood, wrapt with heaven and earth 
 
 Into the dark, eternal nil. 
 
 And buried my soul in their remains. 
 
 I have committed suicide'' ! 
 
 And poured the acid in my throat. 
 
 ' O. dying, wretched woman, Alas" ! 
 
 Cried I and fainted by her side. 
 
 Awakened by our host's good care 
 
 I took the pale, dear Rosaline 
 
 Between my arms, and wiped off with 
 
 jNIy kerchief her bright, pearly sweat. 
 
 "Shall we send for the pastor, dear?" 
 
 Resumed I wnth a pleading tune. 
 
 To which she gave a nodding consent. 
 
 In a little while the pastor came 
 
 In, holding in one hand the Book 
 
 Of Truth, and in the other his staff. 
 
 He looked quite old, and "crowned with all 
 
 The chaste and snowy glow of age." 
 
 He smiled on us, who gathered around 
 
 Fair Rosaline's death bed, and laid 
 
 The Holy Bible in her hand. 
 
 She hugged it to her breast, and laid 
 
 On it a silent kiss and wept. 
 
 He beckoned to us, and we all knelt 
 
 Down at her bed and listened to 
 
 His touching prayer that seemed to pierce 
 
 All fathoms of space, and reach the throne 
 
 Of God, and bring his peace and love. 
 
 We rose up and a heavenly light 
 Was fluttering o'er her face, and her 
 Sweet lips were muttering hopeful songs. 
 We listened and heard her last sweet words : 
 
46 ROSALINE 
 
 ' "While the nearer waters roll, 
 
 While the tempest still is high ; 
 
 Hide me, O my Saviour hide, 
 Till the storm of life is past ; 
 
 Safe into the haven guide, 
 O receive my soul at last !" 
 
 Her cheeks waxed red, she ope'd her eyes 
 And gazed at me with her most bright 
 And radiant glance, then a rich smile 
 Svvcpt o'er her face »»d carried her 
 Into the great eternal world. 
 
 Beneath a maple tree that grew 
 And wafted its fresh fragrant breeze 
 Beside the murm'ring cottage brook 
 We buried Rosaline, and strewed 
 I'he flowers o'er her grave, and wept. 
 
 How little ! that tender piece of flesh 
 
 That in the human breast resides, 
 
 And calls itself a heart; yet how 
 
 Grand and incomprehensible 
 
 It fills itself with virtue, truth. 
 
 And pure, divinely chastity. 
 
 At other times with vice and dreams. 
 
 Absurdities and chimeras. 
 
 It beats in life, it beats out death, 
 
 It beats aversion to mankind, 
 
 And beats what angels sang to earth 
 
 That .sweet and lulling strophe — Love. 
 
 It is the lovers' wrecking boat, 
 
 'Tis a tumultuous ocean dark; 
 
 'Tis a bright, lovely firmament ; 
 
 It is the heaven within us ; 
 
 It is the dismal, dark abyss, 
 
 The dusky, drear hell into which 
 
 Humanity hurls down itself. 
 
 O dear old seats of love and joy, 
 In whose most sacred bosom did 
 We shed the happiest tears of youth ! 
 
ROSALINE 
 
 What wither'd thy gay and fragrant tlowers, 
 
 Ye meadows of the days by-gone, 
 
 Where oft we frolicked and beguiled 
 
 The passionate storms of love and youth? 
 
 Ye bowers installed and decked all o'er, 
 
 And trim.med by her enchanting hands ; 
 
 That shaded us on summer days. 
 
 And 'mongst her roses and her twigs 
 
 Did hide our endless tales of love. 
 
 Ye leaves and buds that thrived so long 
 
 On her benign and balmy breaths. 
 
 What wither'd and nipped thy life away? 
 
 What silenced, what did sadden thy songs, 
 
 And trillings ye linnets of the past? 
 
 chirping birds, what made thee weep? 
 
 Ye Church of the great living God, 
 
 Ye virtue's pure, solitary child 
 
 That rear thy steeples in thy sky. 
 
 And hail the world with peace, good will ; 
 
 That ever lulled my burning zeal 
 
 With peace so sweet and so benign. 
 
 Ye pews where often to her side 
 
 And in the shadows of her dreams 
 
 1 sat and spoke my prayers and sighed, 
 What made thee lose thy charm and bliss? 
 What did to thee thy grief impart? 
 
 What filled thee with a gloomy spell, 
 Ye rocks, and cliffs, and dismal coves. 
 Ye breakers that with their white foam 
 E'er muffle the barren, sullen shore, 
 And heaves the fath'mless, gloomy depths. 
 And stir my gazing soul to rove 
 As they our old dear haunts embrace, 
 Smooth off her footsteps on the sand. 
 Or murmur softly, sadly and 
 Splash up the memories of the past! 
 
lUL 33 W08 
 
 
 09 
 

 
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