GATHERED FROM LIFE 
 
 AND 
 
 Prophetic of Another Life. 
 
 C 
 
 By AELLA GREENE, 
 
 if 
 
 Author of "John Peters." 
 
 v**' ■ "'^rf . 
 
 Published in 1893. 
 
 Jl/fVF & 1893 
 
 
 \ 
 

 Copyright, 1S93, 
 
 BY 
 
 AELLA GREENE. 
 
 Clark JV. Brya?i Company, 
 
 Printers, F.lectrotypers and Binders, 
 
 Springfield, Mass. 
 
In Remembrance of 
 
 Friendships whose Shining has Dispelled 
 
 the Darkness of many a 
 
 Gloomy Day. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Voyaging, 5 
 
 Wave and Bird, 8 
 
 Stanza and Sequel, 13-101 
 
 The Bright Belief, 102 
 
 Earth's Brightest Star, 105 
 
 " Bright on Your Native Hills," 106 
 
 " She Placed the Bitter-sweet," 108 
 
 Always with Thee, no 
 
 Through Grief, in 
 
 " Too Many Hearts are Sad To-night," 113 
 
 Blessings for the Helpful, " . 114 
 
 The Forty-second, 115 
 
 The Critics, 117 
 
 The Retort, 118 
 
 Reminiscences, 119-144 
 
 My Native Land, 144 
 
 The Sweetheart, 146 
 
 For All Like Thee, 147 
 
 "The Stars Have Heard," ....... 148 
 
 "Come, Happy Bird," 148 
 
 " Prize Thou Thyself," 150 
 
2 CONTENTS. 
 
 Petition, 152 
 
 A Tribute, 153 
 
 Into the Sunshine, ......... 155 
 
 The Conflict, 157-167 
 
 Thy Best Delight, . 168-169 
 
 Thee and Thine, 17° 
 
 William Williams, ' . . . . 17 1 
 
 The Imperial, 172 
 
 The Lesson of the Seasons, . . . . . . i73 _I 75 
 
 The Equal Lot, 175 
 
 Sic Itur ad Astra, 177 
 
 An Urban Heaven, 180 
 
 A Hero's Grave, • g^ lSl 
 
 A Starlit Road, 182 
 
 " Where tnc Noble have their Country," .... 183 
 
 The Warrior, 186 
 
 Victorious, 187 
 
 "Thou art the Man," 188 
 
 Nature's Moods, 189 
 
 " Where Nature Reigns," 19 2 
 
 Beyond, 198 
 
 A Rose, 200 
 
 Forever, 201 
 
 Her Promise, 202 
 
• CONTENTS. 3 
 
 Trial Days, 203 
 
 That other Day and This, 205 
 
 Zephy^; f 209 
 
 Nectar, . 211 
 
 Heart of Ice, 213 
 
 A Wish, 214 
 
 In Ambush, 215 
 
 Tommy Trim, 217 
 
 Uncharity, t 218 
 
 " Joy Sings Serenely,'' 221 
 
 Thy Benisons, 221 
 
 Thou Shalt Discern, 222 
 
 By Warring Well, • 223 
 
 Forecasting, 224-228 
 
VOYAGING. 
 
 OTHOU benignant, ever wise, 
 Since unto man 'tis given 
 That he fare on, if kind the skies 
 Or unpropitious Heaven, 
 
 What joy that he may trust Thee still, 
 
 Through calm or stormy tide, 
 Conscious that winds obey Thy will, 
 
 And Thou art pledged to guide 
 
 The barque that every mortal sails 
 
 Across the sea of time — 
 That no one trusts in Thee and fails 
 
 Of port in happiest clime 
 
 Of that great continent where those 
 
 Who sail shall landsmen be 
 Awhile, and thence shall course — who knows 
 
 The great untraversed sea ? 
 
 But dream we even now and here, 
 Entranced by plash of waves 
 
VOYAGING. 
 
 Which lapse this side the heavenly sphere, 
 That lovelier ocean laves 
 
 The other coast of that Unknown 
 
 Than even he beheld 
 To whom at Patmos things were shown 
 
 That charmed the days of Eld. 
 
 From earth that ocean is how far ? 
 
 What barque that thither fares ? 
 What islands in that ocean are ? 
 
 Swept by what balmy airs ? 
 
 What groves of fair pomegranates bless 
 
 With exhalations sweet ? 
 What warblers with their gladsomeness 
 
 The island mornings gieet, 
 
 As navies of the shining main 
 
 Are wafted with the song 
 And harpers of sublimest strain 
 
 The rapturous theme prolong ! 
 
VOYAGING. 
 
 O beatific vision bright 
 
 Of islands of that sea ! 
 O day when faith shall change to sight 
 
 And bring us there to be ! 
 
 And from those islands mountains rise 
 Wherefrom whose lenses sweep 
 
 Still other continent descries 
 And lovelier, vaster deep, 
 
 With sweeter isles to gem the scene 
 And, still beyond, a coast, 
 
 A brighter sea to intervene ; 
 
 And, with those waters crossed, 
 
 Increasing still, the endless plan 
 Of continents and seas — ■ 
 
 \nd given for this quest of man 
 The vast eternities ! 
 
WAVE AND BIRD. 
 
 TO those indued with power to see, 
 And given an ear for minstrelsy, 
 There's meaning high in every sound 
 And every scene the wide earth round. 
 The music of this lakelet's wave, 
 That seems to some but meant to lave 
 The shore, recede and surge again, 
 Thought-freighted comes to thoughtful men, 
 And, blending with the voice of bird 
 In hymn as grand as ear hath heard, 
 Shall cheer the pilgrim on his way, 
 Inspiring him with faith to say — 
 Night bringeth day, grief bringeth bliss • 
 And never that, but cometh this! 
 
 So, welcome grief in every form — 
 The piercing blast, the whelming storm. 
 Affliction's flail and busy mill, 
 Its thorny path up rugged hill. 
 Or desert sands to scorch the feet, 
 Where torrid suns their fervors beat, 
 
WAVE AND BIRD. 
 
 Or barren, bleak and sunless plains, 
 Where Doubt's grim winter monarch reigns ! 
 
 Though well enthroned, that icy king 
 Shall flee before Faith's radiant spring 
 Of bud, and brook, and heavenly blue, 
 And stars serene the sweet nights through- 
 And fragrant hours of morn, to lead, 
 Through flowery path, to pleasant mead 
 And hills of hope, where Edens are 
 Without a flaming sword to bar ; 
 The hills whereon, from dawn to star, 
 And from the star to dawn again, 
 Angels descend to bring to men 
 The sweetest message of the skies — 
 Faith always true ; Doubt always lies ! 
 
 Sing on, sweet bird, and lakelet sing, 
 Through all the joyous days of spring ; 
 And when shall glow the summer days 
 With their intensity of praise 
 For roses and the wheaten sheaf, 
 And sign of corn and flaming leaf, 
 
IO WAVE AND BIRD, 
 
 . Then, for its seen and unseen worth, 
 Sing praise to Him who made the earth, 
 
 And in the time of frost and snows, 
 When fierce the wrath of winter blows, 
 Love's group around his cheerful fires 
 Will sing the song that hope inspires, 
 Whilst thou, sweet bird, in sunnier clime, 
 Shalt sing, prophetic of the time 
 When flowers and grasses shall again 
 Delight each northern glade and glen, 
 And waters of the lake and burn 
 Announce, blithe bird, thy glad return 
 
 But they who think, by power of song 
 To urge the winter days along, 
 Will find, however brave they sing, 
 That Winter in his time is king. 
 Yet, dulcet one, they can defy 
 His fiercest wrath and coldest sky ; 
 For, if some pilgrim needing rest, 
 Should pray awhile to be their guest, 
 And, heeding thine unselfish way, 
 Spontaneous as thy roundelay, 
 
WAVE AND BIRD. II 
 
 They give the weary needed cheer, — 
 Though 'tis the wintriest of the year, 
 To them their deeds of love shall bring, 
 The breath and blossoms of the spring ! 
 
 Songster, how well thy carols fit 
 The teaching of an ancient writ, — 
 That cometh bliss or cometh ban, 
 To each, as each his fellow man 
 Hath given all he could to bless, 
 Or, spurning, left in want's duress ; 
 That kindness to earth's humblest one 
 Is unto Christ, the Master, done, 
 Who meteth bounds for all the days, 
 Whom all the seasons voice and praise ; 
 The Christ who spake as never spake 
 Or man, or bird, or burn, or lake, — 
 Or rather told what all things tell 
 To those who study nature well. 
 
 Sweet wave and warbler, as ye sing, 
 To me the Master's words ye bring — 
 " To those in need, to me gave ye ; 
 l To them refused, refused to me. 
 
12 WAVE AND BIRD. 
 
 If unto them ye gave but ill, 
 
 Then bitterness your cup shall fill: 
 
 Gave ye them good, that ye I give, 
 
 And ask ye with your Lord to live 
 
 Where ye, while heaven's long day shall burn, 
 
 May all the bliss of blessing learn." 
 
 Creator of the wave and bird. 
 Inspirer of the Master's word, 
 Aid me the earth to rightly see 
 And thoughtful hear its minstrelsy, 
 And learn and heed the teachings high 
 Which all thy wondrous works imply — 
 That they who bless their fellow men 
 Shall reap their given good again ; 
 That joy can ever be secured 
 Through griefs in patient trust endured ; 
 And, sweetest note of all the song, 
 Faith always right, Doubt always wrong ! 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 COMPANION of my boyhood 
 And friend of all my years, 
 Sublimely well enduring 
 
 Woes all too deep for tears ; 
 Responsive to your summons, 
 
 I come to share your grief, 
 To rhyme in reminiscence 
 
 And sing a bright belief; 
 Predicting you soon finding 
 
 The dawn succeed the night, 
 If thorns, likewise the roses, 
 
 And after wrong the right ! 
 
 Away from scenes of traffic, 
 Away from business cares, 
 
 In which you toil so bravely 
 To kill the grief that wears, 
 
 Only to find, in toiling, 
 The work of no avail ; 
 
£4 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 You come to ask of nature 
 A balm that will not fail. 
 
 Among the Berkshire mountains 
 Where nature does its best 
 
 To aid the tired and grieving 
 With satisfying rest, 
 
 You come, my loved Ethelbert, 
 
 Sighing at every breath, 
 Yet glowing with high purpose 
 
 To battle to the death 
 The griefs so fiercely gnawing 
 
 The heart of one as brave 
 As he, all uncomplaining. 
 
 Imperiled land to save, 
 Who risks amid red carnage, 
 
 With willingness, his life, 
 And ioys to be called worthy 
 
 To perish in the strife. 
 
 This excellence of patience 
 Is foretaste, in the grief, 
 Prophetic of fruition, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Quick after the belief, 
 That, tribulation suffered, 
 
 With bravery and love. 
 And faith that says the Father 
 
 Sends trials from above, 
 Grief's fiends shall flee, and angels 
 
 Unlock the gates of light 
 And usher in the morning, 
 
 To follow sorrow's night. 
 
 Ethelbert, near these mountains 
 
 The hamlet of your birth, 
 That seemed to you, in childhood, 
 
 The loveliest spot of eartn: 
 Where all the days of winter 
 
 Were happy days lor you, 
 However wild the drifting 
 
 Of snowy storms that blew; 
 And happy was the spring-time, 
 
 And days of summer bloom 
 Poured joys until for others 
 
 Your heart had not the room. 
 
i6 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 When fiercest heat was over, 
 
 And on the pasture hill 
 The steers, rid of their tackle, 
 
 Were left to feed at will ; 
 And orchards bent with pippins 
 
 Around a buckwheat field 
 That gave a fragrant promise 
 
 Of an abundant yield, 
 Delightful then your dreaming, 
 
 As August waned away, 
 When seemed the hours half summer, 
 
 And autumn, still, the day. 
 
 Then mornings all, and sunsets, 
 
 To you were choicest gold, 
 And days with joys were brimming 
 
 As full as days could hold. 
 Ah ! sweet and fairy valley ! 
 
 Where birds and purling streams. 
 Cascades and hill-side forests, 
 
 Excelled your brightest dreams ; 
 Where poet might sing sweetest, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. I 7 
 
 With scene above the psalm 
 Affording hearts the saddest 
 Sufficing rest and balm. 
 
 And, still, to you, 'tis fiction 
 
 To name the hamlet blest, 
 Though there began your being, 
 
 And there your kindred rest ; 
 And there your days were halcyon 
 
 With skies of peaceful hue, 
 And seemed the good translated 
 ' No happier than you ! 
 For there, a little later, 
 
 The sadness must begin, 
 The sweet of life turn bitter, 
 
 Its melody be din ; 
 
 And all its pleasant castles 
 
 Be crumbled into dust ; 
 And this, because they doubted 
 
 Who should have given trust. 
 Ah well do I remember, 
 
Io STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 You had a darkened sky ; 
 My angel of good blessing, 
 
 Appeared to pass you by. 
 The wreck of your ambitions 
 
 It needeth not to tell ; 
 For all the doleful story 
 
 Your sad heart knows too well. 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 Those words, " because they doubted 
 
 Who should have given trust/ 7 '' 
 O doubt, that quenches morning ! 
 
 O doubt, to gold the rust * 
 Was ever soul in sadness 
 
 But through another's doubt? 
 Was ever soul defeated, 
 
 Suspicion caused the rout! 
 
 Horatius. 
 Not winning in your wooing 
 Nor famous for your pen, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 19 
 
 You still kept faith in heaven, 
 
 Though losing faith in men ; 
 And still lived ever noble, 
 
 Or was it day, or dark, 
 Your god appeased or frowning, 
 
 A raven or a lark, 
 Your bird ; and now, slow starving 
 
 For joys of love, yet strong; 
 Sad, almost unto dying, 
 
 Yet, patient under wrong ! 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 Fit praises thine for heroes ; 
 
 Too high for men like me, 
 My heart must still accept them 
 
 For their sincerity. 
 And thanking thee for giving 
 
 The trust I needed long 
 From others than Horatius, 
 
 I ask of him a song; 
 His own sweet, soul-felt, singing. 
 
2 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 To keep the hope alive, 
 Which he. in tune with nature, 
 Has made as;ain revive. 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 The sweetest songsters carol, 
 
 Among these Berkshire hills, 
 In harmony with music 
 
 Arising from the rills 
 That flow with silvery murmur, 
 
 In melody along, 
 And charm as if in heaven 
 
 They learned the art of song, 
 And were by Him empowered 
 
 Who formed the starry spheres 
 And guides their rhythmic motion 
 
 Through all the circling years. 
 
 Bright brooks ! they came from heaven, 
 
 To teach the tuneful art, 
 And woo men from their sorrows 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 21 
 
 And from their cares apart ; 
 To teach them high behavior, 
 
 And gentle ways and true, 
 Inspiring them with courage 
 
 To fight life's battles through; 
 The while, through all the harshness 
 
 That gives to earth its ban, 
 They live attuned for living 
 
 Where harmony began. 
 
 There other brooks, in chorus 
 
 With other birds, shall sing, 
 To tell the power and goodness 
 
 Of the Eternal King; . 
 And welcome home the singers 
 
 From dissonance of time 
 To melodies of heaven 
 
 And zephyrs of the clime, 
 Where, with the golden city, 
 
 Shall be the pleasant field ; 
 The tree of life forever 
 
 Its healthful fruitage yield; 
 
22 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 The hill-side and the forest, 
 
 And rocky glen, be there, 
 And highest angel escort 
 
 Delight to give their care 
 To those who come to study, 
 
 In leisure of that land, 
 The features of the country 
 
 Which sin has never banned, 
 May one among the number 
 
 Be you who love the rills 
 That carol with the songsters 
 
 Among these restful hills. 
 
 When rivulets with singing 
 
 Have cheered Ethelbert's heart, 
 May angel guide attend him, 
 
 That, when he hence depart, 
 He journey to the eastward, 
 
 To hills that poet sung 
 The grandeur of whose numbers 
 
 Honors our English tongue. 
 Inhaling rarest zephyrs 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 23 
 
 To make the spirit strong ; 
 With feet in tune with cadence 
 Of Bryant's noble song, 
 
 Which thou shalt hear repeated 
 
 By tuneful brooks and birds, 
 As if the bard walked with thee, 
 
 To speak his own grand words, 
 Ascend the heights o'erlooking 
 
 The homes of Cummington, 
 Ensconced below the hill-side 
 
 Where Bryant's life begun. 
 When thou hast done due worship 
 
 Ascend still other height, 
 And vale of rarest beauty 
 
 Shall meet thy raptured sight! 
 
 There sweet a shining river 
 
 Flows singing to the sea, 
 And purls with charming cadence 
 
 Where smiling landscapes be, 
 Gemmed bright with pleasant mansions, 
 
24 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 In form and look that seem 
 The counterpart of castles 
 
 That fill youth's brightest dream. 
 There, sentineled by mountains, 
 
 The vale its verdure spreads, 
 When, cheering after winter, 
 
 The May sun radiance sheds. 
 
 Bright hues of flame and crimson, 
 
 And wealth of dun and gold 
 The hardy mountain beeches 
 
 And valley maples hold, 
 When frost and autumn sunshine 
 
 Their chemistry have done, 
 In glorious completion 
 
 Of work the spring begun ; 
 And there, within that valley, 
 
 In other days, a scene 
 That fills with choicest fragrance 
 
 The years that intervene ! 
 
 And that sweet scene shall ever 
 The river, glade, and glen 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 25 
 
 Invest with charms of romance, 
 
 And witness unto men 
 The bravery of a maiden, 
 
 Who so could say "forgive," 
 That one whom she deserted 
 
 Bade the repentant live, 
 And be his inspiration, 
 
 A consort and a mate ; 
 A token that kind heaven 
 
 Would help him conquer fate, 
 
 And ne'er did lordly courtier, 
 
 The bravest and the best, 
 On love's ennobling errand, 
 
 From royal halls, in quest 
 Of one to match the visions 
 
 With which the gods inspire, 
 Who with celestial courage 
 
 The manly bosom fire, 
 To do the grandest wooing, 
 
 Find such transcendent worth 
 As crowns the name of Lillian 
 
 The brightest of the earth ! 
 
26 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Thy loveliness, sweet valley, 
 
 Which Metawampe guards, 
 Hath now especial meaning 
 
 Above the song of bards. 
 Dear vale ! whose faithful maiden 
 
 Rebelled against her kin, 
 Until they bade him welcome 
 
 Who sought her heart to win, 
 That maiden's ways heroic 
 
 Have made the sunrise shore 
 Of thy majestic river 
 
 Inspiring evermore ! 
 
 Bright fairy-land, where angels 
 
 Attend when lovers wait 
 And aid the thoughts surpassing 
 
 All else however great ! 
 Their happy faces, mirrored, 
 
 Reflect the thoughts of love 
 Aglow upon the features 
 
 Of each glad face, above 
 The kindly waters, reading, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 27 
 
 In limpid river blue, 
 That each heart loves the other, 
 And will for life be true. 
 
 Land of the sweet romances ! 
 
 Therein, the legends say, 
 Bright ministrants of heaven, 
 
 On silver nights of May, 
 Expectant in an arbor, 
 
 Wait with the words that save 
 From cowardice the lover 
 
 And make the maiden brave ; 
 And when the pledge is spoken 
 
 To crown love's high emprise, 
 They soar trom Metawampe, 
 
 To tell the waiting skies ! 
 
 In honor of the maiden 
 
 Who, quenching one heart's hell, 
 For two hearts made earth, heaven, 
 
 The scene he bids me tell 
 I sing, to cheer Ethelbert, 
 
28 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 To whom a fate unkind, 
 Anent the noble passion; 
 
 And if Ethelbert find 
 The scene at Metawampe 
 
 To him good omen brings., 
 Thrice happy his companion 
 
 Of Metawampe sings : 
 
 While cheering light 
 Of morning bright 
 O'er eastern height is glowing. 
 
 And choicest flowers 
 In any bowers 
 Or any landscape growing, 
 
 Their sweets exhale, 
 To fill the gale 
 Soft on the valley blowing. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 29 
 
 Thou sweetest bird 
 Mine ears have heard, 
 Whose liquid music, flowing, 
 
 Hath magic charms 
 To still alarms, 
 The sweetest peace bestowing, 
 
 On fleetest wing 
 Fly thou, and sing, 
 To cheer a brave heart bearing 
 
 A load of grief 
 Beyond belief, 
 Beyond an angel's daring; 
 
 Though worn and faint, 
 Giving no plaint, 
 But brave on life's road faring; 
 
 Through griefs, discreet, 
 With spirit sweet, 
 Well worth an angel's sharing. 
 
3<D STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Sing, bird of cheer ! 
 So he shall hear 
 Above earth's loudest blaring; 
 
 And sing again 
 To cheer him, when 
 Noon's fervid heats are burning; 
 
 Assure him well 
 That thou wilt tell, 
 Ere next the noon's returning, 
 
 In thy best tune, 
 That some sweet boon 
 Shall soothe the plaintive yearning 
 
 Of his sad heart, 
 As he, the art 
 Of grand endurance learning, 
 
 Seeks only joy 
 Which doth not cloy, 
 A.11 vain enjoyment spurning. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL, 3 1 
 
 Then, sweetest bird 
 Mine ears have heard, 
 When sunset's wealth is streaming, 
 
 In western skies, 
 To glad the eyes 
 And set the spirit dreaming 
 
 Of Ind of old 
 Or towers of gold 
 With heavenly splendors beaming, 
 
 Sing once again, 
 And tell him when, 
 Thy pledge in truth redeeming, 
 
 Thou bringest joy, 
 It shall not cloy 
 Nor be less than its seeming ! 
 
 The world to bless 
 With his success, 
 By grand impulses driven, 
 
32 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Leon to art 
 His head and heart, 
 Through toilsome years, had given ; 
 
 To win a name 
 And merit fame, 
 Most manfully had striven ; 
 
 Not thought of ease. 
 Nor wish to please, 
 From purpose firm unnerving ; 
 
 And painted well 
 Both flood and fell, 
 A high reward deserving. 
 
 But Fashion bold, 
 By threats and gold, 
 The coward critics swerving, 
 
 They named him cheap, 
 And much and deep 
 They planned to shame and grieve him. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 3j 
 
 And Fashion's queen, 
 High in her spleen,- 
 Induced that one to leave him 
 
 Who vowed, by skies 
 And stars, to prize 
 And never to deceive him. 
 
 For fiat dread 
 By Fashion said 
 Receives a quick obeying, 
 
 Though Fashion ask 
 Laborious task, 
 Or even ask the slaying 
 
 Of sweetest dove 
 The God of love 
 E'er sent to earth, conveying 
 
 A message down, 
 With joy to crown 
 Two hearts their pledges saying. 
 
34 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 To whim accursed, 
 By mother nursed, 
 Who hoped her Lillian mating 
 
 With one of fame 
 Who had, with name, 
 The wealth for finest feting ; 
 
 The wealth to blaze 
 Through golden days 
 To her own fullest sating, — 
 
 To whim accursed 
 By mother nursed 
 Who managed the alliance 3 
 
 Fair Lillian said 
 She would not wed 
 But disregard affiance, 
 
 « 
 From Leon turn, 
 Who soon would learn, 
 Her own act scarce regretting. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 35 
 
 In other face 
 His hope to trace, 
 His first love soon forgetting. 
 
 This noble girl, 
 For Fashion's whirl 
 By mother false intended, 
 
 In traits and lore 
 Resembled more 
 The father long ascended. 
 
 And when she died 
 Who thus belied, 
 The motherless, though weeping, 
 
 Found still a voice 
 That could rejoice 
 In freedom from that keeping. 
 
 Love's longing then, 
 And inner ken 
 Was quickened to discerning 
 
d 
 
 6 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 What great mistake 
 The heart must make 
 When from its true mate turning 
 
 &• 
 
 Her guardian kin 
 Vowed it " high sin 
 That Lillian should love him. 
 
 " Wretch, who pretends .! 
 For we, her friends, 
 Are socially above him !" 
 
 Grew Lillian brave ; 
 No longer slave 
 To Fashion's bold commanding, 
 
 She valued worth 
 More than high birth 
 And more than social standing. 
 
 One saddened year 
 She rambled here, 
 And homeward when returning 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 37 
 
 She dared to say, 
 " Their cruel sway 
 Henceforward firmly spurning, 
 
 " Some day I'll wed 
 Him whom I said, 
 In answer to his pleading., 
 
 " From me should go. 
 Ah day of woe ! 
 When I, in that false leading 
 
 " Subservient kept, 
 As Leon wept, 
 Could crush his heart to bleeding r 
 
 The morn returns 
 And kindly burns, 
 Its silver splendors playing 
 
38 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 On eastern hills, 
 Whence happy rills, 
 The river's call obeying, 
 
 Flowed singing sweet, 
 In vale to greet, 
 When first the murk was graying, 
 
 One breaking rest, 
 To come in quest, 
 Ere children came for Maying, 
 
 Of choicest flowers, 
 In field and bowers 
 So sweet that angels straying 
 
 To earth, to ken 
 The ways of men, 
 Therein protract their staying. 
 
 The bloom to get, 
 And hoping, yet, 
 Angels, this morning, tarry, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 39 
 
 She comes to pray 
 They right words say, 
 That she the words may carry. 
 
 When she shall go, 
 E're noontide glow, 
 To cheer a heart so chary 
 
 She must be brave 
 Who thinks to save, 
 And gentle as a fairy, 
 
 With right address, 
 Who seeks to bless 
 The one from griefs so wary 
 
 He would suspect, 
 In friend direct, 
 A foe, and quickly parry 
 
 Faith's very deed 
 His heart should need 
 To lift him from his grieving , 
 
4<D STANZA AND SEQUEL, 
 
 At words she sent 
 And would repent, 
 With tears and full retrieving. 
 
 Thus she relates ; 
 In arbor waits 
 Angelic one, receiving, 
 
 Through perfumed air, 
 Her earnest prayer, 
 And then, a message leaving, 
 
 Toward the skies 
 Doth grandly rise, 
 His way with bright wing cleaving. 
 
 The angel flown ; 
 
 And when alone, 
 
 The flowers with laurel twining 
 
 &j 
 
 Their truth to tell, 
 Doth Lillian dwell 
 Glad on his words, designing 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 41 
 
 Those words to heed, 
 When she shall read, 
 Their truth in full divining. 
 
 And, dulcet one, 
 At yester sun, 
 Whom I heard joyful flinging 
 
 Thy carols high, 
 From earth to sky, 
 As welcome message bringing, 
 
 Fly speeding back 
 Thine azure track 
 To him whose grief is clinging, 
 
 A bird austere, 
 Raven of fear, — 
 But it shall flee thy singing. 
 
 Bird of sweet song, 
 Fly swift along, 
 And fly with bravest winging 
 
42 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Of bird whose word 
 Might be inferred 
 Would set these bright hours ringing 
 
 As breaks the day, 
 Bird, speed away, 
 And herald her whose cheering 
 
 His heart shall reach, 
 And winsome teach, 
 And aid to cease his fearing. 
 
 Now to his eyes 
 What glad surprise ! 
 Is angel form appearing? 
 
 Doth most it seem 
 Or true or dream ? 
 A maiden bravely nearing! 
 
 And her whose doubt 
 Had cast him out, 
 What time the critics, sneering, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 43 
 
 % 
 
 Increased the need 
 Of kindly deed 
 And brave words, and endearing! 
 
 And doth she bow? 
 Denouement now ! 
 Though tremulous with feeling 
 
 She hath no song. 
 Till for her wrong, 
 Her sad heart full revealing, , 
 
 Before the man 
 Whom she gave ban, 
 She bows in humblest kneeling, 
 
 Pouring her tears, 
 Pale with her fears 
 And most sincerely praying t 
 
 " For wrong to thee 
 Wilt pardon me, 
 Who merit but thy saying: 
 
44 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 " I haste away ? 
 If that thou say, 
 Mine be the sad obeying." 
 
 And Leon, now : 
 "That some should vow 
 And plot their 'worst to hurt me, 
 
 " It was not strange ; 
 
 But that thou change 
 
 And cruelly desert me, — 
 
 " The cup of woe ! 
 It saddened so 
 As almost to convert me 
 
 " From buoyant mind, 
 To faith inclined, 
 To doubt's extremest madness ; 
 
 "That who decreed 
 My art should lead 
 To grandest heights of gladness 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 45 
 
 "Thy happy heart, 
 Should act the part 
 To fill my heart with sadness,- 
 
 " Ah ! bitter fate ! 
 Most sad estate ! 
 But I have seen thy sorrow. 
 
 " Thou askest me 
 To pardon thee, 
 Nor future moments borrow; 
 
 " But sayest condign, 
 If I incline 
 To wait till some to-morrow. 
 
 "The time is now 
 While thou dost bow ; 
 And here, this hand extending, 
 
 " I bid thee rise 
 And see the skies 
 Benign above us bending. 
 
46 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 " Their peaceful blue, 
 With golden hue 
 Of early sunbeams blending, 
 
 " And pleasant breeze 
 In budding trees 
 Yon happy hills adorning; 
 
 " And waterfall, 
 And bird, and all 
 • The melody of morning, 
 
 " Bid thy hope live, 
 When thou dost give 
 Thy worship for thy scorning!' 
 
 Brave in her tears, 
 Brave through her fears, 
 And brave when came his blessing* 
 
 Before him brave 
 Who pardon gave 
 Full as her grand confessing, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 47 
 
 Doth Lillian true 
 Give honor due, 
 Brave Leon thus addressing: 
 
 " Thou truest man 
 Since time began, 
 And truest of the living, 
 
 " My joy how great, 
 When fit thy hate, 
 I have thy full forgiving ! " 
 
 No need to dwell 
 And frigid tell 
 Of every day he missed her, 
 
 Since morning gray 
 Of that sad day, 
 The last day that he kissed hei c 
 
 One word to say, 
 Her bravest way 
 With love his spirit firing. 
 
4-8 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 That one word " Come I " 
 With him at home, 
 This is her song inspiring; 
 
 " Supremest bliss ! 
 From thee a kiss — 
 Thy love with my relenting! 
 
 " Safe in thy arms, 
 Thy soul's high charms 
 To pay for my repenting! 
 
 " May thy friend lead 
 Across the mead 
 To bower yon pleasant glade in ? 
 
 " There would she tell, 
 In that dear dell. 
 The message first essayed m 
 
 " The charming place. 
 There Heaven gave grace 
 When earnest she had prayed in 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 49 
 
 " The pleasant bower. 
 O sacred hour ! 
 O place the angel stayed in ! 
 
 " There spake he words 
 That still like birds 
 Inspire the heart of maiden. 
 
 " And may she there, 
 With tender care 
 Lead thee, thou laurel laden ? " 
 
 For him but shame, 
 Whate'er his name, 
 Whose dark soul must discover 
 
 A snake beneath 
 The maiden's wreath 
 Wherewith she crowns her lover 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Her tender talk 
 On that sweet walk 
 O'er which the angels hover, 
 
 Words from a heart 
 From sin apart 
 As white-robed hosts above her, — 
 
 Who evil sees 
 In joys like these, 
 And . pours his righteous spurning, — ■ 
 
 Who thinks a knave, 
 Or foolish slave, 
 The suitor patient learning 
 
 Love's art, which few 
 Give study due, 
 And laughs at love's deep yearning, 
 
 Count him near hell, 
 Where'er he dwell, 
 A hell within him burning ! 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 5 I 
 
 The sweetest word 
 Earth ever heard, 
 How some delight to sneer it ! 
 
 Sweet word of love ! 
 From joys above 
 The angels come to hear it I 
 
 And poise in air, 
 With choicest care, 
 To hear the song, as near it 
 
 As doth behoove 
 Those come to prove 
 When others' vows endear it, 
 
 And heavenly grace 
 Illumes the face 
 As love from grief doth clear it, 
 
 And throbs the heart 
 As love's quick art 
 Rids of the doubts that sear it ! 
 
52 STANZA AND SEQUEL, 
 
 ■ 
 
 How grand the truth, 
 Love giveth youth 
 To him who knows its meaning ! 
 
 To him the sands 
 Of desert lands, 
 With flowers and grasses greening, 
 
 Are fresh with gales 
 In which joy sails 
 Have happiest careening 
 
 On sparkling springs, 
 O'er which bright wings, 
 In happy host convening, 
 
 Pour gladdest song 
 The hours along, 
 Their music grandly swelling, 
 
 Minstrelsy sweet, 
 For heaven meet, 
 As birds a bliss were telling 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 53 
 
 Above the worth 
 Of joys of earth, 
 Their song the thought compelling, 
 
 Each songster's ear 
 Did anthem hear 
 Of those in Eden dwelling! 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 Exquisite song, Horatius, 
 
 Of joys I have not known; 
 The music of thy numbers 
 
 The sadness shall atone, 
 Or lessen it, and aid me 
 
 To wish, for others, bliss; 
 And if it make unselfish, 
 
 High worth in song like this. 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 Though none have heard 
 What angel word, 
 By Lillian's lips repeated, 
 
54 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 To Leon gave 
 Power to be brave, 
 Nor saw the kisses meted 
 
 That told their love, 
 Thou bird above 
 The bower where they are seated 
 
 Dost sing to tell 
 How fit and well, 
 At Metawampe, greeted 
 
 The fair and strong ; 
 And 'twas thy song 
 That aided Leon's wooing, 
 
 And taught that best 
 Is bravest quest 
 In any kind of suing. 
 
 Soar not away, 
 But longer stay, 
 Thou bird of bravest winging ; 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 55 
 
 With roundelay 
 Still cheer the dav. 
 Thou bird of sweetest singing. 
 
 Thy gentle eyes 
 Are fit to prize 
 The sacred ties 
 Declared by their caresses, — 
 
 Him wreath-entwined ; 
 Her head reclined, 
 As heaven designed, 
 Upon the heart she biesses ; 
 
 She gazing sweet 
 To eyes that greet 
 The orbs they meet 
 With richest lustre, beaming 
 
 From eyes of dove, 
 To speak his love 
 For her, above 
 All others, lovely seeming 
 
56 STANZA AND SEQUEL, 
 
 To him addressed, 
 By her he blessed, 
 " As, noblest, best, 
 Beyond her fancy's dreaming I" 
 
 My friend, 'tis worst 
 
 That ever burst 
 
 From lips accursed ! 
 The lie by cowards stammered ; 
 
 By fools, who prate, 
 
 Love is a fate 
 
 To enervate. 
 The man with soul enamored 
 Of soul worth, and attracting, 
 By his majestic acting 
 
 And equipoise, 
 
 One who employs 
 
 The high decoys 
 Of maiden's choice designing, 
 Whose soul, his worth divining, 
 Attracts his soul, for twining 
 
 Love's tendrils strong, — 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 57 
 
 To him belong, 
 
 Above my song, 
 Congratulations grandest. 
 And thou who understandest 
 Such joys, by not possessing 
 The unspeakable blessing 
 Of love's returned caressing; 
 
 Ethelbert, tell ' 
 
 Me thou wilt well, 
 
 Until life's close, 
 
 Endure thy woes ! 
 
 That other ban 
 
 Of mortal man, 
 
 That fate the worst 
 
 That ever cursed 
 For cowardice in suing, 
 For treachery in wooing, 
 For any wrongful doing; 
 Or came to heart despairing 
 Of ever rightly pairing, 
 And wedding, so, uncaring; 
 
 That fate he wins 
 
 Whose heart begins 
 
58 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 The married life unmated — 
 
 That thou art not thus fated, 
 
 Thou art congratulated. 
 
 Of all woes this life giveth, 
 
 His worst who wedded liveth 
 
 With one his worth unknowing, 
 
 Whose soul, nor grand nor growing, 
 
 Pretends, as such will, ever, 
 
 Each manliest, best endeavor 
 
 To think and live sublimely 
 
 A rash act and untimely, 
 
 The proof of cheap vanity, 
 
 Or sign of insanity! 
 
 Truth all too little rated, 
 
 'Tis hell to wed unmated! 
 
 But blest the man 
 
 Whom Lillian, 
 
 By angel plan, 
 
 Shall save from ban, 
 
 Ethelbe7-t. 
 
 Thou speakest well, Horatius; 
 Wilt thou thy theme pursue? 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 59 
 
 And with the heavens to favor, 
 Thy comrade will live true, 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 With gentle hand, 
 In fairy-land, 
 To thoughts sublime she led him; 
 
 With grandest views, 
 And nectar dews, 
 And heavenly fruitage, fed him ; 
 
 From field and sky 
 And mountain high 
 Inspiring lessons read him ; 
 
 With tender art, 
 From her true heart, 
 A sincere promise said him; 
 
 Naming a day, 
 A month away, 
 A happy day to wed him. 
 
60 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 That good day came 
 
 With sweetest flame 
 The Orient ever lighted, 
 
 To signalize 
 The golden ties 
 Of loving hearts united! 
 
 Day sweet with airs 
 That banished cares 
 And to high thoughts incited; 
 
 Day spanned with blue, 
 The whole day through ! 
 As if all wrongs were righted, 
 
 And sang the lark 
 Till all birds dark 
 Had flown from earth affrighted ! 
 
 At morning hour, 
 In Lillian's bower, 
 With chosen friends attending, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 6l 
 
 Two clasping hands, 
 To speak the bands 
 Their lives in union blending! 
 
 While hovering nigh, 
 From amber sky, 
 Are angel harpers waiting, 
 
 With high delight 
 In holy rite 
 In which two hearts are mating. 
 
 The service done, 
 The surpliced one 
 In fitting words addressed them ; 
 
 Calm in his bliss 
 Leon gave kiss. 
 And kith and kindred blessed them ; 
 
 While brooks kept tune 
 With birds of June, 
 Mid apple blossoms seated, 
 
62 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 And birds from perch 
 Of beech and birch 
 The lovely Lillian greeted, 
 
 And rose acclaim 
 
 To Leon's name, 
 
 At Metawampe meted, 
 
 By every voice 
 That could rejoice ; 
 And flowers the choicest growing, 
 
 The twain to greet, 
 Sent odors sweet 
 By every zephyr blowing. 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 Ennobling, still, the anguish 
 That must be mine when told, 
 
 Wherein, for me were ashes, 
 Others found shining gold. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 63 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 Twelve months, the morn 
 A child is born, 
 The gods to earth consigning 
 
 A lovely boy, 
 Sweet pledge of joy, 
 The graces well combining 
 
 Of him who heard 
 The singing bird, 
 And her love's wreath entwining. 
 
 Benign their sky, 
 As years go by, 
 Each marked with heaven's blessing. 
 
 And dawns the day, 
 Sweet in the May, 
 When angels come confessing, 
 
 To parents blessed 
 With baby guest, 
 That angel, in caressing 
 
64 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Her cherry lips, 
 The nectar sips 
 Finer than that provided, 
 
 From sweetest flowers 
 Of heaven's bowers, 
 For gods when they decided 
 
 The questions great 
 In human fate, 
 By Jove to them confided. 
 
 Their love kept new, 
 For each soul grew, 
 And each the other aided 
 
 Right things to know, 
 To help each grow, 
 And love's rose never faded. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 65 
 
 Each soul, each hour, 
 Increased in power, 
 Each by the other's doing, 
 
 And each by own 
 In grace was grown ; 
 Their love each day renewing, 
 
 Because, each day, 
 Each soul could say, 
 My soul's mate still is growing, 
 
 My soul to prove 
 With noblest love, 
 Affection worth bestowing. 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 What words are thine, Horatius: 
 
 "Their love kept new, 
 
 For each soul grew, 
 And each the other aided 
 
66 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 "Right things to know, 
 To help each grow, 
 And love's rose never faded!" 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 Their honeymoon 
 Did not end soon, — 
 In truth it never ended. 
 
 By Lillian traced 
 With finest taste, 
 In love's own picture blended, 
 
 As Leon's due, 
 Her soul's rich hue, 
 To bless the man she mated. 
 
 To him there came 
 Abundant fame, 
 And he, as artist feted, 
 
 Still painted well 
 Both flood and fell, 
 Nor heeded critics serving 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 6j 
 
 Their lavish praise ; 
 Their proffered bays, 
 Nor aiding nor unnerving, 
 
 Reminded yet 
 Of venomed threat, 
 The fullest scorn deserving. 
 
 Their biting sneers 
 Of other years, 
 With present praise, neglecting, 
 
 With verve and heart 
 He plied his art ; 
 Some heavenly guide directing 
 
 His paintings made 
 Of highest grade ; 
 And for the full perfecting 
 
 Of noblest one 
 His hand begun. 
 He came, the canvas bringing, 
 
68 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 From distant town ; 
 And where came down 
 The angel, and the singing 
 
 Of sweetest bird 
 He ever heard, 
 To aid him, still seemed ringing 
 
 From every bird 
 That now he heard 
 Their happy carols flinging, 
 
 Made it complete , 
 In arbor sweet, 
 Where pleasant sunbeams strayed in, 
 
 And glinted round 
 The grassy ground 
 Of bower two children played in. 
 
 And happy there. 
 In sweet May air, 
 The mother, erst the maiden, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 69 
 
 Recalled the day 
 She came to pray 
 In bower the angels stayed in. 
 
 Then choicest flowers 
 From field and bowers, 
 The advent there divining, 
 
 Fair maidens bring, 
 And sweetly sing, 
 On Lillian's brow entwining 
 
 Arbutus bloom 
 With rare perfume, 
 The best of heaven's designing. 
 
 Sweet breath of praise 
 To God for rays 
 From solar fountain shining ! 
 
 Yet speaks it more 
 Of scene of yore 
 Whose influence, refining, 
 
JO STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Shall teach to know 
 High meanings glow 
 On shore and shining river; 
 
 Shall teach to read 
 That wave and mead 
 Reflect the Heavenly Giver, 
 
 Whose lovely earth 
 Hath greater worth 
 Than that it seems possessing; 
 
 A hidden good, 
 Well understood 
 By thoughtful minds, and blessing 
 
 Who would discern, 
 With power to learn, 
 The truths their souls addressing 
 
 In all things made, 
 Of every grade ; 
 From spray of tiny fountain 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 7 I 
 
 To surging sea ; 
 From wind-swayed tree 
 To storm-defying mountain ! 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 The truth in thy sweet singing 
 
 I love to hear thee tell. 
 The present of thy heroes ? 
 
 Thou must have known them well. 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 A year to stray, 
 Embark to-day 
 The two so nobly mated. 
 
 Kind be the gale 
 That fills the sail 
 Of ship so grandly freighted. 
 
 Zephyr that fanned 
 The fairy-land 
 Where Leon won his blessing ; 
 
72 STANZA AND SEQUEL, 
 
 Benignant breeze, 
 Seek thou the seas, 
 The good ship so caressing 
 
 That it behave 
 Faithfully brave, 
 The roughest waves defeating; 
 
 Avoiding rocks, 
 And through the shocks 
 Of storms in safety fleeting. 
 
 And breeze the best 
 That ever blest 
 A wanderer returning, 
 
 In safety waft 
 Whatever craft 
 Keeps time with Leon's yearning 
 
 To see once more 
 His native shore 
 And hear the carols ringing 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 73 
 
 Of sweeter bird 
 Than all he heard 
 In foreign countries singing ! 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 Delightful and inspiring, 
 
 Shall linger with me long 
 The scene at Metawampe, 
 
 Depicted in your song ; 
 A solace and a study, 
 
 And influence as well, 
 To keep the feet from straying 
 
 And to right acts impel ; 
 Significant and lovely 
 
 As beams of morning are ; 
 An oasis in life's desert ; 
 
 In darkest night, a star, 
 
 To guide and cheer Ethelbert, 
 Who speaks his thanks to thee. 
 
 And that the scene you sung him 
 An omen prove to be, 
 
74 
 
 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 There dawns a hope within him ; 
 
 Though he cannot behold 
 The good, the skies, to honor 
 
 The story thou hast told, 
 Will send, to prove the saying, 
 
 "The dawn succeeds the night, 
 If thorns, likewise the roses, 
 
 And after wrong the right!" 
 
 Horatius. 
 Your thankfulness is cheering; 
 
 And 'tis high joy to sing, 
 The more, if unto others, 
 
 The song a solace bring. 
 The sentiment pervading 
 
 The Metawampe theme, 
 To some, would seem a vision, 
 
 And idle as a dream ; 
 Yet I delight to keep it 
 
 To cheer me, and inspire; 
 To give my inner being 
 
 Its light, and food, and fire ! 
 
 [Horatius and Ethelbert rising and looking across the 
 landscape, the former resumes speaking.] 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 But who are those equestrians 
 
 Who sweep along the plain, 
 In easy undulation, 
 
 Like biHows of the main? 
 One seems a kingly escort, 
 
 And queenly one who rides; 
 I wonder what, Ethelbert, 
 
 Their coursing there betides ! 
 Ethelbert, they approach us ! 
 
 Can I believe my eyes ? 
 My heroes gone to Europe, 
 
 Give us a fine surprise. 
 
 [The equestrians approach and dismount] 
 
 Horatius. 
 Ethelbert; Leon, Lillian. 
 
 Lillian, sotio voce. 
 Ethelbert! that the name? 
 
 Horatius. 
 I thought you o'er the ocean; 
 But, glad to see you here, 
 
 75 
 
76 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 I ask you, know my welcome 
 Is hearty and sincere ? 
 
 Leon. 
 Our European ramble, 
 
 Postponed until the sun 
 His grand autumnal solstice 
 
 In triumph has begun, 
 We came, of course, to Berkshire, 
 
 To spend the summer days, 
 And study much on horseback, 
 
 Or coach along the ways. 
 An hour ago we neared you, 
 
 Within this lovely grove ; 
 A moment heard you singing, 
 
 And toward yon mountain drove. 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 May I inquire the meaning 
 Of Lillian's knowing look ; 
 
 Why of the name Ethelbert 
 She special notice took ? 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 77 
 
 Leon. 
 
 Well mayst thou ask, Horatius ; 
 
 And strange as romance seems 
 Our meeting here in Berkshire, — 
 
 Dramatic as our dreams ! 
 And Lillian could tell thee, 
 
 Though modest of her deeds, 
 Why, in this unplanned meeting, 
 
 Her eye such meaning reads. 
 
 Lillian. 
 The heavenly light from God's high throne 
 
 Will answer all true praying, 
 And tell us when, and with what care, 
 
 The needed good conveying, 
 
 We go with ever ready hand ; 
 
 And if at once obeying 
 The inner voice, we save from sin 
 
 Who else had gone far straying, 
 
 Our act shall bring us grandest joy, 
 Above all song or story ; 
 
78 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 And better fame than heroes win 
 On fields of martial glory! 
 
 One morn I sought for special aid 
 
 And heavenly direction, 
 If spoiler try his power to wreak, 
 
 That I give prompt protection. 
 
 That day I met one lured astray, 
 Who seemed by hope forsaken ; 
 
 Yet firm against the tempter's wiles, 
 With not a stray step taken. 
 
 God helped me say, "My friend, let not 
 Thy heart's pure blossom perish ! " 
 
 And memories of that hour until 
 Life's latest day I'll cherish; 
 
 So bright its lustre glows at thought 
 
 That faithfully I heeded 
 The voice that heaven gave within, 
 
 And spoke the message needed. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 79 
 
 A quick, glad cry, she seized my hand, 
 And then, o'ercome, she fainted. . 
 
 The tempter fled; and then her voice, — 
 " A maiden still untainted 
 
 "Thanks her who saved from lasting shame 
 The one who here confesses 
 Her greatest fault, remembered long, 
 Of scorning his addresses, 
 
 "Who thought her more than all caressed 
 By all the airs of morning; 
 Then proudly she his suit denied, 
 And greeted with cool scorning, 
 
 " His humble prayer, that such as he, 
 When weary years of waiting 
 Had proven him, might then renew 
 His suit, with hope of mating. 
 
 "Tears of remorse these torrid years, 
 And then so near descending 
 The slimy depths where woman weeps 
 In shame that has no ending ! 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 " O, thou, the best of womankind, 
 May woman worst present thee 
 Her trembling thanks, and ask thee lift 
 To Heaven, that must have sent thee, 
 
 " These tear-burned eyes — to God's clear blue, 
 In praise for fate averted ? 
 But may I hope ? will God forgive 
 Her sin who thus deserted 
 
 "The noblest one since time began, 
 And gave the coolest spurning 
 To his sweet words, that sang like larks, 
 And now, to ravens turning, 
 
 " With fiery beaks, in fiercest ire, 
 Are in her spirit burning ? 
 What sequel sad of broken vows 
 This desert heart is learning ! " 
 
 And gazing sad, with tear-dimmed ken, 
 
 On portrait held above her, 
 She said, " I print one burning kiss, — ■ 
 
 Ah, my deserted lover! 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. gl 
 
 'My wrong to him has brought the grief 
 
 Of which Ethelbert warned me ! 
 If still on earth, wilt thou forgive, , 
 Ethelbert, her who scorned thee?" 
 
 L Ethelbert, who has listened with riveted attention, sinks, 
 overcome with emotion.] 
 
 Estelle !— Horatius, hither ! 
 
 Is this some fleetinsr dream? 
 
 Lillian, softly. 
 He speaks her name; how strange all this! 
 
 'Tis God's own wisdom orders ; 
 And we of earth seem coming near 
 
 To heaven's very borders. 
 
 Still lives Estelle, and he forgives 
 
 For all those years of sorrow ; 
 A thrilling scene perchance there'll be, 
 
 When Orient brings the morrow; 
 
 Or we may hear, to-day, the vow 
 Among the Berkshire mountains, 
 
82 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Excelling song of bards and birds 
 And sweeter than the fountains • 
 
 [Horatius, taking Ethelbert's hand.] 
 
 Companion of my boyhood ! 
 
 Ethelbert^ rising. 
 Tell me, before high heaven, 
 
 If still on earth there lives 
 The one of whom brave Lillian 
 
 Her glowing picture gives; 
 And, if she live, speak gently, 
 
 That still remains on earth, 
 Ethelbert, still her lover, 
 
 To whom as nothing worth 
 Seems all the happy summer, 
 
 Nor aught the joyous spring, 
 Which doth not to Ethelbert 
 
 Her radiant presence bring. 
 
 Lillian. 
 
 Her home with us, her grief she tells 
 To none but those who love her ; 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 8$ 
 
 in wore! and deed she lives discreet 
 As God's own sky above her. 
 
 She came with us, but keeps her name 
 
 From ail in Berkshire dwelling; 
 With thee restored, she may forgive 
 
 What I, to thee, am telling! 
 
 [Addiessing Leon.] 
 
 Is that her voice? my Leon bring 
 
 Thy lens, that thou descry her; 
 For oft she strolls alone and sings, 
 
 Where no one can espy her, 
 
 Leon, thy steed, and mine for her. 
 
 Thou who wast ever knightly, 
 Will act with care, and gently tell 
 
 The grand denouement rightly. 
 
 Mthelbert, 
 
 I As Leon and Estelle approach.l 
 
 My own Estelle. forever I 
 
 Ye biras your noblest song; 
 
84 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 And sweetest brooks of Berkshire, 
 The joyous strain prolong ! 
 
 Ethelbert ! ! 
 
 Estelle ! ! 
 
 Estrfle. 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 [After the greeting of the reunited lovers. Ethelbert addresses 
 Horatius.] 
 
 Horatius, thy prediction, 
 
 " The dawn succeeds the night 1 
 
 If thorns, likewise the roses, 
 And after wrong the right/" 
 
 Horatius. 
 I cannot sing. Ethelbert, 
 
 As high as you deserve, 
 Who, through the fiercest trials, 
 
 Displayed such royal nerve ; 
 And, in these sudden blisses, 
 
 Manly thine uncontrol ; 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 85 
 
 While, through your features shining, 
 
 The lustre of your soul, 
 Wins all my admiration, 
 
 My highest fancy fills, 
 And charms more than the music 
 
 Arising from the rills, 
 
 Among the Berkshire mountains 
 
 That murmur sweet along, 
 And sing as if in heaven 
 
 They learned the art of song, 
 And were by Him commissioned 
 
 Who made for service high, 
 And perfected in singing, 
 
 The minstrels of the sky ; 
 By Him who spoke to being, 
 
 Sweeter to sing than rills, 
 My friend who loves to hear them, 
 
 Among these Berkshire hills. 
 
 Each one the other loving- 
 
 With fervency of heart, 
 Each glowed to find the other 
 
86 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Rapt o'er the rhythmic art; 
 But when we came to try it, 
 
 You sang so much the best, 
 I thought" it would be fitting 
 
 That my poor harp should rest. 
 And yet my verse found favor, 
 
 And yours was scornful thrown, 
 As stuff for which no merit 
 
 Could afterward atone ! 
 
 Sadly you tore the parchment, 
 When here the hills among, 
 
 To leave no proof to mortals 
 That you had ever sung. 
 
 [Lillian, motioning Horatius aside, speaks to him ; after 
 which he returns and addresses Ethelbert.] 
 
 Revealing on revealing ! 
 
 Excelling all. our song, 
 And Lillian has told me, 
 
 As he is brave and strong, 
 That I inform my comrade, 
 
 Above the angel's word, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 87 
 
 A maiden in an arbor 
 
 At Metawampe heard — 
 Was sentiment of stanza, 
 
 Upon a torn page read, 
 Discovered when she rambled, 
 
 Where intuition led, 
 
 From Metawampe, hither, 
 
 Among the Berkshire hills ; 
 And here she found the singing 
 
 Which all this romance fills, 
 With most inspiring sweetness. 
 
 And here how grandly fit 
 That she repeat the stanza, 
 
 In your own tracing writ. 
 She bade me give the paper 
 
 To him who wrote the verse ; 
 And now we ask that Lillian 
 
 The lucid lines rehearse. 
 
 Lillian. 
 
 "Reduce to fact your fancy ; 
 JVbr tarry till you do 
 
88 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 Make real the ideal 
 
 That God has given you." 
 
 Horatius. 
 
 How strange the revelation ! 
 
 What mortal would have kenned 
 Such wealth of good resulting 
 
 From verse by mortal penned ? 
 An artist's fame and fortune, 
 
 Domestic bliss complete, — 
 Two lives of highest beauty 
 
 With usefulness replete ! 
 And , here, perchance, Ethelbert 
 
 Will other lines rehearse, 
 To match those loved by Lillian, 
 
 As beautiful and terse. 
 
 Ethelbert. 
 
 Most real the ideal, 
 
 Least fact what most call fact; 
 And, of ideal, most real, 
 
 Ideal in nn act. 
 
 [Solicited by Lillian, Ethelbert continues.] 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 89 
 
 When some kind voice tells thee plainly 
 
 Of new building for thine hand ; 
 And thou flndest hindrance mainly 
 
 In the strangeness of command 
 
 Calling thee from routine labor 
 
 In the wonted, humble, sphere, 
 And thou fear'st from foe or neighbor 
 
 An unkind or jealous sneer ; 
 
 Do not for such hindrance smother 
 That sweet voice that speaks within ; 
 
 Thou mayst find the foe turn brother, 
 If thou manfully begin, 
 
 And continue bravely doing, 
 
 Work the angel bids thee do ; 
 And, each day the work renewing, 
 
 Thou shalt find it ever new. 
 
 It shall charm like high romances, 
 Gemming legends of old days ; 
 
90 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 And, beyond thy farthest fancies, 
 O'er wide plains, by untrod ways, 
 
 Paths unknown to other leaders, 
 Angel guide shall lead thee sure, 
 
 For the gold and goodly cedars 
 Which shall evermore endure, 
 
 In the towers of consummation 
 
 That shall mark thy work complete, 
 
 And attest the world's laudation 
 
 Which thy shrinking ears shall greet. 
 
 Fear not but for all these praises 
 That Good Power shall well prepare, 
 
 Who hath life in all its phases 
 Under His benignant care ; 
 
 For, by thorns and frequent crosses, 
 Which thy heart shall fully test, 
 
 Sad reverses and sore losses, 
 If His wisdom thinketh best ; 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 To true meekness He will hold thee, 
 Still commanding thee, be brave, 
 
 And obey injunctions told thee 
 By the angel that He gave. 
 
 And this angel shall sustain thee, 
 Be the work or long or hard ; 
 
 And the future shall explain thee, 
 All that did thy work retard 
 
 Was designed to bid thee stronger 
 Make the building of thine hand, 
 
 Which, than time's duration longer, 
 Through eternity, shall stand. 
 
 Follow thine intuitions, 
 
 They always lead thee right; 
 In all of thine ambitions, 
 
 Heed thou the inner sight. 
 
 Whatever to that vision 
 Seems duty for thee, do ; 
 
9 2 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 No matter what derision 
 
 The doing leads thee through. 
 
 And derision it will bring thee, 
 Ere they shall understand, 
 
 And their tardy praises sing thee 
 Whom they had gladly banned; 
 
 They who would joy to shame thee 
 And chill thy heart with fright, 
 
 Did not thy grit proclaim thee 
 Superior to their might. 
 
 Brave one, thine intuitions 
 Shall always lead thee right; 
 
 In all of thine ambitions 
 Heed thou the inner sight! 
 
 ^ j 
 
 Directed by that vision 
 
 Thy duty bravely do ; 
 The glow from thy decision 
 
 Shall light and lead thee through. 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 93 
 
 Whatever the monitions 
 
 Thou hear'st within thee, heed ; 
 That thou to have contritions 
 
 May never know the need. 
 
 The Father is forgiving, 
 
 If thou repentest sin ; 
 Yet most He loves that living 
 
 Which hath no falseness in. 
 
 Wanting fulcrum, wanting lever, 
 
 Given heavy weight to lift ; 
 Strong in faith, begin endeavor, 
 
 There shall come to thee, the gift 
 
 Of a heaven-designed appliance, 
 
 By which thou shalt mountains move ; 
 
 While beside thee, in alliance, 
 
 There shall angels wait to prove, 
 
 On more hindrances before thee, 
 All their own celestial might •, 
 
94 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 And shall beam, benignant o'er thee, 
 God's own sky of love and light ! 
 
 Leon. 
 
 Be these bright words our motto ; 
 
 And now, if Lillian please, 
 To mark events resulting 
 
 From sentiments like these ; 
 Will she, where lovely maples 
 
 Delight our lodge with shade, 
 Prepare a feast as royal 
 
 As one for sovereigns made ? 
 For wine thou hast no liking, — 
 
 And who would wish for wine, 
 What other drink were given, 
 
 If poured by hand of thine ? 
 
 And, at that feast, Horatius, 
 Perchance, will give a song, 
 
 Announcing in sweet numbers 
 That Love enduring long 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 95 
 
 The trials of his patience. 
 
 Doth added bliss receive 
 For every cold refusal 
 
 That made his spirit grieve,- 
 A song to date a wedding 
 
 When fine October sun 
 Shall speak the season fitting 
 
 That lovers be made one. 
 
 And if at Metawampe 
 
 Our friends shall wish to wed, 
 Will Lillian deck the arbor 
 
 Where intuition led 
 When erst she sought an angel, 
 
 And where his hope begun, 
 Who, but for her relenting, 
 
 Had ever been undone ? 
 Thou, Lillian, my consort, 
 
 Though years have made me gray, 
 And thou hast locks of silver, 
 
 Thou art, as on that day, 
 
96 STANZA AND SEQUEL. 
 
 My joy, my inspiration ; 
 
 As beautiful as beams 
 That gild the hours of morning 
 
 Or sparkle in our dreams ; 
 As young as at that meeting 
 
 When thou didst say, " forgive : 
 And I, for thy relenting, 
 
 Could bid thy hope relive ; 
 The hour when smiling heaven 
 
 Gave token in thy kiss, 
 Initial fit, and foretaste, 
 
 Of these bright years of bliss ! 
 
 And with the words uniting 
 
 Their hearts in golden bands. 
 Shall they, as our companions, 
 
 Embark for foreign lands; 
 To thread the glens of Scotland. 
 
 And climb the Alpine height; 
 To linger in the castles 
 
 That rose by feudal might ; 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 97 
 
 « 
 
 To pluck delicious clusters 
 
 From vine-clad hills of France ; 
 And muse where classic ages 
 
 The interest enhance 
 
 In Italy's rich landscape, 
 
 And her delightful skies ; 
 And then, returning hither, 
 
 Find much to love and prize 
 In this good land, where nature 
 
 And liberty unite. 
 To furnish those devoted 
 
 To freedom and the right 
 Fit home, with room for growing 
 
 In all that makes men great, 
 And elevates a people, 
 
 And unifies a state. 
 
 [Lillian and Ethelbert depart on horseback to the lodge, and Leon 
 addresses Estelle, who tarries with Horatius.] 
 
 Truth worth the telling, such as poet true 
 Doth sing, is only found by patient search 
 In realm beyond the bounds of earthliness, 
 
Cp STANZA AXD SEQUEL. 
 
 Accessible to him alone, whose heart, 
 
 Of selfishness divest, and well refined, 
 
 Can be that brave it must, to study close 
 
 As will to him reveal truth's treasures, hid 
 
 Therein, and evermore, to selfish ones, 
 
 E'en were they, unregenerate, permit 
 
 That realm to range. Fell foe is selfishness, 
 
 To bard, permitting him no bravery 
 
 To journey to that realm he seeks afar, 
 
 And quenching insight clear that sees the truth-, 
 
 And that dread enemy, once slain, 
 
 Often revives again to vex ; and he 
 
 With grandest powers of song, may have within 
 
 An equal enemy, and know it not. 
 
 How happy he, if faithful friend shall see, 
 
 And of that foe, to his convincing, tell. 
 
 And fortunate, beyond compare, to him, 
 
 If woman is that friend, whose love for him, 
 
 Enlightens her to see how strong that foe, 
 
 And aids her in the discipline upon 
 
 His heart which shall the enemy expel , 
 
 And aids that, then, with tears sincere, she beg 
 
 To bow before the man she loves ; and he, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. 99 
 
 Protesting 'tis high privilege to him 
 
 That she beside him sit, shall gratefully 
 
 Admit he is her debtor evermore, 
 
 For discipline severe which all his worst 
 
 Self conquered, that his best might live and sing [ 
 
 Estelle, possessor of that poet's heart 
 
 And soul, whose coinage and whose breathing was 
 
 The sentiment, in living which high truth 
 
 Did Lillian all doubt and selfishness 
 
 Expel my heart ; inspire with bravery, 
 
 And teach me patience with myself, that sought, 
 
 In practice of his art, the tracery to do 
 
 The artist's work, that gave my heart its joy 
 
 And brought me all my wealth of fame and friends ! — - 
 
 Thou, wise and good, what words of mine, to thee 
 
 Shall tell the deep solicitude that thou, 
 
 By love assigned to keep his heart, and thence 
 
 To drive his enemy, that thou shalt see 
 
 This work is thine to do ! What words shall tell 
 
 The joy that springs from full belief that thou 
 
 Wilt thus interpret meaning grand of these 
 
 Events, and well thy work will comprehend ; 
 
 And for that mission high, Ethelbert wed ! 
 
IOO STANZA AND SEQUEL, 
 
 Estell:, 
 
 Thou speakest, Leon, as from heaven, the words 
 
 That I shall prize, and evermore shall heed ! 
 
 Shed, sweetest skies, your loveliness divine, 
 
 To temper well this heart ! and Spirit, Thou, 
 
 In Heaven, regnant high, yet noting all 
 
 Thy children's cries ; to me all meekness give, 
 
 And courage, that I well endure upon 
 
 My bleeding heart, the blows thou biddest that 
 
 My hand inflict, a better, truer man 
 
 To make that one I love as life itself \ 
 
 Right nobly done, thy sentiment ! and now 
 
 The language, high, thy lover penned long years 
 
 Ago, and words my heart in faith adopts : 
 
 " Reduce to fact your fancy ; 
 
 Nor tarry till you do 
 Make real the ideal 
 
 That God has given you.'" 
 
 And thus, Ethelbert, blessed, refined, inspired 
 By thee, and growing by his work, shall learn, 
 
STANZA AND SEQUEL. IOI 
 
 And all who shall his song admire will read, 
 
 In their own bettered lives his song has blessed, — 
 
 Still further sequel, grand, of truth he sung 
 
 In verse the critics, cursing, thought to kill ! 
 
 [Leon and Horatius start for the lodge, leaving Estelle to 
 follow with Ethelbert, who has returned and 
 , addresses her.] 
 
 Estelle, thy steed awaits thee, 
 
 Eager to own thy rein 
 And amble, at thy bidding, 
 
 Like zephyr o'er the plain ; 
 Beyond the Housatonic, 
 
 To glens among the hills, 
 Where sparkle silver cascades 
 
 And sing the happy rills, 
 And where the lodge of Leon 
 
 Affords an ample view 
 Of scene, where, now, two lovers 
 
 Pray heaven to keep them true ! 
 
 [Estelle, with Ethelbert as escort, leaves the grove.] 
 
THE BRIGHT BELIEF. 
 
 IF, sore discouraged and distressed, 
 With sorrows and with cares oppressed, 
 And sins confessed, and unconfessed, 
 And every ill, 
 
 The heart were struggling for relief, 
 And found no succor from its grief, 
 In buoyant trust, and bright belief, — 
 How sad the earth ! 
 
 But rules reverse of these obtain, 
 Nor mortal suffered yet in vain, 
 A trivial, nor the largest pain, 
 Nor ever will. 
 
 So let the troubled take new heart, 
 Learn well of suffering the art, 
 Nor shun to share a generous part 
 In life's good griefs ! 
 
THE BRIGHT BELIEF. 
 
 The saddest his of all estates, 
 And slave is he to dreadest fates, 
 And farthest he from heavenly gates, 
 Whom doubt doth rule ! 
 
 But, sad one, if thou triest to trust, 
 In spite of all earth's dark and dust- 
 Though midst them living, as thou must— 
 Thou liv'st above, — 
 
 Then fiends that strive shall strive in vain 
 Control of thy good soul to gain, 
 And Hope, true angel, for thee deign 
 Her constant aid. 
 
 For none hath God the tender care 
 He ever shows for those who bear 
 Of life's worst woes abundant share, 
 Enduring well. 
 
 Enduring gives the power t'endure, 
 With skill to make life's troubles fewer. 
 And suffering makes the sufferer pure,— 
 So welcome ill. 
 
 103 
 
104 THE BRIGHT BELIEF. 
 
 Bright after clouds there comes the 'sun, 
 And sweetest rest when work is done, 
 True peace is but by warring won, — 
 True wealth by toil ! 
 
 How blessed is the bright belief, 
 That joy which cometh after grief, 
 Is sweetest joy, and is not brief, 
 
 Like other joys ! 
 
 Inspiring, grand, and true, the thought, 
 That bliss by bitter trials bought, 
 Is nearer unto heaven than aught 
 On earth beside ! 
 
 And there, beyond thine earthly ban, 
 The wisdom of His rounded plan 
 Who ordereth the ways of man 
 Shall be made plain ; 
 
 And thou shalt know thy Father spoke, 
 When fates thy noblest planning broke 
 And gave to thee a cross and yoke — 
 That prove thy crown ! 
 
EARTH'S BRIGHTEST STAR. 
 
 /^"^ OD blesses most the men whose hearts 
 ^— * With kind emotions burn ; 
 And, more than they their fellowmen, 
 He honors them in turn. 
 
 Ennobling is our faith in men, 
 
 It lifts us from the dust, 
 And what we trust a man to be 
 
 We make the man we trust. 
 
 Faith is the sun succeeding storm, 
 
 Spring, after winter's blast; 
 'Tis heaven's health and peace, when plague 
 
 And pestilence are past ; 
 
 Sweet, joy-inspiring airs, to chase 
 
 The desert's torrid breath ; 
 Verdure and singing brooks, in place 
 
 Of barrenness and death ! 
 
106 earth's brightest star. 
 
 Faith is earth's brightest star of hope, 
 
 Salvation and its cause, 
 The dispensation following 
 
 The prophets and the laws: 
 
 The newer and the better way 
 
 Proclaimed by angel song; 
 The dawn at night whose light extends 
 
 The centuries along ! 
 
 " BRIGHT ON YOUR NATIVE HILLS." 
 
 BRIGHT on your native hills 
 The sun benignant beams, 
 Perennial down the pleasant slopes 
 
 Still sing the happy streams, 
 Which feed yon river's tide that flows 
 
 In beauty through the vale ; 
 Transparent, purling brooks 
 
 Which sing of springs that never fail ; 
 And grand the mountains stand, as erst, 
 
BRIGHT ON YOUR NATIVE HILLS. 107 
 
 When there your kindred dwelt, 
 
 And fresh the mountain winds as airs 
 Their fields and forests felt. 
 
 And ye remain to keep their homes, 
 
 And guard the noble name 
 Earned by their share of those grand deeds 
 
 That give New England fame. 
 Shines their example, still, as bright 
 
 As beams the golden sun ; 
 Flows still their influence as pure 
 
 As mountain waters run. 
 So cherish ye the fame they gained, 
 
 And emulate their worth, 
 Your names, when ye are gone, shall live, 
 
 Perennial in the earth ! 
 
"SHE PLACED THE BITTER-SWEET." 
 
 (In remembrance of a noble family.) 
 
 l girlhood's home returning, 
 She placed the bitter-sweet 
 Within the grand old mansion, 
 Where sunbeams shadows meet ; 
 
 And there declared : " Henceforward 
 
 Be kindness all my theme ; 
 With constant hand dispensing, 
 
 The moments to redeem ; 
 
 " Teaching, if I have suffered, 
 I would the world be blest: 
 
 Praying, if I have struggled, 
 The weary have good rest. 
 
 " I thank Thee, Heavenly Father — 
 My name Thou hast kept sweet, 
 
 And through these bitter trials, 
 Hast kept my ways discreet." 
 
"she placed the bitter-sweet. 109 
 
 The silver tresses mingling 
 
 Her raven locks among 
 Mean more than years ; they index 
 
 Her heart's own sorrows wrung; 
 
 Of which, most like, she tells not, 
 
 So reticent of grief ; 
 As most like she hath suffered 
 
 Too deeply for belief. 
 
 Bevbnd that first revealing 
 She speaks not of her lot; 
 % Hoping her many sorrows 
 By earth be all forgot ! 
 
 To girlhood's home returning, 
 
 She placed the bitter-sweet 
 Within the grand old mansion, 
 
 Where sunbeams shadows meet: 
 
ALWAYS WITH THEE. 
 
 IN sunny days of childhood playing, 
 When life was all one scene of Maying, 
 And thou hadst not a thought of straying, 
 God blessed thee then. 
 
 Forgiving all thy youthful sinning, 
 He helped thee to a manly winning 
 Good triumphs o'er a bad beginning, 
 And helps thee still, 
 
 That, in the strife which ceaseth never £ 
 Demanding watch and warring ever, 
 Thou do, by manliest endeavor, 
 The victor be. 
 
THROUGH GRIEF. 
 
 O GIVEN by fiends the gall to drink, 
 And sweeter grown for all they send ; 
 A kind and watchful Providence 
 
 Will soon proclaim the ordeal's end ; 
 Yet call thee not from earth above, 
 
 But ask thee, wearied one, take rest ; 
 And that thy restless eyes may close, 
 
 Command that, from the roseate west, 
 Angels reposeful influence sweet 
 
 Pour forth, to give thy spirit calm, 
 And others send, on zephyrs borne, 
 
 To soothe thy troubled heart with balm. 
 
 Angelic ones shall sentinel 
 
 Thy rest, and fragrance waft, till day, 
 Shall brightly break and bid thee, glad, 
 
 Thy grateful orisons to pay ; 
 Refreshed, inhale the ambrosial air 
 
 And walk beneath a happy sky, 
 
112 THROUGH GRIEF. 
 
 Inspired, by carol of the birds 
 
 And songs of brooks that murmur by, 
 
 With faith that heaven will bless thy days, 
 Each westering sun bring peaceful sleep, 
 
 And every morn new evidence 
 
 That angels tender watch-care keep ! 
 
 Heroic sufferer, who hast borne 
 
 The burden of a broken heart, 
 Patiently, artlessly, and yet 
 
 With all the dignity of art, 
 While so intent to bless the world 
 
 None knew what woes thine own heart had — 
 Deep, bitter griefs, which, told above, 
 
 Would make the heavenly singers sad, — 
 Soon shalt thou learn the gracious truth, 
 
 Through griefs and cares which here annoy, 
 Heaven builds the path by which thy feet 
 
 Shall reach the highest hills of joy ! 
 
"TOO MANY HEARTS ARE SAD TO-NIGHT." 
 
 TOO many hearts are sad, to-night, 
 I may not dance to music light, 
 They're sad from hunger and from pain, 
 And sad from sin's polluting stain. 
 Low down in cellars, up the stairs, 
 Where freely pass the winter airs ; 
 'Neath wretched shed, and in the street, 
 Where pelt the piercing storms of sleet, 
 Are pallid cheeks, and sunken eyes, 
 And forms that never more may rise. 
 Too many hearts are sad to-night, 
 I cannot dance to music light. 
 But some will wake, if moved aright, 
 To noble purpose and brave deed, 
 And nobly with their duty speed, 
 Achieving full, complete success, 
 While all the world, admiring, bless. 
 All this, if now, right words I say, 
 
114 BLESSINGS FOR THE HELPFUL. 
 
 While you with like companions gay, 
 In dizzy waltzing whirl away ! 
 Too many hearts are sad to-night ; 
 [ will not dance to music light ! 
 
 BLESSINGS FOR THE HELPFUL,. 
 
 f~~^ OOD friend, if every one observed 
 ^—^ The mandate to be kind, 
 If all were courteous as thvself, 
 
 And helpfully inclined, 
 How bright a scene this earth would be, 
 
 How light life's burdens prove ; 
 How blithe, along life's rugged road, 
 
 Would pilgrims singing move ! 
 
 Sweet resonance of sparkling streams 
 Would bless life's desert drear ; 
 
 And birds would sing, and flowers and fruit 
 With fragrance fill the air ! 
 
THE FORTY-SECOND. 
 
 There is no overestimate 
 
 Of kindness to our kind, 
 And brightest stars will bless the man 
 
 To helpful ways inclined ! 
 
 "5 
 
 THE FORTY-SECOND. 
 
 \I 7HEN, erst, the nation was besieged 
 
 ^ * By armed rebellious foemen, 
 And peace had fled, and skies were dark 
 
 With every direful omen ; 
 And Lincoln, from the capitol, 
 
 For aid so wistful beckoned, 
 Not least among the men to march 
 
 The Bay state's Forty-second ! 
 
 Now that the din of war is done, 
 And glad the war cloud's risen, 
 
 They come with thought of camp and field, 
 And of the rebel prison ! 
 
Il6 THE FORTY-SECOND, 
 
 They gather here for hearty words. 
 
 In kindly interest spoken, 
 To make the bands of friendship strong, 
 
 That never may be broken ! 
 
 Should Treason arm again her hosts, 
 
 To fill the land with trouble, 
 Her deepest schemes of ill would prove 
 
 An evanescent bubble ; 
 For those brave men would rise again 
 
 And march, with others like them, 
 To capture all the rebel guns, 
 
 And evermore to spike them. 
 
 And, wishing you much earthly joy, 
 
 And entrance late to heaven, 
 I speak this sincere offering, 
 
 In rhythmic numbers given. 
 By one who deems it pleasant fame 
 
 That he is welcome reckoned, 
 A member, in good standing, with 
 
 The Bay state's Forty-second ' 
 
THE CRITICS. 
 
 THE wicked wish some critics have, 
 And knack, and greed, to kill, 
 May pass quite readily for taste, 
 And evidence of skill ; 
 
 But were there none to write a verse s 
 
 Or paragraph of prose. 
 How critics, then, would pass their time, 
 
 Is more than mortal knows. 
 
 They might ascend the upper spheres, 
 
 To criticise the stars, 
 And teach good manners and good sense 
 
 To Jupiter and Mars, 
 
 Then clip away old Saturn's rings 
 And set him bounds to run ; 
 
 Or venture near the solar fires, 
 To regulate the sun ! 
 
IlS THE RETORT, 
 
 And should these critics go to Heaven 
 
 Their joy would be to tell 
 How saints mignt tune their harps correct 
 
 And sins: hosannas well ! 
 
 THE RETORT. 
 
 THESE lines to tell thee, bards 
 Who sing for all the listening laud. 
 And sages wise and famed, had named 
 
 Felicitous and grand 
 The verse on which thou didst 
 
 Invoke an ignominious fate, 
 And, with high, scornful wrath, declare 
 Unworthy of thy hate ! 
 
 Then thou, with thy gray eyes 
 
 Quick twinkling in their greedy glee, 
 
 And rubbing thy cold palms, didst look, 
 Expectant long, to see 
 
REMINISCENCES. II9 
 
 Before thee, suppliant still, 
 
 Thy victim bow in further prayer ? 
 And then his trembling form begin 
 
 Dissolving into air ! 
 
 Instead, at equipoise, 
 
 He gazed, awhile, in high delight 
 On thy hard face, then left thee there 5 
 
 All powerless in thy might! 
 Although thou gav'st him joy, 
 
 He does not thank thee for the bliss ; 
 That verse, to thee, seemed lacking fire ; 
 
 Grim critic, say, does this? 
 
 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 ESQUIRE SMITH AND OTHERS. 
 
 J"E count above our common good, 
 Selectest of. our joys, 
 Remembrances of those dear days 
 When you and I, were boys, 
 
120 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 And when, perfumed with clover bloom, 
 
 Our early moments ran, 
 And happy in the songs of birds 
 
 We journeyed up to man. 
 
 What other cure the world prescribes, 
 
 By far the safest, best, 
 Is glancing at our early days, 
 
 Is retrospect and rest. 
 
 From cares and crowds of urban life. 
 
 From traffic of the town ; 
 From wearying toil in dust and din, 
 
 From griefs that weigh you down ; 
 
 From present ill, and future dread, 
 
 And all that fetters thee, 
 Come to the country and the past, 
 
 Be innocent and free. 
 
 Review the scenes of early days 
 With fondness and with care. 
 
REMINISCENCES. 121 
 
 The neighborhood once all your world, 
 And every object there : 
 
 The pansied yard, the slant well-sweep, 
 
 And apple orchard near ; 
 The ancient farm-house, broad and red, 
 
 By many memories dear; 
 
 The hay-field and the pasture wide, 
 
 The fences by the lane ; 
 The thick-leaved maples where you hid 
 
 When pattered down the rain; 
 
 The road where erst the stage-coach ran, 
 
 Which joyed you as it passed, 
 The high coach set on thoroughbrace, 
 
 And built to have it last; 
 
 The mountain road-way, steep and rough, 
 
 On which you trudged to school, 
 To "make your manners" and to learn 
 
 Hard Colburn's sum and rule ; 
 
122 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 The school-house near the beechen grove ; 
 
 The neighboring lumber mill ; 
 The home-made hand-sled, and the joys 
 
 Of coasting down the hill ; 
 
 The autumn woods and golden maize, 
 
 And old Thanksgiving; dav ; 
 The winter wood-pile at the door 
 
 And drifts that choked the way; 
 
 Strict Sundays at the hill-top church, 
 
 Staid deacons in their pews, 
 The preacher in his lofty place, 
 
 Discoursing gospel news ; 
 
 And Sunday noons, with sermon done, 
 
 And benediction said, 
 When we, in that clear scripture class, 
 
 "The word" together read. 
 
 Wise counsel, then, the teacher gave, 
 That angel of our youth, 
 
REMINISCENCES. 1 23 
 
 If pointedly, yet tenderly, 
 To carry home the truth. 
 
 His sympathetic face dispelled 
 
 Our bashfulness and fears, 
 Glowed at recital of our joys 
 
 And saddened at our tears; 
 
 And fragrant will the memory be 
 
 Of our devoted friend, 
 Till that good town and all of earth 
 
 In nothingness shall end ! 
 
 And one w T as in that Sunday class 
 
 Who felt a call to preach, 
 And proved it true by saving those 
 
 Whom others could not reach. 
 
 With men on every hand w r ho wished 
 
 The gospel plan explained, 
 He did not tarry long at school, 
 
 Nor wait to be ordained, 
 
I 2 _|. REMINISCENCES. 
 
 But went to work, with earnestness.. 
 
 And strove his best to win 
 Some trophy for the Lord he loved, 
 
 By leading those from sin 
 
 Who near him dwelt, and whom he thought 
 
 In value quite the worth 
 Of those who lived across the seas, 
 
 In corners of the earth. 
 
 The hamlet school-house where he preached 
 
 To half a hundred men 
 Would hardly hold the throngs his words 
 
 Have won to grace since then. 
 
 Unlike ambitious pulpiteers 
 
 Who preach and pray for fame, 
 
 He did not seek the praise of men, 
 Nor glory when it came ; 
 
 But, stronger grown with his success, 
 Nor vain amid applause, 
 
REMINISCENCES. 1 25 
 
 He keeps his great and growing powers 
 Devoted to his cause. 
 
 Another of that Sunday band 
 
 Has lived for self alone, 
 And reached, at last, the height he sought, 
 
 The politician's throne. 
 
 Ambitious man of place, the years 
 
 Of innocence review, 
 And see how far your selfishness, 
 
 From righteous ways and true, 
 
 Has led you on, through doubtful scnemes 
 
 And crooked paths, to power 
 Which founded seems, but which must fail 
 
 When comes the trial hour, 
 
 And leave you naught but bitterness 
 And keen remorse for ways 
 
126 REMINISCENCES 
 
 At variance with the pleasant scenes 
 That gem your early days. 
 
 Among the quaint habitues, 
 
 Whose words the hamlet cheered, 
 
 Welcome at huskings and the "bees,"' 5 
 The story 7 man appeared. 
 
 Glad on their journey to the school, 
 The pupils heard him tell 
 
 Of famous men who once were boys 
 And learned their lessons well, 
 
 And were quite sure to reach at last 
 
 A place at Washington, 
 Where many mighty laws were made. 
 
 And other things were done ! 
 
 i fc>- 
 
 Although you little knew or dreamed 
 What were the " other things," 
 
 Have you until to-day remained 
 Quite innocent of " rings ?" 
 
REMINISCENCES. 12 7 
 
 The other school tasks done, you said 
 
 " Set " answers, that were given, 
 Anent some worthies then on earth, 
 
 And others gone to heaven. 
 
 « 
 
 With veneration you pronounced 
 
 The ancient Briggs's name, 
 But have you copied in your life 
 
 His honest steps to fame? 
 
 The shed remains wherein you sawed 
 
 The beech and maple wood, 
 Where cart and farming tools were kept, 
 
 And where that grind-stone stood 
 
 Which brings to you sad memories 
 
 Of axes hard to grind, 
 And, in hot days, the scythe, to try 
 
 The temper of your mind ! 
 
 Often you vowed, when older grown, 
 Machinery should serve 
 
128 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 To do the work that over-taxed 
 Your adolescent nerve. 
 
 But other themes than labor aids 
 Have moved your mind since then, 
 
 And you have had your axes ground 
 By various sorts of men ! 
 
 You must recall quaint "Major" Brown, 
 
 Who led a roving life, 
 Since, years before, death claimed the girl 
 
 Pledged for the "Major's" wife. 
 
 And you remember when they laid 
 This "Major" Brown to rest, 
 
 That reverent, near the open grave, 
 The neighbors kindly pressed ; 
 
 While all the failings of his life, 
 
 In pity, were forgot, 
 And all his worth was magnified, 
 
 With worth that he had not ! 
 
REMINISCENCES. 129 
 
 Although, to-day, you feel above 
 
 Such broken men of grief, 
 So "great" they ought to prize the pence 
 
 You dole for their relief ; 
 
 When, at the coming call of death, 
 
 You journey out of town ! 
 Will people think as well of you 
 
 As erst of " Major " Brown ? 
 
 Ambitious man of place, the scenes 
 
 Of innocence review, 
 And once again return to walk 
 
 In righteous ways and true. 
 
 This selfish one let us dismiss, 
 
 He cannot flourish long ; 
 And we can find more fitting theme 
 
 To chronicle in song, 
 
13° 
 
 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 In that delightful scene, when you, 
 At spring-time, on the hill, 
 
 Entranced to see the liquid wealth 
 From maple trees distill, 
 
 And, that it might the sweeter grow, 
 Sing, o'er the laughing tire, 
 
 A carol sweet as ever breathed 
 From angel lip or lyre, 
 
 Found finer charm in liquid eyes 
 
 Of two most lovely girls, 
 Whose happy smiles and ruddy cheeks, 
 
 And innocence and curls, 
 
 Were invitation that you dish 
 For them the waxen sweet, 
 
 And in return, for recompense, 
 Their lips with kisses greet ! 
 
 One was a cousin, I believe; 
 The other was a friend 
 
REMINISCENCES. 131 
 
 Whom afterwards you vowed to love 
 Till earthly days should end. 
 
 And now the keepsake that she .grave 
 
 Is moist with tears you shed, 
 To think, before the wedding day 
 
 Your pleasant friend was dead ! 
 
 By road whereon the stages ran, 
 
 Not far away, the place, 
 Wherein, of old, as " leading man," 
 
 With more than usual grace, 
 
 There reigned Elnathan Smith, Esquire, 
 Who lived, through all his days, 
 
 For morals, manners and attire, 
 Deserving sincere praise. 
 
 Smith spurned a miser as a thief, 
 And acted "on the square;" 
 
 And those not Masons have belief 
 That Smith had once "been there." 
 
I32 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Attending church in holy time, 
 
 As every body should, 
 He " joined" in prayer and Sunday rhyme, 
 
 As pious people would. 
 
 Smith kept his temper all the while 
 
 Unmarred by frown or fret, 
 And gave a penny and a smile 
 
 To every child he met. 
 
 He had good sense and ready wit, 
 
 And kept whate'er he heard 
 That was for keeping really fit, 
 
 And always kept his word. 
 
 To patriotic teachings true, 
 
 He deemed of highest worth, 
 And kept, as most of Smithville do, 
 
 The " great and glorious Fourth." 
 
 Smith had a clear, unbiased mind, 
 And, such the town's desire, 
 
REMINISCENCES, 133 
 
 The governor felt well inclined, 
 And made him village squire. 
 
 He taught, ten terms, the district school 
 
 In an adjoining place, 
 Maintaining: there a uleasant rule 
 
 With dignity and grace. 
 
 To Washington he never went, 
 
 That town of high import ; 
 Yet twice had been as juror sent, 
 
 And once to General Court ! 
 
 As Smith grew old he walked in town, 
 
 On pleasant afternoons, 
 Attired in garb of modest brown, 
 
 And humming cheery tunes. 
 
 And, with his full and steady breath, 
 
 And face with health aglow, 
 He seemed no older near his death 
 
 Than twenty years ago ; 
 
134 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Yet Mister Smith has gone from earth, 
 
 As every mortal must, 
 Of noble or of lowly birth 
 
 Unrighteous they, or just. 
 
 His life, in Smithville which began, 
 
 Closed there at eighty-four; 
 And Smithville weeps that this good man 
 
 Can be with them no more. 
 
 Smith's life-long friend was Doctor Bliss, 
 
 Who carried, everywhere, 
 A smile, to cheer the sick and drive 
 
 That worst of curses, care. 
 
 Bliss loved Squire Smith, and looked like him, 
 
 Clad trim in like attire ; 
 Near him he lived, and when he died, 
 
 Was buried near the squire. 
 
REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Another friend of Mister Smith, 
 
 Respected and revered, 
 Was William Wilson, learned and wise, 
 
 A teacher born and reared. 
 
 The ancient school-house where he taught, 
 
 For twenty years and more, 
 Had but three windows on a side, 
 
 And one above the door. 
 
 It stood upon the village green, 
 Hard by the " Center church ;" 
 
 Was well supplied with furniture, 
 But unsupplied with birch ! 
 
 This Wilson had a better way 
 
 To punish recreant boys, 
 Who had been lazy at their tasks 
 
 Or making needless noise. 
 
 To them more dread than blows the book 
 Wherein, with proper grade, 
 
 135 
 
136 REMINISCENCES, 
 
 For every wrong a pupil did, • 
 
 The fearful check was made ! 
 
 With patience and with kindly care 
 
 He led his pupils through 
 The paths of common learning, till 
 
 They every feature knew. 
 
 And oft, perchance, they caught a glimpse 
 
 Of classic grove and field, 
 And felt a longing for the fruits 
 
 Those pleasant regions yield. 
 
 But Euclid and " the languages," 
 
 In district schools of vore, 
 Were all discarded and forbid, 
 • As very useless lore. 
 
 Since Wilson gave up teaching school, 
 Ten years and five have passed ; 
 
 But through a century to come 
 His influence shall last. 
 
REMINISCENCES. 137 
 
 He still resides within the town ; 
 
 And, though three-score and ten, 
 The people all declare he is 
 
 The comeliest of men. 
 
 Not far away from Smith's abode 
 
 The shop of Crispin Crane, 
 Who furnished boots for Smithville folk, 
 
 A livelihood to gain. 
 
 Not only did he gauge their feet, 
 
 But oft they came to find 
 He fully had the power to take 
 
 The measure of their mind!. 
 
 By timely repartee he stilled 
 
 A most perplexing bore, 
 Who perpetrated bitter jokes 
 
 Within the Smithville "store." 
 
!38 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 And Smithville vowed, town meeting day, 
 
 "Who can this pest defeat, 
 We must elect him, here and now, 
 
 To legislative seat." 
 
 Crane proved a wise assembly man, 
 Was hearty with his friends, 
 
 And never made a speech unless 
 To compass worthy ends. 
 
 It was this year in politics 
 
 A party rose and fell, 
 Whose bad disaster at their schemes 
 
 It is a joy to tell. 
 
 Late in the term a question rose 
 
 This party called the test, 
 For which their leader spoke at length 
 
 With artificial zest; 
 
 And, in his final flight, declared, 
 " How favored is the land 
 
REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Where, sentinels of public peace, 
 Labor reformers stand !" 
 
 "'Labor reformers','' Crispin spoke, 
 " That means reformed from work ; 
 
 And rightly named, for well you like 
 Life's burdens all to shirk. 
 
 "Below the wrath of common men; 
 
 Too cheap for ours by half, 
 We'll not oppose your plannings, but 
 
 Explode them with a laugh !" 
 
 The wit that beamed in Crispin's eyes, 
 
 Put all in merry mood, 
 As rang around the galleries 
 
 A soul-refreshing " Good !" 
 
 The gavel man forgot to rap, 
 Reporters dropped their notes-, 
 
 And when some one "the question " called, 
 The measure had twelve votes ! 
 
 J 39 
 
140 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 And that's the way the party died, 
 By this sarcastic Crane ; 
 
 And hence the reason he was sent 
 To General Court again. 
 
 And still again was Crane returned. 
 
 Until six times in all ; 
 Nor by the lures of lobby men 
 
 Did he from honor fall. 
 
 Yet Crane does not love politics ; 
 
 And, now, in private life, 
 He glories in his leathern art, 
 
 His children and his wife ! 
 
 Let not the bards to whom belong 
 High themes and lofty verse 
 
 Despise, as all unworthy song, 
 The lives these lines rehearse 
 
R.EMINISCENCES. 141 
 
 Though each lived in obscurity, 
 Yet each was still a man ; 
 
 As good on earth we seldom see, 
 And better never can ! 
 
 Though Smithville was so blest of heaven, 
 
 To it one tedious thorn was given, 
 
 A full "perfected" man of sin, 
 
 Most surely who the purse could win, 
 
 Did he and Satan run a race 
 
 On any course away from grace ! 
 
 Supremely mean in all his deeds, 
 
 His heart as hard as flint ; the needs 
 
 Caused by his extortions moved him not ; 
 
 The pining poor were all forgot. 
 
 Selfish, of marble face, and stern ; 
 
 Full quick to sin, and apt to learn 
 
 The ways of avarice and wrong; 
 
 On primal sin improving long, 
 
 He chose oppression for his art, 
 
 And practiced it with all his heart; 
 
142 REMINISCENCES. 
 
 His sinning cloaked with graciousness, 
 And cursed when he appeared to bless ! 
 He so gifted in causing tears 
 Had fitting name — Abijah Beers. 
 May God protect if here, again, 
 So bad a man 'mong living men ! 
 And there was not, since earth began. 
 So much of meanness in a man. 
 To find fit place for him to dwell, 
 The liberals declared for hell ! 
 He died at last as fools do die ; 
 Thistles thrive where his ashes lie! 
 
 Although, in later years, the town 
 Has its unwelcome men, 
 
 Whose like the people rightly pray 
 May never come again — 
 
 A fellow keen at crooked claims 
 And skilled in stealing lands ; 
 
 An undertaker glad to have 
 
 Fresh orders on his hands ; 
 
REMINISCENCES. 
 
 A barrister who nurses feuds 
 To have a chance for fees, 
 
 And busy gossips who delight 
 To fan a social breeze — 
 
 tn spite of them the people thrive 
 And keep the ways of peace ; 
 
 And ever may the dear old town 
 In all good things increase ! 
 
 Yet it cannot, nor can the earth, 
 
 Afford us better joys 
 Than blisses gemming those dear days 
 
 When you and I were boys ! 
 
 And, still, rejoicing that they live 
 
 In memory our own, 
 We will not sigh as passing years 
 
 Proclaim us older grown 
 
 And swift the seasons speed their course, 
 That bear us both along 
 
 *43 
 
144 MY NATIVE LAND. 
 
 From scenes depicted in these lines 
 Of reminiscent song. 
 
 And, now, good friend, a hearty wish. 
 
 And expectation, too, 
 That>you so live you can delight 
 
 In scenes your boyhood knew • 
 
 And that you reach, at last, beyond 
 Earth's changes and its noise, 
 
 Serener joys than those we had 
 When you and I were boys ! 
 
 MY NATIVE LAND. 
 
 GOD bless the land where I was born, 
 And played, a happy child, 
 Ere yet I saw a Southern swamp, 
 Or roamed a Western wild ; 
 And where, within a cot among 
 The Massachusetts hills, 
 
MY NATIVE LAND. I45 
 
 My early being was attuned 
 By cadence of the rills. 
 
 O could I be forgiven, did 
 
 My heart not turn to thee, 
 With gratitude and pride, dear land, 
 
 For all thou art to me ! 
 Thine atmosphere and scenery, 
 
 Thy present and thy past : 
 Thy trials first, and glory now. 
 
 To last while time shall last ? 
 
 And, in the future of my life, 
 Where'er my pathway lies, 
 
 Whatever lot is meted out, 
 
 Or kind, or cold, my skies ; 
 
 Still, evermore, my song, at home, 
 Or on a foreign strand, 
 
 Through life, and at the honest hour- 
 God bless my native land ! 
 
THE SWEET riEART. 
 
 SO bold, should one of you accuse 
 That some sweet girl inspires my muse, 
 To all the rest it would be news, 
 But not to me. 
 
 The maiden never tells the fact 
 By any word or any act, 
 Evincing such consummate tact 
 To keep it hid, 
 
 She is not reckoned on the list 
 Of those who try to " keep it whist," 
 And in the search she might assist 
 And none surmise 
 
 There was a reason for the zest 
 Wherewith she aided in the quest 
 To which the searchers had addressed 
 Their skill in vain. 
 
FOR ALL LIKE THEE. 147 
 
 Keeping the secret a little more, 
 We twain, as others have before, 
 Will seek the parson's friendly door, 
 And tell it there ' 
 
 FOR ALL LIKE THEE. 
 
 MAIDEN discreet, I give thee praise 
 For words select and comely ways. 
 And wish thee many joyous days, 
 And worthy friends. 
 
 May Honor win, by grand address, 
 The blissful good of thy caress, 
 And True Love come, thy heart to bless, 
 And Hope to cheer. 
 
 For all like thee discreetly kind 
 May every cloud be silver-lined ; 
 For them be thornless roses twined, 
 And evergreen ! 
 
" THE STARS HAVE HEARD. " 
 
 FULL oft the stars have heard thee say 
 Thou think'st him grand and true, 
 Yet never hast thou dared to hope 
 That he would love thee too. 
 
 To thee, unconscious of thy charms, 
 
 Unthinking of thy worth, 
 'Twas wonder that, for him, thy love 
 
 Should make a heaven of earth. 
 
 Thou winsome one, sincere and sweet, 
 
 So frank, and yet so coy, — 
 If strange it seems, yet 'tis not strange 
 
 Thy love should give him joy ! 
 
 "COME, HAPPY BIRD." 
 
 COME, happy bird of sweetest note, 
 Blithe bird of brightest wing, 
 Of one who close resembles thee 
 Thy choicest matin sing. 
 
"come, happy bird. 149 
 
 She charms her home, as thou thy bower, 
 
 With liquid warblings sweet, 
 And marks each hour with words sincere 
 
 And winsome ways discreet. 
 
 Sing, bird, so bravely and so well 
 That one who seeks her hand 
 
 Shall be inspired to speak and act 
 The bravest in the land. 
 
 For only thus shall he attain 
 
 To favor in her eyes, 
 Who but withholds, that he may win, 
 
 What he esteems a prize ; 
 
 While hers is modest estimate 
 Of worth she may possess, 
 
 As thine, sweet warbler, of thy songs. 
 His listening ears that bless. 
 
50 - "prize thou thyself. 
 
 Come, happy bird of sweetest note, 
 Blithe bird of brightest wing, 
 
 Of one who close resembles thee 
 Thy choicest matin sing ! 
 
 " PRIZE THOU THYSELF." 
 
 O blest with innocence and health, 
 And wisdom far above thy years, 
 Who hast not felt heart-rending griefs, 
 Nor wept the bitter, scalding tears, — 
 
 Exquisite maiden, whose bright ways 
 Are pride of her who thee did bear, 
 
 And who, these years, with tender hand, 
 Hath nurtured thee with fondest care,- 
 
 Prize thou thyself, thy kindred prize, 
 Thy home and all its quiet joys ; 
 
 And keep thee, much as in thee lies, 
 From earth's frivolity and noise. 
 
"prize thou thyself. 151 
 
 Cherish the gift of thy good sense, 
 
 And do thou bravely live and keep 
 Thy soul from all that causes shame 
 
 And makes the watching angels weep ! 
 
 For thee, God grant the kindest skies, 
 For thee, sincerest, noblest friends ; 
 
 For thee, all earth's substantial good, 
 And heaven, when earth's ordeal ends. 
 
 For him whose worth deserves thy heart, 
 And whose brave ways thy heart shall win, 
 
 May brightest stars benignant beam, 
 For him, and all his noble kin. 
 
 O, blest with innocence and health, 
 And wisdom far above thy years, 
 
 Thy heart be long unknown to grief, 
 And long thine eyes unknown to tears ! 
 
PETITION. 
 
 GOD, the griefs I may not tell 
 Help me in silence bear, 
 And grant thy child the faith to feel 
 He has a Father's care ! 
 
 The faith of patience that can wait 
 
 Till providences prove 
 The things that seemed unkindest fate 
 
 Were evidence of love. 
 
 Grant him the faith to see Thy hand 
 
 In each untoward event 
 And all he cannot understand 
 
 Believe in mercy sent ; 
 
 The faith to see through storms arise 
 The waving wealth of grain 
 
 That, ripened by benignant skies, 
 Shall all the storms explain , 
 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 1 53 
 
 The faith to see through darkest night 
 
 The radiance of the morn, 
 Effulgent from the gates of light 
 
 The happy hills adorn, 
 
 Inspiring birds and brooks to sing 
 
 The minstrelsy of love, 
 And men to learn that everything 
 
 Is ordered from above. 
 
 O God, when griefs 1 may not tell 
 
 Are more than I can bear, 
 O Thou who doest all things well, 
 
 Grant me a Father's care ! 
 
 ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
 
 ACCEPT, selectest man I know, 
 Who met my sadder years, 
 And all unmindfull of thy griefs, 
 Wast mindful of my tears ; 
 
I 54 ACKNOWLEDGE cNT. 
 
 Whose kindness, when but few were kind, 
 
 And noble gentleness, 
 Came so refreshingly to me, 
 
 And royally did bless ; 
 
 Accept the gratitude, too small, 
 
 My heart would offer thee, 
 For thine example and thine aid 
 
 So freely granted me ; 
 The heartiest words and kindest deeds, 
 
 Wisely, yet freely, given, 
 Imparting to my bitterest hours 
 
 A foretaste of my heaven. 
 
 Once, scorned by those whom I had blest, 
 
 And doubted for my trust, 
 My pleasant plans were broken all, 
 
 My hopes were in the dust. 
 Then thou didst cheer me — blessed hour ! 
 
 And sacred be the spot 
 When earth's ignoble men are both 
 
 Forgiven and forgot ! 
 
INTO THE SUNSHINE. 
 
 AWAY from doubts that chill and blight, 
 Into the joy of faith's clear light, 
 Far from the doubts that chill and blight, 
 
 Come to the sunshine bringing bloom, 
 For the rose there's always room ; 
 Come to the sunshine bringing bloom, 
 
 Into the sunshine of belief 
 
 Lead thou the stricken sons of grief, 
 
 Into the sunshine of belief ; 
 
 Into the sunshine, with a song, 
 
 To cheer their faltering steps along ; 
 
 Into the sunshine with a song. 
 
 Give them the sunshine of your trust ; 
 If they have joy you surely must 
 Bestow the sunshine of your trust. 
 
156 INTO THE SUNSHINE. 
 
 Abundantly to them impart 
 
 The sunshine of a generous heart ; 
 
 Full and free to them impart. 
 
 Live in the sunshine while you live, 
 And unto all your sunshine give ; 
 Live in the sunshine while you live. 
 
 Into the sunshine when you die ; 
 Into the sunshine, through the sky — 
 Beyond the sunshine, when you die ! 
 
 Beyond the sunshine and the sun, 
 Where thou, with all thy toiling done, 
 In that good land beyond the sun, 
 
 Beyond the doubts that chill and blight, 
 Shalt dwell in the unceasing light, 
 Beyond the doubts that chill and blight ! 
 
THE CONFLICT. 
 
 CELESTIAL one, who canst inspire 
 With wisdom to attune the lyre, 
 If hither shall incline thy wing, 
 Come, heavenly muse, and aid to sing; 
 That, haply, thus the song may tell 
 The truth that solves life's problem well, 
 The truth which rightly shall explain 
 The mystery of grief and pain 
 That darkens days of every year 
 Of all the troubled journey here, 
 Through scene, in which, or brief or wide. 
 Who fares through it shall ills betide ! 
 That course extends where thistles grow 
 And noxious airs unceasing blow ; 
 Through desert where, by day and night, 
 Hyenas haunt and fiends affright 
 And challenge to unequal fight 
 Those who survive the previous way 
 Where unchained lions prowl for prey! 
 
 And yet, above this scene there flies 
 The sweetest bird from Paradise : 
 
158 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 'Tis named the bird of hope below, 
 And given the ken our lives to know ; 
 Kind acts alone, and righted wrong, 
 Awake for men this warbler's song! 
 And when it sings the skies give ear 
 That they the dulcet notes may hear ; 
 And fly, at Charity's commands, 
 From heaven to earth, the radiant bands 
 Of angels missioned to attend 
 When man to brother man is friend. 
 Intent to bless the helpful deed 
 That mortals do for those in need, 
 When love inspires the bird to sing, 
 The full, melodious caroling 
 They hear, and speed on bravest wing. 
 
 Affrighted by that song of cheer, 
 
 Then flee the fiends that hovered near, 
 
 Aware it augurs near at hand 
 
 The powers their might cannot withstand. 
 
 And life's wild desert comes to be 
 
 A land of sweet fertility, 
 
 Where pleasant groves, and verdant hills, 
 
THE CONFLICT. 1 59 
 
 And songsters blithe, and joyous rills, 
 
 Give foretaste of the land above 
 
 Where dwelleth the Eternal Love 
 
 That sent the wondrous Christ to earth, 
 
 To teach mankind the priceless worth 
 
 And beauty of unselfishness, 
 
 And show how godlike 'tis to bless ! 
 
 In days when pilgrims had been brave 
 
 And conquered all who battle gave, 
 
 The fiends, enraged to think it true 
 
 Twelve months since fiend a pilgrim slew, 
 
 Assembled that they plan to slay 
 
 Whoever next should take his way 
 
 Along the dangerous, desert road 
 
 Whereon, of old, Apollyon trode. 
 
 And Doubt, the monster known as Fear, 
 
 Sat eminent, and Hate was near, 
 
 With score of impish Jealousies. 
 
 And sneaking Slander, versed in lies, 
 
 And Selfishness, and Envy came, 
 
 With lesser fiends that have no name. 
 
l6o THE CONFLICT. 
 
 And Fear they chose and clad him well 
 With mail that was annealed in hell, 
 And armed him with a heavy blade 
 That seemed for some dread business made. 
 And more did they appoint, to guard, 
 That pilgrim should not press too hard 
 Their champion, furnished for the fight, 
 Who seemed himself a host could fright. 
 
 The morrow's morn the retinue 
 Before their chief pass in review, 
 And, taking chains for Fear to bind 
 His victim, if his greed inclined, 
 They march away and soon descry 
 A man of pilgrim panoply; 
 One in whose face, if fiends could learn 
 To read such mien, they might discern, 
 Beneath the sweet, exquisite grace, 
 Speaking almost an angel's face, 
 The power foretelling their defeat 
 Who dared his trusty blade to meet. 
 Yet him they venture to assault. 
 
THE CONFLICT. l6l 
 
 And pay most dearly for the fault. 
 Six guards the pilgrim conquered soon 
 And others routed at high noon, 
 When fierce the towering fiend appeared, 
 Derisive laughed and loudly jeered, 
 And struck, as if a blow should spill 
 The life scarce worth his while to kill ! 
 The thrust quick parried, then the foe : 
 " I, who have laid the bravest low, 
 Swear now by yon meridian sun 
 In one short hour thy warring's done ! " 
 Yet he so fenced the blows away 
 Whom Fear thought was an easy prey, 
 Half down the sky the lustre stood 
 Ere fiendish blade had tasted blood. 
 
 And, with his wound, courageous grew 
 The man, the conflict to renew ; 
 And yet, though well he bore the blows 
 Dealt by the fiend, whose fury rose 
 Till glowed his face aflame with rage 
 That such brave war the man could wage, 
 As o'er the scene the anxious sky 
 
162 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 Noted the passioned hours go by, 
 The warrior's surely ebbing might 
 Showed he must yield, at last, the fight, 
 And nature sighed in grief to see 
 The fiend was gaining mastery. 
 
 When sad the sunset closed the day 
 
 That trembled with the mighty fray, 
 
 Deep-hewn by Fear and left in bands, 
 
 To perish on Doubt's desert sands, 
 
 His wounds proclaimed that long and well 
 
 The hero battled ere he fell. 
 
 Yet he, though brave, was vanquished still, 
 
 With spirit crushed and broken will, 
 
 And fitting were the sombre skies 
 
 In which it seemed no sun could rise ! 
 
 Responsive to the sufferer's moans, 
 
 The wild waste thrilled with thunder tones, 
 
 Yet rains blessed not those desert airs — 
 
 There are no tears for some despairs ! 
 
 Yet no despairs but some kind deed 
 Would meet the saddened spirit's need — 
 
THE CONFLICT. 1 63 
 
 Revive the dying heart to tears 
 
 And strength to rout the worst of fears, 
 
 Or hold the cruel foes at bay 
 
 Till there good angels take their way. 
 
 And, in that brave man's night of doubt, 
 
 From which the stars were blotted out, 
 
 A night through which alone could see 
 
 High-visioned soul of Charity, 
 
 A gracious act and hearty word 
 
 Awoke for him hope's happy bird, 
 
 Whose singing put his foe to flight, 
 
 That, lingering in the murky night, 
 
 Did gleeful laugh at every sigh 
 
 That spoke the sufferer's wish to die ! 
 
 A stranger o'er that desert way 
 Came where the panting sufferer lay, 
 Knelt like a brother at his side 
 And tried to staunch the ruddy tide, 
 And, ere the wounded man could ask, 
 Proffered him water from his flask. 
 The hero drank, his thirst to slake, 
 
164 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 And thus, in heartfelt whispers, spake : 
 " Grateful that Providence did send, 
 For thy coming, I thank thee, friend. 
 Searching if other havoc made 
 By that dread monster's wicked blade, 
 Bestow thy further blessing there 
 Till angels shall relieve thy care. 
 And I am safe ; a bird doth sing ! 
 They come; I hear an angel's wing ! " 
 Passed then whom he saw not before, 
 And here he never saw him more, 
 But heard that, full of years and faith, 
 He crossed the river men call death. 
 
 And through that midnight to the plains, 
 To oint his wounds and loose his chains 
 Whom first a human friend addressed. 
 Whom first a man had cheered and blessed, 
 The bright ones of the pitying skies 
 Came swift of wing for such emprise, 
 And clusters brought from heavenly vine, 
 High-cultured for the feasts divine. 
 
THE CONFLICT. 165 
 
 Of these he ate, and peaceful slept, 
 The while the angels vigil kept, 
 Until, o'er eastern hills, there came 
 The flushes of a rosy flame, 
 And Orient gave a morn that glows 
 In memory bright as when it rose 
 With Heaven's high approval smiled 
 On every feature of the wild ! 
 
 The desert greened to grassy glades, 
 Wherein, to cadence of cascades, 
 By happy brooks and blessed with shades, 
 That, frequent as the hero's needs, 
 Were flecked along the flowery meads, 
 His heart harmonious with the day, 
 He fared with gladsomeness his way ; 
 To each entrancing scene and song 
 Awake, and yet sustained and strong, 
 And not o'ercome by sudden boon, 
 That still came not the least too soon, 
 Surveying, with emotions due, 
 Earth still the same yet grandly new ! 
 
l66 THE CONFLICT. 
 
 And he for whom that radiance shone, 
 
 Unselfish by its sweetness grown, 
 
 And deeming all his trials sent 
 
 Of Heaven for his development, 
 
 Is given a truer, keener ken 
 
 To read the wants of wretched men, 
 
 An ear attentive to their grief, 
 
 A ready hand for their relief, 
 
 And voice that wakes for them a bird 
 
 Like that whose song his darkness heard. 
 
 And, brighter than his morning rose, 
 Meridian joy serenely glows 
 O'er him, for whom no fateful night 
 Shall interpose between the light 
 Of sunset and the heavenly day, 
 Where faith's sublimest splendors play 
 And ever shines the golden worth 
 Of deeds of kindness done on earth ! 
 
 There, radiant with celestial grace, 
 Smiles now the well remembered face 
 
THE CONFLICT. 167 
 
 Of him he saw but once before ; 
 Resplendent on the other shore, 
 The one who blessed his desert night 
 Is reigning with the sons of light ! 
 
 There, thrilling the angelic lyres, 
 Delight of all the heavenly choirs, 
 The song of hope that once he heard, 
 The carol of the joyous bird 
 That charmed the midnight of the plains, 
 When angels came to loose his chains I 
 
 They thought to con the numbers high, 
 To aid the anthems of the sky ; 
 And that glad song, to cheer him, given, 
 Is evermore a hymn of heaven, 
 Harmonious with the rhythmic spheres 
 And cadence of the eternal years ! 
 
THY BEST DELIGHT. 
 
 WHEN thou who lovest well thy kind 
 Despairing ones shall chance to find, 
 
 Be their relief thy best delight, 
 
 And lead them forth from doubt's dark night, 
 
 Beyond the miasmatic breath 
 Coursing along doubt's vale of death, 
 
 To sunny hills where roses bloom 
 
 And faith's clear light dispels the gloom; 
 
 Where they shall hear the chorusing 
 Of all the sweetest birds that sing, 
 
 And sweetest brooks that ever sung, 
 
 Since brooks, and birds, and time were young 
 
 Shall purl and sparkle in the light 
 Succeeding unto sorrow's night ! 
 
THY BEST DELIGHT. 1 69 
 
 Then ever shall a voice for thee 
 Sing hope-inspiring minstrelsy 
 
 Far sweeter than the singing heard 
 From any brook or any bird 
 
 In happiest glen of all the world, 
 
 And like the brooks that joyous purled 
 
 In Eden when the earth was young 
 And all the stars together sung ! 
 
 And dost thou doubt, and point to men 
 Who bless and are not blessed again, 
 
 But live in grief, and grieving die 
 Of much bestowing charity ? — 
 
 Perhaps not here, yet in some clime, 
 Perhaps not now, yet some good time 
 
 Of God's sure years, shall greet the eye 
 That moistens here with sympathy, 
 
170 THEE AND THINE. 
 
 Scenes bright as those the seer of eld 
 Entranced on Patmos isle beheld, 
 
 When full the radiant glories shone 
 From gates, and temple, and the Throne 
 
 THEE AND THINE. 
 
 THE thought of thee and thine gives cheer, 
 And aids that I the nobler be ; 
 And that thou holdest thine so dear, 
 
 Enhances thee and thine to me : 
 Thy mother, sweeter for her years, 
 
 A sister beaming with delight, 
 And with thee, one whom love endears, 
 And clustering offspring, good and bright ! 
 
 And when thou tellest me, with pride, 
 How nobly toiled thy mother, erst, 
 That hers with her might all abide, 
 
WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 171 
 
 And foiled, with widow's hands the worst 
 That fortune and false friends could do 
 To break the circle of her home ; 
 I glow with thee, that she was true, 
 And wish her bright, good years to come ! 
 
 WILLIAM WILLIAMS. 
 
 W r HEN William Williams walks abroad 
 He trips along so proud, 
 And steps so dainty on the street 
 Rude people laugh aloud. 
 
 These lines expressive of regret 
 That they should think to scorn 
 
 The man for whom the earth was made 
 And stars the skies adorn ! 
 
 For whom the Summer solstice burns; 
 
 For whom the Winter's cold. 
 The verdure of the pleasant Spring, 
 
 And autumn's red and gold ! 
 
172 THE IMPERIAL. 
 
 A man of ancient family, 
 
 Whom heraldry correct 
 Points backward to a crown and throne, 
 
 Through ancestry direct. 
 
 And, still, when Williams walks abroad 
 
 lie has a gait so proud, 
 And steps so dainty on the street, 
 
 The rude will laugh aloud ! 
 
 THE IMPERIAL. 
 
 IMPERIAL moves the lofty one 
 Along the Fashion street, 
 His head in pain from hitting stars, 
 
 While boys with laughter greet 
 His supercilious presence cold 
 
 And manners of the sky ; 
 The common folk award him space, 
 And clogs his coming fly ! 
 
 Proud peacocks, jealous^ of his style, 
 Have much discussed a plan 
 
1A£ LESSON OF THE SEASONS. j y ■> 
 
 To free -hemselves, and rid the earth, 
 
 Of this sublimest man. 
 May heavenly powers their hatred thwart, 
 
 And o-vol their mighty ire, 
 Spare him from griefs of common men 
 
 And from the final fire ! 
 
 Give him jbove a lofty seat, 
 
 And caution Gabriel well 
 To quench such jealousy as plunged 
 
 Prince Lucifer to hell; 
 Old Lucifer, who fell from power 
 
 At less offending pride 
 Than that by which, if this one rise, 
 
 Good Gabriel will be tried! 
 
 THE LESSON OF THE SEASONS. 
 
 OVV happy, sparkling in the sun, 
 Down hills the brooklets sing, 
 When April warms the flowers to life 
 And birds are on the wing. 
 
74 THE LESSON OF THE SEASONS. 
 
 Though fervid glows the solar orb, 
 
 On torrid summer days, 
 Yet brief its reign ere earth is blest 
 
 With milder autumn rays. 
 
 Serene October days, how pure, 
 How choice the joys ye bring, 
 
 In foliage bright and ripened grain, 
 Fulfillment of the spring! 
 
 And welcome is the later sun 
 That cheers November's gloom, 
 
 With foretaste, in t the dying year, 
 Of coming breath and bloom. 
 
 Ye dearest " Indian summer " days, 
 Of that brief, golden time, 
 
 Imparting, ere the winter's snows, 
 Choice tints to autumn's rime ; 
 
 Though sad the memories that ye bring 
 Of wrongs by Indians clone, 
 
 Poetic period of the year, 
 Live on, while lives the sun ! 
 
THE LESSON OF THE SEASONS. 175 
 
 And sing who will December drear : 
 
 Oft in its coldest days 
 Sweet hours of brightest sunshine come, 
 
 Inspiring warmest praise 
 
 To Him who, all the seasons through, 
 
 Apportions, with kind care, 
 The wind and calm, the rain and snow, 
 
 And varied dark and glare — 
 
 * 
 
 That earth be blest with bud and bloom, 
 
 And yield abundant grain, 
 And mortals find each season good, 
 
 With nothing made in vain. 
 
 w 
 
 THE EQUAL LOT. 
 
 ITH equal hand impartial Heaven 
 
 Bestows on all the blessings given 
 To cheer the earth. 
 
 If birds that bless the morns of spring 
 Alone at regal courts would sing, 
 We might complain. 
 
176 THE EQUAL LOT. 
 
 But everywhere, from hill to shore, 
 The joyous warblers artless pour 
 Their songs for all. 
 
 As grateful thine anemones 
 And all the perfumed potencies 
 Thy rose exhales 
 
 As odors they of kingly kind, 
 Empurpled in a palace, find 
 The flower to yield 
 
 That grew by royal gardener dressed, 
 And bloomed with smiles of princess blessed y 
 On sacred days. 
 
 Nor sweeter sounds than you or I, 
 Hears king or Croesus, walking by 
 The purling brook ; 
 
 Nor, navied in their gilded boats, 
 Than we embarked in common floats, 
 More restful plash 
 
THE EQUAL LOl. 1 77 
 
 Of wave ; nor surer they to ride 
 In safety to the haven side 
 Of waters sailed. 
 
 Nor king than we has sweeter hymn 
 Of Zephyr ; nor doth Sunset limn 
 Diviner west 
 
 For king, with hues from heavenly fount; 
 Nor truer is the royal count 
 Of stars than thine 
 
 To His who outlined nature's plan 
 And reared the astral arch, to span 
 The universe ! 
 
 SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 
 
 THOU selfish one who seekest heaven 
 Through fear of final fire, 
 And never had for heaven itself 
 The first sincere desire, 
 
1]& SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 
 
 Supreme unselfishness aione 
 
 Can for the skies prepare. 
 And he alone may hope for heaven 
 
 Who loveth what is there. 
 
 Thou asking God to grant the boon 
 Thou hast not tried to win, 
 
 Beseeching His forgiving grace 
 Yet never hating sin, 
 
 And. coward, whining for the heaven 
 Where only brave souls are — 
 
 Wherever in the realms of space 
 Revolves that happy star. 
 
 The object of the good man's hope 
 
 And goal of all his quest, 
 Bright sphere of life, and growth, and joy, 
 
 And work that giveth rest — 
 
 That place of earth is nearest heaven 
 
 Where the unselfish dwell, 
 And where there is but selfishness 
 
 There needs no other hell ! 
 
SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. 1 79 
 
 And thou who cleemest 'tis decreed, 
 
 By mandate of thy God, 
 That thou be favored in His sight 
 
 And spared the fateful rod, 
 
 Which thou dost think is wholly right 
 
 For those despised by thee, 
 And therefore doomed by Him to wrath 
 
 To all eternity, — 
 
 It was a fratricide declared 
 
 His brother not his care, 
 And he alone is sure of heaven 
 
 Who leads another there ! 
 
 Go thou, like Christ, and strive to save 
 
 Another than thyself ; 
 For hoarding up salvation is 
 
 As base as hoarding pelf. 
 
 And when, like His, thy life shall bless 
 
 Thy suffering fellowmen, 
 Then thou, by Him, art saved thyself, 
 
 And art condemned till then ! 
 
ISO AN URBAN HEAVEN. 
 
 Supreme unselfishness alone 
 Can for the skies prepare, 
 
 And he alone is fit for heaven 
 Who leads another there. 
 
 AN URBAN HEAVEN. 
 
 WELCOME though an urban heaven 
 To the people of the Eld, 
 Living where the cities only 
 
 Any real safety held 
 From the prowling wolves and lions 
 
 And the roving robber bands 
 That produced a reign of terror 
 In those wild and desert lands, — 
 
 Irksome now an urban heaven, 
 
 With its mansions a la mode 
 And the people dressed in costume 
 
 For the visiting by code, 
 And the sainted hosts parading, 
 
 To the clangor of a band, 
 'Mid the burning splendors blazing 
 
 In the city of the errand ! 
 
A hero's grave. 181 
 
 And whatever the engagements 
 
 Of inhabitants above, 
 They may "vilipend the formulas" 
 
 And occasionally rove 
 Irrespective of prescriptions 
 
 That the formalists have given, 
 To instruct the saints and angels 
 
 In the etiquette of heaven ! 
 
 A HERO'S GRAVE. 
 
 A CHRISTIAN, comrade, son and friend 
 Is slumbering 'neath this sod ; 
 His form is there, his name with us, 
 His spirit with his God. 
 
 Fit place it is for hero's grave, 
 
 Where mountain zephyrs play, 
 Where fair ones bring the choicest flowers 
 
 And good men come to pray. 
 
l82 A STARLIT ROAD. 
 
 To designate his sepulchre 
 We raise this shaft, but trust 
 
 His deeds shall live when monuments 
 Are mouldered into dust ! 
 
 T 
 
 A STARLIT ROAD. 
 
 HERE is for all a starlit road 
 
 Whereon, by heavenly grace bestowed, 
 They reach the skies, 
 
 Who heed the truth the spirit gives 
 That talks with every man that lives, 
 To guide aright, 
 
 Interpreting what nature means 
 By all the myriad sounds and scenes 
 That fill the world, 
 
 And will, if he doth will, explain 
 The scope of earth, and boundless main, 
 And heaven itself. 
 
"WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY." 
 
 ABOVE the grandeur of the sunsets 
 Which delight this earthly clime 
 And the splendors of the dawnings 
 
 Breaking o'er the hills of time, 
 Is the richness of the radiance 
 Of the land beyond the sun, 
 Where the noble have their country 
 When the work of life is done ! 
 
 There is the mysterious problem 
 
 Of their earthly life made plain, 
 All the bitter turned to sweetness, 
 
 All the losses turned to gain. 
 There the rapture of the new life 
 
 Far exceeds the griefs of this, 
 And earth's toiling is forgotten 
 
 In the restfulness of bliss. 
 
 And the music of their welcome, 
 
 From angelic lyres of gold, 
 Shall full often be repeated, 
 
 Yet it never shall grow old ; 
 
184 "where the noble have their country 
 
 Music grander than earth's noblest, 
 Than all eloquence of words 
 
 And the sweetest of the carols 
 Of the gladdest of the birds S 
 
 Far removed and freed forever 
 
 From the artifice of time, 
 Shall the noble of that country, 
 
 In the real of that clime, 
 Read the wisdom of the Father, 
 
 From whose all-creating hand 
 Are the beauties, and the glories, 
 
 And the people of that land! 
 
 There they rightly read the visions 
 
 Of the ancient seers, that give 
 Higher good than urban splendors 
 
 Where the saints at last shall live : 
 Where they surely find a heaven 
 
 Not conventional or made, 
 And inhabitants delighting 
 
 In the hillside, brook and shade ! 
 
"where the noble have their country." 185 
 
 For magnificent with forests 
 
 Is that country of the skies, 
 Far excelling in their bird-songs 
 
 All the earthly minstrelsies. 
 And that country hath its mountains 
 
 And is resonant with streams 
 That are sweeter in their music 
 
 Than the rivers of our dreams ! 
 
 Blooms of finest form and lustre, 
 
 Fragrant on the eternal hills, 
 With their odors bless the zephyrs, 
 
 That, harmonious with the rills, 
 Sing, to give the angels pleasure 
 
 Who were fit to sing the birth 
 Of the Savior of the sorrowing 
 
 And the sinful of the earth. 
 
 And, His mission there completed, 
 He shall reign with them above 
 
 And instruct them in the wonders 
 Of the country of his love, 
 
l86 " WHERE THE NOBLE HAVE THEIR COUNTRY." 
 
 Where He giveth them an entrance 
 And that higher work to do 
 
 That shall keep them ever growing, 
 And the charm of living new. 
 
 And His name throughout the ages, 
 
 As the aeons circle by, 
 To the trend and the cadence 
 
 Of their own eternity, 
 Shall be theme and inspiration 
 
 In the land bevo'i ! the sun, 
 
 J 7 
 
 Where the noble have their country 
 When the work of life is done i 
 
 THE WARRIOR. 
 
 Othou who dost win 
 In the conflict with sin 
 And who art net vain of the winning 
 
 But, brave for the right 
 
 At the close of each fight 
 
 As thou wast so brave at beginning, 
 
VICTORIOUS. iSy 
 
 Dost modestly wear, 
 
 What thou holdest with care, 
 
 The laurel of freedom from sinning, 
 
 Continue thy zest 
 
 Though arbors of rest 
 
 Invite from thy noble endeavor ; 
 
 And battle thy foes 
 
 Till thy warring shall close, 
 
 And thou art a victor forever. 
 
 VICTORIOUS. 
 
 THE fight with doubt is ended, 
 And, victor through Thy grace, 
 To Him who has defended 
 I render heartfelt praise, 
 
 That, helped by Christ's example, 
 And giving heaven his trust, 
 
 When strode the foe to trample 
 A victim in the dust, 
 
"thou art the man. 
 
 His shafts of malice sending 
 Envenomed with hot rage, 
 
 And fierce with greed for rending 
 Who dared the war to wage, 
 
 On shield of faith receiving 
 The darts the demon sent 
 
 And in that sword believing 
 That never futile went, 
 
 He routed there the demon, 
 
 By aid of grace divine. 
 Who, now, by faith a freeman, 
 
 Proclaims the glory Thine. 
 
 "THOU ART THE MAN." 
 
 Suspicious one, " will I confess ? " 
 Nay, I will boast, not as you guess, 
 Her maiden heart intent to bless, 
 She gave in one inspiring kiss, 
 The joy for worlds I would not miss. 
 And should your eye find ill in this, 
 
nature's moods. 189 
 
 And think that happy, guileless one, 
 Though she were quick yourself to shun, 
 Would from your accusation run, — 
 Who hath within, would he but scan, 
 Bane worse than all inflicted ban ? — 
 Suspicious one, thou art the man ! 
 
 NATURE'S MOODS. 
 1. 
 
 POWERLESS are nature's moods to voice 
 The soul's extremities 
 Of woe, and powerless they to speak 
 Its highest ecstasies. 
 
 When he who bravely gives a heart 
 
 And longs for love's return 
 Discovers that the one he seeks 
 
 Delights his love to spurn, 
 
 The wailing winds are not enough 
 
 To chant the spirit's grief, 
 And meagre the significance 
 
 Of autumn's faded leaf ! 
 
igo nature's moods. 
 
 For what the requiem of winds, 
 And what the frosts that blight 
 
 November days, when life to him 
 Is one December night ! 
 
 ii. 
 
 Can moaning winds through forests bare 
 When night has not a star, — 
 
 Can barrenness of desert drear, 
 Bleak, desolate and far 
 
 From haunts of birds and homes of men 
 With children's voices glad, — 
 
 Can any scene of earth proclaim 
 How wretched and how sad, 
 
 How sore discomfited the one 
 Who woos and wins, to find 
 
 That love, which should inspire and aid, 
 Has forged a chain to bind 
 
 In thrall more cruel than defeat- — 
 Ah, loyalty that learns 
 
nature's moods. 191 
 
 How worse the tyranny that holds 
 Than haughtiness that spurns! 
 
 in. 
 
 Not all the breath and burgeoning 
 That brings the bird whose lay, 
 
 When winter's reign of wrath is done, 
 With joy inspires the May; 
 
 Nor apple bloom, nor rarest rose, 
 
 Nor most melodious tune 
 Of all the harmonies that thrill 
 
 The joyous days of June ; 
 
 Nor waving wealth of wheaten fields 
 That crowns the summer tide, 
 
 Nor hues in which October sees 
 The forests glorified, 
 
 Can tell the greatest, sweetest bliss 
 That ever gladdened earth, 
 
 His joy who gives a heart, and wins 
 A heart to prize his worth ! 
 
"WHERE NATURE REIGNS." 
 
 NATURE rebukes presumptuous men, 
 And yet invites the constant ken 
 Of reverent souls. 
 
 And still the words the Master saith, 
 Who came of old from Nazareth, 
 Nature repeats : 
 
 Consider thou the lilies well, 
 O man, who thinkest thou canst tell 
 Their coloring, 
 
 And all the processes divine 
 Wherein the primal hues combine 
 That beauty give, 
 
 And tell the fragrances that meet 
 To make those rarest odors sweet 
 That lilies shed. 
 
 Consider thou the lilies well, 
 O man, who thinkest thou canst tell 
 What lilies are — 
 
"where nature reigns. 193 
 
 Perfections from the alchemies 
 Wherein the chemists of the skies 
 Have wrought their best ! 
 
 And lilies not alone meant He 
 Who taught, on hills of Galilee, 
 Their loveliness. 
 
 But all the flowers that decked the field 
 For Him did sweetest pleasure yield, 
 And theme for thought. 
 
 And, eloquent above thy speech, 
 The flowers will still their ethics teach, 
 O man of earth, 
 
 As when to prove his doctrine true, 
 In Palestine, the Teacher drew 
 From Nature's store. 
 
 And, mortal, thou canst ever find, 
 If well instructed is thy mind 
 By heavenly power, 
 
194 "WHERE NATURE REIGNS.' 
 
 Such high renewal of thy might. 
 Such inspiration and delight, 
 And rest, and peace, 
 
 In thinking on the works of God, 
 From tiny twig and velvet sod 
 To mountain peak, 
 
 As thou in thine ambitious schemes, 
 Fulfilled unto thy brightest dreams. 
 Canst never find ! 
 
 Where nature reigns distinctions fade 
 That pride may bring to grove and glade 
 To flaunt them there. 
 
 Rank has no sway at nature's court, 
 And Fame is there of small import, 
 And pelf is scorned. 
 
 To thee as kindly welcome wave 
 The elms as unto prince they gave 
 Who fared that wav ; 
 
WHERE NATURE REIGNS.''' I95 
 
 And wild and tender harmony 
 The pensive pines address to thee 
 As unto all, 
 
 And breathe balsamic airs of health 
 Uncaring for their rank and wealth 
 Who seek the boon. 
 
 The quiet beauty of the beech 
 
 To thee as unto all will teach, 
 
 If thou wilt learn, 
 
 The loveliness of real worth, 
 Whatever station in the earth 
 The worthy have. 
 
 Thou canst the graceful tasseling 
 That decks the birchen boughs of spring 
 As well enjoy 
 
 Uncrowned, untitled and unknown, 
 ugh instated on 
 Of kingly power, 
 
 As though instated on a throne 
 
ig6 "where nature reigns. 3 
 
 Commanding hosts whose flags unfurled 
 Should win obeisance from the world 
 To that great name 
 
 Whereof ambition falsely tells 
 Till fond imagination dwells 
 Thereon inthralled ! 
 
 To thee as grand the oaks that hold 
 Converse with crags of mountain bold, 
 Anent the storms. 
 
 As unto royalty they seem ; 
 And for thine eyes as brightly gleam 
 The sumacs gay 
 
 As for the monarch who desires 
 To imitate their scarlet fires 
 On robes he wears 
 
 But finds that futile is the sleight 
 :gs to deck themse 
 As nature shines ! 
 
 Of kings to deck themselves as bright 
 
"where nature reigns. 197 
 
 Contrasting with the snowy lands, 
 As sombre-hued the hemlock stands 
 To symbolize 
 
 Thy grief, as though the dark, cold green, 
 Sighing, bemoaned with northland queen 
 Her consort dead. 
 
 Impartially, when April breath 
 Proclaims the winter's reign of death 
 Is at its end, 
 
 The maple buds portend the June 
 Whose leaves shall cool the torrid noon 
 Of summer time 
 
 And ripen till the autumn days 
 With red and golden glories blaze, 
 Aglow from heaven. 
 
 As bright the miracle where hills 
 Of freedom hear New England rills 
 In ceaseless song 
 
I98 BEYOND. 
 
 As where, to Midian tree, the flame 
 Prophetic for the Hebrew came, 
 By God's command, 
 
 To teach the Moses of that time 
 To lead his brethren to the clime 
 Long promised them. 
 
 The same, but still contrasts the fire 
 That freedom's modern bards inspire, 
 With that of old— 
 
 The first proclaiming good to be, 
 While this announces liberty 
 Already won. 
 
 BEYOND. 
 
 AWAY from things conventional 
 Man finds from nature given 
 Equipment for the toil of earth 
 And for the work of heaven. 
 
BEYOND. 199 
 
 Impatience is reproved to see, 
 
 If but impatience scan, 
 His work who calmly ordereth 
 
 Nature's unhurried plan. 
 
 The equipoise that reason needs 
 
 Is found by brook and shade ; 
 There stimulus for thought, and there 
 
 Devotion's kindest aid. 
 
 And, thence aspiring, faith descries, 
 
 Beyond the mystic stream, 
 Amid celestial groves, the towers 
 
 Of heavenly mansions gleam, 
 
 Where nature and The Book proclaim 
 
 The good shall find their rest, 
 And hears, on heavenly zephyrs borne, 
 
 The anthems of the blest, 
 
 And hears the song *of joyous brooks 
 That glad the eternal hills 
 
2 00 A ROSE. 
 
 Whereon the flowers bloom whose breath 
 The better country fills 
 
 With sweets ambrosial, for the saints 
 
 Perfected by the strife 
 And by the bitterness of earth 
 
 For the sublimer life I 
 
 A ROSE. 
 
 EYOND the single rose he sought 
 She piled the offering high 
 Of lily, pink and jessamine, 
 And larkspurs of the sky, 
 
 Until the gift, full antidote, 
 For all his grief and strife, 
 
 Led him to bless, with that she gave, 
 Another troubled life. 
 
 And words for his bestowment said 
 Were finer fragrance far 
 
FOREVER. 201 
 
 Than concentrated odors breathed 
 From all the lilies are ! 
 
 Ah lady, acts like thine shall bloom 
 
 In choicest beauty where 
 The sweetness from the heavenly plains 
 
 Perfumes the sentient air. 
 
 FOREVER. 
 
 THOUGH the highest, the best, and the sweetest, 
 Achieved by the loving of earth, 
 Is little compared with the transport 
 Of loving where love had its birth, 
 
 With the rapturous blisses of loving, 
 In the region of love in the skies, 
 
 Where affection is breath, and devotion 
 The motive and goal of emprise,— 
 
202 HER PROMISE. 
 
 Yet the highest and sweetest hereafter, 
 Of the wondrous delights of love, 
 
 Yet the grandest of all the fruitions, 
 Of love in the land above, 
 
 Shall be heightened and brightened forever 
 At thoughts of the loving below, — 
 
 Shall be heightened and brightened in heaven, 
 Where loving intenser shall grow 
 
 By the memories, there, of the mating 
 Of the kindred pure spirits on earth, 
 
 With the foretaste at first of fruition 
 Of love in the land of its birth. 
 
 HER PROMISE. 
 
 THE arbutus left its fragrance 
 To last the springtime through, 
 And fill the earth with perfume 
 Until June's roses grew. 
 
TRIAL DAYS. 203 
 
 And zephyrs sweet with odors 
 Her promise took above, 
 
 To whisper to the angels 
 The secret of her love. 
 
 The golden-rod has blossomed, 
 The summer-tide is high ; 
 
 Return the airs from heaven, 
 And glows the joyous sky 
 
 With hope that when October 
 Is glad with gold and red, 
 
 Shall be fulfilled the promise 
 Amid the roses said. 
 
 TRIAL DAYS. 
 
 O TRIAL days that come to test 
 The loyalty of love ; 
 How seem allied the earth and hell 
 And all the powers above, 
 
204 TRIAL DAYS. 
 
 In strange combining, to defeat 
 The heart that seeks to hold 
 
 Its course unswerving from the one 
 To whom the troth was told. 
 
 Rare vows they were in sober life, 
 When pledges were imbued 
 
 With wisdom that experience gave, 
 And found the fire renewed 
 
 Of early passion of the soul 
 Ere trusting love had known 
 
 Its first defeat, and bright with hope 
 Life's radiant morning shone. 
 
 And then, as first, the thrush and lark 
 
 Poured their united strain 
 In high confession that the song 
 
 To voice the joy is vain, 
 
 When hearts in love their pledges make 
 And all the skies approve, — 
 
 O trial days that come to test 
 The loyalty of love ! 
 
THAT OTHER DAY AND THIS. 
 
 IF torrid glare should come to burn 
 To crisp this tempered zone, 
 And verdant vales to desert turn, 
 And hot siroccos moan 
 
 Through forests leafless on the hills 
 
 That once with herbage fed 
 The fattening flocks that drank the rills 
 
 Where grass and streams are dead — 
 
 Not even this could indicate 
 
 The desert of that day 
 When Doubt usurped the throne where Fate 
 
 Had driven Love away ! 
 
 If rivers burst from desert sands, 
 
 That in their gracious flow 
 Should stimulate the arid lands 
 
 Till rose and wheat should grow, 
 
206 THAT OTHER DAY AND THIS. 
 
 And kine contented drink and feed 
 Where clover-blooms bedecked 
 
 And richest verdure greened the mead 
 With frequent coppice flecked, 
 
 And trees of noblest umbrage rise, 
 Wherein the birds should sing 
 
 As if commissioned from the skies 
 Their highest notes to bring, 
 
 And angel ministrants descend 
 
 With golden harps of song, 
 And angel, brook and warbler blend, 
 
 The anthem to prolong, 
 
 Till earth with minstrelsy should thrill, 
 
 And peoples of the earth 
 Should catch the songs the land that fill 
 
 Where music had its birth, 
 
 And came the full millennial dawn, 
 The blessed thousand years, 
 
THAT OTHER DAY AND THIS. 207 
 
 With men and angels rapt upon 
 The cadence of the spheres — 
 
 The scene would scarcely then display 
 
 The change from ban to bliss, 
 From grief that darked that other day 
 
 To joy that crowneth this ! 
 
 For, reinstated, regnant, strong, 
 
 Love hath his rightful throne, 
 To which a realm with wreath and song 
 
 Their glad allegiance own. 
 
 And near him Virtue premier stands, 
 
 And Valor clad in mail, 
 Whose shafts from his unerring hands 
 
 Make all the foemen quail. 
 
 And Honor, regal as the sun, 
 
 Is clad in lustrous gold, 
 And Mercy, swift, delights to run 
 
 And saddened ones enfold 
 
208 THAT OTHER DAY AND THIS. 
 
 In shelter built at Love's behest 
 
 In gratitude to Heaven, 
 That hath rewarded thus his quest 
 
 By fullest empire given. 
 
 And Wisdom there, whose sapient eye 
 Discerns the thoughts of men, 
 
 And all the powers are guided by 
 The prescience of her ken. 
 
 And reverent all the princes bow 
 Enraptured with the theme, 
 
 " Let all the hosts do worship now, 
 For Love is king supreme ! " 
 
 And harvests wave, and zephyrs chant, 
 And bird and tuneful stream, 
 
 That none the monarch shall supplant, 
 For Love is King supreme. 
 
 And written on the cope of heaven, 
 To verify the dream, 
 
ZEPHYRS. 209 
 
 The sign the mighty God has given, 
 That Love shall reign supreme 
 
 Till consummation is attained 
 In that great realm above, 
 
 Where mysteries are all explained 
 By Him whose name is Love ! 
 
 Y 
 
 ZEPHYRS. 
 
 E zephyrs ! bring the odors sweet 
 That on your fragrant way ye meet 
 
 Where all the rarest blooms combine 
 To make the air so near divine 
 
 It seems as if to earth were given 
 The flavors of the hills of heaven ! 
 
 But can ye tell her breath who came 
 To wake his heart to purest flame 
 
 That ever burned in Valor's breast 
 When fortune smiled upon his quest ? 
 
2IO ZEPHYRS. 
 
 Her words were music, ways were grace, 
 And calm on that expressive face 
 
 There glowed the hope of summer skies ; 
 While in the glancing of those eyes, 
 
 Which heralded intensest kiss 
 That ever warmed a heart to bliss, 
 
 A spirit shone that would inspire 
 The gods to their divinest fire ! 
 
 And him it gave the wish to bless 
 And lift from want and doubt's duress, 
 
 Prompt when their need should indicate, 
 Whom he should find unhorsed by Fate, 
 
 On fields of the unequal strife 
 That somewhere comes in every life. 
 
 Ye airs ! excelling any word 
 That earth or Eden ever heard ; 
 
NECTAR. 211 
 
 Ye zephyrs ! chanting numbers high, 
 To challenge harpers of the sky- 
 Till they attempt sublimest song 
 That ever thrilled the heavenly throng — 
 
 Nor ye, nor they, can sing above 
 The music of that wondrous love ! 
 
 NECTAR. 
 
 THE fools may laugh, the prudish quaff 
 Their cups of pale, cold mist, 
 And seem content with no more meant 
 Than if two icebergs kissed ! 
 
 Whoever thinks when Ellen drinks 
 
 Her joy from Ronald's lips 
 There's aught but love — that one above, 
 
 At feasts where Juno sips 
 
212 NECTAR. 
 
 The nectar high that cheers the sky- 
 To its intensest glow, 
 
 Would deem such fire a dark desire 
 And think that airs that blow 
 
 From Paradise bring ill device, 
 
 And kiss by angel given 
 Was wandering worse than that whose curse 
 
 Sent Lucifer from heaven ! 
 
 The fools may laugh, the prudish quaff 
 
 Chill vapor of the morn, 
 Affecting stress of righteousness 
 
 Which doth affection scorn — 
 
 Whoever thinks when Ronald drinks 
 
 The joy by Ellen given 
 It is not well, would find it hell 
 
 If he should get to heaven ! 
 
• 
 
 HEART OF ICE. 
 
 WITHOUT, circumspect and sternly correct, 
 With character showing not any defect, 
 Thy coldness within no luring can win ; 
 Pulseless, and therefore not given to sin ! 
 Thou passionless one, what rivers can run 
 Where coldness turns backward the rays of the sun ? 
 From sinning though free, what credit to thee ? 
 So frigid art thou the tempter would flee, 
 Or, cold with concern, to ice-pillar turn 
 Where fiercest the fervors of hades should burn ! 
 
 With forcefullest will, and busied to kill 
 
 The joy and the sweetness of others, until, 
 
 A-tremble with dread, around thee they tread, 
 
 With only the life to wish they were dead ! 
 
 But cometh a day of contrasts that may 
 
 Melt all thy cold virtues to nothing away. 
 
 This warning dost spurn ? — its truth thou shalt learn 
 
 Where fiercer the fervors of hades shall burn 
 
 Than primal design of fiat divine — 
 
 For hell would be chilled with a presence like thine ! 
 
A WISH. 
 
 THOU cause of universal wish 
 That there were gloomier than the hell 
 Wherein, apart from hope and peace, 
 
 'Tis said the damned in darkness dwell, — 
 
 Sinner compared with whose offence 
 Seem other greater crimes but small, — 
 
 Thou chemist of infernal wit 
 
 Transforming sweetest joy to gall, 
 
 And gloating o'er their bitterness 
 
 Who lovers were and pure as breath 
 
 Of roses in the air of June, 
 
 And free of sin as heaven of death — 
 
 I name thee Slanderer, and declare, 
 With thee compared are cowards brave, 
 
 The robber is an honest man, 
 
 And kind who doth his kind enslave ! 
 
IN AMBUSH. 215 
 
 But why this wish concerning him 
 Whose words to serpent tongues shall turn 
 
 And thrust his soul whose thoughts they were, 
 And sting as fiery caustics burn ? 
 
 In retribution for the sin 
 
 Of him who speaks the sland'rous words, 
 Himself revealed unto himself 
 
 The ample punishment affords. 
 
 IN AMBUSH. 
 
 THOUGH poisoned word be never heard, 
 To voice the base designing 
 Ye contemplate on those ye hate, 
 The thought does the maligning ! 
 
 'Tis ever true, sin colors through 
 And outward shows the staining 
 
 Of sin within, where sins begin, 
 And, slanderous words restraining, 
 
2l6 IN AMBUSH. 
 
 If ye nurse aught of slanderous thought, 
 That thought the victim curses ; 
 
 He vilifies by face and eyes, 
 The evil thought who nurses. 
 
 His fellow-man he giveth ban 
 Who casts the look suspicious ; 
 
 And if he praise, the cautious phrase, 
 Rose-scented and judicious, 
 
 Belittles worse than open curse 
 
 Of enemy malignant ; 
 And in his eyes are wily lies 
 
 Although he beam benignant. 
 
 These shall he send to vex and rend 
 The one his shrewdness blesses ; 
 
 They schooled the while to watch his smile, 
 And kill whom he caresses. 
 
TOMMY TRIM. 
 
 WHEN Tommy Trim at morning takes 
 The pleasant train for town, 
 He wears the kids and hat correct, 
 To match his whiskers brown. 
 
 And through the coaches every one, 
 
 With equipoise of stride, 
 He walks to throw from gorgeous eyes, 
 
 Alternate to each side, 
 
 The glance benignant that shall cheer 
 
 Those waiting till he bless 
 The hearts that thrill with agony 
 
 For his high graciousness ! 
 
 Ah, Tommy Trim ! remember well 
 
 The years will quickly fly, 
 And kids will fade and time will dim 
 
 The lustre of the eye ! 
 
2l8 UNCHARITY. 
 
 And other ones with lovelier face 
 And tuft of finer brown, 
 
 Will smile to win rewarding smiles 
 From those who ride to town ; 
 
 And none recall, dear Tommy Trim, 
 The matchless orbs of thine, 
 
 That beamed to cheer the other days 
 With radiance benign ! 
 
 UNCHARITY. 
 
 OYE who hope to be forgiven, 
 Yet scorn when others plead 
 Your pardon in the name of heaven 
 For ill, impulsive deed — 
 
 Did not an ancient teacher say 
 
 That God forgiveth none 
 Who have not unto those who stray 
 
 The full forgiveness shown ? 
 
UNCHARITY. 219 
 
 And say that, unforgiven, ye 
 
 Shall never reach the skies, 
 That your forgiven frailty 
 
 Your own salvation is ? 
 
 Yet ye who need to be forgiven 
 
 Refuse when others plead 
 Your pardon in the name of heaven 
 
 For an impulsive deed 
 
 That ye, yourselves, might do, some hour, 
 
 When fierce temptations came 
 The high resolve to overpower 
 
 And smirch the brightest name ! 
 
 Assuming the infallible, 
 
 Ye judge your brother man, 
 With ease his degradation tell, 
 
 And gladly mete the ban 
 
 Your laws assign, that none too great 
 Regard th' offender's good, 
 
220 UNCHARITY. 
 
 While ye, unmoved, behold his fate, 
 Demanding blood for blood ! 
 
 And boastful, self-assured, ye flaunt 
 Your worth as menace high, 
 
 In cold, self-righteousness of taunt, 
 When he to hope must die ! 
 
 O who of all the unforgiven 
 
 Do clemency so need 
 \s those who ask the grace of heaven 
 
 Yet scorn when others plead 
 
 That they professing to be strong 
 The helping hand should lend, — 
 
 That they should overlook a wrong 
 Who may themselves offend? 
 
"JOY SINGS SERENELY." 
 
 TOY sings serenely in his heart 
 Who lives devoted to the art 
 Of helpfulness. 
 
 And Joy for him shall ever sing, 
 While all their days of greed shall bring 
 To selfish men 
 
 The dissonance of selfishness ; 
 And discord, darkness, and duress, 
 Their ultimate. 
 
 THY BENISONS. 
 
 WOULD ST thou thy gift should be of worth 
 To him thou blessest in the earth, 
 And, likewise, prove to thee a boon, 
 The given staff, or loaf, or tune, — 
 Then see thou well that no design 
 Of selfishness, at date, be thine ; 
 Nor, after, let that sordid prove 
 Whose only origin was love. 
 
222 "THOU SHALT DISCERN. 
 
 Bestow thy benisons, to tell 
 Thy heart delighteth to do well ; 
 Or, give unthinking, as the spring 
 Sends out its wealth, or, on glad wing, 
 The bird, as happy as the air, 
 Pours forth its carols everywhere! 
 
 "THOU SHALT DISCERN." 
 
 DESPITE the darkness and the din, 
 And all the tendencies to sin 
 Thou findest here, 
 
 Earth is the place and now the time, 
 To win the boon of happy chime 
 For that Beyond, 
 
 Where, if thou bravely livest here, 
 Thou shalt discern, with vision clear. 
 The meaning high 
 
 Of all the mysteries of earth, 
 And find those things had real worth 
 That useless seemed, 
 
BY WARRING WELL. 223 
 
 And, grateful, thank the Eternal Mind 
 That He, the Infinite, the Kind 
 Hath planned it all ! 
 
 BY WARRING WELL. 
 
 T T /HEN", dominant by warring well, 
 
 V V And in the fight grown strong, 
 The soul reigns o'er the outer self 
 That held it subject long, 
 
 The calm serenity of bliss 
 
 And purposes of good 
 Prompt no extravagance of praise, 
 
 To voice the gratitude 
 
 For that ennoblement that is 
 Too great for words to tell ; 
 
 And boon and fitting thanks are both 
 Best told by living well. 
 
FORECASTING. 
 
 OTHOU who bravely up the path 
 Which frequent thorn of trouble hath, 
 Steadfast didst try, 
 If upward still thy courage climb 
 Thy patience shall attain in time 
 The summit of the height sublime 
 From which thine eye, 
 
 Unhindered by dense airs that blow 
 To cloud morass of doubt below, 
 
 Shall see fair ground 
 Beyond the waters flowing cold, 
 A country which doth richness hold 
 Excelling that the men of old 
 
 At Eshcol found. 
 
 Sometime in exaltation spent 
 Shall intervene ere thy descent 
 
 At beck of sprite 
 Whose barge shall bear thee o'er the tide 
 
FORECASTING. 225 
 
 To land thy vision hath descried — 
 Nor shalt thou always there abide, 
 Nor wish thou might. 
 
 For, far from false and with the true, 
 Thy youth renewed and vision new, 
 
 Thou soon shalt be, 
 To learn from features of that shore 
 That they but prophesy of more 
 And bid thine enterprise explore 
 
 With ecstasy 
 
 New continent, and seas, and isles, 
 Whereon such radiant solstice smiles 
 
 To cheer thy gaze 
 That thou shalt think the brightest beams 
 The former gave but faded gleams 
 Of sunshine of forgotten dreams 
 
 Of other days ! 
 
 That land attained, thy study there 
 Shall thee for further quest prepare, 
 
2 26 FORECASTING. 
 
 That shall allure ; 
 And faring on, what thou shalt find 
 Thy broadened and still growing mind 
 Shall solve, assimilate and bind, 
 
 And make secure. 
 
 And it shall rare nutrition be, 
 And spur, and stimulant, for thee, 
 
 To aid thy will, 
 That shall increase with thy desire. 
 To this new good thou mayst aspire 
 And mayst attain, to find yet higher, 
 
 To beckon still ! 
 
 Inspiring faith that paints the scene — 
 A heaven of hills and valleys green, 
 
 With songsters bright 
 That sing responses to the call 
 Of mellow murmuring waterfall ; 
 
FORECASTING. 227 
 
 And blue, benignant over all, 
 A sky of light, 
 
 Whose language is not only peace, 
 But that which teaches an increase 
 
 Of all that's heaven, 
 In such gradations evermore 
 As thou shalt inward from that shore 
 The country of the blest explore, 
 
 With blessing given. 
 
 And, scanning copse and forest belt 
 
 That through the years of heaven have felt 
 
 The zephyrs' joy 
 That sweeps the flower-scented plains 
 Of that good land whose bliss explains 
 Thine earthly lot, thou'lt hear the strains 
 
 Without alloy 
 
 That airs, and birds, and rivers sing, 
 To make the elysian valleys ring 
 The ages through. 
 
228 FORECASTING. 
 
 And angels of the loftiest lyre, 
 In joy that thou shouldst so aspire, 
 Shall wake the strings to noblest fire 
 They ever knew. 
 
 O grandeur of the land that lies 
 Away somewhere beyond the skies, 
 
 Beyond earth's dream — 
 How far beyond the visible 
 Imagination cannot tell, 
 Howe'er intensely it may dwell 
 
 Upon the theme ! 
 
 Thou shalt have sail for broadest seas 
 And time to solve all mysteries 
 
 Thy search hath spied. 
 Whatever thine ambition be 
 Thou shalt no limitation see 
 Thy time is all eternity ; 
 
 Thy scope as wide ! 
 
m um%. 
 
 £i 
 
„S£ RY 0F CONGRESS 
 
 ■iiinnii 
 
 016 117 360 5 
 
 
 
 WmMmk