BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 O 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 

 iHEl 
 
A SOUVENIR COLLECTION 
 
 OF 
 
 POETRY AND PROSE 
 
 SELECTED FROM THE WRITINGS OF 
 
 MRS. C K. SMITH. 
 ("LUCRETIA RUSSELL") 
 
 MARCH 13, 1908. 
 
 ] Yes, I am ninety-one today ; 
 The world is just as bright and gay 
 As when I was but " sweet sixteen," 
 And not so many years between ! 
 
 SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA. 
 
 DECEMBER, 1908. 
 
 Printed at the office of The Humanitarian Review, Los Angeles, Cal. 
 
.2. - 
 
 S4/S- 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION, POETRY AND PROSE 5 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 LUCRETIA RUSSELL GRAY SMITH, the author of 
 the contents of this book, was born at Reading, Vermont, 
 March 1 3th, 1817, but removed thence when two years old, 
 so that her earliest recollection is of a home on the beau- 
 tiful Quechee River at Woodstock, in that state. 
 
 She is the daughter of Dr. Joseph and Eunice Russell 
 Gray. Her father was a cousin of George Bancroft, the 
 historian, and was a prominent physician of his time and 
 locality. He lived to be 9 1 years old, retaining to the last 
 an unusual degree of vigor both of body and mind. Her 
 mother was a native of Cavendish, Vermont, sister of John 
 Russell, LL. D., and a relative of Lord John Russell of Eng- 
 land. She possessed good literary taste, a refined mind, a 
 cheerful spirit, a vivid imagination that invested her con- 
 versation with peculiar charm, and was especially consid- 
 erate of the feelings of others. She passed away at the 
 age of 68. 
 
 Dr. John Russell was born July 31st, 1 793, and lived to 
 be 70. He was distinguished as a scholar and author. 
 His most active years were spent in Central Illinois, where, 
 as teacher and writer, he exerted a great and beneficent 
 influence. One of his productions, " The Worm of the Still," 
 found a place in the school readers of the time, and by its 
 
6 SOUVENIR COLLECTION, POETRY AND PROSE 
 
 translation into several languages became well known as a 
 classic in the temperance literature of the world. 
 
 The history of Mrs. Smith's life after marriage is briefly 
 outlined in the account of her golden wedding anniversary 
 published herein. 
 
 This book contains only a portion of what Mrs. Smith 
 has written during her long and useful life. It is published 
 while the beloved author is still living, at the request of her 
 loving children and especially for them, and its contents 
 were selected and prepared for publication by them. It 
 contains something, either in prose or rhyme, from every 
 year of the author's life to date since she began to write for 
 publication, although dates are given of only a few of the 
 selections and they are not, as a whole, arranged accord- 
 ing to the sequence of their production. Some of the selec- 
 tions were published over the author's real name, some 
 over the name of Lucretia Russell, and some over other 
 pen names. Explanatory notes have been inserted where 
 they seem to be demanded. 
 
 San Diego, Cal., October, 1908. B. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 TRANSMUTATION. 
 August, 1907. 
 
 Like the ocean's ebb and flow 
 Force and substance change also, 
 While we wake and while we sleep, 
 Equilibrium to keep. 
 Putrid would the ocean be 
 Were it still, like a dead sea; 
 Give and take alone is life, 
 Where activity is rife. 
 
 Sow with clover-seed a field, 
 Substance the earth will yield ; 
 When the clover is well grown, 
 By all husbandmen 'tis known, 
 That plowed under it will yield 
 Substance back unto the field. 
 
 Study nature you will learn 
 What with money you can't earn ; 
 Consider how the lilies grow 
 By digging you can never know. 
 Transmutation is the word 
 By which nature all is stirred ; 
 Water, earth and air combined 
 Never will create a mind. 
 
 Mind can study and discern 
 Qualities that will return ; 
 Moral features cultivate 
 There is no such thing as fate. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 Straight and narrow fs the way 
 From which none should ever stray. 
 Uprightness and rectitude 
 Abide with us* or ever should. 
 
 Plants by cultivation thrive, 
 But they first must be alive. 
 What is it that gives them life ? 
 Will this question lead to strife ? 
 Canst thou God by searching find- 
 See, canst, thou more than the blind ? 
 Then look ap and nature view. 
 And the truth wifl come to you. 
 
 Eyes see not and ears hear not,. 
 Nor has entered in the thought, 
 Things that here have been prepared! 
 To be now by people shared. 
 AH things do in circles ran. 
 Meeting where they first begun ; 
 Yesterday was as to-day 
 Thus it has been all the way. 
 
 Jesus tried to teach us this, 
 But ignored were words of His. 
 Babes are born, old people die, 
 Can a person tell us why? 
 Sages say that it was sin 
 Oped the door to let death in ! 
 Will not something close that door 
 Which grim death still stands before? 
 If we live the living life 
 Dwell together without strife, 
 Is the way it can be closed- 
 Nothing then can be opposed I 
 
 Law is God, and God is law; 
 This the sages surely saw 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 9 
 
 As they clambered o'er the rocks ; 
 Rocks compared with running brooks. 
 Also with the roving flocks. 
 People reap just what they sow, 
 Figs do not on thistles grow ; 
 Plant a seed, it may be grain, 
 You expect the same again 
 And upon the selfsame ground 
 Will the fruitage all be found ! 
 
 With capacity so small. 
 No one person can know all 1 ! 
 What we fix the mind upon, 
 
 On that subject light wili dawn. 
 One learns this, another that, 
 There is nothing to combat; 
 Give and take is here the plan 
 To be exercised by man ; 
 You can give me what you know. 
 Something I return to you ; 
 Doing thus for one another 
 Proving truly each a brother! 
 
 Every inch of space is filled. 
 The creator has so willed ; 
 All His ways are orderly, 
 This the wise ones always see. 
 Nature gives example true 
 How humanity should do 
 Do the more and say the less, 
 None would then be left to guess, 
 
 *'Do his will, and ye shall know," 
 This is positive and true ; 
 If we daily heavenward go, 
 Beneath broader landscapes show, 
 And we get a clearer view 
 Of the past and present too ! 
 
10 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 BORN LEADERS. 
 
 Some persons are born leaders, 
 
 Others must be led. 
 All cannot be the fingers, 
 
 Nor each one be the h sad. 
 
 Each in his place is needed, 
 
 Not one can be denied. 
 If only worth is heeded 
 
 Their usefulness is wide. 
 
 No one should feel inferior, 
 If well he fills his place. 
 
 He aids his own superior 
 
 And saves his hsad disgrace. 
 
 Can we tell which is the first 
 The ebb or flow of the tides? 
 
 But the force that sends them forth 
 In the return resides. 
 
 The sun sends his warming rays, 
 The earth responds and feeds 
 
 The luminous, ardent rays, 
 And no obstacles it heeds. 
 
 Thus the world is kept in poise, 
 
 Diminish and supply. 
 Neither hear we shout or noise 
 
 As these great feats go by. 
 
 Men of true discernment see 
 
 And duly understand 
 That all is ruled in harmony, 
 
 Just as the Lord has planned. 
 
 How little would be written 
 And how little would be said, 
 
 If only what we nou) we fanou) 
 Were ever published or read. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 1 1 
 
 * WORDS, WORDS, WORDS! 1 
 
 'Over 225,000 Words In the English Language." 
 
 What can we do with all these words 
 If we can't rhyme them into swords? 
 Swords two-edged, which cut both ways 
 And pierce delinquents or delays ? 
 
 The sword that hung by just one hair 
 By no means will with this compare ; 
 The modern sword which by a chain 
 Hangs pendent from the people's brain! 
 
 The people's verdict galling is 
 To one who dares assert as his 
 The privilege of saying what 
 Is truly his own honest thought 
 
 Away with prosy words and cant ; 
 Away with things we do not want; 
 Give people scientific facts, 
 That truth may govern all their acts 
 
 1 for one will not object 
 To having every word protect 
 Each person in his struggles for 
 Expression true as true thoughts are. 
 
 WHATS BEST FOR THEE IS BEST FOR ME. 
 
 What's best for thee is best for me, 
 For all are of one family ; 
 Whatever sullies thy fair name, 
 To me likewise occasions shame. 
 
 One upright, honest, noble face, 
 Which well befits the human race, 
 A blessing is to all mankind, 
 Because it elevates the mind. 
 
12 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 "NO NEW THINGS/ 
 
 What the wise man said is true, 
 There is surely nothing new : 
 " No new things under the sun," 
 All that can be has been done. 
 
 Man in ancient times discerned, 
 What we yet may not have learned, 
 That a circle does not end. 
 That God's laws do not unbend. 
 
 Five times five was twenty-five, 
 When the wise man was alive ; 
 So it is with every law, 
 Always just, without a flaw. 
 
 As to-day was yesterday, 
 So it will be all the way ; 
 Morning, noon and night the same, 
 Changed is nothing but the name. 
 
 What has been again will be, 
 This each thoughtful one can see. 
 History itself repeats ; 
 This the truth also admits. 
 
 Thus the poet seemed to know 
 
 That reality would show 
 
 Much of life was like a dream, 
 
 " And things are not what they seem. 
 
 Laws are stable, sure and true, 
 But they never can be new ; 
 We may learn them if we will, 
 But the laws, the same are still. 
 
 SATISFACTION. 
 
 Naught can come to do me harm, 
 God can every foe disarm ; 
 He in me and I in him 
 Fills my cup unto the brim ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 13 
 
 KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 This is the scientific age, 
 Which may be read on nature's page 
 So plain that he who runs may read- 
 No one need ignorance to plead. 
 
 * Tis time to leave all fallacies, 
 
 Time Truth to own for what it is ; 
 
 Too long we ! ve groped by merely guessing, 
 
 Now we must know and get the blessing 
 
 The blessing of the Truth bestowed; 
 Throw off the old, pernicious load, 
 And waken to the light of Truth, 
 Which will alone renew our youth. 
 
 Truth also now can be applied 
 To all that is to earth allied ; 
 Philosophizing has gone by. 
 Behind must all but knowledge lie ! 
 
 LONGEVITY. 
 
 The Bible tells of persons who 
 Lived several hundred years ! 
 
 Could people now the same thing do 
 By banishing their fears ? 
 
 We should not fear disease or death, 
 
 Nor any evil thing, 
 Because the author of our breath 
 
 Can only goodness bring. 
 
 Believing God does all things well, 
 
 That every thing is right, 
 We can in peace and comfort dwell, 
 
 Walking by Faith, not sight. 
 
14 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 BE HOPEFUL. 
 
 Why grumble and bring on distress 
 
 And weariness of heart, 
 When God intends our souls to bless 
 
 And every good impart ? 
 
 Why can't we grateful be alway 
 For mercies which are ours, 
 
 Instead of fretting on what may 
 Exhaust our men Lai powers? 
 
 We barter all our strength away 
 
 On things imaginary 
 On things that last but one short day 
 
 And every hour they vary ! 
 
 They vary as the shifting sands, 
 The waves are tossing round ; 
 
 Whereon today one safely stands. 
 Tomorrow naught is found. 
 
 SUN WORSHIPPERS. 
 
 I do love the brilliant sun, 
 Emblem of the Holy One, 
 Typifying Life and Love, 
 Emblem of our heaven above. 
 
 Ancient wise ones, we are told - 
 Wise ones, ardent, too, and bold, 
 Did their God in Phoebus see 
 Which wa not idolatry. 
 
 But true worship of the Good 
 As the ancients understood ; 
 Light and life, as warmth and air 
 Emblems of our Father's care. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 1 5 
 
 CHANGE. 
 
 Change, not loss, is going on, 
 Nothing gained and nothing gone ; 
 Much required where much is given, 
 Much used aright, the path to heaven. 
 
 You can find heaven even here, 
 Here upon this earthly sphere ; 
 Need not wait until you die, 
 For the bliss is always nigh. 
 
 You may accept or may deny, 
 On this same fact you can rely ; 
 Heaven and hell are everywhere, 
 Either one you can now share! 
 
 Then joy or sorrow you may reap 
 And happiness within can keep ; 
 However turbulent outside, 
 In peace and quiet you reside ! 
 
 COMPENSATION. 
 
 If you think, and say, .and do, 
 What is right, and just, and true, 
 Then the graces you will woo 
 All the way your journey through. 
 
 Cloudy days will then seem bright, 
 Dark will never be the night ; 
 Light within will radiate, 
 Circling 'round your outward state. 
 
 And the thoughts within that burn 
 Will externalize in turn, 
 And your pathway surely strew 
 With the choicest flowef s that grow. 
 
 For thoughts and words are real thing* 
 And they fly as if with wings, 
 And whate'er you think or say 
 Will return to you some day. 
 
16 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 OCEAN BEACH. 
 (San Diego, Cal.) 
 
 A sight where Nature loved to trace 
 As it for gods a dwelling place ; 
 A wealth of scenery sublime, 
 And music as of bells in chime. 
 
 The music of the ocean wave, 
 Where gently rolling billows lave 
 A varied beach of rocks and shells, 
 And sea-flowers in their dainty dells. 
 
 The changing views on sea and land 
 Are picturesque, and truly grand ; 
 The mussels fresh you here procure, 
 How gladden they the epicure ! 
 
 Both Art and Nature here aspire 
 To rival each with something higher 
 Than heretofore has been achieved, 
 Or by the world has been received. 
 
 A sheltered nook where lovers meet, 
 
 In golden silence here repeat 
 
 The sentiment of love alone, 
 
 For words are needless on Love's throne. 
 
 No pencil, pen or oral speech 
 
 C^m fitly picture Ocean Beach ; 
 
 One day the waves dash mountain high 
 
 Again in quietude they lie. 
 
 I beg you, visit this quaint spot, 
 Explore at will the Fairy Grot, 
 And if you can believe your eyes, 
 You'll think youVe entered Paradise ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS I 7 
 
 TO A CHILD 
 PLAYING WITH A SUNBEAM. 
 
 Thou'rt trying to grasp a sunbeam, 
 
 With thy skill and might, 
 Which the "King of Day" is tending forth 
 
 So dazzlingly bright. 
 
 With admiration thou dost gaze 
 
 Upon those lucid beams, 
 Wond'ring a ray thou canst not clasp, 
 
 As across thy hand it gleams. 
 
 Many a child when older grown 
 
 Than thou, my Mary Jane, 
 Has pressed a phantom to his brow, 
 
 And sought its hold to gain. 
 
 O may such wisdom beam on thee 
 
 As shall guide thee aright 
 More just, more substantial and true. 
 
 Than the dictates of sight. 
 
 In the sunlight of God's eye, 
 
 May'st thou ever be kept ; 
 Even when from this broad earth, 
 
 All that's mortal be swept. 
 
 In that land of constant day, 
 
 Where God eternal dwells, 
 And a radiance all His own, 
 
 The sun's brightness excels. 
 
 There among that glittering throng, 
 
 Mayest thou be found, 
 When the ransomed ones of earth 
 
 Shall His throne surround. 
 
18 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 WHISPERINGS OF NATURE. 
 
 Watching the tree-tops in the wind, 
 
 Swaying to and fro, 
 Rocking, swinging in the breeze 
 
 As it was high or low. 
 
 And they trembled, quivered, nestled, 
 
 As if clasping hands, 
 And were thus protection seeking 
 
 From the reckless winds. 
 
 Then a heavy branch went bending 
 
 Seemed to startle leaves, 
 And adown they hung their heads 
 
 Like a child that grieves. 
 
 So, like sentient things they frolicked 
 
 In their airy home, 
 Laughing, sporting with each other 
 
 "Neath the lofty dome, 
 
 How much we miss, not looking up, 
 
 Even below the skies ; 
 Nature smiles and tells her friends 
 
 She has for them a prize. 
 
 We must go to her to find it 
 And we must look, to gain 
 
 What she has in store for us 
 In order to obtain. 
 
 Fairies dwell within each leaflet 
 
 As in the days of yore, 
 And they whisper if we listen 
 
 Just as they did before. 
 
 Ah, what lovely tales they tell us 
 
 Of what we do not see, 
 Because our mental eyes are holden 
 
 We see not things that be. 
 
 There is naught but love above us, 
 
 Naught but love below, 
 Naught but goodness round about us, 
 
 And all is white, like snow. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION ;;OF POEMS 19 
 
 THE RESTLESS SEA. 
 
 O, the sea, the restless sea ! 
 Fmblem of humanity 
 Where's the oil to still the waves ? 
 Check their making watery graves J* 
 
 High the billows toss and roll ; 
 Low the liquid shallows stroll, 
 L ike the human seas of earth, 
 Wild with sad or joyous mirth, 
 
 Heaving, tossing, never still, 
 As the surging human will, 
 Follows the receding wave, 
 Surging to a lonely grave. 
 
 JSo do people in their wrath, 
 Travel in an unknown path, 
 Leading to the very brink 
 Where the fatal depth would sink. 
 
 E'en the most substantial 
 'Sailing windward or afloat, 
 Sailing east or sailing west, 
 Change they find, but never rest. 
 
 WHAT IS CALLED DEATH. 
 (April 31, 1908.) 
 
 O death 1 we welcome thee 
 Not as an enemy, 
 But as a friend brought nigh 
 On whom we can rely I 
 
 Paul said to die is gain, 
 Nor need we then complain, 
 For we shall live again 
 On Jerusalem's Plain ! 
 
 Death can no more hurt life 
 Than darkness can end strife ; 
 Life is life and will not die, 
 God alone can tell you why ! 
 
20 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POE.MS 
 
 PREJUDICE. 
 
 We build a wall of prejudice; 
 
 A wall both high and strong, 
 And think that all outside of this 
 
 is to be shunned as wrong ! 
 
 We hardly dare to peep above 
 
 This wall that we have built; 
 We might see something that would shove 
 
 Us down in depths of guilt I 
 
 Our love is overcome by fear, 
 
 We dare not trust ourselves ; 
 The light to us is never clear 
 
 As one in darkness delves. 
 
 Until our needless fears are quelled 
 
 No progress do we make, 
 Just as a forest tree that's felled 
 
 No further growth can take. 
 
 The aim of the Freethinker is 
 
 To raze this senseless wall. 
 This senseless wall of Prejudice, 
 
 And Freedom give to all ! 
 
 HIS EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY. 
 
 (On the Eightieth Birthday of Charles 
 Kendall Smith, husband of the Author.) 
 
 I note the silver halo 
 
 About the dear one's head, 
 
 I note the voice so mellow 
 In all that he has said. 
 
 His ripened visage tells me 
 He has not lived in vain, 
 
 However strong the ills be, 
 He never does complain ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 21 
 
 Though physically aged. 
 His spirit always young, 
 
 He leaves no things engaged in 
 With head, or hand, or tongue, 
 
 He's growing old gracefully 
 
 No, no, he is not old 
 He stands upright as ever 
 
 And walks as straight and bold. 
 
 The cheerful never do grow old. 
 They only seem more ripe ; 
 
 This is a tale that is twice told. 
 But never old or trite 1 
 
 LOVE UNAPPRECIATED. 
 
 So few accepted Jesus 
 
 When in the world He dwelt, 
 No wonder that H= sorrowed, 
 
 While love for all He felt 
 
 Love always for reviling 
 He never failed to give, 
 
 And yet they chose Barabbas 
 Instead of Christ to live. 
 
 How foolish are most people 
 In choosing not the best, 
 
 While searching for the blessings 
 Of which they are in quest 
 
 HARMONY, 
 
 Study nature, and you'll see 
 On the mountain and the lea, 
 
 Although great diversity, 
 There is always harmony! 
 
22 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 TO MY MOTHER. 
 
 Words have no power to express 
 All her soul's deep tenderness, 
 In my heart of heart's recess 
 
 Tis only known. 
 
 Days of weariness and toil, 
 Nights of anguish and turmoil, 
 Never could her kindness foil 
 
 Or grief proclaim, 
 
 In her bosom she would bear, 
 Every sorrow centered there, 
 And did not wish her child to share 
 In her distress. 
 
 When called to leave my native place. 
 She bade " good bye" with smiling face, 
 Nor wished that aught should e'er efface 
 !Jj^*. My happiness. 
 
 Now when kindly letters come 
 From her to my western home 
 I feel the friend I'm parted from, 
 
 More dear to me. 
 
 TO CHILDREN GONE FROM HOME. 
 
 What is life worth away from friends, 
 
 Away from those you love ? 
 A few brief years, and travel ends, 
 
 And you no longer rove ! 
 
 Why bruise the heart with loneliness ? 
 
 Why trudge along alone 
 Afar from home and happiness, 
 
 To dearest joys unknown ? 
 
 Why not come back and dwell with me 
 
 As erst in days gone by ? 
 The same bright days again we'll see 
 
 As swift the moments fly ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 23 
 
 Ah, no^ we can't live o'er again 
 
 The selfsame blissful days ! 
 For mem'ry with its mingled pain 
 Says changed are all ttiose ways? 
 
 Yes, change Is written over all 
 
 The checkered walks of life, 
 And weal and woe alike befall 
 
 The parent, child and wife! 
 
 Then fasten not your hopes on things 
 
 That perish with their use ; 
 Neither let riches, which have wings. 
 
 Tempt to the -souPs abuse. 
 
 But bags well buy which wax not old 
 
 And garments that endure, 
 Garments neither bought nor sold, 
 
 Raiment white and pure. 
 
 When friends we'll find where'er we go. 
 
 And homes and hearts most true ; 
 And loneliness no longer know; 
 
 Each day brings something new! 
 
 Thus heaven and earth combine to make 
 
 The dwellers here rejoice, 
 And we as well our share may take 
 
 Extend the same with heart and voice. 
 
 TODAY, 
 
 Let the dead past, bury its dead 
 This has in Scripture been well said. 
 Today we'll try to do and be 
 What seemeth right and best to Thee ! 
 
24 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 CALIFORNIA POPPY. 
 
 The State Flower, Eschscholtzia, 
 
 A beauty like the morning star 
 
 It opes its petals to the sun, 
 
 And shuts them when the day is done 
 
 Who knows but while we also sleep 
 It folds it eyelids, not to weep 
 But to regain refreshing rest, 
 As low the sun sinks in the west ? 
 
 Like living things at sunrise dawn r 
 If you look out upon the lawn, 
 You'll there behold its gorgeousnesss 
 As if it came the earth to bless. 
 
 Some are creamy, almost white r 
 Laughing in the silvery light, 
 But more are vieing with the sun, 
 From brightest gold to orange run. 
 
 The foliage green and delicate 
 Its dainty stems of pearly slate, 
 Trembling with the wealth of sheera 
 Which mingles with the olive green. 
 
 But you must see the flower to know 
 How it can talk, and laugh, and grow ; 
 Then you will think it understands 
 The all of life and its demands. 
 
 QUESTIONINGS. 
 
 The world has stood since Time began 
 Before the cognizance of man. 
 We, mortals, living in this age, 
 In doubtful questionings engage. 
 
 Whence we came and where we go 
 We feel that we may never know ; 
 So many theories afloat, 
 We look around to find a boat, 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 25 
 
 A boat that's staunch, where we, at ease. 
 May safely cross lifers billowy seas, 
 And we may learn without a doubt, 
 And know the Universe throughout 
 
 Do we have longings not supplied ) 
 Are all our questionings denied ? 
 Does God give aspirations void 
 No satisfaction e'er enjoyed ? 
 
 God does not work that careless way; 
 Find out these things ; he says we may, 
 if we inquire within for facts, 
 The truthful answer is not lax. 
 
 But if we halfway want to know, 
 The answers coming will be slow; 
 In earnest thou must always be, 
 And then the truth will come to thee. 
 
 NOW IS THE TIME. 
 
 Some talk of happy days gone by 
 
 My happy days are now ; 
 While memory brings past bright days nigh. 
 
 This day's good we allow. 
 
 Yes, each new day 1 try to make 
 
 Advance on yesterday 
 One day less of earth's road to take 
 
 Toward the heavenly way. 
 
 As day by day we walk that way 
 The road grows smooth the while; 
 
 The somber clouds and evening gray 
 May brilliant hopes beguile. 
 
 Thus we may happiness possess, 
 
 And happiness impart; 
 Making in life our troubles less. 
 
 With loving, hopeful heart. 
 
26 SOUVENIR COLLECTIONT OF POEMS 
 
 PROGRESS. 
 
 IVe hitched my wagon to a star, 
 I've chained the wheel of chance 1 
 
 The highest my ambitions are, 
 And thus I must advance ! 
 
 I will not tarry to contend 
 With those of lesser speed,. 
 
 But will go on unto the end, 
 And surely shall succeed. 
 
 I shall succeed in finding out 
 Some things I ought to know,, 
 
 From seen and unseen element: 
 How nature's products grow! 
 
 How nature is a part of All, 
 
 And All a part of One ; 
 Not even does a sparrow falU 
 
 Nor any slight thing done 
 
 Without trie nctice cf tre Cne 
 
 Who is Omnipotence ! 
 Through whom all efforts are begun 
 
 For truth against pretence ! 
 
 MY MOTHER. 
 
 The whole world seemed changed to me 
 When my precious mother died. 
 
 Although far apart were we 
 This did not our souls divide. 
 
 She still watches over me 
 
 And is often by my side ; 
 Though her form I do not see. 
 
 Yet she can with me reside. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 27 
 
 Tis a pleasant thought to me 
 
 That she still can be my guide 
 As in youth she used to be 
 
 When she was my only pride. 
 
 When the summons comes to me 
 
 - To engage in scenes untried, 
 With my mother and soul free, 
 I shall then be satisfied ! 
 
 "LIVE WHILE WE LIVE." 
 
 To number three score years and ten, 
 To dwell in richest halls of men, 
 To travel all this wide world o'er 
 And gain a wealth of human lore 
 This this is not to live. 
 
 To scale the brow of Science' hill, 
 To wield a monarch's staff at will, 
 To roam o'er star-paved fields of thought, 
 And vain chimeras bring to naught 
 This this is not to live. 
 
 Our Saviour Christ was older far 
 Than was indeed Methuselah, 
 For life is not made up of years, 
 Nor yet of famous deeds or fears 
 This this is not to live. 
 
 To daily, hourly dedicate 
 Our time and talents, small or great, 
 With all our strength, and mind, and might, 
 To God, to wisdom, and to right 
 This this it is to live. 
 
 "Live much, live long, live instantly," 
 This should our contant motto be, 
 And ever while on earth we dwell, 
 Make days count years by living well;. 
 This this it is to live. 
 
28 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 "BURY ME IN THE GARDEN." 
 
 [A little girl had been crushed by the wheel of a loaded 
 cart having passed over her, and the only words she uttered 
 while dying were, " Mother ! Mother! don't let them carrj 
 me away down to the dark, cold graveyard, but bury m< 
 in the garden in the garden, mother. " And when her lit- 
 tie sister bsgged her to speak to her, she only replied, 
 " Bury me in the garden, mother bury me in the " and 
 a quivering came over her limbs and all was still.] 
 
 ** Bury ms in the garden, mother, " 
 Where the purple violets bloom; 
 
 Don't take me to the cold graveyard, 
 Nor to the lonely tomb ! 
 
 ** Bury me in the garden, mother, " 
 Where my sister's feet will tread, 
 
 Where daisies and sweet rosebuds will 
 Their fragrance round me shed. 
 
 The weeping mother was bending o'er 
 
 The little dying girl : 
 Her sister to her side had crept 
 
 And clasped a tiny curl. 
 
 And all, in speechless agony 
 
 Around the couch drew near, 
 That her low, last dying whisper 
 
 They might be sure to hear. 
 
 *" Bury me in the garden, mother, 
 
 Bury me '* she faintly said, 
 And ere the feeble words were uttered, 
 
 The sufferer was dead ! 
 
 BALLAST POINT. 
 (San Diego, Cal.) 
 
 Away on the ocean's brink, 
 
 Where the sea-gull dips his wing, 
 
 Where the awkward penguins drink, 
 And the waves their dirges sing. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 29 
 
 Where the mountain range in sight 
 
 Its snow-crowned summit lifts, 
 Where the dashing breakers white 
 
 The wave inrolling drifts ; 
 
 On a grassy slope we spread 
 
 Our cloth for a noon repast 
 1 cannot tell on what we fed 
 
 The viands were so vast ! 
 
 The eye was nourished from all sides 
 
 Above, and round about, 
 The ear drank music from the tides 
 
 We would not wish shut out. 
 
 Here you can ask of Nature, why 
 
 The senses swallow up 
 The influence of sea and sky 
 
 And on ambrosia sup ? 
 
 Ask the zoophyte why he makes 
 
 Beneath the surf his bed ? 
 The breezes, why their oarless strokes 
 
 Disturb the ocean dread? 
 
 The throbbing sea in ebb and flow, 
 
 Why waste its giant strength ? 
 Why not disport the waves below 
 
 The eye's observant length ? 
 
 The answer comes, in billowy thrusts 
 
 From out the wild expanse 
 In watery tones and weeping gusts 
 
 Of loftiest romance 
 
 Romance so real and so bright. 
 
 So free from all pretense. 
 The voices we interrogate 
 
 Must be endowed with sense ! 
 
30 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 THE MORNING HOUR. 
 
 Rousing from the last night's rest 
 Nature always smiles the best, 
 As if but now had opened eyes 
 And discerned the brightening skies ! 
 
 The clouds just tinted with the morn, 
 The old moon looking most forlorn 
 Because the sun, just peeping up, 
 Eclipses now her brightest hope. 
 
 Wondrous painter I with what skill 
 Does this brilliant orb at will, 
 Touch with colors bright and warm, 
 And every inch of earth transform ! 
 
 MEMORY. 
 
 O ! the scenes of long ago 1 
 
 How through mem'ry's haunts they flow, 
 
 Bringing back in vivid dyes 
 
 Scenes resembling paradise! 
 
 Blessed memory that can thrill 
 Thoughts of other days at will, 
 And we live them o'er and o'er 
 Gladd'ning us as heretofore ! 
 
 A mother's love, the purest stream 
 On which the sun of life doth gleam ; 
 The mem'ry of her loving kiss, 
 The sweetest of all earthly bliss ! 
 
 KIND WORDS AT HOME. 
 
 Like honey dropping from the comb 
 
 Fall words from lips we love- 
 Words laden with affection's tone, 
 Ah, these the soul can move. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 31 
 
 They sweeten all the cares of life, 
 
 Make Eden of our home; 
 They banish sorrow, prevent strife, 
 
 And gem the fireside dome. 
 
 Gem it with stars emitting light 
 
 All o'er the path of time, 
 Dispersing all the clouds of night, 
 
 And warming earth's cold clime. 
 
 How cheerless would our hearthstone be, 
 
 Did not the friendly voice 
 Repeat the oft-told tale, that we 
 
 Are still affection's choice. 
 
 SAN DIEGO. 
 
 What I think of San Diego? 
 
 Asks my quondam friend of Boston ; 
 
 I will tell my friend of Boston 
 
 What I think of Diego. 
 
 'Tis the finest little city 
 
 You will find between the oceans 
 
 Between the oceans, bays and gulfs 
 
 Between the bays and gulfs for climate. 
 
 Up the coast of the Pacific 
 
 Down the coast of the Atlantic, 
 
 You may wander, wander, wander, 
 
 And across the seas may travel, 
 
 Searching for a better climate 
 
 For a climate more salubrious, 
 
 For a place for air more balmy, 
 
 Where the views are more extended, 
 
 Or the scenery more sublime ; 
 
 And the people yes, the people, 
 
 For we do have people here 
 
 People white and cultured also. 
 
 Whom you'd think now lived in Boston, 
 
 Lived in Boston, cultured Boston, 
 
 Though they never may have seen 
 
 The Boston famous and renowned. 
 
32 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 "ANGELS UNAWARES/' 
 
 Said a wealthy man beyond the seas, 
 " I 'have enough to take my ease ; " 
 This was his own mistaken thought, 
 The sequel shows how poor his lot. 
 
 A garden with exotics rare 
 Was tended with the greatest care, 
 With here and there a dainty seat 
 Within that charming, cool retreat. 
 
 But best of all, a fountain played 
 Into a basin, all inlaid 
 With gems that sparkled in the spray, 
 Like diamonds on a roundelay. 
 
 A fairy grot beside the road 
 Not far from this rich man's abode, 
 Wherein was water, pure and sweet, 
 In view of all who passed that street. 
 
 None but the proud, the rich, the great, 
 Those who possessed a large estate, 
 I I Who needed not the crystal drink 
 
 Ever approached the fountain's brink. 
 
 A woman who a black hood wore, 
 With tattered garments, and footsore, 
 Came slowlv up the dusty road, 
 And paused just where the owner stood. 
 
 She only asked to sit awhile 
 
 In grateful shade upon the stile 
 
 And quench her thirst with cooling drink 
 
 That trickled down the basin's brink. 
 
 "This is not a public fountain, 
 There is water near that mountain 
 Where such as you do congregate, 
 And readily your thirst can sate I " 
 
 " The way is long, my feet are sore, 
 You see my garb, that I am poor ; 
 I am so tired and thirsty too 
 Please let me take a sip or two. " 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 33 
 
 " Drive her away ! " the rich man said ; 
 Just then the begger turned her head ; 
 Her black hood dropped, revealing hair 
 All gfoMen. and exceeding fair. 
 
 Her rags unseemly fell away, 
 And shimmering robes as brignt as day 
 About her fell, as angels wear, 
 Which caused the man to wildly stare. 
 
 He trembled fearfully, and cried : 
 " A drink of water I denied 
 An angel who from heaven came 
 And asked for drink in beggar's name ! 
 
 When a rough beggar comes again 
 He shall with my consent remain, 
 For such a burning thirst I have, 
 Continually this drink I crave. " 
 
 Now he is constantly athirst, 
 And feels himself doubly accursed 
 Because an angel he refused, 
 And otherwise unkindly used ! 
 
 But once again the woman came, 
 While thus lamenting in his shame, 
 And asked again that she might quench 
 Her thirst, while sitting on that bench. 
 
 He gladly gave the cup to her, 
 And begged that she would never stir 
 From off the grounds till quite refreshed, 
 And all her grievances redressed. 
 
 She took the cup filled to the brim 
 And gravely handed it to him ; 
 He drank it, not at all afraid ; 
 At once his cruel thirst was stayed ! 
 
 Now evermore the beggars find 
 A man who is both rich and kind ; 
 The poor are welcomed to his stand, 
 More so than are the rich and grand ! 
 
34 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 YAVEH. 
 
 Yaveh, Yaveh, Yaveh, Yaveh! 
 There is magic in the name ! 
 Say it over, over, over, 
 Say it till you know tne same !j| 
 
 Say it over till you feel it 
 Through your system tingle, 
 Till your conduct shall reveal it 
 And in your soul shall mingle. 
 
 Mingle in your spirit's center, 
 And your being fully feels it 
 Where no wordly thoughts can enter, 
 Nor no hiding place conceals it. 
 
 Then how lifted up from earth bands 
 Will the soul serenely be ; 
 And a sense of sordiJ dearth lands 
 From you will forever flee ! 
 
 Yaveh, Yaveh, Yaveh, Yaveh ! 
 There is magic in the name ! 
 Say it over, over, over, 
 Say it till you know the same ? 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 God is life, love and liberty, 
 This constitutes the trinity; 
 If you have life and love, but not 
 The liberty of your best thought, 
 You understand but partially 
 The meaning of divinity. 
 
 None are compelled or forced to eat 
 
 The hidden manna to complete 
 
 The earthly preparation due, 
 
 Nor the road we must pursue 
 
 To reach the strait and narrow gate 
 
 Through which we pass to that blest state. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 35 
 
 GOD IS WITHIN, 
 
 Believe not your God is high above the stars ! 
 For " my kingdom is within you, " Christ declares ; 
 Where but in His kingdom would the king reside ? 
 This for themselves His true subjects can decide. 
 
 Through every living atom God is expressed, 
 Through everything uplifted God is addressed, 
 Every flower that opes its petals gives God thanks, 
 As well as every stream that flows within its banks. 
 
 The stars in the heavens, the sands on the shore, 
 As also the snow flakes that fall by your door 
 The treetops that tremble in the evening breeze, 
 All tell of His goodness with infinite ease. 
 
 Why should man praise some far off being, instead 
 Of accepting the one by whose hand he is led ? 
 W hy can he not discover the God within, 
 Then strive to express Him, and happiness win ? 
 
 THE WHEAT AND TARES. 
 
 A sower went forth to his mellowed ground, 
 And plentifully strewed good seed around ; 
 Then he hied him home, and his inner breast 
 Told of reward in abundant harvest 
 
 " But while men slept," an enemy came, 
 And carefully mingled tares with the grain ; 
 And they side by side, the tares and the wheat, 
 Ripened together with fullness replete. 
 
 "In the time of harvest" the reapers will bind 
 The tares in bundles, and they shall be burned ; 
 But safe in the barn the wheat may find store 
 The tares shall flourish with the grain no more. 
 
 Then sinners beware, e'en though for awhile 
 Securely you bask in prosperity's smile. 
 Sooner or later the harvest will come, 
 And you will lament your sorrowful doom. 
 
36 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 OMNIPOTENT LOVE. 
 
 [The following poem, which was contributed to a New 
 England paper, reached the author, who was not aware 
 that it had been published, through her son, Charles K, 
 Smith, Jr., of j^fonmouth, Illinois, who, seeing his mother's 
 name attached to it, bought a copy from a blind man 
 who was selling it on the streets of that town as a means 
 of obtaining a livelihood. J 
 
 Love, like the dauntless boy he is, 
 Entered a neighbor's home one day r 
 
 And there he found, to his surprise 
 To his surprise and deep dismay 
 
 Contentions, bickerings and wrath. 
 
 " I've staid away from here too long, 
 I am to blame for this, " Love saith. 
 
 " I will remain and right the wrong. 
 
 I'll pour the wine of gladness in 
 
 Each inmate's bitter cup, 
 And place it right beside him where 
 
 He is always wont to sup. 
 
 I'll pour the oil of peace upon 
 
 The troubled water's flow ; 
 I will not leave till I have done 
 
 The work I came to do. 
 Til turn the channel of their words 
 
 Into another course ; 
 I'll stay until the sunshine comes 
 
 Into each heart perforce. ** 
 
 Love can untie the cruel knots 
 
 In threads of all discourse ; 
 Love can divert the angry thoughts 
 
 Without the aid of force. 
 
 Ah, wondrous is the power of love ! 
 
 Why is it so neglected ? 
 It lifts a person high above 
 
 The ills of life detected. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 37 
 
 It smooths the rugged paths of life, 
 
 It soothes the troubled breast, 
 St gives one hope amid earth's strife 
 
 Of home among the blest. 
 
 T1S EASY TO IMAGINE. 
 
 "Tis easy to imagine 
 
 A place where we might dwell 
 In harmony together 
 
 In some secluded dell, 
 
 Or rather on a mountain, 
 
 Or in some forest grand, 
 And drink at love's pure fountain 
 
 A useful, happy band. 
 
 For all the world we'd labor 
 
 Not for ourselves alone, 
 Each one should be our neighbor, 
 
 Our brother every one ! 
 
 We never should discriminate 
 Between our friends and foes 
 
 For kindness would eliminate 
 All bitterness and woesJ 
 
 "We'd send thoughts big and helpful 
 To all who could receive. 
 
 And, as far as possible 
 All maladies relieve. 
 
 And by our simple living 
 vV e find the time our own 
 
 For getting or for giving, 
 And no lost time bemoan. 
 
 How beautiful in thinking 
 
 What this whole world might be. 
 Were people only wishing 
 
 Each other's good to see! 
 
38 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 DREAM LIFE. 
 
 I followed my dream in its airy flight, 
 
 I swung on a cloud, so fluffy and white, 
 
 I leaned on the moon she was full and bright, 
 
 Then counted the stars as they shone by night. 
 
 I sought for the planets, whose people are 
 
 Wiser and better than we by far ! 
 
 Then hurried through space from st^r to star 
 
 With the speed of the breeze on my wind-made car. 
 
 I searched the depths and I mounted the heights, 
 
 I paused on the brink of the northern lights! 
 
 I planted our flag high on the north pole 
 
 So voyagers may know when they reach that goal I 
 
 JOYOUS MEMORIES. 
 
 Joyous memories their welcome bring 
 They fly to us on unseen wing, 
 Today will make them for tomorrow 
 Some of pleasure, some of sorrow. 
 
 Tomorrow's thoughts are of today, 
 For weal or woe they long will stay, 
 As thoughts endowed are with life 
 Pure should they be and free from strife. 
 
 ENCOURAGEMENT. 
 
 Good often comes of seeming ill, 
 In fact, all ills are seeming, 
 
 " Whatever is, is right, " is still 
 Most true, and hope redeeming. 
 
 Things that our senses deem as bad 
 May much of good enfold, 
 
 So if we unkind thoughts discard 
 And only just ones hold, 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 39 
 
 We may assist the world of thought 
 
 In its best endeavor. 
 To abrogate or bring to naught 
 
 All savorings of error ! 
 
 And if we can't reform the world 
 
 We may improve just one, 
 And by examples manifold 
 
 Will be reform begun ! 
 
 A GOLDEN KEY. 
 
 There is a key, a golden key, 
 That will unlock treasures iare, 
 
 But he who handles it must see 
 It used both wisely and with care ; 
 
 Let not the weak or careless dare 
 Presume to use this mystic key, 
 
 Whatever his thoughts and wishes are 
 To him returned will always be. 
 
 Unless the thoughts are pure and true 
 What is received will cause despair ; 
 
 If what is right he won't pursue 
 
 For unlocked woes he must prepare. 
 
 A QUERY. 
 
 There is so much we do not know 
 In this enlightened age of ours, 
 
 How dare we say, f it is not so, 1 
 Unless we have supernal powers ? 
 
 We are so sure that we are right, 
 That every other way is wrong, 
 
 We close our eyes, shut out the light, 
 And thus our ignorance prolong. 
 
 Look out upon God's works and see 
 How Nature follows Nature's laws, 
 
 And naught is there but harmony, 
 And no result without a cause ! 
 
40 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 SUNSHINE, CLOUD AND STORM. 
 
 I love bright days of sunshine 
 When gladnes Ms the earth. 
 
 And the warble of the bird lings 
 Makes air vocal with mirth. 
 
 For they mind me of that sun 
 With healing in his beams. 
 
 Wherein warm and genial climes 
 His brightness always gleams. 
 
 I love dull days of cloud-sky, 
 
 All quiet, like the night, 
 When no rain-drop comes pattering 
 
 On the casement of light 
 
 For they point me that time 
 When the weary shall rest, 
 
 When the harvester returned 
 Shall sit down with the blest 
 
 And I love a rainy day, 
 
 When heavy drops come down, 
 As if the angry storm-king 
 
 Meant earth to feel his frown. 
 
 For it speaks of Him who h oldeth 
 In the hollow of his hand, 
 
 The habitants and elements 
 Of air, and sea, and land. 
 
 HAPPINESS. 
 
 Age is tne bme for happiness 
 Wlien cares are growing less and less 
 And children more mature are grown 
 And take your burdens as their own. 
 
 The afternoon of life has come, 
 And we are drawing nearer home ; 
 Already fed die twilight hour 
 Has a serene and soothing power. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 41 
 
 Heaven you now know is within. 
 And here the joys of heaven begin ; 
 You realize eternal bliss 
 Must be something much like this! 
 
 And as the days go gliding by 
 
 We bless the power that rules on high. 
 
 The same on earth as in the sky. 
 
 That all is good you feel assured, 
 Because true wisdom has secured 
 To all the dwellers here on earth 
 To each according to his worth. 
 
 TO THE TRUTH. 
 
 For shame, to walk about so nude, 
 
 As if you did not care 
 If people shunned you as they would 
 The bare legs of a chair! 
 
 Sometimes at wicked folk you stare, 
 As if you knew them well, 
 
 And of their doings was aware 
 And could a story tell. 
 
 Anon, you go around so sly, 
 
 The people watching you 
 Have no idea you are nigh. 
 
 Or seeing what they do. 
 
 So they go on in wickedness, 
 Thinking themselves alone, 
 
 Until the Truth makes them confess, 
 And all they've done make known. 
 
 Aug. 4, 1908. 
 
42 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 "* Who could brook 
 
 That even those who love us best should know 
 The secret springs of many an hour of woe ? ** 
 
 RESPONSE. 
 
 Twere better " those who love us best should know 
 
 The secret springs of many an hour of woe." 
 
 The kindly smile, the cheering word of hope, 
 
 From those whose every word we know to be 
 
 A well-spring of affection gushing up 
 
 From love's own fountain, pure and free, 
 
 Is balm unto the bruised and broken spirit, 
 
 Which should our fervent gratitude call forth 
 
 To Him from whom we every good inherit 
 
 With grace imbued, what privilege to have 
 
 One friend whose tone, whose sympathizing look 
 
 Can 'suage the inward grief that frets and smarts 
 
 And weighs the spirit down J Ah, who could brook 
 
 That best loved friends should be debarred our hearts. 
 
 MISMATED. 
 
 The clematis married a beech tree tali, 
 Her friends were surprised, as she was so small ; 
 While courting his branches bent gracefully to her 
 And that is the way he managed to woo her. 
 
 But soon he desired her to stand quite alone, 
 Which she could not do, he had very well known ; 
 "I wish I had married a sunflower, *" he said, 
 " Or some other one -who could hold up her head. ~ 
 
 Then dae clematis grieved as a woman would 
 When the fatal mistake she now understood, 
 And she drooped still more than nature demands, 
 While die beech tree enforced his stern commands. 
 
 So they drifted apart, as diversities will ; 
 
 Though fee did not love her, the vine loved him still, 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 43 
 
 And sent up her tendrils as high as she could 
 To the wonder of plants that grew in the wood. 
 
 Prouder and prouder the tree daily grew, 
 Higher and higher his foliage he threw, 
 Not a twig sent he forth that the vine could reach; 
 On the ground it trailed at the base of the beech. 
 
 ROSE HARTWICK THORPE, 
 
 [The following acrostic was addressed to the distiiT 
 guished author, Mrs. Thorpe, on her birthday anniversary, 
 December 5, 1893, at her home, Pacific B^ach, near San 
 Diego, Cal.] 
 
 Rose is called the queen of flowers. 
 One of fragrance and of powers; 
 So it is a lovely name. 
 Even now allied to fame 1 
 
 How delightful it must be 
 Always everywhere to see 
 Rarest roses in degree 
 Thereon twining tenderly. 
 We well know the understood 
 Is the gift of all that's good, 
 Doming in as sunlight does, 
 Keeping with and warming us. 
 
 Thus the poet well may find 
 Happiness within the mind, 
 Only heeding harmony, 
 Rarest of the things that be. 
 Purity and love divine, 
 Each with poesy combine. 
 
 Pacific Beach. Cal., Dec. 7. 1893. My dear Mrs. Smith: 
 Your kindly thoughts, clothed in the language of my heart 
 (rhyme), is as precious to me as the flowers of which you 
 wrote. I received a number of such loving testimonials 
 after the reception and shall place them all with my treas- 
 ures to be carefully preserved for the future, and for those 
 who will live when we have passed away. 
 
 Lovingly Yours, Rose Hartwick Thorpe. 
 
44 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 SAN DIEGO IN NOVEMBER. 
 
 We've reached the embers of the year, 
 The summer months gone by.. 
 
 And yet cold weather is not here 
 The days much like July ! 
 
 Flowers are blooming all around, 
 The humming bird flits by, 
 
 There is no frost upon the ground, 
 No rain clouds shade the sky. 
 
 And filled with thankfulness and hope 
 Are those who come to stay, 
 
 Who live on the Pacific slope, 
 Near San Diego Bay ! 
 
 November, 1903. 
 
 OUR ELDER BROTHER. 
 
 The common people gladly heard 
 
 The man of Nazareth, 
 They listened to His every word 
 
 Listened with bated breath. 
 
 He spake as never man did speak, 
 As all who heard him know, 
 
 He told them clearly how to seek 
 And find redemption's glow. 
 
 Yet when He came unto his own. 
 His own received Him not, 
 
 But to as many as was shown 
 To have received His thought 
 
 To them He gave especial power 
 
 As being sons of God, 
 And, at His own appointed hour* 
 
 To gain their just reward. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 45 
 
 Then pxatiently all can await 
 
 Decisions of the Just, 
 When opened is the book of Fate, 
 And joyously they trust. 
 
 Will not the Judge of all the earth 
 
 Do always what is right- 
 Judging according to our worth, 
 
 No worthy one to slight? 
 
 HAVE YOU READ NATURE'S BOOK? 
 
 Have you read Nature's bible yet 
 
 The scripture of the violet ? 
 
 And turned the leaves of Sharon's rose, 
 
 Learned how and why the green grass grows ? 
 
 Did you one day with Jesus walk 
 And hear the babbling waters talk ? 
 Or did you note the branching trees 
 Nodding gracefully in the bresze? 
 
 Did you learn what they were saying 
 In the wind while limbs were swaying. 
 And the birds on the higher boughs 
 Carolling in their leafy house ? 
 
 O, wondrous are Dame Nature's ways, 
 And wondrous beauties she displays, 
 Hidden away in leafy sprays 
 As if eluding human gaze ! 
 
 VEIL OF ISIS. 
 
 The veil of the Temple was rent 
 When Jesus Christ was crucified, 
 
 And ever since that grave event 
 
 The entrance has been opened wide. 
 
 And all who have Shekinah seen 
 Will total darkness feel no more, 
 
 Light will across their pathway gleam, 
 Until they reach the shining shore. 
 
46 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 Christ was the light erst symbolized ; 
 
 He came to earth that all might see ; 
 The truth by Him was not disguised, 
 
 He raised the veil of mystery 1 
 
 He was the true Shekinah bright. 
 
 Though many failed to understand ; 
 Their eyes were holden from the light 
 
 They marvelled at his wise command. 
 
 So down the ages some have groped, 
 Believing not the veil was rent ; 
 
 Still gazing at the Temple hoped 
 Shekinah would yet give content, 
 
 And shine again as sacred song 
 Asserts that it was wont to do 
 
 For those who watched and waited long 
 The first faint glimpse of light to woo I 
 
 But disappointment meets them all 
 
 Christ was the Way, the Truth, the Life, 
 
 And when they fail on Him to call 
 They meet embarassment and strife I 
 
 To them the veil is always closed ; 
 
 No hand invisible is raised 
 Naught to thick darkness interposed, 
 
 Thus leaving gazers sore amazed ! 
 
 PERFECTION. 
 
 If you would perfection see, 
 Purest thoughts must cherished be, 
 Neither jealousy nor hate 
 Must be found in your estate. 
 
 Yes, the wrong doer himself wrongs 
 More than he can another one, 
 
 And his unhappiness prolongs 
 
 By every wrong that he has done ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 47 
 
 LOVE. 
 
 If you love me tell me so ; 
 
 It is what I like to know 
 
 Like the sunshine, love is warm, 
 
 And it never doeth harm. 
 
 Love is what the world now needs ; 
 It would stimulate good deeds, 
 And it would eradicate 
 All the vestiges of hate. 
 
 Wrong we never those we love ; 
 Rather do we from above 
 Call the richest blessings on 
 Every weak or erring one. 
 
 Then let loving thoughts be sent 
 Till they fill the firmament ; 
 Would not then *' life's troubled sea 
 Always calm and peaceful be? 
 
 BIRTH. 
 
 When earth was born one lovely morn, 
 
 The stars together sang; 
 They sang with glee, in jubilee 
 
 The joyous anthems rang! 
 
 Where, then, was I, when first that cry, 
 
 n Ye must be born again," 
 Came like a knell or angry swell, 
 
 Which soundeth forth amain? 
 
 Each time new thought the brain has caught 
 
 We thus are born again; 
 And every day Time whiles away 
 
 New births do then obtain. 
 
 Some once are born, and all forlorn, 
 
 Go plodding on their way; 
 They seek no truth from early youth, 
 
 Not born again are they ! 
 
48 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 LETTERS FROM FRIENDS. 
 [June. 1 90S.} 
 
 There comes with them a wealth of ore, 
 Not diamond dust or gold in store. 
 But something worth much more by far 
 Than either gold or diamonds are. 
 
 The love that comes between the lines, 
 That may be read as heart inclines, 
 Revealing such a soulful song 
 As does our happiness prolong. 
 
 Who has not been depressed and lone 
 And fek the need of friendly tone, 
 When lo 1 the postman brings a note 
 Which sends the loneliness afloat, 
 
 And we our cheerfulness regain, 
 Feeling no reason to complain, 
 Our daily duties then resume ; 
 Dispelled at once is all our gloom. 
 
 NEW ENGLAND SPRING. 
 
 No such surprises come to us 
 In this more southern clime, 
 
 Because our winter, spring and fall 
 Seem all like summer time. 
 
 We see no verdure green the -while 
 Snow lies in patches white, 
 
 Nor do we see just peeping up, 
 The early springs delight 
 
 We never search beneath the snow 
 For checker berries red, 
 
 Nor do we watch when soon it melts, 
 For the arbutus bed. 
 
 We never walk upon the crust 
 Of frozen snow in March, 
 
 Nor gaze upon the icy branch 
 Across the crystal arch. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 49 
 
 We never put a metal cup 
 
 Up to a thirsty lip 
 And find it closely to it glued 
 
 Before we take a sip ! 
 
 Nature sports in various ways 
 
 With her fantastic toys, 
 Adding superbly to the wealth 
 
 Of early earthly joys. 
 
 'THE WORLD WITHOUT A SABBATH." 
 
 [Suggested on reading these words as the subject of a 
 prize essay at a college exhibition, December 17, 1873.] 
 
 The world "without a Sabbath would 
 
 A weariness assume, 
 Assuaged by no recruiting rest, 
 
 Enriched by no perfume. 
 
 The flowers of life would withered lie 
 
 Across the trodden way, 
 And thorns spring up to choke the path 
 
 That finds no Sabbath day. 
 
 Ah, yes ! the busy, active world 
 
 Without a day of rest, 
 Would be like ever-shining sun 
 
 Without the shadow's crest. 
 
 Twould be like rough machinery, 
 
 Without the rubric oil 
 To keep it smoothly at its work, 
 
 Relieving human toil. 
 
 Twould be like delving in the rocks, 
 
 With only soil of sand ; 
 An arid, parched and desert waste, 
 
 With naught whereon to stand. 
 
 Bless God . we have a Sabbath day, 
 
 A holy day of rest, 
 In which to garner strength and grace 
 
 To dwell among the blest. 
 
50 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 -SWEET SIXTEEN/* 
 
 [The following poem was addressed to Miss Rosa B. 
 Smith (now Mrs. V. Ray Bennett), granddaughter of the 
 author, and was read at a party given in celebration of her 
 sixteenth birthday at her home in San Diego, California, 
 April 7, 1890.] 
 
 Now sweet sixteen, as may be seen, 
 
 Becomes Miss Rosa well, 
 Whose winning grace and smiling face 
 
 Unitedly compel 
 The love of those who now compose 
 
 The circle of her friends. 
 
 Shf- says " Look here, my grandma dear, 
 
 I want a gift from you ; 
 Not something bought that comes to naught 
 
 But something nice and true, 
 Which you can -write for me tonight 
 
 And which can be preserved by me 
 As long as life extends. " 
 
 What can I say which rightly may 
 
 Some happiness confer, 
 While life is young and wishes sprung 
 
 So lavishly on her ? 
 The best of all that I recall 
 
 Is love to God and man. 
 
 Thus also she, like busy bee, 
 
 Has learned this wiser plan, 
 And His strong arm will keep from harm 
 
 All who will trust in Him. 
 With sweet content and confident 
 
 Of His abiding care, 
 
 Will we throw trouble, like a bubble, 
 
 Out into the breezy air. 
 Calmly await whatever fate 
 
 He Jtias for us in store, 
 He'll fill our cup of blessings up, 
 
 Hell fill it to the brim. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 51 
 
 So sweet sixteen, as may be seen 
 
 Becomes dear Rosa well, 
 Whose smiling face and winning grace 
 
 Unitedly compel 
 The love of those who now compose 
 
 The circle of her friends. 
 
 MY NINETIETH BIRTHDAY. 
 (March 13, 1907.) 
 
 God every day is good to me, 
 Like rain upon a thirsty lea ; 
 I will drink in the nutriment, 
 The wine that is to me thus sent. 
 
 'Twill fill my brain; 'twill fill my soul 
 Until I feel completely whole, 
 And every want will be supplied, 
 And not a needful thing denied. 
 
 I shall be full of hope and love 
 Shall seek for wisdom from above, 
 Nor will a groveling thought oppress. 
 His presence with me always bless. 
 
 NO MIRACLES. 
 
 For all effects there is a cause, 
 
 God does not break his own wise laws; 
 
 What seems to be miraculous 
 
 Is only ignorance in us. 
 
 Ignorance of God^s high power 
 Which shadows forth in every flower, 
 Wisdom in every plant that grows, 
 The secret of its growth who knows? 
 
 We cannot measure wisdom's ways 
 By our own petty, childish days ; 
 E'en when we climb high on Life's hills 
 We Lave to say "just as God wills J" 
 
52 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 SERENADE, 
 
 Fairy Sleep had locked my eyelids 
 And the mystic key had hidden 
 
 Telling me 1 must not waken, 
 'Till the rosy morn had bidden. 
 
 Twas the witching hour of midnight 
 
 When the moonbeams brigkt were playing 
 
 Hide and seek with trembling treetops, 
 And the wind their branches swaying. 
 
 That the music of some country- 
 Earth or heaven I could not tell 
 
 Came into my chamber window, 
 With a grand and warlike swell. 
 
 Far too loud for fairy minstrels 
 Were the strains that met my ear ; 
 
 Surely, could I be mistaken 
 I was in the angel sphere ? 
 
 " Sister ! Sister ! You are dreaming 
 
 This is no celestial land ! 
 If you could but lift your eyelids 
 
 You would see the Monmouth band I" 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO. 
 (Oct. 28,^ 1875.) 
 
 Here we are on Frisco's strand, 
 
 The world- wide, far-famed golden land, 
 
 About which as a fairy dream 
 
 Did stories of it always seem. 
 
 But like the wise man's guest of old, 
 We found the half had not been told ; 
 The truth is wonderful to tell. 
 And savors of some wizard dell 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 53 
 
 Or else Aladdin's wondrous lamp 
 Which changed all nature, giving stamp 
 Of golden hue to colors brown 
 Above our reach, brought blessings down- 
 
 But this is real, it's not a myth ; 
 
 We are tied, not by a withered withe, 
 
 But tied with June's October sun, 
 
 And fruits and flowers, May's garden won. 
 
 Go to the mint and see the gold ; 
 To Woodward's Garden and be told. 
 Of rare and costly fruits and flowers 
 From foreign lands, fairer than ours ? 
 
 Oh, no ! no fairer clime exists, 
 
 Except in fancy's nlmy mist, 
 
 Than here on fair Pacific's slope, 
 
 The rich man's home, the poor man's hope. 
 
 "ALL IS GOOD?" 
 
 I've tried to think that all is good 
 How can it thus be understood 
 When to each other men are rude 
 And manifest ingratitude? 
 
 How can we ** all is good ** decide 
 When daily papers columns wide 
 Are filled with theft and suicide 
 And evil deeds are multiplied ? 
 
 If God says '"evil I create," 
 And so the Bible does relate, 
 As well as love there's also hate, 
 Then it admits of no debate ! 
 
 Of no debate by those who claim 
 To follow Scripture as their aim ; 
 The Bible and God's Word ^the same- 
 How can they " all is good " proclaim 2 
 
54 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 GREETINGS. 
 
 [To Mrs. C. K. Smith, on her birthday, by Dr. C C. 
 Parry,* March 13, 1883.] 
 
 Youth is the time of buds and flowers 
 Nurtured by sunshine and by showers, 
 Age with its golden tinted leaves, 
 Garners ripe fruit within its sheaves. 
 
 All that is rich and sweet remains 
 Through summer's heat and autumn's rains* 
 And holds within its close embrace, 
 Germs of the new-born living race. 
 
 May this and future birthdays prove 
 Rich with such fruits of hope and love, 
 And all, harmoniously combine 
 To crown with joy this life of thine ! 
 
 RESPONSE BY MRS. SMITH. 
 
 Thanks, my friend, for this bright lay, 
 Written upon my natal day ; 
 ' Tis fresh and sweet as if for youth, 
 And not for age as 'tis in truth. 
 
 And why not hope for future hours, 
 As well as early youthful powers ? 
 'Tis Erood to have increase of years, 
 When not accompanied with fears. 
 
 With fears of what there may await 
 The passage through death's open gate, 
 And can we not almost discern, 
 Or rather, previously learn 
 
 By noting, what today has wrought, 
 Perceive with what the morrow's fraught. 
 
 * Dr. Parry was born in England. He was a distin- 
 guished botanist. He died at his home, Davenport, Iowa, 
 February 20, 1890, aged 66 years. He had gathered 
 flowers in every one of the United States. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 55 
 
 So would I thus return to thee 
 Good wishes now expressed for me, 
 And may your hundredth birthday be 
 Pleasant as is this day to me ! 
 
 LAND-LOCKED BAY. 
 
 Placidly the waters lay 
 In the San Diego bay ; 
 Though old ocean madly wars, 
 Lashing his sides upon its shores, 
 Nothing ruffles thy calm breast; 
 Like a sleeping babe at rest, 
 Silently thy waters lay 
 In the quiet, land-locked bay. 
 
 O, the cooling breeze that comes 
 O'er thy bosom to our homes, 
 Mellowed by the distance lent 
 With thine own so graceful bent. 
 Yes, I know old ocean would 
 Step across thee if he could, 
 And most likely wash away 
 Thy best features, land-locked bay. 
 
 But the friendly band of earth 
 Which in old time gave thee birth 
 Now extends his solid arm 
 Keeping thee from ocean's harm. 
 Let him rock and foam at will, 
 Thou art safely guarded still, 
 And thy pleasant surface may 
 Be serene, thou land-locked bay ! 
 
 Though the sun his rays pour down 
 
 On the parched and thirsty ground, 
 
 Hotly claiming for his own 
 
 All the vegetation grown, 
 
 Thou dost send thy moistened breath, 
 
 Rescuing from certain death 
 
 All the herbage that shall lay 
 
 Near thy borders, land-locked bay ! 
 
56 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 RELEASED. 
 
 [The transition of Mr. Charles Kendall Smith, husband 
 of the writer, occurred on September 12, 1900, soon after 
 the celebration of their 65th wedding anniversary, which 
 he enjoyed. He would have been 90 years old on the 
 21st of the next December. He closed his eyes peacefully 
 and the watchers thought he was asleep, but he had passed 
 to the beyond, and this poem was written concerning his 
 release, by his devoted wife. ] 
 
 At early morn the angels came 
 
 And took one from his house of clay ; 
 
 So lovingly they made their claim, 
 We could not feel to say them nay. 
 
 "Just what is best for him, " we cried, 
 
 Regardless of the aching hearts, 
 And thus the angels did decide, 
 
 And acted well their several parts. 
 
 His real self is with us yet, 
 
 And with us he can still remain ; 
 Already freed ones he has met 
 
 Met them on progression's plane. 
 
 Scarcely a thin veil hangs between 
 The living and the so-called dead 
 
 Between the seen and the unseen, 
 Together side by side they tread. 
 
 We should rejoice rather than mourn, 
 When weary ones are thus released, 
 
 When bodies to the grave are borne, 
 And turmoils of the flesh have ceased. 
 
 For God still doeth all things well, 
 And we can trust Him for His grace, 
 
 As when the men of old did tell, 
 
 Angels with men talked face to face. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 57 
 
 MEASURE OF THE SOUL. 
 
 The angel came down, it was measuring day, 
 The soul to be gauged had to come that way ; 
 Howe'er one might wish the test to avoid, 
 Each would receive either blame or reward. 
 
 The gold bar adjuster could make no mistake, 
 All were measured as true as figures could make ; 
 Though some might object to a process so true 
 No one could escape the measure his due. 
 
 1 thought I had done much good the past year, 
 
 And hoped that my measure would prove bright and clear, 
 
 But when secret motives were exposed to view, 
 
 How selfish appeared the record so true! 
 
 Evade it as each one might try to do, 
 The golden measure ail the facts would show ; 
 The state of the soul was clearly revealed, 
 Not a secret though* or deed was concealed. 
 
 WHAT SHALL WE DO WITH JESUS ? 
 
 [ Suggested by hearing a sermon on this topic, ] 
 
 What shall we do with Jesus ? is asked again today ; 
 What can we do but love Him ? Love Him and watch 
 
 and pray ; 
 
 Love Him, includes all duty all else we have to do, 
 For none can truly love Him and prove to man untrue. 
 
 Then follow His example as He was doing good , 
 When through this rough world walked He, and sin's 
 
 worst wiles withstood. 
 
 And when He met repentant, a sinful, erring child, 
 He said with great compassion, in accents soft and mild, 
 Neither do I condemn thee, go, sin no more, my child. 
 
 "What shall we do with Jesus?" Who can to this reply? 
 What shall we do wihout Him ? should be the earnest cry; 
 So speak to thoee who cloubt Him that they to Him may fly. 
 
58 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 HAGAR IN THE DESERT. 
 
 The bread and the water were gone 
 The lad was weary and faint ; 
 
 The mother despairing sat down, 
 And to God sent up her complaint 
 
 Hagar now hears the angel's reply, 
 * Fear not, lift the lad in thine hand, 
 
 For he is not going to die 
 
 His sons shall inherit the land." 
 
 Then God opened her eyes as He willed, 
 And a well of pure water she saw, 
 
 And the bottle again she fille^, 
 Resuming her journey with awe ! 
 
 CHRISTMAS. 
 
 Open wide the door of hope, 
 Let Christmas cheer come in ; 
 
 Give every one the freest scope 
 True happiness to win. 
 
 What better day than this to choose, 
 
 For errantry sublime ! 
 To let all closed-up purse strings loose, 
 
 And celebrate the time 
 
 When angels sang in heaven for joy, 
 When Christ to earth was given, 
 
 The son of God, the human boy, 
 To point the way to heaven. 
 
 Let gladness hover "round each hearth, 
 Let generous hearts respond 
 
 To wants of dwellers nere on earth, 
 To needs on every hand. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 59 
 
 More blessed 'tis to give than take, 
 
 More blessed to relieve 
 The wants of poor and destitute, 
 
 Than ever to receive. 
 
 Then hail the hopeful Christmas day I 
 
 The day when Christ was born ; 
 Let happiness and cheer alway 
 
 This blessed day adorn. 
 
 "LEAST OF THESE. " 
 
 Are people today wiser 
 
 Than when the Christ was slain? 
 Or would they be more loving 
 
 If He should come again? 
 
 Oh, yes ! on looking backward, 
 And Christ we read about, 
 
 We surely would accept Him, 
 No home would shut him out! 
 
 Today He is so honored, 
 
 When ragged outcasts come, 
 
 We welcome them as Jesus 
 Into our pleasant homes! 
 
 This was what was meant, no doubt. 
 By " the least of one of these, " 
 
 When Christ himself assured us 
 We himself that way could please i 
 
 Now, poor aged wanderers 
 In this good Christian land, 
 
 You need not feel forsaken 
 Relieved by Christ's command 1 
 
 Correct is this plain picture ? 
 
 Or should it be explained 
 That only in the retrospect 
 
 Are these good things obtained ? 
 
60 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 "TO MY SISTER" AND RESPONSE. 
 
 (The following correspondence in ryhme between the 
 author and her sister, Mrs. E. E. Orcult, was carried on 
 through the columns of the Monmouth (111.) Atlas, on the 
 part of the former and the columns of the Boston Olive 
 Branch on the part of the latter. The first in order " To 
 my Sister " was written for the Olive Branch by Mrs. Or- 
 cutt, at Woodstock, Vermont, May 1, 1851. The "Re- 
 sponse" was written for the Atlas by Mrs. Smith, at Mon- 
 mouth, Illinois, July 12, 1851.) 
 
 When our last farewell was given, 
 How our trusting hearts were riven, 
 Faint the smiles we strove to wear, 
 Tears their right asserted there. 
 
 Though deep waves between us flow, 
 Thoughts may travel to and fro, 
 On the mystic wire of will, 
 That binds our hearts together still. 
 
 And now I come at evening dew, 
 When fancy spreads her wings anew, 
 And sit in thought beside your hearth 
 And join the social chat and mirth. 
 
 I see dear children 'round you come, 
 And hear them sing again "Sweet Home," 
 Those buds in heaven are with me, too, 
 Though now they bloom away from you. 
 
 They need no more your tender care, 
 But live forever young and fair ; 
 I hear the voice of song and praise, 
 And hoping, wait for brighter days. 
 
 Oh, dear ! the thought that soothes the heart, 
 When from our loved ones rent apart, 
 . That we shall one day meet again, 
 Beyond the reach of every pain. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 61 
 
 Yes, sister, in that better land, 
 Where pleasures bloom on every hand, 
 And sacred joys perennial reign 
 *Tis sweet to think we'll meet again. 
 
 And should we not each other greet 
 'Till in that blissful land we meet, 
 May all the intervening time 
 Be spent in fitting for that clime. 
 
 And while the past has power to bring 
 Glad thoughts to us on memory's wing, 
 Oh, may the future lend a charm, 
 Which shall the cares of life disarm. 
 
 May each routine of duty be 
 The advent of new liberty, 
 New liberty for mental eyes 
 To pierce the gates of paradise. 
 
 There may the eye of faith behold 
 The lambs Christ gathered to His fold, 
 And as their beckoning glance we meet, 
 And hear their lisping tongues repeat 
 
 The song of "home, sweet home " above, 
 Oh, how our hearts in grateful love, 
 Pour forth the hopeful, ardent prayer, 
 That we ere long their bliss may share. 
 
 TRUE KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 How long it takes to learn to live 
 In this good world of ours, 
 
 Though very much it has to give 
 To lighten up our powers. 
 
 We do not open our blind eyes 
 To see what's to be seen ; 
 
 We do not listen with our ears 
 To what " glad tidings " mean. 
 
62 SOUVENIR COLLECTION QF POEMS 
 
 Jesus desired that we should know 
 What He had learned so well, 
 
 And grieved because we were so slow 
 While on this earth we dwell. 
 
 Why can't we find the Christ within, 
 And learn what's best to know, 
 
 Instead of floating on in sin, 
 As turbid waters flow ? 
 
 Oh, what * lovely world is this, 
 
 If men were only true ! 
 How much of happiness they miss 
 
 By what they now pursue ! 
 
 Seek God's kingdom and righteousnes. 
 
 The first thing that you do, 
 Then all things else in plenteousness 
 
 Will be secured to you. 
 
 CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 
 
 Discouraged the Disciples felt 
 As prostrate 'neath the cross they knelt; 
 Jesus from them now was taken, 
 Fearfully their faith was shaken ! 
 
 They thought He was the One who would 
 Now fill the world with -brotherhood 
 And never more that sin should reign 
 Satan no more a foothold gain ! 
 
 They thought invulnerable He was 
 To being nailed upon the cross, 
 Or ever human beings could 
 Deprive Him of His livelihood. 
 
 Now had this brightest prospect fled, 
 And all their brilliant hopes lay dead, 
 As Jesus on the cross expired 
 And nothing seemed of them required. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 63 
 
 Shortsighted were Disciples then 
 Like people now, when told again 
 The mission of the Saviour here 
 To bless with righteousness this sphere. 
 
 Today Christ is not understood, 
 Though pioclaimed loudly that He could, 
 If sinners would but trust in Him, 
 From sin's bondage deliver them. 
 
 Though many of His graces ring 
 A wordy trust is not the thing, 
 And works must follow in the wak^ 
 Of pious preaching for His sake. 
 
 The faith of just a little child 
 The pure religion, undenled 
 Drink to the thirsty daily given, 
 Are passports on the road to heaven. 
 
 Some think of Christ as far away : 
 His spirit can, and does each day 
 Come in to sup without delay 
 As a loved guest had come to stay. 
 
 THE INNER VOICE. 
 
 Let not your conscience e'er be seared 
 
 But heed its dictates true, 
 Accept not all that has appeared 
 
 As a reality to you ! 
 
 But listen to the inner voice 
 And wisdom therefrom gain. 
 
 Give no heed to external noise, 
 From outward calls refrain. 
 
 Pause and consider now which way 
 Your steps today are leading, 
 
 Waste not the time that's called today 
 Earths lessons all unheeding. 
 
64 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 PERFECT LOVE. 
 
 Give me the love that casts out fear, 
 The love that brings the Savior near; 
 This is the message Jesus brought, 
 For this he suffered, toiled and fought. 
 
 He fought the fight of faith to win 
 The bliss of being freed from sin ; 
 To bring the human race to know 
 How they could save themselves from woe. 
 
 11 1 am the way, the truth, the life," 
 All other ways are filled with strife ; 
 His burden is so very light 
 It lifts the darkness from the night. 
 
 ' Twas love that sent him to this world, 
 Love's banner caused to be unfurled, 
 That guilt might flee, the Father be 
 Through Christ discerned and loved as he. 
 
 Christ within that glorious hope, 
 Not brought by either priest, or pope ; 
 This is the love that frees the soul, 
 From bondage of the flesh control. 
 
 ADVANCEMENT. 
 
 I don't denounce the views I left 
 
 More than the shoes I have outgrown : 
 
 They served me when I younger was, 
 And were the best I then had known. 
 
 The road I traveled o'er last week 
 Led me to the point I craved ; 
 
 To stay there was not what I wished 
 E'en though much labor thus I saved. 
 
 1 My Father worketh hitherto ; n 
 Should I then ever try to shirk 
 
 Whatever seemeth best to do, 
 When Jesus said, * I also work ? " 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 65 
 
 If fruit trees get the sun and rain, 
 
 And soil is loosened round them, 
 The fruit will surely faster ripen 
 
 Than if the dry earth bound them. 
 
 Then cultivate both heart and mind, 
 
 Just as one would his garden till, 
 For neither will expand and grow 
 
 By sleeping, or by standing still. 
 
 GOD'S KINDERGARTEN. 
 
 " We aie all children in the kindegarten of God. 
 
 -The Philistine. 
 
 Yes, in God's Kindergarten we 
 Are only babies yet, you see, 
 And just now learning A, B, C ! 
 
 When we get to syllables two, ' 
 And the muses begin to woo, 
 What will our teachers with us do ? 
 
 For life's large book is so abstruse, 
 And so filled up with diverse views, 
 Can we adapt it to our use ? 
 
 If step by step we persevere, 
 And to right teaching do adhere, 
 The " little learning " will appear. 
 
 Though "little " is a dangerous thing, 
 Without it can we ever bring 
 Ourselves within the charmed ring 
 
 The charmed ring of authors rare, 
 Or be enabled to declare 
 Our pinions to be free as air 
 
 On Fancy's fairy wings to fly, 
 Free as the bird flits in the sky, 
 And warbles to the stars on high ? 
 
66 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 WHERE? 
 
 Where is heaven ? and where is hell ? 
 Just where the proper persons dwell ; 
 Two may be sitting side by side, 
 And each in heaven or hell reside. 
 
 You are in heaven if heaven's in you, 
 This may to you be something new, 
 But you will learn that it is true, 
 As air is in and outside too ! 
 
 We all do happinsss desire, 
 To gain the same it will require 
 Determined will and energy 
 Practiced with patient industry. 
 
 Love must lift the heavy-laden 
 Ere one can reach this earthly Eden ; 
 ' Tis love alone produces sweets, 
 And heightens all the joys he meets ! 
 
 Then start with Love divine, and know 
 That you will reap just as you sow. 
 Nature in all her ways is just 
 Measure impartially she must ! 
 
 HEAVEN. 
 
 There is in every dewy flower, 
 That opes its leaves at morning hour 
 And every raindrop of a shower, 
 A mighty lesson which has power 
 To tell of heaven to man. 
 
 There is in every lamp on high, 
 In every orb that meets the eye, 
 The sun, whose rays the stars outvie, 
 And every cloudlet in the sky, 
 What tells of heaven to man. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 67 
 
 There is in every shrub that grows, 
 In every leaf that Nature knows, 
 In every breath of wind that blows, 
 And everything that God bestows, 
 What tells of heaven to man. 
 
 Shall man, God's noblest work, alone 
 His Maker's sovereign care disown? 
 Refuse the terms that would atone, 
 For all the wrongs that he has done, 
 And purchased heaven for man ? 
 
 THY WILL, NOT MINE. 
 
 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, 
 
 Thy will be done in me ; 
 Then all that's worthy will be won 
 
 And swallowed up in Thee. 
 
 Thy will not mine should ever be 
 
 The principle applied ; 
 No higher blessedness we'll see 
 
 Than to in this abide. 
 
 The grace and wisdom from above, 
 The trust that gives true peace 
 
 The blissful harmony of love 
 Will never, never cease. 
 
 Then why in deadly strife and toil 
 
 Should daily man engage ? 
 Why not escape all the turmoil 
 
 That doubts and troubles wage ? 
 
 Why not accept the words of Christ, 
 Ye shall find peace in me ? 
 
 The words in which the saints rejoiced 
 And blessedness was free ? 
 
68 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 PLANTS AND FLOWERS. 
 
 Yes, their interest to us is doubly enhanced 
 By knowing that there is intelligence in plants ; 
 You speak to them and they will nod the head 
 As if they understood just what you said ! 
 
 Note that tendril reaching out to find support, 
 As if it knew the lay of twigs it seeks to court ; 
 Intelligence that only vines will exercise 
 And taking thought of sturdy strength likewise. 
 
 They seem to know when eyes bend o'er them lovingly 
 And almost grasp the hand they do appear to see. 
 Pet birds, also turn the back upon persons they know 
 And with ruffled feathers their keen dislike will show! 
 
 Both plants and birds know much more than people think 
 Estimating the same by what they eat and drink, 
 For they do need nourishment somewhat as humans do, 
 And they wilt and fade for the want of it, also. 
 
 Cruelty to animals has justly been a theme 
 Calling in the care of them for a kindlier scheme ; 
 But for cruelty to plants has not been thought worth while 
 To change the order of their care to a better style. 
 
 Oct. 5, 1908. 
 
 DO OUR LOVED ONES COME > 
 
 Do our loved ones come again to their home 
 
 And know how we miss them here ? 
 Do they look in the heart and solace impart 
 
 While the form lies cold on the bier ? 
 
 Come the breathings of love from the pure spheres above 
 
 To cheer the desponding and tried ? 
 Oh, then there is rest for the one bereft 
 
 Who longer on earth must abide. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 69 
 
 If these things be so, and the truths we may know, 
 
 Then will we not thrust them aside, 
 But for wisdom will ask, and think it no task 
 
 When Jesus -we have for our guide, 
 
 Jesus Christ, the day-spring, to earth came to bring 
 
 Life and immortality to light ; 
 Then who should despise, or think as unwise, 
 
 His heavenly teachings so bright I 
 
 Let us take His word and follow our Lord, 
 
 Assured He is always our friend ; 
 His peace He will give while to him we live 
 
 Though trials sore may us attend. 
 
 COLUMBUS 
 
 In fourteen hundred ninety-two 
 Columbus started with his crew; 
 He sought not honor, fame or wealth -, 
 He came not to restore his health. 
 
 The world must have one sided seemed 
 Before the thought in his brain teemed, 
 That there must be a continent 
 Off where the setting sun was sent. 
 
 Look on the map and see the space 
 That now the old world would embrace, 
 Had not Columbus with his band 
 Crossed over to this goodly land. 
 
 So for the unknown, foreign shores 
 The briny waters he explores ! 
 His faith is strong that there must be 
 A continent beyond the sea. 
 
 Then cheers for good Queen Isabel 
 Whose wisdom was her citadel, 
 Whose generous aid Columbus gained 
 Through whom success and honors rained. 
 
70 SOUVENIR COLLECTION QF POEMS 
 
 THE BIBLE. 
 
 The Bible is not chained within 
 
 A fortress dark and old ; 
 Its truths from out the paths of sin 
 
 Will lead you to Christ's fold. 
 
 Then give your energies today 
 
 To trace its sacred lore, 
 Nor throw the heavenly truth away 
 
 If thus you've done before. 
 
 'Twill tell you how the Saviour talked 
 
 When he was but a child ; 
 'Twill tell you how the righteous walked 
 
 This rugged earth and wild. 
 
 * Twill tell you to escape the woes 
 
 That wickedness befalls ; 
 ' Twill tell you how to conquer foes, 
 And build up Zion's walls. 
 
 * Twill tell you of that love divine 
 
 Which gave the Son to die. 
 That all accepting Him may find 
 A home beyond the sky. 
 
 THY WILL BE DONE. 
 
 Not my will but Thine be done ; 
 Thus be every day begun, 
 Then, whate'er my duties be, 
 It will still be well with me. 
 Heavenly guidance all the way 
 Daily, hourly have, we may. 
 Ask it shall be given thee. 
 For the giving is most free. 
 Wisdom has this good way planned 
 Governed by God's own command. 
 Perfect love casts out all fear, 
 And there'll be no danger near. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 71 
 
 DREAM OF HEAVEN. 
 
 I dream of heaven ; great peace have they 
 Whose minds are stayed on God ; 
 
 They use no words, with thoughts they pray, 
 To Him who is the Lord. 
 
 Their bodies, radiant and pure. 
 Their beauteous garments fine ; 
 
 So full of life that will endure ; 
 May life in heaven be mine. 
 
 While we in earth our mansions build, 
 
 Our garden fill with flowers, 
 And every day becomes enfillee 
 
 With bright, supernal powers! 
 
 We get a taste of heaven here, 
 
 While tarrying below, 
 Which those now in the higher sphere, 
 
 In glory so well know. 
 
 THE NEW AND THE TRUE 
 Dec. 10, 1875. 
 
 Tell me something newer 
 
 Than the latest news ; 
 Something that is truer 
 
 Than the morning dews. 
 
 The news is old to-morrow, 
 The dew is gone ere noon ; 
 
 Everything but sorrow 
 Perishes thus soon. 
 
 Give me something sparkling, 
 Something like new wine, 
 
 Which with age advancing 
 Renders it more fine. 
 
72 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 M % Y SEVENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY. 
 March 13, 1892. 
 
 Seventy-five years ; and where have they blown ? 
 Tell if you can where the summers are gone ; 
 The wings of Life and the ocean of Time 
 Have floated them off as a rythmic rhyme. 
 
 I feel not so old as the years would tell, 
 The days of my youth I remember well ; 
 The charm of living is as great as then, 
 Old age has no terrors to darken my ken. 
 
 The world looks as lovely, belonging to God 
 The world as His footstool where'er I have trod; 
 'Tis as well to be old as it is to be young, 
 As sweet as the sowing is the harvest song sung. 
 
 God is the giver of every gcod thing, 
 
 Autumn as bright as the hopefullest spring ; 
 
 Time is not counted by days and years, 
 
 'Tis counted by heart-throbs, by smiles and tears. 
 
 Then hail, all the days as they swiftly fly ! 
 We will use them well as they hurry by, 
 For life does not end with our earthly days, 
 And God holds the keys to the heavenly way. 
 
 I can trust the future as in the past, 
 
 All will be well when the end comes at last ; 
 
 I shall be " satisfied " when I awake 
 
 In His dear likeness when the dawn shall break. 
 
 OUR SIXTY-FOURTH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. 
 San Diego, Cal., July 7, 1 899. 
 
 We are nearing the end of our journey, 
 
 The mountains begin to look bright, 
 Very soon we may enter the portals 
 
 Where there will be no more night. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 73 
 
 From trials our life has not been exempt, 
 
 But day always followed the night ; 
 Have ever been blessed beyond our deserts, 
 
 Our path undeservedly bright. 
 
 More cause for thankfulness than repining, 
 Have seen more of pleasure than pain, 
 
 Every cloud has had its silver lining, 
 And darkness changed to light again. 
 
 " 1 have meat to eat that ye know not of," 
 Said Christ when his heart was full of love ; 
 We also may feed on food divine, 
 Nor hunger, nor thirst, nor feel to repine. 
 
 We get what we seek, if we seek aright, 
 His yoke is easy and His burden light ; 
 Brighter and brighter grows our pathway, 
 Till now we nre nearing the perfect day. 
 
 To loved ones who meet with us here to-day 
 May flowers spring up all along your pathway, 
 That the evening of life your best may be, 
 All ripe for a blissful eternity. 
 
 THE MOON JS BEAMING BRIGHT, LOVE. 
 
 (To Eliza.) 
 
 The moon is beaming bright, love, 
 
 Its mellow light on me ; 
 It sheds its rays to-night, love, 
 
 As sweetly, too, on thee. 
 
 What consolation this, love, 
 Though distant you may be, 
 
 And your kind voice I miss, love, 
 We both this beacon see. 
 
 How often we have strayed, love, 
 
 Beneath its smiling beams, 
 Where cooling zephyrs played, love, 
 
 Beside the silver streams. 
 
74 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 Perhaps you are to-night, love, 
 
 Even as I am now. 
 Gazing on its light, love, 
 
 And thinking of our vow. 
 
 Good night, then, good night, love, 
 Since parted we must be, 
 
 I'll hail this beacon light, love, 
 Which speaks to me of thee. 
 
 TRUTH. 
 
 The book of life is opened wide 
 That he who runs may read ; 
 
 The word of Truth is by your side, 
 Its sacred contents heed. 
 
 We need not wander from the right 
 And bend the knee to error, 
 
 When Christ's example, pure and bright 
 Relieves us of all terror. 
 
 The star of Truth forever shines, 
 
 Be guided by its rays; 
 From dross, Truth's crucible refines 
 
 The purest of Life's days. 
 
 WORDS. 
 
 Why use the little words that sting, 
 Or tones that will cause suffering ? 
 Why not be affable and kind, 
 And something pleasant bring to mind 
 
 Why not forget unpleasant things ! 
 A well-bred person never flings 
 A painful word to anyone 
 Neither sarcastic nor in fun ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEiMS 75 
 
 If the past you know has been 
 What looked like accident or sin, 
 Which made a fellow mortal blush, 
 Why on that subject should you push ? 
 
 There would be more of happiness 
 While traveling through earth's wilderness 
 If all would try to aid each other, 
 Treating each one as a brother ! 
 
 The Golden Rule teaches the same. 
 We are to help the blind and lame 
 Not merely physically blind, 
 But those whom Truth doth not yet bind. 
 
 ONE LOVELY MORN. 
 
 BY MRS. C. K. SMITH. 
 
 One lovely morn when May was born 
 On the Pacific Coast was I 
 
 I breathed the breath of roses then 
 As their fragrance rich swept by. 
 
 There's goodness in the human heart, 
 
 Say what you will about it, 
 If we would only trust it more, 
 
 Not be so quick to doubt it. 
 
 There's sometimes goodness in a heart, 
 Where least you would suspect it, 
 
 ' Tis hidden in a soul apart 
 Because it's been neglected. 
 
 ' Tis best to see some good in all 
 
 Instead of thinking ill, 
 Better to keep in memory's hall 
 
 The Champion of good will. 
 
76 SOUVENIR COLLECTION QF POEMS 
 
 INDEPENDENCE. 
 July 4, 1850 
 
 Here we meet, a little band 
 To commemorate the day, 
 
 When the fathers of our land, 
 Met allegiance vows to pay. 
 
 Not allegiance vows to power, 
 Nor allegiance vows to fame ; 
 
 These, the trappings of an hour, 
 Are not worthy of the name. 
 
 But the consecrated vows, 
 We commemorate this day, 
 
 At whose shrine Columbia bows, 
 Were the vows of Liberty ! 
 
 Strong in God's protecting power 
 To uphold a nation free, 
 
 Were the patriots of that hour, 
 Which proclaimed our Liberty ! 
 
 Now let Freedom's song be sung, 
 And her noble story told ; 
 
 Sound it forth from every tongue, 
 As in thrilling strains of old ! 
 
 Let pealing bells be heard, 
 
 And be Freedom's flag unfurled, 
 
 Until, like a swift-winged bird, 
 Liberty shall fan the world ! 
 
 CONTEMPLATING SUICIDE. 
 
 Courage, woman, live out your days, 
 At the worst they will be brief, 
 
 And and not so hard will be your ways, 
 For suicide gives no relief. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 77 
 
 You will be more alive when n dead " 
 Than when you thought yourself alive ; 
 
 You can never oblivion wed, 
 
 Nor will you in self murder thrive ! 
 
 Better to bear a few short years 
 What may be called the ills of life, 
 
 Than, overcome by paltry fears 
 Of sorrow or discordant strife. 
 
 Your burdens may be hard to bear, 
 
 The load you carry heavy be, 
 But look around, you'll see elsewhere 
 
 Some toiler would exchange with thee. 
 
 Then " angels unawares " might come 
 And dwell with you within your home ; 
 
 A soothing influence it would be 
 
 Which you would feel, but might net see. 
 
 Oct. 10, 1908. 
 
 A SIMILITUDE. 
 
 Suppose the sun, which shines on high, 
 
 Enlightening all around, 
 Could from its orbit in the sky, 
 
 Survey this lower ground, 
 
 And view the effects its rays produce, 
 
 As if it reason had, 
 And knew the blessings of its use 
 
 In making nature glad. 
 
 ' Twould then behold in every sea, 
 In every river, lake and stream, 
 
 The image of its majesty, 
 Its own reflected beam. 
 
 Nay, the loftiest mountain tops, 
 
 The snowy glaciers too, 
 Would then lift up their dazzling caps, 
 
 To its resplendent view. 
 
78 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 ' Tis thus the Sun of Righteousness, 
 
 In every soul renewed, 
 Beholds his own divine express, 
 
 As in a mirror viewed. 
 
 And through the beauty of his Son, 
 Does our Eternal Father see 
 
 The beings here that Christ hath won, 
 And smiles complacently. 
 
 "SHALL SEE GOD." 
 
 Yes, they'll see Him in His works, 
 And they'll see Him in His ways ; 
 
 They'll see Him in the form of man, 
 And in the lapse of days. 
 
 They'll see Him in the meanest worm 
 1 hat crawls upon the earth ; 
 
 They'll see Him in the tiniest form 
 That e'er in life had birth. 
 
 They'll see Him on the broad hill-side; 
 
 They'll see Him in the valley ; 
 They'll see Him on the ocean wide, 
 
 And in the meanest alley. 
 
 Though to earth's remotest bound 
 They could take wings and fly, 
 
 Like one of old they would have found 
 Jehovah still was nigh. 
 
 ALONE. 
 
 Oh, no, I never feel alone 
 And never know a fear, 
 
 For all along my path are shown 
 Companions that are dear. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 79 
 
 I see them in the stubborn rocks, 
 
 I see them in the stream, 
 I see them where the tempest mocks 
 
 And lightening flashes gleam. 
 
 I meet them in the lowly flower, 
 
 And in the forest grand, 
 I meet them at the morning hour 
 
 When dews are on the land ; 
 
 For then the fragrance is sublime, 
 
 The freshness is complete ; 
 And then all nature is in rhyme 
 
 With everything that's sweet. 
 
 O, who would miss the grand display 
 
 Of nature's handiwork, 
 As seen in every dawning day 
 
 Where rich surprises lurk. 
 
 SPIRIT FRIENDS 
 
 I would not keep them near me 
 
 If never best for them ; 
 I ask them not to hear me 
 
 Or loving words proclaim, 
 Unless the blessed meeting 
 
 Should mutually be 
 A happiness to them 
 
 As well as 'tis to me. 
 
 How selfish are we mortals 
 In claiming loved ones dear 
 
 To tarry at earth's portals 
 Because we want them here, 
 
 When they would gladly hasten 
 To higher realms than this, 
 
 Where they might be partaking 
 Of endless love and bliss. 
 
80 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 LIFE. 
 
 Now,, while life is full and free* 
 I'll hasten to define it ; 
 
 Life is in the land and sea, 
 If only we divine itl 
 
 Life is only Love expressed ; 
 
 Life is not life without it ; 
 This truth is to all addressed 
 
 However they may doubt it I 
 
 Life is light as well as love, 
 Love is life in motion ; 
 
 The angels bring it from above 
 As free as in the ocean I 
 
 Can you dip the ocean dry ? 
 
 Life is thus exhaustless ; 
 There is always full supply 
 
 To all who will endorse this. 
 
 Then why don't all men have it 
 
 And manifest alway, 
 Since there is plenty of it 
 
 With none to say them nay ? 
 
 BEAUTY. 
 
 There's beauty in the virgin spring, 
 
 When in the wood she weaves her bowers 
 
 There's beauty where the wild birds sing, 
 And echoes start among the flowers. 
 
 There's beauty in the pine-clad mount, 
 Where zephyrs sigh, and tempests fall, 
 
 There's beauty in the gushing fount, 
 Where heaven's arch is over all. 
 
 There's beauty in the humble flower, 
 In mead or grove on green hill side 
 
 A beauty of enticing power, 
 Wherever lovely flowers abide. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 There's beauty in the silver moon. 
 
 The twinkling stars that shine by night 
 
 That on our world look mildly down. 
 And glad us with their mellow light 
 
 There's a beauty which never dies 
 
 A beauty of the rarest kind, 
 Jt claims its kindred in the skies. 
 
 It is the beauty of the mind. 
 
 When this in kindness, truth and love, 
 
 Beams forth upon mankind, 
 We own its source is from above. 
 
 And feel its power divine. 
 
 POETS. 
 
 There are living poets, who 
 Never wrote a word of rhyme. 
 
 They enjoy a sunset view. 
 Or a cataract sublime. 
 
 You may meet them, sitting by 
 Some needy sick one's bed, 
 
 Or with homely duties try 
 To soothe an aching head. 
 
 Real poets do not spend 
 
 All their time in writing, 
 Though at times they may have penned 
 
 Something most inviting. 
 
 But poetry in practice is 
 
 Better than in theory 
 No public voice establishes 
 
 Praise to written poetry. 
 
 Actions do ofttimes express 
 
 More poetry than words; 
 And actions potent are to bless 
 
 More than the speech affords ! 
 
82 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 SELFISHNESS. 
 April 11, 1908. 
 
 You live for self and nothing more, 
 You'll find yourself alone, before 
 You fairly realize the fact 
 That you are thus, by your own act. 
 
 We cannot live to ourselves alone, 
 This everyone will have to own ; 
 Independence is not for man, 
 Nor was it the Creator's plan. 
 
 Interdependence is the word, 
 By which the sluggish pulse is stirred ; 
 Selfishness the one-man power 
 Will thrive hereafter not one hour. 
 
 The Golden Rule at once forbids 
 The selfsame motive Nature aids, 
 A barren waste, no verdure green 
 By this lone wanderer is seen. 
 
 Build you mansions while here you stay, 
 By doing good as yet you may, 
 What you deserve you will receive, 
 Let not your works cause you to grieve. 
 But let the heart and hand employ 
 The things that will result in joy. 
 
 DO AS I DO. 
 
 If you walk the way I walk, 
 If you talk the things I talk, 
 If you read just what I read, 
 Then I bid you all God-speed F 
 
 If you dare to go astray, 
 Or to walk some other way, 
 You are moving with the throng 
 And are surely in the wrong. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 83 
 
 GOOD BYE. 
 (On leaving Illinois for California, October, 1875.) 
 
 Oh, no, I will not say good bye, 
 
 I'll take you right along, 
 And then I'll always have you nigh 
 
 In solitude or throng. 
 
 I'll carry you on mem'ry's wing 
 
 And keep you by my side, 
 And that will consolation bring 
 
 From morn till eventide ! 
 
 I'll take you in my inmost heart 
 
 And give you ample room, 
 We'll go where sweetest flowers start, 
 
 And shed their rich perfume. 
 
 We'll climb the rugged mountain side, 
 
 We'll walk the valleys low, 
 We'll step above the world so wide, 
 
 And shun its toil and woe. 
 
 Thus we will bridge both space and time 
 
 And meet whene'er we will ; 
 Though parted while in earth's cold clime 
 
 Our souls will mingle still ! 
 
 MY EIRD. 
 
 A pretty little bird has come 
 To stay with me and glad my home, 
 And evermore 'twould grieve my heart 
 One moment from my bird to pirt. 
 
 From morn till noon, from noon till night 
 This little bird is my sunlight, 
 And when at eve I'm sad and weary 
 Its music notes come then to cheer me. 
 
 I thank my God, whose home is heaven, 
 That He to me this bird has given ; 
 May I be faithful to the trust 
 Till dust again returns to dust. 
 
84 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 REBECCA. 
 
 Like the daily sunshine bright, 
 Like a dancing fay or sprite ; 
 Like a bird that lifts its wings, 
 And upon the tree-top sings; 
 
 Like a flower of varied hue, 
 Budding, blooming, ever new ; 
 Like the warble of a bird 
 When in woodland it is heard ; 
 
 Like the music of the spheres, 
 Which the inner spirit hears ; 
 Like the cadence of a river 
 Singing praises to the giver; 
 Neither babe, nor full grown woman, 
 But a lovely child that's human. 
 
 Grandma. 
 San Diego, Cal., Dec. 24, 1902. 
 
 NEW YEAR. 
 
 The time has come the Orient light 
 Of New Year's dawn is here ! 
 
 Aurora bursts the gates of night, 
 And lo ! a new born year ! 
 
 How softly comes his gentle tread, 
 As if 'twere Reason's child, 
 
 And knew the Older Year was dead 
 In Time's huge volume filed. 
 
 His bearing is the most discreet, 
 His breath is like the rose ; 
 
 No snowy sandals on his feet, 
 No pendants from his nose. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 85 
 
 The icicles he leaves behind, 
 
 Old Boreas disdains ; 
 To rob the North he's disinclined ; 
 
 To suit the West he aims. 
 
 He aims to suit our Western clime, 
 
 Where loveliest flowers bloom, 
 Where yellower than a golden mine 
 
 The orange is at home. 
 
 Last year he paid a visit here 
 
 And learned what we'd accept ; 
 For other lands, with colder cheer 
 
 His frosty jewels kept. 
 
 With open hand he warmly greets 
 
 The dwellers near our bay ; 
 He smiles on every one he meets, 
 
 Then hurries on his way. 
 
 For round the world his mission is, 
 
 To leave no spot untrod ; 
 Not sorrow, weal or woe are his 
 
 All these he leaves with God. 
 
 THE WAY TO HEAVEN. 
 
 The way to Heaven is very short, 
 
 Its steps are only three ; 
 The Bible will the way impart, 
 
 Then to its precepts flee. 
 
 The first step is to purge the heart 
 
 Of self, that inward foe, 
 And Christ, soon as with that you part, 
 
 Will claim you for his own. 
 
 The last step only now you have 
 Before this truth you'll see, 
 
 And when you pass beyond the grave, 
 This blessedness will be. 
 
86 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 THE LIGHTHOUSE. 
 
 ( n On the British coasts, there are nearly two hundred 
 Lighthouses. On the northern and western coasts of France 
 there are eighty-nine lights ; and the Dutch have twenty-six 
 on their sea-coast and on the shores of the Zuyder Zee." ) 
 
 On a rock far away from the shore, 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 
 Where the rough waves unceasingly roar, 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
 Among the cliffs and dangerous shoals, 
 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 Where the stormy wind a death knell toll?, 
 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
 To guide the traveler on his way, 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 
 With its fire gleaming over the spray, 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
 To warn the mariner on the sea, 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 
 That he may the boiling eddy flee, 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
 To aid the ship the harbor to gain, 
 The towering lighthouse stands; 
 
 Throwing its golden light on the main, 
 There the lighthouse stands ; 
 
 All along the watery highway, 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 
 Where danger calls for its cheering ray, 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
 It stands, it stands, in its gothic pride, 
 The towering lighthouse stands ; 
 
 Rescuing souls from the swelling tide, 
 There the lighthouse stands. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 87 
 
 ATLANTIS. 
 
 In the old Atlantean days 
 When people walked in simplest ways, 
 All governing was done in love, 
 Guided by wisdom from above. 
 
 They knew the Universe contained 
 
 Enough for all if rightly claimed ; 
 
 It was the wish externalized 
 
 Which brought to them what most they prized. 
 
 They understood the silent law 
 That they could from the unseen draw 
 What was their own in the Universe 
 To bring it nigh or to disperse. 
 
 All selfishness was there unknown ; 
 None ever called God's wealth his own ; 
 Each happy in another's joy, 
 Great peace was theirs without alloy. 
 
 None were coerced, no jails, no crime ; 
 All, proudly volunteered in chime: 
 Morals and health went hand in hand 
 None ill or hungry in that land. 
 
 And here and there in modern days 
 We find a man of kindred ways, 
 Who would have justice done to all 
 Without regard to " Adam's fall ! " 
 
 In that clime did Bellamy dwell, 
 That he should picture scenes so well ? 
 Or did a saint from the angel world 
 Give him the hints his pen unfurled ? 
 
88 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 
 
 It was no dream or fancy's flight, 
 Born of a fevered brain at night ; 
 Times that have been will be again 
 With true women and manly men ! 
 
 DO THEY FORGET? 
 
 Oh, no, my friend, they do not forget 
 
 Away on that beautiful shore, 
 But the things of earth are in memory yet 
 
 As fresh as in days of yore. 
 
 The friends whom they loved, they are loving still, 
 
 And love is the work evermore 
 Engaged in by them of their own free will, 
 
 Away on that beautiful shore ! 
 
 And the songs they sing are the same as then, 
 
 And they sing them o'er and o'er ; 
 It is love to God and our fellow men 
 
 That is heard on that beautiful shore. 
 
 But think not that love will call them away 
 From dear ones they loved heretofore, 
 
 Nay, rather the warmer their hearts burn to-day 
 Towards those on the earthly shore. 
 
 Oh, no, do not think the loved ones are lost, 
 
 Nor severed from earth evermore, 
 You may know by yourself, and thereby trust 
 
 You'll meet on that beatiful shore ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF POEMS 89 
 
 POETRY OR PROSE. 
 
 Some write prosey poetry, 
 
 Others, poetic prose; 
 It does not matter much to me 
 
 If only words are those 
 
 That tell me something I may use 
 
 To benefit mankind ; 
 Living true poetry or prose, 
 
 Will always bless the mind 
 
 The mind of him who writes or reads 
 That which is well inclined, 
 
 Whose life consists of human deeds, 
 With words and deeds combined. 
 
 'Tis not surroundings that can make 
 
 Our happiness complete ; 
 'Tis how vicissitudes we take 
 That on our way we meet. 
 
A SOUVENIR COLLECTION 
 OF 
 
 THE PROSE WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 MRS. C. K. SMITH. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 GOLDEN WEDDING BELLS. 
 
 A FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATED IN SAN 
 
 DIEGO. 
 
 [The following account of the golden wedding anniver- 
 sary of Mr. and Mrs. Smith was published in the San Diego 
 Daily Union, of July 8, 1885.] 
 
 Not so often that we may not call it rare does the 
 marriage relation endure to the fiftieth milestone. 
 The scythe of Time spares comparatively few to the 
 experience of fifty years of wedded life. Few are 
 the ears that hear again the marriage bells of half a 
 century agone ; few the memories that recall a sacred 
 hour, when from the highest peak of life's experience 
 they looked out upon a world that then and for them 
 was perfect. Events in human life so rare deserve 
 commemoration and, as well, a chronicle. 
 
 Yesterday, July 7, 1685, was the fiftieth wedding 
 anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Smith of San 
 Diego. Few, it was supposed none, outside the fam- 
 ily connection knew the fact, though the sequel 
 showed that a few friends were, unaccountably, in 
 the secret. The family planned a quiet celebration. 
 A morn/ng surprise for the worthy couple and after- 
 vvard a trip to the Mussel Beds with Seely's coach- 
 and-four was the programme. The surprise was in 
 
 (93) 
 
94 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 the presents. A little maneuvering drew the com- 
 pany together in the sitting-room after breakfast, 
 which was the opportunity wanted for presenting 
 Mr. Smith with a fine gold-headed cane and Mrs. 
 Smith with a purse of gold coin. These were the 
 gifts of children and grandchildren, some here, some 
 yonder in Illinois. Upon the handle of the cane was 
 engraved: " Charles K. Smith, 1835 July 7, 1885. 
 From his Children and Grandchildren." The pre- 
 sentation was made by Mr. J. Russell Smith in the 
 following well chosen words : 
 
 'Dear 'Parents : While my heart swells with joy and grati- 
 tude at the pleasure afforded me in being with you today, 
 I regret my inability to express my thoughts. 
 
 It is needless to remind you that this, your fiftieth wed- 
 ding anniversary (an event which falls to the lot of but 
 few), is one that we have looked forward to with great an- 
 ticipation, little realizing until recently that we should have 
 the pleasure of being one of the number to commemorate 
 it. 
 
 Words will but feebly express the emotions of our breast 
 that the good Father of us all has dealt so kindly with us 
 in permitting me and mine, as well as so many of your 
 dear children, to share this occasion with you. While 
 cherishing a feeling of joy for this reunion, we do not for- 
 get those who have gone before, as well as others of the 
 family who would gladly have shared these pleasures with 
 us if it had been in their power to do so ; and while they 
 are far away, yet in their and our memories they can be 
 with us and assist in making this wedding anniversary a 
 joyous one. 
 
 As the events of life crowd upon you, the fifty years just 
 passed, no doubt, seem but a short era, but we are glad 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 95 
 
 that with us you can live them over again. We are thank, 
 ful, too, that Father Time has dealt so kindly and leniently 
 with you in permitting you to share the pleasures of this 
 occasion in so good health. May you have many golden 
 days to cheer your pathway in life. 
 
 Dear father, it affords me a great deal of pleasure at this 
 time in behalf of your children and grandchildren to pre- 
 sent you with this gold-headed cane, but while it feebly 
 expresses our love toward you, we hope that whenever 
 you look upon it or partake of its helpfulness it will re- 
 mind you of this happy occasion and ever bring pleasant 
 remembrance to your mind. 
 
 To you, dear mother, 1 present these pieces of gold as 
 coming from your children and grandchildren. What 
 more can I say to make this a complete day of joy and 
 gladness to your heart? Equally with father have you 
 shared the joys as well as sorrows of life, but they are all 
 forgotten in the blessings of today. 
 
 These tokens but faintly bespeak our love, and while few 
 know we express our gratitude but feebly, we hope the 
 golden days that are in store for you will be free of alloy 
 and that naught but happiness and joy will ever be yours. 
 
 May the reunion of this day always gladden your hearts 
 and give you a foretaste of a happy reunion awaiting us in 
 heaven. 
 
 To these fervent words Mr. C. K. Smith responded 
 as follows : 
 
 Mp Ever Loving Sons and Daughters : These tokens of 
 kindness and affection on your part, so unexpectedly be- 
 stowed, fill my heart with the most pleasing emotions of 
 parental gratitude and affection. In former years I have 
 occasionally carried a cane, simply as a convenience, but 
 
96 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 this cane, so artistically wrought and elaborately engraved, 
 I shall ever prize as a gift from loving hearts on this ever 
 to be remembered fiftieth anniversary of our wedding day. 
 I shall use it as a " staff " to lean upon as time ever carries 
 me onward in its rapid flight ; and may you, one and all, 
 be as happy in its bestowal as I am in its acceptance. And 
 may He whose love is greater than ours, confer upon each 
 and all of us greater blessings than we, ourselves, can give 
 or receive. 
 
 Mrs. Smith extemporized a poetic response in lines 
 as follows : 
 
 On looking back o'er fifty years 
 How very brief the time appears ! 
 The hours but moments seem to me ; 
 That Time has wings I plainly see. 
 The fact that figures don't deceive, 
 Is all that makes me now believe 
 That half a hundred years have fled 
 Since in the church we two were wed. 
 If years give wisdom, as they say, 
 How wise we ought to be today. 
 
 A present of pearls was received from Mrs. E. E. 
 Orcutt, of San Diego, and a souvenir k f rom Mrs. Ly dia 
 E. Anthony, of Mansfield Center, Conn., sisters of 
 Mrs. Smith. Misses Etta L. and Rosa Belle Smith 
 also remembered their grandmama, the former with 
 a set of silver knives and the latter with a cabinet 
 photo of her sweet little self. Mrs. Eunice Marsh, a 
 niece, of Mansfield Center, Conn., also sent a souve- 
 nir. Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Orcutt, of San Diego, pre- 
 sented a beautiful gilt-framed oil painting of a sunset 
 scene in Holland, executed by Mrs. Orcutt. Mrs. E. 
 E. Orcutt's gift was accompanied by the following 
 lines : 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 97 
 
 Ring, ring again, ye marriage bells, 
 
 O'er fifty years your music swells, 
 
 For every joy along the way, 
 
 Ring, ring ye bells, again today! 
 
 And friends and kindred, far and near, 
 
 Rejoice these marriage bells to hear. 
 
 And with your crown of orange flowers 
 
 Turn wishes golden for these golden hours ; 
 
 And grateful notes, more sweet than joy, 
 
 Now all our tongues and hearts employ. 
 
 During the day, while all were absent, a beautiful 
 basket of choice flowers from Mrs. A. J. Chase and 
 a booklet " Golden Grain " from Mrs. P. D. Valen- 
 tine, were left at^the door of the residence on Ninth 
 street, between C and D, each accompanied by a note 
 of congratulations. 
 
 It was 8:30 o'clock when the start was made for 
 the scene of the picnic that was on the programme. 
 The company embraced Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Smith, 
 Miss Rosa Smith, Mr. and Mrs. J. Russell Smith, 
 Misses Etta L., Floy E. and Rosa Belle Smith, Ken- 
 nie S. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Berry, Mrs. E. E. 
 Orcutt and Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Orcutt. The morn- 
 ing was foggy and a little chilly; but it is a rare day 
 in San Diego that does not have sunshine on a part 
 of it, and by noon the fog was dispelled. An hour 
 and a half sufficed to traverse the eight miles to the 
 Mussel Beds. Two or three hours among the rocks, 
 caves and shells, and there were whetted appetites 
 demanding lunch. On the warm, clean, surf-washed 
 sands the repast was spread. With the surf thun- 
 dering at their feet, in the fresh, bracing sea-breeze, 
 the company discussed the provisions till a very 
 great miracle would have been required to collect 
 
98 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 fragments for refilling the baskets that came thither 
 well-filled. Lunch ended, a siesta of an hour fol- 
 lowed, then a little more rambling on the beach dally- 
 ing with the waves, and then the return home. 
 
 This report is imperfect till it has given some ac- 
 count of the worthy pair to whom the occasion chiefly 
 belonged. Charles Kendall Smith and Lucretia Gray 
 were married at Woodstock, Vermont, July 7, 1835, 
 by Rev. B. C. C. Parker, Rector of the Episcopal 
 Church at that place. Mr. Smith was at that time 
 publishing a paper called the //enrp Clay, or the Ver- 
 mont Courier. Two years later they removed to Graf- 
 ton, 111., where he assisted in publishing The {Back- 
 woodsman. In 1839 they removed to Rock Island, 
 and in 1 847 to Monmouth, 111., at which latter place, 
 Mr. Smith began the publication of ^he Monmouth 
 Atlas, with which he continued until 1857. In Oc- 
 tober, 1875, they came to California in search of 
 health, spending the following winter in San Fran- 
 cisco. In March, 1 876, they came south to Los An- 
 geles and Anaheim, spending five weeks at the latter 
 place. In May of the same year they came to San 
 Diego, where they found the conditions of climate 
 they were in search of and decided to locate. 
 
 RESPONSE 
 
 ( Mrs. C. K. Smith to her sister, Mrs. L. E. Anthony, of 
 Mansfield Center, Conn. 
 
 How the golden presents come 
 Freighted with good wishes from 
 Relatives and friends ! 
 
 How these missives from afar, 
 Friendship laden as they are, 
 Bring to mind our friends ! 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 99 
 
 Loving friends we knew erewhile, 
 Who with hand and loving smile, 
 Greeted us as friends. 
 
 Far from friends so tried and true, 
 Now we think of them anew, 
 As trusted friends. 
 
 Trusted friends with whom we dwelt 
 All our woes by them were felt, 
 Sympathizing friends. 
 
 How our hearts within us burn, 
 As from day to day we learn 
 The fate of friends. 
 
 One has climbed the stair of fame, 
 And high up has placed his name, 
 Among his friends. 
 
 One has felt the deepest woe, 
 And alone has had to go 
 For want of friends. 
 
 We shall surely reach a clime, 
 
 Where will justice be in time, 
 
 Meted out to friends. 
 
100 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 LIFE WORTH LIVING. 
 
 Is life worth living ? What an insane question ! Are 
 dreams worth dreaming ? Are thoughts worth thinking ? 
 What does anyone know about life ? 
 
 Every person finJs himself in possession of life and the 
 use he makes of what life he has will decide the question 
 whether his life is worth living whether it is worthy of 
 the Life Giver a noble son of a noble Father. A worthy 
 son makes himself worthy of his honored father. If he 
 makes a dishonorable use of his life, he dishonors his 
 father. God is the father of us all. If we use the life he 
 has given us, improving all our talents in usefulness, then 
 we make our life worth living. 
 
 No one can step out of life because he thinks it not 
 worth living. He may separate himself from his body 
 and find himself hampered for the want of it. A traveller 
 may drown his horse and find himself hampered for the 
 want of it. He is still a traveller, obliged to get over the 
 ground the best way he can. Is it not better to avail our- 
 selves of all the facilities for journeying through life than 
 to cut them off or shut ourselves out from them ? Since 
 we are started on life's journey independent of our own 
 volition, can we not trust to the power of the One to carry 
 us safely through our journey's end ? But who can fore- 
 tell the end ? Who knows anything about the beginning ? 
 Shall we refuse to eat delicious fruit because we do not 
 know which was first the tree that bore the fruit or the 
 seed that produced the tree ? Sufficient for us hungry 
 mortals to know that it is for us to pluck und eat. So of 
 the life that is ours. We cannot possibly relinquish it any 
 more than we can check the sunshine or stay the rain and 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 101 
 
 evening dew. We have the life and we have no right to 
 ask if it is worth living any more than to ask, is the sun 
 worth shining, or the stars worth twinkling ? We are 
 helpless in the matter of changing the order of our life as 
 well as the order of the celestial orbs. 
 
 Life is not in our control, worth living or not, neither 
 the beginning nor the ending. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 John B. Gough, a reformed dram-drinker, says " every 
 moderate drinker could abandon the intoxicating cup if he 
 would every inebriate would if he could !" What a 
 forcible declaration to induce those who only indulge in 
 an occasional glass to abstain from it altogether. Neither 
 once, nor twice drinking to excess makes the inebriate. It 
 has grown on him gradually from a beginning of what he 
 termed temperate, harmless drinking. But there is no such 
 thing as temperate drinking. Upon the temperate and 
 the venders of this poison, does the sin of the inebriate in 
 a great measure fall. Let the man who in his sober senses 
 quaffs his harmless glass, relinquish it entirely let the 
 rumseller exchange his traffic for an occupation more en- 
 nobling to humanity, and the time is nigh at hand when 
 the hopeless inebriate will be known only among the 
 things that were. 
 
102 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 BILLY'S CAP. 
 
 [The publisher of Word and Works, a monthly, St. Louis, 
 Mo., offered a prize for the best second chapter to a story 
 entitled Billy 's Cap, the first chapter of which appeared in 
 the November (1907) issue of that paper. This prize was 
 awarded to the author of the contents of this book. The 
 first chapter of Billy s Cap dealt with a boy named William 
 Harrison MacDougall, familiarly called Billy, to whom the 
 fault of carelessness was imputed because he so frequently 
 lost his cap. Billy's Aunt Geraldine lived with the family, 
 with ideas of the discipline adapted to correct Billy's fault 
 that were rather more severe than those of his own mother. 
 Billy's taste of his aunt's disciple came when his mother 
 went off on a visit. In her absence, Billy was in charge of 
 his aunt. During this time, as punishment for the loss of 
 his cap, Billy was kept at home from a lawn party which 
 he wished very much to attend with his^sister Dorothy. 
 But it turned out that this time Billy had not in fact lost his 
 cap. On the contrary, he had hung it 011 its proper peg, 
 upon which also, and over the cap, Aunt Geraldine had 
 hung her jacket and in this jacket the soft cap became so 
 folded that it escaped notice till the aunt took off her 
 jacket which she had worn to the lawn party. The dis- 
 covery of the cap relieved Billy of blame for its loss and 
 opened the way for him to attend the lawn party in the 
 afternoon, which he did. The prize chapter above re- 
 ferred to, and which follows, is a sequel to the finding of 
 the cap.] 
 
 As soon as Aunt Geraldine learned that Billy's cap had 
 all the time been under her jacket while she was saying to 
 him severely, " nobody has taken your cap away," it came 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 103 
 
 to her memory like a flash that coming in late the night 
 before and in the dark, she had temporarily thrown her 
 jacket onto Billy's peg. Then when ready to go up stairs 
 had snatched it off quickly with the soft, unruly cap inside 
 of it 
 
 Next morning, to be early at the lawn, as she was one of 
 the young ladies who were working hard to make the 
 party a success, donned her jacket without discovering the 
 unusual hump, although it did'nt feel just right ! 
 
 She thought of her words implying a falsehood or a mis- 
 take on the part of Billy and his sister in the positive as- 
 sertion, " if you hung your cap there last night and haven't 
 taken it down this morning, why, then, it hangs there now. 
 That stands to reason.'* 
 
 Billy and his sister both admitted *' it stands to reason," 
 at the same time insisting that it was not there. 
 
 Now at this unpleasant stage of affairs, while good Aunt 
 Geraldine was feeling like a culprit, she was reminded of 
 a circumstance which occurred when she was taking a 
 graduate course at college where was taught cooking, dish- 
 washing, ironing and other household duties, including 
 bringing up children. 
 
 One of the rules was to waste no time idly waiting for 
 orders, but to have some needle work handy to pick up, 
 and notice how much can be accomplished by improving 
 these few moments. On one occasion she had laid a 
 light piece of embroidery on the seat of an open window 
 anJ on returning to pick it up, found it was gone. Her 
 first exclamation was, " I left it here, and it could not have 
 got away without hands." But the sequel proved that it 
 did get away without hands, though no more alive than 
 Billy's cap. 
 
(04 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 After searching everywhere and giving it up as not to 
 be found, a white thread was seen hanging down from 
 one of the shade strees, and investigating the affair it was 
 found that a bird had lined its nest with the fancy work. 
 
 Aunt Gerald ine had been blessed with a good share of 
 native ability, and her opportunities for culture had been 
 rare ; she had imbibed correct theories upon managing a 
 household, especially of bringing up children. The more 
 she loved them, the more she cared for their welfare, so 
 much the more should she be strenuous in the ways that 
 were deemed for the best. ' *' Train up a child in the way 
 he should go," will apply and do to follow in all cases. 
 As before said, Aunt Geraldine had all these good theories 
 to perfection, but this visit to her married sister was her 
 first opportunity of putting them in practice. And this re- 
 sult of the first effort was not a little humiliating. All this 
 while Billy was learning for the first time that there is a 
 pleasure in self-denial, and a lesson in disappointment. 
 Although he was sure he was right about his cap being in 
 its proper place, he knew there had been times when he 
 had annoyed his parents by carelessness, and felt that he 
 deserved punishment. He seemed suddenly to have 
 grown older, more manly and more reasonable ; seriously 
 considering that he must guide himself into correct ways, 
 and not wait for a wise aunt to direct him. And while he 
 was giving the matter thought, his aunt was undergoing 
 self-examination. She had a right to feel wise and self- 
 satisfied, for has she not out-stripped all her competitors ? 
 But she learned that experience is a good teacher ; so both 
 parties profited by the unpleasant mistake. 
 
 Aunt Geraldine was loving and desired always to be 
 just, and so she considered it neccessary to make amends 
 as far as possible, for Billy's severe disappointment. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 105 
 
 Billy had an indulgent father and a loving mother* 
 When his father showed him a memorandum of the caps 
 he had lost the last six months, he felt a slight tinge of re* 
 gret, for he loved his father, and he was naturally amiable. 
 But it did not touch him personally, and boy fashion, he 
 rather liked to have a new cap often. Had he been put to 
 some disagreeable task until he had earned the money to 
 buy another cap, he might have learned the lesson earlier. 
 Being deprived of going to the lawn party was his first ex- 
 perience in self-deniaL 
 
 Billy's mother had been very judicious in her instruc- 
 tions, love always manifest in her severest discipline. Al- 
 ways careful not to impose too many restrictions at one 
 time. Children who would like to please mother by obe- 
 dience, sometimes get " dou't do this or don't do that," so 
 mixed in their minds that it is difficult to separate them. 
 Then their attention is easily diverted by some incident or 
 suggestion, causing apparent heedlessness. I am reminded 
 of a little tot telling her mother the teacher taught her a 
 verse : " Fear not, I will send you a quilt," 
 
 "Comforter" was the word, instead of quilt. Numerous 
 instances of innocent substitutions of words of similar 
 meaning could be related. As the unpleasant episode of 
 the lost cap had spoiled the pleasure of the morning at 
 the lawn party anticipated by Billy, Dorothy and Aunt 
 Gertrude, they were by the contrast better prepared for 
 enjoyment in the afternoon. But the first thing was to find 
 the boy. While feeling the injustice of the present punish- 
 ment, he learned the lesson that it was not so hard to be 
 blamed wrongfully as it was to be really guilty ; he had a 
 hearty cry soon as he was by himself which gave him re- 
 lief, but he did not want his sister and aunty to know he 
 
106 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 was baby enough to cry ; then he enjoyed remembering 
 that he truly did not lose his cap this time ; his sister knew 
 it, too, so he was comparatively calm when found at work 
 on his window seat. To his aunt's surprise Billy was less 
 agitated than she was herself. Dorothy could hardly con- 
 tain herself for joy ; she sprang to him, clasping him close, 
 happier than her brother. 
 
 Things at the lawn party had gone on slowly all the 
 morning, try as they would to make it a success. Now the 
 afternoon would be better ; the air was cool and the "don- 
 key riding was the best of anything," said Billy. The 
 smiles of the aunt and sister, gladdened by his enjoyment 
 gave him such pleasure and freedom as he had never be- 
 fore known. Not once did they say " don't lose your cap,'* 
 don't get hurt," " don't run against that child," not one of 
 the disagreeable don'ts. Ever after Billy was more care- 
 ful, his aunt less strenuous, and the mother most happy to 
 perceive that her sister's discipline had not been fruitless. 
 
 HOW TO KNOW. 
 
 Emerson says : " Why should not we have a poetry and a 
 philosophy of sight, and not of tradition ; and a religion of 
 revelation to us, and not the history of foregoing genera- 
 tions? Why should wa grope among the dry bones of the 
 past? The sun shines today also." 
 
 Many people are striving to "know the Lord," while 
 neglecting to know themselves, the only avenue. When 
 they recognize and cultivate the good within them, they 
 will know the Lord, and in no other way. 
 
 Dr. Geo. W. Carey once said : " A spiritual scientist 
 brought some oxygen and hydrogen to God and asked, 
 1 Lord, what are these gases ?' and the Lord said ' they are 
 the molecules in the blood and body of the universe.' 'If 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 107 
 
 so, what manner of molecules constitute thy blood and 
 body ?' The Lord answered, ' they are the same. I am 
 the universe and besides me there is no other ! ' ' What 
 then is spirit ? ' ' As water and ice are one, so spirit and 
 matter are one. ' 
 
 " The spiritual scientist then said : ' Lord I now perceive 
 that when I breathe I breathe Thee, when I drink I drink 
 Thee, and when I eat I eat Thee. And the Lord said, ' Let 
 there be Light. Thou art redeemed by thy understand- 
 ing.'" 
 
 It is only through the fires of transmutation that we are 
 enabled to see that all life is one, Eternal Life and there- 
 fore cannot be taken, injured or destroyed. 
 
 A FALSE OPINION. 
 
 A false opinion or belief affects the person who holds it 
 more than any one else. The truth can no more be con- 
 fined than the sunshine. And it is equally exhaustless. Nei- 
 ther can it be monopolized ; whoever thinks he has it all 
 within his grasp is unfortunate. It is a sad delusion ; it will 
 take an eternity to learn it all; no hope for the one who 
 thinks he knows all now ; what will he do throughout the 
 coming years with nothing more to learn with that broad 
 avenue of happiness closed ? 
 
 There is nothing more exhilerating to one who wants to 
 make a discovery than the coming mental light which shows 
 or exemplifies to him the heart of the subject he is contem- 
 plating. Perseverance on a given line discloses a fact or 
 elucidates a truth which enables the searcher to perceive 
 other desirable agents which he continues to grasp until 
 immensity broad opens before him. His ardor is strength- 
 ened as knowledge increases and he is gladdened accord- 
 ingly. 
 
108 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 TRIP TO THE MOON. 
 
 [June. 1901.] 
 
 I had been reading a treatise on dreaming, which con- 
 tended that a person could learn through a dream much 
 that was important and true, which it was impossible to 
 obtain in any other way. 
 
 This is the modus operand i. 
 
 " On retiring at night, think of something you want ex- 
 plained or elucidated, concentrate the mind upon it, driv- 
 ing out all foreign thoughts and your dreams will reveal 
 the facts upon the subject you are contemplating." This 
 was tried one night most satisfactorily. 
 
 Having heard from childhood that the moon was made 
 of green cheese, and never quite sure of its truth, here was 
 an opportunity to solve the vexed problem. 
 
 In my dream that night I went directly to the moon. 
 The inhabitants greeted me with the united exclamation 
 " here is a man from that dull star called the earth ! " 
 
 They were not so much surprised as they otherwise 
 would have been, because I was not the first person who 
 had visited them from a far away planet. 
 
 Very soon after my arrival I ascertained that the moon 
 was verily composed of green cheese ! The dwellers upon 
 the moon all seemed to be aware of this, and simultane- 
 ously cried, " how could we be sustained if it were not 
 so ? " They showed me how they cut slices from it 
 whenever they were hungry. 
 
 They had gold knives, silver knives, iron knives and 
 wooden knives with which to cut the cheese. Singularly 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 109 
 
 enough, cheese cut with each knife produced a different 
 article of diet. So that whatever their appetite craved, 
 they had only to take the knife which that kind of food 
 represented. This arrangement would relieve them of all 
 anxiety as to what they should eat, what they should drink, 
 or wherewithal be clothed. Their heads and bodies, ex- 
 cept the face and hands, were covered with a short, hand- 
 some fur. 
 
 They called themselves twins, instead of brothers as we 
 do, and they looked exactly alike. I could not tell one 
 from another. All one in the moon ? All seemed to be 
 of one mind. What one knew they all knew. I would 
 talk with one and then direct my speech to another, and 
 he would go right on with the argument as if he had been 
 the one I was at first conversing with ! A more contented, 
 self-satisfied people could never be found. 
 
 There was no night on the moon, or rather it should be 
 said it was all night. The same, cloudless, mellow moon- 
 light all the time. No cold winters, no hot summers. Just 
 deliciously warm and deliciously cool. 
 
 They related to me their experience with a man from the 
 planet Jupiter, who once upon a time paid them a visit. 
 He told them such wondrous stories of the inhabitants of 
 that planet, they knew he was a deceiver, and pitched him 
 over the rim of the moon, and that was the last of him ! 
 " He said that the people on the planet Jupiter had brains, 
 which they carried in their heads, and we did not believe 
 it." Then they asked me outright if I ever heard of any 
 such people upon the earth where I came from ? Now I 
 I perceived that I must answer them cautiously, or I might 
 share the fate of my Jupiterian brother. 1 told them there 
 were a few persons in our world who thought they had 
 
1 10 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 brains, but if so they did not know how to use them ! 
 
 They never, as we do, make any provision for the mor- 
 row. Sufficient for the day is the supply thereof. No one 
 ever sliced a bit of cheese which was not then and there 
 devoured. Whether this was because, like the manna in 
 the wildnerness, the cheese would spoil if thus kept, or 
 because it was so accessible where it rested in the bosom 
 of Mother Moon, I do not know ! 
 
 Be this as it may, I told them that our earth was very 
 much like their moon, inasmuch as all our supplies came 
 from the earth, with this difference : while theirs was 
 alike all around, giving each person an equal chance with 
 all others, some portions of our earth offered more favor- 
 able inducements to industry than others. There are in 
 some places soft spots, requiring less labor to produce 
 food. Besides, our people are different. We are only 
 brothers, not twins, like you. We have also cunning men, 
 learned in all the arts of accumulating. These are alert, 
 always striving for the " soft places," ready to take slices 
 from the different products of the earth sufficient for many 
 years. Often getting more than they could use in a life- 
 time. 
 
 Every laboring man works with the hope of some day 
 becoming like the favored ones. But many delve on till 
 comes the change that comes to all on the planet earth, 
 which change is wrongly called death. 
 
 After this change the people find themselves enough 
 alive to learn the truth and justice of the sentence, " with 
 what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again." 
 
 One would naturally think that cutting slices from the 
 moon for their daily sustenance, would diminish the size 
 of their world. But not so. They tried to explain to me, 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 1 1 1 
 
 that by some invisible process the substance they took from 
 the moon was restored, and the supply always at hand. 
 All was restored to the place from whence it came. Is our 
 earth diminished by the food produced from the ground 
 and consumed by the inhabitants? I never so fully rea- 
 lized this till observing the simple process upon the moon. 
 Think of the millions of tons of hay, grain and vegetables 
 taken from the earth in one year ! If piled together in one 
 bulk, what a huge mountain it would make, to say nothing 
 of the live stock and forests added thereto ! One can 
 hardly imagine the space such an accumulation would oc- 
 cupy. The globe is not made smaller by the removal of 
 this huge mass. So of the moon, nothing is lost or re- 
 moved from the orb. Change is the order the same as in 
 our world. The diminution is only local and temporary 
 like an excavation made in our earth for any purpose. 
 What astronomers call the " mountains in the moon " may 
 have been produced by some localities having been left 
 untouched for a given length of time. This might account 
 for the craters seen also. Asaph Hall, the discoverer of 
 the moons on the planet Mars says, " nobody knows how 
 the strange craters scattered over the moon's surface were 
 formed." Astronomers are divided in their opinions about 
 the moon. They have never been there. Not one of 
 them has ever talked with " the man in the moon." A di- 
 versity of opinions also as to the man. It has recently been 
 discovered that it is the " new woman " who looks smilingly 
 down upon earth. Persons have actually seen a picture 
 of Luna with a clear outline of the maiden's face ! It could 
 not be mistaken for a man. A Chicago daily is authority 
 for the statement that " a medallion likeness of W. E. Glad- 
 stone and Delia Fox has been discovered in the moon." 
 Yet in face of all these facts astronomers assert that " all 
 moons are dead and cold orbs." Our moon, near to us as 
 she is, and observable in detail by the telescope, is a great 
 mystery." 
 
1 12 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 " THE CHEERFUL NEVER GROW OLD." 
 
 [ The following was written and published in the year 
 1850. Its sentiment is expressive of the temperament of 
 its author whose longevity is no doubt attributable, among 
 other virtues, to her unfailing cheerfulness which made her 
 presence a constant benediction.] 
 
 The saying that a " cheerful person is as young at the 
 age of 60 as at 16," was verified in my mind, on visiting a 
 few days since a lady who remembers to have seen our 
 first President, General Washington. It was my pleasure 
 to spend a day with this venerable lady, and the cheerful- 
 ness, vivacity and graceful dignity with which she enter- 
 tained her guests, made one forget age, and its accompany- 
 ing infirmities. And even little children, in lively confi- 
 dence consulted her about their amusements, as in unre- 
 strained familiarity they would approach one another 
 the consequence of which was, their unreservedly opening 
 their young hearts to her, thus enabling her to become ac- 
 quainted with their several peculiarities, and in an easy 
 manner to direct their attention to the formation of right 
 habits, without the children once suspecting they were re- 
 ceiving a correction, or subjected to an irksome discipline. 
 
 Now, what was the occasion of this lady's constant 
 cheerfulness ? Was it because her life had been all sun- 
 shine, and she had been exempt from the cares, misfor- 
 tunes, and heart-rending bereavement incident to our mor- 
 tal existence, and for which so many even in their younger 
 days think they are excusable for indulging in gloom and 
 melancholy? Far from it, To my own knowledge she 
 has passed through afflictions of a peculiarly trying nature 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 1 1 3 
 
 such as only those who have experienced the same, can 
 in any degree appreciate. Not once did I hear her com- 
 plain of head-ache, tooth-ache, or yawning lassitude, by 
 which too many affected, sentimental misses are wont to 
 annoy those in their presence. Was it because she never 
 suffered from these ills of the flesh ? Assuredly not. But 
 my young friends, it was owing to a discipline of the mind 
 a principle of true politeness, which " consists in making 
 everybody happy about you." A principle which forbids 
 the expression or the action of any thing that would have 
 a tendency to wound or offend another. Let this prin- 
 ciple be early instilled in your minds and constantly acted 
 upon, and you will find it not only a source of much hap- 
 piness to yourselves, but will be the means of contributing 
 greatly to the good of others. 
 
 There is another, and not unimportant consideration, 
 which will contribute to agreeableness, and will tend much 
 to " making every body happy about you." It is, never 
 to allow yourselves to be untidily dressed. Often, all that 
 is requisite is a little industry on your part. It is not ex- 
 pense so much that is needed to make a well dressed per- 
 son, as a laudable taste and desire not to offend or dis- 
 please the eye of your companions. Cultivate, then, as a 
 duty you owe to others, and on the principle of contribut- 
 ing to others' enjoyment, a taste for dress suitable and be- 
 coming your station.. Do not let the fear of being called 
 proud deter you from this duty. It is oftener regard for 
 others, rather than any undue feeling of self-consequence, 
 that directs a judicious attention to dress. 
 
 Now, young reader, now, in the spring time of your 
 youth, is the time to lay the foundation for a cheerful, use- 
 ful and happy life. As your tastes are directed now, so 
 
1 14 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 will the future reward you. Miss Maria Edgworth, when 
 in her eighty-second year, wrote to a friend, "Our pleas- 
 ures in literature do not, I think, decrease with age." She 
 also stated in that year she had as much enjoyment from 
 books as she ever had in any year of her life thus exem- 
 plifying the durability of tastes and habits acquired in 
 youth. 
 
 CHEAP POSTAGE. 
 
 [Editorial in Monmouth, (111.) ./ft /as, February 18, 1850.] 
 We want cheap postage, and we want it now. The time 
 has come when the people are willing to bear this oppres- 
 sive tax no longer. Everywhere the public voice is unan- 
 imous in demandiug a reduction of postage. The reduc- 
 tion of postage is demanded as a right, not asked as a 
 favor. The more enlightened a people become, the more 
 unwilling are they to bear a yoke of bondage, be it in 
 whatever form it may. And what can be more burden- 
 some, more galling to a generous spirit, than to have this 
 most delightful means of intercourse impeded by an ex- 
 orbitant tax. And this tax is for what ? For the benefit of 
 the poor, the oppressed, the widow, and the orphan ? Oh 
 no, not for that. The tax is laid upon the many that a 
 favored few, in this land of liberty and equal rights, may 
 be wholly exempt from taxation that a favored few may 
 be privileged to transmit their documents and messages, 
 whether important or unimportant, free, from one end of 
 the Union to the other. 
 
 A petition is now in circulation in this place praying for 
 a uniform postage of two and one-half cents on letters 
 throughout the Union. Let these petitions be multiplied, 
 and let miles of signatures be attached to them, that Con- 
 gressmen may see that the people bear this oppression 
 neither patiently nor silently. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 115 
 
 VETO MESSAGE. 
 
 [The following criticism was published in the Mon- 
 mouth (111.) Atlas, August 18, 1854.] 
 
 In today's paper is inserted President Pierce 's message 
 to the House of Representatives, vetoing the River and 
 Harbor Bill. This document requires no comment ; it 
 bears upon its face its own condemnation. We think it 
 time for our country to cease boasting of being governed 
 by the " sovereign people," when individual acts of legis- 
 lation like this veto and the late outrage at San Juan can 
 trace their legitimacy and sanction to the American ex- 
 ecutive. 
 
 One of the president's chief reasons for placing his dis- 
 approval upon the bill is a very strong one why it should 
 have received his friendly consideration. Because it has 
 "failed to obtain the approbation of successive Chief Mag- 
 istrates " is a self-sustaining argument that it is high time 
 the merits of its claim should be respected, and not ignor- 
 antly and indifferently rejected as has heretofore been 
 done. 
 
 The President desires " requisite means " for consider- 
 ing the whole subject. We wish he might abundantly ob- 
 tain these means by a detention on the rapids of the Mis- 
 sissippi obstructions of our great National highway and 
 that, too, at a time when locomotive expedition on his part 
 would be highly gratifying. 
 
 The plea that the multiplicity of railroads supersedes the 
 necessity of the removal of these obstructions is as falla- 
 cious as it is absurd. It is a disgrace to the General Gov- 
 
116 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 ernment to neglect the appropriation of the mere pittance 
 that is demanded compared to the advantages of having 
 our "ocean river" navigable. Every individual American 
 is identified with the great Father of Waters the same as 
 he is with Niagara Falls. Who does not feel a just pride 
 and a sense of innate greatness and freedom in claiming 
 nativity among such stupendous natural works ? When 
 nature has done so much in the hundreds of miles of nav- 
 igable stream, it looks faint-hearted in man to refuse to co- 
 operate in the work and neglect the removal of slight ob- 
 structions. Had nature in some benevolent fancy so 
 thrown and leveled a continuous chain of rock as to con- 
 stitute a natural track for a rail car over hundreds of miles 
 of cultivated inhabited country, with only a few miles lack- 
 ing to reach a center of commerce, and the executive re- 
 fuse an appropriation for its completion would be about as 
 
 penny wise as our President in exercising his present veto- 
 ing privilege. 
 
 We should think the western press, especially of the 
 river towns, would keep the subject in constant agitation 
 till something like a shadow of justice is obtained. 
 
 WORRY AND WEARINESS. 
 
 Much has been said and many essays written upon the 
 worse than uselessness of worry. To anticipate trouble in 
 the future, or to be continually distressed about the present 
 is only a waste of vitality which should be conserved for 
 the actual cares and duties of life, from which none are 
 exempt. 
 
 To worry about misfortunes thaat never come is folly, 
 and if our worst fears are realized, we have lessened our 
 capacity for bearing them, or overcoming their influence. 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 1 1 7 
 
 So from every standpoint to cherish a serene hopefulness 
 and positive expectancy would be the part of wisdom ; 
 enough has been said oil this subject to convince any one 
 who will give it a thought, of salutary effect. But as a 
 beautifier, a brightener of a dull countenance, or an in- 
 vigorator of tired limbs, as a real health lift, it has not so 
 frequently been elaborated. 
 
 Another mistake is sometimes made which leaves its im- 
 press upon the countenance : that is in considering the de- 
 tails of housekeeping low or menial. No useful labor 
 should be so considered. Nor is a woman well educated, 
 whatever other accomplishments she may have acquired, 
 without the science of housekeeping. It implies general- 
 ship as well as cookery and other details. How proud the 
 young husband is to sit down to an appetizing meal that 
 his lovely wife's own hands have prepared. Then what 
 else can make a home seem more cosy and homelike ? 
 
 In search of truth I'll use my brains, 
 
 I'll learn what this bright earth contains, 
 
 I'll know where heaven is, and gain 
 
 A knowledge sense cannot explain. 
 
 As grass does always upward grow, 
 
 So should our thoughts thus upward flow. 
 
 Up, up, toward the rising sun 
 Henceforward all my thoughts shall run, 
 Till life in this good world is done, 
 For earth is but a stepping stone 
 A stepping stone, or ladder strong, 
 Which we must climb, or plod along 
 Beneath the shadows in life's vale 
 If we cannot the mountains scale. 
 
118 SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 
 
 THE PRARIE MAMMOTH. 
 
 [ The following graphic description of the flaming 
 scourge that before the days of dense population occasion- 
 ally devastated the great praries of the West was written 
 about 1859.] 
 
 Who has not heard of the buffalo and wolf of our prai- 
 ries ? Many a night adventurer has been deterred from 
 his pursuit by the distant howl of the prairie wolf. But 
 there is an animal that courses over our prairies which is 
 more mischievous and more to be dreaded than the most 
 ferocious of these beasts. Many and various are the de- 
 scriptions given of this animal by those who have beheld 
 it. So varied are the shapes it assumes, it seems almost to 
 defy description. 
 
 On a calm, still day, when not a breath of wind is rust- 
 ling the dry, leafy verdure, he may be seen quietly, slowly 
 grazing the tufts of grass within his reach, and is then per- 
 fectly harmless and manageable. But when a gentle 
 breeze springs up, he hears the noise of its traversing and 
 immediately elevates his head, extends his red nostrils, and 
 becomes exceedingly restless and angry. He is now ad- 
 miringly gazed upon as a gorgeous, magnificent and sub- 
 limely beautiful creature, making his midnight path light 
 as noonday with his own brightness. Indeed some of the 
 largest of this class of animals have been known to illume 
 the darkest night for miles in extent. 
 
 But it is when the winds blow fiercely, that this giant 
 beast becomes terrific and untameable, and is seen in his 
 greatest strength and fury. His speed is swifter than the 
 fleetest horse and many a luckless hunter has been caught 
 
SOUVENIR COLLECTION OF PROSE 119 
 
 in his savage jaws. I have seen whole families, men wo- 
 men and children, rush from their firesides, with spades, 
 boards, or other weapons they could seize, and as if for 
 their lives, battle and try to destroy, or change the direc- 
 tion of this huge, ferocious monster, when they have seen 
 him with his fiery nostrils, his breath heaving dense col- 
 umns of smoke, making rapid strides towards an enclosure 
 which contained their all. 
 
 A peculiar characteristic of this animal is, that the more 
 his appetite is indulged, the more voracious he becomes ; 
 and whenever he is permitted by a kind-hearted farmer to 
 feed at one of his hay stacks, he exhibits his ingratitude by 
 glutting himself till the yeoman's entire crop of hay, grain, 
 oats and even every spear .of grass is consumed. 
 
 Reader, would you know the name of this mammoth 
 beast ? It is called a Fire on the Prairie ! 
 
 SELFISHNESS. 
 
 Man is triune animal, -human and spiritual. In some 
 persons the animal seems to predominate. Selfishness 
 governs all their actions. They may be sly like a fox, and 
 not make plain their real motives. They may even upon 
 occasions appear outwardly benevolent and humane, but 
 at the bottom their efforts are with a view of their self-ag- 
 grandizement. No difference how beneficial an endeavor 
 may be to others, if it does not redound to their own ad- 
 vantage it is considered an entire loss. Self, and self only, 
 is the god they worship. 
 
 CoulJ such men realize that they receive in return just 
 what they give to others, their very selfishness would 
 prompt them to activity and benevolence. But they do 
 not know. Truly : " people perish for want of knowledge." 
 Ignorance seems to be the sin of the world.