WERNER'S READINGS AND RECITATIONS No. 33 INCLUDING "JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS'S FAVORITE SELECTIONS" i\ m w EDGAR S. WERNER & COMPANY NEW YORK Copyright, 1892, by Annt« Thomas. Copyright, 1905, by Edgar S. Went* Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil i http://archive.org/details/juliaanniethomas33thom CONTENTS. Pagb ibsence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder 24c tdvice to a Hard Student 21 dter Election. — Annie Thomas . . . 42 Lnnabel Lee. — Edgar Allan Poe 79 .pparitions. — Robert Browning 7 .t Sunset. — Margaret E. Sangster 67 lattle, The. — Frederick Schiller 234 leautiful, The. — E. H. Burrington 30 iffe Still.— Rev. Dwight Williams 162 lilly's First and Last Drink of Lager 19 !on Ton Saloon, The 8 ;ootblack, The , ill Bose." — Emeline Sherman Smith 57 loy Orator of Zepata City. — Richard Harding Davis 216 rahma 22 iiidd Explains. — : Marion Short 204 iiUtercups and Daisies 23 arcassonne. — Gustav Nadaud 69 Chemistry of Character, The. — Elizabeth Dorney 83 hickens 107 Child's Thought of God, A. — Elizabeth Barrett Browning 41 lourtin' the Widder. — Libbie C. Baer 209 yclopeedy. — Eugene Field 205 )arkey Innocence. — J. W. Morgan 221 )ay is Done, The. — Henry W. Longfellow I )e Po' White Trash. — Minny Maud Hanff 203 )er Oak und der Vine. — Charles Follen Adams 124 Hscipline 75 )olly's Prayer. — Emma Burt 139 )rifting. — T. B. Read 141 )runkard-maker. The 140 )uty. — Frederick Schiller ; . 123 (HI) CONTENTS. Pact Duty. — Rev. Alfred J. Hough 153 Eden Advancing.— Rev. E. H. Stokes, D. D 89 Eleventh Hour, The. — Anna L, Ruth 36 Extract from "The Light of Asia." — Sir Edwin Arnold 191 "Father, Take My Hand" 98 Gardener's Daughter, The. — Alfred Tennyson 170 Gems from Walt Whitman 195 . Give Us Men 54 God's Appointments. — Emma C. Dowd 33 Golden-Rod '. 163 Golden-Rod. — C. A. Kiefe 26 Good-Bye 231 Gradatim. — J. G. Holland 49 "Gran'ther's Gun." — Charles Henry Webb 215 Guilty or Not Guilty ? 52 Hans and Fritz. — -Charles Follen Adams 85 Haste Not — Rest Not. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 18 Hazing of Valiant. — Jesse Lynch Williams 199 Here or There. — Henry Burton 149 Herve Riel. — Robert Browning 165 His Best Girl 5 Hope On. — Adelaide A. Procter 77 Hour of Prayer, The. — Victor Hugo 78 If Only 144 If There Be Glory. — Maxwell Grey 154 Indian's Revenge, The. — Felicia Hemans , 91. Jack 71 John's Mistake. — Mollie Brande 50 Judge Not 38 Katie Lee and Willie Grey. 134 Katie's Answer 55 King's Picture, The. — Helen B. Bostwick 3 Kissing the Rod. — James Whitcomb Riley 102 Leak in the Dike, The. — Phoebe Cary 170 Legend of Bregenz, A. — Adelaide E. Procter 115 (IV) CONTENTS. Pack Liberty and Independence 31 Life. — Annie Thomas 155 Life Llcvcs.— Joaquin Miller 63 Lines Written on My 87th Birthday. — David Dudley Field 185 Little Newsman, The 10 Little Rocket's Christmas. — Vanlyke Brown 44 Lost Pearl, The 66 Luck of Roaring Camp. — Bret Harte 222 Margery. — Mrs. E. C. Foster 86 Marie's Little Lamb 220 "Merchant of Venice" Told in Scotch. — Charles Reade 210 Message, The. — Adelaide A. Procter 146 Mirage. — Edith Sessions Tupper 65 My Kate. — Elizabeth Barrett Browning 109 My Mission. — Bayard Taylor „ 177 Mysterious Portrait: A Story of Japan. — George Japy 241 Never Trouble Trouble. — Fannie Windsor 147 Nobility-— Anne C. L. Botta 8 Not Knowing 16 "Number Twenty-five" 131 O'Connor's Child. — Thomas Campbell 156 Old Ben's Trust 112 Old Violinist's Christmas 232 One of Many. — Alice Cary 164 Painter of Seville, The. — Susan Wilson 125 Past and the Future, The. — Luther R. Marsh 174 Peanutti's Voyage to Europe. — Joe Kerr 236 Pig in the Fence, A 56 Poor Children, The. — Victor Hugo 17 Poor Fisher Folk, The. — Victor Hugo 187 Premonition of Immortality. — David Dudley Field 186 Regrets of Drunkenness. — William Shakespeare 151 Religio Academic! 105 Revelation 29 Second Trial, A. — Sarah Winter Kellogg 119 (V) CONTENTS. Pag* Self-Culture 148 Self-Dependence. — Matthew Arnold 175 She Was "Somebody's Mother." — Mary D. Brine 104 Shepherd Dog of the Pyrenees, The. — Ellen Murray 144 Smiting the Rock 136 Sorceress 239 Station Despair. — Joaquin Miller 103 Suggestion. — Richard Realph 82 Then Ag'in. — S. W. Foss 1 50 Three Days in the Life of Columbus. — Jean F. C. Delavigne 99 Three Words of Strength. — Frederick Schiller 76 Tired 42 To a Skeleton 28 To Walt Whitman. — Annie Thomas 194 Trying to Get Even Don't Pay 40 Two Mysteries, The. — Mary Mapes Dodge 15 Two Towns 169 Unfulfilled , 39 Up-Hill. — Christina G. Rossetti 37 "Vas Marriage a Failure?"— Charles Follen Adams..... 64 Wakin' the Young Uns 227 Wedding Fee, The. — R. N. Streeter 60 What of That ? 35 When Me an' Ed Got Religion. — Fred W. Shibley 243 When the Old Man Smokes. — Paul Laurence Dunbar 229 Who is My Neighbor? 68 Wishes.— Anne C. L. Botta 5 Woman's Complaint, A 113 Women of the War. — Annie Thomas 80 (VI) INDEX TO AUTHORS. Page Adams, Charles Follen 64, 85, 124 Arnold, Sir Edwin 191 Arnold, Matthew. 175 Baer, Libbie C 209 Bostwick, Helen B 3 Botta, Anne C. L 5, 8 Brande. Mollie 50 Brine, Mary D 104 Brown, Vandyke 44 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett 41, 109 Browning, Robert 7, 165 Burrington, E. H 30 Burt, Emma 139 Burton, Henry 149 Campbell, Thomas 156 Cary, Alice 164 Cary, Phoebe 1 70 Davis, Richard Harding 216 Delavigne, Jean F. C 99 Dodge, Mary Mapes 15 Dorney, Elizabeth 83 Dowd, Emma C 33 Dunbar, Paul Laurence 229 Field, David Dudley 185, 186 Field, Eugene 205 Foss, S. W 150 Foster, Mrs. E. C 86 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von 18 Grey. Maxwell 1 54 Hanff, Minny Maud 203 Harte, Bret 222 Hemans, Felicia 91 Holland, J. G 49 Hough, Alfred J 153 Hugo, Victor 17, 78, 187 Japy, George 241 Kellogg, Sarah Winter 119 Kerr, Joe 236 Kiefe, C. A 26 (VII) INDEX TO AUTHORS. Page Longfellow. Henry W I Marsh, Luther R 174 Miller, Joaquin 63, 103 Morgan, J. W 221 Murray, Ellen 144 Nadaud, Gustav •. . 69 Poe, Edgar Allan ' 79 Procter, Adelaide A 77, 115, 146 Read. T. B 141 Reade, Charles 210 Realph, Richard 82 Riley, James Whitcomb 102 Rossetti, Christina G 37 Ruth, Anna L 36 Sangster, Margaret E 67 Schiller. Frederick 76, 123, 234 Shakespeare, William „ 151 Shibley, Fred W 243 Short, Marion 204 Smith, Emeline Sherman 57 Stokes, E. H 89 Streeter, R. N , 60 Taylor, Bayard 177 Tennyson, Alfred 179 Thomas, Annie 43, 80, 155, 194 Tupper, Edith Sessions , 65 Webb, Charles Henry 215 Williams, Dwight 162 Williams, Jesse Lynch 199 Wilson. Susan 125 Windsor, Fannie 147 trrny WERNERS READINGS AND RECITATIONS No. 33 INCLUDING "Julia and Annie Thomas's Favorite Selections" THE DAY IS DONE. HENRY W. LONGFELLOW. THE day is done, and the darkness Falls from the wings of Night, As a feather is wafted downward From an eagle in his flight. I see the lights of the village Gleam through the rain and the mist, And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me That my soul cannot resist : A feeling of sadness and longing, That is not akin to pain, And resembles sorrow only As the mist resembles the rain. Come, read to me some poem, Some simple and heartfelt lay, That shall soothe this restless feeling, And banish the thoughts of day. x JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Not from the grand old masters, Not from the bards sublime, Whose distant footsteps echo Through the corridors of Time. For, like strains of martial music, Their mighty thoughts suggest Life's endless toil and endeavor; And to-night I long for rest. Read from some humbler poet, Whose songs gushed from his heart, As showers from the clouds of summer, Or tears from the eyelids start; Who, through long days of labor, And nights devoid of ease, Still heard in his soul the music Of wonderful melodies. Such songs have power to quiet The restless pulse of care, And come like the benediction That follows after prayer. Then read from the treasured volume The poem of thy choice, And lend to the rhyme of the poet The beauty of thy voice. And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away. FA I 'OKI TE SELE C TIONS. THE KING'S PICTURE. HELEN B. BOSTWICK. There is in every human being, however ignoble, some hint of perfection; some one place where, as we may fancy, the veil is thin which hides the Divinity behind it. — Confucian Classics. THE King from his council chamber Came weary and sore of heart ; He called for Iliff the painter, And spake to him thus apart: " I am sickened of faces ignoble, Hypocrites, cowards, and knaves! I shall fall to their shrunken measure, Chief slave in a realm of slaves! " Paint me a true man's picture, Gracious and wise and good; Endowed with the strength of heroes And the beauty of womanhood. It shall hang in my inmost chamber, That thither, when I retire, It may fill my soul with grandeur And warm it with sacred fire." So the artist painted the picture, And hung it in palace hall, Never one so beautiful Had adorned the stately wall. JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' The King, with head uncovered, Gazed on it with rapt delight, Till it suddenly wore strange meaning, And baffled his questioning sight. ? or the form was his supplest courtier's, Perfect in every limb; But the bearing was that of the henchman Who filled the flagons for him; The brow was a priest's who pondered His parchments early and late; The eye was a wandering minstrel's Who sang at the palace gate; The lips — half sad, half mirthful, With a flitting, tremulous grace — Were the very lips of a woman He had seen in the market-place; But the smile which the face transfigured, As a rose with its shimmer of dew, Was the smile of the wife who loved him— Queen Ethelyn, good and true. Then, "Learn, O King," said the artist, "This truth that the picture tells; How in every form of the human Some hint of the highest dwells; How, scanning each living temple For the place where the veil is thin, We may gather, by beautiful glimpses. The form of the God within.'-' FA VORITE SELECTIONS. WISHES. ANNE C. L. BOTTA. /"MVE me the bracelets that your warriors wear! " VJ The Roman traitress to the Sabine cried. " Give me but them and I will be your guide, And to your host the city's gates unbar." Then to the walls each eager warrior rushed, And on the base Tarpeia as he passed, Each from his arm the massive circlet cast Till her slight form beneath the weight was crushed. Thus are our idle wishes. Thus we sigh For some imagined good yet unattained; For wealth, or fame, or love, and which once gained, May, like a curse, o'er all our future lie. Thus in our blindness do we ask of fate The gifts that once bestowed, may crush us with their weight. HIS BEST GIRL. HE hurried up to the office as soon as he entered the hotel, and, without waiting to register, inquired eagerly: " Any letter for me ? " The clerk sorted over a package with the negligent attention that comes of practice, then flopped one — a very small one — on the counter. The travelling man took it with a curious smile that twisted his face into a mask of expectancy. He smiled more as he read it. Then, oblivious of other travellers who jostled him, he 6 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' laid it tenderly against his lips and actually kissed it. A loud guffaw startled him. "Now look here, old fellow," said a loud voice," that won't do, you know. Too spooney for anything. Confess, now, your wife didn't write that letter?" "No, she didn't," said the travelling man, with an amazed look, as if he would like to change the subject. "That letter is from my best girl." The admission was so unexpected that the trio of friends who had caught him said no more until after they had eaten a good dinner and were seated together in a chum's room. Then they began to badger him. "It's no use, you've got to read it to us, Dick," said one of them, " we want to know all about your best girl." " So you shall," said Dick with great coolness. " I will give you the letter and you can read it yourselves. There it is," and he laid it open on the table. " I guess not," said the one who had been loudest in demand- ing it. "We like to chaff a little, but I hope we are gentlemen. The young lady would hardly care to have her letter read by this crowd," and he looked reproachfully at his friend. " But I insist upon it, " was the answer. " There is nothing in it to be ashamed of — except the spelling; that is a little shaky, I'll admit, but she won't care in the least. Read it, Hardy, and judge for yourself." Thus urged, Hardy took up the letter, shamefacedly enough, and read it. There were only a few words. First he laughed, then swallowed suspiciously, and, as he finished it, threw it on the table again and rubbed the back of his hand across his eyes as if troubled with dimness of vision. " Pshaw," he said, " if I had a love letter like that " and then was silent. "Fair play!" cried one of the others, with an uneasy laugh. "I'll read it to you, boys," said their friend, seeing they FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 7 made no move to take it, "and I think you'll agree with me that it's a model love letter." And this was what he read: " Mi owen deer PaPa. I sa mi PRairs every nite annd Wen i kis yure Pictshure i ASK god to bless you gOOd bi Pa Pa yure Best gurl DOLLY." For a moment or two the company remained silent, while the letter was passed from hand to hand, and you would have said that every one had hay fever by the snuffling that was heard. Then Hardy jumped to his feet. "Three cheers for Dolly and three cheers more for Dick's best girl! " They were given with a will. APPARITIONS. ROBERT BROWNING. SUCH a starved bank of moss Till, that May morn, Blue ran the flash across: Violets were born! Sky — what a scowl of cloud Till, near and far, Ray on ray split the shroud: Splendid, a star. World — how it walled about Life with disgrace Till God's own smile came out: That was thy face! JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' NOBILITY, ANNE C. L. BOTTA. I DO not ask if an illustrious name Has shed upon thy birth its purple glow; Nor do I ask what titles thou canst claim, What ribbon favors, such as kings bestow. Why should I, when upon thy brow I see, In its expression of all lofty things, The insignia of that true nobility That bears the impress of the King of kings. THE BON TON SALOON. BY THE EDITOR OF ALL THE WORLD. SUNSHINY, crisp, broke that October morning, Montana way; Down the white roadways of Helena tramping, At break of day, Gang after gang of brisk workmen came thronging, Gathering soon Where crawled long, snakelike trenches, in front of The Bon Ton saloon. Oh, you would never have looked for a hero Out of that crowd! Navvies from East and from West were assembled, Soiled, labor-bowed, Infidels, lews — and one Salvation soldier, Humming a tune, Digging away where the trench ran in front of The Bon Ton saloon. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 9 Waked the young city to clangor and bustle, Effort and strife. Townsmen and ranchmen were passing, repassing, Sinning was rife. Whirled all the wheels of life faster and faster, till Just at high noon Came a great crash, and a dust cloud in front of The Bon Ton saloon! Silence an •instant. Then oaths and quick orders, Clamor and din. Two men the earth-slide had buried already Up to the chin. Well knew the hurrying workmen unless their Help reached them soon, Two corpses, ready-graved, stood there in front of The Bon Ton saloon! Clear rose a voice from the mound that was crushing them, " Never mind me! I — I belong to the Salvation Army, Dig my mate free! ' Care-free was he of the Helena soldiery. Humming his tune, Under the earth or above it, in front of The Bon Ton saloon ! Half an hour later he stood on the sidewalk; Scathless was he. God can be trusted to always look after " Never mind me! " All over Helena, sinners, remember it — How, high at noon, Testified Tracy, entombed there in front of The Bon Ton saloon ! to JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' THE LITTLE NEWSMAN. IT was no wonder the men stopped their work and stared. It was no wonder that one or two of them laughed for a mo- ment. It looked so strange and somehow out of place. None of us had ever seen or heard anything like it before. It was in the yard of the largest marble works in the city of Chicago. Ever so many fine monuments, delicately carved and finished, stood there complete to show how well work could be done; and then there was work in all stages of finish, some pieces of marble just begun to be chiselled, little and great, simple and elegant. Then there were broken pieces of marble lying there apparently useless, and some otherwise, but broken in process of chiselling. Not one of all these escaped the quick eye of the little street vagrant (as any of us would have called him) who had entered the yard a few moments before with such a business air, and walked from one to the other and scanned them closely. We had paid little attention to him, for we thought that for want of something worse to do he had just wandered in. It was his first question that startled us. The smiles dietl away from the faces of all as we listened to him. He stepped nearer to the one that he took to be boss among us, and said: "I say, mister, how much does this cost?" He pointed to a plain marble slab that looked simple enough in the midst of so many finer ones. I can't tell you how his question sounded, for you can't hear his voice. It had in it something which brought tears instead of smiles. The boss named the price; a disappointed look crept over the face of the ragged little newsboy, and with a forced smile that was sadder than tears he looked up with: "Why, that's more than I thought; I ain't able to pay that." FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 1 He went on through the smaller ones inquiring the price of each, and each time looking his disappointment that all were too costly for his small means. Finally he stopped in front of a broken shaft of marble; one of the remains of an accident in the yard the day before. He took off his ragged hat, and gaz- ing at the broken stone for a few moments he stammered out: "I say, mister, that looks like her somehow. How much may I have it for ? " He was asked if he wanted it lettered, and when it was ex- plained to him what that meant, and that it would cost some- thing to have it done, he said: ''No; I can't afford that, but p'raps I can manage that my- self," and again that sad, forced smile. "Ye see," he went on, " mother and. I were all there was left of us, leastways as far as we know,|for we haven't heard from father for ever so long. We kept house together. I earned what I could, and mother she worked as long as she was able. She wasn't very old, but she was always crying, only when she cheered up to make her little son happy — that's what she called me; but she couldn't cheer up for long She grew sicker and sicker, and — well — I did all I could for her; but — she died last week " Thelittle fellow was sobbing now as he leaned on the broken shaft that reminded him of his mother. His tears were not the only ones, Lean tell you. We nodded to the boss, and he named a price so small that the manly little fellow looked up with amazement that at last he had found something within his means. He quickly closed the bargain and counted out the nickels and pennies for his prize. He walked about for a few moments among the stones spelling out, as best he could, the inscriptions, asked several questions about how it was done, and how long it took, then hastily went out like a man of business, saying: "I'll be after it to-morrow." He came toward the middle of the day when the mornrng 12 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' papers were all sold. He had a little cart which he asked us to load the stone in, and never a purchaser had left that yard with a sweeter, sadder satisfaction than our little hero. He took the streets toward the cemetery — we knew, for we watched him. We half expected he would turn up some day to learn more about the lettering or something but he never came, and our curiosity, we thought, was likely never to be gratified. One Monday morning as we gathered at our work, one of the men, who had seemed particularly sober, startled us with: " I say, boys, wouldn't you like to know what became of our little newsman ? " "Yes, yes; what do you know of him?" came from several at once. "Well," said the workman, "I will own I have thought of the little fellow every day since he was here; and somehow couldn't get rid of the thought that I should like to know what had become of him. How to find out I couldn't tell, for not one of us had asked where he lived or his name or knew any one who could tell us. Yesterday I thought of a plan; and so in the afternoon I started for the cemetery I thought it likely he carried his stone to. I was lucky, for at almost my first question the man in charge seemed to know whom I meant, and asked if I would know the stone if I saw it. I told him I would, and he started with me. toward a corner of the cemetery that I was afraid was the Potter's Field. I asked him if he was taking me to to the paupers' burying-ground, for I could not somehow bear to think that our little newsman's mother had had no better place to be laid away in. He answered: '"No; but if it hadn't been for one of your good churches down there in the city, she would have fared no better than all other paupers. You know the big mission church down on the avenue? Well, they couldn't think of burying their Sunday- school scholars in the Potter's Field, if they were " only pau- FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 13 pers," many of them; and so several years ago they bought a # big lot up here just for them, and there's where I'm taking you. Here it is,' he said, as we stopped in front of a big lot, nicely fixed up — and sure enough there was our monument, at the head of one of the larger graves. I knew it at once, just as it was when it left our yard, I was going to say, until I got a little nearer to it, and saw what the little chap had done. O boys, I can't describe to you the lettering on that stone. I will confess that something blurred my eyes so I couldn't read it at first. The little man had tried to keep the lines straight, and evidently thought that capitals would make it look better and bigger, for nearly every letter was a capital. I copied it, and here it is, but you want to see it on the stone to appre- ciate it; 'MY mOTHER SHEE DIDE LAST WEAK. SHEE WAS ALL I HAD. SHEE SED SHEAD Bee WalTIN FUR—' And here, boys, the lettering stopped. After a while I went back to the man in charge, and asked him what further he knew of the little fellow who brought the stone. "'Not much,' he said, 'not much. Didn't you notice a fresh little grave near the one with the stone? Well, he lies there. He had been coming here every afternoon for some time, work- ing away at that stone, and one day I missed him, and then for several days. Then the man canjie out from that church that had buried the mother and ordered the grave dug by her side. I asked if it was for the little chap. He said it was. He had sold his papers all out one day and was hurrying along the street out this way. He didn't notice the runaway team just above the crossing, and — well — he was run over, and didn't live but a day or two. He had in his hand when he was picked up an old file, sharpened down to a point, that he did all t'ne 14 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' lettering on that stone with./ They said he seemed to be thinking only of that until he died, for he kept saying: " J didn't get it done, but she'll know I meant to finish it, won't she? I'll tell her so, for she'll be waiting for me.'" And, boys, he died with those words on his lips." We were still for a while; none of us wanted to say anything. "And now, boys, what shall we do?" said the man who had told us the story. "Do; why here is what I want to do," said one of the men, "get the best stone in the yard, and here's a V to begin it." We all threw in, and if we didn't get him the best stone, we got him a good one. Under his name — we got it from the superintendent of the school, and put it on because of the father, who might some day come back — we put: "He loved his mother;" and I'll warrant you will find no better lettering in that cemetery than you will find on that stone. The superintendent of the Sunday-school wanted us to let him know when we put up the stone, and a regular delegation of them went out with us, he and some of the teachers, all of the little newsman's class, and a good many of the other scholars, and the good man who built the church got into the city the night before and came out with them. He had heard something of the story from the teacher, but you ought to have seen him when he looked at those stones; the tears ran down his cheeks and he didn't try to stop them, either. He made a little speech, and after we had set the stone told the scholars how the little fellow had loved and worked for his mother, and how he had denied himself to put up this little stone to her memory. He told them that the little fellow loved the Saviour, too, and tried to live to please Him. "Children," he said, "I would rather be that brave, loving. Christian little newsboy, and lie there with that on my tomb- stone, than be king of the world and not love and respect my mother." FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 5 THE TWO MYSTERIES. MARY MAPES DODGE. WE know not what it is, dear, this sleep so deep and still, The folded hands, the awful calm, the cheek so pale and chill, The lids that will not lift again, though we may call and call, The strange white solitude of peace that settles over all. We know not what it means, dear, this desolate heart-pain, The dread to take our daily way and walk in it again. We know not to what sphere the loved who leave us go, Nor why we're left to wonder still, nor why we do not know. But this we know, our loved and lost, if they should come this day, Should come and ask us, What is life? not one of us could say. Life is a mystery as deep as death can ever be; Yet, oh, how sweet it is to us, this life we live and see! Then might they say, those vanished ones, and blessed is the thought, So death is sweet to us, beloved, though we may tell you naught ; We may not tell it to the quick, this mystery of death; Ye may not tell it if ye would, the mystery of breath. The child who enters life comes not with knowledge or intent, So those who enter death must go as little children sent; Nothing is known, but 1 believe that God is overhead; And as life is to the living so death is to the dead. 1 6 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' NOT KNOWING. I KNOW not what will befall me, God hangs mist o'er my eyes: And o'er each step of my onward path He makes new scenes to rise, And every joy He sends me comes as a sweet and glad surprise. I see not a step before me, as I tread the days of the year; But the past is still in God's keeping, the future His mercy shall clear; And what looks dark 'in the distance may brighten as I draw near. For perhaps the dreaded future has less bitter than I think; The Lord may sweeten the water before I stoop to drink; Or, if Marah must be Marah, He will stand beside its brink. It may be He has waiting for the coming of my feet Some gift of such rare blessings, some joy so strangely sweet, That my life can only tremble with the thanks I can't repeat. restful, blissful ignorance! 'Tis blessed not to know; It keeps me quiet in the arms which will not let me go: And hushes my soul to rest on the bosom which loves me so. So I go on not knowing; I would not if I might; 1 would rather walk in the dark with God than go alone in the light; I would rather walk with Him by faith than walk alone by sight. FA VORITE SELECTIONS. l 7 My heart shrinks back from trials which the future may dis- close; Yet I never had a sorrow but what the dear Lord chose; So I send the coming tears back with the whispered words, " He knows." THE POOR CHILDREN. VICTOR HUGO. TAKE, of that little being, care, For he is great and God contains — Before their birth these infants are Lights in the heaven's azure fanes. They the kind hand of God bestows; They come and the free gift is His; His wisdom in their laughter shows, And His forgiveness in their kiss. Their gentle radiance makes us bright; Their right is pleasure to receive; They hunger! Heaven weeps at the sight, And when they're cold, the angels grieve. When innocence is in distress, Man it convicts of infamy. Men over angels power possess Ah, me! What thunders fill the sky When God — seeking those tender things Whom, as we slumber in this shade, He sends us decked in angels' wings — Finds them in rags and filth arrayed! i8 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS HAvSTE NOT— REST NOT. JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE. "TTHTHOUT haste! without rest!" VV Bind the motto to thy breast! Bear it with thee as a spell; Storm or sunshine, guard it well! Heed not flowers that round thee bloom. Bear it onward to the tomb. Haste not! Let no thoughtless deed Mar fore'er the spirit's speed; Ponder well and know the right, Onward, then, with all thy might; Haste not — years can ne'er atone For one reckless action done. Rest not! Life is sweeping by, Do and dare before you die; Something mighty and sublime Leave behind to conquer time; Glorious 'tis to live for aye When these forms have passed away. Haste not! rest not! Calmly wait, Meekly bear the storms of fate; Duty be thy polar guide — Do the right, whate'er betide! Haste not! rest not ! Conflicts past, God shall crown thy work at last. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 19 BILLY'S FIRST AND LAST DRINK OP LAGER. I" Poy Pilly " was the adopted son of Father Zende, an eccentric Teuton, who was much shocked at seeing the boy in a saloon taking a glass of lager. He bade the boy go home, but said nothing about the matter till evening. After tea, Zende seated himself at the table, and placed before him a variety of queer things, whereon Billy looked with curiosity.] U |70MMEN sie hier, Pilly!" cried Zende. " Vy vast du in IV te peer shops to-tay, hein ? Vy trinks peer, mein poy ? " "Oh, oh, because it's good," said Billy, boldly. " No, Pilly, eet vast not gute to dein mout. I did see neffer so pig vaces als didst make, Pilly. Pilly, you dinks eet vill dast gute py-ant-py, and eet ees like a man to trink, ant so you trinks. Now, Pilly, eef it is gute, haf eet; ef it ees likes ein man, trinks, Pilly. I vill not hinders you vrom vat ees gute ant manly, mein shilt; but trinks at home, dakes your trink pure, Pilly, and lets me pays vor eet. Kom, mein poy! You likes peer. Veil, kom, open dein mout, hier I half all te peer stuff simons pure vrom te shops, mein poy. Kom, opens dein mout, ant I vill puts eet een." Billy drew near, but kept his mouth close shut. Said Zende, "Don' you makes me madt, Pilly! Opens dein mout! " Thus exhorted, Billy opened his mouth, and Zende put a small bit of alum in it. Billy drew up his face, but boys can stand alum. After a little, Zende cried, "Opens dein mout, peer ist not all alums!" And he dropped in a bit of aloes. This was worse. Billy winced. Again, "Opens dein mout! " The least morsel of red pepper, now, from a knife-point; but Billy howled. "Vat! not likes dein peer!" said Zende. "Opens dein mout!" just touched now with a knife-point dipped in oil of turpentine. Billy began to cry. "Opens dein mout, dein peer is not haf mate, yet, Pilly! " And Billy's tongue got the least 20 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' dusting of lime and potash and saleratus. Billy now cried loudly. "Opens dein mout! " Unlucky Billy! This time about a grain of licorice, hop pollen, and saltpetre. 14 Looks, Pilly! Here ist some arsenic, and some strychnine; dese pelongs een te peer. Opens dein mout! " "I can't, I can't!" roared Billy. "Arsenic ant strychnine are to kill rats! I shall die — O — O — O — do you want to kill me, Father Zende?" "Kills him; joost py ein leetle peer ! all gute ant pure! He dells me he likes peer, ant eet ees manly to trinks eet, ant vet> I gives heem te peer he cries I kills heem! So, Pilly, hier. ees water; dere ist mooch water een peer — trinks dat! " Billy drank the water eagerly. Zende went on, "Ant, dere ees mooch alcohol een peer. Hier! opens dein mout! " and he dropped four drops of raw spirit carefully on his tongue. Billy went dancing about the room, and then ran for more water. " Koramen sie hier, dein peer ist not done, Pilly," shouted Zende ; and, seizing him, he put the cork of an ammonia bottle to his lips, then a drop of honey, a taste of sugar, a drop of molasses, a drop of gall; then, "Pilly! hier ist more of dein peer! Hier ist jalap, copperas, sulphuric acid, acetic acid, ant nux vomica; opens dein mout! " "Oh, no, no! Let me go! I hate beer! I'll never drink any more! I'll never go in that shop again; I'll be a good boy — I'll sign the pledge. Oh, let me be! I can't eat those things! I'll die! My mouth tastes awful now. Oh, take 'em away, Father Zende! " " Dakes 'emavay? dakes avay dein gute peer?" cried the old man, innocently, " ven I hafs pait vor eet, and mein Pilly can trink eet pure at hees home, likes ein shentilman ! Vy, poy, dese ist te makin's of peer, ant you no likes dem ? All dese honey, ant sugar, ant vater, poy?" " But the other things. Oh, the other things — they are the biggest part — ugh! they make me sick." FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 2 1 " Mein poy, you trinks dem fast to-tay! Look, Pilly — a man he trinks all dese pad dings mix up een vater, ant call peer. Ach! he gets redt in hees faces, he gets pig een hees poddy, he gets shaky een hees hands, he gets clumsy on hees toes, he gets veak een hees eyes, he gets pad een hees breat, he gets mean een hees manners. Vy! Pilly, you sees vy. All dese dings on mein dable ees vy! " Happy Billy! Few boys get so good a temperance lecture, such home thrusts, such practical experiments as fall to your lot. Billy was satisfied on the beer question. " He ees all gute now," said Zende. " I hafs no more drou- bles mit mein Pilly." ADVICE TO A HARD STUDENT. STILL vary thy incessant task, nor plod each weary day As if thy life were thing of earth — a servant to its clay. Alternate with thy honest work some contemplations high: Though toil be just, though gold be good, look upward to the sky. Take pleasure for thy limbs at morn; at noontide wield the pen; Converse to-night with moon and stars; to-morrow talk with men. Cull garlands in the fields and bowers, or toy with running brooks; Then rifle in thy chamber lone the honey of thy books. If in the wrestlings of the mind a gladiator strong, Give scope and freedom to thy thought, but strive not over- long. Climb to the mountain-top serene, and let life's surges beat, With all their whirl of striving men, far, far beneath thy feet. 2 2 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' But stay not ever on the height, 'mid intellectual snow, Come down betimes to tread the grass, and roam where wa- ters flow; Come down betimes to rub thy hands at the domestic hearth; Come down to share the warmth of love, and join the children's mirth. BRAHMA. The following from " Dschelaleddin Rumi " (translated by Ritter) describes the god Brahma, and is probably the only poem in the world which comes anywhere near picturing the great Creator of all things. The Brahmin's belief is that everything that is, is God. I AM the mote in the sunbeam, and I am the burning sun; "Rest here!" I whisper the atom; I call to the orb, "Roll on! " I am the blush of the morning, and I am the evening breeze; I am the leaf's low murmur, the swell of the terrible seas. I am the net, the fowler, the bird and its frightened cry; The mirror, the fprm reflected, the sound and its echo, I; The lover's passionate pleading, the maiden's whispered fear; The warrior, the bKade that smites him, his mother's heart- wrung tear; I am intoxication, grapes, wine-press and musk and wine, The guest, the host, the traveller, the goblet of crystal fine. I am the breath of the flute, I am the mind of man. Cold's glitter, the light of the diamond, and the sea pearl's lustre wan ; The rose, her poet nightingale, and the songs from his throat that rise; The flint, the sparks, the taper, the moth that about it flies; I am both Good and Evil, the deed and the deed's intent; Temptation, victim, sinner, crime, pardon, and punishment; I am what was, is, will be — creation's ascent and fall; The link, the chain of existence; beginning and end of all. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 23 BUTTERCUPS AND DAISIES. DURING one of last summer's hottest days, I had the good fortune to be seated in a railway car near a mother and four children, whose relations with each other were singularly beautiful. It was plain that they were poor. The mother's bonnet alone would have been enough to condemn the whole in any one of the world's thoroughfares, but her face was one which it gave a sense of rest to look upon; it was earnest, tender, true, and strong. The children — two boys and two girls — were all under the age of twelve, and the youngest could not speak plainly. They had had a rare treat. They had been visiting the mountains, and were talking over the wonders they had seen with a glow of enthusiastic delight which was to be envied ; and the mother bore her part all the while with such equal interest and eagerness, that no one not seeing her face would have dreamed that she was any other than an elder sister. In the course of the day there were many occasions when it was necessary for her to deny requests and to ask services, especially from the elder boy, but no'girl anxious to please a lover could have done either with a more tender courtesy. She had her reward, for no lover could have been more tender and manly than was the boy of twelve. Their lunch was simple and scanty, but it had the grace of a royal banquet. At the last the mother produced with much glee three apples and an orange, of which the children had not known. All eyes fastened on the orange. It was evidently a great rarity. I watched to see if this test would bring out selfishness. The mother said: "How shall I divide this? There is one for each of you, and I shall be best off of ali, for I expect big tastes from each of you." '' Oh, give Annie the orange! Annie loves oranges," spoke 24 JULIA AND A NX IE THOMAS' out the elder boy, with the air of a conqueror, at the same time taking the smallest and worst apple for himself. "Oh, yes, let Annie have the orange," echoed the second boy, nine years old. "Yes, Annie may have the orange, because it is nicer than the apple, and she is a lady and her brothers are gentlemen," said the mother, quietly. Then there was a merry contest as to who should feed the mother with the largest and most frequent mouthfuls; and so the feast went on. Then Annie pretended to want apple, and exchanged thin golden strips of orange for bites out of the cheeks of Baldwins; and as I sat watching her intently, she suddenly fancied she saw a longing in my face, and sprang over to me, saying, " Do you want a taste, too? " The mother smiled understandingly when I said, "No, I thank you, you dear, generous little girl; I don't care about oranges." At noon we had a tedious interval of waiting at a dreary station. We sat for two hours on a narrow platform which the sun had scorched till it smelt of heat. The elder boy, the little lover, held the youngest child and talked to her, while the tired mother closed'her eyes and rested. The other two children were toiling up and down the rail- road banks, picking ox-eyed daisies, buttercups, and sorrel. They worked like beavers, and soon the bunches were almost too big for their little hands. They came running to give them to their mother. "Oh, dear!" thought I; "how that poor tired woman will hate to open her eyes! and she never can take those great bunches of wilting, worthless flowers in addition to her bundles and bags." I was mistaken. "Oh, thank you, my darlings' How kind you were! Poor, hot tired little flowers, how thirsty they look 1 If they will try and keep alive till we get home, we wili make them very FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 25 happy in some water, won't we? And you shall put one bunch by papa's plate and one by mine." Sweet and happy, the weary and flushed little children stood looking up in her face while she talked, their hearts thrilling with compassion for the drooping flowers, and with delight in giving their gift. Then she took great trouble to get a string and tie up the flowers ; and the train came, and we were whirl- ing along again. Soon it grew dark, and little Annie's head nodded. Then I heard the mother say to the elder boy, "Dear, are you too tired to let little Annie put her head on your shoulder and take a nap? We shall get her home in much better case to her papa, if we can manage to give her a little sleep." How many little boys of twelve hear such words as these from tired, over- burdened mothers? Soon came the city, the final station, with its bustle and noise. I lingered to watch my happy family, hoping to see the father. "Why, papa isn't here !" exclaimed one disappointed little voice after another. " Never mind," said the mother, with a still deeper disappointment in her tone ; " perhaps he had to go to see some poor body who is sick." In the hurry of picking up all the parcels and the sleepy babies, the poor daisies and buttercups were left forgotten in the corner of the rack. I wondered if the mother had not in- tended this. May I be forgiven for the injustice ! A few minutes after I had passed the little group, standing still just outside the station, I heard the mother say : "Oh, my darlings, I have forgotten your pretty bouquets. I am so sorry ! I won- der if I could find them if I went back? Will you all stand still and not stir from this spot, if I go?" " Oh, mamma, don't go ! We will get you some more. Don't go ! " cried all the children. " Here are your flowers, madam," said I. " I saw you had forgotten them, and I took them as mementos of you and your 26 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' sweet children." She blushed and looked disconcerted. She was evidently unused to people, and shy with all but her children. However, she thanked me sweetly, and said : " I was very sorry about them. The children took such trouble to get them, and I think they will revive in water. They cannot be quite dead." " They will never die ! " said I with an emphasis which went from my heart to hers. Then all her shyness fled. We shook hands, and smiled into each other's eyes with the smile of kindred as we parted. As I followed on, I heard the two children who were walking behind saying to each other : "Wouldn't that have been too bad ! Mamma liked them so much, and we never could have got so many all at once again." " Yes, we could, too, next summer," said the boy, sturdily. They are sure of their "next summer," I think, all of those six souls — children, and mother, and father. They may never raise so many ox-eyed daisies and buttercups "all at once." Perhaps some of the little hands have already picked their last flowers. Nevertheless their summers are certain to such souls as these, either here or in God's larger country. GOLDEN-ROD. C. A. KIEFE. GOLDEN-ROD, nodding a welcome, golden-rod, bonny and bright, You bring to my mind a picture, as you wave in the wind to-night — Glory of August sunshine, music of birds and bees, Hum of a thousand insects, shadow of apple-trees. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 2 7 Close by the dusty roadside, perched on a railing high, Right where the scorching sun-kiss darts from the blazing sky, Two happy, sun-browned children, careless and glad and gay, Dream out their dreams of Elfland through the long summer day. Hats at their feet are lying — they do not heed the glare, While to their childish fancies visions throng, passing fair. Each is a fairy princess, mounted on steed so fleet Scarcely the ground he touches with his fast-flying feet. Each is a fairy princess, each has a golden crown, Pressing the sunburnt forehead guiltless of care's dark frown. Each has a fairy sceptre — sceptres that sway and nod; Sceptres and crowns are blossoms — blossoms of golden-rod. Is there a spell still hidden deep in your cells of gold, Such as gave peasant children castles and lands to hold? Such as transformed a fence-rail into a panting steed? Such as made yellow blossoms sceptres of gold, indeed? Golden-rod, nodding a welcome, weave once again the spell! And, with your old-time magic, heal me and make me well! Soothe my tired brain with fancies — dreams that have nevei been ! Show me again the glories I have in Elfland seen! What have the long years brought me that is worth half as much ? Come back, child-heart, still hidden safe from the world's rude touch ! We will forget earth's struggles, sitting on yon green sod; We will go back to Elfland, here, with the golden-rod. 2 8 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' TO A SKELETON. BEHOLD this ruin! 'Twas a skull Once of ethereal spirit full. This narrow cell was life's retreat, This space was thought's mysterious seat. What beauteous visions filled this spot, What^dreams of pleasure long forgot. Nor hope, nor joy, nor love, nor fear, Have left one trace of record here. Beneath this mouldering canopy Once shone the bright and busy eye, But start not at the dismal void — If social love that eye employed, If with no lawless fire it gleamed, But through the dews of kindness beamed, That eye shall be forever bright When stars and sun are sunk in night. Within this hollow cavern hung The ready, swift, and tuneful tongue; If falsehood's honey it disdained, And when it could not praise was chained If bold in virtue's cause it spoke, Yet gentle concord never broke — This silent tongue shall plead for thee When time unveils eternity! Say, did these fingers delve the mine? Or with the envied rubies shine? To hew the rock or wear a gem Can little now avail to them. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. *9 But if the page of truth they sought, Or comfort to the mourner brought, These hands a richer meed shall claim Than all that wait on wealth and fame. Avails it whether bare or shod These feet the paths of duty trod? If from the bowers of ease they fled To seek affliction's humble shed; If grandeur's guilty bribe they spurned, And home to virtue's cot returned — These feet with angel wings shall vie ; And tread the palace of the sky! REVELATION. NEVER say, I do not know; Say I tell, and earth no ear; Let the sibyl spirals flow Down the cycles near and near. Never say, I cannot do ; Say I will, and wait thou there; Truth, the white-winged, bears the true. And the true the truth shall bear. Never say, I cannot see; Look, believing, O ye blind! Till the grander work shall be On the palimpsest of mind. Never say, or dumb or deaf; Look on Him, and know, and do; So translate His hieroglyph; Let the God reveal in you. 30 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' THE BEAUTIFUL. E. H. UURR1NGT0N. WALK with the Beautiful and with the Grand; Let nothing on the earth thy feet deter; Sorrow may lead thee weeping by the hand, But give not all thy bosom thoughts to her. Walk with the Beautiful! I hear thee say : " The Beautiful ! what is it ? " Oh, thou art darkly ignorant! Be sure 'Tis no long, weary road its form to visit, For thou canst make it smile beside thy door: Then love the Beautiful ! Ay, love it! 'Tis a sister that will bless And teach thee patience when thy heart is lonely; The angels love it, for they wear its dress, And thou art made a little lower only; Then love the Beautiful! Some boast its presence in a Grecian face, Some in a favorite warbler of the skies; Be not deceived! Whate'er thy eye may trace, Seeking the Beautiful, it will arise: Then seek it everywhere! Thy bosom is its mint; the workmen are Thy thoughts, and they must coin for thee. Believing The Beautiful exists in every star, Thou mak'st it so, and art thyself deceiving If otherwise thy faith. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. $t Dost thou see beauty in the violet's cup? I'll teach thee miracles. Walk on this heath, And say to the neglected flowers: " Look up, And be ye beautiful!" If thou hast faith, They will obey thy word. One thing I warn thee: bow no knee to gold; Less innocent it makes the guileless tongue; It turns the feelings prematurely old, And they who keep their best affections young Best love the Beautiful! LIBERTY AND INDEPENDENCE. THERE was tumult in the city, In the quaint old Quaker town, And the streets were rife with people Pacing restless up and down; People gathering at corners, Where they whispered each to each, And the sweat stood on their temples, With the earnestness of speech. As the bleak Atlantic currents Lash the wild Newfoundland shore, So they beat against the State House, So they surged against the door; And the mingling of their voices Made a harmony profound, Till the quiet street of Chestnut Was all turbulent with sound. 32 JULIA AXD ANNIE THOMAS' " Will they do it ? " " Dare they do it ? " "Who is speaking?" "What's the news? " What of Adams ? " " What of Sherman ? '' " God! grant they won't refuse." " Make some way there ! " " Let me nearer! "I am stifling!" "Stifle, then! When a nation's life's at hazard, AVe've no time to think of men." So they beat against the portal, Man and woman, maid and child; And the July sun in heaven On the scene looked down and smiled. The same sun that saw the Spartan Shed his patriot blood in vain, Now beheld the soul of freedom, All unconquered rise again. See! see! the dense crowd quivers Through all its lengthy line, As the boy beside the portal Looks forth to give the sign; With his little hands uplifted, Breezes dallying with his hair, Hark! with deep, clear intonation Breaks his young voice on the air. Hushed the people's swelling murmur, List the boy's exulting cry! "Ring! " he shouts, "ring! grandpa, Ring! oh, ring for Liberty? " Quickly at the given signal The old bellman lifts his hand, Forth he sends the good news, making Iron music through the land. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 33 How they shouted! What rejoicing! How the old bell shook the air, Till the clang of freedom ruffled The calmly gliding Delaware! How the bonfires and the torches Lighted up the night's repose! And from flames, like fabled Phoenix, Our glorious liberty arose. That old State House bell is silent, Hushed is now its clamorous tongue; But the spirit it awakened Still is living — ever young; And when we greet the smiling sunlight, On the fourth of each July, We will ne'er forget the bellman, Who, betwixt the earth and sky, Rang out loudly " Independence," Which, please God, shall never die. GOD'S APPOINTMENTS. EMMA C. DOWD. TWO men went forth one summer hour, And both were young and brave and true ; Two loyal hearts, two brains of power, Eager to dare and do. Each followed right, each turned from wrong, And strove his errors to,p r utlive; Each sought with hope and courage strong The best life has to give. 3 34 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' For one love's fountain yielded up Its sweetness — royally he quaffed; The other drank a brimming cup, A bitter, bitter draught. One touched but stones, they turned to gold, Wealth came and staid at his command; The other's silver turned to mold And dust within his hand. The world crowned one with leaves of bay. He ate with kings, their honors shared; The other trod a barren way, And few men knew or cared. And this is life: two sow, one reaps; Two run abreast, one gains the goal; One laughs aloud, the other weeps In anguish of his soul. One seems of fate the helpless toy, Unbroken one's triumphant chain; God hath appointed one to joy, Appointed one to pain. The wisdom that doth rule the world Is wisdom far beyond our ken; But when all seems to ruin hurled, God's hand is mighty then. In God's appointments I believe. Trusting His love, believe in this: That though from day to day men grieve, And life's sweet fruitage miss, FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 35 In some glad future they shall know Why one through striving may not win; The Book of Life will surely show Why all these things have been. WHAT OF THAT? TIRED ! Well, what of that? Didst fancy life was spent on beds of ease, Fluttering the rose-leaves scattered by the breeze? Come, rouse thee, work while it is called to-day! Coward, arise! go forth upon thy way! Lonely! And what of that? Some must be lonely! 'tis not given to all To feel a heart responsive rise and fall, To blend another life into its own — Work may be done in loneliness. Work on. Dark! Well, and what of that? Didst fondly dream the sun would never set? Dost fear to lose thy way ? Take courage yet ! Learn thou to walk by faith and not by sight, Thy steps will guided be, and guided right. Hard! Well, and what of that? Didst fancy life one summer holiday, With lessons none to learn, and naught but play? Go, get thee to thy task! Conquer or die! It must be learned! Learn it, then, patiently. No help? Nay, 'tis not so! Though human help be far, thy God is nigh; Who feeds the ravens, hears His children cry. He's near thee, whereso'er thy footsteps roam, And He will guide thee, light thee, help thee home. 3,6 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' THE ELEVENTH HOUR. ANNA L. RUTH. WHIST, sir! Would ye plaze to speak aisy, And sit ye down there by the dure? She sleeps, sir, so light and so restless, She hears every step on the flure. What ails her? God knows! She's been weakly For months, and the heat dhrives her wild; The summer has wasted and worn her Till she's only the ghost of a child. All I have? Yes, she is, and God help me! I'd three little darlints beside, As purty as iver ye see, sir, But wan by wan dhrooped like, and died. What was it that tuk them, ye're askin' ? Why, poverty, shure, and no doubt ; They perished for food and fresh air, sir, Like flowers dhried up in a drought. 'Twas dhreadful to lose them? Ah, was it! It seemed like my heart-sthrings would break! Rut there's days whin wid want and wid sorrow, I'm thankful they're gone, for their sake. Their father? Well, sir, saints forgive me! It's a foul tongue that lowers its own; But what wid the sthrikes and the liquor, I'd betther be sthrugglin' alone. Do I want to kape this wan? The darlint! The last and the darest of all! Shure you're niver a father yourself, sir, Or ye wouldn't be askin' at all. FA VORITE SELECTIONS. 37 What is that? Milk and food for the baby ! A docther and medicine free! You're huntin' out all the sick children, An' poor, toilin' mothers, like me! God bless you and thim that have sent you! A new life you've given me, so. Shure, sir, won't you look in the cradle At the colleen you've saved, 'fore' you go? O mother o' mercies! have pity! O darlint, why couldn't you wait! Dead! dead! an' the help in the dureway! Too late! O my baby! Too late! UP-HILL. CHRISTINA G. ROSSETTI. DOES the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day's journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. 38 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labor you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek ? Yea, beds for all who come. JUDGE NOT. HOW do we know what hearts have sin ? How do we know ? Many like sepulchres, are foul within Whose outward garb is spotless as the snow, And many may be pure we think not so. How near to God the souls of such have been, What mercies secret penitence may win — How do we know? How can we tell who sinneth more than we? Who can tell? We think our brother walketh guiltily, Judging him in self-righteousness. Ah, well! Perhaps had we been driven through the hell Of his untold temptations, less upright we In our daily walk might be than he — How can we tell ? Dare we condemn the ills that others do? Dare we condemn ? Their strength is small, their trials not a few, The tide of wrong is difficult to stem, And if to us more clearly than to them Is given knowledge of the good and true, More do they need our help, and pity, too — Dare we condemn ? FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 39 God help us all, and lead us day by day, God help us all ! We cannot walk alone the perfect way, Evil allures us, tempts us, and we fall — We are but human, and our power is small; Not one of us may boast, and not a day Rolls o'er our heads but each hath need to say, God bless us all ! UNFULFILLED. T "WE'LL read that book, we'll sing that song, V V But when? Oh, when the days are long; When thoughts are free, and voices clear; Some happy time within the year — The days troop by with noiseless tread, The song unsung; the book unread. We'll see that friend, and make him feel The weight of friendship, true as steel; Some flower of sympathy bestow — But time sweeps on with steady flow, Until with quick, reproachful tear,, We lay our flowers upon his bier. And still we walk the desert sands, And still with trifles fill our hands, While ever, just beyond our reach, A fairer purpose shows to each. The deeds we have not done, but willed, Remain to haunt us — unfulfilled. 4° JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' TRYING TO GET EVEN DON'T PAY. SOME people's shoulders are loaded with chips, They're looking for insults and slights, And sometimes the days seem almost too short, And then they lie awake nights Thinking and planning what they will do, And how they'll get even with those Who thoughtlessly knock from their shoulders a chip, Or carelessly step on their toes. All of which leads me to say That for trouble and grief, It's my honest belief Trying to get even don't pay. I know it is natural to hit people back, And give them as good as they send ; And also I know that wrangling and strife Must some time come to an end. It's better, by far, to put up with a grief And appear to submit to a wrong, Than try to "get even," the way of the world, And most of us go with the throng. All of which leads me to say That for trouble and grief, It's my honest belief Trying to get even don't pay. As the world is made up there's very few saints, And there's very few more to be born;- The average man looks out for himself All day from the earliest morn. FA VO KITE SELECTIONS. 4 1 Trying to "get even " is a natural trait Since the time of " Old Adam's " fall, But experience shows, as every one knows, That "honey" is cheaper than "gall." All of which leads me to say That for trouble and grief, It's my honest belief Trying to get even don't pay. A CHILD'S THOUGHT OF GOD. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING. THEY say that God lives very high, But if you look above the pines You cannot see our God ; and why ? And if you dig down in the mines You never see Him in the gold, Thouyh from Him all that glory shines. God is so good, He wears a fold Of heaven and earth across His face — Like secrets kept, for love, untold. But still I feel that His embrace Slides down by thrills, through all things made, Through sight and sound of every place. As if my tender mother laid On my shut lids her kisses' pressure, Half-waking me at night, and said, "Who kissed you through the dark, dear guesser? 42 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' TIRED. I AM tired. Heart and feet Turn from busy mart and street. I am tired; rest is sweet. I am tired. I have played In the sunshine and the shade; I have seen the flowers fade. I am tired. I have had What has made my spirit glad, What has made my spirit sad. I am tired. Loss and gain, Golden sheaves and scattered grain, Day has not been spent in vain. I am tired. Eventide Bids me lay my cares aside, Bids me in my hopes abide. I am tired. God is near, Let me sleep without a fear, Let me die without a tear. I am tired. I would rest As the bird within its nest; I am tired. Home is best. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 43 AFTER ELECTION. ANNIE THOMAS. COURAGE! Fight, on ye valiant ones, Though weary, faint and few. Have patience! Soon the right will gain God is the Leader true. While brothers all around us die The battle ne'er give o'er; While sisters' anguished sobs are heard Be stronger than before. While children — naked, hungry, weak, Their pleading voices raise; While wives with broken hearts and hopes No longer upward gaze; While man on level with the brute Is brought by liquor's power, Robbed of hi.; manhood, strength and will- Disgrace his children's dower; While heartless, selfish men deal out The poisonous, murderous drink, Encircled by the law's broad arm But held just on the brink; While laws are under rum's control And men are bought and sold— Hold high the banner of the free, Press onward, brave and bold! 44 JULIA A. YD ANNIE THOMAS' Let naught thy progress interpose; Lay party interests by; For principle, for right, for God, Strike! fight! conquer! or die. LITTLE ROCKET'S CHRISTMAS. VANDYKE BROWN. I'LL tell you how the Christmas came To Rocket — no, you never met him, That is, you never knew his name, Although 'tis possible you've let him Display his skill upon your shoes; A boot-black — arab, if you choose. And who was Rocket ? Well, an urchin, A gamin, dirty, torn, and tattered, Whose chief est pleasure was to perch in The Bowery gallery; there it mattered But little what the play might be — Broad farce or point-lace comedy — He meted out his just applause By rigid, fixed, and proper laws. A father once he had, no doubt, A mother on the Island staying, Which left him free to knock about And gratify a taste for straying. An ash-box served him for a bed — As good, at least, as Moses' rushes— And for his daily meat and bread, He earned them with his box and brushes. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 45 An arab of the city's slums, With ready tongue and empty pocket, Unaided left to solve life's sums, But plucky always — that was Rocket! 'Twas Christmas eve, and all the day The snow had fallen fine and fast; In banks and drifted heaps it lay Along the streets. A piercing blast Blew cuttingly. The storm was past, And now the stars looked coldly down Upon the snow-enshrouded town. Ah, well it is if Christmas brings Good-will and peace which poet sings! How full are all the streets to-night With happy faces, flushed and bright! For all the world is glad to-night! All, did I say? Ah, no, not all, For sorrow throws on some its pall. But Rocket? On this Christmas eve You might have seen him standing where The city's streets so interweave They form that somewhat famous square Called Printing House. His face was bright, And at this gala, festive season You could not find a heart more light — I'll tell you in a word the reason: By dint of patient toil in shining Patrician shoes and Wall Street boots, He had within his jacket's lining A dollar and a half — the fruits Of pinching, saving, and a trial Of really Spartan self-denial. 46 JULIA AND ANNIE Til A/ AS' That dollar and a half was more Than Rocket ever owned before. A princely fortune, so he thought, And with those hoarded dimes and nickels What Christmas pleasures may be bought! A dollar and a half! It tickles The boy to say it over, musing Upon the money's proper using; "I'll go a gobbler, leg and breast, With cranberry sauce and fixin's nice, And pie, mince pie, the very best, And puddin' — say a double slice! And then to doughnuts how I'll freeze; With coffee — guess that ere's the cheese! And after grub I'll go to see The 'Seven Goblins of Dundee.' If this yere Christmas ain't a buster, I'll let yer rip my Sunday duster!" So Rocket mused as he hurried along, Clutching his money with grasp yet tighter, And humming the air of a rollicking song, With a heart as light as his clothes — or lighter. Through Centre Street he makes his way, When, just as he turns the corner at Pearl, He hears a voice cry out in dismay, And sees before him a slender girl, As ragged and tattered in dress as he, With hand stretched forth for charity. In the street-light's fitful and flickering glare He caught a glimpse of the pale, pinched face- So gaunt and wasted, yet strangely fair With a lingering touch of childhood's grace FA VOKITE SELECTIONS. 47 On her delicate features. Her head was bare And over her shoulders disordered there hung A mass of tangled, nut-brown hair. In misery old as in years she was young, She gazed in his face. And, oh! for the eyes — The big, blue, sorrowful, hungry eyes — That were fixed in a desperate, frightened stare. Hundreds have jostled her by to-night — The rich, the great, the good, and the wise, Hurrying on to the warmth and light Of happy homes — they have jostled her by, And the only one who has heard her cry, Or, hearing, has felt his heartstrings stirred, Is Rocket — this youngster of coarser clay, This gamin, who never so much as heard The beautiful story of Him who lay In the manger of old on Christmas day! With artless pathos and simple speech, Sho stands and tells him her pitiful tale; She tells of the terrible battle for bread, Tells of a father brutal with crime, Tells of a mother lying dead, At this, the gala Christmas-time; Then adds, gazing up at the starlit sky, " I'm hungry and cold, and I wish I could die." What is it trickles down the cheek Of Rocket — can it be a tear? He stands and stares, but does not speak; He thinks again of that good cheer 4$ JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Which Christmas was to bring; he sees Visions of turkey, steaming pies, The play-bill — then, in place of these The girl's beseeching, hungry eyes; One mighty effort, gulping down The disappointment in his breast, A quivering of the lip, a frown, And then, while pity pleads her best,' He snatches forth his cherished hoard, And gives it to her like a lord! " Here, freeze to that; I'm flush, yer see, And then you needs it more 'an me! " With that he turns and walks away, So fast the girl can nothing say, So fast he does not hear the prayer That sanctifies the winter air. But He who blessed the widow's mite Looked down and smiled upon the sight. No feast of steaming pies or turkey, No ticket for the matinee, All drear and desolate and murky, In truth, a very dismal day. With dinner on a crust of bread, And not a penny in his pocket, A friendly ash-box for a bed — Thus came the Christmas day to Rocket, And yet — and here's the strangest thing — As best befits the festive season, The boy was happy as a king — I wonder can you guess the reason ? FA VORITE SELECTIONS. 49 GRADATIM. J. G. HOLLAND. HEAVEN But we EAVEN is not reached at a single bound; re, build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to the summit round by round. I count this thing to be grandly true; That a noble deed is a step toward God Lifting the soul from the common sod To a purer air and a broader view. We rise by things that are under our feet: By what we have mastered of good and gain; By the pride deposed and the passion slain, And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet. We hope, we aspire, we resolve, we trust, When the morning calls us to life and light; But our hearts grow weary, and ere the night Our lives are trailing the sordid dust. We hope, we resolve, we aspire, we pray, And we think that we mount the air on wings Beyond the recall of sensual things, While our feet still cling to the heavy clay. Wings for the angels, but feet for the men! We may borrow the wings to find the way — We may hope, and resolve, and aspire, and pray; But our feet must rise, or we fall again. 4 5° JULIA AND AXXIE THOMAS' Only in dreams is a ladder thrown From the weary earth to the sapphire walls; But the dreams depart, and the vision falls, And the sleeper wakes on his pillow of stone. Heaven is not reached at a single bound; But we build the ladder by which we rise From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, And we mount to the summit round bv round. JOHN'S MISTAKE. MOLLY BRANDE. WITH sombre mien and thought-beclouded brow, He laid aside the paper that ere now Had solely his attention occupied. And then with trembling hand he brushed aside The single tear, that was so very small One well might doubt its presence there at all. "What is it, John?" inquired his anxious wife, The partner of his joys and woes through life; "What gloomy passage was it that you read? Our friends, my dear — ah! surely, none are dead? Quick! speak! relieve my heart of painful doubt! What is it that you feel so sad about ? '' "Wife," he replied, "I will confide in thee. Before you saw and fell in love with me, A score of maidens, first and last, I think, Had also fallen over the same brink ; And one there was, whose name to-night I see Among the married. Once she loved but me. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 51 " But as I could not wed with more than one; I married you, and Kate was left alone. And I am thinking now of all the years In store for her, all fraught with bitter tears; For women, dear, do not so soon forget, And in her heart, no doubt, she loves me yet. " And now I learn that she, through pique or spite, Was married to Tom Jones on yesternight — As if Tom Jones could ever me replace Or from her heart her love for me erase! Of course, I feel myself somewhat to blame That Kate so suddenly should change her name. Then, with a merry laugh, his wife replied, "O John, do cease! " then laughed until she cried, Then cried until again she laughed with glee; While John, quite mystified, declared that he " Had ne'er beheld such conduct in his wife, And hoped he never would again through life." " But, John!" she cried, "do listen while I tell How long Kate loved you, and — O my! how well. She and I, you know, were girls together, And always told our secrets to each other; And once she told me, John, that you in vain Had sought her hand " — and then she laughed again. "And, John, she said — but don't be angry, dear — That she refused you, and expressed a fear That you some act of rashness would commit, And begged me love you just a little bit. And so I tried; you know the sequel, dear: You turned from her to me; 'twas very queer." 5-2 JULIA AXD AXXIE THOMAS' John bit his lip in ill-concealed distaste, And something murmured low of "youth," and "haste,' And "boyish fancies" and "a girl's conceit," Too indistinctly uttered to repeat. But you and I, of course, with half a look, See that John wore his boot on the wrong foot. And Mrs. John, within her merry breast, Regarded John's mistake too good a jest To keep. So after many an earnest charge That I should keep it from the world at large, She told it me; but I, being rather weak, Have found the secret far too strong to keep. GUILTY OR XOT GUILTY? SHE stood at the bar of justice, A creature wan and wild, In form too small for a woman, In features too old for a child; For a look so worn and pathetic Was stamped on her pale young face, It seemed long years of suffering Must have left that silent trace. " Your name ? " said the judge, as he eyed he With kindly look yet keen, "Is Mary McGuire, if you please, sir." " And your age? " " I am turned fifteen. " "Well, Mary," and then from a paper He slowly and gravely read, "You are charged here — I am sorry to say it- With stealing three loaves of bread. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. S3 "You look not like an offender, And I hope that you can show The charge to be false. Now, tell me, Are you guilty of this or no?" A passionate burst of weeping Was at first her sole reply, But she dried her eyes in a moment, And looked in the judge's eye. "I will tell you just how it was, sir: My father and mother are dead, And my little brother and sisters Were hungry and asked me for bread. At first I earned it for them By working hard all day, But somehow times were bad, sir, And the work all fell away. " I could get no more employment; The weather was bitter cold; The young ones cried and shivered — Little Johnny's but four years old. So what was I to do, sir? I am guilty, but do not condemn; I took — oh, was it stealing? — The bread to give to them." Every man in the court-room — ■' Graybeard and thoughtless youth — Knew, as he looked upon her, That the prisoner spoke the truth. Out from their pockets came kerchiefs, Out from their eyes sprang tears, And out from their old faded wallets Treasures hoarded for years. 54 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' The judge's face was a study — The strangest you ever saw, And he cleared his throat and murmured Something about the law. For one so learned in such matters, So wise in dealing with men, He seemed, on a simple question, Sorely puzzled just then. But no one blamed him or wondered When at last these words they heard: "The sentence of this young prisoner Is, for the present, deferred." And no one blamed him or wondered When he went to her and smiled, And tenderly led from the court-room Mary, the "guilty" child. GIVE US MEN. GOD give us men; a time like this demands Great hearts, strong minds, true faith and ready hands. Men whom the lust of office cannot kill; Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; Men who possess opinions and will; Men who love honor; men who will not lie; Men who can stand before a demagogue, And brave his treacherous flatteries without winking; Tall men, sunburnt, who live above the fog, In public duty and in private thinking; For while the rabble, with its thumb-worn creeds, Its large professions, and its little deeds, Mingle in selfish strife — lo! Freedom weeps, Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 55 KATIE'S ANSWER. OCH, Katie's a rogue, it is thrue; But her eyes, like the sky, are so blue, An' her dimples so swate, An' her ankles so nate, She dazed an' she bothered me, too. Till one mornin' we wint for a ride; Whin, demure as a bride, by my side The darlint she sat, Wid the wickedest hat 'Neath purty girl's chin iver tied. An' my heart, arrah, thin how it bate! For my Kate looked so temptin' an' swate, Wid cheeks like the roses An' all the red posies That grow in her garden so nate. But I sat just as mute as the dead Till she said, wid a toss of her head, "If I'd known that to-day Ye'd have nothin' to say, I'd have gone wid my cousin instead." Thin I felt myself grow very bold; For I knew she'd not scold if I told Uv the love in my heart That would niver depart Though I lived to be wrinkled an' old. 5 6 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' An' I said, " If I dared to do so, I'd lit go uv the baste an' I'd throw Both arms round your waist, An' be stalin'a taste Uv them lips that are coaxin' me so." Thin she blushed a more illegant red As she said, without raisin' her head An' her eyes lookin' down 'Neath her lashes so brown, "Would ye like me to drive, Misther Ted? A PIG IN THE FENCE. DIDST never observe when a pig in the fence Sends forth his most pitiful shout, How all of his neighbors betake themselves thence To punish him ere he gets out? What a hubbub they raise, so that others afar May know his condition, and hence Come running to join them in adding a scar To the pig that is fast in the fence? Well, swine are not all of the creatures that be, Who find themselves sticking between The rails of the fence, and who strive to get free, While the world is still shoving them in; Who find that the favor they meet with depends Not on worth, but on dollars and cents, And that 'tis but few who will prove themselves friends To the pig that is fast ui the fence. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 57 "BOSE." A WESTERN FARMER'S STORY. EMELINE SHERMAN SMITH. YOU love your clog? Indeed, sir, \vc do; I'll tell you why, and the tale is true: Ten years ago, when we settled out here, All the country being wild and drear, I had to work both early and late To keep my farm matters snug and straight. My dear young wife was patient and good, She helped me all she possibly could By keeping the house so neat and fair — 'Twas rest and comfort to enter there. We had but one child, a baby boy; He helped me, too, he was such a joy. No care was heavy, no toil severe, With such a bright little darling near. One more in the family, good old Bose! Look at him now, sir! he just as well knows As I do myself what I'm going to say, Though he meekly turns and walks away, Making believe he don't want to hear The praise he's enjoyed this many a year. Dogs are like men: they don't like to show Pride in good deeds, but they have it, you know. AVhat was I saying? Oh! ten years ago, Though our home was happy our fortunes were low; And the only nurse or help that we had To watch and take care of our baby lad 5 8 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Was this faithful dog. If the child was asleep, The knowing creature would cautiously creep Close to the cradle, and there he would lie Still as a statue, but keeping his eye — As a sentry on duty keeps his place — All the while on the baby's face; And the moment he saw a lid unclose, Up he would spring, this frolicsome Bose! Rush to the cradle, and kiss the boy, Who'd hug his playmate and crow for joy. To leave our darling we had no fear, So long as this wise protector was near; And often my wife, in her kindly thought, Out to the fields in the harvest-time brought My dinner, to save me a lonesome walk, And thus give me chance for a nice little talk. One day, when the weather was dry and hot, I was working down in a distant lot, And she came as usual to bring my food, Which seemed to taste uncommonly good; And I kept her, after the meal was o'er. Chatting some twenty minutes or more; When all at once on the sultry air Came something that woke a cry of despair. "Our house is on fire! Great heaven! the child! And shrieking this in an accent wild, She darted off with a step so fleet I scarce could follow her flying feet. The way was rough, and never before Did it seem so far to our cottage door; FA J r 01U 7 E SELE C TIONS. 5 9 And when at last anear it we came The dwelling was all one sheet of flame! And wife, in her horror and dread amaze, Was about to rush right into the blaze, But I held her back — then she swooned away, And like one that was dead in my arms she lay. Just then to my ear came a joyful sound, And looking in sudden wonder around I saw — -what shines in my memory yet — A pretty picture I cannot forget : A lump of a baby all in white, Clapping its chubby hands with delight; And frisking about the grassy nest Where he'd put the birdie so safely to rest, Was the proudest and happiest dog that you Or any other mortal could view. He leaped, he barked, nay, talked — in his way — For his capers, his eyes, and his tail seemed to say, "Look at the baby! look at the dear! Isn't he safe and in clover here V Safe, indeed! why, if you'll believe — And where would be the use to deceive ? — The child was placed at the point whence came The wind, do you see? No breath of flame. No spark or cinder could even reach The hem of his garment! Now, who could teach A poor dumb creature such wisdom as this? Come here, old fellow, and give us a kiss: ./ Excuse me, sir; but whenever I tell This curious story — somehow — well, 60 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Just here I break down. For many a day After this life seemed hard, I must say; But we didn't give up, for still we were blest With health and brave hearts; besides, we possessed The boy and the dog, so we didn't forget To be thankful for all that was spared to us yet. We worked hard and prospered, as most people do When to duty and labor and love they are true. To-day with my fortune I'm fully content; I've a nice home once more — owe no man a cent; Wife looks like a girl, and as to our lad, He's the brightest and best that parents e'er had. He does credit to us and credit to Bose — 'Tisn't every dog that sagaciously knows What child is worth saving. He knew. Now you see Why the creature's so dear to wife and to me. THE WEDDING FEE. R. M. STREETER. ONE morning, fifty years ago, When apple-trees were white with snow Of fragrant blossoms, and the air Was spellbound with the perfume rare — Upon a farm-horse, large and lean And lazy with its double load, A sun-brown youth and maid were seen Jogging along the winding road. Blue were the arches of the skies, But bluer were that maiden's eyes! FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 6i The dew-drops on the grass were bright, But brighter was the loving light That sparkled 'neath each long-fringed lid Where those bright eyes of blue were hid. Adown the shoulders, brown and bare, Rolled the soft waves of golden hair, Where, almost strangled with the spray, The sun, a willing sufferer, lay. It was the fairest sight, I ween, That the young man had ever seen, And with his features all aglow, The happy fellow told her so. And she, without the least surprise, Looked on him with those heavenly eyes- Saw underneath that shade of tan The handsome features of a man, And with a joy but rarely known, She drew that dear face to her own, And by that bridal bonnet hid — I cannot tell you what she did. So on they ride, until among The new-born leaves, with dew-drops hung. The parsonage, arrayed in white, Peers out — a more than welcome sight. Then, with a cloud upon his face, "What shall we do," he turned to say, " Should he refuse to take his pay From what is in the pillow-case? " And, glancing down, his eyes surveyed The pillow-case before him laid, Whose contents, reaching to its hem, Might purchase endless joys for them. Oz JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' The maiden answers, " Let us wait ; To burrow trouble, where's the need? ' Then at the parson's squeaking gate Halted the more than willing steed; Down from his horse the bridegroom sprung, The latchless gate behind him swung; The knocker of that startled door, Struck as it never was before, Brought the whole household, pale with fright; And there, with blushes on his cheek, So bashful he could hardly speak, The farmer met their wondering sight. The groom goes in, his errand tells, And as the parson nods, he leans Far o'er the window-sill and yells. "Come in! He says he'll take the beans!" Oh, how she jumped! with one glad bound She and the be^mbag reached the ground, Then, clasping with each dimpled arm The precious product of the farm. She bears it through the open door. And down upon the parlor floor Humps the best beans vines ever bore. Ah, happy were their songs that day When, man and wife, they rode away; But happier this chorus still Which echoed through those woodland scenes: "God bless the priest of Watsonville! God bless the man who took the beans'." FA voiu 1 '/■: s/-: l l c i ioa r s. 63 LIFE LEAVEvS. JOAQUIN MILLER. IS it worth while that we jostle a brother Bearing his load on the rough road of life? Is it worth while that we jeer at each other In blackness of heart? that we war to the knife? God pity us all in our pitiful strife! God pity us all as we jostle each other! God pardon us all for the triumphs we feel When a fellow goes down 'neath his load on the heather, Pierced to the heart — words are keener than steel, And mightier far for woe or for weal. Were it not well in this brief little journey On over the isthmus, down into the tide, We give him a fish instead of a serpent, Ere folding the hands to be and abide Forever and aye in dust at his side? Look at the roses saluting each other; Look at the herds all at peace on the plain — Man and man only makes war on his brother, And laughs in his heart at his peril and pain; Shamed by the beasts that go down on the plain. Is it worth while that we battle to humble Some poor fellow-soldier down into the dust? God pity us all! Lime erelong will tumble All of us together, like leaves in a gust, Humbled, indeed, down into the dust. 6 4, JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' "VAS MARRIAGE A FAILURE? CHARLES FOLLEN ADAMS. VAS marriage a failure? Veil, now, dot depends Altogeddher on how you look at id, mine friends. Like dhose double-horse teams dot you see at der races, Id depends pooty mooch on der pair in der traces; Eef dhey don'd pool togeddher righdt off at der sthart, Den dimes oudt off nine dhey vas beddher apart. Vas marriage a failure? Der vote was in doubt; Dhose dot's oudt vould be in. dhose dot's in vould be oudt; Der man mit oxberience, goot looks unci dash, Gets a vife mit some fife hundord dousand in cash; Budt, after der honeymoon, vhere vas der honey? She haf der oxberience— he haf der money. Vas marriage a failure ? Eef dot vas der case, Vot vas to pecome off der whole human race? Vot you dink dot der oldt " Pilgrim faders " vould say, Dot came in der Sunflower to oldt Plymouth bay, To see der fine coundtry dis peoples haf got, Und dhen hear dhem ask sooch conondhrums as dot ? Vas marriage a failure? Shust go, ere you tell, To dot Bunker Mon Hillument, vhere Varren fell ; Dink off Vashington, Franklin, und " Honest Old Abe '* — Dhey vas aii been aroundt since dot first Plymouth babe. I vas only a Deutscher, budt I dells you vot! I pelief, every dime, in sooch "failures'' as dot. Vas marriage a failure? I ask mine Katrine : Und she look off me so dot I feels pooty mean.. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 65 Dhen she say; " Meester Strauss, shust come here eef you b lease. " Unci she dake me vhere Yawcob und leedle Loweeze By dheir snnug trundle-bed vas^shust saying dheir prayer, Und she say, mit a smile: " Vas dhere some failures dhere ? " MIRAGE. EDITH SESSIONS TUPPER. CLEAR shining through the swimming air, Across a stretch of summer seas, Far, lofty peaks gleam white and fair, The heights of the Hesperides. far-off peaks! O happy isles? I sail and sail and long for you f And still th' enticing vision smiles To lure me o'er the waters blue. Below those fair and gleaming heights, Ne'er shrouded o'er by drifting snows, Lie gardens filled with rare delights, And there the golden apple grows. 1 sail and sail and long for you, But never come to those fair isles: Still stretches wide the boundless blue. Forever still the scene beguiles. Unci imbed those lofty mountain heights, Far off beyond the smiling seas, Unreached that garden of delights. Untrodden the Hesperides. 5 66 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS THE LOST PEARL. I DIPPED my hand in the sea, wantonly. The sun shone red o'er castle and cave; Dreaming I rocked on the sleepy wave; I drew a pearl from the sea, wonderingly. There in my hand it lay, who could say How from the depths of the ocean calm It rose, and slid itself into my palm? I smiled at finding there pearl so fair. I kissed the beautiful thing, marveling. Poor till now, I had grown to be The wealthiest maiden on land or sea. A priceless gem was mine, pure, divine! I hid the pearl in my breast, fearful lest The wind should steal or the wave repent Largess made in mere merriment, And snatch it back again into the stream. But careless grown, ah, me! wantonly I held between two fingers fine A gem above the sparkling brine, Only to see it gleam across the stream. I felt the treasure slide under the tide Glittering upward, fade away. Ah, then my tears did flow, long ago! I weep, and weep, and weep, into the deep; Sad am I that I could not hold A treasure richer than virgin gold, That Fate so sweetly gave out of the wave. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 6j I dip my hand in the sea, longingly, But never more will that jewel white Shed on my soul its tender light: My pearl lies buried deep where mermaids sleep AT SUNSET„ MARGARET E. SANGSTER. IT isn't the thing you do, dear, it's the thing you've left undone, Which gives you a bit of heartache at the setting of the sun. The tender word forgotten, the letter you did not write, The flower you might have sent, dear, are your haunting ghosts to-night. The stone you might have lifted out of a brother's way, The bit of heartsome counsel you were hurried too much to say; The loving touch of the hand, dear, the gentle and winsome tone That you had no time or thought for, with troubles enough of your own. The little act of kindness so easily out of mind; Those chances to be angels, which every mortal finds, They come in night and silence each chill, reproachful wraith — When hope is faint and flagging, and a blight has dropped on faith. For life is all too short, dear, and sorrow is all too great, To suffer our slow compassion that tarries until too late. And it's not the thing you do, dear, it's the thing you leave undone, Which gives you the bit of heartache at the setting of the sun. 68 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR? THY neighbor? It is he whom thou Hast power to aid and bless; Whose aching heart or burning brow Thy soothing hand may press. Thy neighbor? 'Tis the fainting poor, Whose eye with want is dim, Whom hunger sends from door to door; Go thou and succor him. Thy neighbor? 'Tis that weary man, Whose years are at the brim, Bent low with sickness, care and pain; Go thou and comfort him. Thy neighbor? 'Tis the heart bereft Of every earthly gem, Widow and orphans helpless left; Go thou and shelter them. Where'er thou meet'st a human form Less favored than thine own, Remember 'tis thy neighbor worm, Thy brother, or thy son. Oh! pass not, pass not heedless by; Perhaps' thou canst redeem The breaking heart from misery-?-? Go share thy lot with him. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 69 CARCASSONNE. GUSTAVB NADAUD. ( 4 TT OW old I am ! I'm eighty years ! J. JL I've worked both hard and long. Yet, patient as my life has been, One dearest sight I have not seen — It almost seems a wrong. A dream I had when life was new : Alas, our dreams, they come not true. I thought to see fair Carcassonne — That lovely city, Carcassonne. " One sees it dimly on the height Beyond the mountains blue. I fain would walk five weary leagues — I do not mind the road's fatigues — Through morn and evening dew; But bitter frosts would fall at night, And on the grapes that yellow blight ! I could not go to Carcassonne ; I never went to Carcassonne. " They say it is as gay all times As holidays at home. The gentles ride in gay attire, And in the sun each gilded spire Shoots up like those of Rome ; The bishop the procession leads, And generals curb their prancing steeds: Alas ! I know not Carcassonne ! Alas ! I saw not Carcassonne I 70 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' " Our vicar's right. He preaches loud, And bids us to beware. He says, i Oh, guard the weakest part, And most the traitor in the heart, Against ambition's snare.' Perhaps an autumn I can find — Two sunny days with gentle wind ; I then could go to Carcassonne, I still could go to Carcassonne ! " My God and Father, pardon me If this, my wish, offends ; One sees some hope more high than he In age as in his infancy, To which his heart ascends. My wife, my son, have seen Narbonne; My grandson went to Perpignan ; But I have not seen Carcassonne — I never have seen Carcassonne ! " Thus sighed a peasant, bent with age, Half dreaming in his chair. I said, " My friend, come, go with me To-morrow ; then thine eyes shall see The streets that seem so fair." That night there came for passing soul The church bell's low and solemn toll — He never saw gay Carcassonne. Who has not known a Carcassonne ? FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 7 J TACK. u pREENS! Dand' lion greens! Greens!" shouts a child's- vJ voice. And I heard the quick steps of small bare feet pattering up the lane. Presently a face appeared at the open window of my kitchen, where I was busy, superintending the Saturday's baking. " Please, ma'am, don't you want a basket of fresh greens all picked with the dew on 'em? They'll make a good dinner, and only cost five cents." Poor little manikin, I thought, to work so long and to trudge so far, all for five cents! My dinner was provided, and dan- delion greens were not included in the bill-of-fare — but how could I refuse him ? "Yes, Jack, come in here and eat a doughnut while I empty your basket " He was not slow to accept the invitation, and chattered like a magpie every minute while he eagerly devoured several doughnuts, and looked longingly at a pan of cookies just taken from the oven. "Thank you, ma'am! You see, it makes a feller awful hungry — this dand'lion business does. I like to get 'em when they're fresh and cool, before the sun has been on 'em long, sc I start at five o'clock and sometimes earlier, and, of course, 1 don't have any breakfast first, and when it happens that a feller hasn't had any supper either the night before, it makes him feel kind o' empty like." .-. : . All this was said without a moment's pause, and swinging his little bare heels together, as he sat perched up on the win- dow-sill, he laughed the merriest laugh in the world, which 72 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' brought to the surface a great dimple hidden away in each sun- burned cheek, and showed all his pretty white teeth. "But you had your supper last night, hadn't you? " "No, ma'am. You see there was only two potaters to go round, and the round they had to go was mother, Susie and me, a big round for two small potaters — don't you think so,' ma'am ? " And again he laughed, as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard of, instead of a most pathetic story. " How did you manage ? " "Well, you see, ma'am, I haven't been to school long enough to learn how to divide two potaters among three people so that each shall have a whole one. So says I to mother, 'You take this one, and Sue and I'll handy-spandy for the other.' Then I held it behind me and said to Susie, 'Handy-spandy, Jack-a-dandy, upper hand or lower!' "'Lower,' says Susie. "And lower it was, to be sure, 'cause I held both hands even till she answered, and then dropped the one with the potater in it lower, which wasn't cheatin', ma'am, now, was it?" "No, my brave little Jack; it surely was not cheating. " I answered, turning away that he might not see the tears in my eyes. "Well, Sue, you see, didn't like to take it; for she's awful generous, if she is poor, and she tried to get it back on me by saying she thought upper, and 'twas only her lips that said lower. She meant upper all the time. She isn't well — Sue isn't. She's little and white, and one potater ain't much of a supper for the like of her, anyway. And at last I made her eat the whole of it. I told her that we'd have a good dinner to-day, 'cause I knowed somebody would buy my greens, and I'm going to spend the whole five cents for one dinner. What do you think of that? I'm going to get three herrings at a cent apiece, and the rest in potatoes." FA VORITE SELECTIONS. 73 And he smacked his lips as he thought of the treat in store for them all. '"I think," he continued, "that you've paid me pretty well for my greens in doughnuts without any five cents at all. Still, as / look at it," he added, with a sly twinkle in his great blue e)es, "doughnuts is doughnuts and cents is cents; and the doughnuts is a present, and the cents is pay. " I laughed aloud at his reasoning, and said: "Now, Jack, I want you to keep your five cents till some night when you haven't any supper, and let me fill your basket with something that I know will go around. I want Susie to have a glass of fresh milk. So you must carry this tin pail beside the basket. Do you think you can manage them both?" "Well, ma'am, I guess you'll see whether I can manage 'em or not. But do you think I can dig greens enough to pay for all them things you're putting in ? " " No, Jack, I don't, for they are not to be paid for. I want to send these to your mother — that is all; and as you said yourself, doughnuts is doughnuts and cents is cents." "To be sure," he answered, merrily. "Well, ma'am, T just wish you could see 'em when I tell 'em how good you've been to me. Some folks ain't good, you know," he added, with a sigh. While I filled the basket ne told me their little history, never realizing how full it was of the deepest pathos — the struggles of the poor mother to keep her family together after the death of her husband, who had left her one morning to go to his work in the great iron foundry, and was brought back to her a few hours later, having met his death while toiling for those he loved. He did not realize, either, how his own self- sacrificing spirit shone out through his words, proving to me the strength and sweetness of his character. What a hero he was, this little twelve-year-old Jack! " Mother has worked so hard for Sue and me that she hasn't 74 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' much strength left. And don't you think," he added, straight- ening himself up proudly, " don't you think I'm big enough to take care of us three? Leastways, I've been lucky this morn- ing, for I've sold my greens and found you." The gratitude in his heart was plainly visible in his little face as he turned it up to me. I told him that henceforth we would be the very best and warmest of friends, and that happier days were in store for him and for those at home. Such a happy Jack as he was when I sent him home that April morning, with the heavy basket on one arm and the pail of milk on the other! and I wish I could tell you — for I am sure you would like to hear — what pleasant days followed for Jack and those so dear to him; but it would make such a long, long story we should never come to the end of it. Jack is proving himself the hero I knew him to be. He works, early and late, on a small piece of ground which we allow him to cultivate on our farm; and he carries his produce to town in a basket, strapped on his back, and he is as 'happy as" a king — happier than many kings, I am sure. Little, pale Susie is not half so pale as she was before she, too, had the chance given her to "help." She has free range in my flower-garden, and makes up the daintiest buttonhole bouquets, with which she fills her small basket every morning for Jack to take with him. He never finds the least difficulty in disposing of them all, and a proud little lass she is when he drops the pennies into her hand at night. The mother is growing strong and well again, happy in her boy's thoughtful care, and cheery, light-hearted ways. He is not yet' thirteen years old, but his mother calls him the "head of the- house, " and he truly deserves the title. Brave little man — God bless him! FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 75 DISCIPLINE. A BLOCK of marble caught the glance Of Buonarotti's eyes, Which brightened in their solemn deeps, Like meteor-lighted skies. And one who stood beside him listened, Smiling as he heard; For " I will make an angel of it," Was the sculptor's word. And mallet soon and chisel sharp The stubborn block assailed, And blow by blow, and pang by pang, The prisoner unveiled. A brow was lifted, high and pure; The waking eyes outshone; And as the master sharply wrought, A smile broke through the stone! Beneath the chisel's edge the hair Escaped in floating rings; And, plume by plume, was slowly freed The sweep of half-furled wings. The stately bust and graceful limbs Their marble fetters shed, And where the shapeless block had been, An angel stood instead' O blows that smite! O hurts that pierce This shrinking heart of mine! What are ye but the Master's tools, Forming a work divine? 7^ JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' O hope that crumbles at my feet! O joy that mocks and flies! What are ye but the clogs that bind My spirit from the skies! Sculptor of souls! I lift to Thee Encumbered heart and hands; Spare not the chisel, set me free, However dear the bands. How blest, if all these seeming ills, Which draw my thoughts to Thee, Should only prove that Thou wilt make An angel out of me! THREE WORDS OF STRENGTH. JOHANN C. F. VON SCHILLER. THERE are three lessons I would write — Three words, as with a burning pen, In tracings of eternal light, Upon the hearts of men. Have hope. Though clouds environ round, And Gladness hides her face in scorn, Put off the shadow from thy brow — No night but hath its morn. Have faith. Where'er thy bark is driven — The calm's disport, the tempest's mirth — Know this: God rules the hosts of heaven, The inhabitants of earth. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 77 Have love. Not love alone for one; But man, as man, thy brother call; And scatter, like the circling sun, Thy charities on all. Thus grave these lessons on thy soul — Hope, faith, and love — and thou shalt find Strength when life's surges rudest roll, Light when thou else wert blind. HOPE ON. ADELAIDE A. PROCTER. STRIVE; yet I do not promise the prize you dream of to-day Will not fade when you think to grasp it, and melt in your hand away; But another and holier treasure, you would now perchance disdain, Will come when your toil is over, and pay you for all your pain. Wait; yet I do not tell you the hour you long for now Will not come with its radiance vanished, and a shadow upon its brow; Yet far through the misty future, with a crown of starry light, An hour of joy you know not is winging her silent flight. Pray; though the gift you ask for may never comfort your fears, May never repay your pleading, yet pray, and with hopeful tears : An answer, not that you long for, but diviner, will come one day; Your eyes are too dim to see it, yet strive, and wait, and pray. 7§ JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' THE HOUR OF PRAYER. VICTOR HUGO. MY daughter, go and pray! See, night is come! One golden planet pierces through the gloom; Trembles the misty outline of the hill. Listen! The distant wheels in darkness glide — All else is hushed; the tree by the roadside Shakes in the wind its dust-strewn branches still. Day is for evil, weariness, and pain. Let us to prayer; calm night is come again. The wind among the ruined towers so bare Sighs mournfully; the herds, thd flocks, the streams, All suffer, all complain; worn nature seems Longing for peace, for slumber, and for prayer. It is the hour when babes with angels speak. While we are rushing to our pleasures weak And sinful; all young children, with bent knees, Eyes raised to heaven, and small hands folded fair, Say at the self-same hour the self-same prayer, On our behalf, to Him who all things sees. And then they sleep. O peaceful cradle-sleep! O childhood's hallowed prayer; religion deep Of love, not fear, in happiness expressed! So the young bird, when done its twilight lay Of praise, folds peacefully at shut of day Its head beneath its wing, and sinks to rest. FA V0R1 'I '£ SELECTIONS. 7 9 ANNABEL LEE. EDGAR ALLAN POE. IT was many, full many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden lived, whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child, and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love, I and my Annabel Lee : With a love the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee: So that her highborn kinsman came ■ And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre, In this kingdom by the sea. The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me; Yes, that was the reason,, as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea, That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. 80 JULIA AtfD AXNIE THOMAS' But our love was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we — Of many far wiser than we — And neither the angels in heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee: And so all the night tide I lie down by the side Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea. WOMEN OF THE WAR. ANNIE THOMAS. [Written for and read before the Soldiers and Sailors' Department of the Nat- ional Women's Christian Temperance Union, at the commemoration of Women of the War, May 30, 18S7, New JULIA AND A XX IE THOMAS' Passed cheerfully the morning hours away. 'Twas shadowy gloom, and breathless silence, save, That to sad thoughts and torturing fear a prey, One bright-eyed boy was there — Murillo's little slave. Almost a child — that boy had seen Not thrice five summers yet, But genius marked the lofty brow, O'er which his locks of jet Profusely curled; his cheek's dark hue Proclaimed the warm blood flowing through Each throbbing vein, a mingled tide, To Africa and Spain allied. "Alas! what fate is mine!" he said. "The lash, if I refuse to tell Who sketched those figures- — -if I do, Perhaps e'en more — the dungeon-cell!" He breathed a prayer to heaven for aid; It came — for soon in slumber laid, He slept, until the dawning day Shed on his humble couch its ray. "I'll sleep no more!" he cried; "and now Three hours of freedom I may gain Before my master comes; for then I shall be but a slave again. Three blessed hours of freedom' How Shall I employ them? — ah' e'en now The figure on that canvas traced Must be — yes, it must be effaced." He seized a brush — the morning light Gave to the head a softened glow; FA I 'OK J 7 E SEI.F.C T/ONS. 1 2 9 Gazing enraptured on the sight, He cried, "Shall I efface it? No' That breathing lip' that beaming eye — Efface them? I would rather die!" The terror of the humble slave Gave place to the o'erpowering (low Of the high feelings nature gave — Which only gifted spirits know. He touched the brow, the lip, it seemed His pencil had some magic power; The eye with deeper feeling beamed — Sebastian then forgot the hour 1 Forgot his master, and the threat Of punishment still hanging o er him; For, with each touch, new beauties met And mingled in the face before him. At length 'twas finished; rapturously He gazed — could aught more beauteous be! Awhile absorbed, entranced he stood, Then started — horror chilled his blood! His master and the pupils all Were there e'en at his side! The terror-stricken slave was mute — - Mercy would be denied E'en could he ask it — so he deemed, And the poor boy half lifeless seemed. Speechless, bewildered— for a space They gazed upon that perfect face, Each with an artist's joy, 9 13° JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS At length Murillo silence broke, And with affected sternness spoke — " Who is your master, boy?" "You, Senor " said the trembling slave. " Nay, who, I mean, instruction gave, Before that Virgin s head you drew?" Again he answered, " Only you. "I gave you none, ' Murillo cried. " But I have heard,' the boy replied, "What you to others said "And more than heard," in kinder tone, The painter said " 'tis plainly shown That you have profited. "What [to his pupils] is his meed? Reward or punishment?" "Reward, reward!" they warmly cried. (Seoastian's ear was bent To catch the sounds he scarce believed, But with imploring look received ) "What shall it be?" They spoke of gold And of a splendid dress; But still unmoved Sebastian stood, Silent and motionless. "Speak!" said Murillo, kindly, "choose Your own reward — what shall it be? Name what you wish, I'll not refuse: Then speak at once and fearlessly." "Oh! if I dared!"— Sebastian knelt. " Courage!" his master said, and each Essayed, in kind, half-whispered speech, To soothe his overpow'ring dread He scarcely heard, till some one said, FA VORI TE SEE E C TIONS. 1 3 l " Sebastian, ask — you have your choice- Ask for your freedom!" At the word, The suppliant strove to raise his voice: At first but stifled sobs were heard, And then his prayer — breathed fervently — " O master, make my father free'" " Him and thyself, my noble boy!" Warmly the painter cried; Raising Sebastian from his feet, He pressed him to his side. "Thy talents rare, and filial love, E'en more have fairly won; Still be thou mine by other bonds — My pupil and my son." Murillo knew, e'en when the words Of generous feeling passed his lips, Sebastian's talents soon must lead To fame that would his own eclipse; And, constant to his purpose still, He joyed to see his pupil gain, Beneath his care, such matchless skill As made his name the pride of Spain. "NUMBER TWENTY-FIVE." a NUMBER twenty-five!" " Bring; on number twent lty-five!" "The court is waiting for number twenty-five!" There was a little hanging back on the part of the usually prompt official, but in a moment more a tall, fine- looking woman strode defiantly up, and placing herself before the judge, awaited the usual questioning. 13-2 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' There was something so piteously desperate in the prisoner's appearance, and her great, haunting eyes had a look of such anguish in their fierce depths, that the judge, accustomed to all kinds of sad sights and sounds, yet hesitated a moment before asking, with unwonted gentleness: "What is your name, my woman, and where were you born?" " Me name is Aleen Byrne, yer honor, an' I were born in Aberdeen, off the Scottish coastland. " " And you are charged with striking a man ?" "I am, yer honor, an' I ken weel I stricht the mon, " "And you meant to?" " I did, indeed, yer honor. I only wish I might a kilt him!" " That would hardly have been for your good, Aleen. " " He s kilt me, yer honor." The woman spoke with a low, impassioned wail, which caused respectful silence even in the lower court, where" touch- ing tones were often unheeded. " McGinnis testifies that. he never laid a hand on you," re- turned the judge. " He stabbed me to the heart, yer honor, an' the mon kens it weel !" "Stabbed you? Suppose you tell us about it." " I will, an me voice will sarve me. Ye micht no ken what it is, yer honor, to have one bonnie laddie, an' none else ye ca'd yer ain. I left the gude father o' me lad a-sleepin' in the kirkyard when I brought me wee sonnie to this land. They say this be a countrie flowin' wi* milk an' honey, but oh, yer honor, it flows wi' milk an' honey for some, an' for others, I mind me. it flows wi' a very sea o* poison. For mony a year after I reacht these shores I toiled in sun an' shade, but what greeted mesel' for a' the toil so lang as me winsome Robbie were thrivin' an' gettin' a muckle o' learnin'- fra h his books! He growed so fine an' tall that soon he were ta'en to a gentle- man's store to help wi' the errants an' to mind the counter FA VORI TE SELEC TIONS. I 3 3 betimes. Then the mon McGinnis set his evil eye on the lad. I was forced to pass his den on me way to and fra' the bread store, an' he minded 't was mesel' hated the uncanny look o' the place. An' one morn as I passet by he said I needn't be so gran' aboot me b'y, he were no above ta'en a sup o' the liquor wi' the rest, of an e'en. I begged me chilt for the love o' God to let the stoof alane. Me Robbie, knowin' no ill, prom- ised to bide by me will an' wishes, but the mon McGinnis watcht o' nights when 't were cauld an' stormin,' an' he gave the lad mony a cup o' his dretful dhrinks, to warm him, he would say. I got upon my knees to me ain childt an' prayed him to pass the place no more, but to gang hame by some ither road. Then I went mesel' to the mon vvi'out a soul in his body, an' p'reps ye ken, yer honor, a mither would beg an' pray for the bone o' her bone an' the flesh o' her flesh. But he laughet in my face, an' I runned from his sicht afore I did him ill. Las' nicht, yer honor, the noise at me door frightened me; I runned wi' all me micht to see what were the trouble, an' me Robbie swayed into the room an' fell at me feet — he were dhrunk, yer honor! Then McGinnis pokes his face in at me door an' asket, 'What think ye now, Mistress Byrne?' Did I mean to strike the mon, yer honor? An' could I, I'd a sthruck the breath fra' his body! Ye'd better keep me wi' lock an' key the nicht till me gloom dies out; but oh, jedge, jedge! there's naught to kill the gnawin' at me heart, an' wisht mesel' an' me lad were in the kirkyard aside the gude father'" The woman at the bar extended a clinched hand as she added with bitter vehemence: "They telled me, an I could prove the mon sold liquor to the bairn under age, the law could stoop him. It's mesel' wud like to see the law stoop one o' the mis'rable rumsellers o' the land! I tell ye, jedge, there's naught but God's grewsome vengeance can stoop his ilk, an' when that falls it'll crush ye all! It's a' weel enough to 'rest the mither as she strikes the 134 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' mon as ruins her ain childt, but wait ye till the Lord Almighty strikes — ay — wait ye for that, an ye dare'" As the threatening voice stilled, the woman was pronounced discharged, and after his reappearance in court, McGinnis was lodgtd in the county jail on a charge of having wilfully sold or given intoxicating drink to a minor. His comrades declared the evidence on which he was convicted to have been illegally slight and uncertain. But the clerk of the court was heard to remark that he believed from his soul the judge was afraid to disregard that old witch's warning, and dare not wait for the Lord Almighty to strike back with grewsome vengeance at them all, Then the clerk added thoughtfully: "But she did have a knell of fiery doom, did that number twenty-five '" KATIE LEE AND WILLIE GREY. TWO brown heads with tossing curls, Red lips shutting over pearls, Bare feet, white and wet with dew, Two eyes black, and two eyes blue; Little girl and boy were they, Katie Lee and Willie Grey. They were standing where a brook, Bending like a shepherd's crook. Flashed its silver, and thick ranks Of willow fringed its mossy banks; Half in thought, and half in play, Katie Lee and Willie Grey. They had cheeks like cherries red; He was taller — 'most a head; FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 135 She, with arms like wreaths of snow, Swung a basket to and fro As she loitered, half in play, Chattering to Willie Grey. "Pretty Katie," Willie said — And there came a dash of red Through the brownness of his cheek — *' Boys are strong and girls are weak, And I'll carry, so 1 will, Katie's basket up the hill." Katie answered with a laugh, "You shall carry only half;" And then, tossing back her curls, " Boys are weak as well as girls." Do you think that Katie guessed Half the wisdom she expressed? Men are only boys grown tall , Hearts don t change much, after all ; And when, long years from that day, Katie Lee and Willie Grey Stood again beside the brook, Bending like a shepherd's crook, Is it strange that Willie said, While again a dash of red Crossed the brownness of his cheek " I am strong and you are weak , Life is but a slippery steep, Hung with shadows cold and deep,- "Will you trust me, Katie dear? Walk beside me without fear! 136 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' May I carry, if I will, All your burdens up the hill?" And she answered, with a laugh, " No, but you may carry half." Close beside the lit.tle brook, Bending like a shepherd's crook, Washing with its silver hands Late and early at the sands, Is a cottage, where to-day Katie lives with Willie Grey. In a porch she sits, and lo! Swings a basket to and fro — Vastly different from the one That she swung in years agone, This is long and deep and wide, And has — rockers at the side. SMITING THE ROCK. THE stern old judge, in relentless mood, Glanced at the two who before him stood; She was bowed and haggard and old, He was young and defiant and bold,— Mother and son; and to gaze at the pair, Their different attitudes, look and air, One would believe, ere the truth were known, The mother convicted and not the son. There was the mother; the boy stood nigh With a shameless look, and his head held high, FAVORITE SELE C TIONS. 137 Age had come over her, sorrow and care; These mattered but little so he was there, A prop to her years and a light to her eyes, And prized as only a mother can prize, But what for him could a mother say, Waiting his doom on a sentence day? Her husband had died in his shame and sin; And she, a widow, her living to win, Had toiled and struggled from morn till night, Making with want a wearisome fight, Bent over her work with resolute zeal, Till she felt her old frame totter and reel, Her weak limbs tremble, her eyes grow dim; But she had her boy, and she toiled for him. And he — he stood in the criminal dock, With a heart as hard as a flinty rock, An impudent glance and a reckless air, Braving the scorn of the gazers there; Dipped in crime and encompassed round With proof of his guilt by captors found; Ready to stand, as he phrased it, "game," Holding not crime but penitence, shame. Poured in a flood o'er the mother's cheek The moistening prayers where the tongue was weak And she saw through the mist of those bitter tears Only the child in his innocent years; She remembered him pure as a child might be, The guilt of the present she could not see: And for mercy her wistful looks made prayer To the stern old judge in his cushioned chair. 13 8 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' "Woman,' the old judge crabbedly said. "Your boy is the neighborhood's plague and dread Of a gang of reprobates chosen chief, -An idler and rioter, ruffian and thief, The jury did right, for the facts were plain, Denial is idle, excuses are vain. The sentence the court imposes is one " "Your honor," she cried, "he's my only son." The constables grinned at the words she spoke, And a ripple of fun through the court- room broke; But over the face of the culprit came An angry look and a shadow of shame. " Don't laugh at my mother!" loud cried he; " You've got me fast, and can deal with me; But she's too good for your coward jeers, And I'll " then his utterance choked with tears. The judge for a moment bent his head, And looked at him keenly, and then he said: " We suspend the sentence — the boy can go;" And the words were tremulous, forced and low, "But stay!" and he raised his finger then, " Don't let them bring you hither again. There is something good in you yet, I know: I'll give you a chance — make the most of it — go!" The twain went forth, and the old judge said- "I meant to have given him a year instead. And perhaps 'tis a difficult thing to tell If clemency here be ill or well But a rock was struck in that callous heart, From which a fountain of good may start; For one on the ocean of crime long tossed, Who loves his mother is not quite lost." FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 139 DOLLY'S PRAYER. EMMA BURT. /^OD in heaven, please to hearken to your little Dolly's \J prayer! While the preacher says the preachin', please to tell me where you are; "For I am so tired waitin' till the big words all are said, And 'amen,' and then the music, till the peoples bow their head. " If I knew the way to Jesus, I would creep so soft along That I wouldn't 'sturb the preacher, nor the prayin', nor the song. "Then I'd run so very swiftly, and I'd give Him a surprise; Oh, I'm certain I should know Him when He looked into my eyes! "He would be so glad to see me that His arms He'd open wide, And I'd quickly climb within them; there forever I would hide. "God in heaven, please to hearken to your little Dolly's prayer ! While the preacher says the preachin', please to show me where you are!" Tired ones, with hearts impatient, how we echo Dolly's prayer: "God in heaven, please to hearken, please to lead us where you are!" 14° JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' THE DRUNKARD-MAKER. a UOUR father's a drunkard," said pretty May Bell; I The scorn of her accents no language can tell, As she wound a gold chain round her fingers so fair, And shook back the long curls of her beautiful hair. And Bess, the drunkard's child, bowed her white face, Feeling deeply, so deeply, the shame and disgrace As she wiped the bright tears that were falling like rain,, The haughty girl laughed who had given her pain. A boy, brave and bright as a boy could be, Was untangling his kite in a tall maple tree; He could hear every word, he could see everv look — Poor Bess with her slate and her old tattered book. An indignant flush dyed his cheek like a rose, As he viewed proud May Bell in her beautiful clothes Down from the wide branch, quick as thought something fell "Who made him a drunkard? Will you answer, May Bell? "Or shall I tell the story? I know it all through; John Bell made a drunkard of poor William Drew! He sells him the rum that's destroying his life And fast making beggars of children and wife!" As he led Bessie on, down the mulberry lane. May looked after the two through her tears of shame. "Oh' can it be true, then, the story he told? Does my father make drunkards of men for their gold ?" FA VORI TE SELEC TIONS. 1 4 1 DRIFTING. T. B. READ. IV TY soul to-day- Is far away, Sailing the Vesuvian Bay; My winged boat, A bird afloat, Swims round the purple peaks remote. Round purple peaks It sails, and seeks Blue inlets and their crystal creeks, Where high rocks throw, Through deeps below, A duplicated golden glow. Far, vague, and dim, The mountains swim; While on Vesuvius' misty brim, With outstretched hands, The gray smoke stands O'erlooking the volcanic lands. Here Ischia smiles O'er liquid miles, And yonder, bluest of the isles, Calm Capri waits, Her sapphire gates Beguiling to her bright estates. 142 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' I heed not, if My rippling skiff Float swift or slow from cliff to cliff; With dreamful eyes My spirit lies Under the walls of Paradise. Under the walls, Where swells and falls The bay's deep breast at intervals, At peace I lie, Blown softly by, A cloud upon this liquid sky. The day so mild Is heaven's own child, With earth and ocean reconciled: The airs I feel Around me steal Are murmuring to the murmuring keel. Over the rail My hand I trail Within the shadow of the sail: A joy intense, The cooling sense Glides down my drowsy indolence. With dreamful eyes My spirit lies Where summer sings and never dies; O'erveiled with vines, She glows and shines Among her future oil and wines. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 143 Her children, hid The cliffs amid, Are gambolling with the gambolling kid, Or down the walls, With tipsy calls, Laugh on the rocks like waterfalls. The fisher's child, With tresses wild, Unto the smooth, bright sand beguiled, With glowing lips Sings as she skips, Or gazes at the far-off ships. Yon deep bark goes Where traffic blows From lands of sun to lands of snows: This happier one Its course has run From lands of snow to lands of sun. O happy ship, To rise and dip, With the blue crystal at your lip! O happy crew, My heart with you Sails, and sails, and sings anew! No more, no more The worldly shore Upbraids me with its loud uproar'. With dreamful ey? c . My spirit lies Under the walls of Paradise! 144 JULIA AXD AXX1E THOMAS' IF ONLY. IF only in my dreams I once might see Thy face, though thou should stand With cold, unreaching hand, Nor vex thy lips to break The silence with a word for my love's sake, Nor turn to mine thine eyes, Serene with long peace of Paradise, Vet, henceforth, life would be More sweet, not wholly bitter, unto me. If only I might know for verity, That when the light is done Of this world's sun, And that unknown, long-sealed To sound and sight is suddenly revealed, That thine should be the firsc dear voice thereof, And thy dear face the rest— O love, my love! Then coming death would be Sweet, ah, most sweet — not bitter unto me. THE SHEPHERD DOG OF THE PYRENEES. ELLEN .MURRAY. 1 TRAVELLER. Begone, you, sir! Here, shepherd, call your dog' Shepherd. Be not affrighted, madame, poor Pierrot Will do no harm I know his voice is gruff, But, then, his heart is good Trav Well, call him, then. I do not like his looks. He's growling: now. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 145 Shep. Madame had better drop that stick. Pierrot, He is as good a Christian as myself And does not like a stick Trav. Such a fierce look! And such great teeth! Shep Ah, bless poor Pierrot s teeth! Good cause have I and mine to bless those teeth Come here, my Pierrot! Would you like to hear, Madame, what Pierrot's teeth have done for me? Trav. Torn a gaunt wolf, I'll warrant. Shep. Do you see On that high ledge a cross of wood that stands Against the sky ? Trav. Just where the cliff goes down A hundred fathoms sheer, a wall of rock To where the river foams along its bed? I've often wondered who was brave to plant A cross on such an edge. Shep. Myself, madame. That the good God might know I gave Him thanks. One night, it was November, dark and thick The fog came down, when, as I reached my house, Marie came running out; our little one, Our four-year Louis, so she cried, was lost. I called Pierrot, " Go seek him, find my boy!" And off he went. Marie ran crying loud To call the neighbors. They and I, we searched All that dark night. I called Pierrot in vain; Whistled and called, and listened for his voice; He always came or barked at my first word. But now he answered not. When day at last Broke, and the gray fog lifted, there I saw On that high ledge against the dawning light My little one asleep, sitting so near 146 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' That edge that, as I looked, his red barette Fell from his nodding head down the abyss And there, behind him, crouched Pierrot; his teeth, His good, strong teeth, clinched in the jacket brown, Holding the child in safety. With wild bounds Swift as the gray wolf's own I climbed the steep, And as I reached them Pierrot beat his tail And looked at me, so utterly distressed, With eyes that said, " Forgive, I could not speak," But never loosed his hold, till my dear rogue Was safe within my arms. — Ah, ha! Pierrot, Madame forgives your barking and your teeth, I knew she would. Trav. Come here, Pierrot, good dog! Come here, poor fellow, faithful friend and true, Come, come, be friends with me! THE MESSAGE. ADELAIDE A. PROCTER. I HAD a message to send her, to her whom my soul loves best, But I had my task to finish, and she had gone to rest To rest in the far, bright heaven — oh! so far away from here' It was vain to speak to my darling, for I knew she could not hear. I had a message to send her, so tender, and true, and sweet, I longed for an angel to bear it, and lay it down at her feet I placed it, one summer's evening, on a little white cloud's breast . But it taded in golden splendor, and died in the crimson west. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 147 I gave it the lark next morning, and I watched it soar and soar; But its pinions grew faint and weary, and it fluttered to earth once more. I cried, in my passionate longing: "Has the earth no angel friend Who will carry my love the message my heart desires to send ?' Then I heard a strain of music, so mighty, so pure, so dear, That my very sorrow was silent, and my heart stood still to hear. It rose in harmonious rushing of mingled voices and strings, And I tenderly laid my message on music's outspread wings And I heard it float farther and farther, in sound more perfect than speech, Farther than sight can follow, farther than soul can reach And I know that at last my message has passed through the golden gate; So my heart is no longer restless, and I am content to wait NEVER TROUBLE TROUBLE. FANNIE WINDSOR MY good man is a clever man, which no one will gainsay; He lies awake to plot and plan 'gainst lions in the way, While I without a thought of ill, sleep sound enough for three For I never trouble trouble till trouble troubles me. A holiday we never fix but he is sure 'twill ram; And when the sky is clear at six he knows it won't remain He is always prophesying ill to which I won't agree, For I never trouble trouble till trouble troubles me. 148 JULIA AND ANNIE I I/O MAS' The wheat will never show a top — but soon how green the field! We will not harvest half a crop — yet have a famous yield! It will not sell, it never will! but I will wait and see ; For I never trouble trouble till trouble troubles me We have a good share of worldly gear, and fortune seem? secure, Yet my good man is full of fear — misfortune's coming sure! He points me out the almshouse hill, but cannot make me see, For I never trouble trouble till trouble troubles me. He has a sort of second sight, and when the fit is strong, He sees beyond the good and right the evil and the wrong. Heaven's cup of joy he'll surely spill unless I with him be, For I never trouble trouble till trouble troubles me! MAKE th Culth SELF-CULTURE, the best of yourself. Watch and plant and sow. onward! Persevere! Perhaps you cannot bear such lordly fruit, nor yet such rare, rich flowers as others; but what of that? Bear the best you can. 'Tis all God asks. Your flowers may only be the daisies and buttercups of life — the little words and smiles and handshakes and helpful looks; but we love these flowers full well. We may stop to look at a tulip's gorgeous colors, and admire the creamy white- ness of a noble lily; but it is to the little flowers we turn with tenderest thought. We watch for snowdrops with longing eyes, and scent the fragrance of the violet with a keen delight. So let your life grow sweet-scented with all pleasant thoughts and gentle words and kindly deeds. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. *49 HERE OR THERE. HENRY BURTON. MAY God be near thee, friend, When we are far away ; May His smile cheer thee, friend, And make all light as day: Look up! the sky, the stars above Will whisper to thee of His changeless love. In distant, desert places The " Mounts of God" are found; His sky the world embraces, And makes it "holy ground." The heart that serves, and loves, and clings, Hears everywhere the rush of angel wings. To God the "there" is here; All spaces are His own; The distant and the near Axe shadows of His throne. All times are His, the new, the old — What boots it where life's little tale is told? 'Tis not for us to choose; We listen and obey: 'Tis His to call and use; 'Tis ours to serve and pray. It matters little, here or there, God's world is wide, and heaven is everywhere. 150 JULIA A\ r D A.Y.Y/E THOMAS' We cannot go so far That home is out of sight , The morn, the evening star, Will say, "Good-day'" "Good-night!" The heart that loves will never be alone; All earth, all heaven, it reckons as its own! THEN AG'IN— . S. W. FOSS. JIM BOWKER, he said, ef he'd had a fair show, And a big enough town for his talents to grow, And the least bit of assistance in hoein' his row, Jim Bowker, he said, He'd fill the world full of the sound of his name, An' climb the top round in the ladder of fame. It may have been so ; I dunno; Jest so it might been; Then ag'in — . But he had tarnal luck; everythin' went ag'in him, The arrears of fortune they alius ud pin him; So he didn't get a chance to show what was in him. Jim Bowker, he said, Ef he'd had a fair show, you couldn't tell where he'd come, An' the feats he'd a-done, an' the heights he'd a-clumb. It may have been so ; I dunno; Jest so it might been; Then ag'in — . FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 151 But we're all like Jim Bowker, thinks I, more or less, Charge fate for our bad luck, ourselves for success, An' give fortune the blame for all out distress, As Jim Bowker, he said, Ef it hadn't been for luck an' misfortune an' sich, We might a-been famous, and might a-been rich. It might be jest so; I dunno ; Jest so it might been • Then ag'in — . REGRETS OF DRUNKENNESS. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. [Cassjo, having been artfully plied with liquor by Iago till he was drunk, en gaged in a brawl, after which he was dismissed by his general, Othello, with the words; "Cassio, I love thee; but never more be officer of mine." Iago. wishing to make Othello jealous of Cassio, here persuades him to appeal to Desdemona, Othello's wife, to intercede for him.] IAGO. What! be you hurt, Lieutenant? Cassio. Past all surgery! Iago. Marry, heaven forbid! Cas. Reputation! reputation! reputation! Oh, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial. My reputation, Iago, my reputation! Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound; there is more offence in that than in repu- tation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser. What, man ! there are ways to recover the General again. You 15 2 J^LIA AND AXXIE THOMAS' are but now cast in his mood, a punishment more in policy than in malice; sue to him again, and he's yours. Cas. I will rather sue to be despised than to deceive so good a commander with so light, so drunken, and so indiscreet an officer. Drunk, and speak parrot, and squabble, swagger, swear, and discourse fustian with one's own shadow' Oh, thou invisible spirit of wine! if thou hadst no name to be known by, let us call thee — devil' Iago. What was he that you followed with your sword? What had he done to you ? Cas. I know not. Iago. Is it possible? Cas. I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. Oh, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains' That we should, with joy, revel, pleasure, and applause, transform our- selves into beasts! Iago. Why, but you are now well enough. How came you thus recovered ? Cas. It has pleased the devil Drunkenness to give place to the devil Wrath; one imperfection shows me another, to make me frankly despise myself. Iago. Come, you are too severe a moraler! As the time, the place, and the condition of this country stands, I could heartily wish this had not befallen; but since it is as it is, mend it for your own good. Cas. I will ask him for my place again; he shall tell me I am a drunkard! Had I as many mouths as Hydra, such an answer would stop them all To be now a sensible man, by and by a fool, and presently a beast! Oh, strange! Every inordinate cup is unblessed, and the ingredient is a devil. Iago. Come, come! good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used; exclaim no more against it, and, good Lieutenant, I think you think I love you'? FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 15 3 Cas. I have well approved it, sir. I drunk' Iago. You, or any man living, may be drunk some time, man' I'll tell you what you shall do. Our General's wife is now the General — 1 may say so in this respect, for that he hath devoted and given up himself to the contemplation, mark, and denotement of her parts and graces Confess yourself freely to her, importune her; she'll help to put you in your place again. She is of so free, so kind, so apt, so blessed a disposi- tion, that she holds it a vice in her goodness not to do more than she is requested. This broken joint between you and her husband, entreat her to splinter; and, my fortunes against any lay worth naming, this break of your love shall grow stronger than it was before. Cas. You advise me well. Iago. I protest, in the sincerity of love and honest kindness. Cas. I think it freely; and, betimes in the morning, I will beseech the virtuous Desdemona to undertake for me. I am desperate of my fortunes if they check me here Iago. You are in the right. Good-night, Lieutenant! I must to watch. Cas. Good-night, honest Iago! DUTY. REV. ALFRED J. HOUGH. SPEAK the word God bids thee' No other word can reach The chords that wait in silence the coming of thy speech. Do the work God bids thee! One — only one still loom Awaits thy touch and tending in all this lower room. Sing the song God bids thee ' The heart of earth's great throng Needs for its perfect solace the music of thy song. 154 J'LIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' IF THERE BE GLORY. MAXWELL GREY. IF there be glory in the sun, If splendor on the sea, Sweet music in all rills that run, Great God, it is of Thee. Thy splendor broods on icy peaks The torrent's thunder fills; It is Thy majesty that speaks Among the lonely hills. The sweetest spring-flower ever blushed On brightest morn of May, The richest bird-song ever gushed At rosiest shut of day ; The maiden moon that strayeth lone And pensive through the sky, Unloosing from her silver zoxie Her largesse silently; The solemn majesty of night, Its stillness and its stars, The glory when, in growing light, The crimson day unbars — All could not charm, except some thought From Thee within them stirred; They touch man's soul, for Thou hast wrought Their beauty by Thy word. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. ' 155 If there be glory in the sun, If splendor on the sea, Sweet music in all rills that run, Great God, it is of Thee. God thought: worlds rolled in sudden space; He spake, and life was there; The universe in His embrace Reposes and is fair. LIFE. ANNIE THOMAS. NOT by the years we live, But by the good we do to those around, Should life computed be. Not by the wealth attained Should we possession count, but by that given To aid humanity — The weaker portion — brothers all — Oft tempted and oft yielding through Their kindly hearts to wrong. These to lead back once more With firm but gentle hand — by loving word And voice — taught to be strong. To clear the way they tread Of sin, temptation, and to aid them to The higher life attain — No nobler mission nor More honored work hath man in life than this. And no more worthy aim. 156 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' O'CONNOR'S CHILD. THOMAS CAMPBELL. (C X "HERO's bride! this desert bower, A It ill befits thy gentle breeding- And wherefore dost thou love this flower Xo call, 'My love lies bleeding?' ,: This purple flower my tears have nursed; A hero's blood supplied its bloom: I love it, for it was the first That grew on Connocht Moran's tomb. Oh! hearken, stranger, to my voice! This desert mansion is my choice! And blest, though fatal, be the star That led me to its wilds afar. For here these pathless mountains free Gave shelter to my love and me ; And every rock and every stone Bore witness that he was my own. O'Connor's child, I was the bud Of Erin's royal tree of glory; But woe to them that wrapt in blood The tissue of my story! Still as I clasp my burning brain, • A death-scene rushes on my sight , It rises o'er and o'er again, The bloody feud — the fatal night, When, chafing Connocht Moran's scorn. They called my hero basely born; And bade him choose a meaner bride Than from O'Connor's house of pride. PA t 'OR J TE SELL C 7 IONS t c 7 Glory (they said) and power and honor Were in the mansion of O Connor; But he. my loved one. bore in field A humb'er crest, a meaner shield. Ah, brothers' what did it avail, That fiercely and triumphantly Ye fought the English ot the Pale, And stemmed De Bourgo s chivalry? And what was it to love and me, That barons by youi standard rode; Or beal -fires for your jubilee Upon a hundred mountains glowed? What though the lords of tower and dome From Shannon to the North Sea foam — Thought ye your iron hands of pride Could break the knot that love had tied? No. Let the eagle change his plume. The leaf its hue. the flower its bloom; But ties around this heart were spun, That could not, would not be undone 1 At bleating of the wild watch-fold Thus sang my love; " Oh, come with me' Our bark is on the lake, behold Our steeds are fastened to the tree Come far from Castle Connor s clans; Come with thy belted forestere. And I, beside the lake of swans, Shall hunt for thee the fallow-deer; And build thy hut, and bring thee home The wild-fowl and the honey-comb; And berries from the wood provide, And play my clarshech by thy side. 158 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Then come, my love!" How could I stay? Our nimble stag-hounds tracked the way, And 1 pursued, by moonless skies, The light of Connocht Moran's eyes. And fast and far, before the star Of day-spring, rushed we through the glade, And saw at dawn the lofty bawn Of Castle Connor fade Sweet was to us the hermitage Of this unploughed, untrodden shore; Like birds all joyous from the cage, For man's neglect we loved it more, And well he knew, my huntsman dear, To search the game with hawk and spear; While I, his evening food to dress, Would sing to him in happiness. But. oh, that midnight of despair, When I was doomed to rend my hair! The night, to me. of shrieking sorrow! The night, to him. that had no morrow 1 When all was hushed at eventide, 1 heard the baying of their beagle: '' Be hushed!" my Connocht Moran cried. " 'Tis but the screaming of the eagle," Alas'- 'twas not the eyry's sound; Their bloody bands had tracked us out; Up-listening starts our couchant hound — And, hark! again, that nearer shout Brings faster on the murderers. "Spare — spare him — Brazil — Desmond fierce!"' In vain — no voice the adder charms; Their weapons crossed my sheltering arms- FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 159 Another's sword has laid him low — Another's and another's; And every hand that dealt the blow — Ah. me' it was a brother's! Yes, when his moanings died away, Their iron hands had dug the clay, And o'er his burial turf they trod, And 1 beheld— O God' O God!— His life-blood oozing from the sod. Warm in his death -wounds sepulchered, Alas! my warrior's spirit brave Nor mass nor ulla-lulla heard, Lamenting, soothe his grave. Dragged to their hated mansion back, How long in thraldom's grasp I lay I know not, for my soul was black, And knew no change of night or day. But heaven, at last, my soul's eclipse Did with a vision bright inspire; I woke and felt upon my lips A prophetess' fire. Thrice in the east a war-drum beat, I heard the Saxon's trumpet sound, And ranged, as to the judgment-seat, My guilty, trembling brothers round. Clad in the helm and shield they came : For now De Bourgo's sword and flame Had ravaged Ulster's boundaries, And lighted up the midnight skies. The standard of O'Connor's sway Was in the turret where I lay, \Co JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS That standard, with so dire a look. As ghastly shone the moon and pale, I gave — that every bosom shook Beneath its iron mail. "And go: ' (I cried) "the combat seek. Ye hearts that unappalled bore The anguish of a sister's shriek, Go' and return no more' For sooner guilt the ordeal brand Shall grasp unhurt, than ye shall hold The banner with victorious hand. Beneath a sister's curse unrolled.'' stranger' by my country's loss! And by my love 1 and by the cross! 1 swear I never could have spoke The curse that severed nature's yoke, But that a spirit o'er me stood, And fired me with the wrathful mood; And frenzy to my heart was given, To speak the malison of heaven. They would have crossed themselves all mute; They would have prayed to burst the spell ; But at the stamping of my foot Each hand down powerless fell! " And go to Athunree!" (I cried) " High lift the banner of your pride' But know that where its sheet unrolls The weight of blood is on your souls! Go where the havoc of your kerne Shall float as high as mountain fern! Men shall no more your mansion know; FA VORI 7 F SEE E C TIONS. 1 6 1 The nettles on your hearth shall grow! Dead, as the green oblivious flood That mantles by your walls, shall be The glory of O'Connor's blood! Away! away to Athunree! Where, downward, when the sun shall fall, The raven's wing shall be your pall! And not a vassal shall unlace The visor from your dying face!" A bolt that overhung our dome Suspended till my curse was given, Soon as it passed these lips of foam, Pealed in the blood-red heaven. Dire was the look that o'er their backs The angry parting brothers threw: But now, behold! like cataracts, Come down the hills in view O'Connor's plumed partisans; Thrice ten Kilnagorvian clans Were marching to their doom. A sudden storm their plumage tossed, A flash of lightning o'er them crossed, And all again was gloom! Stranger! I fled the home of grief, At Connocht Moran's tomb to fall ; I found the helmet of my chief, His bow still hanging on our wall, And took it down, and vowed to rove . This desert place a huntress bold; Nor would I change my- buried love For any heart of living mold. It>2 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMA No! for I am a hero's child; I'll hunt my quarry in the wild; And still my home this mansion make, Of all unheeded and unheeding, And cherish for my warrior's sake — "The (lower of love lies bleedinef." BE STILL. REV. DWIGHT WILLIAMS. a F)E still, and know that I am God;" The way is dark and wild Through which thou goest, my child; I cannot promise thee a stormless path, For lightning's scath And thunder's roar the pilgrim's journey hath. " Be still, and know that I am God;" The elements are mine; It is a hand divine That -guides the whirlwind in its awful course; The mystic force Of hail and tempest finds in me its source. "Be still, and know that I am God;" In danger's hour be calm; This is thy secret balm, To know that thou art safe when I command; Then only stand And see deliverance by my mighty hand. FA FORI TE SE LE C TIONS. 1 6 3 "Be still, and know that I am God;" Ask not the reason why I weave such mystery Through all the warp of thy frail life below, For thou shalt know. And read the plan in heaven's serener glow. "Be still, and know that I am God," Through storms and fears be still ; Only thy part fulfil, And as thou walkest I will shelter thee; Thy foes shall flee. And thou shalt journey all the way with me. "Be still, and know that I am God;" 'Twill be enough at last, When all thy warfare's past, Star-crowned thy head and in thy hand a palm, To sing thy psalm Where storms of earth end in eternal calm. GOLDEN-ROD. IN olden davs the sunlight stept down to the earth below. Across the fields and hedges crept all noiselessly and slow: And where it passed the shadows fled swift speeding far away, As from the gateway overhead came down the light of day. But as along a lane it passed, it weary was and slept, And slumber's tetters held it fast while night her vigil kept, And when the morning's couriers came in velvet buskins shod, Where last was seen the sunlight's flame were shafts of golden- rod. 164 JULIA AXD AXX1E THOMAS' ONE OF MANY. AT, ICE CARY BECAUSE I have not done the things I know I ought to do, my very soul is sad; And, furthermore, because that I have had Delights that should have made to overflow My cup of gladness, and have not been glad. All in the midst of plenty, poor I live; My house, my friend, with heavy heart I see As if that mine they were not meant to be; For of the sweetness of the things I have A churlish conscience dispossesses me. I do desire, nay, long, to put my powers To better service than I yet have done — Not hither, thither, without purpose run, And gather just a handful of the flowers And catch a little sunlight of the sun, Lamenting all the night and all the day Occasion lost, and losing in lament The golden chances that I know were meant For wiser uses — asking overpay When nothing has been earned, and all was lent; Keeping in dim and desolated ways And where the wild winds whistle loud and shrill Through leafless bushes, and the birds are still, And where the lights are lights of other days — A sad insanity overmastering will. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 165 And saddest of the sadness is to know It is not fortune's fault, but only mine, That far away the hills of roses shine, And far away the pipes of pleasure blow, That we, and not our stars, our fates assign. HERVE RIEL. ROBERT BROWNING. ON the sea and at the Hogue, sixteen hundred ninety-two, Did the English fight the French — woe to France! And, the thirty-first of May, helter-skelter through the blue, Like a crowd of frightened porpoises a shoal of sharks pursue Came crowding ship on ship to St. Malo on the Ranee, With the English fleet in view. 'Twas the squadron that escaped, with the victor in full chase, First and foremost of the drove, in his great ship, Damfreville; Close on him fled, great and small, twenty-two good ships in all ; And they signalled to the place, " Help the winners of a race! Get us guidance, give us harbor, take us quick — or, quicker still, Here's the English can and will!" Then the pilots of the place put out brisk and leaped on board; "Why, what hope or chance have ships like these to pass?" laughed they; "Rocks to starboard, rocks to port, all the passage scarred and scored, Shall the 'Formidable' here, with her twelve and eighty guns, Think to make the river-mouth by the single narrow way, Trust to enter where 'tis ticklish for a craft of twenty tons, 1 66 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' And with flow at full besides (now 'tis slackest ebb of tide) Reach the mooring? Rather say, while rock stands or water runs, Not a ship will leave the bay!" Then was called a council straight; brief and bitter the debate: "Here's the English at our heels; would you have them take in tow All that's left us of the fleet, linked together stern and bow, For a prize to Plymouth Sound ? Better run the ships aground !" (Ended Damfreville his speech.) "Not a minute more to wait! let the captains all and each Shove ashore, then blow up, burn the vessels on the beach! France must undergo her fate. "Give the word!" But no such word was ever spoke or heard; For up stood, for out stepped, for in struck amid all these — A captain ? A lieutenant? A mate— first, second, third? No such man of mark, and meet with his betters to compete! But a simple Breton sailor pressed by Tourville for the fleet — A poor coasting pilot he, Herve Riel the Croisickese. And "What mockery or malice have we here?" cries Flerve Riel' " Are you mad, you Malouins? Are you cowards, fools, or rogues ? Talk to me of rocks and shoals, me who took the soundings, tell On my fingers every bank, every shallow, every swell 'Tvvixt the offing here and Greve, where the river disem- bogues ? Are you bought by English gold? Is it love the lying's for? Morn and eve, night and day, have I piloted your bay, Entered free and anchored fast at the foot of Solidor. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 167 "Burn the fleet, and ruin France? That were worse than fifty Hogues! Sirs, they know I speak the truth! Sirs, believe me there's a way! Only let me lead the line, Have the biggest ship to steer, get this 'Formidable' clear, Make the others follow mine, And I lead them, most and least, by a passage I know well, Right to Solidor, past Greve, and there lay them safe and sound ; And if one ship misbehave — keel so much as grate the ground — ■ Why, I've nothing but my life: here's my head!" cries Herve Riel. Not a minute more to wait. " Steer us in, then, small and great! Take the helm, lead the line, save the squadron!" cried its chief. "Captains, give the sailor place! he is admiral, in brief." Still the north wind, by God's grace! see the noble fellow's face As the big ship, with a bound, clears the entry like a hound, Keeps the passage as its inch of way were the wide seas pro- found ! See, safe through shoal and rock, how they follow in a flock! Not a ship. that misbehaves, not a keel that grates the ground, Not a spar that comes to grief! The peril, see, is past, all are harbored to the last, And just as Herve Riel hollos " Anchor'" — sure as fate, Up the English come, too late. So the storm subsides to calm: They see the green trees wave on the heights o'erlooking Greve, Hearts that bled are stanched with balm. 1 68 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' "Just our rapture to enhance, let the English rake the bay, Gnash their teeth and glare askance, as they cannonade away! 'Neath rampired Solidor pleasant riding on the Ranee!" Now hope succeeds despair on each captain's countenance! Outburst all with one accord, "This is paradise for hell! ■ Let France, let France's king Thank the man that did the thing!" What a shout, and all one word, " Herve Riel," As he stepped in front once more. Not a symptom of surprise in the frank blue Breton eyes, just the same man as before. Then said Damfreville, " My friend, I must speak out at the end, Though I find the speaking hard: Praise is deeper than the lips; you have saved the King his ships, You must name your own reward. 'Faith, our sun was near eclipse! Demand whate'er you will, France remains your debtor still. Ask to heart's content, and have! or my name's not Damfre- ville." Then a beam of fun outbroke on the bearded mouth that spoke, As the honest heart laughed through those frank eyes of Breton blue : "Since I needs must say my say, since on board the duty's done, And from Malo Roads to Croisic Point, what is it but a run ? — Since 'tis ask and have, I may — since the others go ashore — Come! A good whole holiday' Leave to go and see my wife, whom I call the Belle Aurore!" That he asked, and that he got — nothing more. FAVORITE SELECTIONS 169 Name and deed alike are lost not a pillar nor a post In his Croisic keeps alive the feat as it befell ; Not a head in white and black on a single fishing-smack, In memory of the man but for whom had gone to wrack All that France saved from the fight whence England bore the bell. Go to Paris; rank on rank Search the heroes flung pell-mell On the Louvre, face and flank ; You shall look long enough ere you come to Herve Riel. So, for better and for worse, Herve Riel, accept my verse' In my verse. Herve Riel, do thou once more Save the squadron, honor France, love thy wife, the Belle Aurore ! TWO TOWNS. BROTHER' you with growl and frown, Why don't you move from Grumbletown, Where everything is tumbled down And life is always dreary? Move over into Gladville, where Your face will don a happy air And lay aside the look of care For smiles all bright and cheery In Grumbletown there's not a joy But has a shadow ot alloy That will its happiness destroy And make you to regret it. 170 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' In Gladville they have not a care But what it looks inviting there, And has about it something fair That makes them pleased to get it. 'Tis strange how different these towns Of ours are Good cheer abounds In one, and grewsome growls and frowns Are always in the other If you your skies of ashen gray Would change for sunny smiles of May, From Grumbletown oh haste away, Move into Gladville brother! THE LEAK IN THE DIKE. PHCEBE CARY THE good dame looked from her cottage At the close of the pleasant day, And cheerily called to her little son Outside the door at play " Come. Peter, come' I want you to go, While there is light to see. To the hut of the blind old man who lives Across the dike, for me. And take these cakes I made for him — They are hot and smoking yet, You have time enough to go and come Before the sun is sej. : ' And Peter left the brother. With whom all day he had played. And the sister who had watched their sports In the willow's tender shade; FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 171 And told them they'd see him back before They saw a star in sight. Though he wouldn't be afraid to go In the very darkest night. For he was a brave, bright fellow, With eye and conscience clear He could do whatever a boy might do. And he had not learned to fear. And now with his face all glowing, And eyes as bright as the day, With the thoughts of his pleasant errano, He trudged along the way; And soon his joyous prattle Made glad a lonesome place — Alas! if only the blind old man Could have seen that happy face! Yet he somehow caught the brightness Which his voice and presence lent, And he felt the sunshine come and go As Peter came and went. And now, as the day was sinking, And the winds began to rise, The mother looked from her door again, Shading her anxious eyes, And saw the shadows deepen And birds to their home come back, But never a sign of Peter Along the level track. But she said: " He will come at morning. So I need not fret or grieve — ■ Though it isn't like my boy at all To stay without my leave. ' But where was the child delaying? On the homeward way was he^. 172 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' And across the dike while the sun was up An hour above the sea, He was stopping now to gather flowers, Now listening to the sound. As the angry waters dashed themselves Against their narrow bound. "Ah! well for us," said Peter. " That the gates are good and strong, And my father tends them carefully, Or they would not hold you long 1 You're a wicked sea," said Peter; " I know why you fret and .chafe; You would like to spoil our lands and homes, But our sluices keep you safe " But hark ! through the noise of waters Comes a low, clear, trickling sound, And the child's face pales with terror. And the blossoms drop to the ground. He is up the bank in a moment, And, stealing through the sand, He sees a stream not yet so large As his slender, childish hand. "Tis a leak in the dike 1 He is but a boy, Unused to fearful scenes, But, young as he is, he has learned to know The dreadful thing that means. \ leak in the dike 1 The stoutest heart Grows faint that cry to hear, And the bravest man in all the land Turns white with mortal fear. For he knows the smallest leak may grow To a flood in a single night, And he knows the strength of the cruel sea When loosed in its angry might. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. V3 And the boy ! he has seen the danger And, shouting a wild alarm, He forces back the weight of the sea With the strength of his single arm! He listens for the joyful sound Of a footstep passing nigh, And lays his ear to the ground, to catch The answer to his cry. And he hears the rough winds blowing, And the waters rise and fall, But never an answer comes to him Save the echo of his call. So, faintly calling and crying Till the sun is under the sea, Crying and moaning till the stars Come out for company, He thinks of his brother and sister, Asleep in their safe warm bed; He thinks of his father and mother, Of himself as dying — and dead. And of how, when the night is over, They must come and find him at last; But he never thinks he can leave the place Where duty holds him fast. The good dame in the cottage Is up and astir with the light, ■ For the thought of her little Peter Has been with her all the night. And now she watches the pathway, As yesterday eve she had done; But what does she see so strange and black Against the rising sun? Her neighbors are bearing between them Something straight to her door. IU JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Her child is coming home, but not As he ever came before! "He is dead," she cries, "my darling!" And the startled father hears, And comes and looks the way she looks, And fears the thing she fears; Till a glad shout from the bearers Thrills the stricken man and wife — " Give thanks, for your son has saved our land, And God has saved his life!" So there in the morning sunshine They knelt about the boy; And every head was bared and bent In tearful, reverent joy. THE PAST AND THE FUTURE. LUTHER R. MARSH. I WOULD not backward roll the tide of time, Though freighted, rich, with golden memories, With large experience, and with hosts of friends. The past is past, and cannot come again, Sweet as it was, and laden with all joys — ■ Each day a pleasure and each morn a hope, — Yet it is fruitless to recount those scenes. The wise men of the past, each in his way, Gave out the wisdom fitted for his time. But we have sailed away, far out of sight Of all their maxims and their sage conundrums. The Rising Sun we need, to flood his light Upon our pathway through the vast unknown. Why pore we o'er the history of time gone, When our work lies in time that is to come? FAVORITE SELECTIONS. I7S Buckle we on for the advancing years; Not ruminate on deeds by others done. Nor would I summon from their buried crypts To reappear, as in the olden time, The forms and features of beloved friends; But, rather, think of them in heavenly homes, Girt with new lustre of ethereal guise. TunTwould I, rather, to the time ahead; For, folded there, are possibilities of fate. Forward, not backward, will my eye be turned, Leaving behind the joys of reminiscence, To glimpse the greater joys of bright anticipation. The past is dead and has no resurrection: The future glows with promises of God. I will not pause to mourn the days ill-spent, The duty oft undone, the evil done, But coming time salute, with stern resolve, To entertain no word, or deed, or thought, Which angels would not welcome. Hail, glorious Future, whose unending days Shall fill the calends of eternity! And thou, O Past! thy deeds I relegate Into the Lethe of forgotten years ; Save that Bright Presence from the throne on high, The way, the truth, the life, the mystery. SELF-DEPENDENCE. MATTHEW ARNOLD. WEARY of myself, and sick of asking What I am, and what I ought to be. At this vessel's prow I stand, which bears me Forward, forward, o'er the starlit sea.- '70 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' And a look of passionate desire O'er the sea and to the stars I send: " Ye who from my childhood np have calmed me, Calm me, ah, compose me to the end! "Ah, once more," I cried, "ye stars, ye waters, On my heart your mighty charm renew ; Still, still let me, as I gaze upon you, Feel my soul becoming vast like you!" From the intense, clear star-sown vault of heaven, Over the lit sea's unquiet way, In the rustling night air came the answer: " Wouldst thou be as these are? Live as they. " Unaffrighted by the silence round them, Undistracted by the sights they see. These demand not that the things without them Yield them love, amusement, sympathy. "And with joy the stars perform their shining, And the sea its long moon-silvered roll; For self-poised they live, nor pine with noting All the fever of some differing soul. "Bounded by themselves, and unregardful In what state God's other works may be, In their own tasks all their powers pouring, These attain the mighty life you see." O air-born voice! long since severely clear, A cry like thine in mine own heart I hear: " Resolve to be thyself; and know that he Who -finds himself loses his misery!" FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 77 MY MISSION. BAYARD TAYLOR. T^ VERY spirit has its mission," say the transcendental -L/ crew, "This is mine," they cry ; "Eureka! this the purpose I pursue; For behold a god hath called me and his service I shall do; "Brother, seek thy calling likewise; thou wert destined for the same ; Sloth is sin, and toil is worship, and the soul demands an aim: Who neglects the ordination, he shall not escape the flame." my ears are dinned and wearied with the clatter of the schools; Life to them is geometric, and they act by line and rule — If there be no other wisdom, better far to be a fool ! Better far the honest nature, in its narrow path content, Taking with a child's acceptance whatsoever may be sent, Than the introverted vision, seeing self preeminent, For the spirit's proper freedom by itself may be destroyed, Wasting, like the young Narcissus, o'er its image in the void; Even virtue is not virtue when too consciously enjoyed. 1 am sick of canting prophets, self-elected kings that reign Over herds of silly subjects, of their new allegiance vain; Preaching labor, preaching duty, preaching love with lips pro- fane. 12 178 JULIA AND ANNIE 7/IOMAS' With the holiest things they tamper, and the noblest they degrade, Making life an institution, making destiny a trade; But the honest vice is better than the saintship they parade. Native goodness is unconscious, asks not to be recognized; But its baser affectation is a thing to be despised. Only when the man is loyal to himself shall he be prized. Take the current of your nature, make it stagnant if you will; Dam it up to drudge forever at the service of your mill ; Mine the rapture and the freedom of the torrent on the hill! Straighten out your wavy borders; make a tow-path at the side ; Be the dull canal your channel, where the heavy barges glide, -o Lo! the muddy bed is tranquil, not a rapid breaks the tide! I shall wander o'er the meadows where the fairest blossoms call; Though the ledges seize and fling me headlong from the rocky wall, I shall leave a rainbow hanging o'er the ruins of my fall. I shall lead a glad existence, as I broaden down the vales, Brimming past the regal cities, whitened with the seaward sails, — Feel the mighty pulse of ocean ere I mingle with its gales: Vex me not with wear}' questions; seek no moral to deduce; With the present I am busy, with the future hold a truce. If I live the life He gave me, God will turn it to His use. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 79 THE GARDENER'S DAUGHTER. ALFRED TENNYSON. THIS morning is the morning of the day When I and Eustace from the city went To see the gardener's daughter; I and he Brothers in art; a friendship so complete, Portioned in halves between us, that we grew The fable of the city where we dwelt. My Eustace might have sat for Hercules; So muscular he spread, so broad a breast. He, by some law that holds in love and draws The greater to the lesser, long desired A certain miracle of symmetry, A miniature of loveliness, all grace Summed up and closed in little; Juliet, she, So light of foot, so light of spirit — oh, she To me myself, for some three careless moons, The summer pilot of an empty heart Unto the shores of nothing! Know you not Such touches are but embassies of love, To tamper with the feelings, ere he found Empire for life? But Eustace painted her, And said to me, she sitting with us then, "When \v\\\ you paint like this?" and I replied, (My words were half in earnest, half in jest) " 'Tis not your work, but love's, love unperceived. A more ideal artist he than all, Came, drew your pencil from you, made those eyes Darker than darkest pansies, and that hair More black than ashbuds in the front of March/' And Juliet answered, laughing, " Go and see i8o JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' The gardener's daughter; trust me, after that, You scarce can fail to match his masterpiece." And up we rose, and on the spur we went. Who had not heard Of Rose, the gardener's daughter? Where was he, So blunt in memory, so old at heart, At such a distance from his youth in grief, That, having seen, forgot? The common mouth, So gross to express delight, in praise of her drew oratory. Such a lord is love, And beauty such a mistress of the world. And now, As though 'twere yesterday, as though it were The hour just flown, that morn with all its sound (For those old Mays had thrice the life of these) Rings in mine ears. And Eustace turned and, smiling, said to me: " Hear how the bushes echo! By my life, These birds have joyful thoughts. Think you they sing Like poets, from the vanity of song? Or have they any sense of why they sing? And would they praise the heavens for what they have?" And I made answer: "Were there nothing else For which to praise the heavens but only love, That only love were cause enough for praise." Lightly he laughed, as one that read my thought, And on we went ; but ere an hour had passed, We reached a meadow slanting to the north ; Down which a well-worn pathway courted us To one green wicket in a private hedge: This, yielding, gave into a grassy walk Through crowded lilac-ambush trimly pruned; And one warm gust, full-fed with perfume, blew Beyond us, as we entered in the cool. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. l8l The garden stretches southward. In the midst A cedar spread his dark-green layers of shade The garden-glasses shone, and momently The twinkling laurel scattered silver lights. "Eustace," I said, "this wonder keeps the house '' He nodded, but a moment afterward He cried, "Look! look!" Before he ceased I turned, And, ere a star can wink, beheld her there. For up the porch there grew an Eastern rose, That, flowering high, the last night's gale had caught, And blown across the walk One arm aloft — Gowned in pure white, that fitted to the shape — Holding the bush, to fix it back, she stood, A single stream of all her soft brown hair Poured on one side: the shadow of the flowers Stole all the golden gloss, and, wavering, Lovingly lower, trembled on her waist — Ah, happy shade! — and still went wavering down; But, ere it touched a foot that might have danced The greensward into greener circles, dipt, And mixed with shadows of the common ground! But the full day dwelt on her brows, and sunned Her violet eyes and all her Hebe-bloom, And doubled his own warmth against her lips, And on the bounteous wave of such a breast As never pencil drew. Half light, half shade, She stood, a sight to make an old man young So rapt, we neared the house*, but she, a Rose In roses, mingled with her fragrant toil. Nor heard us come, nor from her tendance turned Into the world without; till close at hand. And almost ere I knew mine own intent, This murmur broke the stillness of that air Which brooded round about her: 182 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' " Ah, one rose, One rose, but one by those fair fingers culled, Were worth a hundred kisses pressed on lips Less exquisite than thine' ' She looked; but all Suffused with blushes — neither self-possessed Nor startled, but betwixt this mood and that, Divided in a graceful quiet — paused, And dropped the branch she held, and, turning, wound Her looser hair in braid, and stirred her lips For some sweet answer, though no answer came ; Nor yet refused the rose, but granted it, And moved away, and left me, statue-like, In a"ct to render thanks. I, that whole day, Saw her no more, although I lingered there Till every daisy slept, and love's white star Beamed through the thickened cedar in the dusk. So home we went, and all the livelong way With solemn gibe did Eustace banter me. " Now," said he, " will you climb the top of art. You cannot fail but work in hues to dim The Titianic Flora Will you match My Juliet? you. not you, — the master, love, A more ideal artist he than all." So home I went but could not sleep for joy, Reading her perfect features in the gloom, Kissing the rose she gave me o'er and o'er, And shaping faithful record of the glance That graced the giving — such a noise of life Swarmed in the golden present, such a voice Called to me from the years to come, and such A length of bright horizon rimmed the dark. And all that night I heard the watchmen peal The sliding season: all that night I heard FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 183 The heavy clocks knoll ing the drowsy hours. The drowsy hours, dispensers of all good. O'er the mute city stole with folded wings, Distilling odors on me as they went To greet their fairer sisters of the East. Love at first sight, first-born and heir to all Made this night thus Henceforward squall nor storm Could keen me from that Eden where she dwelt Light pretexts drew me, sometimes a Dutch love For tulips; then for roses, moss or musk, To grace my city rooms, or fruits and cream Served in the weeping elm and more and more A word could bring the color to my cheek , A thought would fill my eyes with happy dew, Love trebled life within me, and with each The year increased. The daughters of the year, One after one, through that still garden passed. Each garlanded with her peculiar flower Danced into light, and died into the shade; And each in passing touched with some new grace Or seemed to touch her, so that day by day, Like one that never can be wholly known, Her beauty grew: till autumn brought an hour For Eustace, when I heard his deep ,: I will," Breathed, like the covenant of a god, to hold From thence through all the worlds. But I rose up Full of his bliss, and following her dark eyes, Felt earth as air beneath me, till I reached The wicket-gate, and found her standing there. There sat we down upon a garden mound Two mutually enfolded; love, the third, Between us, in the circle of his arms Enwound" us both ; and over many a range 1 84 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Of waning lime the gray cathedral towers, Across a hazy glimmer of the West, Revealed their shining windows From them clashed The bells: we listened, with the time we played; We spoke of other things, we coursed about The subject most at heart, more near and near, Like doves about a dove-cot, wheeling round The central wish, until we settled there. Then, in that time and place, I spoke to her, Requiring, though I knew it was mine own, Yet for the pleasure that I took to hear, Requiring at her hand the greatest gift, A woman's heart, the heart of her I loved. And in that time and place she answered me, And in the compass of three little words, More musical than ever came in one, The silver fragments of a broken voice Made me most happy, faltering " I am thine. : * But this whole hour your eyes have been intent On that veiled picture — veiled, for what it holds May not be dwelt on by the common day. This prelude has prepared thee Raise thy soul. Make thine heart ready with thine eyes; the time Is come to raise the veil. Behold her there As I beheld her ere she knew my heart, My first, last love; the idol of my youth; The darling of my manhood, and, alas! Now the most blessed memory of mine age. FA VORITE SELECTIONS. LINES WRITTEN -ON MY 87TH BIRTHDAY. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. WHAT is it now to live? It is to breathe The air of heaven, behold the pleasant earth, The shining rivers, the inconstant sea, Sublimity of mountains, wealth of clouds, And radiance o'er all of countless stars. It is to sit before the cheerful hearth With groups of friends and kindred, store ot books, Rich heritage from ages past, Hold sweet communion, soul with soul. On things now past, or present, or to come, Or muse alone upon my earlier days, Unbind the scroll whereon is writ The story of my busy life, Mistakes too often, but successes more, And consciousness of duty done It is to see with laughing eyes the play Of children sporting on the lawn, Or mark the eager strifes of men And nations, seeking each and all. Belike advantage to obtain Above their fellows ; such is ro^ni It is to feel the pulses quicken, as I hear Of great achievements near or far Whereon may turn perchance The fate of generations ages hence. It is to rest with folded arms betimes, And so surrounded, so sustained, Ponder on what may yet befall In that unknown mysterious realm 1 86 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Which lies beyond the range of mortal ken. Where souls immortal do forever dwell, Think of the loved ones who await me there, And, without murmuring or inward grief, With mind unbroken and no fear, Calmly await the coming of the Lord; PREMONITION OF IMMORTALITY. DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. [Written in illness, during the winter of 1892.] IN wakeful hours, upon my weary bed, I watch the planet Jupiter come forth In lustre from the rim of Eastern skies, And mount aloft, till lost in morning light. Gazing enraptured, I wondering ask, Whence art thou, what thy purpose, and thy use ? Art thou of beings like ourselves the home? Faith answers, wait until the spirit leaves Its fleshly garments and unfettered walks Among the stars, beholding face to face The Almighty Maker; then thou 'It see and know Till then think not that this transcendent orb Was meant to mock us with a useless light, And yet conceal what most we long to see. Rather believe that life will be prolonged, Until the truth sublime shall stand revealed. Hope on' Our lives are made of hopes and fears: This radiance is a star of hope for all. The mind perceives what mortal eye sees not, And lives in confidence of things unknown. For even now, when icy winter halts FAVORITE SELECTIONS. lB, As loth to meet the spring, I wait for birds To sing melodious welcome in the trees, And buds, with fragrance newly laden, burst Upon the soft, enchanted waves of air, THE POOR FISHER FOLK. VICTOR HUGO. Translated by the Rev. If. W. Alexander. "TMS night; within the close-shut cabin door 1 The room is wrapped in shade, save where there fall Some twilight rays that creep along the floor, And show the fisher's nets upon the wall. In the dim corner, from the oaken chest A few white dishes glimmer ; through the shade Stands a tall bed with dusky curtains dressed, And a rough mattress at its side is laid. Five children on the long low mattress lie, — A nest of little souls, it heaves with dreams; In the high chimney the last embers die, And redden the dark roof with crimson gleams. The mother kneels and thinks, and, pale with fear, She prays alone, hearing the billows shout, While to wild winds, to rocks, to midnight drear, The ominous old ocean sobs without. Janet is sad, her husband is alone, Wrapped in the black shroud of this bitter night. His children are so little, there is none To give him aid. 'Were they but old, they might." 1 88 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Ah, mother, when they, too, are on the main, How wilt thou weep, "Would they were young again!" She takes her lantern. 'Tis his hour at last; She will go forth, and see if the day breaks, And if his signal-fire be at the mast; Ah, no! not yet! No breath of morning wakes. Sudden her human eyes, that peer and watch Through the deep shade, a mouldering dwelling find. No light within; the thin door shakes, — the thatch O'er the green walls is twisted of the wind. "Ah, me," she saith, "here doth that widow dwell; I will go in and see if all be well." She strikes the door ; she listens; none replies, And Janet shudders. " Husbandless, alone, And with two children — they have scant supplies, — Good neighbor' She sleeps heavy as a stone." She calls again, she knocks; 'tis silence still,— No sounu, no answer; suddenly the door, As if the senseless creature felt some thrill Of pity, turned, and open lay before. She entered, and her lantern lighted all The hou»e, so still but for the rude waves' din. Through the thin roof the plashing rain-drops fall, But something terrible is couched within. Half clothed, dark-featured, motionless lay she, The once strong mother, now devoid of life; The cold and livid arm, already stiff, Hung o'er the soaked straw of her wretched bed. And all the while FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 89 Two little children, in one cradle near, Slept face to face, on each sweet face a smile. The dying mother o'er them, as they lay, Had cast her gown, and wrapped her mantle's fold; Feeling chill death creep up, she willed that they Should yet be warm while she was lying cold. But why does Janet pass so fast away? What foldeth she beneath her mantle gray? And hurries home, and hides it in her bed? What hath she stolen from the awful dead? The dawn was whitening over the sea's verge As she sat pensive, touching broken chords Of half-remorseful thought, while the hoarse surge Howled a sad concert to her broken words. " Ah, my poor husband ! we had five before , Already so much care, so much to find, For he must work for all. I give him more. What was that noise ? His step ? Ah, no, the'wind. ur "That I should be afraid of him I love! I have done ill. If he should beat me now, I would not blame him. Did not the door move? Not yet, poor man." She sits with careworn brow Wrapped in her inward grief, nor hears the roar Of winds and waves that dash against his prow, Nor the black cormorant shrieking on the shore Sudden the door flies open wide, and lets Noisily in the dawn-light scarcely clear, And the good fisher dragging his damp nets Stands on the threshold with a joyous cheer. 19° JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' " 'Tis thou!" she cries, and eager as a lover Leaps up, and holds her husband to her breast; Her greeting kisses all his vesture cover. " 'Tis I, good wife!" and his broad face expressed How gay his heart that Janet's love made light. " What weather was it ?" "Hard." " Your fishing?" "Bad. The sea was like a nest of thieves to-night; But I embrace thee, and my heart is glad. " There was a devil in the wind that blew ; I tore my net, caught nothing, broke my line, And once I thought the bark was broken too; What did you all the night long, Janet mine?" She, trembling in the darkness, answered, "I? O naught! I sewed, I watched, I was afraid; The waves were loud as thunders from the sky; But it is over." Shyly then she said: "Our neighbor died last night; it must have been When you were gone. She left two little ones, So small, so frail — William and Madeline; The one just lisps, the other scarcely runs." The man looked grave, and in the corner cast His old fur bonnet, wet with rain and sea; Muttered awhile, and scratched his head; at last, "We have five children, this makes seven," said he. "Already in bad weather we must sleep Sometimes without our supper. Now — ah, well, 'Tis not my fault. These accidents are deep; Jt was the good God's will. I cannot tell. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. IQI " Why did He take the mother from those scraps, No bigger than my fist ? 'Tis hard to read; A learned man might understand perhaps; So little, they can neither work nor need. "Go fetch them, wife; they will be frightened sore If with the dead alone they waken thus; That, was the mother knocking at our door, And we must take the children home to us. "Brother and sister shall they be to ours, And they shall learn to climb my knee at even. When He shall see these strangers in our bowers, More fish, more food will give the God of heaven. "I will work harder; I will drink no wine — Go fetch them. Wherefore dost thou linger, dear? Not thus were wont to move those feet of thine." She drew the curtain, saying, "They are here." Adapted by the Compilers. EXTRACT FROM "THE LIGHT OF ASIA." SIR EDWIN ARNOLD. THEN said the master: " I will also go!" So paced he patiently, bearing the lamb Beside the herdsmen in the dust and sun, The wistful ewe low bleating at his feet. Whom, when they came unto the river-side, A woman — dove-eyed, young, with tearful face And lifted hands — saluted, bending low: "Lord! thou art he," she said, "who yesterday ■92 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' Had pity on me in the fig-grove here, Where I live lone and reared my child; but he Straying amid the blossoms found a snake, Which twined about his wrist, whilst he did laugh And tease the quick-forked tongue and opened mouth Of that cold playmate. It was so very small, That kiss-mark of the serpent, and I think It could not hate him, gracious as he was, Nor hurt him in his sport. And some one said: 'There is a holy man upon the hill — Lo ! now he passeth in the yellow robe — Ask of the Rishi if there be a cure For that which ails thy son. ' Whereon I came, Trembling, to thee whose brow is like a god's, And wept and drew the face-cloth from my babe, Praying thee tell what simples might be good. And thou, great sir! didst spurn me not, but gazed With gentle eyes and touched with patient hand; Then drew the face-cloth back, saying to me: 'Yea! little sister, there is that might heal Thee first, and him, if thou couldst fetch the thing; For they who seek physicians bring to them What is ordained. Therefore, I pray thee, find Black mustard-seed, a tola; only mark Thou take it not from any hand or house Where father, mother, child, or slave hath died: It shall be well if thou canst find such seed.' Thus didst thou speak,, my lord!" The master smiled Exceeding tenderly: "Yea! I spake thus, Dear Kisagotami ! But didst thou find The seed ?" " I went, lord, clasping to my breast The babe, grown colder, asking at each hut, FAVORITE SELECTIONS. -93 Here in the jungle and toward the town, 'I pray you, give me mustard, of your grace, A tola — black;' and each who had it gave, For all the poor are piteous to the poor. But when I asked, 'In my friend's household here Hath any peradventure ever died — Husband or wife, or child, or slave?' they said: 'O sister! what is this- you ask? The dead Are very many, and the living few!' So with sad thanks I gave the mustard back, And prayed of others; but the others said, 'Here is thy seed, but we have lost our slave!' 'Here is thy seed, but our good man is dead;' 'Here is some seed, but he that sowed it died Between the rain-time and the harvesting.' Ah, sir, I could not find a single house Where there was mustard-seed and none had died! Therefore I left my child — who could not feed Nor smile — beneath the wild vines by the stream To seek thy face, and kiss thy feet, and pray Where I might find this seed and find no death." " My sister! thou hast found," the master said, "Searching for what none finds — that bitter balm I had to give thee. He thou lovest slept Dead on thy bosom yesterday : to-day Thou knowest the whole wide world weeps with thy woe. The grief which all hearts share grows less for one. Lo! I would pour my blood if it could stay Thy tears and win the secret of that curse Which makes sweet love our anguish, and which drives O'er flowers and pastures to the sacrifice As these dumb beasts are driven — men their lords. I seek that secret. Bury thou thy child!" 13 194 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' TO WALT WHITMAN. ANNIE THOMAS. GREAT mind! Sweet soul ! least understood, With homage thee I greet ! Too early hast thou lived, it seems, So few thy thought can meet. But unto those to whom 'tis given To understand- — through tears — A vision of the life beyond While here below appears. For over poor and common things, The homeliest — to sight Thou throwest with thy deeper thought A beauty new and bright. With tender word and loving care And sympathetic tear, Thou gatherest to thy gentle breast, The lonelv outcasts here. 3 ,- ■ From evil thou extractest good- Good from which blessings grow — Even dreaded death no longer can A single terror show. Only thine own majestic form A heart so great could hold — Only the tears in childhood shed, A soul so pure could mould. FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 1 95 Thou, too, hast suffered — sore and long — Although thy lips deny; But in thy sorrow singing still The songs that will not die. I thank thee for the lessons given And for the sight unsealed; With grateful heart and peaceful soul I see the truth revealed. GEMS FROM WALT WHITMAN. AND I say to mankind: Be not curious about (rod; For I, who am curious about each, am not curious about God. (No array of terms can say how much I am at peace about God and about death.) I hear and behold God in every object, yet understand God not in the least; Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than myself. Why should 1 wish to see God better than this day' I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four and each moment then ; In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass ; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, lor I know that wheresoe'er I go, Others will punctually come forever and ever. ******* 196 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' I think I could turn and live with animals, they are so placid and self-contained: I stand and look at them long and long. They do not sweat and whine about their condition; They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins; They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God. Not one is dissatisfied; not one is demented with the mania of owning things: Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago. * ****** O living always— always dying! O the burials of me, past and present! O me, while I stride ahead,' material, visible, imperious as ever! O me, what I was for years, now dead I lament not — I am content. to disengage myself from those corpses of me which I turn and look at, where I cast them! To pass on (O living! always living!) and leave the corpses behind. ******* 1 He abstracted, and hear beautiful tales of things, and the reasons of things; They are so beautiful, I nudge myself to listen. I cannot say to any person what I hear — I cannot say it to myself — it is very wonderful. It is no small matter, this round and delicious globe, moving so exactly in its orbit forever and ever, without one jolt, or the untruth of a single second. I do not think it was made in six days, nor in ten thousand years, nor ten billions of years; Nor planned and built one thing after another, as an architect plans and builds a house. ******* FAVORITE SELECTIONS. 197 I do not think seventy years is the time of a man or woman, Nor that seventy millions of years is the time of a man or woman, Nor that years will ever stop the existence of me or anyone else. Is it wonderful that I should be immortal, as every one is immortal ? I know it is wonderful — but my eyesight is equally wonderful, and how I was conceived in my mother's womb is equally wonderful ; And passed from a babe, in the creeping trance of a couple of summers and winters, to articulate and walk — all this is equally wonderful. And that my soul embraced you this hour and we affect each other without ever seeing each other, and never perhaps to see each other, is every bit as wonderful. And that I can think such thoughts as these is just as wonder- ful : And that I can remind you, and you think them and know them to be true, is just as wonderful ; And that the moon spins round the earth and on with the earth, is equally as wonderful; And that they balance themselves with the sun and stars, is equally wonderful. * * % * % - * * Me wherever my life is lived. O to be self-balanced for con- tingencies! O to confront night, storms, hunger, ridicule, accidents, rebuffs, as the trees and animals do. O the orator's joys' To inflate the chest — to roll the thunder of the voice out from the ribs and throat, To make the people rage, weep, hate, desire, with yourself, To lead America — to quell America with a great tongue. O the joy of a manly selfhood! 198 JULIA AND ANNIE THOMAS' SELECTIONS. Personality — to be servile to none— to defer to none — not to any tyrant, known or unknown; To walk with erect carriage, a step springy and elastic; To look with calm gaze or with flashing eye: To speak with a full and sonorous voice out of a broad chest; To confront with your personality all the other personalities of the earth ; O to have my life henceforth my poem of joys! To dance, clap hands, exult, shout, skip, leap, roll on, float on. An athlete — full of rich words — full of joys! The soul travels; the body does not travel as much as the soul; The body has just as great a work as the soul, and parts away at last for the journeys of the soul. All parts away for the progress of souls; All religion, all solid things, arts, governments — all that was or is apparent upon this globe or any globe, falls into niches and corners before the procession of souls along the grand roads of the universe. Of the progress of the souls of men and women along the grand roads of the universe, all other progress is the needed emblem and sustenance Forever alive, forever forward, Stately, solemn, sad, withdrawn, baffled, mad, turbulent, feeble, dissatisfied, Desperate, proud, fond, sick, accepted by men, rejected by men, They go! they go! I know that they go, but I know not where they go ; But I know they are toward the best — toward something great. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 199 THE HAZING 6F VALIANT. JESSE LYNCH WILLIAMS. SHE was a small girl, but her sense of the ridiculous was tremen- dous. All summer long she sat on the sand and was nice to two boys — a sub-freshman and a sophomore. The sub-freshman's name was Valiant; he had a complexion that women envied; he was small and dainty, and smelled sweet. The other, whose name was Buckley, was bigger, and much more self-assertive. One day the girl decided it would be fun to make them hate each other, and after that the sophomore longed for the fall, and the nights when no freshman is perfectly sure of what may happen to him before morning. In the good old days you had only casually to drop word to a fresh- man on the way to recitation to wait for you when evening came, and he would turn up promptly, take his little dose meekly, and go back to bed a better boy for it. But that is changed now. Twice had Buckley waited near the house where Valiant ate his dinner. He had tried several ways of getting into the house where Valiant lived, but without success. Then for three successive nights he waited in an alley near by. On the third night Valiant came, but with him an upper classman friend. Buckley kept in the shadow, but Valiant called out. "Oh, is that you, Mr. Buckley? How do you do? Aren't you coming in to see me?" "Not now," growled Buckley. "I'll drop in later. Which is your room ?'" Excusing himself from the upper classman, Valiant led Buckley into the alleyway and pointed up, "That room up there, see?" he 5aid politely. The next nisdit Bucklev got his gang together. Thev decided that. 200 WERNER'S READINGS a dip in the canal would be excellent for Valiant's health; if he felt cold after that he could climb a telephone pole for exercise and sing,- "Nearer my home to-day — to-day, than I have been before," at the top of it. It was nearly two o'clock when they carried a ladder into the alley- way. This was a particularly nervy go. A young professor and his young wife had a suite of rooms in this house. It was moonlight, and a certain owl-eyed proctor was pretty sure to pass not far away, but if they hurried the}' thought they could send a man up and get away without being caught. Buckley was to get in the window, which was open, it being a warm night; the others were to hustle away with the ladder and wait for him at a street several blocks distant. There was no doubt but that Valiant would have to come with him. Buckley climbed up, got one foot over the sill, and was in the room. He leaned out and waved his hand. Silently the ladder disappeared. He turned and started across the room. He heard a small clock tick- ing, and detected a faint smell of mouchoir powder. He had scarcely had time to think that was just what might have been expected of a man like Valiant, when a soft voice said, "Is that you, dear?" Then before all the blood in his body had time to freeze, he stepped out of the moonlight into the shadow and whispered, "Shsss!" In- stinct made him do this. Across the silence the soft voice came again, "Oh, I'm not asleep. But why did you stay so long, Guy, dear?" Buckley heard the squeaking of a bed-spring and as his knees stiffened he spied coming toward him something white with two black streaks hanging half-way down, which, as the thing came into the moonlight, he saw to be long braids of dark hair. It was a tall, slender figure clothed in a white garment. The face was young and beautiful. Buckley closed his eyes. But it came nearer and nearer. He stood up perfectly rigid in the darkness as two soft arms reached up and met about his neck. Buckley did not budge and the soft voice began, "You have not forgiven me yet?" It began to sob. "You know I did not mean it. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 201 Won' 1 you forgive her? Won't you forgive her?" For fully half a minute he tried to think what to do; then he gritted his teeth and put his arms round the Clingy Thing. "Tell me you do forgive me. Say it with your own lips. Guy dear. Speak to me, my husband!" Buckley didn't. A soft fragrant hand came up along his cheek, \vhich tingled, and over his eyes, which quivered. Suddenly she raised her head, gave one startled look into his face, and with a shuddering gasp, she recoiled. But Buckley was not letting go. Keeping one arm about her waist he threw the other around her neck in such a way that he could draw it tight if necessary, and said, "For heaven's sake, don't scream — I can explain!" "Ugh, Oh, let go! Who— let me go, or I'll screa-ch-ch-ch. " Buckley pressed on the windpipe, feeling like three or four murderers as he did so. "Oh, please, if you scream it'll only make things awfully awkward. I got in here by mistake. Oh, please keep quiet. " She tried again to wrench away from his grasp, and Buckley, feeling more of a cad than he ever had in his life, said, "Promise me you'll not cry out and I'll let you go." "Yes, yes, I promise," said the scared voice. She fled across the room. Buckley thought she was making for the door and sprang to stop her, but she only snatched up an afghan or something from the sofa, and holding it about her, retreated to the dark part of the room, moaning, "Oh dear! oh dear!" "I don't know who you are," he began in a loud nervous whisper, "but I wish you wouldn't cry. Please be calm. It's all a big mistake. I thought I was coming to my own room — " "Your own room!" "I mean my classmate's room, — I mean I thought a freshman roomed here. You aren't half so sorry as I am — Oh, yes you are — I mean I'm awfully sorry — " Buckley started for the door. "Mrs. Brown — Mr. Brown — help! murder!" "Oh don't." ''I will. Just as soon a I get any breath I mean to wake up the 202 WERNER'S READINGS whole holise, and the whole town if I can." Buckley started across the room. "Stop!" "You promised." "You fore d me to promise." The bold, bad sophomo e was down on his knees with his hands clasped toward the dark where the voice came from. "You stay right there in the moonlight." "Right here?" "Right there, and if you dare to move I'll scream with all my might." Buckley shivered and froze stiff. "How long must I stay here?" "Until my husb — until daylight." "Until daylight!" And then he began to plead — "I'll be fired — I mean expelled from college — I'll be disgraced for life. I'll—" "Stop! While it may be true that you did not break into my room with intent to rob or injure a defenceless woman, yet, by your own confession, you came to torment a weaker person. You came to haze a freshman. And when my husband — " "Have mercy, have mercy. If I'm fired from college all my prospects will be blighted; my life will be ruined, and my mother's heart broken." She gave a little hysterical sob. "For your poor mother's sake, go!" Next morning Buckley received a letter. "Just as a tall woman looks short in a man's make-up, so does a short man look tall in a woman's make-up, and you should know that blonds are hard to recognize in brunette wigs. " Your merciful benefactress, "H. C. Valiant." AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 203 DE PO' WHITE TRASH. MINNY MAUD HANFF. DAH'S a lot ob white boys libin' In de alley back ob us, An' when I was out a-playin', Well, dey sho' did raise a fuss! Callin' me a liT niggah, What de Lawd done made at night, N'en I hurried in to Mammy, An' dey tripped me up, fo' spite! But when I come in a-cryin', What yo' reckon Mammy said, Aftah she got done a-cuddlin' An' a-pattin,' pattin' o' ma haid? She jes' whispahed, "Sammy, honey, You is yo' ol' Mammy's mash! Don't ye min' dem common chillen, Dey is only po' white trash! c Let 'em holler all dey wants to, Bresh 'em by an' don't you call, 'Cause you'se mo' high-toned, ma Sammy Dan de whites' white chile dah!" S' now, I' clar', I do' min' nuffin v Pass dem white boys wif a dash; Rudder be a high-toned darkey 'Sted ob some ol' po' white trash! 204 WERNER'S READINGS BUDD EXPLAINS. MARION SHORT. Written Expressly for this Book. LOOK up street and see her coming, Trundling out her hoop — Rolls' toward me — I keep on whistling, Lounging on our stoop. "Hello, proudy!" She don't answer; Frosty as can be! Whiz ! I shoot a pebble at her, Then she looks at me. Then she talks — I knew I'd make her — Calls me "rude" and "bad"; I dart out my foot and trip her — Whew! but ain't she mad! Starts to run and back I pull her By her yellow braid ; Says she'll up and tell her brother — Gee! I ain't afraid. Like to tease her, make her sass me When she passes by; Like to scare her and torment her Like to make her cry. Like to snatch her books and keep them. Call her "teacher's pet"; Hate her so because I love her — She's my girl, you bet! AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 205 THE CYCLOPEEDY. EUGENE FIELD. HAVIN' lived next door to the Hobart place f'r goin' on thirty years, I cal'late that I knows jest about ez much about the case ez anybody else now on airth. It seems that in the spring uv '47 there comes along a book-agent sellin' volyumes 'nd tracks f'r the diffusion uv knowledge, 'nd havin' got the recommend of the minister 'nd uv the selectmen, he done an all-fired big business in our part uv the country. His name was Lemuel Higgins, 'nd he was ez likely a talker ez I ever heerd, barrin' Lawyer Conkey, 'nd everybody allowed that when Conkey wuz turned round he talked so fast that the town pump ud have to be greased every twenty minutes. One of the first uv our folks that this Lemuel Higgins struck wuz Leander Hobart. Leander had jest marr'd one uv the Peasley girls, 'nd had moved into the old homestead. Deacon Hobart havin' give up the place to him, Leander wuz feelin' his oats jest about this time, 'nd nothin' wuz too good f'r him. Waal, he bargained with Higgins for a set uv them cyclopeedies, 'nd he signed his name to a long printed paper that showed how he agreed to take a cyclopeedy oncet in so often, which wuz to be ez often ez a new one of the volyumes wuz printed. A cyclopeedy isn't printed all at oncet, because that would make it cost too much; consekentlv, the man that gets it up has it strung along fur apart so as to hit folks oncet every year or two, and gin'rally about harvest-time. So Leander kind uv liked the idea, and he signed the printed paper 'nd made his affadavit to it afore Jedge Warner. The fust volyume of the cyclopeedy stood on a shelf in the old seckertary in the settin'-room about four months before they had anv use f'r it. One night ' Squire Turner's son come over to visit Leander and Hattie, 'nd they got to talkin' about apples, 'nd the sort uv apples that wuz the best. Leander allowed that the Rhode Island greenin' wuz the best, but Hattie and the Turner boy stuck up f'r the Roxbury 206 WERNER'S READINGS russet, until at last a happy idee struck Leander, and sez he, "We'll leave it to the cyclopeedy, b'gosh ! Whichever one the cyclopeedy sez is the best will settle it." "But you can't find out nothin' 'bout Roxbury russets nor Rhode Island greenin's in our cyclopeedy," sez flattie. "Why not, I'd like to know?" sez Leander, kind liv indignant-like. "'Cause ours hain't got down to the R yet," sez Hattie. "All ours tells about is things beginnin' with A." "Well, ain't we talkin' about Apples?" sez Leander. "You aggra- vate me terrible, Hattie, by insistin' on knowin' what you don't know nothin' about." Leander went to the seckertarv 'nd took down the cyclopeedy 'nd hunted all through it f'r Apples, bul all he could find wuz: "Apple — See Pomology." "How in thunder kin I see Pomology," sez Leander, "when there ain't no Pomology to see? Gol durn a cyclopeedy, anyhow!" And he put the volyume back on to the shelf 'nd never sot eyes into it agin. That's the way the thing run f'r years 'nd years. Leander would've gin up the plaguey bargain, but he couldn't; he had signed a printed paper 'nd had swore to it before a justice of the peace. Higgins would have had the law on him if he had throwed up the trade. The most aggrevatin' feature uv it all wuz that a new one uv them cussed cyclopeedies wuz allers sure to show up at the wrong time — when Leander wuz hard up or had jest been afflicted some way or other. His barn burned down two nights afore the volyume containin' the letter B arrived, and Leander needed all his chink to pay f'r lumber, but Higgins sot back on that affadavit and defied the life out uv him. "Never mind, Leander," sez his wife, soothin'-like; "it's a good book to have in the house, anyhow, now that we've got a baby." "That's so," sez Leander, "babies does begin with B, don't it ?" You see their fust baby had been born; so, seein' as how it wuz payin' f'r a book that told about babies, Leander didn't begredge that five dollars so very much after all. "Leander," sez Hattie, one afternoon, "that B cyclopeedy ain't no account. There ain't nothin' in it about babies except 'See Maternity!'" AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 207 "Waal, I'll be gosh-durned ! " sez Leander. So the years passed on, one of them cyclopeedies showin' up now 7 nd then alius at a time when Leander found it pesky hard to give up a fiver. It warn't no use cussin' Higgins; Higgins jest laffed when Leander allowed that the cyclopeedy wuz no good 'nd that he wuz bein' robbed. Oncet when Hiram wanted to dreen the home pasture, he went to the cyclopeedy to find out about it, but all he diskivered wuz: "Drain — See Tile." This wuz in 1859, and the cyclopeedy had only got down to G. The cow wuz sick with lung fever one spell, and Leander laid her dyin' to that cussed cyclopeedy, 'cause when he went to readin' 'bout cows it told him to "See Zoology." But M'hat's the use of harrowin' up one's feelin's talkin' 'nd thinkin' about these things? Leander got so after a while that the cyclopeedy didn't worry him at all; he grew to look at it ez one of the crosses that human critters has to bear without complainin' through this vale uv tears. The only thing that bothered him wuz the fear that mebbe he wouldn't live to see the last volyume — to tell the truth, this kind uv got to be his hobby, an' I've heern him talk 'bout it many a time settin' round the stove at the tavern. His wife, Hattie, passed away with the yaller janders the winter W come, and all thet seemed to reconcile Leander to survivin' her wuz the prospect uv seein' the last volyume of that cyclo- peedy. Lemuel Higgins, the book-agent, had gone to his everlastin' pun- ishment; but his son, Hiram, had succeeded to his father's business 'nd continued to visit the folks his old man had roped in. By this time Leander's children had growed up; all on 'em wuz married, and there wuz numeris grandchildren to amuse the old gentleman. But Leander wuzn't to be satisfied with the common things uv airth ; he didn't seem . to take no pleasure in his grandchildren like most men do; his mind wuz allers sot on somethin' else — for hours 'nd hours, yes, all day long, he'd set out on the front stoop lookin' wistfully up the road for that book-agent to come along with a cyclopeedy. He didn't want to die till he'd got all the cyclopeedies his contract called for; he wanted to have everything straightened out before he passed away. When— oh, how well I recollect it! — when Y come along he wuz 20& WERNER'S READINGS so overcome that he fell in a fit uv paralysis, 'nd the old gentleman never got over it. For the next three years he drooped 'nd pined, and seemed like he couldn't hold out much longer. Finally he had to take to his bed he wuz so old 'nd feeble — but he made 'em move the bed up aginst the winder so he could watch for that last volyume of the cyclopeedy. The end came one balmy day in the spring uv '87. His life wuz a-ebbin' powerful fast; the minister wuz there 'nd me 'nd rridst uv the family. Lovin' hands smoothed the wrinkled forehead 'ml breshed back the long, scant, white hair, but the eyes of the dyin' man wuz sol on that piece uv road down which the cyclopeedy man alius come. All to oncet a bright 'nd joyful look come intc them eyes, 'nd old Leander riz up in bed 'nd sez, "It's come!" "What is it, father?" asked his daughter Sarey, sobbin' like. "Hush," sez the minister solemnly; "he sees the shinin' gates uv the Noo Jerusalem." "No, no," cried the aged man; "it is the cyclopeedy — the letter Z — it's comin'!" And sure enough, the door opened, and in walked Higgins. "Here's the Z cyclopeedy, Mr. Hobart," sez he. Leander clutched it ; he hugged it to his pantin' bosom ; then stealin' one pale hand under the pillar he drew out a faded banknote 'nd gave it to Higgins. "I thank Thee for this boon," sez Leander, rollin' his eyes up devoutly; then he gave'a deep sigh. "Hold on!" cried Higgins, excitedly, "you've made a mistake, it in't the last—" But Leander didn't hear him — his soul had fled from its mortal tenement 'nd hed soared rejoicin' to realms uv everlastin' bliss. "He is no more," sez the minister. "Then who are his heirs?" asked that mean critter Higgins. "We be," sez the family. "Do you conjointly and severally acknowledge and assume the obligations of deceased to me?" he asked 'em. "What obligations?" asked Peasely Hobart, stern-like. "Deceased died owin' me for a cyclopeedy!" sez Higgins. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 209 "That's a lie!"' sez Peasley. "We all seen him pay you for the Z!" "But there's another one to come," sez Higgins. "Another?" they all asked. "Yes, the index," sez he. So there wuz, and I'll be eternally goll-durned if he ain't a-suin' the estate in the probate court now f'r the price uv it! COURTIN' THE WIDDER. LIBBIE C. BAER. Written Expressly for this Book. THE most fun 'at I ever had Wuz watchin' the widdef an' my dad A courtin', me an' another lad Are laughin' about it yit; A-peekin' behind a tree, like this, A-\vatchin' to see if he would miss Her cheek or git another kiss Like the one we see him git. The widder acted more the fool Than any gal jist out of school, An' more contrarier than a mule, An' she would holler, "quit!" Then look side foolish- wise and say: 'What makes you act so rude to-day? I have a mind to run away, I don't like you one bit." Then dad he said: "Providin' you went Thar aint no law that could pervent, Besides I aint a-carin' a cent About kissin' you any-way." aiO WERNER'S READINGS Then she got mad and wiped a teaT, But when dad called her his "own dear," And swiped a kiss behind her ear, She -seemed content to stay. Dad asked her if she'd marry him, She said: " Yeou know I love you, Jim," And then I whispered low to Tim, "I think we better git!" But jist before I left that tree I heard her say that she would be A wife to him and a mother to me— I don't like that one bit! But then you bet your rubber- boots, She'll git the worst of it! "MERCHANT OF VENICE" TOLD IN SCOTCH. CHARLES READE. Characters: Christie Johnstone, a Scotch fishwife. Flucker Johnstone, Christie's brother. [ fishwives. Lizzie J A MERRY dance, succeeding a merry song, had ended, and they were in the midst of an interesting story. Christie Johnstone was the narrator. She had found the tale in one o! the Viscount's books; it had made a great impression on her. "Aweel, lasses, here are the three wee kists set the lads are to AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 2 II chuse; the ane that chuses reicht is to get Porsha, an' the lave to get the bag, and dee baitchelars; Flucker Johnstone, you that's sae clever, are ye for gowd or siller, or leed?" Jean. " Gowd for me. " Lizzte. "The white siller's my taste." Flucker. "Na! there's aye some deevelish trick in thir lassie's stories. I shall lie-to, till the ihter lads are chused; the mair. part will put themsels oot; ane will hit it off reicht may be; then I shall gie him a hidin' an' carry off the lass. You-hoo!" Jean. "That's you, Flucker." Christie. "And div ye really think we are gawn to let you see a' the world chuse! Na, lad; ye are putten oot o' the room, like wit- nesses!" Fluc. "Then I'd toss a penny; for gien ye trust to luck, she whiles favors ye; but gien ye commence to reason and argefy, ye're done'" Chr. "The suitors had na your wit, my manny, or maybe they had na a penny to toss, sae ane chused the gowd, ane the siller; but they got an awfu' affront. The gold kist had just a skull intill 't, and the siller a deed cuddy's head! An' Porsha puttit the pair of gowks to the door. Then came Bassanio, the lad fra Veeneece, that Porsha Io'ed in secret. Veeneece, lasses, is a wonderful city; the streets o't are water, and the carriages are boats — that's in Chambers." Fluc. "Wha are ye makin' a fool o'?" Chr. "What's wrang?" Fluc. "Yon's just as big a lee as ever I heerd. " The words were scarcely out of his mouth ere he had reason to regret them; a severe box on the ear was administered by his indig- nant sister. Nobody pitied him. Chr. "I'll learn ye t' affront me before a' the company." Jean. "Suppose it's a lee, there's nae siller to pay for it, Flucker." Chr. "Jean, I never telt a lee in a' my days." Jean. "There's ane to begin wi' then. Go ahead, Custy. " Chr. "She bade the music play for him. for music brightens thoucht; ony way, he chose the leed kist. Open'st and wasn't there Porsha's pictur, and a posy, that said: 212 WERNER'S READINGS 'If you be well pleased with this, And hold your fortune for your bliss; Turn you where your leddy iss, And greet her wi' a loving — ' " [Pause.] "Kess, " roared the company. [Chorus led by Flucker: "Hurraih!] Chr. [pathetically]. "Flucker, behave! Aweel, lassies, comes a letter to Bassanio; he reads it, and turns as pale as deeth. Porsha behooved to ken his grief; wha had a better reicht? 'Here's a letter, leddy,' says he; 'the paper's the boody of my freend, like, and every word in it a gaping wound.' " Jean. "Maircy on us!" Chr. "Lass, it was fra puir Antonio: ye mind o' him, lasses. Hech! the ill-luck o' yon man; no a ship come hame: ane foundered at sea, coming fra Tri-po-lis; the pirates scuttled another, an' ane ran ashore on the Goodwins, near Bright-helm-stane, that's in Eng- land itsel', I daur say: sae he could na pay the three thoosand ducats, an' Shylock had grippit him, an' sought the pund o' flesh aff the breest o' him, puir boedy. Porsha keepit her man but ae hoor till they were united, an' then sent him wi' a puckle o' her ain siller to Veeneece and Antonio. Think o' that, lassies, — pairted on their wedding-day." Liz. "Hech! hech! it's lamentable." Jean. "I'm saying, mairriage is quick wark in some pairts; here there's an awfu' trouble to get a man. " Chr. "Fill your taupsels, lads and lasses, and awa to Veeneece. Noo, we are in the hall o' judgment. Here are set the judges, awfu' to behold; there, on his throne, presides the Juke. Here, pale and hopeless, but- resigned, stands the broken mairchant, Antonio; there, wi' scales and knives, and revenge in his murderin' eye, stands the crewel Jew Shylock. They wait for Bell — I dinna mind his name-- a laerned lawyer, ony way; he's sick, but sends ane mair laerned still, and when this ane comes, he looks not older nor wiser than mysel'." Fluc. "No possible!" Chr. "Ye needna be sae sarcy, Flucker; for when he comes to his wark he soon lets 'em ken — runs his een like lightning ower the boend. 'This boend's forfeit. Is Antonio not able to dischairge the AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 213 money?' 'Ay!' cries Bassanio, 'here's the sum thrice told.' Says the young judge, in a bit whisper to Shylock, 'Shylock, there's thrice thy money offered thee. Be mairciful,' says he, out loud. 'Wha'll mak me?' says the Jew boedy! 'Mak ye!' says he; 'maircy is no a thing ye strain through a seive, mon; it droppeth like the gentle dew fra heaven upon the place beneath; it blesses him that gives and him that takes; it becomes the king better than his throne, and airthly power is maist like God's power when maircy seasons justice.' " Jean. "Sae he let the puir deevil go. Oh! ye ken wha could stand up against siccan a shower o' Ennglish as thaat. " Chr. "He just said, 'My deeds upon my head. I claim the law,' says he; 'there is no power in the tongue o' man to alter me. I stay here on my boend.' Aweel, the young judge rises to deliver the sen- tence of the coort. Silence!" thundered Christie. "A pund o' that same mairchant's flesh is thine! The coort awards it, and the law does give it.' " Liz. "There, I thoucht sae; he's gaun to cut him, he's gaun to cut him; I'll no can bide!" [Exits but soon returns.] Chr. "There's a fulish goloshen. 'Have by a doctor to stop the blood.' 'I see nae doctor in the boend,' says the Jew boedy." Fluc. "Bait your hook wi' a boend, and ye shall catch yon carle's saul, Satan, my lad." Chr. [with dismal pathos]. "O Flucker, dinna speak evil o' deegnities — that's maybe fishing for yoursel' the noo! 'An' ye shall cut the flesh fra e off his breest.' 'A sentence,' says Shylock; 'come, prepare.'" Christie made a dash en Shylock, and the company trembled. Chr. " 'Bide a wee,' says the judge; 'this boend' gies ye na a drap o' bluid; the words expressly are, 'a pund o' flesh!'" [.4 dramatic pause] Jp:an [drawing her breath]. "That's into your mutton, Shylock." Chr. [with dismal pathos]. "O Jean! yon's an awful' voolgar exprassion to come fra' a woman's mooth." Liz. [confirming the remonstrance]. "Could ye no hae said, 'intil his bacon'?" Chr. "'Then tak your boend, an' your pund o' flesh; but in cut- 214 WERNER'S READINGS ting o't, if thou dost shed one drop of Christian bluid, thou diest! Thy goods are by the laws of Yeeneece con-fis-cate, confiscate!'" Then, like an artful narrator, she began lo wind up the story more rapidly. "Sae Shylock got to be no sac saucy: 'Pay die- boend thrice/ says he, 'and let the puir deevil go.' 'Here it's,' says Bassanio. Na! the young judge wadna let him. 'He has refused it in open court: no a bawbee for Shylock but just the forfeiture; an' he daur na tak it!' 'I'm awa',' says he. 'The deivel tak ye a'.' Na! he was na to win clear sae; ance they'd gotten the Jew on the hep the}' worried him, like good Christians, that's a fact. The judge fand a law that fitted him, for conspiring against the life of a citizen; an' he behooved him to give up hoose an' lands, and be a Christian; and his dochter had rin off wi' a Christian lad — they ca' her Jessica; and didn't she steal his very diamond ring that his ain lass gied him when he was young, an' maybe no sae hardhairted?" Jean. "Oh, the jaud! Suppose he was a Jew, it was na her business to clean him oot. " Liz. "Aweel, it was only a Jew boedy, that's my comfort." Chr. "Ye speak as a Jew was na a man. Has not a Jew eyes_. if ye please?" Liz. "Ay, has he! — and the awfuest lang neb atween 'em." Chr. "Has not a Jew affections, paassions, orrgans?" Jean. "Na! Christie; thir lads comes fra Italy!" Chr. "If you prick him, does he not bleed? If you tickle him does na he laugh?" Liz. [pertly], "I never kittled a Jew, for my part; sae I'll no can tell ye. " Chr. "If you poison him, does he not die? and if you wrang him [with jury], shall he not revenge? Yon was a soor drap; he tarned no weel, puir auld villain, an' scairtit ; an' the lawyers sent ane o' their weary parchments till his hoose, and the puir auld heathen signed awa' his siller, an' Abraham, an' Isaac, an' Jacob, on the heed o't. I pity him, an' auld, auld man. Wha'll give me a sang for my bonnv varn?" AND REGIT ATIOXS NO. 33. 215 "GRANTHER'S GUN." LEXINGTON, 1840. CHARLES HENRY WEBB. [From " With Lead and Line." Used by permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Co. publishers.] [Suited to Patriot's Day, April 19.] I MIND me well when I was young, Upon the wall a musket hung, Old, useless, clumsy to the sight; But still we scoured and kept it bright. The neighbors all knew " Gran'ther's Gun;" He carried it at Lexington. The dear old man was very old, His years himself scarce could have told; Forgot all else about the war, — Forgot e'en that he bore a scar; To all we asked he had but one Reply, "I fought at Lexington." 'Gran'ther," we said, "you're very old, Quite ninety years have o'er you rolled; When you were young some things were new, The town, and people in it, too: What had you in those days for fun?" He said, "We fought at Lexington!" 'Gran'ther," we said, "some persons say That when one's locks get thin and gray, One wishes, though the wish be vain, His life he could live o'er again: What would you do that you have done?" He said, "I'd fight at Lexington!" 2l6 WERNER'S READINGS One morn we knew the end was near; A distant drum he seemed to hear. When, kneeling low beside the bed, The minister, to comfort, said, "Know'st thou, old friend, the fight is won?" Those bending near caught, "Lexington." We buried him upon the lands For which he fought, where Concord stands; The granite slab we sank in earth Bore name and age and place of birth; Else of inscription read you none Save this, "He fought at Lexington." THE BOY ORATOR OF ZEPATA CITY. RICHARD HARDING DAVIS. THE day was cruelly hot. It was an eventful day in the history of Zepata City. The court-house had been long in coming, but at last it stood, a proud and hideous fact. It seemed a particu- larly appropriate circumstance that the first business in the new court- room should be something that .dealt not only with the present, but with the past of Zepata; that the trial of so celebrated an individual as Abe Barrow should open the court-house with eclat. Abe Barrow, the prisoner, had killed, in his day, several of the Zepata citizens, and the corner where his gambling-house had stood was still known as Barrow's corner. Ten years before the day of our story the murder of Deputy- Sheriff Welsh had led Barrow to the penitentiary, and a month previous he had been freed and arrested at the prison-gate to stand trial for the murder of Hubert Thompson. The fight with Thompson had been a fair fight, and Thompson was a man they could well spare, bit die case against Barrow had been prepared during his imprisonment by the new and youthful District-Attorney, Henry Harvey — the Boy Orator of Zepata City, as he was called. AND RECITATIONS NO. jj. 217 The court-room, crowded even to the sills of the open windows, was as bare of ornaments as the cell from which the prisoner had just been taken. The judge sat at the back of the room; below was the green table of Henry Harvey; to one side sat the jury, ranch-owners, and prominent citizens, proud of having to serve on this first day, and on the other the prisoner in his box. Colonel John Stogart, of Dallas, the prisoner's attorney, procured at great expense, no one knew by whom, and Barrow's wife, a thin, yellow-faced woman, sat at Harvey's elbow. She was the only woman in the room. Colonel Stogart's speech was good, and it was well that the best lawyer of Dallas should be present on this occasion, and that he should make what the citizens of Zepata were proud to believe was one of the efforts of his life. Colonel Stogart proved murder in the second de- gree. Young Henry Harvey arose. He was very dear to the people of that booming town. In their eyes he was one of the most promising men in the whole great unwieldy state of Texas. He was clever in his words, in his deeds, and in his appearance. He saw all the men he knew — the men who made his little world — crowding silently forward, forgetful of the heat, of the suffocating crush of those about them, of the wind that rattled the doors in the corridors, and conscious only of him. He saw the rival lawyer from the great city nervously smil- ing; and he saw the face of the prisoner, grim, set, and hopelessly de- fiant. The Boy Orator allowed his uplifted arm to fall until the fingers pointed at the prisoner. "That man," he said, "is no part or parcel of Zepata City of to- day. He comes to us a relic of the past — a past that has brought honor to many, wealth to some, and which is dear to all of us who love the completed purpose of their work. But the part this man played in that past lives only in the rude court records of that day, in the traditions of the gambling-hell, and the saloons, and on the head-stones of his victims. "The same chance that was given to all to make a home in the wilderness, to assist in the civilization and progress, not only of this city, but of the whole Lone Star State, was given to him, and he re- fused it, and blocked the way of others, and kept back the march of 218 WERNER'S READINGS progress, until to-day, civilization, which has waxed great and strong — not on account of him, but in spite of him — sweeps him out of its way, and crushes him and his fellows. Gentlemen, the bad man has become an unknown quantity in Zepata, and in the State of Texas. It lies with you to see that he remains so. He went out of existence with the blanket Indian and the buffalo. We want men who can breed good cattle, who can build manufactories and open banks; storekeepers who can undersell those of other cities, and professional men who know their business. We do not want desperadoes and faro-dealers and men who are quick on the trigger. This man Abe Barrow be- longs to that class. Free him to-day and you set a premium on such reputations : acquit him of this crime you encourage others to like evil. Let him go and he will walk the streets with a swagger, and boast that you were afraid to touch him — afraid, gentlemen — and children and women will point after him as the man who has sent nine others into eternity and who yet walks the streets a free man. And he will become in the eyes of the young and the weak a hero and a god. "For the last ten years, your Honor, this man, Abner Barrow, has been serving a term of imprisonment in the state penitentiary; I ask you to send him back there again for the remainder of his life. "Abe Barrow is out of date. What is his part in this new court- house which to-day for the first time throws open its doors to protect the just and punish the unjust? Is he there in the box among those honorable men, the gentlemen of the jury ? Is he in that great crowd of intelligent, public-spirited citizens who make the bone and sinew of this our fair city? Is he on the honored bench dispensing justice and making the intricacies of the law straight? No, gentlemen; he is there in the prisoner's-pen, an outlaw, a convicted murderer, and an unconvicted assassin. Place him in the cell where he belongs, and from whence, had justice been done, he would never have been taken alive." The Boy Orator sat down suddenly with a quick nod to the judge and jury. He noted the whispers of the crowd and the quick and combined movement of the jury with a sweet, selfish pleasure, and was conscious of nothing until the foreman announced the prisoner at the bar guilty of murder in the second degree, AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 219 The judge leaned across his desk. "Before I deliver sentence on you, Abner Barrow," he said, "is there anything you have to say in your own behalf?" A tall broad-shouldered man leaned heavily forward over the bar of the prisoner's-desk. His face was white with prison tan, pinched, hollow-eyed and worn. When he spoke, his voice had the huskiness of non-use, and broke like a child's. "I don't know, judge, that I have anything to say — in my own be- half. I don't know as it would be any use. I guess what the gentle- man said was about right. I've had my fun, and I've got to pay for it — that is, I thought it was fun at the time. I'm not going to cry any baby act and beg off or anything, if that's what you mean. But there is something I'd like to say if I thought you'd believe mc. "All that man said of me is true. I am a back number; I am out of date; I am a loafer and a blackguard. I never shot any man in the back, nor I never assassinated no one, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not backing down now. Whatever you please to make my punishment, I'll take it and that makes it harder for me to ask what I want to ask. "That man there told you I had no part or parcel in this city or in this world; that I belonged to the past; that I ought to be dead. Now, that's not so. I have just one thing that belongs to this city, and this world, and to me; one thing that I couldn't take to jail with me and that I'll have to leave behind me when I go back to it. I mean my wife. "You sir, remember her, sir, when I married her, twelve years ago. She was Henry Holman's daughter. I took her from her home against his wish, sir, to live with me over my dance-hall. She gave up every thing a woman ought to have to come to me. She thought she was going to be happy, I guess. Well, maybe she was happy for about two weeks, and after that her life was hell, and I made it hell, and when I was drunk I beat her. "At the end of two years I killed Welsh, and they sent me to the penitentiary for ten years and she was free. She could have gone back to her folks and got a divorce, if she'd wanted to, and never seen me again. But what did this woman do — my wife— the woman 220 WERNER'S READINGS I'd misused and beat? She sold out the place and bought a ranch with the money, and worked it by herself, and worked day and night until in ten years she had made herself an old woman, as you see she is to-day. "And for what? To get me free again; to bring me things to eat in jail, and picture papers and tobacco — working to pay for a lawyer to fight-for me — to pay for the best lawyer. Working in the fields with her own hands, working as I never worked for myself in my whole lazy, rotten life And what I want to ask of you, sir, is to let me have two years out of jail to show her how I feel about it. Give me just two years — two years of my life while I have some strength left to work for her as she worked for me. I had the chance and I wouldn't take it, and now I want to show her that I know and under- stand now when it's too late. I can't! It's too late! It's too late! Send me back for thirty years, but not for life. My God! Judge, don't bury me alive as that man asked you to." For a moment no one moved. Judge Truax raised his head. "It lies at the discretion of this court to sentence the prisoner to a term of imprisonment of two years, >ir for an indefinite period, or for life. Owing to — on account of certain circumstances which have arisen — this sentence is suspended. This court stands — adjourned. MARIE'S LITTLE LAMB. [The Canadian French dialect combines the English, French, and Indian tongues. One of its peculiarities is that he is always used for she and vice versa. The following selection has been well received as an encore.] MARIE wan little lam eel ave, jes wan Wite her fleece iak snow Hon top hevervting Marie been past De lam bene walk halso. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33, 221 She'll follow hon dee school wan clay Han hall broke hup dere rule Dee cheeldren hall mak laf han play Wen dem lam pass hon dee school. Den dem teachaire turn her hout De lam she'll stay hon dere Patientdee she wait habout For Marie been happear. Den she's run hat Marie Trow her 'ead huppon ees arm Jes lak she'll say Mah-a-a Marie dear Been keep me from some harm. For wy dem lam love Marie so Dey hax each wan dem scholar Marie's lots love dat lam hal know Dem teacher ees been 'ooller. DARKEY INNOCENCE, J. W. MORGAN. YER say I stole dat chicken, boss, An' ketched me in de ac', sah! Well, 'pearances et present iz Agin' me fur a fac', sah, But I'se er honest nigger, boss — I preaches down in Macon, An' neber libs on lux'ries, boss, 'Cep cabbage, co'n an' bacon. De trufe ob de hole matter iz, I'se comin' hyar ter borrer A cupple ob sticks ob wood agin De Sunday supe termorrer, 222 WERNER'S READINGS An' az I came in froo de gate I heard a powful noise dar In dat hen-house, an' 1 jes ran Ter ketch some ob de boys dar. I 'spec dat nigger Sam waz out On one ob hiz perditions, But turned out dat dar chick waz in Er kurious persition. He got hiz head froo two de slats, Er floppin' an' er fhrtin', An' I jes pulled 'im out ter see .Ei any thing had hurt 'im. I had ter break de slat den, kase I couldn't pull 'im bac', boss, An' when yer came I'se on de pint Ob callin' yer — a fac', boss, An' so yer see, I'se innercent Ob any 'zire ter 'ceal it, Kase dat dar nigger Sam's de tief Wat put me up ter steal it. THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP. BRET HARTE. THERE was commotion in Roaring Camp. The ditches and claims were not only deserted, but ''Tuttle's Grocery" had contributed its gamblers, who, it will be remembered, calmly continued their game the day that French Pete and Kanaka Joe shot each other to death over the bar in the front room. The whole camp was col- lected before a rude cabin on the outer edge of the clearing. The situation was novel. Deaths were by no means uncommon in Roaring Camp, but a birth was a new thing. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 223 "You go in there, Stumpy," said a prominent citizen known as 'Kentuck,' addressing one of the loungers. "Go in there and see what you kin do. You've had experience in them things." Perhaps there was a fitness in the selection. Stumpy, in other climes, had been the putative head of two families; in fact it was owing to some legal informality in these proceedings that Roaring Camp — a city of refuge — was indebted to his company. The crowd approved the choice, and Stumpy was wise enough to bow to the majority. By degrees, the natural levity of Roaring Camp returned. In the midst of an excited discussion, an exclamation came from those nearest the door, and the camp stopped to listen. Above the swaying and moaning of the pines, the swift rush of the river and the crack- ling of the fire, rose a sharp, querulous cry, — a cry unlike anything heard before in that camp. The camp rose to its feet as one man. Within an hour, t the mother climbed, as it were, that rugged road that led to the stars, and so passed out of Roaring Camp, its sin and shame forever. The door of the cabin opened and an anxious crowd of men entered the room in single file. Beside the low bunk or shelf on which the figure of the woman was starkly outlined below the blankets, stood a pine table. On this a candle-box was placed, and within it, swathed in staring red flannel, lay the last arrival at Roaring Camp. Beside the candle-box was placed a hat. Its use was soon indicated. "Gentlemen," said Stumpy, "will please pass in at the front door, round the table, and out at the back door. Them as wishes to contribute anything toward the orphan will find a hat handy. " Only one incident occurred to break the monotony of the curious piocession. As Kentuck bent over the candle-box half curiously, the child turned, and, in a spasm of pain, caught at his groping finger and held it fast for a moment. Kentuck looked foolish and em- barrassed. Something like a blush tried to assert itself in his weather- beaten cheek. He held that finger a little apart from its fellows, as he went out, and examined it curiously. It was four o'clock before the camp sought repose. A light burnt in the cabin where the watchers sat, for Stumpy did not go to bed that night, nor did Kentuck. He walked up the gulch, past the cabin, whistling with demonstrative unconcern. At a large redwood tree 224 WERNER'S READINGS he paused and retraced his steps, and again passed the cabin. Half- way down to the river's bank he again paused, and then returned and knocked at the door. It was opened by Stumpy. "How goes it?" said Kentuck, looking past Stumpy toward the canclle-box. "All serene," replied Stumpy. "Anything up?" "Nothing." There was a pause, an embarrassing one, Stumpy still holding the door. Then Kentuck had recourse to his finger, which he held up to Stumpy. "Rastled with it, the little cuss," he said. The next day, the woman had such rude sepulture as Roaring Camp afforded. After her body had been committed to the hillside, there was a formal meeting of the camp to discuss what should be done with her infant. A resolution to adopt it was unanimous and enthusiastic. The introduction of a female nurse in the camp was met with objection. Stumpy, when questioned, averred stoutly that he could manage to rear the child. There was something original, independent and heroic about the plan that pleased the camp. Stumpy was re- tained. Strange to say, the child thrived. Perhaps the invigorating climate of the mountain camp was compensation for maternal deficiencies. By the time he was a month old, the necessity of giving him a name became apparent. Gamblers and adventurers are generally super- stitious, and Oakhurst one day declared that the baby had brought "the luck" to Roaring Camp. It was certain that of late they had been successful. "Luck" was the name agreed upon, with the pre- fix of Tommy for greater convenience. A day was accordingly set apart for the christening. The master of ceremonies was one " Boston," a noted wag, and the occasion seemed to promise the greatest face- tiousness. This ingenious satirist had spent two days in preparing a burlesque of the church service, with pointed local allusions. The choir was properly trained, and Sandy Tipton was to stand godfather. But, after the procession had marched to (he grove with music and banners, and the child had been deposited before a mock altar, Stumpy stepped before the expectant crowd. AND RECITATIONS NO 33. 225 "It ain't my style to spoil fun, boys," said the little man stoutly, eying the faces around him, "but it strikes me that this thing ain't exactly on the squar. It's playing it pretty low down on this yer baby to ring in fun on him that he ain't going to understand. And ef there's going to be any godfathers round, I'd like to see who's got any better rights than me. " A silence followed Stumpy 's speech. To the credit of all humorists be it said, that the first man to acknowledge its justice was the satirist thus stopped of his fun. "But," said Stumpy, quickly, following up his advantage, "we're here for a christening and we'll have it. I proclaim you Thomas Luck, according to the laws of the United States and the State of California, so help me God. " It was the first time that the name of the Deity had been uttered otherwise than profanely in the camp. And so the work of regeneration began in the camp. Almost imperceptibly a change came over the settlement. The cabin assigned to "Thomas Luck" first showed signs of improvement. It was kept scrupulously clean and white-washed. Then it was boarded, clothed and papered. The rosewood cradle — packed eighty miles by mule — had, in Stumpy's way of putting it, "sorter killed the rest of the fur- niture. " So the rehabilitation of the cabin became a necessity. Again, Stumpy imposed a kind of quarantine upon those who aspired to the honor and privilege of holding "The Luck." It was a cruel mortification to Kentuck. Yet such- was the subtle influence of inno- vation that he thereafter appeared regularly every afternoon in a clean shirt, and face still shining from his ablutions. The shouting and yelling which had gained the camp its infelicitous title were not per- mitted within hearing distance of Stumpy's. Vocal music was not interdicted, being supposed to have a soothing, tranquilizing quality; and one song, sung by "Man-o'-War Jack," an English sailor, from Her Majesty's Australian colonies, was quite popular as a lullaby. It was a fine sight to see Jack holding "The Luck," rocking from side to side as if with the motion of a ship, and crooning forth his naval ditty. Either through the peculiar rocking of Jack, or the length of his song — it containing ninety stanzas, and was continued with con- scientious deliberation to . the bitter end — the lullaby generally had 2 26 WERNER'S READINGS the desired effect. At such times, the men would lie at full length under the trees, in the soft, summer twilight, smoking their pipes and drinking in the melodious utterances. An indistinct idea that this was pastoral happiness pervaded the camp. On the long summer days "The Luck" was usually carried to the gulch, from whence the golden store of Roaring Camp was taken. There, on a blanket spread over pine-boughs, he would lie while the men were working in the ditches below. Latterly, there was a rude attempt to decorate this bower with flowers and sweet-smelling shrubs, and generally some one would bring him a cluster of wild honeysuckles, azaleas, or the painted blossoms of Las Mariposas. The men had suddenly awakened to the fact that there was beauty and significance in these trifles, which they had so long trodden carelessly beneath their feet. Such was the golden summer of Roaring Camp. They were "flush times," and the Luck was with them. The claims had yielded enormously. With the prosperity of the camp came the desire for further improvement. It was proposed to build a hotel in the follow- ing spring, and to invite one or two decent families to reside there for the sake of "The Luck," who might perhaps profit by female companionship. The sacrifice that this concession to the sex cost these men, who were fiercely sceptical in regard to its general virtue and usefulness, can only be accounted for by their affection for Tommy. The winter of 1881 will long be remembered in the foot-hills. The snow lay deep on the Sierras, and every mountain creek became a river, and every river a lake. Red Dog had been twice under water, and Roaring Camp had been forewarned. "Water put the gold into them gulches," said Stumpy. "It's been here once and will be here again." And that night the North Fork suddenly leaped over its banks and swept over the triangular valley of Roaring Camp. When the morning broke the cabin of Stumpy, nearest the river bank, was gone. Higher up the gulch they found the body of its unlucky owner; but the pride, the hope, the joy, the Luck of Roaring Camp had disappeared. They were returning with sad hearts when a shout from the bank recalled them. AND RECITATIONS NO 33. 227 It was a relief boat from down the river. They had picked up, they said, a man and an infant. It needed but a glance to show them Kentuck lying there, cruelly crushed and bruised, but still holding The Luck of Roaring Camp in his arms. As they bent over the strangely assorted pair they saw that the child was cold and pulseless. "He is dead," said one. Kentuck opened his eyes. "Dead?" he re- peated feebly. "Yes, my man, and you are dying, too." A smile lit the eyes of the expiring Kentuck. "Dying," he repeated, "He's a-taking me with him tell the boys I've got the Luck with me now;" and the strong man, clinging to the frail babe as a drowning man is said to cling to a straw, drifted away into the shadowy river that flows forever to the unknown sea. WAKIN' THE YOUNG UNS. BEE-ULL! Bee-ull! O Bee-ull! my gracious, Air you still sleepin' ? Th' hour hand's creepin' Near ter five. (vVal, blamed ef this 'ere aint vexatious!) Don't ye hyar them cattle callin'? And the old red steer a-bawlin' ? Come, look alive! Git up! Git up! Mar'ann! Mar' arm ! (Jist hyar her snorin'!) Mar'ann! it's behoovin' Thct you be a-movin'! Brisk I say! Hyar the kitchen stove a-roarin'? The kit tie's a-spilin' Ter git hisself bilin'. It's comin' day. Git up! Git up! 2 28 WERNER'S READINGS Jule! O Jule! Now what is ailin'? You want ter rest ? Wal, I'll be blest! S'pose them cows 'LI give down milk 'ithout you pailin'? You mus' be goin' crazy, Er, more like gittin' lazy. Come, now, rouse. Git up! Git up! Jake, you lazy varmint ! Jake! Hey, Jake! Whut you layin' theer fur? You know the stock's ter keer fur ? So, hop out ! (That boy is wusser'n a rock to wake!) Don't stop to shiver, But jist unkiver, An' pop out! Git up! Git up! Young uns! Bee-ull! Jake! Mar'ann! Jule! (Wal, consarn my skin! They've gone ter sleep agin, Fur all my tellin".) See hyar, I haint no time ter fool! It's the las' warnin' I'll give this morin'. I'm done yellin'! Git up! Git up! SOLUS. Wal, whut's the odds — an hour, more or less ? B'lieve it makes 'em stronger Ter sleep er little longer Thar in bed. AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 229 The time is comin' fas' enough, I guess, When I'll wish an' wish 'ith weepin', They was back up yender sleepin', Overhead, Ter git up. Points: Impersonate face, voice, and mannerisms of an old man calling to children sleeping above. The selection given in connection with "You Git Up," by Joe Kerr, in "Werner's Readings and Recita- tions No. 3," (35c.) makes an effective number. In using both give "Wakin' the Young Uns" first, prefacing the poem with the follow- ing: "This selection is a little ( drama in two acts. Act I. represents an old gentleman about 5 a.m. trying to wake the children who are sleeping up-stairs. Act II. represents one of the small boys, who, between acts, had to be aroused from sleep in an unpleasant way by the old gentleman. Act I. 'The Old Man Wakin' the Young Uns.'" (Give it.) Act II. "The Small Boy's Soliloquy." (Give "You Git Up.") When both selections are used the part after "Solus" in the first should be omitted. WHEN THE OLD MAN SMOKES. PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR. IN the forenoon's restful quiet, When the boys are off at school, When the window lights are shaded And the chimney-corner cool, Then the old man seeks his armchair, Lights his pipe and settles back; Falls a-dreaming as he draws it Till the smoke-wreaths gather black. And the tear-drops come a-trickling Down his cheeks, a silver flow — Smoke or memories you wonder, But you never ask him, — no; 230 WERNER'S READINGS For there's something almost sacred To the other family folks In those moods of silent dreaming When the old man smokes. Ah, perhaps he sits there dreaming Of the love of other days, And of how he used to lead her Through the merry dance's maze; How he called her "little princess," And, to please her, used to twine Tender wreaths to crown her tresses, From the "matrimony vine." Then before his mental vision Comes, perhaps, a sadder day, "When they left his little princess Sleeping with her fellow clay. How his young heart throbbed, and pained him! Why, the memory of it chokes! Is it of these things he's thinking When the old man smokes ? But some brighter thoughts possess him, For the tears are dried the while. And the old, worn face is wrinkled In a reminiscent smile. From the middle of the forehead To the feebly trembling lip, At some ancient prank remembered Or some long unheard-of quip. Then the lips relax their tension And the pipe begins to slide-, Till in little clouds of ashes, It falls softly at his side; AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 231 And his head bends low and lower Till his chin lies on his breast, And he sits in peaceful slumber Like a little child at rest. Dear old man, there's something sad'ning, In these dreamy moods of yours, Since the present proves so fleeting, All the past for you endures. Weeping at forgotten sorrows, Smiling at forgotten jokes; Life epitomized in minutes, When the old man smokes. GOOD BYE. WE say it for an hour or for years, We say it smiling, say it choked with tears; We say it coldly, say it with a kiss, And yet we have no other word than this: Good Bye. We have no dearer word for our heart's friend, For him who journeys to the world's far end And scars our soul with going; thus we say As unto him who steps but o'er the way : Good Bye. Alike to those we love and those we hate, We say no more in parting at Life's gate, To him who passes out beyond earth's sight, We cry as to the wanderer for a night: Good Bve. 2$2 WERNER'S READINGS THE OLD VIOLINIST'S CHRISTMAS. HE was old and feeble and poor — just one of those examples of a man who has lived too long. Slowly he wended his way down the crowded street until he reached that sign which marks the border line of hope and despair for so many human hearts — the three balls. Poverty shone from his threadbare coat and worn shoes, it trembled in his old hand, it quivered in his thin lips and looked from his great, thoughtful, hungn eyes. Proud blood flushed the pallid features .of the old man as he ap- proached the broker'. More years than man lias yet lived seemed weighing upon the bowed head, and not only the deep-set, hungry eyes, but every feature of that patrician old face expressed the hu- mility of despair. He was facing the hardest trial that comes to the children of men — the self-confession of failure. There, on the pawnbroker's ledger, which, like the roll of the recording angel, marks the downfall of many a soul and suffering enough to redeem it, was writ the name of this old man, and over on the shelf in a rough case lay his Amati — the child of his old heart, the mistress of his soul. Yes, he had failed, and in the ever active, exact- ing drama of the world there was no part for him to play. "I haven't any money," admitted the old man. "But it's Christ- mas Eve, and if you will allow me to sit here and lend me my old violin I will play you a Christmas carol — a rhapsody. " There was a pleading in the old voice that would have opened a harder heart than the keeper of the shop beneath the three golden balls. The night had grown old, and it lacked less than an hour of the day which was to bring peace to the world. The old musician shivered ; it was the cold of the world without and the chill of a heart within that quivered from his very soul. The touch of a loved one brings to life again all the glory of our dead selves. Youth to old age — strength to weakness — light to dull, aching eyes — courage, ambition, love, laughter — all it awakens.' Gently the sacred prize was lifted — reverently its keys and strings were touched, as the old violinist drew the bow that was so perfectly AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. ?33 wedded to his master-hand. The look in the deep-set eyes was less hungry now and the hand was steady again. The hoary old head was no longer bowed in grief and shame, but drooped to touch the bosom of his love. Out on the night air floated the joyous notes of the "Hosanna, hosanna to the Highest. " Loudly they rang — and then the echo, soft and silvery, quivered a moment. It was the pulse of the soul throb- bing in one magnificent blending of harmony. All the hunger and want and mortifying failure were forgotten, and the soul, young and strong in its glory, soared out in the tones of the Christmas anthem. Then for a moment came the shadow of the present. The face became white again and the old hungry light shone from the eyes; anew. Ah, how could he ever have parted with his companion of his soul-tried hours? Food purchased at this price would choke him now, but hunger is a persistent foe. It will wring from the heart almost any loved object. You who know luxury or comfort, who have never felt poverty's heaviest curse — real, desperate, departing, aching hunger — may not see this truth, but there is nothing under God's heaven that twists the heart into distorted shapes, destroys ideals and compels us to sur- render that which our hearts would bleed for under any other conditions like hunger. Its fire strikes into the heart and brain, and breaks a spirit which could face any other ideal, and so the \iolin had lain silent for many days.. Again the bow was drawn, though age had crept up to pals}' the feeble limbs. Softly the "Miserere" moaned from the violin. "Ah, I have sighed to rest me, deep in a silent grave," gently trembled the melody, while in a minor key the obligato sent forth its wail. Wonder- fully sad flowed the music from the old violin. Then, as the cathedral chimes rang out the tidings that a Christ- mas day was born, the "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" rushed forth in one magnificent soulburst from the strings of the violin. The old hand was firm and supple now; inspiration shone from the aged face. "Glory to God on high" — the tones seemed to soar beyond the sad, old world — upward, upward until it seemed to touch the star-studded dome and beyond to the throne most high. 234 WERNER'S READINGS "Peace on earth" — the benediction seemed to strike into every soul. The battle for earthly gain — the selfish passions, the heart- aches and sins — all, all were forgotten — peace, peace on earth. Fainter and fainter trembled the last glad notes. The snowy old head rested against the loved Amati. The face was as white as the Christmas snow without — but the lips smiled. Peace on earth — peace, peace to the soul that slumbers. THE BATTLE. FREDERICK SCHILLER. Translated from the German by E. Bulwer-Lytton. HEAVY and solemn, A cloudy column, Through the great plain they marching came! Measureless spread, like a table dread, For the wild grim dice of the iron game. Looks are bent on the shaking ground, Hearts beat loud with a knelling sound. Swift by the breasts that must bear the brunt Gallops the major along the front, "Halt!" And fettered they stand at the stark command, And the warriors, silent, halt! Proud in the blush of morning glowing, What on the hill-top shines in flowing? " See you the foeman's banners waving?" " We see the foeman's banners waving. " " God be with you, children and wife!" Hark to the music, — the trump and the fife; AND RECUSATIONS NO. 33- 235 How they ring through the ranks which they rouse to the strife! Thrilling they sound, with their glorious tone; Thrilling they go through the marrow and bone. Brothers, God grant, when this life is o'er, In the life to come that we meet once more! See the smoke how the lightning is cleaving asunder! Hark! the guns, peal on peal, how they boom in their thunder! From host to host with kindling sound, The shouted signal circles round ; Ay, shout it forth to life or death — Freer already breathes the breath! The war is waging, slaughter raging, And heavy through the reeking pall The iron death-dice fall! Nearer they close — foes upon foes. " Ready!'' from square to square it goes. They kneel as one man, from flank to flank, And the fire comes sharp from the foremost rank. Many a soldier to earth is sent, Many a gap by the balls is rent; O'er the corpse before springs the hinder man, That the line may not fail to the fearless van. To the right, to the left, and around and around, Death whirls in its dance on the bloody ground, God's sunlight is quenched in the fiery fight; Over the host falls a brooding night! Brothers, God grant, when this life is o'er, In the life to come that we meet once more! The dead men lie bathed in the weltering blood, And the living arc blent in the slippery flood, And the feet, as they reeling and sliding go, Stumbles still on the corpses that sleep below. " What — Francis! Give Charlotte my last farewell." As the dying man murmurs, the thunders swell — 236 WERNER'S READINGS "I'll give — O.God! are the guns so near? Ho, comrades! yon volley! look sharp to the rear! — I'll give thy Charlotte thy last farewell. Sleep soft! where death thickest descendeth in rain The friend thou forsakest thy side may regain!" Hitherward, thitherward reels the fight; Dark and more darkly day glooms into night, Brothers, God grant, when this life is o'er, In the life to come that we meet once more! Hark to the hoofs that galloping go! The adjutants flying — The horsemen press hard on the panting foe; Their thunder booms, in dying. Victory! Terror has seized on the dastards all, dr And their colors fall! Victory ! Closed is the brunt of the glorious fight, And the day, like a conqueror, bursts on the night; Trumpet and fife swelling choral along, The triumph already sweeps marching in song. Farewell, fallen brothers; though this life be o'er, There's another, in which we shall meet you once more! PEANUTTI'S VOYAGE TO EUROPE. JOE KERR, DA monka not feel ver well in Newa Yorka deesa spring — mea, too. Too much da grip. It maka monka sick — mea, too. Dat why we leava da place. My friend, Macaroni Spaghetti, say: "Peanutti, you go to Europa?" I say: "You betta, you balda head. " ~,_ \«s $ AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 237 Him ask: "You gotta da stuff — cla mon' ?" I tella him da monka save alia da time lika da stinga man who nev' puts da advertise in da newspap'. Den him springa one joke: him say: "Well, me hope you not come to cla end of your rope before you come to da end of Europe. " Dat maka the monka sick — mea, too; but we taka da trip alia da same. We goa da firsta class, too. Da monka isa noa jay — Peanutti noa jay, too. When we go toa Amerique from Italia in de firsta place we sleep in da steer'ge. Getta sicka ina da steer'ge, but deesa time we maka da mind upa to go ina da righta shape, lika da butcher, da baker, ana da wholla crowd who land ina da Yankeeland with no shoes ona da feet and no clothes ona da back, but who go back home in a da few years and slap ona da lugs lika da rich a lord. We look around. We see alia da shipa. Soma de shipa ver' slick — soma de ship no good. Da monka wanta go bya da French a boat joost because he falla in love witha da Frencha girl froma da Jers' Sit', but him hata da froga legs, so when I tella him Frencha skiff stuffa us ona frogs alia da way, dat settle da biz, and I go down and see Mist' Cunard. Mist' Cunard sella me twins — two berths — one fora da monka, 'noder fora me. Den me backa da grippa and giva da New Yorka nosagripa da shake. Big lot ofa da boys come down toa da shipa to seea da monka off — mea, too. Dey got what a da come for. Dey sawa da monk off — clear offa him base — mea, too. Geea whiz! We hava da great racket, and whena da boata sail past da Barthold's Lib, we seea da fifty-six Libs all ata da samma time. But dat maka no diff toa da ship — she hava no bigga load on ifa da monka did — mea, too. She skim along lika da bow-legga duck ina da mill-pond, and da peop' laugh, and da peop' smile, and da peop' hava granda bigga time, joost lika da boy ata da Sund'-school pickanick. But da nexta day da shippa go lika da drunka man. She roll, she stagger, she wabble all over da sea — she maka da monka sick and mea, too. Poora monka. Him face turn toa da chalk-green-yellow color lika da nota ripe banan'; him keep ver' still; him hava him heart ina him mouf, buta da monka him ver' brave, — mea, too, jusa lika da 238 WERNER'S READIXGS oder peop' who "nev missa da one meal," but who teela alia da time lika da whale felt joost before him elevate Jonah. Mist' Cunard him ver' smarta; him very shrewd. Him hava da dining-room up ina da front end ofa da boat where she pitch and a-toss joost 'nough to knocka da appetite clean outa da monka, — mca, too. Him way ahead ofa da New Yorka board'-house keppers ona da grub- saving question. Da bedda-room on de shippa have two shelves to sleep on — one fora da monka, 'noder fora me. Da monka sleep ona da toppa shelf, ana da first nighta him hava da night-horse. Him dream him home in him own bed. Aft' while him want a drink of da wat', so him raise up and him walk offa da shelf. Wow! Biff! him drop lika da dull sick thud. Him breaka him heart, and breaka da record alia da same time. Ina da smoke-room wc have da great lot of fun. Da Gov' ofa da North and da Gov' ofa da South Carolin' was there. Mist' Jag, ofa da New Yorka, was there, a duka, a lord, anda da monka, mea, tco, anda da greata many more — Scotchman, Dutchamen, Johna Bulls Johnnies, chappies of alia kinds from alia da countries. Dey playa poke', playa whist, dey drinka, smoka, singa, dey tells da funny stor'. Dey betta how mucha da ship a-goin' to runa eacha day. Da monka ana da duka form one syndicate and go into de pool, dey almost get swamped, buta da monka isa no "Jonah" — him one mascot — him bringa lucka toa da duka and dey wina da big wad of mon' — Englisha mon'. When I paid Mist' Cunard fora da tickets da monka t'ink da cover da passage. Notta mucha. We had toa fee and tip ev' man ona. da boat froma da cook toa da smoke-stack. Dot maka da monka sick — mea, too. We steama along da greata long time. We see noa land, noa ships, noa whales, noa ice-bergs alia da way. But one morning da monka look outa da portahole and it maka him grin alia over. I say, "Jocko- letta, whatta da mat' ?" Him points him tail outa da wind'. I looka. Granda sight. It maka my heart and my stom' glad. Smootha wat', silver sunshine, greena and Ireland neara da Queensatown. Da monka jumpa for joy — mea, too, AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 239 Well, one Irish boata hitch onta da shippa, take offa da mails, leava cla females. Den we sail over da Irish sea. Blue, blue, beau- tiful. Nexta night we reacha da Liverpool, nexla door toa da Kidne} pool. Docks, docks all aroun' and noise lika da thund' -storm. Da monka pila out — mea, too. We setta da foot ona da terra firma onca more; thanka da Lord. Buta da land swing and sway, rocka and rolla alia da day, joost lika da boat. It maka da monka sick and mea, too. Den we maka da breaka to leava da place, buta da Liver- pool officers what look lika da 'Mericano street-car conduct' say "Era, whata you got in dat grippa sack?" I opened da grippa and showa my extra shirt and two pair socks and da one book by Rudyard Strippling. Da book catcha da eye ofa da custom man, and him say: "Is Strippling an Americano author?" la say, "No; the Americano peop' never heara about him." "Well, you canna pass," de manna say, "Strippling is noa Eng- lishman. " So we skippa out fora da Hotel Adelph'. Liverpool is a da one brunetta. She ver' dark, ver' blacka from da coal smoke and olda age. Da peop' seema to be da children ofa da Ham, Sham, and Japeth alia da mixed together. Every face ina da street woulda stopa de besta Waterbury ina da world. Da streeta- cars are queer and slow and bad, buta da car-track isa smooth and good, and it beata da 'Mericano track alia to smash. Dev beata us on pavements and streeta signs. Liverpool is lika Chicag'- ina da dirt and size, but nota ina de wind and getta — there eli push. A SORCERESS. MY mother bade me not to pass Too near her shining looking-glass. I thought it strange such things to say To just a little girl at play: — And so one hour of mortal sin I crept quite close and long looked in. And, oh I saw within, I guess, Something men call — a so:ceress. 240 WERNER'S READINGS ABSENCE MAKES THE HEART GROW FONDER. IT was in the early summer, when my love and I last parted, She the seaside sought, and left me in the city, broken-hearted; I to swelter through the summer, she on sea-kissed shores to wander. But her last words gave me comfort, — "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. " How I loved the little letters that from time to time she sent me. As I read, it seemed that they a momentary sea-breeze lent me. When she wrote of picnics, bathing, yachting trips, she bade me ponder Well the truth of that old saying: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Oft she spoke of her admirers — how she made them dance attendance. Made them carry books and baskets and forswear their independence; Spoke of one she nicknamed " Croesus, " who on her his wealth would squander. But she added: "Dear old goosie, absence makes the heart grow fonder. " So I worked away quite happy, through the broiling summer weather. Longing for the coming autumn when we'd walk the world together. Though her letters were less frequent, still I very often conned her Last one where the postscript told me: "Absence makes the heart grow fonder. " Fewer still were now her letters, and she wrote: "I'm very busy." I expostulated wildly with my wayward, witching Lizzie. Once more came the same old answer, any other seemed beyond her, — "Don't you know, you stupid Willie, absence makes the heart grow fonder. " One more letter yet she sent me, while she at the seaside tarried. Laughing at our wild flirtation, telling me that she was married. And 'twas thus her note concluded — as I read, my face turned yellow — "Absence makes the heart rrow fonder — fonder of the other fellow." AND RECITATIONS NO. 33. 24 1 THE MYSTERIOUS PORTRAIT: A STORY OF JAPAN. GEORGE JAPY. IN the little Japanese village of Yowcuski, a looking-glass was an unheard-of thing, and the girls did not even know what they looked like except on hearing the description their lovers gave of their personal beauty. Now it happened that a young Japanese one clay picked up in the street a small pocket hand-mirror. It was, of course, the first time in his life that Kiki-Tsum had ever gazed on such a thing. He looked at it, and to his intense astonish- ment saw the image of a brown face, 'with dark, intelligent eyes, and a look of awe-struck wonderment on its features. "It is my sainted father. How could his portrait have come here? Is it, perhaps, a warning of some kind!" He folded the precious treasure up in his handkerchief, and put it in a large pocket of his loose blouse. When he went home that night he hid it away carefully in a vase, as he did not know of any safer place. He said nothing of the adventure to his young wife, for, he said, "Women are curious, and then, too, sometimes they are given to talking. " For some days Kiki-Tsum was in a great state of excitement. He was thinking of the portrait all the time, and at intervals he would leave his work and suddenly appear at home to take a look at his trea- sure. Now, in Japan, as in other countries, mysterious actions and ir- regular proceedings of all kinds have to be explained to a wife. Lili- Tsee did not understand why her husband kept appearing at all hours of the day. Certainly he kissed her every lime he carr.e in like this. At first she was satisfied at his explanation when he told her that he only ran in for a minute to see her pretty face. She thought it was really quite natural on his part, but when day after day he appeared, and always wi