. '. . . OEMS THE GREAT REFORM THE GREAT WAR AND OTHER VERSE BY FRANK EARL HERRICK UNIVERSITY OF ILLlf "5 l BRARY AT UFL... ,A C .AMPAIGN ILL HIST. SURVEY Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/poemsOOherr ^U*~^ ££~A>£ ^JLhJ^^C^ HEP?x5«?3SWK9?3gw?&P©S ft e Frank Earl Herrick WKeaton, Illinois 9 a Published for the Author by BRETHREN PUBLISHING Elgin, Illinois 1926 J* BOOK I Poems of The Great Reform CONTENTS Book I. POEMS OF THE GREAT REFORM Book II. POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR Book III. POEMS OF PHILOSOPHY AND FRIENDS Dedication To the Prohibition Party " One generation shall praise thy works to another. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness." These Poems of THE GREAT REFORM Are children of the Cloud and Storm And Hope's eternal Sun ; Of Night when every star is gone And Faith that never doubts the Dawn, And Duty bravely done 1 I dedicate this sheaf of song To those who stood against the Wrong, Unwavering and true, Who nailed the ensign to the mast And faced and weathered every blast And hostile wind that blew! A ship that would not trim a sail Or tack and veer to catch the gale, The trade winds or the tides, That held the lure of merchandise, Like will-o-wisps and fireflies, As false and fatal guides! But by the Cynosure of Right Held a true course through the long night And by the Pilot Chart Of lofty Statecraft sought the goal; The Flagship of a Nation's Soul, The convoy of its Heart! Pr oem I do not seek Parnassian heights Nor wish to wear the bays Won by Fancy's fruitless flights Or sweet and soulless lays ! But I would dwell among mankind And share their joy and woe, So close that my short-sword can find The red heart of my foe ! I only wi.sh the gift of song As I wish for a brand To cleave the brazen casques of wrong And free my native land! To manumit the sodden slave In strong drink's galling chains, And stir my comrades to be brave On Freedom's battle plains! Swift Pegasus I would but ride As warriors ride their steeds With spur and saber crimson dyed In doing Duty's deeds! Not for me to drift and dream On peaceful seas apart, But the red and pulsing stream That courses through the heart ; Nor sit and sing the senseless songs That lull the soul to sleep While raging strong drink's thousand wrongs Rush on with ruthless sweep! 8 I would only strike the string Upon the Harp of Life Which to comrade souls shall bring New courage for the strife ! Other men may sing of Seas And Morn and Moon and Stars, I only ask from all of these The sword and shield of Mars! My militant and martial pen Shall never seek its sheath Until the close of conflict, when We win the victor's wreath ! Against the curse while life abides Let the great charge be led With battle-songs, like Ironsides With Cromwell at its head! The American Flag (Tune : "America ") O emblem of the free, How beautiful to see Thy folds unfurled In colors rich and warm, Like rainbow's noble form Sun-painted on the storm Arching the world ! Thy field of beauty vies With midnight's starry skies Surpassing grand. From sunset's rosy glow Each blood-red beam doth throw Across thy field of snow A crimson band ! O banner of the brave In splendor thou dost wave In Freedom's name ; With deeds for heroes meet Thy story is replete, And fort and field and fleet Attest thy fame! Beneath thy lustrous fold Of beauties yet untold May we abide And every ill abate That doth reproach a state, Or stain a nation, great And glorified! Before thy stars may Drink That leads us to the brink Where nations die, Fall prostrate in the dark. Like Dagon cold and stark Before Jehovah's ark In years gone by! The Prohibitionist A Puritan in things of State With heart to dare and soul to wait And never-flinching faith that right shall surely win; Piercing with his eagle eyes Through the veils of compromise And the schemes of men and parties for perpetuating sin! A soldier-sentry on the height At the breaking of the light Blowing a clear reveille to every sleeping tent, Sending forth a ringing note From the silver trumpet's throat Like a war-cry and a challenge by a fearless foeman sent; 10 Undismayed by sore defeat; Bugle sounding a retreat, Truce or armistice or parley never touched his lip, But his quenchless spirit rose With the number of his foes And he clutched his sword and buckler with a stronger grip I He looked on the nation's vice Of selling sanction for a price To poison, stain and blast the noblest things of life And his soul burst into flame At his country's sin and shame And uncompromising fury keyed him to a fiercer strife! He beheld the tragic lives Of the drunkards in the gyves And the shackles that were forged by freemen at the polls, And the men who heard the cry And still scornfully passed by With the haughty spirit of their little Levite souls! Feeling for his fellows' fate Stirred him to a righteous hate, Filled his breast with sorrow and his eyes with tears, As the Master's eyes were wet When he saw from Olivet The city soon to meet his love with mockery and jeers! Heart of Luther, strong and brave, Lovejoy's pity for the slave, Soul and sword of Cromwell fighting with his foes, Strength be to your shining steel, Fire to your flaming zeal, Victory to your valor and your rain of righteous blows! June 12, 1914. 11 The Prohibition Pen My dearest friends, thanks for the pen, The weapon reckoned among men More mighty than the sword, Yet whose peaceful works are crowned With bays of victory more renowned Than war's red fields afford! You have placed within my hand A weapon greater than the brand Of imperial Charlemagne, And an instrument of fear More dreaded than the iron .spear Upon the battle plain! Indeed a goodly pen is more Than sword and buckler in this war Where yon have bravely led; A conflict that shall ne'er produce An armistice or flag of truce Till every foe hath fled! Now what more fitting can I do Than dedicate myself anew And my new golden pen To the dear cause wherein we all Are struggling to disenthrall Our drink bound fellow-men? May its ceaseless fountain flow Against this soul-appalling woe That shrouds the sunny earth. That ever tolls its dismal knells And muffles all the silver bells Of childhood's joy and mirth! 12 May I keep this good pen bright By knightly deeds until the light Goes down upon the strife, With strokes " to right the wrong " allied To good Excalibar, the pride Of Arthur's blameless life! O comrades true, who bravely stand To cleanse and purge our goodly land Of all its deadly ills, May you wear the victor's crown Before your mortal suns go down Behind the twilight hills! But if you never see that day Yet your free, fair children may And glory in the part That you bore in the ruthless fight Through the long and starless night With leal and loyal heart ! Oh, may the victory be near And soon the star of peace appear To greet your waiting eyes, As shepherds saw in years afar The peace proclaiming herald star In soft Judean skies! (On receipt of a fountain pen as a Christmas gift from Mr. and Airs. Alonzo E. Wilson.) Ill inois O Commonwealth of mighty men, State of Emancipation's pen And lustrous stars untold As when the banner of the night Gemmed with constellations bright Unfurls its starry fold! 13 State within whose confines wide Young, heroic Lovejoy died A martyr for the slave, And o'er whose prairies where he slept A hundred shouting legions swept To glory's gory grave ! State of the silent soldier who Led the heroic hosts of blue Through flame and battle scars To keep our seamless flag unrent, And unbroken in the firmament The cluster of its stars ! Thine is a heritage more great And precious than the proud estate Of all the kings of time; Thy legacy a glorious part Of true nobility of heart And fortitude sublime! O Illinois, the richest gem In fair Columbia's diadem Of stars serene and grand, With pride and swelling hearts we see The bounties lavished upon thee From Nature's open hand! Thine opulent and lordly fields Whose never-failing harvest yields Its wealth of golden corn, And mines of treasure, deep and dim, That overflow the spreading brim Of Plenty's copious horn ! All blessings, mighty State, are thine Abundant as the stars that shine In midnight's gorgeous dome; Wealth and noble sons whose bays Are greener than the palmy days Of old imperial Rome! 14 But all of these shall naught avail, My brothers, if we basely fail To bravely do our parts, For there are evils now as great And perilous to this proud State As fired our fathers' hearts 1 Oh, there are enemies within — Strong, defiant, law-girt sin And open, sanctioned crime, And decadent moralists who wink At the red traffic in strong drink — The tragedy of our time! For a morsel of vile gold Have our sunken statesmen sold The dearest things of earth, Sold and bartered for a fee Hope of youth, and childhood's glee And overflowing mirth ! With brazen insolence they plead, Rich sovereign State, thy crying need Of the price of blood, To build thy highways and sustain The cities of thy fertile plain By murder's crimson flood! O trumpet of the Past, impart Once more that spirit to the heart Of every loyal son That made our fathers' hearts of yore Leap up to battle at the roar Of Sumter's opening gun! Dear Illinois, in this fierce strife Thy fame, thy honor and thy life Are in the balance cast, And valiant sons of thine today Must do as mighty deeds as they Who made thy glorious past! 15 That th' Liberator's home shall see All of its drink-bound bondsmen free From all the chains they wear, By thy soldiers' scattered shrines 'Neath the palmettoes and the pines, Our solemn vows we swear! January 20, 1913. Appeal to the Columbus Convention O men from every corner drawn To think upon a people's ills, The trembling twilight tips the hills A herald of the coming Dawn ! Come and be separate and apart, Xor joined to the consenting throngs — The sponsors for the mighty wrongs When ballots voice a nation's heart! Renounce the parties and the creeds That are at peace with all this woe, That do not wish its overthrow And back desire by their deeds! Put all your idols to the sword, Break down the altars of the past And in repentant fires cast The images you have adored! Wipe off the base, inglorious dust From sycophant and cringing knee And be men worthy to be free Or fit to die, if die you must! 16 How come this monster in the land And why do men with open eyes Look on the evil compromise And sanction all that sin has planned? Who placed this blight upon the brain, This canker in a nation's breast, And for the gold that he possessed Permitted him to stay and reign? Who framed the system of consent, Who taught the profit-sharing creeds And girt with law the vicious deeds That leveled Virtue's battlement? Who is the graven god that men Clad in the livery of light Offer the sacrifice of right And homage of the tongue and pen? The license party god with gold And power and a great array Has led a weakling host astray And cursed the land with plagues untold! His devotees have all defiled Themselves with dark and inky stains And spread a net of iron chains To snare and slay the Future's child! From his vile worship has sprung up Upon the homestead of the free The poison-bearing Upas tree Whose distillation is the cup! They burned incense upon the hills And builded altars in the groves And for the fishes and the loaves Made profit from the people's ills! 17 They came upon a virgin soil, By law and nature pure and free, And for a paltry license fee They sold concessions to despoil 1 They smote in twain the sacred shield — The aegis of the Common Law — And with exulting hearts they saw It trampled on the battle-field 1 In vain you talk of right and truth, And you become a theme for scorn, When they of whom this woe was born Receive your sanction in the booth 1 The gain of tainted gold is loss, As the liquors Christians send To darkened heathen lands but tend To make a mockery of the Cross! The parties that with purpled hands Feed full the winepress of our woe Xor seek to check its overflow Are only Liquor's vassal bands ! Your fellowship with them forsake Whose creed in statecraft is to give Consent and countenance to live Of all the havoc Drink can make! Four-square against them meet the hordes That planted in the public health This cancer of the Commonwealth, And show the temper of your swords. November 13, 1913. 18 The Field, the Foe and the Sword The battle-field is at the polls, And only there The drum of real conflict rolls And trumpets blare; There only foes meet foes and feel The shock of shield and stroke of steel 1 The only menace to the foe Is there displayed ; All else is vain and mimic show And dress parade. The curse and prayer and bitter tear They do not notice, feel or fear! Behind the frowning battlement The law has built, Deep-moated by the State's consent To share their guilt, The liquor legions take no note Of aught, except the snow-white vote! But they behold with startled eyes And bated breath The ballot in whose circle lies The seal of death ; The message evil Eglon heard Is their doom but a day deferred. Yes, they see — and are afraid With mortal dread — In ballot-panoply arrayed And mighty tread The soldiers stern and strong in will Who come to conquer, smite and kill. 19 O comrades of the snow-white plume, The ballot brand Shall be the thunderbolt of doom Within your hand To blast the monster of our day And end his soul-appalling s\\ ' The Female of the Species " When you see the bums and brewers and the riffraff of the land Out opposing votes for women with a zeal to beat the band You can mark it down as certain as the signs that never fail That the female of the species is more deadly than the male ! When the crooked politician begins 10 froth and foam And proclaim that woman's province is the precinct of the home 'Tis a sign he knows destruction is camping on his trail And that the female of the -pedes is more deadly than the male ! When the hypocrite sky pilot crawls behind Apostle Paul And says women should keep silence he has less of sense than gall, For without the goodly women surely Satan would prevail, But the female of the species is more deadly than the male ! When the liquor license parties very pointedly and clear Tell the great white ribbon army to be seated in the rear It is simple as a primer to a graduate of Yale That the female of the species is more deadly than the male ! 20 When the grafting legislator, who buys his way with booze, Votes to keep from womankind her just and legal dues, He has an eye for business — that of keeping out of jail — For the female of the species is more deadly than the male ! Be men and give her credit due and power to her arm, And only place within her reach the foe that worketh harm ; Then shall the wicked flee away like chaff before the gale, For the female of the species is more deadly than the male ! January 1, 1912. To Hon. Charles H. Poole On his departure for New Zealand (After Byron's "Napoleon's Farewell") Farewell to the friend who today is returning To the home that lies under the bright Southern Cross Where skies with strange constellations are burning Unmoved by our sorrow, untouched by our loss. A comrade and counselor wise and true-hearted In the prime of his prowess is leaving our shore — Still a comrade-in-arms, though by seas we are parted, For great is this conflict and world-wide this war. Farewell to thee, friend; to this Drink-ravaged nation Thou earnest aflame, like the dawn in the East, Illuming the way toward the great consummation When its wounds have healed and its sorrows have ceased ; To the sleeping a herald with clear trumpet pealing, A panoplied Prince in the front of the fray, A white-plumed knight in the host that is sealing The doom of the scourge of the nations today. 21 Farewell, soldier true ; when the victory breaking Like the Sun in his armor routing the Night Brings the long jubilee to the hearts that are aching In the thraldom of Drink with its bane and its blight And the night of defeat shall give way to the morning And the grand review close the wearisome march, Then again we shall see thee, bright-laurelled, adorning And leading a host 'neath the triumphal arch! Farewell to thee, friend; with us thou art leaving Sweet memories fair as the rose-spangled mead That shall blossom again in the mystical weaving Of the loom of the years yet to come, as they speed. May the warfare with Drink and its soul-stirring story And the common cause keep us as one in the fight, Though we differ in deeds as differ in glory The gems in the star-sown fields of the Night! October 10, 1913. To a New Knight This is your year of Jubilee When to your lawful rights restored You share the blessings of the free — The purple and the sovereign sword! I see in you the splendid zeal Of new knight in his maiden mail, With golden spurs and bright, new steel And brave heart that shall never quail! But you must wage a wiser fight, Not clad in mail with iron mace — For in all the livery of light The foemen stand whom you must face! 22 Not in the thick-necked thug (indeed, The least of all the foe is he) The danger lies, nor in the breed That pours the poison for a fee. But in those men of high estate Whose consciences are dead and sere, And those poor souls who also hate But hate him with a coward's fear, And those loud warriors who, forsooth, Curse him until their words are spent — Then in the secret, silent booth Write out their sanction and consent 1 You know his wiles as well as I O youthful knight, both brave and wise, And his chief snare and gilded lie — The smooth, seductive compromise! Although we fight on different fields And in separate armies far apart We bear the selfsame make of shields And the common cause upon the heart 1 Enlisted till the war shall end — No drums, no plumes, no prancing steeds- I hope to share with you, brave friend, The comradeship of knightly deeds! And woe betide the robber chief That holds as captive this fair land And levies tribute from its grief To keep him and his vassal band! 23 Song The W. C. T. U. (Tunc: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") O host of our brave home defend O white-robed reformers so true, Like the rainbow's seven-hucd splendors, The promise of the world is in yen. () brave hearts who feared not nor fainted A triumphal arch lifts its form On the world's darkest cloud brightly painted Across the black brow of the storm, Across the black brow of the storm, Across the black brow of the storm, On tin- world's darkest cloud brightly painted Across the black bn>w of the storm! The armies <»f midnight and morning Arc met on the fierce fields <>f war, And the bugl< 'down their wild warning; Then brave band be true to the core. The darkness and light are contending For the life and the death of the world, But in scorn of all peril impending, Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled, Keep your r proudly unfurled. Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled. But in scorn of all peril impending. Keep your flag ever proudly unfurled! men, 'rouse and rise from your sleeping! And join this great moral crusade, The poor world is weary with weeping O'er the ruin and wreck rum has made. For the homes and the hearts sad and broken, And the hopes turned to ashes and dust, 24 Let the death-sentence swiftly be spoken, And the judgment will be true and just, And the judgment will be true and just, And the judgment will be true and just, Let the death-sentence swiftly be spoken, And the judgment will be true and just ! And the hope of the home and the nation Through trials and triumphs shall stand. And peal forth their proud proclamation, To the rum-shackled slaves of the land! Then will haloes of glory surround them Like the saints in the pictures we sec, When the laurels of victory have crowned them, And the bondmen of drink shall be free, And the bondmen of drink shall be free, And the bondmen of drink shall be free, When the laurels of victory have crowned them. And the bondmen of drink shall be free! 1900. The New Star in the West A new star shines in the golden West Above the portals of the ebbing day, Over a happy land and blest Where king> and queens hold equal sway A child of valor and the love Of California's golden slope — That splendid star now shines abo\e The cradle of a new-born hope. It is the morning star that gleams As herald of the joyous day That slaves have seen alone in dreams Since Wrong has held its iron sway. 25 It shines, the hope of half the race — The wise, the good, the fair — Bright in its fixed abiding place, Agleam in Freedom's taintless air. Yes, dawn breaks at the gates of night And toward the East the- shadows fall Like sharp, accusing fingers that indict The sluggard conscience of us all. Half fettered 'neath our Eastern dome, Full freedom in the boundless West, Night where the sunrise has its home, Day where the great orb >inks to rest. Full panoplied to guard her own. There queen with king stands as a peer, Armed to defend the common throne — A right divine denied her here. And age-l"iig ill that never d While man. and man alone, is lord Beholds with fear and ^tartl The new foe and the bright new sword. O women worthy of the tr To guard the Occidental land, Keep bright by parry and by thru>t The new sword ^iven to your hand! Oh, throw the useless scabbard down. And never sheathe the shining While evil thrives beneath the crown Of our imperial Commonweal! An evil giant, blind with hate And surnamed Drink — of demon breed- Has seized the pillars of our State And shakes each like a feeble reed. 26 And coward souls and shallow minds Accord him place and honor too, Because with his great strength he grinds And pays the tithes of mint and rue. Against this author of all ill The main assault and siege must be, And the one weapon that will kill Is yours — the vote that makes you f ree 1 (On the Woman's Suffrage victory in California.) The Church Somnolent The Christ-commissioned Church a>leep Sent to subdue a sinful world, While sins to make the angels weep Parade with all their flags unfurled! The Church that warred against the Moor And drove the Saracen and Turk, Fear-palsied pauses weak and poor Before the great unfinished w<>rk ! O Church we know your high-blown pride And list your self-crowned moral worth, By acts and things undone belied By day and night throughout the earth. The mighty sword within your hand Is coated with inglorious rust, A jest and byword in the land, A mockery that none will trust! The great red Dragon, surnamed Drink, Before your eyes has grown to might And 'neath his frown you quake and shrink Like cravens fearful of a fight! 27 You have the power in your arm, His life and death is in your hands; Yet in your reach, secure from harm, The rampant demon safely stands! You give consent to death for gold And sell your sanction for a fee, And shield him by the starry fold Of our sweet emblem of the free! Apologist for evil days, Of all your ancient virtues shorn, Contemptible in the public gaze And pilloried in the stocks of scum! The Prohibition Backslider O faltering and unstable man, Weak and fearful, lacking zeal, Dim-visioned, void of power to scan The depth* dividing woe and weal. Too weary to abide the dawn. And tempted by the lust to win : An heir of light who put in pawn His birthright for the spoils of sin! Once in his heart the fire burned Bright as the royal orb of day, But now the fervent heat has turned From glowing red to ashen gray! Once a proud soldier in the host That stands for the eternal right, He fled despairing from his post Amid the seeming hopeless fight! 28 He who once stood on our side First faltered, fled, then joined the foe And all he loved before, denied, And strongly wrought to work us woe! Before him right and wrong arose And claimed liege service of his might; He saw and knew, but basely chose The darkness rather than the light ! The light within him became dark; So deep that darkness and so great That death and doom can only mark The tincture of its inky state! Deserter in the hour of need, Of base born appetite that seeks Again in captive fields to feed, Like Israel longing for the leeks! Sit not in judgment harsh and grim Nor hold him by an iron rule, In charity according him The pity portioned to the fool! April 18, 1912. We Boys We are the boys who will be men Not many years from now, and then If any wrong is living yet — Like whiskey, beer or cigarette — We'll join the army of the " drys " And fight that wrong until it dies! 29 We are temperance laddies now And we promise, pledge and vow With our hands upon our hearts That never until life departs Shall one of us e'er do so much As ever even lightly touch Tobacco with our finger tips, Or put the poison to our li: We will be the kind of boys Who are the jewels and the joys Of teachers and our mothers' too, In all we try and say and do; And we will fight hardest of all Tobacco and King Alcohol! December 5, 1913. (Written for small boys' Sunday School class of Gary Memorial Church, Wheaton, Illinois.) A Lesson From a Legend As the little infant Hercules one quiet night lay sleeping In the hollow concave of his father's brazen shield, There came two huge and slimy, sinuous serpents creep- ing— The most subtle creatures of the beasts of all the field. Into the guarded chamber where the little giant sleeper Lay in his cradle confines, wrapped in peaceful dreams, They glided soft and swiftly, peering deep and deeper With eyes that glowed and glittered with infernal gleams. In vain had the midnight drawn close its inky curtain, And spread its sable counterpane upon his cozy bed, But in his brazen crib where safety seemed most certain, Within a shield, unshielded, lay his defenceless head. 30 With their swelling crests ablaze, uplifted and defiant, And fangs dripping poison like an envenomed dart, They leered and looked upon the little sleeping giant, Then arched their sinewy necks to strike him through the heart. But just then little Hercules awoke from his deep dream- ing, And saw the hissing monsters' horrid, hell-like leer, Their cloven tongues swift-darting and fiery eyeballs gleaming And frightful fangs directed to pierce him like a spear. Then quickly as the shimmering, vivid lightning leaping Like a sword drawn swiftly from the ebon sheath of night, Just as the deadly blows were ruthlessly down sweeping He caught the bolts descending midway in their flight. Around the throat he seized each hideous monster tightly And choked and strangled one to death with either hand, And the fierce and fiendish eyes which once had burned so brightly Grew lusterless and dark as death, or midnight in the land. Of all his combats with the giants and all his mighty labors Until the day he perished wrapped in his burning shroud, Above the bloody triumphs of war-clubs and of sabers, Of the slaughter of the serpents he was ever the most proud. There are ten million cradles in this fair land of ours Where innocence and infancy are so serenely sleeping; But here as in the Paradise of Eden's fairest flowers The subtle, wily tempters come ever closer creeping. There is no love-charmed chamber which they cannot enter, And no cradle-shield however embossed and girt with love, Though bound with brazen bands that run from side to center And inlaid with gold and gems bright as the stars above. 31 In every face they breathe their pestilential vapors, And strangle every virtue within their cruel coils, And on every fireside altar Love's ever-burning tapers Have seen some fearful sacrifice of their most ruthless spoils. In their stings are potent poisons ever stronger growing, And corrosive compounds of more consuming fire Than all the cups with hellebore and hemlock overflowing, Or "juice of cursed hebenon " that slew Hamlet's noble sire. Not alone through hut and hovel, but all ranks and races, Black as Stygian slime, their poison pathway runs, As when in the Trojan temple, even in the holy places, The mighty serpents slew the priest and all his sons. Fast and fierce, with flaunting flags the demon host ad- vances, And we are the warrior-warders who must watch and guard the wall, We must >hoot our swiftest arrows, and throw our sharp- est lances, Or the holiest city e'er besieged— the holy home— will fall. And " woe to him by whom it cometh," let the warning words be spoken, Know the tick of every second is the death-dirge of a soul, And they who sleep will lose the portion of the promise never broken, \s from his bosom, while he slept, poor Christian lost his roll. Now the need is men of valor who will not retreat or cower, And those in high and holy places who their prowess will employ In a temper of true chivalry as " when knighthood was in flower," Not sit like senile Priam helpless on the walls of Troy. 32 The fierce and lordly liquor serpents, above these cradles bending, Must be straightway seized and strangled or everything is lost ! With our own hands we must slay them, we must do our own defending, With a spirit, faith and fortitude, that nothing can ex- haust! Then let the sword be never sheathed, but keep it red and reeking ; With the fiery blood of dragons let it stream and drip, Till the dawning of that blessed day which all good men are seeking, When the poison cup no more shall touch or tempt a human lip ! (Read before the convention of the Illinois Inter-Col- legiate Prohibition Association, in Wheaton College Chap- el, May 30, 1901.) The Fiend of Drink We are now out in the world Where the banners are unfurled Of all the pirate crafts of crime and awful sin With the crossbones and the skulls Blazoned on their hideous hulls And the death's head at the mainmast with its grewsome grin. And these social buccaneers Are cruel and immune to tears As ever fierce free-booters out on the Spanish Main, And they claim the ghastly tolls Of blighted, seared and ruined souls And bodies scarred and branded with the mark of Cain. 33 And the craven world stands by Like poor fools afraid to die And pays inglorious tribute to these red-handed men ; With a base terror overcome And with a moral palsy dumb They stand inert beholders mute in tongue and pen. As the cruel ocean surge Sings its sad and doleful dirge ( >f the tragedies and wrecks out on the raging seas So the eartli sends up its cries Like the ceaseless clouds that rise From the awful pit to which Apollyon holds the keys. And the direst demon here With the most malicious leer Is the fiery fiend o! Drink with legions in his train; He the king of human woes And the chief of all of those That rallied with the Dragon on Armageddon's plain. All the other demons grim An- but liegemen unto him And his loyal vassal serfs arc Murder. Lust and Lies; lie is high-priest and the chief Of the*yeggmen and the thief And the libertines and reprobates and all tin- evil < He is the life-blood of the bawd And the perjurer and the fraud And the gamblers and plug-Uglies and all their kith and kin ; He is Anarchy's right hand And hurls the bomb and brand. And the incentive and promoter of every form of sin. Like the fabled Gorgon-stare And Medusa's snaky hair He turns the bosom into flint and hearts to hardest stones, And his highest fiendish joy Is to blight some budding boy — Then break his mother's heart and mock her piteous moans. 34 Fraternal strife is his content And his choice music a lament And a villain-visaged mortal is his finished man ; He holds a broken heart a charm And peace a trumpet of alarm — He puts a premium upon ill and the good things under ban. And in all his vile regime There is not a single gleam In excuse or palliation to redeem his evil sway, And the strangest, saddest thing With most humiliating sting Is that men should tolerate him in their purlieus for a day. But degenerates in brain With the morally insane Throw around this brutal demon the safeguards of the law ; And the sacred shield that should Safely keep the weak and good Only guards this baneful beast while he tills his hungry maw. Rut of moral beings frail They are the lowest in the scale Of invertebrates and mollusks and sponge and jelly-fish, Who with coward souls and cold Take his vile and tainted gold And pander to his power and court his evil wish. With the blood that he has shed All their hands are reeking red As partners and accessories with knowledge and consent. For the many and the strong Cannot make a right of wrong Though sanctioned by the multitude and Christian Pres- ident. 35 With this monster we abhor We must wage relentless war And with courage, craft and cunning meet his wiles and snares And his fierceness all in one Of Vandal, Gaul and Goth and Hun And Tartars. Turks and Saracens and hungry wolves and bears. Oh, but what can cleanse and purge This world from the curse and scourge? Will it ever be till earth shall melt with fervent heat? When the firmament shall roll All together like a scroll And the cycle of the Universe at last shall be complete? When amid the encircling gloom Earth shall hear the blast of doom And die beneath the dire eclipse and blood-bedarkened suns While our mighty system reels With the shock and deafening peals And the awful roar and thunder of great Jehovah's gunsl Bui we have a crescent hope. Still victoriously to cope With the fierce invader and break his battle-lines And make this ravaged land once more As pure as Eden was of yore Ere the subtle serpent entered with his fell designs. We must, till his doom is sealed And his henchmen fly the field Use every craft and strategy and art of cruel war; Attack by mines and ambuscade, Front and rear and enfilade, Till blank annihilation ends his reign for evermore. 36 And we among the faithful few- Must be doubly brave and true To offset the weak allegiance of half-hearted men Who have no anchor to their hope And cannot see beyond the scope Of the little field of vision of their mortal ken. But we know we cannot fail, For right is might and shall prevail, And just a passing cloud is a bitter, losing fight, But the victory shall be won Completely as the rising sun Routs with his shining spears the sable hosts of night. Xow with our spirits unsubdued And with our fealty renewed Let us wear the amaranth of hope upon our hearts, Until the Prohibition cause With its code of righteous laws Shall extend its jurisdiction to the earth's remotest part-! November 25, 1909. As Seen in Chicago Should you ask me. whence these stories? Whence these tales so dark and tragic. Whence these tales of tears and trouble, Tales of villains and their victims, All these songs of sin and sorrow, All these undertones of sadness? Should you ask me I should tell you, Would reply to you as follow- : They are tales I see imprinted In the haggard face of hunger; They are tales I hear repeated By the pallid lips of famine, 37 They are tales that I find written In the withered hand of beggars, They are dirges that are chanted At the death of soul and body In the dark and dreadful drama Of the life of rum-cursed mortals. They are sounds that rise forever To the ears of men and angels From the heart of this great city Like the smoke that rises ever From the pit that has no bottom. I repeat them as I heard them And I paint their form and features Standing out like sculptured figures And in bold relief depicted As I see them from Mount Ego, As a thousand times I saw them As a thousand times I heard them, Weird and wild and sad and dismal, You have seen them, heard them, felt them. And you know well what I tell you. By the beautiful blue waters Of a Great Lake in the Northland Stands the city of Chicago, Stands the greatest of ali cities, Like a mighty giant Cyclops Standing by his forge and stithy Tossing to the sky above him From his forge and furnace chimneys Black and white plumes to the heavens, While his hammers ring and thunder As in the days of gods and giants When the mighty blacksmith Vulcan Forged for Mars his mighty armor; Blessed above all other cities, Also cursed with plagues the blackest. But the blackest of all curses And the source and spring and fountain And the cause of all the others 38 Is the great saloon, the demon, King and first of all offenders. He it is who causes murder, Causes anarchy and murder; He it is who fills the prisons, He it is who kills all virtue. By his Gorgon-stare the bosom Into stone is straight transmuted, All that feels his touch is tainted ; By his right hand homes are ruined, By his scepter hearts are broken, By his brutal feet the helpless Are crushed and trampled without mercy, By his presence hopes are blighted And before his index finger All that's innocent and gentle All that's good and true and pure Flee away and shrink and shrivel, Fall and fade and die and wither Like the withered leaves of winter When the icy winds assail them. Of such deeds he is the author That methinks they would have surely Made the spot of shame grow crimson In the cheek and brazen forehead Of Babylon, the great and wicked Mother of Abomination ; Would have shocked the slums of Sodom, Shocked those submerged, fire-deluged, Flame-enshrouded, brimstone-buried Cities of the plain that perished. From his confines come the causes Of all woe and wreck and ruin As the winds came from the caverns Where .-Eolus held in fetters All the wrathful winds of heaven. As before the fearful onslaughts Of the thunder-throated tempest When both men and mountains tremble, 39 Fairest fields and grandest forests, Fragile flowers, stately cedars, Giant oaks and pliant willows; Shudder, quake and quail and quiver, Bow and bend and break and perish, And behind it on its war-trail Follows death and desolation Blacker even than the cloud-rack Which went on before the tempest; So before the blasting, blighting, Furious deadly storms that issue From the rum-fiends' gilded caverns (The ante-chambers of perdition By the law engirt and guarded) Come all baneful, direful, fatal Plagues and crimes and sins and curses Charged with death as clouds with lightning, Charged with poisonous exhalations Like the breathing of a serpent ; With the poison breath of breweries With the latent seeds of sickness With the fetid fumes of fever With the nauseating vapors Of both malt and malted liquors, With all miasmatic odors From the fens of fermentation From the piles of putrid pomace From distilleries and gin mills From the wine-press and the bar-room, Puffing forth their vile contagions In the nostrils of creation, Breath of poisonous decoctions Breath of leperous distillment Breath of reason-wrecking spirits Deadly as the swift death-angel Passing, breathed into the faces Of the sleeping host that perished With Sennacherib's great army. And with all of these moreover 40 Are the seven plagues commingled From the seven vials the angels Poured upon the earth and waters. Then upon the visitation Of this tempest of all terrors Homes and hopes collapse and crumble, Souls are sunk as ships are sunken Going down in seas of sorrow. Every virtue is uprooted And left lying limp and lifeless; Youth and age and grace and genius Are in the vortex of the whirlwind Dragged to death, disgrace, dishonor; And the glorious goddess Reason Driven from her throne resplendent, Forced to flight and abdication, Leaves her former fair dominions In incoherent interregnum And her sacred throne is ursurped By the insane kings of darkness And the drunken, brutish forces Of the regicides of reason. Of the Vandals of all virtue ; Then is Liberty's fair temple Rent in twain from top to bottom ; Not one stone upon another Is left of that stately structure; And along the storm-swept pathway There is nothing but a desert, Only flints and shards remaining Save perhaps a ghastly relic, As upon the great Sahara Skeletons and bones are scattered Bleaching in the sand and sunshine ; Gloomy, ghastlier and darker Is the death-trail of the rum-fiend Than are all the scenes that follow In the wild wake of the cyclone Or the scorching simoon's pathway. 41 Yet in the city of Chicago From the meanest to the Mayor All the people know of these things, Know whence all of this arises, And throughout the State and Nation Both laity and clergy know it, Know the rum-shop is the hot-bed Where the evil seeds are planted Where they germinate and flourish Where they grow in rank profusion As poison as they are prolific. Though the people see and know this Yet they pass by without protest, Pass by like the scornful Levite When he saw his neighbor wounded And refused to give assistance. Hardened, cruel, unfraternal. If still further you should ask me Why is this and with what reason? Why is all of this permitted, Why this ruthless reign of ruin Far more criminal and causeless. Far more cruel, base and baseless Than the red regime of terror Which the streets of Paris witnessed When the Seine was changed to crimson And ran purple to the ocean? Should you ask me for the reason I would be compelled to answer, Forced to say. Alas I know not, It transcends my comprehension, It is even past conjecture How a human hand can do it How a human heart can sanction, How by ballots and by bullets It is strengthened and protected It is cradled, nursed and nurtured, Made a ward of law by license, When it should be made an outlaw 42 Like an anarchist and traitor Like a pirate and a felon. If still further you should question And insist upon an answer, Asking me who are the authors Who responsible and guilty For these dens and dives and brothels; The saloon with all its evils Past the power of pen to picture. I would answer to your query, Would respond to you in this wise: Every man who holds a ballot Which he does not cast against it Is a partner in the business. Every church that stands indifferent Gives its sanction by its silence. Every man and every woman Who is not at war against it, Who is neutral in the conflict Is responsible and guilty; For are not all men commanded To fight iniquity and hate it? And not only is this monster By the sword of law protected Shielded by the sacred a?gis, But the guards of law and order In whose hands are held the scepter Still allow him further license Unrestrained to roam triumphant Into fields by law forbidden, Far beyond all legal limits, There to ravage, waste and ruin With impunity and safety. Undisturbed and unmolested. Just the other day a woman, Who for many years had suffered, Three and twenty years had suffered From the trespass of this demon Who beyond his jurisdiction 43 Had assailed her home and husband, Sought the Chief Police for succor, Sought the chief of all the warders By the hand of law appointed, For relief she sought assistance, Told her tragic, tear-stained story, But the chief refused to answer. Would not notice her petition, Would not even stop to li>ten, Said with an impatient gesture Thai he had no time t<> hear her, Was too busy for such matter-. And she went away disheartened, This poor woman worse than widow. Sick at heart with hopes all buried, Helpless, hopeless, w«>r>e than homeless, Like ten thousand ether women By this vicious monster martyred. O you faithless, fake officials, () you timid moral coward-. () you horde <>f heartless ruffians, All you cowering Christie-- Christians, All you " Cant and Canteen " preachers, All you Methodist beer Bishops, All of liquor's pi<'iis puppets, All you poltroon politician-. All you supine moral mollu-ks With you vertebrateless virtue. You are all in condemnation For the-e crimes you see and sanction, All alike in common guilty For this curse has not come causeless That the innocent should suffer For the evil deeds of others. O you conscience-seared spectators Of this tragedy enacted Every day and every minute, Yes, and you self-righteous sinners With your white sins of omission, 44 And you host of temperance talkers, Whose every word belies your ballots, Yes, you are your brother's keeper And his blood calls loudly to you From the ground is loudly crying. But my friends in arms be valiant, Be both valorous and patient. O my comrades in the conflict Keep the burnished blade uplifted, Keep it keen and red and reeking, Let it rise and fall incessant On this monster hydra-headed, Drive it through the joints and marrow As the mighty gladiators Drove the short sword through the armor, Plunged it through the brazen breast-plate, Clove in twain the casque and helmet, So assail this fiend infernal; Strip his legal vestments from him, Tear the vizor from his features. Take away his shield — his license. Take the sword from out his right hand, From his left hand take his buckler. Without pity let him perish, Give his carcas> to be eaten By the jackals, dogs and vultures, Let his soul die with his body, Let his offspring be attainted, Let his memory be accursed. Then will earth be nearer heaven And the world be more like Eden Ere the subtle serpent entered. Then will bread be more abundant, Then will hunger be forgotten, In the poor man's sacred cottage. Then above each crib and cradle Will the arch of hope be higher Will the rainbow shine more brightly. Brighter gleam the bow of promise 45 In a hundred thousand places. Then will home and heaven be blended Be synonymous and sacred. Then will innocence and beauty Walk about secure and safely And hope and harmony forever Arm in arm will walk together . Then will this nation be exalted For righteousne>s alone exalteth. A- in the darkness dreams arc brightest Let us in the inky midnight Of our seeming hopeless struggle Keep our laces towards the sunrise, Ever hoping, never doubting That we shall behold the daybreak. See the sun rise up resplendent Like a glittering herald coining To proclaim our day of triumph. For these tilings shall surely follow, Those who fear not. faint nor falter, Victory hath wings, remember, And oftentimes cornea very swiftly When the foemen are the strong And their very strength their weakness. It will come to this great nation, It will come to this great city. It will come and none can stop it. (Read at the Woman's Temple, Chicago, before the Y. P. C. T. U., December 12, 1901.) 46 Voting for Woolley Vote a clean, white ballot, boys, that's spotless, pure and true, Vote a ticket that you know is honest through and through, Vote till the old saloon shall go with all its drunken crew, When you are voting for Woolley. Chorus Hurrah! Hurrah the saloon has got to go! Hurrah! Hurrah! we swear it shall be so! And thus a million men shall say with ballots white as snow, When they are voting for Woolley. Too long the liquor lords have held a red and ruthless sway, And all they touch they turn to tears or mercilessly slay, But may they reel beneath our blows on next election day. When we are voting for Woolley. Chorus Until the big beer barons die and this cause does prevail, So long will helpless women weep and innocence will wail, But we will war with all this host and dauntlessly assail, When we are voting for Woolley. Chorus Then put the bugle to your lips and blow a blast so clear, That all the legions leagued with hell will quake and quail to hear, And mighty hosts shall rally round the standard that we rear, When we are voting for Woolley. Chorus 1900. 47 The Impending Doom Oh, what long lustrations must this nation make Before wine's deep-red wrongs are purged away, And with what terrors dire shall this proud people quake When States shall stand, as men, in their sure judg- ment day? When there shall naught avail the crimson-crusted gold But only to be used as blushing proof of guilt And Drink's blind, captive bondman, as of old, Shall destroy us with the temple we have built ! E'en now the columns of the Commonwealth can feel The strain of giant strength like Samson in his might, And on our mighty temple doom has set its seal Amid our coward mirth and mockery of right! Soon the prostrate pillars and the lordly dome Shall be the cenotaph of glories that have fled, And a gloomy ruin our Liberty's fair home Where Honor, Love and Hope and Righteousness lie dead ! Oh, repent, my people, and the guilty gold return, Then by unearned mercies may you live again, If you by fitting works redeem the past and learn That righteousness alone exalts the tribes of men! June 9, 1914. 48 An Argument (To Dr. G. C G.) My noble friend whose fertile brain And keen, appreciative wit Gleam like shining beacons lit And set along the mental main To guide and warn the wandering sails Upon the seething seas of thought Where storm and siren ever sought To wreck by reefs and raging gales, Turn your clear and kindly light Upon the things of human kind And let us jointly seek to find The line dividing wrong and right ; And seek with that serene and true Philosophy that knows no fear And reckons not what may appear Or precedents and pedants do ; That marches on with honest soul And pauses not to ruminate On the result, or contemplate If loss or profit be the goal; That passes by cathedral doors And is not tempted by the gold And honors vested errors hold Within their rich and lordly stores, But mindful only of that great Desideratum of the wise — To find the truth where'er it lies And whatsoe'er the seeker's fate! 49 Now let us reason on that thing That agitates our goodly land, That scars it like a flaming brand And poisons every noble spring — The law-protected trade in Drink. The panderer to all within The human heart inclined to sin And from whose face the Virtues shrink, The soul-assassin of the race, The sower of the evil seeds That harvest ripens into deeds Of woe and infinite disgrace. What subterfuges are essayed To justify its presence here, And in defense of its career What base apologies are made? The wealth of stolen gold it gives A willing tribute from its hand To fill the coffers of the land — The specious bribe by which it lives. The liberty to live and move And have our being as we will E'en though it works our neighbor ill And all mankind should disapprove. More false no mortal ever sang Than " liberty " to do a wrong And with that word of noble song To hide a serpent's poison fang. And often wrong finds its abode Among the multitude who cry For Wrong to live and Right to die, Invoking Pontius Pilate's code. 50 For local option about crime And personal liberty to sin Are twin errors hatched within The vulture nest of evil time ! The right to do a pleasing wrong, To set the seal on sinful choice And by the law's approving voice To make a glaring evil strong; And casting lots to put the ban On noble man and womanhood And o'er the general social good To place the pleasure of a man ; All these are only gilded lies That with their thin, truth-like veneer Will shrivel, pale and disappear Beneath the gaze of Wisdom's eyes. I stand beside a noisome fen From which the exhalations rise Polluting all the wholesome skies And mingling with the breath of men. What, would Wisdom waste her time To sprinkle sweet attar of rose Where the rankest fen-weed grows. And pour perfume upon the slime? And would she build beside the fen Her hospital for the disease That every shoreward laden breeze Would blow into the face of men ? Or would she sink an ample drain To cleanse the fever-breeding place And with the air and sun efface All vestige of its blight and bane? 51 And would she lend a patient ear To those who made the tempting plea To pay a rich and princely fee To spread the plague from year to year? And would she call the countryside To settle all by casting lots Whether the pestilential sj Should, for the proffered price, abide? And would she rest in vile repose, rd rusting in its sheath Unworthy of the laurel wreath, Asleep before advancing foes Until a mighty host should ri With strength to fight the foe and win. And would she only then begin To open wide her sleep-sealed ey< And only then awake to find — When it v. :id .'list the spoiler of the land — The light to which she once \\a- blind? Let not. O wise and noble youth, Old Folly's ofl Nor yet our fathers 1 foolish crec Mislead US in our search for truth. The liveried murderers that go Upon the fearful fields of war Where shrapnel shriek and cannon roar Work not such dire and lasting woe As Drink that vitiates the blood And puts a mildew on the mind And blights the flowers of human kind By planting cankers in the bud. 52 And with this strong, insidious foe That undermines our towers of Hope 'Tis Wisdom's part to fiercely cope Nor spare to deal the deadly blow. Against each compromise and lie And law that lets the business stand. With unison of heart and hand Let us contend till it shall die! October 22, 1914 The Four New Stars * Cheers for the West, The land possessed Of red blood, soul and brains And strength of will To smite and kill The \oq of its domains! The license-screened [nsidious fiend In Strong Drink's sable mail Your lance lias slain And checked his reign Of blight and bane and bale! Your triumph thrills New England's hills And makes the fainting strong, And mighty plains Have caught the strains Of your victorious song! May every sword With one accord Leap from its laggard sheath Like your good brand, Till all the land Shall wear the victor's wreath! 'Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Colorado on winning State-Wide prohibition. 53 Those still in thrall In Caesar's hall Their salutations send With hopes increased That in the East Hi> red regime shall end! O star- serene Of matchless sheen In fair Columbia's crown Our hopes that sleep Resurgent leap At vour deeds of renown! November 8, 1914. Twentieth Century Knighthood Hail the heralds of the truth In the maiden mail of youth As they come From the corners of the realm To assail and overwhelm Raging rum! Kansas, with thy bleeding plains From the slave and drunkard chains Ever free, All the hosts together drawn, As the flowers to the Dawn. Turn to thee! With the wisdom of the tomes Of our Learning's noblest homes As their shield And a seven-heated zeal Giving temper to the That they wield 54 Like King Arthur's knights who shot Through the lists at Camelot, Every youth Comes in manhood's strength and bloom Panoplied from spur to plume In the truth! All the luster knighthood lent Joust and list and tournament They display; Only theirs a nobler quest, Deeper vow and holier zest For the fray ! Terrible the foe may seem With a mighty weaver's beam For a spear, But to them the men of wrath, Aa the bear and lion's path, Have no fear! They have taken up the gage Of the Demon of the age For the fight, Drink — that rages loud and long With his legion liegemen strong Day and night ! Twentieth century knighthood, hail, Beating 'neath your unscarred mail Hearts of oak ! Be the quest for you to win — To give this Nation's giant sin The fatal stroke ! (For the National Intercollegiate Prohibition Conven- tion at Topeka, Kans., 1914.) 55 National Woman's Suffrage Is there not room in the Bill of Rights For the good and wise and fair Without whom days were starless nights And life a long despair? Within a free and equal land Are rights but the reward Of strength to swing with iron hand War's fratricidal sword? Has not the Charter's ample scroll Space for <>ne little line To give to tli' jiial BOUl An equal right with thine? [> es the land where Freedom lives Washed by the chainless waves Refuse the right she proudly gives To manumitted slaYCS? Why is the coronet withheld That should adorn her brow. And by what fears are men impelled And to what idols DOW That they should hear with awful dread And blanched and pallid face (That shame should paint a crimson red) The plea of half our race? Does not the liquor serpent's trail And sinuous windings show Why coward statesmen's cheeks are pale And who is woman's foe? 56 But, timid statesman, most unwise, Know'st not his day is done And that his writhing body dies At setting of the sun ? Make not the Rights of States a plea To shield these glaring wrongs, But let the Federal pact decree The right where right belongs! January 3, 1915. The Pirate Ships at Bay * We've found the range oi the pirate ships That have raided the seven seas Since the birth of the world With their flags unfurled Polluting the wholesome breeze! Against the cross-bone blazoned ships Xnw let the great guns roar And the thunders sweep O'er the trackless deep Till the black fleet floats no more! The pirate crews of the pirate ships With the death's-head coal oi arms Are pale with fear As when sailors hear The ship bell's loud alarms! The rum-rigged fleet of pirate ships Is ranged behind the strand Where every crime Within our time Has made its final stand! *On the Congressional vote on National Prohibition. 57 Behind the Rights of States these ships Lie low where Slavery bled And Polygamy bold And the gambler's gold For a refuge vainly fled! Broadside blast the black-hulled ships And let the turret guns Shake all the shores With wrathful roars Where the tide of battle runs! - for the world these pirate ships Bear in their groaning hold; ■ lie abhorred That I r ward Can grant them life for gold!) To the endl< jive the pirate ships And the crewi to the red jewed sharks And let e\ < Of the Kl"be be free From t he raids of the Demon barques! mber 24, 1914. The New Sisterhood O Commonweals with I Free from Drink's dark steins, With joy we hear Your wild and clear falling chains ! Your fetters crashing to the earth Arc silver cymbals sweet And trumpet tones To shake the thrones Where Mammon's minions meet! 58 With noble scorn you spurned the gold That lures a lordly land, And in serene Unsullied sheen And stainless state you stand! The mighty anvil chorus grows, Crescendos wild and high, As new-born notes From freemen throats Sweep earth and sea and skyl High hopes new kindled in the heart Flame far, as beacons bright Where Ocean wars With rock-bound shores Throw out their quenchless light! O, starry standard of the state. Hope of the wise and g' Make all the land From strand to strand Like this new sisterhood ! Anent the new "Seven Sister-" in Prohibitiondom— Alaska, Montana, Michigan, South Dakota, Nebraska. I'tah and Florida. The Prohibitionist's Invitation Come clear and clean as the tiger's tooth Or do not come at all ; By the tinsel sword of fair half-truth Xo black-mailed foe shall fall ! Wipe off the dust ^i the hostile camp And its altar ashes' stain ; Remove your sandals, red and damp With the life-blood of his slain! 59 Come not with retrospective heart And sighing soul that seeks Again the flesh-pots and a part Of your task-master's lc< Xo hyphenated homage give, Like license party " drys " — (Their party*.- pledge that Drink may live And their word that it d; Come panoplied, of one accord In platform, votc\ and voice. And swing a keen, consistent sword Of temper true and cho We want do half-heart, doubting knight, No half-friend to cur f< ompromisers in this fight strike reluctant blov Chicago Tune : "Ann Chicago, thou shalt be Unshackled and set fi »m thy fierce foe, Strong Drink that blights and kills, Author of all thy ills And every wrong that fills Thy life with v We love thy million hot) I Thy thousand gi' es, Thy towers tall. Thy blue lake's broad domains, Thy lofty-spired far, And all thy bound contain-. We love them all ! 60 City beloved, we come, Xot with the battle drum Or shining steel, But armed with ballot-brands To slay thy felon bands And every foe that stands Against thy weal ! Thy shameful license laws, Thy wounds without a cause Shall cease to be ; Thy rum-shops' open door Shall close for evermore, And health and peace restore New life to thee ! Great City of the V\ In snowy samite dressed Thou shalt appear When thy saloons are gone, With all their evil spawn, And Prohibition's dawn 1915. Breaks bright and clear! Chicago Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean" Chicago, the Pride of the Nation, The child of the Lake and the Plain, The triumph of mankind's creation And king of Columbia's domain; With pride we repeat thy great story And spread far thy fame with our song, And all that shall dim thy bright glory We will fight, loyal-hearted and strong. We will fight, loyal-hearted and strong. We will fight, loyal-hearted and strong, And all that shall dim thy bright glory We will fight, loyal-hearted and strong! 61 1915. Strong Drink like a black clond reposing Upon the white held of thy fame And the red-eyed saloon, never-closing, Have darkened and tarnished thy name; But an army in numbers and .splendors Like the foam-crested waves on thy shore. Vote-panoplied, valiant defenders, Shall come to thine aid in this war Shall come to thine aid in this war Shall come to thine aid in this v, panoplied, valiant defender-. Shall come to thine aid in this war! All the white-plumed forces united t \ i rv foe from the field, And liquor's enthralled and sin-blighted Shall live again chastened and healed; And the fame of Chicago unending O'er the wide western prairies shall sweep And across the bine billows extending To the far alien shores of the deep To the far alien shores of the deep To the far alien ihorefl of the deep And across the bine billow s (Minding To the far alien shores of the deep I Great City that we love and cherish At all shrines and all altars we bow War-sworn till thine enemies perish, And bound by our seal's solemn vow; How proud then shall be thy position On the edge of the plain and the When the white robe of pure Prohibition As a mantle is thrown around thee As a mantle is thrown around thee As a mantle is thrown around thee When the white robe of pure Prohibition As a mantle is thrown around thee! 62 No Doubt About It Tune — From " The Gondoliers " (Song Xo. 6: Act 1) The reign of rum and the blight of beer That stain our Nation's glory- Have come to the end of their career Of broken heart and hitter tear And serpent Sting and demon leer That make life's tragic story ! Rut they are facing an utter rout Despite their best endeavor ; Of that there is no manner of doubt. Xo probable, possible shadow of doubt, Xo possible doubt whatever! Their hosts are pale and faint with fear Of the world-wide Prohibition In flaming vengeance keen and clear Coming fast from far and near With votes for panoply and spear To sweep them to — Perdition ! The Demon Drink is down and out Though cruel and cunning and clever; Of that there is no manner of doubt, Xo probable, possible shadow of doubt. \*o possible doubt whatever! For all we hold divine and dear And the land and flag we cherish. While craven hearts fly to the rear Let us fight on with loyal cheer At the firing line with souls sincere Till every foe shall perish ! And die they shall mid the victor's shout 63 And die to waken never; Of that there is no manner of doubt, Xo probable, possible shadow of doubt, Xo possible doubt whatever ! April 6, 1915. The Prohibition Party You hold the right and the right of way That belong to the pioneers Who led the van Of their fellow-man On all far-flung frontiers! High and clear in the itorm and night Your bugle blast was blown And your rolling drum Was never dumb On the fields you fought alone! But now the halting ho>ts come on And ^\ser[) to the hard-held field Where the foe shall die If he tight or fly And die if he stand or yield! Oh, hail the help of the bright, new lance And lock your shields in strong Unbroken rows Before your foes And swiftly sweep along! Oh, veteran> true in the truceless fight, In the grim strife grown gray, Your grand ensigns All the battle lines Are following to the fray! 64 To Woodrow Wilson (On signing the " bone-dry " law) O scholar-statesman, keen of ken, In all the Federal sphere To emancipate A drink-chained state Your pen was the pioneer! What lie before you would not do You dared to cast the die And be the first To smite the worst Beneath the bending sky! The keystone of the arch that held The citadel of woe As its mainstay You tore away And laid the temple low ! Along your pen-blazed path of light Shall sweep the States made free And Nation-strong Shall rise in song Columbia's Jubilee ! 65 The Scar on Woman's Face Anent the "joker" in the Woman Suffrage plank of the Republican platform, for 1916. "Unkind, untrue, unknightly, traitor-hearted" — Tennyson. A blush of shame For manhood's name Burns on Columbia's brow ; A >hame and wrath Whose aftermath No man can reckon DOW I A heaitlesi joke, A back-hand stroke I- iroman'l rich reward; A promise fine, A Bmilc benign — And then— the Rrutus BWOrdl What coward blow Of alien foe Or fiend of evil star On Woman's face Has made this ! And red, malignant scar? What brutal hand Like slaver's brand Has left its imprint there; What ghoulish glee Flouted the plea Of all the wise and fair? 66 'Twas not the work Of Jap or Turk Or heathen's hardened heart, But deed of those Who proudly pose To play the statesman's part! Your step aside That nullified All of the good they sought; Your treacherous thrust And broken trust Embitters all our thought! A meek disguise Of specious lies Was your abiding place; But Honor asks No darkened masks To hide her open face ! Ignoble crowd That laughed aloud To see the low trick turned; That met this wile With wink and smile And gladly saw them spurned! Have Lincoln's sons Turned Freedom's guns On those who would he free? Has honor fled, Is knighthood dead Down in the land of Lee? Why still hold her Below the cur That plies the white-slave trade, And count her naught In all your thought When laws or wars are made? 67 You give the vote To bum and bloat And e'en the savage Sioux, While wise and good Sweet womanhood Receives a blow from you ! Rights of the State To dominate You sternly answered " Nay ' The time you gave The negro slave What woman asks today! Hut now you hedge, Turn, and allege That you now recognize That thi> false cried I- true, indeed, And worthy in your e O poltroon mind OUChing behind Deception for defense, rade Because afraid ike the consequence ! With gall supreme YOU do not deem That you must answer why; Would you conceal, Like thieves who steal, The reasons you deny ! But do not think For one short wink It is not widely known You are in chains To him who reigns On liquor's law-built throne! 68 For his vile gold Your soul is sold Slave to your sinful choice, And you the tool Of his red rule And echo of his voice ! But ne'er forget, This red and wet Bruise of your brutal heel On woman's face Shall spur the race Anew with wrath and zeal! And he it known Your blood-built throne Shall be an ashen heap O'er which the Sun Shall see no one Do reverence or weep! The Women Know The women know Who is the foe Malign and fierce; There is no guile Or subtle wile They cannot pierce! They see it clear In spite of tear And grief-dimmed eyes And all the maze Of crafty ways And hoary lies ! 69 The sovereign vote Is wall and moat To guard the land, Yet Drink denies This priceless prize To woman's hand ! he decrees Old party knees Bend to his will Like broken re< And party creeds Are mute and still! Ignoble ila And baser knai i ■ Their tribute bring And bow and crawl Like Clinging thrall re thi> king ! While rum rem. Shall woman's chains Yet gall and burn, And those now free To slavery Shall soon return ! To the Women's National Prohibition Federation, 1916\ 70 The Story of the Special A Metrical Narrative of the Hanly-Landrith Prohibition Special Train (Western Trip) The Prohibition Special Train I throw a far-flung light along Ten thousand miles of rail, And follow the gleam As my pilot beam Follows the headlight's trail! I take my way to the westward world Where the star of empire goes And woman is free As the chainless sea And the rum lord wails his woes! I touch the crest of the hills of snow And the rim of the peaceful sea, And from pine to palm I carry the balm That shall make Columbia free ! I greet the Queen of the Occident In panoply bright for war With the fierce, malign Red host of wine That plagues her golden shore! I turn to the desert and dash away In a race to the rising sun, Sowing the seed Of a nation's need Along tfce course that I run! 71 I pause at the rock where the Pilgrim stood Completing a circle of light Like a luminous hand From strand to strand, As the galaxy girdles the night! The Story All the friends of Prohibition From the ocean to the ocean From the Ri< < I rrande del Norte To Alaska's Arctic Circle And from Lucifer to Hesper. All who Itand like lighted ta In the chancels Of our churches. In the transept, nave and altar, In the pulpit, pew and vestry, (iiving light where light is needed; All who hear the hla/ing torches In the highways of this country JTOUr weak, wayfaring hrotln May not Stumble, fall and perish ; All who stand like beacons burning On the battlements of Neptune Where the surge- heat like legion I Panoplied in shining armor And the foam-plumed ocean told ■ Smite the shores with crashing lances And sweep on with inarch majestic To their own wild martial music When they throw their silver helmets On the rock emhattled seashore, You who warn againsl the breakers And the luring liquor siren; W<.uld you like to hear the story Of the Prohibition Special? Would you care to pause and listen To a running light narration? Would you like to hear the story 72 Of a thousand thrills and triumphs, Of ten thousand miles of travel Told in freely flowing fashion Like the running of a river Or a brooklet might meander? Would you like to hear the story Of our nation-spanning party? Would you feel the exultation, Feel the thrill of tilings as we do? Would you hear the gentle whispi Of the forests and the prairies? Would you hear the mountain's greeting And the desert's salutation ? Would you hear the things they told us In the confidence of brothers? Words of cheer and of good eon: And the kindly words of warning Spoken with uplifted finger? Then but follow us in fancy, With the mind's eye while you listen. Stewart In the concept of a mighty Marshal of the chosen people, In the tropic brain of power. In the heart of a heroic Man of dauntless deeds of daring Undismayed and never doubting Sprang the scheme and plan and being Of this mighty undertaking; Born within his all-embracing Nation-comprehending genius — He the dreamer and the doer, With an eagle Sweep of vision Yet no microscopic detail Could escape bis searching notice! He whose Argus eyes see ev'ry Big and little thing conjointly; He the planner and performer, 73 He the Czar and King and Kaiser, Haig and Hindenburg and JofTrc. Cromwell, Bonaparte and Cesar; He who knows Columbia's confines As a boy knows all t he by-ways And the alleys of his village; In whose hands the mighty network Of a hundred railroad systems Were as reins of snorting chargers In the hands of skillful drivers When the charioteers competed In the ancient Roman ra* Bending in their swift gyrations To his slightest nod and gesture And responsive to his heart beats, As the fleet and noble h< Rent to I'cn-Hur's guiding spirit And the swaying of his body. Twas beneath his guiding spirit In the Autumn's early twilight We departed from Chica. On our nation-girdling mission To the prairies and th< To the forests and the mountains To a thousand crowd' And ten thousand rustic hamlets. Illinois From her cornfields turning golden Illinois waved her bright bam U Waved the plumage of her prairies In a parting salutation, And her men and half-free women Sent their cheering wishes with us, Blessed the seed that we were sowing In the wide fields of the Nation, Laid their hands in benediction On the strong and stalwart sowers, Laid a heavy burden on them, 74 Charged them with a mighty duty, Made them prophets, knights and soldiers, Made them ministrels; made them singers And crusaders to deliver Our Holy Land from bondage, Sent them forth as the forerunners Of the dawning dispensation Of a manumitted people And a State unyoked from evil. And they said, " O, Master Singers Sing the Jubilee of Freedom And proclaim emancipation To the slaves of ' viler bondage,' Tell it in the tones of trumpets Tell it like pipe organ music, Minor of the rolling thunder, 'Til Columbia in thraldom Hears your songs of martial music. Hears your hope-renewing singing, Wakes in might and shame and anger, Breaks the shackles from her ankles. From her wrists the gyves and fetters As the earthquake rent the prison At the songs of Paul and Silas," And the warrior-visaged vetVan And the stalwart Southern soldier Took the new knighthood upon them And went forward to the battle! And the Great Lake sent its greeting To its nation-sundered brothers Saying, "Tell my greater brethren All they hold between their borders Shall be pure and clear as I am So that men may drink and prosper, Not the bitter brew of Bacchus Turning into swine and demons All who touch its Circean chalice. Every ship that plows your bosom Bearing to a weaker brother 75 Cargoes of the soul-dcstroycr, Cru>h its bulkheads with your tridents And save those they sought to slaughter." Wisconsin And Wisconsin waved her lordly And Spring-prophesying pine m ng " Tell my giant cousii Tell the redwood and sequoia Standing in imperial splendor On tl titled mountains That we shall no! always witn Liqui ' e and ruin, But this State shall si >lendent Like cur iwned crests when Winter in her richest ermine And the sunl And the i Minnehaha Won us by her v. ter And the music of her Held aloft her cup of crystal, Smiled and cir I ly • - brim t< bade us Drink it ' ttom. North Dakota And the North w with the golden harv< ■m. And its thousand great and lofty Houses of the hoarded hai Sent it- greetings to the mountain-. Sent its freemen's salutation To the heaven- to w'ring Tit;.: Saying, "May you l<>ok benignant Down upon a mighty people Free from Drink\s malign dominion, Free as when our free-born breezes 76 Greet and kiss the maiden beauty Of our pure and stainless meadows." Montana And Montana's men and women. Comrades in the ranks of voters And co-wielders of the scepter Said with set determination, With a firmness like their mountains, "This great State shall soon be stainle As the chaste stars high above us, As our plains and pine-clad ran. As our crystal lakes and rivei It shall gleam in flawless luster Like a gem set in the circle Of Columbia's jeweled girdle Or a stone in her tiara. And the ink. shall vanish From her queenly virgin vestments; Rolled in her unsullied samite She shall stand in regal splendor In Columbia's COUrtS and councils. By our deep-dug mines we swear it. By the at pierce the heavens, By the spires of our temples Lifting up tl to heaven, By our pines and firs and cedars, Tam'racks, larch and spruce and hemlocks Pointing up like index tin.. To the home of their Creator, We devote our souls to banish From Montana's regal confines Every vestige of this virions, Man-debasing liquor demon. Hoof and horn and cloven foot-printl" Idaho, Washington and Oregon Then we went through thr< I kingdoms Wherein dwell a kingly people Plumed with Prohibition helmets 77 And clean-crested like their mountains With their diadems of glory Wearing on their brows eternal Fillets o! the snow and sunshine, Where the noble men have given Ballots to their noble women. Kingdoms of great, new-built cities Not embellished by blood-money Wrung from dying men and women, Hut by honest labor burnished Like the .shining shields of soldiei And the mighty \ < cted When (.Id Chaos changed to Cosm< Sentries of the primal darkness Through the night-watch of Creation, With their .silver helms sun-glinted Stood at taciturn attention As pre passed by on our journey. All the gates of all the cities ( opened \\ ide their rtals And the people listened to Ul Heard our :: "..iiided. And they said. " \\'i came through trials And through mighty t rihulat i- To this purified condition To these white robe- wearing, But until the great Republic Shall have universal freedom Like our alien Northern neighbor We mUSl dwell beneath the shad And the mei :<»n, For the wet plains 'round about Ul rm with prowling and tiger-, Thieves and treach': Seeking for a place to enter. Waiting for an invitation From gold-thirsty, venal trait But we swear by all our summits. By the snow-plumed and star-sweeping 78 Head of high Rainier, the regal, By the dome of Hood, the haughty, By the brow of fair Saint Helens And by Baker and by Adams; By our rivers and rich valleys By our wide, deep-fruited orchards, By the crystal crested surges Lightly laving our borders Lisping lullabies and legends Learned among the alien islands, That hereafter and forever Our confines shall stand firmly Barred and bolted, locked and grated, Fortresscd. high-walled and deep-moated I Well we know we are in danger Until every other mortal 'Neath the stripes of white and crimson And the field of stars resplendent free and safe as we arc" California Then the Golden State threw open Her great northern portals to us, Welcomed US to her dominions. Welcomed US as her CO -ally Leagued against the liquor businc Put our shining swords and bucklers In the forefront of the battle. Oh, the Commonwealth monarchal, California, the golden. El Dorado of adventure. Land of all our dreams and fane; Land of giant falls and forests. Land of lure to all gold seekers Now as in the years departed. By its " cycle-bolted " gateway Stood supreme and sovereign Shasta Master of majestic mountains. Robed in white and ermine-turbaned, Looking down on clouds below him, Greatest of Columbia's children, Tow'ring o'er the peaks about him Like King Saul among his brothers — Head and shoulders high above them. Land of Occidental power Robed in Oriental richness, Land of energy unequaled, Land of trees of frame and stature Huge and high, like Og of Bashan, Great of girth as Gath and Anak, Trees to which our Eastern woodlands Bear a forest's pigmy people, Land of superb sapphire sunsets Land of fleece-fringed mountain ranges And of cascades' shimmering splendors, Land of myriad fascinations Soothing as the silent cadence Of a symphony of sunset. Land of endless orange blossoms, Land of luscious purple clusters Worthy of the vale of Eshcol, Land immortalized by heroes, Made immortal by the poet \Yho>e sweet measures flowed in beauty Like the foam-flecked mountain torrents Down Sierra's snow-clad hillsides, Laughing, leaping, singing sweetly; And then soaring like the eagle On his strong, cloud-cleaving pinions. Playing mighty master music On the harp>ichord of Nature. But upon this royal flower, On this unexcelled and fragrant Queen of all Columbia's roses Clings the canker-worm infernal, Clings the blight and mold and mildew Of the legal liquor traffic And its million pests attendant. 80 But the brow of a great people Burns with shame like the deep hectic Of a fever-fettered patient, Shame and righteous wrath commingled, White-lipped hate and quenchless anger Like the fury of scorned women And the rage of love insulted, For they love their golden country And they love to tell its glories, Proud as Judah of the Jordan, Proud as Rome of yellow Tiber, Proud as England of her island. Oh, it was a valiant knighthood Charging in a great offensive, All their armor was deep-dented By a hundred lost encounters But their hearts were steel and iron And their souls were undefeated. They were sweeping to the city Where they had the beast beleagured In the citadel of Satan High-walled by the license system, By the State's consent deep-moated, Driving furious as Jehu To the city of Jezreel To destroy the sons of Ahab. And they said, "Our vows are taken And our right hands are uplifted In the sight of all our mountains, We have crossed our hearts before them, And to this we call to witness All our thousand miles of ocean All our thousand ruined missions, Shattered frontier lights the padres Lighted in the heathen darkness, And our future full of promise As an iridescent rainbow, That the red regime shall suffer An eternal interregnum, 81 His Satanic scepter broken And his evil issue blasted By anathema attainder." But before we journey further Would you like to see a picture Of our champions heroic, The triumvirate of Titans, The great thunderbolt-defying Giants of the giant struggle; See the three brave of the bravest Like the mighty men of David Risking life and limb and fortune, Risking all but sacred honor, To bring to a kingly people And a royal, rich-robed nation The thirst-quenching cup of crystal? Hanly See the plumed and laurelled leader, Valiant, war-seamed vet'ran fighter, Known and feared of every foeman ; Trenchant tipped are his bright weapons, Strong the arm that sends unerring The skull-crushing, polished missiles, Sure as the sling of David. In the rude log-cabin nurtured, In the school of hard toil tutored, Learning all the lore of statecraft In the Nation's Council Chambers, Wise and strong and righteous wielder Of a Solomonic scepter In the State of his adoption. He is surcharged with the spirit And the zeal of a crusader, Yet his heart is kind and tender For he knows the utter sorrow, Knows the tragedy and pathos Of poor, pity-pleading children Martyred by the liquor business, 82 J. FRANK HANLY Prohibition Candidate for President, 1910 Knows the felons it created, Knows the derelicts that drifted Daily down on Rum's red river To the whirlpool of destruction; Touched and tempered with compassion For his fellows' fatal failings, Hardened into wrath relentless, Deep, intense and fiercely burning At the tempters that destroy them. In his rugged frame is beating Kindest heart of gentlest woman, In his soul dwells all the beauty Of the sunrise and the sunset, All the twilight's mellow music, All the melodies majestic Of the grand march of the heavens When the stars in bright battalions And the sweeping constellations Inexpressibly resplendent Pass with muffled drums before us Softer than deep-muted music, Only heard by those who listen With the inner ear attentive. Pen of poet, eye of artist, Rich and wonderful word-weaver, Singer laying down his lyre For the battle's din and discord, Even as the high-souled Milton Hushed his harp to follow Cromwell. Landrith Now behold the kingly scholar, Prince of Prohibition pleaders With the sunshine of the Southland Radiating from his presence, Wisdom mantled with the sunlight; Big as his own native Texas Shouldered like world-poising Atlas; Predestined from the beginning 83 To become a coronetted King Collegian and Doctor, Robed in the befitting vesture Of the livery of Learning. Healer, soother, pacifier, The soul-warming, gloom-dispelling, Friendship-making and feud-healing Doctor of disgraceful discord, All the broken bonds cementing, Bridging all the petty chasms Like a shining rainbow arching Little Earth's uneven places. Royal wit and wholesome humor, Flashing fountains of good nature Flooding all the land with sunshine Like the Jordan overflowing All its banks in time of harvest. Open portals of Aurora, Golden chariot of Phoebus Driving black-mailed Night before him. Sunny Southland's minstrel music With the pathos, sun and softness Of his sable song-birds singing Down in Dixie's fields of cotton. But against the frowning menace Of the state and church and children He is dark as 'boding tempests When the lurid, livid lightning Leaping from its ebon scabbard Cleaves the earth and sky asunder, Scorching hot winds of invective Burn along his path of hatred Fierce as a blast-furnace breathing Its white wrath of five-fold fury. Poling Look upon young manhood's idol, Prohibition's Percy Hotspur, Knighthood's mirror, plume and helmet, 84 And the waymark for the youthful Soldiers of the Dawn Renascent. Is he common clay or did he Fall from parapets celestial? Who were his immortal forebears? Were they Jupiter and Juno? Were they Venus and Apollo Or Endymion and Hebe? With the stateliness and beauty Of his father and his mother? Clear his voice like the resounding Trumpet of the herald Hermes Calling all the gods to battle. Gallant Galahad and Gareth, Bold Sir Bedivere and Bevis Leadership and sway of Arthur With Excalibar resistless, Bringing help and soul-reviving Hope to evening's weary warriors, Coming to us when the battle Trembled in the doubtful balance, As the field of Nasby witnessed Ironsides and Cromwell coming. Gifted painter of word pictures Set in frames of gold and silver, Phrases fine as polished marble, Sentences that roll like billows, Words that flow like peaceful rivers Crooning music to the meadows, Clustered gems that burst like rockets Streaming down in many colors. The Home-Returning With this leader and these soldiers Then we swept on through the desert, Through the canyon-cloven country Cactus carpeted and arid, Rocks and red sand and dry rivers, Great State with its borders menaced 85 By a foe more fierce than Villa, By the banished liquor traffic Seeking boldly to re-enter, With a Cataline defiance Vowing to return with vengeance; But her sun-burned sons applauded, Cheered and thanked us for our coming And allayed our apprehensions Saying they would keep the standard Stainless in the desert kingdom. Swept New Mexico's primeval Terrace temples and red mountains, Saw its far-famed turquoise sunsets With its desert beauty blemished But by drink and voteless women. Swept the State whose sky-built city Capitol and gilded State House Stand a mile above the ocean, Passed its river-riven gorges Boulder walled and without bottom, Saw its civic beacons burning Upon cv'ry lofty mountain Calling all the plains to combat, Found its keen-eyed soldiers ready Bivouacked upon its borders To keep out the liquor felon It had touched with its attainder. Touched the Mormon's Land of Promise, Saw its domed and spired temples, Heard its thousand throated organ; State by two-faced treason cheated Out of Statewide Prohibition, Victim of a venal villain, If its people say correctly, Low as Judas' base betrayal, Dastard as the deed of Brutus, Pardonless as faithless Arnold. But a brave and noble people Smarting with the stinging insult 86 And with cheeks and foreheads mantled Red with wrath and shame's deep scarlet Have with one voice doomed the demon Whose destruction treason thwarted. Went through wind-swept, wild Wyoming, First in chivalry and knighthood, Pioneer of Woman Suffrage. Then we came to kingly Kansas, Laurelled, loved and lordly Kansas, Crimsoned and ensanguined Kansas, Holy Land that holds the ashes Of our crowned and haloed hero, Mecca of a mourning nation. Land of John Brown's dauntless spirit, State that sent more Union soldiers Down to Freedom's fields of glory Than the number of its voters; State of shining years like burnished Mileposts on the march of progress, Sunflower in a field of daisies, Sunburst in a Queen's tiara, Cynosure of the resplendent Stars upon the Nation's banner, Paradise of Prohibition, Abolition's early Eden, Paragon of civic honor, Rich, imperial, heroic! Met Missouri's valiant yeomen In a struggle without quarter For a rumless constitution. Touched Nebraska's freshly furrowed Field of woman's lost encounter Where the liquor lords defeated Equal rights to equal subjects; Here the universal hatred Virtue holds for the despoiler Boils and flames and fiercely hisses; But before the snow shall mantle All her broad and peaceful prairies 87 The decree of Prohibition Spreads its counterpane of ermine Over all her smiling landscape. Then we passed the State resplendent, Hallowed by the blood of Haddock Murdered by the liquor business, Stood with bared heads bowed in homage As a tribute to his manhood, Saw State Prohibition standing A white shaft of flawless marble Deep-set in the firm foundation Of the soil his life-blood crimsoned; Here where cringing compromisers When they saw his body buried Said, as slavemen said of Lovejoy, " Lo, he died as the fool dieth." Sweeping northward, swinging southward Widely on our home-returning, Seeding twenty States for harvest, Cheering brave and fiercely fighting Irredentia Dakota Seeking to become unshackled Like his freeborn northern brother; Then rolled onward to Chicago, To the Great Lake's royal city, Plowing deep and sowing freely All the fertile plains we traveled, Turned ten thousand miles of furrows, Fleet forerunners of the reapers. Oh, it was a royal seed-time And the sowers scarcely slumbered, Working late and rising early, Walked the dew while larks were singing, Heard the whippoorwill's late vespers; Touching heart strings that responded Like a harp to minstrel fingers. Yea, a hundred thousand people Shouted loud their approbation, Promised us their freemen ballots ; And the sweet-faced sunshine children By the thousands upon thousands Raised their white arms up to heaven As a sign they wished us triumph, Waved their open palms before us So that we might read their wishes, Though their bright eyes told the story; Some who oft had stood atremble 'Neath the frown of Drink's dark villain With their frail arms bent like bucklers To ward off the blows descending. All the golden, wise words uttered Were sent down the burning wires To the land's remotest corners As the great Sun sends his sunbeams Far and wide o'er all the nations, And the white-lipped message bearers Told it to ten million readers. O dear Prohibition people, Red blood of the rich Republic, Salt that saves our social system, Index fingers pointing forward With inflexible precision Down the great highway of triumph, Water well the fields they planted, Let the sunshine fall upon them, Keep the choking tares uprooted Until Autumn's heavy harvest Ready for the shining sickle Nods and waves o'er all the nation. Note. — Written en route the Hanly-Landrith Prohibition Special Train. (Western Trip.) 89 John P. St. John A soldier of the Night Falls as the breaking light Tints the Dawn Triumphant in rum's relentless war A Morning Star gives way Before the rising day; A hero sinks upon his shield far in the battle's fore 1 He gave to this grim strife A full, four-seasoned life ; Fearless and foursquare to all the winds that blow; Like a deep-rooted oak That braves the lightning stroke He met the hostile blasts and bullets of his foe 1 He sleeps serenely now, Pallid his war-worn brow And still the heart that beat a Nation's reveille, And thousands bow the head Above the speechless dead Whose voice awoke a people by the fervor of its plea 1 We lay this little line. This petal, on his shrine Among the high-heaped flowers of a world's esteem, And from his sacred urn With ten-fold zeal we turn To reap his golden harvest and consummate his dream! Note.— Written en route the Hanly-Landrith Prohibition Special Train. 90 IN MEMORIAM JOHN P. ST. JOHN Prohibition Candidate for Presidenl in 1884 The Sword of Hanly Flaming brand In the hand Of a knight Clad in steel And with zeal Backed by might! Bright its sheen, Sharp its keen Double edge, Swung in war Strong as Thor Swung his sledge! Man and maid Bless the blade Cleaving through The black veiled Sable mailed Drunken crew! Blaze and flame Till the shame Of the land Shall lie dead 'Neath your red Streaming brand! October 7, 1916. Note. — Written en route the Hanly-Landrith Prohibition Special Train. 91 Song The New America Tune: America America, for thee The dial of Destiny Points to high noon ; The fate-fraught hour when Emancipation's pen Shall give to drink-chained men The priceless boon ! \Yc hail thy men of might Who lead us in the fight To cleanse the land ; The lion-hearted, leal Soldiers of flaming . True as the temper. In knighthood's brand ! To end our Nation's shame They come fierce as the flame • m cannon's month ; The i tit and I United fight for thee •list the slavery rth and Son tli! Columbia, the Gi A rum-unshackled State Thou soon shalt he, Untainted by the gold Of manhood bought and sold, But with thy flag unrolled In purity ! July. 1916. For the Hanly-Landrith Campaign. Sung at Notification Meeting at Indianapolis. 92 DANIEL A. POLING Daniel A. Poling (On delivering the keynote speech at the Prohibition National Convention, at St. Paul, in July, 1916) Behold the Prohibition young Apollo Belvedere, Eternal youth in beauty crowns his brow with light, E'en as the sun-kissed crests of morning hills appear Like helmets of the heralds of the enemies of Night! A polished marble majesty is his in poise and mien Like a superb statue chiseled in the classic days; A thought-compelling countenance illumined and serene As though a holy vision held his enraptured gaze! His voice was martial music that quickened us to life When he struck the keynote of all the major chords, Like sentry wakened warriors springing to the strife While from sleeping scabbards leap the flaming swords! O comrades, catch the chorus of t His mighty battle song And roll its wild crescendos to our ocean-girdled shores And shake the deep foundations of the forts of vested wrong Till o'er a stainless Nation our white-winged eagle soars ! O singer, soldier, sentinel on Hope's sun-haloed hill, The vanguard of the victory the breaking day shall bring, We come with leveled lances to smite the hosts of ill As Cromwell swept to battle against an evil king! 93 Santa Monica O little city by the sea With Ocean's arms stretched up to thee Like mother to her child. nee — a golden hour — ming like a fragrant flower In glory iindefiled! The lovely, foam-plumed inrge that Your with it> Minlit U I K ' lullabies o! peace With a rich melo :der As the iui ndor When the twilights ce.< But, gorgi lay Idea day The canker-worm and w Mildew and the blighting story That would blast yur p< When it should unfold ! Augustine, • ctity and clean The city named for th< All its scarlet sins redeeming;, Making it a pure pearl gleaming By the Sunset sea! November 14, 1917. 94 A Prohibition Story A Political Poem Note:— Those who sincerely sought Prohibition often differed sharply, and even bitterly, as to method, etc. The partisan, local option and non-partisan separate efforts tended to much lack of unity. While happily all differences are swallowed up in the Great Victory all ardently desired, yet the true history of the Great Re- form cannot ignore them. This poem illustrates the situation. All who hate the liquor traffic. All who hate the license system. All who raise their hands in protest At the sin-stained gold it otfer>. All whose cheeks burn with the crin. Blush of shame, whose scarlet tincture Burns and reddens deep and deeper At their country's profit sharing In the crowning crime oi nations; All whose hearts turn sick at seeing Freedom's flag above a brewhou And our gre.it sun->oaring eagle- Spread his wings as a protecting Shield above the liquor bu>n Read the records rudely written In the scars and brands and cur~ Left upon the souls and bodies Of your hundred thousand brothers By the law-protected traffic! All whose bosoms beat responsive To the cries of fellow mortals. All whose hearts are touched by trials. All whose hearts are made more tender By the woes and wrongs of people, All whose heart-strings are made vibrant By the strains of joy and sorrow : Listen to the tragic stories. And the tearful tales of pathos, And the tones of piteous anguish 95 Of the choking sobs of children, Terror-faced before this demon That the law has loosed among them! All whose spirits are uplifted By the purer, loftier vision That beholds the good day coming, When the universal heart-beat Shall turn discord into rhythm, And all harmonies together Blend into a great crescendo That shall fill the world with music; When the bruises of all mortals. Bruises of the soul and body, Shall be soothed by touches tender As the hand of a sweet mother Laid upon the throbbing temples Of her fever-stricken children: Hear the story, oft repeated In the lives of those about you! 1 portray DO man of fancy, I repeat no idle fiction That imagination pictures, But a man of mortal passions And of common clay compounded Moving day by day among n^ Seeing, hearing, feeling, thinking. Bearing in his soul and body The stigmata of the traffic In intoxicating liquors — State defended, law engirdled — Knowing the effects and seeking Earnestly to know the causes, Seeing with unclouded vision, Undeceived by prate and prattle, With the cold steel of pure reason Bravely meeting every question! Born within the drunkard's shadows, Looking through Drink's darkened windows, That give to the sunshine tinges 96 As of smoke and clouds commingled, Seeing beauty marred by baseness, Seeing wrath and rancor turning Harmony to din and discord, Seeing hope by disillusion Dashed into a thousand fragments Like a statue of fine marble By a brutal Vandal broken. Never were the shadows absent, Never the bright days of Summer But some somber cloud impending Cast its shadow on the landscape, Darkening the sunny meadow, Checking all the glee and laughter Of the thousand smiling daisies By its storm-foreboding presence! Through the blossom-scented Springtime, From the smiling salutation Of the violet's " Good Morning," To the thousand spreading roses At the threshold of the Summer, Still the serpent's hiss was present As he walked among the flowers, Like the mighty serpents crawling Round the infant giant's cradle ; Through the harvest's hosts of flowers, When the fields of golden glory Bow before the rustic reapers, There the liquor serpent stung him, Coiled and ran across his pathway; Through the Autumn's many thousand Shades of yellow, brown and crimson, Painted bright on field and forest, Still he heard the hated hissing In each withered leaf that rustled ; When the icy winds that herald Winter's cruel, snow-plumed army Found upon the barren meadow Only golden rods remaining 97 All alone of all the flowers To defy the fierce invader, Still the adder and the serpent Of the poison liquor traffic With their darting tongues pursued him! Thus he came to manhood's stature And to man's estate and powers, When the ballot box presented His first chance to smite the foeman, When the sharp and shining weapon That had been denied his mother To protect her helpless children Was at last his proud possession. And he thought much on the subject, Pondered what his actions should be — Death or dalliance or nothing, Compromise, delay, or lie <. Fight or run or base surrender? And he thought and looked and listened, Weighed all parties, men and measutf Platforms, policies, and systems. Heard Republicans proclaiming All the glories of the tariff, Shouting for a high protection To a people unprotected From th- I o! liquor ; They who built the mighty castles, Dug the deep moats round about them, Where the black-mailed knights of license Lived and preyed upon the people; Heard the loud Progressives shouting Also for a mighty tariff, Only lower than the other, Which, they said, was made by robbers, Spoke no word against this evil, Passed it by as unimportant. Heard the Democrats declaiming That the Commonwealths were sovereign, That the rights of States were sacred, 98 Never drew an arch of promise In the black clouds thick above us, Set no star of hope resplendent In the dark sky of the nation. Heard the Socialists demanding Better economic systems, Yet no word against the business Undermining every system. Not one word in all their platforms Hostile to the liquor traffic, But they all were acquiescent In its vile continuation ! And he saw the liquor traffic With the Fed'ral seal upon it, Saw the war-dogs of a Nation Bristling for the fiend's protection, Like the savage, triple-headed Dog of Hell at Pluto's portals Safeguarding the Nether Kingdom, Saw the sword of the Republic Leaping from its bloody scabbard To defend the liquor felon. Heard the politicians pleading For the suffrage of the brewer-. For the votes of the bar-tenders; Heard the laity and clergy Pleading for their liquor parties, Pleading for these self-same ballots; Likewise pleading with great fervor Not to stain the holy vestments Of the Church by an indorsement Of the Prohibition Party. Lestwise politics corrupt them And their pious souls be tainted, Lest the lordly license system And its sponsors be offended By their unkind interference! Heard the " Church in Action '' saying With a menace in its meaning, 99 M Come not out for Prohibition In your platforms and your pledges, Do not speak of Prohibition In the platforms of your parties, Neither for the State or Nation. In your pledges to the people, In declaring what you stand for, In the policies you sanction, In your written creed of statecraft, O be careful! very careful! Not to promise Prohibition, \<»t to mention Prohibition! If you call the clans together In one army for the battle That shall fix the Nation's status On the great, momentous question; If yon promise legislation To outlaw the liquor business, If you pledge the faith and credit Of your party to accompli>h The destruction of the traffic When you >hall be placed in power, Then, this is the solemn warning: The ' Church in Action ' will oppose you, Will .see that you are defeated ! Only vote for those we sanction, Only Ihosc with our approval, Lay aside your private judgment Voting just as we direct you. There are things you understand not, We will do your thinking for you, We will go among the soldiers Of the standard license parties, Where men dry as the Sahara And those wetter than the ocean Walk together, ballot brothers; We will pick the ones we favor, We will suborn them to treason To their parties' proud traditions; 100 In the halls of legislation They will rise above their parties, Guided by their noble honor, They will vote for Prohibition, Even though their party fathers Thereby lose the smiling favor Of the potent liquor factions; Though they walk beneath the banners And the ensigns of the foemen, Though they wear the self-same labels As the license system's soldiers, Wearing epaulets and helmets, Uniformed as hostile warriors And accoutered just as they are They are true though in false colors, Vote for them and for no others I " Thus the young man heard them talking, Saw them smiling self-complacent, Satisfied in their delusion By their own " white maps " deluded, Talking, threatening and boasting Full of furioso thunder, Torches, rockets, and red-fire, Burning loosely piled gun-powder Making a great smoke but lacking The effect of concentration, As when the long-rifled cannon Sends its swift steel-jacket bullet Crashing through the biggest bulwarks. Then he listened to the comments In the enemy's encampment, Heard the men behind the battle Who mapped out all the maneuvers Of the brewers' big battalions, Of their battle-ships and cruisers. Heard them laughing in derision, Unrestrained in vulgar gusto. And they said: "This 'Church in Action' Fights us in a piecemeal fashion, 101 With most weak and witless tactics. Though their numbers are ten million Yet ten thousand can resist them, For their seven armies never Strike us in a solid phalanx. Never move in mighty concert In the battle of the ballots, And their great strategic chieftains Have rejected those who pleaded For a charge in mass formation On election's field of conflict. Therefore is their fighting fruitless, Futile as a flock of rabbits Charging on a pack of tigers. But their folly is their ruin, Likewise it is our salvation, Yea, our life hangs on our cunning And the folly of our foemen. For if they should wake to wisdom, And in onslaught all concentered Charge our law-dug license trenches And our party-builded breastworks They would sweep us to destruction And oblivion unending! But the silly ' Church in Action ' Sees amid the raging battle Friends of theirs in hostile harness, In the forefront of our forces Leading on our big battalions, Leading party regimentals With their own complete indorsement Blazoned bright across their helmets, And to spare their friends they falter Fighting in half-hearted fashion. We can give them local option Knock-out drops to make them slumber. We can give them model license, We can draw or raise the curtain. Small concessions satisfy them 102 Like a bone thrown to a mongrel, Half-way friendly legislation Flushes them like mighty triumphs. But there is one foe defiant, One unconquerable warrior, Vicious, vindictive, and bitter, Unrelenting, ruthless, savage, Holding out no hope of quarter, Breathing death to all our forces. He denies us legal status, Says our trade is not a business But a crime in law and morals ; Proffered gold to buy his favor Only deepens his deep hatred ; No concessions satisfy him, Naught but death and hell hereafter. And his name is Prohibition — Puritanic, fierce, fanatic, With all governmental functions To his beck and nod responsive; Prohibition with a saber, With a bayonet and pistol, With the soldiers in the saddle, Prohibition with a cannon, With a Prohibition Marshal, With the President and Judges, With the Constables and Sheriffs, With the Army and the Navy To enforce his drastic statutes! And he calls us every evil That his fertile brain can fancy; Calls us cancers in the vitals Of the glorious Republic, Calls us scrofulous eruptions, The King's Evil of the Nation, Calls us leeches feeding freely On the life-blood of the people, Says we are the fellow felons Of the thieves and thugs and grafters, 103 The right bower of the gambler And the panderers' co-partner And the deep-mouthed and ferocious Blood-hounds of the white slave hunters, And the dance hall's luring spider, And the libertine's side-weapon, And the club of the plug-ugly, And the fountain head and feeder Of the madhouse and the prisons, And the evil eyes combining Basilisk, Medusa, Gorgon, In their dire and fatal action. And he shouts his loud defiance At our friends, the major parties, Asks them many pointed questions, Calls upon them late and early To repeal the license measures They have put into the statute, Asks them to remove the safeguards They have thrown around the traffic; Tells them to put back the country As it was before their statesmen Granted greed and crime concessions To despoil the best and fairest For a pittance of the profits; Says all license laws are creatures Of their positive enactments, And a special abrogation Of the Common Law conditions; Says Republicans conjointly With the Democrats accomplished All this license legislation. And the posing, proud Progressives Set their seal of silent sanction! He is our undying foeman, His the tactics to destroy us, And against his heartless method Naught avails our circumvention, Subterfuges and evasions, 104 And our often used flank movement Is a failure flat and futile, Strategy avails us nothing — He is mining all our trenches, Placing powder underneath us, Sapping, sniping, submarining, Cutting our communications, All is contraband we carry, We are but red-handed pirates And our flag the jolly roger. He must die or we must perish! But the ' Church in Action ' hates him, Says he should go out of business, Stop his partisan endeavors To secure Prohibition, Cease to call all men together In political alignment In a unity of action To assault the liquor business At its source of life, the ballot. Says it will get Prohibition Better without his assistance." Deep the things he heard and witnessed Sank into his plastic being, And he gave consideration With a keen and careful caution To the things he had encountered; Analyzed the men and motives, Pierced the fallacy and falsehood With the trenchant probe of reason; Sophistry and lies were scattered Like the chaff before the tempest, Error driven like the darkness By the swift and shining arrows From Aurora's golden quiver When the mighty Sun arises. And he said, " I now am standing At the threshold of my manhood; Dark has been the past behind me, 105 And that darkness casts its shadows Even now into my future. Bitter were the days now vanished, By the poison cup embittered, Gall and wormwood have I tasted! Why should I stand acquiescent? Why should I debate or parley? Why should I refrain from battle With the forces that constructed All the breastworks of my foemen? Built the mighty license system? Gave it being as an infant, Cradle-rocked it and baptized it, Nursed and nurtured and adopted It and all its evil brothers? How can I or any mortal With a heart or brain or conscience Hold the Local Option dogma — The philosophy of Pilate, Where a multitude may murder And a robber win his freedom, Where the weak excuse is offered That the multitude have voted That the sinless ones should suffer Although manifestly faultless, For the voices of the people, Like the voice of God, have spoken? By the murder-rabble's verdict Are our hands by blood empurpled Washed and rendered white and stainless? Has the law been abrogated? That we are our brothers' keeper? Where shall I be found in battle When the reveille is sounded On the morning of election — In the day that tells the story, In the day the votes are counted, When the Government takes notice And the legislators listen, 106 When the parties fight each other, When all men are in the conflict Partisans in fact and spirit, When non-partisans are phantoms And the dreams of a pipe-dreamer, Bodiless and non-existent? E'en the ' Church in Action's ' hobby Of non-partisan endeavors And its modus operandi Rests alone on the assumption Of political alignments, Of men organized in parties Representing many measures Acting as the people's agents, Shaping policies of statecraft. And the ' Church in Action ' uses Them as instruments for placing Candidates upon the ballot, And they pick the ones they favor From these party chosen people. O you simple 'Church in Action'! Must the friends of Prohibition Never, never be united In one Prohibition Party? Is the strength of temp'rance forces In political endeavors In division, not in union ? In the battle of the ballots Must we meet united foemen Strong in unity of purpose, Meet the mighty liquor legions With our many small detachments Led by divers rival leaders? Will the ones who forged my fetters Ever give me manumission? Will the merciless task-masters Ever end the galling bondage? Will the hardened-hearted Pharaoh Of the license system serfdom 107 Ever give his slaves permission To attain the land of promise? Will the parties that have stithied, Forged and riveted the shackles Loosen them or clamp them tighter? Why give aid to these slave-holders When the sword is in my right hand? Why give back their fleeing victims To the power of their clutches When I have the sword to free them? Why believe they will be better When they have not even promised To abate one jot or tittle Of their ancient, ruthless rigors? Has one spot upon these leopards Ever changed in any manner? I will never dip my pennant To the drunken, pirate parties, Never use their skull and cross-bones As my voting party's emblem, Never hold them but as felon Buccaneers on life's wide ocean, Cruel as the black slave traders, Cruel as the Congo butchers, Cruel as the Viking cruisers And the Spanish Main marauders! Never will I wear their colors Or salute their jolly roger. Oh, how many thousand people Walked their pirate planks blind-folded, Dropped dishonored to the waiting Red jaws of the hungry monsters Of the shark-infested waters? Oh, how many alien peoples Curse the cargoes that are carried From our ports to make the savage Still more savage and degraded, Following the mission workers Till the Christian-pitied heathen 108 Hold the Cross as but the herald Of the drunkard-making merchant ! Shall I vote that this continue? That the red reign of these pirates Go on without interruption? Shall I give the license system Life immortal by my ballot? Shall I pay its fathers tribute? Shall I give its sponsors comfort? Shall I sanction their traditions? Shall I worship at their altars? Shall I stand up and be counted One among their motley many? Shall I share the gold they offer? Shall I overlook their silence When they should have loudly spoken Or forget their overt actions? Shall I not be ever conscious That the liquor license system Is the bulwark and the breastwork And strong tower of the business? Yet it is a truth most certain That the local option dogma Predicates the license system As in force and very valid; Rests upon the license system, Could not draw a breath without it; Rests upon the vicious teaching That the voice of half the voters (And a tiny fraction over), Half of less than half the people May of right doom any section, Fasten the saloon upon it, Make it lawful and protect it? But the law of Prohibition And the local option dogma Are as far apart as sunset From the portals of the morning, As one antipode is widely 109 Separated from the other. They cannot exist together : If the one is right, the other Is a wrong in truth and practice. If the people of a given Local governmental unit Have the right to keep their serpents Herded in their little confines, Notwithstanding the objections Made by the surrounding country, Then is State-wide Prohibition, Then is Fed'ral Prohibition, Which denies this right accorded To the governmental unit By the local option doctrine Wrong, unjustified and vicious! I will help to kill the serpents, I will help to kill their keepers, Those who raised them, those who fed them And made profit from their deadly Ravages among the people, As the Prophet on Mt. Carmel Slew the priests, the Baal-adorers, Until Kishon turned to crimson From the sanguinary slaughter. With the sword of Prohibition Only can they be beheaded, You can only scotch the serpents By the local option process. Let our friends and not our foemen Swing the sword that knows no mercy On this universal villain And his backers and protectors. Let the Prohibition edict, Shouted by an outraged nation, Set the seal of death upon them. Then amend the Constitution To prevent a resurrection. Use the Federal amendment 110 As the spike to nail the coffin, Bar the sepulchre and seal it! Shall I ask less than the limit Lest some fellow sneer ' Reformer ' ? Shall some ' half-loaf ' compromiser Stay my hand a single minute? Shall I pause because ' good ' people Pass by daily without protest, Silent as Egyptian mummies? They were silent when I needed All the help that they could give me, Yea, my foemen crouched behind them In their efforts to destroy me And took refuge in their shadows! Shall I wait till others join me? Shall I sheath my sword till many Make a mighty triumph certain? Shall I camp with compromisers While ten thousand men are dying? If I vote as they are voting Then this sin shall live forever. If they vote as I am doing It shall die at this election. Who is right and who in error?" August 20, 1915. The Seven States * The seven sov'reign seals Of seven Commonweals Are set in solemn sanction on the documents of doom; Like seven shining suns And seven morning guns They greet the year new-risen and they dissipate the gloom ! *On New Year's Day absolute Prohibition, which had previously been voted on, became effective in seven States, to-' wit: Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Arkansas, Iowa, Idaho and South Carolina. Ill Oh, hail the mighty writs, Revoking sin-permits For liquor's ruthless plunderers to scourge the peaceful plains ; The edict that denies The license compromise, The Herod-Pilate covenants that cursed their fair do- mains ! Oh, chant a vict'ry song Of right against the wrong Like Deborah and Miriam with their triumphant lips; And let the cannon's cheer Reecho far and near Like mighty peals of thunder from contending battle- ships ! Oh, seven tall and grand Bright candle-sticks that stand New-lighted 'roundabout our fair Columbia, the Great, Whose hand is full of stars, Whose girdle, crimson bars Upon the ermine mantle of the world's sublimest State! The glory of the fields In seven sacred shields Upon your clean escutcheons is beautiful and grand, Like seven hues that blend In shining bows that bend And gleam with hope and promise o'er a shower-chas- tened land ! Oh, liquor-cleansed and pure, You are the Cynosure And waymark to your sister stars in statehood's vaulted sky ; As you are rendered free So must they shortly be Or in its morning hours shall this lordly nation die! January 1, 1916. 112 Our Party We hold to our high goal To win a Nation's soul And heal its woe, And to attain this end We work with ev'ry friend, Fight ev'ry foe ! We will submerge our name (We never sought for fame) Yea, we will die If free from foam to foam And from the Nation's dome Our flag may fly! A Prohibition land, The vote in woman's hand, Is our quest ; Upon the seven seas We seek all good, but these Above the rest! We nail our ensign fast To the top-gallant mast Though tempests frown ; We give it to the skies And death to him who tries To pull it down ! We will not sail a craft That shifts from fore to aft The flag that flew In glory at our prow While heroes, sainted now, Stood leal and true! 113 For love of those we serve We will not bend or swerve Or trim a sail; For all the merchandise And spoils of compromise Are hopes that fail ! Unselfishly we stand To manumit our land And earn its thanks ; Adventurers in vain Shall seek a selfish gain Within our ranks! The sirens we resist, The storm and fog and mist And undertow And all the shoals and bars And all the shooting stars Our pilots know! Against the homeland Hun, Dire as the evil one Across the sea, Our slogan is " unite " As allies in the fight For Liberty ! 114 Our Constitutional Amendment Oh, solemn fact, The Fed'ral pact Is mute and still ; The scroll sublime Ignores the crime Of endless ill! Old party creeds And party deeds Are doubly dumb ; No law they seek No word they speak Adverse to rum ! But gallant band With ballot brand And spears agleain, Death to this sin Shall be set in The law supreme ! Yes, day shall break And right shall wake, And strong and proud The Charter's page Sublime and sage Shall speak aloud! No puny wail To stop the sale And do no more, Nor weakling whines Be in those lines, But thunder's roar! 115 January 5, 1916. The great Decree Must never be So weakly made That coward slaves Or venal knaves Can e'er evade ! But walls so strong Xo vested wrong Can penetrate, Xor alien band Xor traitor hand Unbar the gate! It shall defy The wiles they try With dire intent ; Above, below, They cannot go Nor circumvent ! The tablets bright With laws of light linst the dark And blighting sin We'll place within The Xation's ark 1 116 The Battle Imminent (For the Prohibition Amendment) It is the Dawn The lines are drawn On eight and forty plains, From deep to deep O'er the wide sweep Of Freedom's fair domains! To one and all The bugles call That never blew retreat, The Reveille Of Victory Eternal and complete! None are exempt, And dire contempt Shall be the slacker's share, And those who faint Shall treason's taint To kith and kindred bear! The hosts of Day And Night's array — The white and ebon plume- Hold in their hand For our loved land Deliverance or doom! Our khaki sons Who fight the Huns Face not a fiercer foe Or baser brute Of lust and loot Than we must overthrow! 117 Brave yeomen now Forsake the plow On the Decisive Day : — Your fallow fields With tenfold yields Shall wave after the fray! And school and shop, " Over the top " With hand grenade and steel And cleanse and purge The liquor scourge From our great Commonweal! Dr. Ira Landrith Like the great Sun breaking through, Making diamonds of the dew With his smile, As the birds in boundless | Sing the Morning Reveille All the while. So this sun-crowned, kindly king Comes in superb state to bring Peace and light To a troubled, gloom-gripped world 'Neath the sable flags unfurled By the Night! Welcome as the jocund Spring, The sweet Summer heralding, Is his face, And with joy the longing ear Hears his sun-land songs of cheer Ev'ry place ! 118 DR. IRA LANDRITH 1'iohibition Candidate for Vice President. 1916 Potent is his genial glance As the dark-dispelling lance Of the Dawn, And before him Doom and Doubt And despair in panic rout Are withdrawn ! Victory on wings outspread, Hope, with sunlight helmeted, Faith aglow, Come to cleave the casques of gloom Trampling down the ebon plume Of the foe! His be an eternal day, Never cease his sunshine sway O'er the earth, Rifting wide Despair's dark pall, Giving to those in its thrall A new birth! October 25, 1916. (Written en route the Hanly-Landrith Transcontinental Prohibition Special Train.) The Noblest Deed (On ratification of National Prohibition Amendment by Illinois Legislature.) Heroic State Sublime and great Your noblest deed is done, Although your brave Sons freed the slave And smote the soulless Hun! 119 No brutal deed Of Berlin's breed On Belg'um's blood-soaked sod, Or bondman's chain Wrought woe and pain Like Drink's soul-searing rod! A fair nurse dies While Mercy's cries To base hearts plead in vain ; But every day Of Rum's red sway A thousand souls were slain! The State House dome In Lincoln's home Crowned with sun-glinted gold Lifts high a bright Resplendent light For all eyes to behold! The scroll of fame Shall hear the name Of the law-makers sage Who wrote the law Without a flaw On the Great Charter's page! The Fiend is dead ; No guilty red Defiles the robe of State, But snowy clean Its silken sheen Is now immaculate ! January 14, 1919. 120 M Consummatum Est M (On completion of ratification of Prohibition Amend- ment to Federal Constitution.) The " Consummatum Est " is said ; The fight is finished and the law Fulfilled that those choice spirits saw Before whose torches darkness fled! The solemn sentence of the Cross Today proclaims a nation free From Drink's long, dark Gethsemane Of tragedy and woe and loss! COLUMBIA with outstretched hands That touch the nation -sundered seas Unfurls her free flag to the breeze And robed in spotless samite stands With Freedom's sunlight in her face And Earth's white mantle at her feet Majestic and superbly sweet A queen of loveliness and grace ! Aflame in her tiara shine Her eight and forty flawless gems More precious than all diadems Or El Dorado's richest mine! Benignantly she speaks to those Who fought her battles hard and long When Right was weak and Evil strong And Victory was with her foes! " O mighty and unbending oaks That fixed, serene and rooted fast, To all the four winds faced the blast And took the flaming lightning strokes! 121 " O true defenders of my home, propagandists leal and brave Who stood like rocks against the wave And dashed the foe to froth and foam! " While lesser men held you in scorn You lighted the first flame of Dawn, You kept the sable shades withdrawn Through which emerged the full-robed Morn 1 " Brave hero graves down the dark past Are sacred milestones on the march That led to the Triumphal Arch Which their prophetic souls forecast! "O soldiers of the snow-white plume Who broke my chains and set me free Thou shall behold from sea to sea A mighty nation burst in bloom! "The wounds and scara of Drink's base Hun That rampant ravaged this dear land Shall heal beneath Time's kindly hand And smiles of Hope's eternal Sun! " An Eden spot shall be my home, A garden of Hesperides My ships shall sail the seven seas The flowers of the fields of foam! " The fame of your great deeds shall glow Like rainbows on the storm that's past As long as Memory shall last And tides of Ocean ebb and flow! " Today a State you made sublime Pours out to you its heartfelt thanks As Jordan overflows its banks In grateful floods at harvest time!" January 16, 1919. 122 The Pen of Hanly A baton in a Master hand, More potent than the sword, A jewelled scepter to command The lofty major chord! The poet's beauty-woven words. The artist's lines of grace, The melody of singing birds, The smile of Nature's face; The solemn awe of mountain crests White with sun-glinted snow, The passions that heave human breasts With tides of joy and woe; The thunder of Niag'ra's roar, The silent sweep of stars, The tumult of the fields of war, The moaning ocean bars; The dirges of the sobbing sea, The Sunset's song of gold, The rosy Morning's Reveille, The scroll of Night unrolled ; Marshalled on the printed page Delight us e'en as when Great orchestras upon the stage Lift up the souls of men, When all the sons of song respond, And all the minstrels meet In unison the master's wand In symphony complete ! Sing and write, O master pen, Your songs sublime and great, Directing with a Prophet's ken The conscience of a State! 123 The Fifty Years' War 1869-1919 This is the year that young men come In triumph home from glorious war With Victory won O'er the brute Hun Who scarred and scourged an alien shore! This is the year that old men come From longer wars with fiercer i The Huns whose brand Scourged the Home-Land With baser scars and deeper woes! In the fresfa Spring of Youth they went. No drums, no plumes, no lusty cheers To help sustain Their long campaign Of truccless war for fifty year-! At the mid-watch of Drink's black Might, From a dark City of the Plain, They marched away To the great fray Against the felon hordes of Cain! The foemen camped within the lines And boldly on their shields displayed The mighty seal The Commonweal Had set upon the pirate trade! Armed with his evil law the Hun Ran his red raids from coast to coast With but a true And valiant few To measure swords with all his host! 124 As noble Poland would not bend Or bleeding Belgium bow the head Or brave France yield Her lilied field To the despoiler's loathsome tread, They gave no quarter to the foe, They knew no flag of truce with wrong, Their battle cry " The fiend must die " Was morning and the evening song! Their bosoms took the hostile spears Of press and pulpit, pew and priest, And poisoned stings Of hirelings Who servile served the rampant beast! They grew gray in the ceaseless strife, Unmarked they sank beside their shields Xo flowers bloom Above their tomb As poppies grow in Flanders' Fields! The Night and Silence shrouded them, No martial bugles blew farewell, And men marked not The hallowed spot Upon the red fields where they fell! Even in scorn 'twas said of them, "As the fool dieth, lo, they died," They threw away Their lives to stay The onward sweep of Drink's dark tide! But not a hero dies in vain, And not for naught do martyrs bleed, In the great plan That governs man Good harvests spring from goodly seed ! 125 A stripling shepherd in a brook Sought a smooth pebble for his sling, And in its path The King of Gath Fell in his boastful blaspheming! But this small stone for this great deed, While Time ran on in joys and tears, A little rill On Judah's hill Had polished for a thousand years! In pleasant retrospection we Look towards the Night dispelled by Day And think again Of those brave men Who perished in the far-olT fray ! We lay the flowers of our love Upon the shrines of that great band Of noble dead Who bravely led But did not see the Promised Land! Our love and cheers we give to those Who saw the sable shades withdrawn And now behold 'Mid Sunset's gold The glories of this mighty Dawn ! (Written for Prohibition Jubilee Banquet at Morrison Hotel, Chicago, Illinois, September 1, 1919.) 126 OLIVER WAYNE STEWART Prohibition Member of Illinois Legislature Chairman Prohibition National Committee Prohibition National Campaign Manager, V)\G Oliver Wayne Stewart A drummer boy in the Old Guard That held the line through the long Night He rose through service stern and hard To leadership in the Great Fight! The charge of forlorn hope he beat Upon a hundred hard-fought fields, Yet never sounded the retreat Before the foe's o'erwhelming shields! A gray and grizzled vet'ran now, His forty years of battles set In splendor on his laurelled brow Like a bejewelled coronet! In council calm, in combat keen, To deeds of daring nerved and steeled An eagle in the blue serene, A lion rampant in the field! The Long Roll of the Great Reform Upon its rich emblazoned scroll Shall star this soldier of the storm, This noble and intrepid soul! 127 Eugene Wilder Chafin He was the heavy battery of the long, long drive, That had the range unerring of the stronghold of his foes And whose never-ceasing thunders kept our flagging hopes alive And cheered on the halting columns to re-doubled blows ! Like the great Lawgiver with the glowing tablet stones Hot and smoking still from Jehovah's awful hand With His decrees and judgments told in thunder tones He read the law aright to a Drink beleagured land! Statesman, seer and soldier, in forum, field and court With wit and wholesome humor and noble speech en- dowed, He was Hope incarnate through ill and ill-report, And calm in the confusion and chaos of the crowd! While the mighty echoes of the Victory were yet Reverberating clear across a gladdened land With his ensign flying from the foemen's parapet He died like a warrior with his sword still in his hand. In the Gallery Resplendent of Prohibition's great, Whose lofty works do follow though their labors cease, Cut in Parian marble white and immaculate He shall stand a pure and flawless masterpiece! 128 IN MEMORIAM EUGENE WILDER CHAFIN Prohibition Candidate for President 1908 and 1912 Lovisa M. Steck A woman gracious and refined, A soul genteel and strong, Whose life was music that combined A psalm and martial song! A wearer of the sacred sign Of Hope through Drink's dark years- The pure White Ribbon, made divine By woman's prayers and tears! As one who felt her noble zeal And the impulse of her life Serene and calm, in woe and weal, That cheered him in the strife, In Memory sweet as chiming bells And flowers in full bloom, A wreath of snow-white immortelles I lay upon her tomb ! 129 To a Veteran Prohibitionist (Rev. Walter L. Ferris) A noble man, in word and deed, Of Phillips-Sumner-Lovejoy breed, Cast in heroic mould, Indicting sin with tongue of flame, As Nathan did King David's shame, Unflinchingly and bold! A man of sun and kindly light, Yet stem as Cromwell for the right, In every crisis true, Foursquare he stands upon the Rock That through the ages stood the shock Of every blast that blew! The Slavery of Drink he saw On every hand upheld by law And sanctioned for a fee; He saw the Church. God's sentry, sleep Before the vile invaders' sweep, Or crook the craven knee! With nobk- anger at white heat He blew the " Reveille " and beat '•\s>embly" and "To Arms," And men with new impulse of soul Sprang up and answered to the roll At his warlike alarms! Brave man. who scorned all compromise, The hundred headed hydra lies Before you cold and stark As at Ashdod in Samuel's day In ghastly death old Dagon lay Before Jehovah's ark! 130 IX MKMORIAM REV. WALTER L. FERRIS Pastor of Wheaton College Church. Wheaton. Illinois Upon your Winter whitened brow The scarred and battered helmet, now, Marked by the foeman's steel, Is a resplendent coronet Gemmed with stars that shall not set, O warrior, loved and leal! We come, who know and love you best, And pin a flower on your breast, Of never-fading bloom, And old comrade and new recruit Stand at attention and salute A knight from spur to plume! October 10, 1922. 131 His Armistice Rev. Walter L. Ferris (Died Armistice Day, 1925) At Dawn of the Great Day of Peace A warrior spirit found release From service long and true, Bearing honored battle scars Pure as the unsullied stars In Heaven's vaulted blue ! He won a Cross of War more high Than that for which men dare to die In sanguinary strife, His chevrons were of the Great Fight Of soldiers loyal to the Light On every field of Life! The noble ranks are growing thin Of those who smote the Nation's Sin When Drink was on the throne; A giant in the battles then, The faith and zeal and strength of ten Were in this man alone! Above the bays of fading Fame The chaplet of a stainless name Encircles his pale brow; "God's finger touched him and he slept" As sleeps a saint who humbly kept Inviolate his vow! 132 ALONZO I'-. Wli Prohibition Nfember of Illi:iui> Legislature 1W4 Chairman Illinois State Prohibition Committee The Knight of the Prairies (Alonzo E. Wilson) For thirty years this warrior blew A clarion clear, a trumpet true, Across the Prairie State; So clear, so true, by day and night, It kept the sword unsheathed and bright Nor let the strife abate ! From where the Great Lake's billows beat To where the two great rivers meet His vigil never ceased, He sought the red wolf everywhere, In city den and prairie lair, And smote the rampant beast! He rode the long, lone prairie plain When Winter spread its counterpane Of ermine cold and deep, And when the North Wind in his wrath Had leveled all things in the path Of his relentless sweep! In rural school, by wayside well, His words like martial measures fell And set men's souls aglow, And on the closed church doors he nailed His challenge and their sin assailed Who licensed the red woe! He saw the great, ripe fields of corn Of all their golden glory shorn To feed the poison still; He saw the boundless wealth of food Into a deadly potion brewed That wrought unceasing ill! 133 And he beheld on every hand The spotted fever of the land — The wine room's open door — Breathe on the prairie towns its blight And with its vile miasma smite And plague the cities sore ! And with the wrath of noble men That gives to one the strength of ten At forefront of the fray Where brave and knightly deeds were wrought, Like Paul at Ephesus, he fought The wild beasts of our day ! O, not in vain your burning plea, For now your much-loved plain is free, Knight of the Great Reform; Those bitter years are memories proud, Bright rainbows painted on the cloud Of the receding storm ! October, 1922. 134 ROBERT II. PATTON Prohibition Candidate for Governor of Illinois Prohibition State Chairman of 111 Robert H. Patton (Springfield, Illinois) Great lawyer-leader of the Plain Of glowing heart and mighty brain And noble poise of soul Who wrought to make immaculate O Illinois, thy robe of State, And ermine white thy scroll! Thou hast not known a truer knight In all the long unceasing fight Against thy basest foes No stronger arm, no keener steel, No mace or lance or blade to deal More stern and deadly blows! Through the Night and the dark Day He did not falter in the fray But led with snowy plume And battle cry and martial song Against the hordes of licensed Wrong That sought the Nation's doom! The sunlight of the better days To come shall be eternal bays Resting upon his brow To compensate the years of strife To which he pledged a noble life And kept the faithful vow! Sweet music and the songs of joy Shall sweep thy plains, O, Illinois, And golden decades roll Across a Drink-delivered land Because of the intrepid stand Of this heroic soul! 135 Dan R. Sheen (Peoria, Illinois) " But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not de- file himself with the portion of the king's meat nor with the wine which he drank." O City of ten thousand stills Engirdled by great fields of corn, Among your poison making mills A Prophet and a Prince was born! He knew the Serpent's slimy coil. He felt the breath of blight and bane And saw it wither and despoil The fairest flowers of the Plain! He saw strong Youth under its cloud, He saw bright minds in dark eclipse, And Genius in dishonor bowed, And Poverty with pallid lips! He saw judicial robes defiled And drunkards in the Halls of State, The Toga stained, Reason exiled, And Statemanship inebriate! He saw corrupt and craven knees Of venal Press, of priests and pews, Bend abject for the guilty fees That sordid souls could not refuse! But Daniel purposed in his heart And registered his vow on high That ere his spirit should depart The Fiend and all his works must die! 136 DAX R. SHEEX Prohibition Member of Illinois Legislature Prohibition Candidate for Governor of Illinois In youth he signed the muster-roll Enlisting for the life-long fight, And served with fortitude of soul 'Til boyish locks were snowy white! On the long march he led the van — The column that would never halt — Both brave to strike and wise to plan In weary siege and fierce assault! He fought the serpents in their fens, He trailed them by their poison path, He entered the old Dragon's dens Unmindful of his roars of wrath! Now war's alarms are peaceful hells And never fading chaplcts now Of amaranth and immortelles Repose upon his valiant brow ! The marble pillar, flawless white, Where Prohibition's Roll of Fame Is cut in characters of light In bold relief blazons his name ! On the Death of William Jennings Bryan " Know ye not that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel ? " Superb Christian Crusader in this new Holy Land Against the new day Infidel inside of Zion's gate. The noble lance is now at rest within a nerveless hand But the propulsion of his soul shall not one jot abate 1 137 In Death that kindly makes all unkind words untrue Calm Justice brings the chaplets of the world's acclaim And Honor writes him on the scroll of the immortal few And Truth lays on his shrine the fadeless bays of fame ! For thirty years his bivouac was upon the battle-field, He loved the smell and tang of smoke and reveled in the storm, With snow white plume and panoply and scarred and dented shield He led the conquering columns in the warfare of Re- form ! Great were the battles that he fought for those who la- bor long, And splendid was his service on every moral plain, Magnificent the mace that helped to crush the crowning Wrong And stay the plague of Drink's vile and malignant reign ! His soul was only combative and militant for Good, In Statesmanship sublime he strove that cruel wars should cease, He wisely wove and welded well the bonds of brother- hood And knit a score of Nations in noble pacts of peace 1 A bold Defender of the Faith and Warrior for the Word, Undoubting and undaunted by the men who madly mock, With flaming zeal unquenched and purpose undeterred With adamantine steadfastness he stood upon The Rock! The valedictory we speak is but to crumbling clay, His spirit rides the ramparts of every righteous fight, His voice is in the chorus of the dawning Better Day That shall flood the years to be with a resplendent light! July 31, 1925. 138 CLIXTOX X. HOWARD Noted Prohibition Leader Clinton N. Howard Here is the sling of David that in Jehovah's name Sent his hissing missile to the brain of Gath, Here is bold Isaiah's fearless tongue of flame That seared and shriveled sin in its consuming wrath! Like lion-souled Elijah on Carmel by the Sea Who mocked and slew the priests that ministered to Baal, He smote this mighty nation's base idolatry That drew a thousand terrors in its tragic trail! The Sin that sold the sanction of a sovereign State To poison and pollute the crystal stream of Life He met with righteous fury and a noble hate Nor let the sun go down upon the truceless strife! A Luther in defiance, a Cromwell in his zeal, In field and camp and council in himself a host, A knight without a scabbard — who never sheathed his steel, A never-sleeping sentry at the danger post! In the Hall of Heroes of the Prohibition War, Blessed with the benediction of a grateful land, While the Demon, dead as Dagon, plagues the earth no more, In Time enduring bronze and marble he shall stand! 139 BOOK II Poems of the Great War Introduction Nearly all of the POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR were printed in 1919 under the title of THE KHAKI HOSTS. The introduction to that book by Judge Charles D. Clark is reproduced here and is as follows: The City of Wheaton will ever regard with a just pride "THE ROLL RESPLENDENT " of its boys whose names appear herein. Their service was loyal and true and their sacrifices were even unto their lives. Nor will Wheaton forget its other boys who though, when called, answered " Here am I," yet could not be taken. Neither will it for- get its fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, who kept the home fires burning and made such an " Honor Roll " possible. Among the splendid supporters of the " Khaki Roys " was Frank E. Herrick, the author of the verses here col- lected. Judge Herrick was born on a DuPage County farm, is a graduate of Wheaton College, and has filled various positions of public trust and confidence. He is the author of " Prohibition Poems " and other verse. During those days of the world's great conflict when it looked dark and the result doubtful, then it was that Mr. Herrick, through his own fine spirit and faith, helped to sweep away our doubts and cheer our faltering strength. James Russell Lowell said: "A poet must needs be before his own age in order to be even with posterity." Judge Herrick is such a poet. Long years ahead he saw our na- tion freed from the curse of strong drink; and now, again looking into the future he sees it taking a great part in a world that will, because of the fine courage, spirit and patriotism of " The Khaki Hosts," grow better as the years go bv. 143 Dedication To the City of Wheaton little City that sent forth A loyal legion of brave sons From your confines To break the lines And turn the tides against the Huns; To you who wears the thirteen stars Of chastened gold inviolate, This book of rhymes Born of war-times In grateful love I dedicate! 1 saw you speed them forth with cheers On to the frowning fields of war And in their care Repose the fair Bright Emblem that we all adore! I saw your Service Flag unfurled Resplendent in the Sun and breeze, And day by day It bore away My thoughts to those beyond the seas! I saw your heroes welcomed home Back to the hearth-stone bright and warm With service bars And battle scars They won in War's consuming storm! You breathed the spirit in this book, With your soul is the page replete Bound in this brief Fresh garnered sheaf I now lay at your loyal feet ! 144 " A State of War " starry flag that loves not war, Nor fears to see his hostile face, That loves concord More than the sword, Preferring peace with every race! The buffets and the blasts of those Who sowed and schemed to waste the world Have to the breeze Of Freedom's seas All of your flaming folds unfurled! In vain was patience with the hot And high-piled insults that you bore, While Murder's hand Crimsoned the land And pirates stained the seas with gore! The friendship of a hundred years The Teuton tore to tattered strands As treaties made And disobeyed Were "scraps of paper" in his hands! In days of peace he plotted strife And sought to make our friends our foes While in disguise His lurking spies Planned how to deal us deadly blows! Columbia's murdered sons, tho mute, And her flag-emblazoned ships Beneath the seas Are potent pleas More powerful than living lips! 145 We join the harnessed nations' fray, O fearless flag our fathers gave, To do our part With hand and heart Beneath thy folds on land and wave! April 3, 1917. (On reading President Wilson's address to Congress ask- ing for a declaration of a state of war with Germany.) America and France Tune : America America and France, United soul and lance As in old days ; The same tri-color's hue, The same red, white and blue, Mow covenant anew For Freedom's frays! Beyond the ocean bars The lilies and the stars Shall face the foe As on this western shore Amid the shock of war They stood in days of yore Thru weal and woe! The sons of Lafayette And Washington have met To make the light Of priceless Liberty Supreme on land and sea And all the years to be A reign of right! 146 Heroic France, we come, 'Roused by your rolling drum And eagle's cry, With ocean-cleaving keel, With shard and shell and steel Until your foes shall reel And fall and die! The Flag Unfurled A city unfurls to the breeze The blended beauties of the Day Of azure skies and tranquil seas And starry Night's serene array! The crimson pennants of the morn Stream o'er the fields immaculate Of the stainless and untorn And seamless emblem of the State ! It is a Nation's open scroll In might and majesty unfurled, The voice of an unfettered soul Proclaiming Freedom to the world! Swift our screaming eagle band Shall bear it to the clouds of war Where stronger storms shall but expand Its flaming colors more and more! Let us who see it in the sky Or by our brothers borne along Lift loyal heart and hand and eye With meet salute and shout and song! (Written for the Wheaton, Illinois, flag-raising on July 4, 1917) 147 The Khaki Hosts Today the tramp to the trenches starts And a tread that shall shake the world Begins today As they march away With the star-set flags unfurled! The stalwart, sinewy sons of the soil The pillars of peace and war, From a thousand farms Bare their bronzed arms For the fields of the battle's fore! From learning's lordly halls they come With red blood pulsing free, A nation's pride To lead and guide The strife of the days to be! Their strong heart-beats are battle drums That shall fill the foe with fear Ere he shall feel The keen, cold steel When the khaki hosts draw near! Honor and cheers for those who go In the glory of youth's estate, And heart and hand To the loyal band That holds Columbia's fate! September 19, 1917. (For the DuPage County farewell reception to the camp-bound soldiers) 148 MAUDE J). BUTLER Chairman of the Wheaton Auxiliary to the Chicago Red Cross from April, 1917, to Novem- ber, 1918. Nine hundred twenty-five women workers were- enrolled in the Wheaton organi- zation. The Red Cross A drop of precious blood on Mercy's snow-white hand That checked the scarlet tide of swiftly ebbing life; The sign upon the lintels of the portals of our land That Death may pass us over in the sanguinary strife! Soul of the Good Samaritan giving his oil and gold And Filomena's spirit in Crimea's crimson days, The strength of woman's nature and manhood's noble mould Are blended like the glories of Aurora's rising rays! In this sign we conquer all the hate in human hearts, Beneath its benediction the bruised and broken bow And freely among friend and foe its healing balm it parts And lays a palm of peace on pain's wild, throbbing brow ! Oh, may the white pavilions where our better natures dwell Escape the fiendish fury of the callous soul and sear And may those tents of Mercy be immune to bomb and shell That bear the blood-red blazon bright and chaste and clear ! The Liberty Loan The drum-fire of our ringing gold Shall back our khaki sons Who face with zeal And shard and steel The hosts of brutal Huns! Civilians safe from war's swift shafts No less the bugles blow Shrill reveille From sea to sea. For you to fight the foe ! 149 No less loud stern Duty's drums Beat the assembly-call To marts and mines To brace the lines Of those who offer all ! The gleaners of the fields of peace Their overflowing urns Of wealth shall pour For Freedom's war Till lasting peace returns! O Columbia's myriad men Freely, gladly give A double share While others dare To die that we might live ! October 23, 1917. Herod and Pilate "And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends The Crescent and the Iron Cross, Twin demons foul and fell, Have wrought a work Through Hun and Turk To win applause from Hell! The Sultan and the Blasphemer, The " Me and God " war-lord, A concordat Of joint combat Have sworn on war's red-sword! 150 They made a Herod-Pilate pact And sealed with Christian blood Of the Levant Their covenant To loose the crimson flood ! Believers in the Holy Book The Koran's sword shall slay , A martyr race It may efface As Night blots out the Day! Yea, the lord of Luther's land Sanctions the shame of shames, The homicide That nation-wide Armenia proclaims! O sleeping swords of the Crusades Leap up with life aglow And smite the base Apostate race That joins your ancient foe Oh, cut the cruel crescent down And break the Iron Cross, The giant twins Of countless sins, And cast them out as dross ! October 25, 1917. 151 Bride and Khaki Groom To the bride and khaki groom In the glory and the bloom Of the valiant and the fair in youth's resplendent May, A salute and song I send Wherein meet and merge and blend All the wishes and the blessings that befit a wedding day. Soldier, whom the treach'rous tide Soon shall sever from his bride To bear the flag of freedom in the battle with the Huns And to join the carnage song Whose wild chorus is the Itrong And mighty diapason o! the thunder-throated guns; Bride, who must abide at home While beyond the raging foam Her hero-captain stands beside the iron guns of war; All your sundered songs shall be your heart's antiphony Full rounded and unbroken by the battle's din and roar. Fair Columbia in pride Shall behold the groom and bride, And in her service flag shall set two shining stars, For a son and daughter true Who have pledged their all to do Their "bit" in lands of peace and on the fields of Mars. 152 BRIDE AND KHAKI GR< M >\l Lieut. John F. Conley and Miss Lora Belle Fox, married at Gary Memorial M. E. Church, Wheaton, Illinois, December 7. 1 (, 17. with military ceremony. 4 The Republican M * A coiled and couchant copperhead Beneath the waving stars In war unfurled Over a world Dark with the frown of Mars! Breed of the rebel prototype, Spawn of the poison fang That hiss and sting Where soldiers sing And clashing sabers clang! Detested traitor in the camp, Aiding the alien foes While loyal sons Stand by the guns And strike the deadly blows! O eagle on our emblem's crest, Swoop down in screaming wrath With talons bare And rend and tear This reptile from your path ! Mars Ascendant Red Mars is the Morning Star And Hesper red and clear, In Orient And Occident His ruddy shields appear! In Christian and in heathen skies His scepter holds high sway, A crimson path Of death and wrath Runs red across each day! 'Newspaper mouthpiece of the Mayor of Chicago. 153 He shrouds the earth in dark eclipse With his malignant shield, As clouds that run Athwart the Sun Throw shadows on the field! Beneath his fierce and angry frown Ten thousand daily die 'Mid the world-wide Red fratricide In earth and sea and sky! May the new year see him set That slays the hosts of men, Xor East or \\ Behold the crest : his dark helm again! January 1, 1918. Norman James Tweedie A city sepultures it- A flower fallen in its bloom; The first fruits of the soulless Hun Has spread a pall of somber gloom! Alert and keen he left his books And volunteered his brawn and brain, Filled with that fine zeal that looks Impatient towards the battle plain! To those who sleep in Flanders field He was in soul and spirit, kin. Although denied to him to wield The sword or hear the battle's din! O sleeper in the khaki shroud, Xot in vain your sleep shall be, This dirge shall turn to trampings loud, This dead-march to a Reveille ! 154 IN MEMORIAM NORMAN I \MI ; .S TWEEDIE Wheaton's first soldier sacrifice, a volun- teer, Comparo 1. 45th LJ. S. Infantry, died in Camp. Buried .it Wheaton, Illinois, Feb- ruary 27, 1918, with military honors. The Service Flag Unfurled 11 The Stars Fought Against Sisera " A City unfurls to the sky Before a loyal people's eye A shining constellation of resplendent gems Beautiful as when the Night Spreads in splendor all the bright And transcendent glories of her diadems! Symbols of her sons are they Who have swept to the fierce fray Keen as the true temper of their trenchant swords Where upon the field of Mars They shall fight as fought the stars Against the cruel captain of the Canaanitish hordes! Soldiers of the field and fleet, Know that all the home-hearts beat Loyal and devoted as your foe-feared steel. And in witness of her love Constant as the stars above In this service flag your city sets her seal ! March 14, 1918. England " This precious stone set in the silver sea " — Shakespeare Tune : America Brave Britain, strong and grand, O lion-hearted land, In this fierce strife Against the heartless Huns, Rests on thy valiant sons And thy death-dealing guns The whole world's life ! 155 O treasure isle of earth, Land of fair Freedom's birth That we adore, Britannia, the free, Columbia and thee Shall kin and comrade be On fields of war! And proudly side by side Our fighting fleets shall ride On ev'ry sea; With beak and talons bare Shall our swift eagles tear The vultures from the air And make it free! O England, how we bless Thee in the battle stress Of these dark days, England, that holds the line And pours out life's red wine Freely on Freedom's shrine — England we praise! March 28, 1918. (During the Picardy drive.) To J. Ellis Machamer On entering U. S. Aviation Service We give our heart's full measure Of love and lusty cheers To you who give — That we may live — Your manhood's choicest years! Fair Freedom's fearless eagles Shall brothers be to you As you shall soar Where clouds of war Darken the azure blue! 156 The shadows of your pinions The Hun-king's land shall see Mark out a path Of woe and wrath Dark and forebodingly! Erect, alert and loyal, Keen and clean and brave, Our blessings rest Upon your crest In war on land and wave ! April 11, 1918. 15? Private La Verne T. Perrottet First to the call And first to fall Where Freedom's vanguards stand, His life's red wine A- on a shrine He poured in " Xo Man's Land!" A star as keen - those whose sheen Gleams in Old Glory's fold, His battle won The setting Sun Has turned to fadeless gold! White immortelle- Shall grow where shells Now tear the trembling ground, And lilies fair Of France bloom there Above his cross-marked mound! Heroic dead, Above our head The flag at half-ma>t t! In sad and mute Vet proud salute To your great sacrifice! 158 IN MEMORIAM LA VERNE T. PERROTTET 76th Company, 6th Regiment United States Marines. Born December 3, 1896. Killed in action June 15, 1918. IN MEMORIAM WILLIS HUGH CORK Private. Motor Training Detachment, U. S. Army. Born July - Died in Service October 1, 1918. Buried with military hon- ors at Wheaton, Illinois. Willis Hugh Cork We loved him for his sunny soul, His clean life day by day, His zeal that would not brook control To join the world-wide fray! The sunlight hidden in his heart Shone in his genial face, Revealing with unconscious art His wealth of inward grace! We saw him don the khaki suit — That soon became his shroud — And wear it brave and resolute With happy heart and proud! Death has paled the shining star And dimmed the eager glance That with longing saw afar The flaming fields of France! Farewell, hero-heart that beat Sweet music strong and brave. Thine is the sacrifice complete That Freedom's flag may wave! 159 The Home-coming To Herbert E. Holt The Hun-scarred hero hobbles home From War's red carnage, maimed and torn, Yet with each scar A service star By valor won, with honor worn! With shattered arm and severed limb, On staff and crutch he slowly comes Received with tears And lusty cheers And flying flags and rolling drums 1 O City with wide-open arms And eyes amist with joy and pride To greet its son Who smote the Hun And all the bolts of death defied, The priceless gift of strength and youth And manhood's might he gladly gave That Freedom's foe May be laid low And justice reign on land and wave 1 O comrade of the splendid men Who bear our far-flung flag along As they advance Through shell-torn France Two million freemen strong We crown you with the warrior's bays For duty well and nobly done With that deep pride Intensified Of parents in their soldier son ! October 18, 1918. 160 HERBERT E. HOLT Corporal, Headquarters Co., 10th U. S. Field Artillery, A. E. F. Lost leg at Chateau Thierrv. IN MEMORIAM ANDREW F. WAGNER Corporal, Company E, 130th U. S. Infantry, A. E. F. Died in Service in France. The Star of Burnished Gold (In the M. E. Church Service Flag) Corporal Andrew F. Wagner A sentry of the outer guard Of Freedom's fearless host, Struck by the foeman's iron shard Has fallen at his post ! In grateful love the land that he Laid down his life to save With poppies and the fleur-de-lis Bedecks his hero grave ! And 'mid the hundred sons of Mars In this bright flag unrolled We set among the living stars His star of burnished gold! O never shall its luster wane Or its rich glories die While o'er Columbia's domain The Flag of Stars shall fly! (Read at Service Flag dedication exercises of Gary Me- morial M. E. Church, Wheaton, Illinois.) 161 Peace There is peace with a beaten brute, A murderer band at bay, A pirate caught with blood-stained loot, A steel-snared beast of prey! The treacherous Turk and lying Hun With fear-filled hearts have made Peace — at the point of the smoking gun And short-fused hand grenade! They starved and butchered babes in glee And slew their wounded foe, They mocked at virtue's frantic plea And laughed at helpless woe! They burned and flayed and crucified With fiendish art, and yet In crimes and horrors steeped and dyed They ask us to forget ! In sight of Poland's million dead In famine's ruthless reign Its cringing authors beg for bread — And shall not plead in vain! Right's stern sword with double edge In mercy's hand shall keep The treacherous oath-breaker's pledge Of peace on land and deep 1 With those who did the dastard deeds, Though clashing arms may cease, Our faith shall lean on broken reeds If we dare hope for peace! November 15, 1918. 162 CHARLES WAYLAND BROOKS Lieutenant, 97th Company, 6th Regiment - Marines. Decorated for Distinguished Service. Awarded Crobc de Guerre. Welcome to Lieut. Charles Wayland Brooks Great Pershing pinned a pendant on his breast, A Cross of War for deeds of valor done And his Distinguished Service to attest Who crossed the sea to crush the haughty Hun! The plume of Percy Hotspur never waved Above a heart of greater dash and deed Than when in bleeding France he nobly braved The blasts of death in Freedom's direst need! Oh, like the tides upon the mighty sea So shall his noble sire's soul upswell That his brave boy for priceless Liberty Has fought the Hun so lion-like and well! O comrade of the millions leal and true On fields of fame beyond the fields of foam Who shared the glory and the storm with you, O seven-wounded warrior, welcome home! November 13, 1918. 163 " What Should Be Done With the Kaiser?" Seize and bind the Dragon, Drown him in a flagon Full of German beer Then with all his legions Send him to the regions Where the demons leer! BUT if he MUST linger Let the index finger Of eternal scorn At his head be pointed The most Hell-anointed Mortal ever born ! Let not St. Helena Or Queen Wilhelmina Glorify his shame; Make no martyr-hero Of this fourfold Nero And his evil fame! Let his doom be written By the hand of Britain In good English style, Leave it to old Blighty To the great and mighty Lion-hearted Isle! Let no public mention Or the world's attention Feed his foolish pride, Let his Sun be clouded And in shadows shrouded Leave the Homicide! November 21, 1918. 164 The Hero of the Homestead The soldiers of the soil have won the war Conjointly with the khaki and the blue, The plowshare and the sickle proudly bore Their burdens of the battles, leal and true! The farmers stood behind the starry flag On far-flung fields beneath the burning Sun And with a zeal that did not faint or lag Their arms of bronze they bared against the Hun! The sentry larks and Morning's herald stars Beheld them up and harnessed for the fray Ere to the sleep-sealed camps of Mars The notes of Reveille announced the Day! They heeded not the dewy vesper bell Or twilight's bugle sounding the retreat But weary hours valiantly and well They toiled amid the dust and harvest heat! They filled the lordly ships with meat and bread That gave the sinew for the deadly strife, And where the vintage of the war ran red They poured in floods the goodly oil of life! Oh, salute the starry flag and everyone Who helped to hold it high on land and sea And thrice salute the nation's noblest son — The hero of the homestead of the free! November, 1918. 165 Stuart R. Murray One by one the golden stars Rise above the ocean bars On the far-off shore; Bright asterisks to symbolize That below a hero dies Upon the fields of war! One that shone through the long night At the Morning's rosy light Changed to chastened gold, Just as day he could not see Brought sweet Peace and Victory To the starry fold I The rich stream of life that ran Bright and red before Sedan Has enriched the world. Adding luster to our name And the lovely flag of fame Over us unfurled ! Star of gold among the blue. Pride and tears and joy and rue Mingle in the heart, Yet a sweetness doth abide That shall grow more glorified As the years depart! Liberty that loves the brave Shall stand guard above the grave Where her hero rests In French lily-fields that hold Freedom's countless stars of gold In their grateful breasts! 166 IN MEMORIAM STUART R. MURRAY Private. 140th l\ S. Field Artillery. Killed at Sedan. November 10. 1918. THE RESERVE MILITIA Commissioned Officers, during the War, of Company B, 5th Regiment, Illinois Reserve Militia. Captain 1st Lieut. 2nd Lieut. G. E. Fernald C. VV. Hadley J. F. Butler Chaplain Rev William Beers The Reserve Militia To you and me The Reveille Is calling strong and clear To gird for war Though Youth is o'er And gray-streaked locks appear! A million strong Sweep on with song And buoyant stride, and we Must do our part With hand and heart E'en as our strength shall be! To guard our home They crossed the foam; And we within the gate Must here lay low The lurking foe That menaces the State ! Fall into line, Let none decline When others offer all; With proud disdain Of ease and gain Come to the color's call! August 25, 1918. 167 Russell R. Brooks Beautiful in death and life, Star of blue and star of gold, Volunteer for the great strife That his eyes could not behold! Hero heart elate and strong, Soldier soul that sought the fray, Honors unto you belong Worthy as the victor's hay! ■ breast with no ("re-- of War Pinned above the silent heart, Soul denied the battle's roar And a valiant brother's part ! Comrade of the spirits who Swept in splendor o'er the deep And like soldiers brave and true In their martial mantles sleep Under England's noble rose, Under the sweet fleur-d< Under Ear Archangel snow-, And the sun of Italy! All who died of SlOW All who perished by the sword, All who slumber in the Have, in common, one reward; Wisdom with unerring ken. Justice with impartial eye, Equal glories mete to men Who have nobly dared to die! Stars in Nature's night may wane, Suns be cloud-o'ercast, and yet Your rich splendors shall remain — Star of gold that shall not set ! 168 IN MEMORIAM RUSSELL R. BROOKS U. S. Marine Aviation Corps. Died in England. September 30, 1913. IN MEMORIAM GEORGE P. KULL First Lieutenant, Air Service, A. Killed in Aerial Action. The Story of the Service Flag Brave city with four hundred stars Symbolic of four hundred sons Who donned the panoply of Mars To break the onslaught of the Huns, Set in a flag that gives to Day A semblance of the starry Xight When Heaven's hosts in proud array Sweep in review before our sight ! Oh, study well that starry scroll, For on its page you may behold The reflex of a City's soul In star of blue and star of gold! It tells a story that we prize. It breathes a song in many keys When we unfurl it to the skies Or see it flaunting in the breeze ! And as its folds rise and subside Responsive bosoms sink and swell With deep emotion's subtle tide For those who live and those who fell To some it speaks of the Red Sea Of battle with its crimson wave, To others of the fleur-de-lis Abloom above a hero's grave! And a great triumph thrills us all Amid the sunshine and the clouds, Despite the mists of tears that fall For those who sleep in khaki shrouds! We hear the tragedies retold; We see brave young Perrottet die, And Wagner's blue star turn to gold, And Kull fall flaming from the sky! 169 And Murray's crimson life-blood flow On the red ramparts of Sedan, And Carlson's noble form laid low Far in the raging battle's van! And Yoss lay on fair Freedom's shrine The soldier's supreme sacrifice, And Carroll pour his life's bright wine, And Cahill fall no more to rise! We see the stars of silver sheen Who felt the foeman's wrath, yet live Who sought the conflict strong and keen And offered all they had to give! We here see Wagemann and Holt Amid the smoke and cannon's roar Dismembered by the thunder-bolt That falls upon the field of war! And in the awful Argon ne wood Sittler and Johnson pierced and torn, Where at bay the Hun hosts stood Of all their boasted glory shorn! I e the poison billow roll And Porter feel its fiendish wrath, The shard that shattered Besch and Cole And left such tragic aftermath! And Brooks of Chateau Thierry fame With seven frightful wounds we see On Soisson's field amid the flame Of the red-tongued artillery! Yet not so sad the fate of those Who fought and fell face to the foe As the gold stars that brightly rose And set ere they could strike a blcwl 170 Young Tweedie laying down his books, Goodwin and Morton, business care, Their College courses, Cork and Brooks, All chafing to be "over there!" Unmentioned stars serene and bright Were brave and true as those we name And fought as well, or sought the fight, And share alike in our acclaim! They braved the submarine and mine, They circled with the Escadrilles, They swept the far-flung battle line From Flanders to the Alsace hills! They charged the forests of Champagne, They held the Marne against their foes, The Somme, the Meuse, the Oise and Aisne Beheld them strike heroic blows! Down Wheaton's future, year by year, The chorus of these stars shall roll, Four hundred voices strong and clear To thrill and lift its civic soul To stir it to the noble fight Against the foes that lurk unseen — The social mildews and the blight — And keep the City sweet and clean! O Service Flag that we adore, As your stars stood in the Great Strife We shall in peace — as they in war — Stand sentries o'er our City's life! Read at the Annual Banquet of the Wheaton Business Men's Association at Masonic Temple, Wheaton, Illinois. February 20, 1919. 171 Woodrow Wilson The towering Titan ol our time. So great we cannot gauge his height, Standing serene Clear-eyed and keen ; The Morning Star of War's long Xight ! He knows the force of high id< Firm i> his faith in lofty dream-. The counterpart Of head and heart Is warp and woof of his wise schemes! Skilled sculptor of the polished phrai With classic chisel deft and true He forms the fate Of the World-State As only Master Art may dol Rich in the lore of Learning's Halls, A scholar who the world of men And deeps and shoals :iu man souls Sweeps in his all-embracing ken! O mighty statesman of the world, In solemn league link foe and friend That wars may cease And smiling Peace Reign o'er the earth till Time shall end! March 18, 1919. 172 IN MEMORIAM " The Chief joins his Legions " Woodrow Wilson (February 6, 1924) Jonquils and mignonettes Voicing a world's regrets Bow low and mute, And in a sky o'ercast The ensigns droop half-mast In grief's salute. He passeth to his rest Bearing upon his brea>t A soldier's scar; High-purposed soul in war, And when the strife was o'er Hope's brightest star ! As the great bow that bends Alike o'er foes and friends Wlu-n tempests cease He stood with outstretched hands And offered to all lands The plan of peace ! But blind with blood and wrath — War's tragic aftermath — Dim-visioned men Turned from the proffered light Back to the hopeless Xight Of Force again ! Yet still above his shrine The star of hope shall shine And point the way, And to that noble urn The world shall yet return And homage pay ! 173 4 The Wheaton " To crush the Huns Ten thousand tons Of Yankee tempered steel Ha> sought the sea In mail On Strong and buoyant keel! A priestess fair beauty rare tized her beaming brow Al in the deep With mighty leap plunged her gallant prt From shore t(» ih< Through itormi of war may ihc hear a itb i] The deadly shell That herald> hell T< . all the < lerman hreed ! When \ blood and !• And \\ • Then may she ride The sunlit tide A thousand year- of peace ! Launched at Baltimore, September 21, 1918. Christened by Miss Grace Chester, of Wheaton, Illinois. 174 FR \\k M. SITTLER "Many-wounded Sittler." Corporal, Infantry, 4th Division U. S. Army, A. E. F. Both legs riddled in Argonne ' i Oct. 10, 1 St. Michael's Service Stars Salute St. Michael's soldier sons Who dared the world-defying Huns Their poison fumes and flaming guns And forced the foe to flee, Who swept with that heroic band Through lurking death to foreign strand And poured their blood in " Xo Man's Land " To keep the nations free! The Starry Flag that loves the brave And brave men love and die to save, Hope of the world on land and wave Is proud of these brave nun Whose stars this Service Flag holds high To thrill the heart and charm the eye E'en as the glories of the sky Delight our mortal ken ! These silver stars won deathless fame When Argonnc Forest burst in flame And the great battle-field became A shambles red and grim; And when on Verdun's flaming fore 'Mid hissing shell and cannon's roar The Hun-envenomed missile tore Away the stalwart limb; Where Gasner fell in the fierce fray And many-wounded Sittler lay Upon that narrow, shadowy way Dividing life and death ; Where Walsh and Wagemann, deep-torn, Swept to the crimson battle bourne With hero hearts that held in scorn The cannon's scorching breath 1 175 We give to thee, valiant band, O fighting sons of Yankee-land, The proud salute of heart and hand For duty bravely done ; Bright stars who braced and held the line And rolled the foemen to the Rhine. May Fortune kindly and benign Smile on you, everyone I Vincent I. March A bright and lovely star has fallen from the sky And i stately Rower is cut down in full bloom: The sadness inconsolable when Youth and Beauty die Has settled down upon US with its ten-fold gloom! The rosy tints of Sunrise tinged his cheek and brow The Sttnny SOUl within him lighted Up his face. A freshness like the orchard's blossom-laden bough Lent to his inner beauty a wealth of outward grace! Before the echo ceased Of War*S first bugle blast He .stood beneath the colors in khaki glory clad, A volunteer for duty till the red storm was past. A nation's brave and loyal, noble soldier lad! Fair argosy outbound across the mystic ocean bars To isles and ports not marked Ofl any mortal charts, You bear to those strange realms beyond the Evening Stars The deep, unmeasured love of all our saddened hearts! September 12, 1920. 176 IN MEMORIAM VINCENT I. MARCH Company H, 41st United States Regulars, 10th Division. Member La Verne T. Per- rottet Post No. 76, American Legion. IN MEMORIAM HOWARD GEORGE LEONARD First Lieutenant. Company A, 307th In- fantry, A. E. F. Died of wounds received in action, Sept. 9, 1918. Howard George Leonard A lad we knew in school and street As a boy of books alert and true, A youth whose bosom throbbed and beat Responsive when War's bugle blew! He won and wore his chevrons well And fighting on the warrior's plain, Torn by the Hun-hurled, bursting shell, He gave his life that right might reign! The bright emblazonry of fame Where high, heroic deeds are told And honored deaths, shall bear his name In letters of enduring gold! Upon his grave the fleur-de-lis And weather-beaten flags may fade, But not, while men love Liberty, The noble sacrifice he made! 177 Welcome to Rev. Jonas G. Brooks On Return from Overseas Y. M. C. A. Service Fanfares and flags and drums To him who smiling comes As genial as the rising Sun out of the Morning sea After the stormy Night When Darkness takes its flight And Day comes forth apparelled in his robes of majesty! W'lun the great challenge came He Answered to his name And with his eagle brood he sought the frowning cloud Where kite and vulture strove With the great bird of Jove Amid the battle-thunder and the tempest trumpets loud 1 His flaming soul put zeal Anew into the steel Whose loyal temper thirsted to meet the hated Huns; His was the yeoman part To cheer and brace the heart And lift the noble spirit of a nation's soldier sons! A beautiful gold star Above a heart's deep scar Adorns his valiant breast, the truest Cross of War, A loss beyond the reach Of pen or human speech— A soldier lad in khaki shroud upon a foreign shore! Thrice welcome, true and tried, The City gates stand wide And all our hearts and homes are open unto you; Here with us may you dwell Till Life's sweet Vesper bell Shall call you, after many years, to bid the world adieu! July, 1919. 178 REV. JONAS G. BROOKS In ( )verseas Y. M. C. V Service Song The Return Triumphant Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic They are tramping home in triumph from their battles with the Huns 'Mid the slowly dying echoes of the thunder-throated guns And Columbia with open arms receives her soldier sons As they come marching home ! Chorus Hail, Oh, hail, the khaki heroes, Hail, Oh, hail, the khaki heroes, Hail, Oh, hail, the khaki heroes, As they come marching home ! Their mighty tread has shaken down the towers of the strong, They have won the crimson conflict of the Right against the Wrong, They have wakened all the nations with their hope-re- surgent song, And now come marching home! Chorus : They have borne the Flag Resplendent where the bolts of death were hurled, Holding high the dearest banner that has ever been un- furled, They have made it loved and trusted all around the mighty world, And now come marching home! Chorus : 179 (Softly) They have left among the lilies fifty thousand stars of gold Adding glory unto beauty with a richness manifold — Heroes of the nob'lest story pen or tongue has ever told, Who never shall come home! Chorus Honor guards the sleeping heroes Peace rots with the sleeping heroes Glory crowns the sleeping heroes Who never shall come home! August, 1919. " Roads of Remembrance " Memorial Trees hundred stately elms wt let, That coming years may not forget The men our loyal city | To battle with the murderous Hun When Mars' dark frown ecfipsed the Sun, ingnined earth and stained the wave! Along the Highway of the Free That stretches from the sea to sea These noble sentinels shall stand And in mute majesty declare To all who sweep that thoroughfare The deep love of a grateful land! Oh, may a thousand years of peace Behold them prosper and increase To heavenward towering trees, Firm-rooted, strong, and great of girth, Deep anchored in the fertile earth And blessed by every passing breeze! 180 IN MEMORIAM BERTRAM J. CARROLL - Arim . A. I-'.. !•'. Killed in Action in mi;moriam loilX CAHILL Private, Battery D, 305th LJ. S. Field Artillery, A. E. I". Wounded in Action August 23, 1918, and died tin- next day at American Red Cross Hospital No. 11". IN MEMORIAM FREDERICK C \ OSS Field Artillery. A. Private, 149th I'. S F. Killed in Action. IN MEMORIAM CHARLES ALFRED GOODWIN" Private, Fifth Rec. Co., 2nd Battalion, Fort Mcintosh, Laredo, Texas. Died in Camp. Buried at Wheaton, Illinois, with military honors. IN MEMORIAM WINSTON MORTON Private. Died at Camp Grant. October 7, 1918. IN MEMORIAM CARL H. CARLSON Company H, 23rd I". S. Infantry, A. E. F. Killed in Action. Oft to the heart's ear they shall tell Great deeds of those who fought and fell And sleep upon the fields of fame, And acts of valor from the day Our mighty armies joined the fray, Christened in fierce Cantigny's flame ! And as the crimson current ran From bloody Marne to red Sedan The legends shall be oft retold; The charges made, the shocks withstood The white cross in the Belleau Wood Above our first fair Star of Gold! And men of distant years to come Who never heard War's cruel drum Shall stand here with uncovered head Or sweeping by in Life's pursuit In solemn reverence shall salute The Memory of our soldier dead! The deeds in bronze and marble told Are crusted o'er with moss and mould By ruthless Time's relentless hand, But in perennial Spring shall these Life-throbbing, virile, stately trees, Like never-fading laurels, stand! 181 The Voice of Locarno "Aye, Wood row Wilson, we are here, The Nations have struck hands for Peace, Thy Concordat breaketh the spear, Thy Great League maketh wars to cease! " For He who ordered, ' Peace, be still ' To tempest-torn Gennesaret Upon thy Pact of World Good-Will His great approving seal has setl " Beneath His hand, awful and kind, And chastened by His rod of wrath, As gold by fire is refined, The world shall walk a warless path ! "And men shall in Concord abide And all the good their strength unite, Nor answer wrong by fratricide Nor test the truth by brutish might! " To where noble St. Albans stands Shall world-encircling Peace return And lay with sweet and loving hands A white wreath on thy honored urn ! " 182 BOOK HI Poems of Philosophy and Friends Wheaton College A lighthouse flaming on the coast Of Time's wild, rock-embattled deep, Sends light to where the furthermost Lone lookouts their long vigils keep! Fiercely the adverse winds of time Have beaten on that tower of stone; But still, serene, steadfast, sublime, Its faithful beacon-blaze has shone. When clouds have wrapped earth in their pall And left the night without a star, Doomed vessels in the tempest's thrall Have seen its warning light afar, And when the ocean plunged and rolled It stretched its arms of light to save, As good St. Christopher of old Bore pilgrim bands across the wave ! The ocean thunders at its base, And mountain billows lash its form; Smote by the lightning's iron mace And loud artillery of the storm ; Yet calm, unmindful of the shock, Strong in its builders' wise designs, Firm-planted on th' eternal Rock, It lifts its light-crowned head — and shines! The years — those tides on Time's wide waste That ebb and ebb but never flow — Have never seen that light effaced Nor tremor in its steady glow ! 185 Tranquil, majestic may it stand Where Life's mad breakers roar, and send Its radiance over sea and land Till all the storms of Time shall end! May 25, 1912 Song The College of Honor and Fame (Tunc: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") Wheaton the theme of our story, The College of honor and fame, In thy past and thy present we glory And with gratitude mention thy name, And our hearts are filled to o'erflowing With thanks for the years that have fled, For the blessings thou now art bestowing And the hope of the long years ahead And the hope of the long years ahead And the hope of the long years ahead For the blessings thou now art bestowing And the hope of the long years ahead 1 May the coming years add to thy powers And shine as resplendently bright As blossom the glorious flowers In the firmament fields of the night. And we send up our song salutation 'Til the sky that is bending above Shall re-echo our deep admiration For the College we gratefully lovel For the College we gratefully love! For the College we gratefully love! Shall re-echo our deep admiration For the College we gratefully love! 186 Oh, long have thy faith and devotion Stood the stress and the storms of the past As the beacons beside the wild ocean Meet the buffets of billow and blast. On thy lofty and grove-mantled station May thou stand 'til the end of the world With the flag of a purified nation Above thee in glory unfurled Above thee in glory unfurled Above thee in glory unfurled With the flag of a purified nation Above thee in glory unfurled! January 1, 1914. The Christian College O lofty learning's noble home, The shining stars above thy dome In their great and gleaming glory are kindred unto thee, Sending through the darkest night Radiant rays of purest light As thou sendest through the world the Truth that makes us free ! Chaste and pure and serene, Clear and bright in silver sheen Like the clustered constellations that the evening brings, All thy goodly deeds are set In a glorious coronet Far grander than the diadems of ten thousand kings 1 The influence of the Pleiades In those blue and star-lit seas Spread in thought-surpassing splendor roundabout the Universe Is not sweeter than the ray Thou dost send from day to day To the sin-seared souls that stumble beneath the primal curse 1 187 Shining like the kindly, pure And certain, constant Cynosure, Are thy ever peaceful precepts pointing to the perfect day When the glories of the Cross Shall transmute to gold the dross \nd all the flints and shards that strew our earthly way! Wheaton College Alumni Song (Tune: ■ America ") O College great and free, Our songs arise to thee From grateful hearts; Home of our morning days Bright as the golden rays That greet our earthly gaze When night departs! Most noble in design, An altar and a shrine Thy tower stands. Chief of our hearts' concern To thee our thoughts return As pilgrim bosoms yearn From alien strands! Far in the days of old Choice spirits, wise and bold Laid thy strong walls. Heroes in soul and thought Within thy temples wrought And there the truth they taught That disenthralls ! For those of passing days Our voices rise in praise And songs are sung; As noble now as then, 188 Thy sage and saintly men Kingly and true as when Thy days were young ! Be thy strong spirit near And crowned with mem'ries dear Hold and sustain ; Amid Life's toiling marts As year by year departs Within thy children's hearts Abide and reign ! Alumni Thoughts (To a College mate of former year*) Oh, oft in retrospection, when We live o'er the past again, Like great Buddha meditating beneath the spreading bo, And behold the kindly ways We were guided through old days Then our swelling hearts confess the mighty debt we owe. And in full accord are we That the brightest spots we see, Like the hosts of burnished stars that fill the sky above, Are the student days we spent Here in peace and sweet content Beneath the noble Norman towers of the College that we love. 'Twas here in our plastic youth Stithied at the forge of truth That we were shaped and tempered for the wars to come, Trained and panoplied for strife In the nobler wars of life, Not the wars of blood and carnage and the battle drum. 189 But 'twas anent the coming day Of the fiercer moral fray That we were taught the tactics by the bravest of the land, By those noble men and bold, Titan hearted, Vulcan souled, Who led and marshaled us and gave us the command. Warriors in the truceless fight Until the triumph of the right, In their fortitude sublime have we beheld them there, All like Caesar's soldiers leal, Linked to Cromwell's burning zeal, And with Lincoln's patient soul and Luther's heart to dare. And you know how good and grand Was the great leader of this band, With his noble crest resplendent as the helm of Mars And with a crown of glory bright As is the diadem of night Inlaid with blazing worlds and studded with the stars 1 As august and truly bold As Moses in the days of old (About whose body Lucifer and the archangel strove), And on the moral battle plain Like imperial Charlemagne, And with the awe and majesty of cloud-compelling Jove. It was thus we saw his prime, But now upon that head sublime Have the hoary frosts and snows of Winter settled there, And on his Godlike brow appears The pallor marks of many years And we note "his lyart hafTets wearing thin an' bare." But a twofold glory now Seems to halo him somehow And we love him even better than in the days of yore, When dark sin and error's place Fell before his mighty mace Like a mountain smitten by the iron sledge of Thor. 190 Oh, yet may there be in store For our great teachers we adore A rich and sweeter aftermath than first-fruits of the mead; From Wisdom's lips a word of praise, From her right hand length of days And a wealth of Winter glories that nothing can exceed. Like stalwart sentinels they stood At duty's post for our good Through all the weak and sleeping hours of the long ago, And still may they ever stand Like the pine trees green and grand In Winter's leafless forests capped with crowns of snow. Faithful Mentors were they all, As wise Gamaliel unto Paul, And our blessings rest upon them like a diadem; Of such splendid men as these We are the heirs and legatees And our highest filial duty is to truly honor them. They gave to us a lofty code, They pointed out the royal road, They gave the card and compass for all the days to be; Each rock and reef and shoal Between us and our goal They noted on the pilot-chart of Life's tempestuous sea. The coast of luring siren's song, Every cove and reach of wrong That threatened to engulf or strand our little barque They marked down in ways that were So clear that none could ever err Although the trackless sea was tempest-torn and dark. As guides beyond the outer bars They gave us fixed and gleaming stars And against the wind and current and list and undertow They taught us how to tack and veer, To keep our courses true and clear With sleepless lookouts at the prow and all the lights aglow. 191 Then how can those instructed here Make shipwreck of their life career And drift like aimless derelicts the prey of tide and breeze, Upon the seething billows tossed With rudder gone and anchor lost, The menace, dread and terror of the travellers of the seas? How can they who here were fed And tasted the ambrosial bread Turn again with longing to the flesh-pots and the leeks And the drink of death endure Who here drank the draughts as pure As come from melting snows upon the mountain peaks? Why will men prefer to dine Upon the husks devoured by swine When meat and milk and honey are bountifully supplied; Why will they pant and thirst and die With brimming rivers running by As fresh and welcome as the flood that flowed from Horeb's side ! November 25, 1909. Song The School We Love Dearest (Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") O Wheaton, the school we love dearest, O pride of the schools in the West, To our hearts thou art ever the nearest And thy precepts are purest and best. Oh, long may that grand Norman tower Which gladly and proudly we view, Stand guard over us every hour Like a sentinel trusty and true Like a sentinel trusty and true Like a sentinel trusty and true Stand guard over us every hour Like a sentinel trusty and true ! 192 Though tossed in the world's wild commotion Like ships in the midst of the sea " When winds are at war with the ocean," Our faith and our hope look to thee. And now while we sow for that reaping Which in life's harvest field is our part May we who are wards in thy keeping Keep close to thy great, glowing heart Keep close to thy great, glowing heart Keep close to thy great, glowing heart May we who are wards in thy keeping Keep close to thy great, glowing heart ! Let our lips tell the triumphant story And in tones that are lusty and strong Let thy greatness and good deeds and glory Be borne on the swift wings of song. May the songs that we sing stir and sweeten And keep green many memories dear And link us more closely to Wheaton The school that we love and revere The school that we love and revere The school that we love and revere And link us more closely to Wheaton The school that we love and revere! 193 Ode to Wheaton College College we delight to name ; Brave Titan from the giants sprung, At fifty years thou art but young, The Future is thy field of fame! Thou art emerging from the Night, The sable curtains are withdrawn And through the portals of the Dawn The world is flooded with the light ! The glorious emblem of the free Aglow with white and crimson bars And field of blue abloom with stars Is proudly waving over thee ! The children of thy struggling years, The valiant and strong-hearted, come Like soldiers at the rolling drum And add their leal and lusty cheers! Thy forward looking men of might, As truth to prophets is revealed, Beheld the far-off harvest field Beyond the confines of the night, And here an altar they upreared, As Bethel in the border land, By each succeeding year more grand And to us more and more endeared! Oh, there are tombs along the way, Mute sentinels to guard the Past, Bright stars that cannot be o'ercast By the effulgence of the Day! 194 The potency of quiet graves In vain the powers of time assail, The unmarked shrine in Moab's vale Yet rules upon the land and waves ! Thine own heroic dead still live ; A force forever now is he * Who sleeps beside the western sea, Who gave us all he had to give! Whose gentle soul its genial light Shed roundabout his daily ways And crowned his kindly brow with bays Of blessings pure and starry bright! When sorrow's shadows crossed his heart And dark clouds drove athwart the sun, E'en then shone brighter one by one The stars, of which he seemed a part! Great hearted, patient-souled and strong He threw the iron gates ajar And let the sunlight stream afar Across the darkened plains of wrong! He rests beside the restless sea; Yet say not that his work is done ; The goodly things by him begun Shall live through all the years to be ! The Past is safe. Its laurel wreaths Of fresh and never-fading green Are bound by unseen bonds between The pulseless and the world that breathes 1 The Present sounds its trumpet blast, To us the silver bugles call, Their notes resounding over all, The mighty chorus of the Past! Trof. Elliot Whipple; buried at Chula Vista, California. 195 The fight is ours. But this fray- Is not a brawl of battle drums; Who standeth true, whatever comes, To him shall be the victor's bay ! The palm is sure though seeming late; No good thing ever shall depart ; Then thou, with reassured heart, In hope abide, with patience wait! The seed the harvest time must bring; Behold the weary years it took To smooth the pebble in the brook To fit the stripling shepherd's sling I But it shook Judah's hills with cheers And Israel's foe fled in dismay To see, on its appointed day, The triumph of those silent years! No deed is done but it shall mould The destiny of days unborn ; Ours is the labor of the Morn, To other hands the harvest gold! We make the future. In our hand It lies akin to lifeless clay, And as we build and plan today So shall the future's temple stand! The discords of our mortal strife The tuning orchestra may be Before it finds the proper key For the great symphony of Life ! Now in the Spring of thy career When all thy orchards are abloom, To where thy lordly towers loom We come with thanks, to praise and cheer! (Read at the Alumni banquet in Ladies' Hall, Wheaton College, June 17, 1913.) 196 Song The Graduates' Farewell (Tune : " Flow Gently, Sweet Afton ") Sing softly, dear comrades, your love-laden lays Of Wheaton, the home of our happiest days; The pathway is parting we journeyed along, Sing softly, for Wheaton, your gentlest song. We linger and look o'er the swiftly-flown years, The tenderest ties are unloosened with tears — We pause at the end of our journey awhile And turn back the shadows on memory's dial. How kindly, dear Wheaton, and graciously sweet You welcomed us here to this charming retreat, How gently you guided and bounteously blessed, And pointed us ever the way that was best. How pleasant the clear, rippling river has run And carried us safely through shadow and sun, But now we have reached the wide, wild ocean-side And launch forth alone on the fast-rising tide. Our guiding star, Wheaton, you ever shall be, Our chart and our compass on Life's surging sea. How deeply it touches the chords of each heart, To sing the last song ere forever we part. Sing softly, dear comrades, your fondest farewells. Your songs that are sweeter than clear chiming bells, This primrose-bright path we shall travel no more, Sing softly for Wheaton, the school we adore! 197 The Old Society Hall The choicest spirits I have met Within the vale of vain regret And barren sigh, I met within this circle here, This inner pale, this haloed sphere, In days gone by. The zeal the kindred soul imparts When heroes greet heroic hearts With royal cheer, The grandest boys I ever knew, The stalwart, honest, leal and true Enkindled here. Within this dear old hall we love, As welcome as the white winged dove Back to the ark, From isles remote and cities near The voyagers came and havencd here Their little barque. Of many ways and walks of life They mingled here in friendly strife In storm and calm ; Rank and wealth were thrown aside And rich and poor as equals vied. To win the palm. From north and south and east and west, Regardless how they had been blest By Fortune's star, They wrought, as far as in them lay, The burnished gold and common clay, Upon a par. 198 Within the day book of my years With entries fraught with hopes and fears And inky blot, The brightest pages therein found Tell of the actions done around This sacred spot. There is no lovelier spot to see, No happier retrospect to me, No fairer isle, As I look down the rearward track, Or memory turns the shadows back Upon the dial. I see and hear and feel once more The sights and sounds and forms of yore; The glowing heart, The ones who now have crossed the bar, The youth whose " soul was like a star And dwelt apart." Time, perchance, has lent its haze To form the giants of those days Unto our eyes, As forms appearing through the gloom Or mist or fog ofttimes assume Heroic size. Yet reason is there much for pride To see their places so supplied Since they held sway; For here are boys with as high aim, As ardent hearts and tongues of flame, And great as they. Out in the world or in this hall We are one kith and kindred all And one in plan : One aim, one spirit in the breast, One high resolve above the rest, To be a man. 199 Song The Excelsiors' Farewell (Tune: "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night") The lights shine bright in the old Excelsior Hall 'Tis springtime and all things are gay, The stars still gleam in our banner on the wall But we've come to the " parting of the way." The boys sing songs and our spirits they run high, All is genial and happy and bright, But the time has come when we all must say good-bye, To our old Excelsior Hall — good night 1 Chorus Parting now, forever, our love no tongue can tell ! We will sing this song in the old Excelsior Hall, Then our old Excelsior Hall — farewell! This hall no more with Excelsior songs will ring And the boys they will come here no more ; We've sung the last song that ever we will sing Within the old hall we adore. We'll come no more with that fire in the heart That filled the old hall with delight, For the time has come when we all shall have to part, Then our old Excelsior Hall — good night ! Chorus For long, long years in the shadow and the sun Has this dear old Hall been our friend, But the links must break, for our course of time has run, And our work in the old Hall must end. We linger long for we do not like to go From our old home so beautiful and bright, And we say good-bye while each heart doth overflow, To our old Excelsior Hall — good night! Chorus 200 Farewell to the Seniors (To class of '98) Farewell to the class that today is departing Forever is leaving these towers and halls Off to the warfare of life they are starting Where duty may wait or where destiny calls. They are strong with the strength of a fearless endeavor To launch 'gainst the gales and blasts of the world, May the pole-star of truth guide their courses forever, And their pennons of principle never be furled. Farewell to thee, friends ! who forever are leaving We give you the hand of a friend as you go, The Ocean of Time is incessantly heaving And its tides though ever they ebb, never flow. Oh ! thanks for the years we have spent here together — The years that passed by on their swift golden wings, Let their memories cherished make sunshiny weather Though the future a failure or victory brings. Farewell! for the Seniors are leaving us only As we have commenced to admire their worth, Now they finish their course and leave us thus lonely And are scattered afar 'mong the nations of earth But a rainbow the cloud of the future is arching, A proof that somewhere there are sunbeams at play, May it be it is made by the radiant marching Of Sunbeams who go from our College today. Farewell to thee, Seniors 1 each one is repeating, Farewell, Beltionians say to their friends Heed not the things that are transient and fleeting But strive for the greater and far better ends. Farewell, Philaletheans fondly are waving To the first one of all of the lovers of truth, And deep in their hearts her name is engraving Who loved them so well in the days of their youth. 201 Farewell to thee, Seniors! the banner of glory Is waving farewell from Excelsior Hall Bright names on the scroll of her glorious story Who will go where Excelsior spirit may call; Long, long may that spirit still hover around you And its battle-cry ring up the Alps of your life, With the sword of that spirit as ever we found you Be first in the field and the foremost in strife. Farewell to thee, Seniors! when the towers of Wheaton No longer your eyes again can behold May your love for our College still keep you and sweeten The memories green of the school days of old. With whatever allurements the future surround us Let our hearts keep awake to Society's voice Let the links never break in the chain that has bound us So close to each other and the school of our choice. June 24, 1898. Farewell (After Napoleon's Farewell) Farewell to the fair, the wise and true-hearted Who are leaving to follow where Destiny leads, True monitors all in days now departed And counsellors sage by their words and their deeds. No tribute of tongues can we give as a token Expressing the loss and the love that we feel, But the bonds of endearment that cannot be spoken We would not deny and we cannot conceal! Farewell to the pilot upon the deep ocean Of Science whose depths never plummet can sound, Keen searcher for truth with untiring devotion And spirit undaunted and learning profound. And farewell to him whose precise calculations Made the labyrinth light and its winding ways straight And the hidden things clear as the bright scintillations Sent down by the stars from their lofty estate! 202 Oh, farewell we say unto Music's fair flower Of sweet Saint Cecilia's pupils most true, With hopes and regrets in this sad, parting hour We garland her temples with roses and rue. Farewell to the singer of the charm and the sweetness Of all of Calliope's sisters combined, In her station and song and soul a completeness Doth mark her as regal among womankind 1 Farewell to thee, friends : Like the mem'ries of Morning And Springtime and blossoms you still shall abide, In the quiet of peace or the bugle's wild warning, In our thoughts a perpetual pleasure and pride. Farewell : we must sever the bonds of our union Wherein we have walked as comrades of clay, But thought shall keep fresh our years of communion Like the sun-glinted dews at the break of the day! Welcome to the Class of 1917 The Reveille of the rising day And the welcome of the Sun Genial and true We bring to you Whose day has just begun! Today you break your training camps For fields of the far-flung world To fight with zeal For the wide world's weal Till the sunset flags are furled ! We open wide our welcome ranks And greet your little band As waiting France Welcomes the lance And the best blood of our land! 203 The call is not to the pleasing pomp Of a peaceful dress parade For the trench-seamed earth Shall test your worth And the temper of your blade 1 Soldiers trained by keen-eyed men In the tactics you should know To use the sword In thrust and ward With the masked and the open foe, A valor fit for the firing line You shall need from day to day And hearts as brave To face the knave As you need for the deadlier fray ! The College towers shall fade and sink As a lighthouse fades away To out-bound sails Borne by the gales To the ports of an alien bay ! Then must you sail by the charted stars You learned in the code book here And steer your barque Through the deep and dark By those lights calm and clear! Welcome, then, as these Summer days After a long, late Spring, To grace our grand Alumni band Like gems in a golden ring! Read at the College Alumni banquet at Ladies' Hall, Wheaton College, June 12, 1917. 204 Song Wheaton College Like strong, clear notes From trumpet throats Upon the fields of fame, Let us peal out In song and shout Our Alma Mater's name! Chorus Our Alma Mater's name! Our Alma Mater's name! Let us peal out In song and shout Our Alma Mater's name! In all our years Of hopes and fears And Fate and Fortune's lot, This chaste and sweet And calm retreat Has been the choicest spot! Chorus Has been the choicest spot! Has been the choicest spot! This chaste and sweet And calm retreat Has been the choicest spot! It glinted true As sun-kissed dew In manhood's breaking day; It stands unrolled Like sunset gold As twilight ebbs away. 205 Chorus As twilight ebbs away. As twilight ebbs away. It stands unrolled Like sunset gold As twilight ebbs away! Like yeomen swords 'Round their liege lords And vassals 'round their king, Thy sons shall stand With loyal brand A firm, unyielding ring! Chorus A firm, unyielding ring! A firm unyielding ring! Thy sons shall stand With l<»yal brand A firm, unyielding ring) All-seeing Sun, Till day is dune Keep guard of her we love, And starry fold Be thou unrolled Triumphantly ah Chorus Triumphantly above! Triumphantly above! And starry fold Be thou unrolled Triumphantly above! Like lights that shine Where seething brine Breaks o'er the ocean bars, O kindly Night, In armor bright Set all thy sentry stars! ?06 PRESIDENT CHARLES A. BLANCHARD President of Wheaton College. Wheaton, Illinois IN MEMORIAM " The righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance " In the Afterglow (Of President Blanchard's Life) The sweetness of the afterglow At set of this great Sun Is more than mortal senses know When garish Day is done ! The gold turns to pale amethyst, The sapphire fades to gray, The skies by hidden sunlight kissed Their tender tints display! The dusk and gentle twilight meet, The evening tapers die, And soundless music, soft and sweet, Enrapture soul and eye! A stillness exquisite that brings A most delicious peace As when a bell no longer rings Or chimes of Vesper cease! In such sweet silence I behold In retrospect again In saintly mien and kingly mould One of God's noblest men. A king whose earthly coronet Held only one bright gem — The Star that rose (never to set) And smiled on Bethlehem! He wore it in the peaceful light And on the troubled seas, It led him through the weary night And dark Gethsemanes ! Its radiance lighted his face, A blessing but to see, It filled him with an inward grace And outward majesty! He held it high, a lofty light, By Ocean's stormy shore, And wrecks within the tempest's might, Were led to life once more ! In every crisis he was leal To the commands he heard, The Christian spirit was his steel, His panoply, the Word! A sentry at the gates of Day, The Morning watch of life, His white plume tossed in every fray Of every noble strife ! Against the legion foes of Good His voice was never still And firm as adamant he stood Opposed to every ill! As Drink, the fiend of inky pall, In endless death doth lie, So every Sin he smote shall fall And every wrong shall die! He was a builder all his days. He saw great towers rise And from this templed hill upraise Their glory to the skies! He was a man just and devout. And like the Xazarene In doing good he went about In kind, benignant mien ! He was a Teacher of the Truth, A man divinely wise To shape the souls of plastic Youth To lives of high emprise! Mighty man of our love. The heart speaks no farewell, In beauty like the stars above There he shall ever dwell! It is not dark, though Day is gone. The good man does not die, His light shall never be withdrawn From Memory's sweet sky! December 25, 1925. Chorus Set all thy sentry stars! Set all thy sentry stars I O kindly Night! In armor bright Set all thy sentry stars ! Alumni Salute to President Blanchard Among the great he stands apart, As in the days of classic Greece In some rich gallery of art A Phidian chisel's masterpiece! A noble soul in noble form, A beacon blending strength and light A mighty fortress in the storm, A waymark in the starless night! And by that light a thousand souls Were led like ships upon the sea And passed the narrows and the shoals To ports of noble destiny! Now as the voyagers return With what emotion and acclaim They see again that beacon burn And hail once more that kindly flame! Heroic figure of our Past, Faithful lighthouse on the shore Of Life's great ocean deep and vast That guided us in days of yore I Grown more noble with the years And haloed with a purer ray And gentler glory he appears Whom we salute in love today! Read at Wheaton College Alumni Reunion, June 19, 1923. 207 Ode (On breaking ground for new College Chapel) Today we mark a plot of land Whereon a House of Faith shall stand, Whose firm foundation is the Rock, To which if it be anchored fast It shall defy the hostile blast Of winds that rage and men that mock! The Chapel of a School Sublime, High honored in the things of Time And in Eternal matters, right ; A twofold guide along Life's way, A Sun-crowned mountain in the Day, A far-flamed beacon in the Night 1 Above this cornerstone shall rise A Temple to the open skies In symmetry ornate and strong, And thru whose spacious nave shall roll The noble anthems of the soul And sweet and spirit stirring songl Encinctured by majestic trees That shall salute with every breeze The Flag that flies upon its dome, That holds safe and inviolate And yet apart, both Church and State, The hope of every freeman's home 1 The work to which we set our hand Shall be a blessing in the land, A mighty fountain flowing free; Refreshing as the crystal tide That gushed from Horeb's smitten side Shall its abundant waters be! September 1, 1924 208 Local Themes Wheaton — My City Tune — America My city and my home, Fair as the vaulted dome Of starry night ; Set in the richest plains Columbia contains Within her broad domains Of peace and light! I love thy men of old, Souls of heroic mold, Thy pioneers Of high heart-beat and thought, Thy men who toiled and taught, Who wisely planned and wrought In thy young years ! I love thy pleasant views, Thy tree-lined avenues, Tranquil and sweet; I love thy welcome shade Where stately elms have made A leafy colonnade Whose branches meet! O little kingdom where A princely people wear The diadems ; O Christian templed town, Whose schools of far renown Adorn thee like a crown Of precious gems ! 209 Let all thy children come Like soldiers when the drum Beats reveille, Full panoplied to do Deeds of allegiance true, And loyal soul and thew Pledge unto thee! Written for the Wheaton, Illinois, Home-Coming, July 4, 1916. IN MEMORIAM The City's Tribute To Jesse C. Wheaton A city bows and bares its head And drapes its civic home in woe In mute and mournful mien to show Its deep love for its honored dead. With all his fellow men's " well done " A king in common vesture goes, A toiler to his last repose, As peaceful as the setting sun. No royal purple mantled him, Xo jewelled diadem he wore That turned to dust when life was o'er And faded when his eye grew dim. With virile virtues true and strong And rugged rectitude of soul His record is an open scroll Without the blemish of a wrong. Unconscious of his kingly state He held all common men his peer, Xo tinsel pomp, no false veneer Was his or would he tolerate. 210 COL. WILLIAM R. PLUM Soldier, Lawyer, Author, Nature lover It was a tribute well expressed When from the hands that loved him well A thousand fragrant flowers fell Upon his peaceful place of rest. With death no good life is complete; To broken walls the tendrils cling; When silver bells have ceased to swing A murmur lingers long and sweet. His life shines with no lessened light, For when the sunset ebbs away The hidden stars obscured by day Shine more resplendent in the night. Col. William R. Plum My loved, my honored, much respected friend." — Burns Here is a true " plumed knight," indeed, A soldier of the sword and pen, Framed and fit to grace and lead The foremost files of noble men ! A classic figure in the Law, An ornate pillar in the State, In Court and Forum, without flaw, And his life, immaculate ! A gentleness of speech and mien With Roman dignity he bears; A look benignant and serene His inward majesty declares! He sweeps within his kindly ken. With poet mind and artist eye, The lowly wild-flowers of the glen And beauties of the earth and sky! 211 He knows the wondrous ways of birds, The minstrels of the wandering wing, He hears their music without words And knows the messages they bring! Good man, who holds each flower a friend, To whom all the sweet birds belong, Accept this petal that I send, This broken fragment of a song, As tribute of my high regard And great esteem, by words untold, My offering of mint and nard And myrrh and frankincense and gold! Dr. Charles E. Allum A surge subsides upon the sand, A harpstring snaps beside the sea, A baton falls from the strong hand That ruled the waves of melody! A sail that swept the seas of song Is reefed and furled in perfect calm; A rest in music high and strong Like Selah in a sacred Psalm! Where voice and organ rose as one And mocked the thunder of the skies A zephyr at the setting Sun In sad diminuendo dies! A mighty major chord is mute, The symphony is incomplete, The trumpet and the mellow lute Have hushed their music strong and sweet! 212 IN MEMORIAM CHARLES EDWARD ALLUM Mus. Doc. Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland Director of Gary Memorial M. E. Church Choir 1910-1917 IN MEMORIAM JESSIE HADLEY FOX Mrs. Jessie Hadley Fox Died March 19, 1920 Before the Autumn frost no grander flower fell Than this whose splendor faded at the dawn of Spring; The peaceful chimes of earth have lost no sweeter bell, And the great Harp of Life no softer, gentler string! Her face was but a true reflection of her soul, Open and benignant and cordial and sincere, And hers was the saintly, unassuming role Of lowly daily deeds of help and hope and cheer! Oh, like the Lenten lilies laid high upon her tomb By the deep affection of a mighty throng, So was her spirit beautiful as that wealth of bloom That sent its incense upward like a sacred song! Oh, farewell, noble woman of kindly heart and hand, Whose mortal glory only it was given us to know; The light that set at noon shall flood the darkening land Through Memory's many years with a rich afterglow! 213 " Doc M Hopf The great man of whom I sing Needs no minstrel's twanging string Or a noisy drum-corps or a booming gun To proclaim a mighty deed, Even as there is no need Of a herald to announce the glory of the Sun ! I impale upon my pen And hold up before all men The wonder-man of Wheaton and the wizard of DuPage, Our Bill Nye and Mark Twain Known from Downers Grove to Wayne And honored both by budding youth and hoary headed age! He has logic true and sound And philosophy profound And the silver eloquence of Burke and Peel and Pitt, And the overflowing bowl Never cheered a thirsty soul Like the genial Doctor's sparkling wine of wit ! We can learn, dear Doc, from you, Roses are more sweet than rue And kindly words are just the honey they distill; To carry cheer upon our lips, Not in flasks upon our hips, To sweeten our bitter days and lighten human ill! Blessed is the man whose mirth Adds a ray of joy to earth Like a sunbeam streaming through the rifted cloud, And tenfold more worth is he Who dispenses wholesome glee Than all the solemn featured and the sombre browed! 214 DR. WILLIAM V. HOPF Dental Surgeon, Coroner and Politician May the sunshine and the dew Build great rainbows over you That shall shine in splendor for a thousand years As you travel on your way Making Winter seem like May, Thou jocund, jovial jester in a world of tears! Then when the sure day shall come As solemn as a muffled drum When the windows darken and the oil has run From Life's little, fragile lamp, You can meet John Henry Kampp As serenely as the sunset when the day is done 1 Read at the annual Banquet of the Wheaton Business Men's Association in the Masonic Temple, December 9, 1920. Edward Garrity 'Ay, every inch a king." — Shakespeare Beneath the dignity of gray hair A merry heart beats high, Nor is there dearth Of proper mirth Within that kindly eye ! Of regal frame and mien that might Well lift a haughty head And look with scorn On the low-born Who toil for daily bread, He mingles with his fellow men And holds them as his peer, And every day Along the way He scatters help and cheer! 215 With wisdom like the ripened grain He bows to every one, To king and thrall, Alike to all Who dwell beneath the sun! Of humor rare and a rich wit, Smooth and crisp and keen, That bubbles up Like a bright cup Of sparkling Hippocrene ! An upright man of sober sense, And yet a foe to care, Who shows the Sun To every one Who walks in dark despair! His cordial laugh dispels the clouds That shroud the sunny plain, As the fresh breeze To sunlit seas Transmutes the misty main! In sweet concord within him meet Decorum and good cheer, The grave and gay, Yuletide and May, And jester, sage and seer! Our sunny streets long may you walk In noble equipoise, A guide, forsooth, To age and youth And happy-hearted boys! For genial smile and hearty hand And counsel wise and true And gen'rous deed In time of need, A City's thanks are due! 216 EDWARD GARRITY Wheaton Business Man. Manager West- ern United Gas and Electric Company. Ex- Alderman City of Wheaton. The flowers of our love we bind In bouquets bright and sweet, And with supreme Pride and esteem We lay them at your feet! IN MEMORIAM Edward Garrity A bright and lovely star has set In splendor in the sea, A gem from the great coronet Of Heaven's majesty! In flawless and resplendent sheen That challenged every eye, Noble, pure and serene, It shone in earth's dark sky! The silent constellations sweep Forever towards the West And kindred stars mute vigils keep Above their comrade's rest! Farewell to that gentle ray And to that kindly light Whose going has darkened the Day And veiled the solemn Night ! Linn Hiatt —A " reg'lar " guy — I'd rather die Than tell a lie About Linn Hiatt, bless his heart; I'd rather drown Or crack my crown Or have my kidneys pulled apart! 217 If what I say- About our gay And gen'rous, genial, loyal Linn, Errs from the truth, I pray Babe Ruth May swat me with a rolling pin! I'll tell the world The flag unfurled In glory over land and sea Does not behold Beneath its fold Another mortal such as he! I like his style His cordial smile, The twinkle of his merry eye, The skillful ways He throws bouquets Of cheer to every passer by! I would not paint Linn as a saint, But in those things that make a man Linn is all there (Except his hair) And built upon a noble plan! He plays base ball And joins in all The zeal and frenzy of the game, He plays the drum When heroes come In triumph home from fields of fame! He drives a " tin," (As men of sin In blasphemy yclept a Ford) ; But let me ride At Linn's right side And you can have duke, king or lord! 218 LINNAEUS L. HIATT Druggist and Merchant No worthy palms Stretched out for alms Were ever empty drawn away, No plea for aid Was e'er gainsaid To those who sought him night or day! Gay old Front Street Were incomplete Without that smooth and smiling phiz, That warm, glad hand At the old stand And those alluring ways of his! And now, dear Linn, Tilt up your chin And look these people in the eye Who touch their lids And like the kids Salute you as a " reg'lar " guy! John H. Kampp This song I sing Of an uncrowned king Is not rhyme without reason, Else would my verse Deserve the curse Of the fig tree out of season! I only use My gentlest Muse His noble worth extolling, Nor need I come With war-like drum In martial measures rolling! 219 A man rough-hewn, Yet kind as June, A man of oak and flower, As interlace The strength and grace Of an ivy mantled tower! Rich is his state If gold we rate A life of honest labors, And if we deem Wealth, the esteem And love of loyal neighbors! The City's weal Ne'er made appeal But in o'erflowing measure And undelayed Received his aid His heart and hand and treasure! The tocsin bell And blasts that tell That the fierce fiend of fire Is close at hand With flaming brand Working destruction dire Find him foremost With the brave host Fighting the red invaders Like Galahad Or corselet-clad And helmeted Crusaders! When grief's black pall O'ershadows all And sad souls sit in sorrow Disconsolate At their dark fate And the still darker morrow, 220 JOHN H. KAMPP Leading Business Man Veteran Fire Marshal Then stands he Like some great tree Its widespread arms extending O'er flowers frail That quake and quail Before the storm impending! Above the gems Of diadems In their spotless splendor Is a good man Built on his plan, Red-blooded, strong, yet tender! Like petals gay In a bouquet Their many beauties meeting, A thousand strong Join in this song And send you cordial greeting. May 26, 1921. 221 Dr. Harlow V. Holt "A scholar, and a ripe and good one, exceeding wise, fair spoken and persuading." — Shakespeare. Refreshing breeze From the great seas That ebb and flow and swell and roll From side to side Of the deep, wide Expanse of man's unfathomed soul! My brow I bare To that keen air Whose tang and tingle thrill me through, And feel retreat The hectic heat And health's red glow return anew! This breeze in War Rose to a roar And shook the deep and shoal and strand And wide unrolled The starry fold High o'er Columbia's khaki band! Waft, kindly breeze, Rich argosies Whose sunlit sails are filled with light And bring new hope To those who grope In mist and fog and storm-tossed Night! This stagnant fen Of dead-souled men; This vale where dry bones bleach in death, Hath yet, indeed, The direst need Of this life-giving, vital breath! 222 REV. HARLOW V. HOLT Pastor Garv Memorial M. E. Church WILLIAM E. GARY Cashier Gary-Wheaton Bank, Wheaton, Illinois William E. Gary " The man's the gold." — Robert Burns Here is pure gold, with Caesar's seal And image in relief displayed, Coin of the world's great Commonweal And current in the marts of trade! On the Rialtos of the earth, In the Exchequers of the State, Accepted for intrinsic worth Among the lowly and the great! We pin our faith upon his word And script and credit give and take As carefree as a Summer bird And tranquil as a Summer lake! We ask no bond, his pledge is good And makes us safe in peace and war, As though the Bank of England stood Behind him with its golden store! A silent man of modest mien And qualities of heart and mind Akin to the resplendent sheen Of new gold polished and refined! O, man of kingly metal made, The tribute of esteem we bring; Knight by God's great accolade That makes a man more than a king. 223 To Charles W. Hadley (On retiring from the State's Attorneyship) A long apprenticeship is o'er For one who years before the mast Has sailed the ocean deep and vast And learned its secrets and its lore ! A steady hand, a head that knows, A practiced vision keen and clear, A knowledge that dispels all fear Of every adverse wind that blows ! A great, new ship lies at the pier, Her bright prow pointing to the tide, Waiting a Master skilled to guide, To hold the course or tack and veer; A Master and a pilot wise Who knows the zones of calm and breeze, The trade winds of the Seven Seas And all the tides that fall and rise; Who knows the shallow outer bars, The hidden rock and sunken reef, The headlands high in bold relief, The lighthouse and the gleaming stars! Here is the ship. There is the sea, O seasoned seaman take command, The helm awaits your guiding hand, The great deep beckons unto thee! So YOU who swept the law's vast realm That touches all the isles of men, With bolder heart and keener ken To greater seas must turn your helm! 224 CHARLES W. HADLEY State's Attorney of Du Page County, Illinois Assistant Attorney General, State of Illinois You know the landmarks and the lights The law has set where breakers roar, You know along the far-flung shore The haven of all human rights ! You know the goodly vessel's heart, Each spar and boom and gaff and yard, The many pointed compass-card And pinholes on her pilot chart! Great honors are in store for you; In halls of Justice and of State The ermine and the toga wait, — Stretch forth your hand and take your due! December 14, 1920. Charles W. Hadley (On winning the Rock Island cases) The replica in law Of Bonaparte in war Whose star the nations saw And fell prostrate before! Profile and poise and brow Of Corsica's great son, He stands triumphant now, His Austerlitz is won! In Forum, Court and Bar, There his tricolor flies And there his vict'ries are — Marengos, Ulms, Lodis ! Clear cut in bold relief, Clean as a bloodhound's tooth, Subaltern, Marshal, Chief, While even yet a Youth ! With loyal hearts and proud We shout applause to thee, With " vivas " long and loud, Thou Man of Destiny! 225 Charles W. Hadley On winning case against high State official. That was a noble stroke And a good lance that broke The robber's triple helm And gave his stolen gold, Of millions yet untold, Back to its rightful realm! A blow that holds a place With Richard's iron mace And Galahad's true blade That freed the Holy land From the Unfaithful's hand In their far-off Crusade ! You have wiped a deep stain From off the noble plain Of mighty Illinois, And let us lift once more, As in the days of yore, Our heads in pride and joy! Oh, modern Hercules, In evil times like these When Hydra's heads appear, We need your good right hand, Your giant-cleaving brand And dragon-piercing spear! Oh, Champion, we hail Your lance and shining mail, Your plume and spur and steed And wreathe your brow with bays And sing in loyal lays Of your resplendent deed ! November 18, 1924. 226 HAROLD "RED" GRANGE University of Illinois Football Player 14 Red " Grange We sing a song Of the swift and strong, The whirlwind and the thunder, And in the sky Of the Illini The star of awe and wonder! A shooting star Flaming afar Across a watching nation, Whose glowing trail We greet and hail With thundering salutation! Our cheers arise And touch the skies And shake the empyrean, And lusty throats Blend their wild notes In one triumphant pean ! He is the peer Of the mountain deer With the wild hills surrounding, And strong and fleet On nimble feet A young red roebuck bounding! Of antlered speed And lion breed And red fox craft and cunning, Fearless in fight, And in his flight The swiftest stag out-running! 227 We toss our crests And swell our chests O, victor, never-beaten ! And roar and cheer For the wild deer And lion-fox from Wheaton ! Grange Tune: Illinois To thy noble Halls of Learning Illinois, Illinois, All the eyes of earth are turning Illinois, Illinois, For th sons have put to rout The Philistines roundabout, And for thee we sing and shout, Illinois, Illinois, And for thee we sing and shout, Illinois ! On thy shining scroll of splendor Illinois, Illinois, Gleams the name of thy defender, Illinois, Illinois, Like a bright star overhead, And the bravest foemen dread Thy great son whom we call " Red," Illinois, Illinois, Thy great son whom we call " Red," Illinois! But thy hero yet unbeaten, Illinois, Illinois, Came to thee from good old Wheaton, Illinois, Illinois, From the home of mighty men, 228 With the speed and strength of ten, Like a lion from his den, Illinois, Illinois, Like a lion from his den, Illinois ! On the page that tells the story, Illinois, Illinois, Of the world's gridiron glory, Illinois, Illinois, Shall be blazoned clear and true, Chief of the immortal few, The great son we gave to you, Illinois, Illinois, The great son we gave to you, Illinois ! The Badgers (After Byron's "Assyrian ") The Badgers came down from the land of the Pine To burn up the prairies and tear through the line; Like the Hun to the Marne in their fury they came, Like the Hun from the Marne they retreated in shame! For the great State of Lincoln and Logan and Grant Set its sons like a wall of strong adamant, And vain was the charge and futile the roar As the billows that break on the rock-girdled shore! And Grange, the young lion whose scholastic lair Is Wheaton, the home of the brave and the fair, The redoubtable " Red," tore over the plain And left in his wake a windrow of slain. He plowed through the Badgers as Pershing's brave Yanks Plowed through the Argonne with cannon and tanks, And the big boot of Britton, unerring and true, Heaped up the high score for the Orange and Blue! 229 And the sad, somber hemlocks are mute in their woe And droop desolately, despondent and low, And the weeds that the widows of Wisconsin wear Are black as the ebony plume of Despair! And the unsullied flag of the Great Illini Triumphantly flaunts in an unclouded sky, The Paramount Pennant in vict'ry unfurled O'er the greatest and noblest School in the World! On Illinois-Wisconsin Football Game, 1923 " Red " Grange in 1924 He's getting better every year, A slyer fox, a swifter deer, A brighter flash of flame. A stronger stag of greater speed, A wildcat of the Zuppke breed That none can ever tame! A lion with a fiercer roar, A louder thunderbolt of war With deadlier aftermath That leaves behind in ghastly rows The prostrate forms of fallen foes Along his crimson path ! He tears thru the opposing teams As when the fast mails' pilot beams Strike some hapless Fords And reconverts the work of men Back into shapeless tin again And glass and splintered boards! Before his terrible impact That crumples every line attacked Xo mortal can survive More than the honey-hoarding bee When a ton of T. N. T. Drops on his peaceful hive! 230 Up from the plains of Illini A song arises to the sky- Triumphantly and grand, A hundred thousand tongued refrain That rolls from Wheaton to Champaign And "Egypt's" sunny land! And the theme of this great song Is Red the Swift and Red the Strong And Red the panther's paw, Red the spur and plume of Youth, Red, the cleanest tiger's tooth The gridiron ever saw! Prof. J. B. Russell A Teacher true through all the trying times That lie within the school days of a youth, A Master turning discord into peaceful chimes, A Mentor pointing out the way of light and truth! Exemplar wise, giving his precepts weight, He walked the road of rectitude in unassuming mien, His life on open scroll fair and immaculate As Heaven's stars arrayed in shining silver sheen! The seed sown in three decades by his kindly hand Stands in rich fruition on a thousand plains Like an abundant harvest in a fertile land Blest by genial sunshine and refreshing rains! Like a song of sunset in a sapphire sea Tuned to the tender cadence of an evening bell, Without words to utter its sweet melody, Is the mighty chorus of our hearts' farewell! We send our salutations earnest and sincere To this Christian Scholar and his noble corps As loved ones stand and wave from the embarking pier To out-bound argosies that shall return no more! 231 Alumni Farewell Song, W. H. S. To Prof. J. B. Russell, Miss Ella M. Gregg, Mrs. Marga- ret Jewett. Dear Old Friends and True Tune: "Dear Old Pal of Mine" All our souls are saddened As old friends depart, Clouds hang heavy in the sky And a flood of mem'ries Grips the aching heart And drives a bitter mist before the eyel CHORUS— Oh, how we'll miss you, Dear old Friends and true, The best and dearest that we ever knew. Wheaton's heart is beating Wheaton's farewell greeting, Its endless love repeating Dear old Friends, to you! Teachers, kind and tender, Through the youthful years That silently have fled away, We can only render The tribute of our tears And the words the heart alone can say! Sung at the 1924 Wheaton High School Alumni Banquet. 232 PROF. J. B. RUSSELL Ex-College Professor Superintendent of Schools, Wheaton, Illinois < ' ^ MRS. MARGARET W. FEWET1 ■ MISS ELLA M. GREGG 1922 Coronation Ode (To F. F.) Queen of the Fair, So debonaire, Demure and sweet, We pledge to you Allegiance true, Full and complete ! Upon your hand This jewelled band, This signet ring, This shining seal, Denotes the leal Firm faith we bring! A gracious sway Be yours alway, And a long reign Of peaceful years Devoid of tears Bless your domain ! From prince and thrall, We, one and all, Before you bow, And proudly set The coronet Upon your brow! 233 1924 Coronation Ode Queen of May (To A. F.) A noble town Bestows its crown Upon a noble Queen Of youthful grace And winsome face And regal pose and mienl As sweet and gay As a bouquet Fresh with the morning dew, Nor has the Sun Looked down on one More beautiful to view! The Queen we name By the acclaim Of our sovereign voice Is all our own Raised to the throne By our freemen's choice! This diadem And this bright gem Set in a shining ring Of flawless hue Denotes the true Firm fealty we bring! Long live the Queen High and serene And long be her bright reign, And her sweet sway An endless May Over this great domain 1 234 1924. From Court House Friends (To B. M. S.) pleasant woman, jolly friend, In whom all goodness doth repose As lovely colors meet and blend Within a bright, resplendent rose! We give you this true loving cup That holds a rare and richer wine Of life than ever bubbled up From blood of purple-clustered vine! For it doth hold for you today, Fresh as the early morning dew And fragrant as a sweet bouquet, The flowers of our love for you ! We e'er shall heed your royal call And our swords sustain your State, For we are loyal subjects, all — O Queen Elizabeth the Great! To " Doc M (on vacation) (G. C G.) Here's to a king, If such a thing Can be in U. S. A., At any rate The best to date That's come along our way! 235 A royal scout Inside and out, Up to the nick of time, With joke and jest That beat the best With spice and pep He puts us " hep " To the best things of Life, With wit and glee And repartee Keen as a surgeon's knife! We send these lines To the tall pines By noble Lake Gunlock, Our love to bear Unto the rare, Unique and only "Doc"! September 19, 1924. The Court House Valedictory (To C. B. A.) (with purse) Dear Friend to whom we come today With gold and golden words to pay A tithe of what is due, The pathway of the Past was sweet And days to come shall be replete With pleasant thoughts of you! To us your kindly deeds shall stand Like lovely lilies tall and grand In some fair garden plot Rich with rose and migonette And carpeted with violet And blue forget-me-not ! 236 How sweetly were combined in you The heart to prompt and hand to do A good and friendly act, And there was added to your skill And to your generous good-will Exquisite taste and tact! Take thou this little purse of gold, This symbol of the love we hold, This token of esteem, And may it be without alloy A talisman to bring you joy And happiness supreme! And after days of peace and rest May you return from the Great West In hope and health complete And in your merry manner bring The buds and birds that make the Spring Perennially sweet ! October 3, 1923. Farewell Ode (To F. G. O.) Good-bye, dear Fred, From heel to head You are a king, To whom we bow And low kow-tow And dance and sing! To us you are A shining star In a clear sky That makes the Night Such a delight To every eye ! 237 You have a worth Above high birth And royal rank, Like gold that fills The teeming tills Of Gary's Bank. Adonis' face, Apollo's grace And faultless form, And locks as black As the cloud-rack Of Midnight's storm In lighter vein We all maintain You are true blue, The owl's eyebrow, The cat's meow, The berries, too! The kitten's purr, The cricket's spur. The lion's roar, You are a dream, Peaches and cream All sugared o'er ! But without jest, You are the crest Of high knighthood More than we tell We wish you well And all that's good! Though you depart Yet in each heart Loyal and true There shall be kept, Garnished and swept, A nook for you ! September 27, 1924. 238 1924. To M Bluefox M (Country home near Wheaton) A cloister of cares completest surcease Amid blossoming orchard's heavy perfume, Where a soldier sings in a lodge of peace And a throstle is heard in the lilac bloom 1 A poet lives there, with Fancy's pen, A painter of thoughts in delicate hues, And songs that sleep in the bosoms of men Awake at the call of his beautiful Muse! Here Springtime brings perennial birds And Summer a girdle of golden grain And Autumn its colors surpassing all words And Winter an ermine robe for the plain! But the aura around this most charming place Are the souls that live in the dear retreat Where courteous manners and womanly grace And wisdom and wit and kindly hearts meet! O fragment of Eden remaining on earth, O bower of beauty, vibrant and mute, O people rich in the world's true worth, Take thou a friend's sincerest salute ! 239 William W. Steven "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. To this good friend We all extend The glad and merry mitt And thank him for His goodly store Of mirth and jolly wit! At the dark state Of adverse fate He laugheth long and loud And silvers o'er By magic lore The linings of the cloud! In spite of care And Time's gray hair He walks the fields of June Where on gay wings The laverock sings His glad and gleeful tune! By jest and joke The heavy yoke Of Life he makes more light As Dawn uplifts And lightning rifts The blackness of the Night! His faults, tho few, Are hid from view By his congenial ways As ivies hide The crannied side Of towers from our gaze ! 240 WILLIAM \Y. STEVEN Business Man, Supervisor To him we sing "Long live the King" Repeating the refrain And may his sway Be every day A merry monarch's reign ! To Bill and Sue We say adieu To Bill and Sue And from the heart We wish them well More than lips tell Or words impart ! For Bill and Sue Ma> skies be blue And seas be calm And where they go Kind breezes blow Their healing balm! The world's good will With Sue and Bill For aye abide And fine Fate bring Them some good thing With every tide ! The gen'rous deed To those in need That Bill and Sue So often did Shall not be hid From the heart's view ! 241 To us who say- Farewell, today, With deep regret, Their good deeds done Shall be a Sun That shall not set! A thousand years Devoid of tears And free from ill Be unto you O splendid Sue And noble Bill! April 23, 1925. To Newton E. Matter (With flowers, while sick) This little nosegay that we send Is mute — yet you can comprehend The story that it tells, E'en as there is no need of words To interpret the songs of birds Or notes of silver bells ! Every floweret bright and gay Doth ope its smiling lips to say That all your friends are true; And for your royal health we pour The crystal full and brimming o'er And drink it dry to you! Be thou, O strong man, of good cheer In gloom the songs of saint and seer W T ith clearer cadence rang; These flowers blossomed after rain, And in a sweeter, purer strain The chastened Psalmist sang! 242 NEWTON E. MATTER Editor, Alderman, Coroner, Supervisor JUDGE ELBERT II. GARY The sweet and honey-laden phlox And tall, rich-colored hollyhocks, And all within the scope 'Twixt violet and drifting snow, And all the scented winds that blow Are prophecies of Hope ! So brace your heart and mind and soul, And shortly, safe and sound and whole, We'll see you face to face Eager and ready for the strife And down the long highway of Life To run a goodly race! Judge Elbert H. Gary A lofty Lighthouse by the side Of troubled Toil's unresting sea, A constant light to warn and guide, It stands in kingly majesty! A shaft of fire in the Night To show the wanderers the way As Egypt's toilers in their flight Were led by the God-kindled ray! By Day it lifts its mighty form Over the reef and treacherous shoal Far-seen where in distress and storm The heavy freighters lurch and roll! The wrathful billows in their might Lashed by the angry hurricane Oft would o'erthrow and quench that light But rage and beat and break in vain! And Industry's great galleys go, And Labor's argosies come home, And Commerce traffics to and fro On all the far-flung fields of foam; 243 They thread the Narrows to the Deep, They safely pass the harbor bar, And in their changing courses keep Their bearings by this brilliant star! Great Lighthouse by the seas of men Rising majestic to the skies, Keep watch with thine unerring ken And kindly light, tranquil and wise! July 5, 1925. (Native son. First Mayor of Wheaton. Head of United States Steel Corporation.) Rev. F. Hobart Millett The boy-divine, the shepherd youth Of ruddy cheeks and sunny locks Who tendeth here his Father's flocks And feeds them in the fields of Truth! A pastor still to reach his prime, Yet in the higher Wisdom wise Beyond the scholarship that lies Within the stored up tomes of Time! A countenance and vital breath (But only in a less degree) Like Him who taught in Galilee And walked the streets of Xazareth! The House of Faith is his concern, A swept and garnished place of prayer, A never failing altar where The Light's incessant tapers burn ! And yet he does not live apart, His cloister is the world out-spread Where men toil for their daily bread With fainting flesh and heavy heart! 244 REV. F. IK) I] ART MILLETT Pastor Trinity Episcopal Church Wheaton, Illinois Iii house of mirth and house of woe He speaks the timely tempered word And his benignant voice is heard Where'er his people come and go! We love him for his winning smile. His cordial way and open face, The outward and the inward grace That wreath his presence all the while ! Long may his staff and shepherd-crook Give comfort to the troubled plain As fields are freshened by the rain And gladdened by the running brook! September 7, 1925. A Salute Just a little light " Hello " Like a gentle flake of snow- Floating by : — Even as we drift along Through this life of sigh and song, And then die ! So I only pause to say In a common, casual way. " How art thou? " And saluting, wave my fin. Tilt my lid a bit and grin And kow-tow ! And I say by word and sign Unto thee, O friend of mine ; — " Peace and gold Be attendant on thy ways As the joy-filled, busy days Shall unfold! 245 "And into the dark and drear Sunless souls of fret and fear And despair, Let the lights that in us dwell Shine refulgent and dispel All their care ! " Let us mock the world of strife And laugh at the lies of life Long and loud, Jeer and jest and joke and gibe At the Pharisee and Scribe Puffed and proud ! "Let us teach the world the worth Of a hearty, wholesome mirth Wed to wit. Keeping bright the sunny side And the lamps of joy supplied, Trimmed and lit! " Then in days far distant yet When the sun of life shall set And we go The way of unreturning feet, There shall linger long, a sweet Afterglow! " 246 A Wave of the Hand A wave of the hand; And flowers expand Where thorns and thistles grew, And the arid way Of a dreary day Is fresh with morning dew! A wave of the hand; And the shifting sand Is a valley rich and fair, And kindly eyes Drive from the skies The heavy clouds of care! A wave of the hand ; And the desert land Doth blossom as the rose, And a pleasant smile Holds me the while And I forget my foes ! A wave of the hand, Like a clear command From the battle-field of Life Bids me take heart And a nobler part In the realms of mortal strife! A wave of the hand: And bright and grand The wayside flowers unfold, And their sweet sway Earth's common clay Transmutes to shining gold! 247 A wave of the hand We understand Who know true Friendship's code Tis a cooling glass To all who pass Along Life's dusty road ! A wave of the hand Kind Providence planned And gave like sunbeams bright That we might send To every friend And fill the world with light! 248 The Birds Birds of plumage rich and bright And with song of sweet delight Clear and strong and true, Full of genial Summer sun All the smiling seasons run In accord with you! Wheresoe'er your songs are heard Heavy hearts by hope deferred Lose their load of care, And the lights in saddened eyes Like the breaking dawn, arise Dewy-bright and fair, At the sunrise, like the lark, Like the nightingale at dark, Wild and wondrous sweet, Making all the moods of men Blend in harmony again And our lives complete ! Airy Minnesingers, bring All your joyous caroling And your roundelays Till the hearts of men are thrilled By the melodies that filled Eden's palmy days! 249 1915. On Reading a Booklet of Poems I read the pages of this book Within an hour's time That ran by like a pleasant brook Through Summer's sunny clime! And mirroring the lord of light Within the bending blue, The floating clouds, the birds in flight, The rainbow's varied hue! I saw the spirit's poise and sweep — Like eagles in the sky — I saw the plummet search the deep Where thoughts, like corals, lie! The tender buds of Easter morn, The Autumn's faded leaf, The blade, the ear, the ripened corn, Are bound within this sheaf! The secrets of a seeking soul In choicest language told Were spread before me like a scroll In majesty unrolled! Refreshed beside this way-side well From depths beyond my ken, I take my staff and scallop-shell And journey on again! 250 REV. E. C LUMSDEN Pastor Gary Memorial Church 1920-1925 To Rev. E. C. Lumsden To flowers, birds and Summer days We sadly say adieu As at this " parting of the ways " We speak farewell to you! O beautiful as Easter morn In lilies' stainless bloom When Nature seems to rise new-born Triumphant from the tomb, So your sunny soul and face Unconsciously revealed A sweetness like the charm and grace Of Flora's fragrant field, And your hope-resurgent words Unburdened all our days Like delightful songs of birds Singing sweet roundelays ! Tho flowers fade and sweet birds go And leave the meadows sere Soon to be buried by the snow That shrouds the dying year. Yet in that great Ordering Of Nature and of Men The Winter shall give way to Spring And Summer come again ! So our sadness and regret, By the deep love we hold (As clouds of Day by the Sunset) Shall turn to living gold ! Orchards gay and warbler's tune And Mem'ry's silver bell Make your life an endless June Like our love — farewell ! October 19, 1925. 251 Song Mater Carissima To Virginia Hughes Herrick (On Her Eightieth Birthday) (Tune : " Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean ") O Mother, today we can render But a tithe of the tribute that's due, As the deep faintly mirrors the splendor Of the stars in the infinite blue; The lips cannot tell the hearPs story Nor the blessings that we would bestow On thy head that is white with the glory Of fourscore Winters of snow Of fourscore Winters of snow Of fourscore Winters of snow On thy head that is white with the glory Of fourscore Winters of snow ! But deep in the silence unbroken Lie the treasures of love's purest gold More precious than language has spoken And truer than tongue ever told, And fair as the flow'ry creations — Mute minstrels of charm and delight — And pure as the grand constellations That silently sweep through the night That silently sweep through the night That silently sweep through the night And pure as the grand constellations That silently sweep through the night! 252 With thy crown like the sunlight adorning The mountain with snow-covered crest Thou hast come from the portals of Morning To the Sunset land of the West With many more years than were promised — Exceeding the threescore and ten — And passing the point by the Psalmist Set down for the children of men Set down for the children of men Set down for the children of men And passing the point by the Psalmist Set down for the children of men! Not the strains of a song comprehending All the melodies under the sun When the daughters of music are blending Their symphonies sweet into one; Nor the chimes and the great organ pealing, Nor the music that mortal e'er heard Can bring us the balm and the healing And the peace of thy comforting word And the peace of thy comforting word And the peace of thy comforting word Can bring us the balm and the healing And the peace of thy comforting word! O Mother — all goodness combining — Our compass and chart thou shalt be And a star in the firmament shining To guide us o'er life's stormy sea. While the diadem grandly reposes On the head that is snowy and hoar May the season of lilies and roses Abide in the heart evermore Abide in the heart evermore Abide in the heart evermore May the season of lilies and roses Abide in the heart evermore ! April 24, 1914. 253 Dedication of Author's first book of Poems I dedicate this book of mine To one like a snow-covered pine Crowned with light; Yet with heart of Spring below Eighty years of drifted snow Of ermine white. My Mother, to whose life doth cling All the gentleness of Spring In its prime; And the richness manifold Of the hoard of harvest gold In Summertime 1 All the flowers in between Spring and Autumn's russet sheen Are a part Of her life, and still abide — By the Winter glorified — In her heart! Eighty years of life have set Gems within her coronet Of whitened hair; Rich beyond the tinseled things That the crowned consorts of kings Proudly wear! All there is within this book Of worth or strength or beauty took All its grace From the imprint of her mind, Genteel nature and refined, Kindly face! 254 '* De Senectute "' " Age is opportunity no less Than youth, though in another dress." — Longfellow. Oh, how venerable is old age When a seer and saint and sage And a prophet and philosopher are blended into one, Blessed with moral vision keen And an abiding faith serene And with an inward consciousness of duty fully done! And yet ere set of sun he may Do more than since the break of day, For life is gauged by lofty thought and not the measured year, And oft a day of age in truth Is better than a year of youth As Nestor's wisdom counted more than Ajax' heavy spear! The grandest men on history's page Have mostly worn the wreath of age And the evening twilight of their lives has been the best ; Then the strains of David's lyre Flowed like gold refined by fire From out a glowing bosom beneath a snowy crest! Few gems of higher, richer truth Have been the treasure-trove of youth, But the great discoverers were men of hoary head, And the immortal songs were born Not in the realm of rosy morn But down among the sunset hills when Hesperus was red! 255 Chaucer, the herald of the long And noble line of English song Gave us the " Canterbury Tales " in measures quaint and old After the heat of noon had ceased, When shadows lengthened towards the East And he was on the Western slope amid the Autumn gold! The " (Edipus " of Sophocles And the prize verse of Simonides Were written more than eighty years after the morning lark, And Theophrastus' virile pen Produced the " Characters of Men " When he had lived a dozen years beyond the fourscore mark ! Milton and Homer blind and old Poured their mighty floods of gold In all the lofty major chords of melody sublime While they stood like ripened grain Upon the whitened harvest plain Within the bending sickle of hoary-headed Time! At Weimar in his loved retreat Goethe gave us " Faust " complete After his hour-glass had run full eighty years of sand; And oft a sunset glory dwells Within the vale of vesper bells As if in forecast of the splendors of the Better Land! November 25, 1909. 256 The Angel Israfel "And the angel Israfel whose heart strings are a lute and who has the sweetest voice of all God's creatures." — Koran. I have read in the Koran a story, A legend both honored and hoary That in Paradise haloed with glory Lives an angel with wonderful powers, And he holds all his listeners mute For his heart strings, they say, are a lute And his voice is a musical flute And his songs are all blossoming flowers. And Paradise ever is ringing With the strains of his wonderful singing And to each song a message is clinging — A message of manifold meaning, Proclaiming as only he could, One burden not well understood, That Allah, great Allah, is good Surpassing all fanciful dreaming. And the stars in their courses all listened, As they glittered and glinted and glistened, To this angel tradition has christened The sweetest voiced singer in heaven, And they flashed his notes down from on high, And they wrote out his songs on the sky, And the dark souls of mortals thereby Were leavened with heavenly leaven. I know it is just a tradition, A sweet and sublime superstition, Yet worthy of much repetition Because of its potent suggestions. For the legend, I think, is a test Of the highest and truest and best That man has found in his quest For the answers to answerless questions. 1900. 257 The Dead Year Another surge — a rolling year — Has broken on the shore of Time, That sea upon whose wastes appear Ages like argosies sublime! I stood and watched the billow roll Its dripping wreckage on the sand, Mute relics of the tragic toll Paid into Time's all-grasping hand! Old worn-out derelicts and wrecks, And splintered masts and broken spars Swept off in tempests from the decks Lay strewn along the sandy bars! The lordly merchantman, the fleet Of dreadnaughts and the men-of-war By stress of Time lay in complete And common ruin on the shore! Bright argosies that with acclaim Sailed forth with officers and crew And on their maiden voyage became The victims of the treacherous blue, And fleet feluccas light and gay As sea-gulls skimming o'er the deep And glory-shorn proud galleys, lay Within Time's all-embracing sweep! The small were even as the great For Time had chastened all of pride And in one equal, low estate They lay along the Ocean side ! 258 Time upon thy boundless sea Cycles and centuries ebb and flow And all thereon must bow to thee, Salute and dip their pennants low; But all was not of stranded barks Upon the laden billows borne, Nor wrecks that bore the fatal marks Of Ocean's fury, tempest-torn, For goodly vessels not of those Among the breakers on the shore Found in fair havens safe repose Beyond the wrathful Ocean's roar. With sails and streamers reefed and furled Calmly and tranquilly they cease Their long cruise of the cruel world And rest serene in perfect peace. They held their courses to the Pole — The fixed and constant Cynosure — Through perils both of deep and shoal And tempting sirens' subtle lure! Oh, with what glory they appear That rode with honor through the strife, Now crowned and safely-havened here After the buffetings of life ! 1 saw approaching many sails, Some near and others yet afar, Some wrestling with mid-ocean gales And some within the outer bar! Some riding lightly as in sport, Some freighted to the rails with grief, All destined for the selfsame port Or as the prey of rock and reef! 259 Voyage of " The Sunbeam " Afar upon the sapphire blue Off towards the Islands of the West I saw among a chosen few One ship more goodly than the rest. With a bright splendor all her own E'en from moon-raker to the keel On all her ways a glory shone And grace and beauty set their seal. I viewed her as she went and came Intently with hand-shaded brow And read that queenly vessel's name "The Sunbeam" blazoned on the prow. Full busy both in storm and calm, With blessings beyond human ken She carried loads of healing balm To all the stricken isles of men. Kind words and smiles and hopeful cheers (The Sunbeam's signal code are these) She sent across the waste of years To all upon Time's troubled seas. And she. was blessed by everyone And hailed with such joy and delight As sailors greet the rising sun After a dark, tempestuous night. The queen of all the boundless sea With treasure islands for her prize Long may The Sunbeam's voyage be Beneath serene and cloudless skies. 260 1911. And when she sets her homeward sails In distant after years afar May pilot wise and favoring gales Bring her within the harbor bar! Straying Thoughts This is my day to sit and muse, Or wander through the misty maze Where Fancy, led by Chance, pursues Her devious, uncharted ways. I sweep the vista of the past And read it like an open scroll, I drop my plummet in the vast Deep, unknown oceans of the soul. I range the fields of bygone days Amid the roses and the rue Recalling half-forgotten lays, Comparing old friends with the new. I kneel by Memory's deep spring That bubbles joyously and free And drink refreshing draughts that bring New life and hope and strength to me. I bare my forehead to the breeze And listen to its magic lore, The tales it brings across the seas And from the far-off alien shore. I hear the mighty sea-winds blow And the music wild and grand When Neptune's crested legions throw Their silver helmets on the sand. 261 I breathe the fragrant aftermath Of fields I sowed in other days, And I retrace the backward path Through all its thorny-primrose ways. I pause by many grass-grown mounds And closely scan the chiseled stone, And the names that have familiar sounds I utter in an undertone. The birds sing in the boughs that bend Like cypress o'er the somber tomb And their sweet songs with sadness blend Like mass-bells in cathedral gloom. The Inward Monitor I am dubious of the days to be ; My foes are strong and cruel men ; There shines no light, no star for me Within the sweep of Reason's ken. To eyes of sense the way is dark, While conscience shines a star serene, And I'm a tempest-driven barque Upon the unseen and the seen. My foes are many, bold and stout And crafty as the imps of hell; They press and compass me about Like Ocean 'round a diving bell. But in despite of seeming things I fear not but that I shall win ; For there's a harp with truer strings There is a clearer voice within. A clearer truth it truer tells With soft, but more persuasive note Than told by tongues of iron bells Or shouted from a stentor throat. 262 For conscience has a simple code To lead us through the dark and day, And is upon life's winding road The only guide that knows the way. And where it sends me I will go And what it tells me I will do; I see nor understand, yet know That inward monitor is true. And all I ask the kindly fates Is light to see my foeman's face And press the battle to the gates With streaming blade and bloody mace. January 1, 1907. " Bonum et Benignatas M The sweetest face on all the earth, Surpassing Beauty, Peace and Mirth, Is Mercy by the bed of pain giving her beloved sleep, Allaying all the cruel pangs That sting and tear like serpent fangs, With pleasant dreams like peaceful rivers crooning to the deep ! The kindly hand and word and eye, These do the deeds that never die, As Britain's Filomena in the far Levant revealed, She who by her deeds sublime Redeemed the stain of England's crime When useless war incarnadined Crimea's fatal field! Oh, that the wide world understood " 'Tis only noble to be good," That kind hearts count for more than crowns or coronets of gold, That in the balance of true worth One kindly deed outweighs the earth And a tear of joy all Neptune's Sea outweighs a hundred fold! 263 (Decoration Day Song) The Boys in the Blue (Tune: "The Red, White and Blue") O soldiers who saved our nation, And sailors who fought on the sea, Today in rapt admiration A world weaves its garlands for thee. Today, with words warm and tender We speak of the host, brave and true — Our glorious Republic's defender That followed the red, white and blue, That followed the red, white and blue, That followed the red, white and blue, Our glorious Republic's defender That followed the red, white and blue! When the guns of rebellion were roaring And treason was piping her pipes, These millions of heroes were warring In defense of the stars and the stripes. Our tears and our cheers are combining As their trials and triumphs we view. And the stars of their glory are shining In the folds of the red, white and blue, In the folds of the red, white and blue, In the folds of the red, white and blue; And the stars of their glory are shining In the folds of the red, white and blue! Today we remember the sleeping — The Grand Army long gone before; Today fair Columbia is weeping For brave sons who died in the war! Their graves let us cover with flowers — The fairest that earth ever grew! 264 With banners — these heroes of ours — Who died for the red, white and blue, Who died for the red, white and blue, Who died for the red, white and blue; With banners — these heroes of ours — Who died for the red, white and blue! 'Mid flowers and banners and glory, With words that are welcome and warm Like the rainbow, our flag tells the story: " I'm a child of the sun and the storm." Columbia shall always endeavor To honor the fast-fleeting few ; The old soldiers and sailors forever! Three cheers for the boys in the blue, Three cheers for the boys in the blue, Three cheers for the boys in the blue ; The old soldiers and sailors forever, Three cheers for the boys in the blue ! Song Dewey, the Pride of the Navy (Tune: "Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean") O Dewey, the pride of the nation, The pride of the navy and sea With proud and profound admiration This people is honoring thee! With streamers and flags wild and wavy And with triumphal arches for you We hail you the Pride of the Navy, The greatest the world ever knew, The greatest the world ever knew The greatest the world ever knew We hail you the Pride of the Navy, The greatest the world ever knew. 265 On the page of our triumphant story Where Columbia's brave Admirals are With our navy enhaloed with glory Shines many a radiant star. But the gem of the whole constellation That gleams so resplendently bright Is the star of the pride of the nation Unsurpassed in its luster and light, Unsurpassed in its luster and light Unsurpassed in its luster and light Is the star of the pride of the nation Unsurpassed in its luster and light. So long as the world keeps in motion And the red, white and blue waves in air With our fleet proudly ploughing the ocean Will the stars of his glory be there. 'Till we meet with grim Death, the Destroyer, We will honor Columbia's son And with cheers for this old ocean-warrior We will keep what his valor has won, We will keep what his valor has won We will keep what his valor has won And with cheers for this old ocean-warrior We will keep what his valor has won. October 10, 1899. (For Dewey Day in Chicago) 266 Flag of the Eight and Forty Stars Flag of the eight and forty stars Aflame in a field of blue ; Flag of the white and crimson bars Entrancing fair to view ! Flag of the eight and forty stars Of war and whirlwind born And kept by death and battle-scars Unsullied and untorn ! On thy white field the crimson bars Mean rivers running red That the flag of eight and forty stars Might wave above my head! When War's portentous pall hangs low Dark as the frown of Mars Fiercely shall gleam amid the foe Thine eight and forty stars! In Freedom's name may every breeze Fling out thy blood-red bars And proudly flaunt o'er land and seas Thine eight and forty stars! 267 Song for Memorial Day (Tune : " America ") Old soldiers, over thee The flag is floating free And full of stars ; Proud of the noble band That gave it to our land, Preserved by valor's hand And battle scars ! In smoke and flame it flew Above the hosts of blue On fields of war ; Through treason's iron rain You bore it without stain Upon the crimson plain In days of yore ! Your heads are whitened now And time upon your brow Has left its trace, And slower now your tread Than when the charge was led And Freedom's foemen fled Before your face! Yet in your matchless eye As the thinned lines go by We see the gleam And spirit as of old When clouds of conflict rolled To keep the starry fold Without a seam! 268 In gratitude and love Pure as the stars above This day we keep For men the world reveres, For those who live, our cheers. And a great nation's tears For those who sleep! The Dead Suffragette (I. M. B.) A fervent flame has flickered out; A phcenix-bird has died As the Sun dies Only to rise With the morn intensified! O ardent archer from whose bow A shaft shot through the sky Winged with weal And tipped with zeal, As glowing meteors fly! O swift and self-consuming star Leaving a trail of light Along whose way Her sisters may Find freedom from the night! The ashes of the star shall fall On fertile fields below And o'er the land Rich harvests stand Where freeborn gleaners go! Nov. 28, 1916. 269 Unforgotten It pleases me once more to send To my superb and noble friend Of vain and vanished days A line to speak my high esteem For her who was the pleasant theme Of many roundelays ! Xot all the changes Time has wrought Or good and ill the years have brought Can dim that kindly light, As mist and fog and driving cloud Ofttimes obscure and enshroud The stars in Nature's night ! But this star point clear and fine Shall in flawless luster shine In Memory's bright sky Until the starry heavens roll Together like a finished scroll And Man and Mind shall die! She shall be as she hath been The theme of my thought and pen And my grateful song While the silent seasons glide And the years of life abide, Be they short or long! Remembered as a song whose tune Charmed the days of far-off June She is now to me ; A lovely ship of silken sails Torn away by adverse gales And lost upon the sea ! 270 To a Friend Upon the day that she was born There bloomed a rose without a thorn That grew more fair with Time ; A rare, rich blossom, and possessed Of flow'ry splendor unexpressed In either prose or rhyme! The laughter of the meadow brook And Summer's sunny smiles she took And stored up in her heart From whence they overflow and rise And to her countenance and eyes Their kindly charms impart! In Flora's fragrant flower land Where all her stately daughters stand In robes of every hue — Some in snowy samite's sheen, Some in vestments of bright green, And some in lovely blue, The " beauteous sisterhood " has set Upon the rose the coronet Only a queen may wear ; E'en as this Rose of whom we sing Bears the royal signet ring And sway serene and fair! O genteel friend with kindly face, With sense and dignity and grace And heart of temper true; O noble Rose, sweet and benign, May the great Sun ever shine Benignantly on you! September 7, 1921. 271 A Vacation Wish (To Two Friends) Sweet seraphs seated on the sands That rim the sapphire sea, In well-earned rest for tired hands Unloosed from labor's iron bands ; Take this salute from me ! Let earth be lavish of her best Of balm and kindly peace, And may you be so richly blest With sweet, rejuvenating rest That all your cares shall cease! May rosy Dawn delight and please As Morning shall unfold, And all the fields of rich Ceres Reflected in the sunset seas Transmute the clouds to gold ! Then may the mellow moonlight make Her soft and charming scenes, Fit for the Lady of the Lake, While all the sentry stars, awake, Watch o'er the sleeping queens ! Soon may you come again and bring Anew your winsome ways, As welcome as when in the Spring The birds return again and sing Their jocund roundelays! 272 Memories That Make Us Strong As bud and blossom and ripe fruit And years on years in swift pursuit Each other press, So at this time of thanks and praise Come crowding thoughts of other days To cheer and bless ! Oft in such hours as this I chance To take a retrospective glance Adown the years, The sunny years by shadows crossed And disillusionments that cost Us many tears ! I see again before me spread The winding ways where folly led Through bitter-sweet : — The blasted hope, the shattered dream, And the victory that did redeem All sore defeat ! I've thought of you, brave friend and good Full many times as I have stood With flag unfurled, Or battled in the truceless fight Wherein the darkness strives with light To win the world! And until now I've sung your praise, And shall through all the coming days In honest rhyme, With glad heart brimming o'er with thanks As Jordan overflows its banks In harvest time! 273 For in the recent days I bore A sword and buckler in that war You sent me to, And foremost in the battle's van Did all the puny arm of man Alone can do ! Whene'er I face the hosts of Drink, To which all other evils link And join their plans, The echo of your words produce A fervor like the heart of Bruce Among the clans ! Ofttimes with frowning hordes around Have we been beaten to the ground But not to stay Like those who " mute inglorious " lie, For we're the kind that never die Though turned to clay 1 The armies of the Fiend are vast And cruel as the icy blast That sweeps the North And all things wither like the leaf Before the wild raids of the Chief That leads them forth! But surely shall the time arrive When you and I are both alive And he is dead, If we are blessed with sense and grace And mortal strength to swing a mace And cleave his head! Oh, doubt thou not that he shall fall Cut down in ghastly ruin, all As on that day Back in his temple in Ashdod Prostrate before the ark of God Old Dagon lay! 274 Then when the shouting victors march Beneath the great triumphal arch In grand review, The friend whose voice was worth a host Shall wear the laurel with the most Stalwart and true! Strong unto life, oh, let us cling Like Winter's withered leaf in Spring Still on the tree, That firm, tenacious to the last Defies the bufTets of the blast To shake him free ! Until your life's long day is done May Laughter's rippling river run Full to the brink ; And better than unmeasured wealth Oh, may you be of buoyant health The very pink! And meanwhile Heaven bless your store And in your lap kind Fortune pour All that she hath ; And brightly bloom the beauteous rose And balmy be the breeze that blows Around your path! My parting prayer is that henceforth May all the vigor of the North Be in your heart Wherein shall Hope and Peace preside And Joy and sweet Content abide And not depart! 275 A Good Friend (I. B.) Fair, serene, More than queen, Young and wise, Blessed with two Clear and blue Kindly eyes ! Full of mirth As the earth Is of Sun When high noon And mid-June Meet as one ! Jocund glee Wild and free As the breeze Swaying nests In the crests Of the trees! She has wit, (Lots of it) Quick and keen ; Like a bright Flash of light Is its sheen ! Sweet of voice Rich and choice Full and strong, Holding all In the thrall Of her song! 276 Winsome face, Inward grace, Sober sense, And a style Without guile Or pretence ! Heart of gold, Spirit bold, Faith of flame, Zeal of knight On the bright Fields of fame ! Blessings rest On your crest Queenly maid ; Diadems With bright gems All inlaid! As you go To and fro, Sun and dew Buds and birds And kind words Go with you ! Now from me Take this wee Bright bouquet As a true Wish for you Ev'ry day ! 277 1922. Good-Bye to a Friend With real regret we say, Good-Bye, pleasant face and merry eye And voice of rippling song, With that sad sinking of the heart We have when Summer's birds depart And swiftly southward throng! And as the Sun's receding rays Bring us the melancholy days Of buds and birds forlorn, Your going hence has brought the drear Days of the yellow leaf and sear And meadows brown and shorn! But in this hour disconsolate By faith and hope upheld, we wait, Well knowing as we do That though the Winter linger long The Spring will come on wings of song, With violets and— you ! Oh, sweet and fair and full of cheer And pleasant was your presence here In now departed times, And may the years before you be But days and nights of melody As sweet as silver chimes! 278 To a College Friend wise, winsome friend of mine Whose name to many a tuneful line Inspired my pen How many stanzas in old days 1 wrote, then cast into the blaze, " I dinna ken." But surely all together massed Would make a conflagration vast And fervent heat; And if the embers now were stirred They'd rise up like the phoenix-bird And warble sweet. I think it's often well, you know, Amid the surge and ebb and flow Of worldly strife To make a little pause, a calm, A Selah passage in the Psalm Of busy life, Just long enough to drop a line Or speak a word or make a sign Or wave a hand ; It lifts us where the white clouds float And holds us like a sustained note, I think it's grand ! So take this as my kind salute, It's better than remaining mute As Egypt's Sphinx. If aught is lacking won't you try Out of your good heart to supply The missing links? 279 Age 23 Take this from me Sweet twenty-three And may you live for aye Afl prim and fair And debonairc And winsome as tod Th - that smile ( Not to beguile) Be bright a thousand years And never know The overflow Or mist of trouble's tears! I like your . And nifty p And wit without offence, Y<>ur youthful [ And r< ircumscribed bj A- Time -hall fly Along on " high " May Joy -it at the wheel And you be Him like a bride With merry heart and leal! O silver moon Of jolly June Put on your brightest sheen And buds adorn The natal morn Of a most regal queen ! 280 1921. The Passing Years Dear old friend, the passing years Of mirage hopes and phantom fears And thorn and rose and rne. Though rough and rude, cannot efface From out my thoughts the sunny place Kind Fate reserved for youl To thank the Sun. how vain were words, Or speech to tell the huds and birds The deht that is their due. And yet we gmw more true and strong Because ol them and their sweet song,- As I because of you ! take this as a friendly breeze That watts across the silent seas From far-off isles to you My earnest wish of former times For peace and gold and kindly dimes Which I again renew ! Our ways that parted long ago May wide and ever wider grow As wakes of steamships do. Yet from the earth's remotest end By Fancy's radio I would send My message unto you ! Far from the snow that beats on me May you and all your household be Where skies are clear and blue And all conspires to inert The inward joy and outward peace A thousand fold to youl 281 Bird s I love birds And right words Are too rare To impart What my heart Would declare ! Chickadees And pewees I adore, And I love The white dove Even morel The redstart Stirs my heart With its glee, And the blue Bunting's hue Pleases me! The juncos And the rose- Breasted beak Soft and low In the snow Sweetly speak ! Ruby-throat And the note That he sings By the beat Of his fleet Vibrant wings ! 282 And the thrush In the brush And the wold Make for me Melody Manifold ! From a Wayfarer (With flowers) Sweet Saint Cecilia of our day, The patroness of Music's art, I send you with this roundelay That bubbles from a friendly heart And give unto your tender care That never did a creature wrong, These flowers, thought-surpassing fair — The silent notes of Nature's song — And with them all the healing dews And balm upon their fragrant leaves; And may my never-sleeping Muse Sit at the loom where Fancy weaves, And in the wondrous warp and woof Of the rich tapestry of Fame With shining shuttles, error proof, With threads of gold weave in your name. Oh, may a sweet smile be the prize And favor that these flowers find Within your clear and kindly eyes — The windows of triumphant mind. From a wayfarer passing by And plucking flowers 'long the way Receive these buds: — and till you die May life be sweet and fair as they! 283 In the Afterglow The sun has set and very splendid Have the evening shades descended And the dusk and darkness blended Leaving a bright afterglow; And I sit here pensive, musing, Not consenting or refusing, Passive to my Fancy's choosing And the thoughts that ebb and flow! And the thoughts most oft recurring, Which my fancy seems preferring, Are the scenes both sweet and stirring Of my Wheaton College days, And first among them is the single Subject of this swinging jingle, The girl that made my heart blood tingle And inspired my roundelays ! And now to keep the promise spoken, And the vow I vowed, unbroken, I send this as a tender token To my unforgotten friend, The gentlest, kindest and most clever; May Joy and Peace be hers, and never Leave her through the long forever After earthly day shall end! November 24, 1904. 284 1913. The Queen Flower (To a friend) I send my greetings and regards And love that time can never cool, Sweet rose among the flints and shards, White lily in the stagnant pool; Bright daisy blooming by the side Of Life's hot, dust-encumbered way; Meek, kindly violet, tender eyed Like Leah in the ancient day ! The charm of ev'ry flower that grows In garden, glen or sylvan scene Is incarnate in one fair rose, Of all the blossom world, the queen! 3.14159 (On receipt of a pie) Your glorious gastronomic treat Frosted white and sugared sweet We swallowed at a gulp Like a horde of hungry Huns ; 'Twas great and had ambrosial buns All beaten to a pulp ! Yes, it was rich and we are sure No pampered Roman epicure Ever saw its peer; Old Lucullus and that bunch Of connoisseurs of wine and punch Lose the pennant here! 285 Just one taste put all the brew Of Bacchus and Selinus too, In the infant class, And made the palate-tickling food That gods or mortals ever chewed Seem like withered grass! We've eaten frogs and terrapin And funny fish of every fin, And oysters, too, galore; 'Possum, 'coon and guinea pig And all that climb or swim or dig Or root or dive or soar; We've eaten bride's and angel's cake And things " like mother used to make ' And huckleberry pie, Jell and jam and all the stuff Of which we couldn't get enough When we were little fry, But the ne plus ultra of all sweet And toothsome things that mortals eat Your skillful hand has wrought, So now we simply close the book And fold our arms and cease to look — For all is found we sought ! May 23, 1914. 286 Hall oween How dare you sit and grin And laugh and raise a din When without All the black cats hiss and howl And the ghosts and goblins prowl All about. There are witches out there, too, And they're after girls like you If you're bad ; So remember " mum's the word " Or you'll wish, my merry bird, That you had. And remember there are bats Big as Merry Widow hats Flying 'round, And the spooks of all the dead That have risen from their bed In the ground. So be careful as you can Lest the awful bogy man Catches you; For if you should fade away It would make my mortal day Awful blue! 287 Interned (To one in hospital) man of Job's afflicted tribe 1 lift the crystal and imbibe A deep draught to your health — That boon to mortals many fold More precious than the joys of gold And unrestricted wealth! We wait for your arrival here Like lonely watchers on the pier For home-returning sails; And may you safely weather through The tempest-torn and hostile blue And buffets of the gales! Cheer up, the storm will soon be past And on your high top-gallant mast Your friends will place a crown When safe within the harbor bar Without a broken boom or spar You drop your anchor down! July 18, 1913. 288 May 21, 1914. To a Kid Friend (On his 12th birthday) Just twelve years old And good as gold, And clear and clean and shining As a big new star That we see afar With bright and silver lining! A clear-eyed boy Of mirth and joy And sunshine ever beaming, With face and eyes Like Summer skies With sun and blue seas gleaming! When the day dies May bright stars rise To watch above your slumbers, And dreams, all true, Abide with you In vast, uncounted numbers! And from the dawn Till day is gone May blessings never-ending Above you stand With open hand Or like a rainbow bending! My dear kid friend Today I send A forest full of flowers And wish for you A life of true And happy, golden hours! 289 The " Lost Pleiad M (To a friend) The stars that sweep The heavens, weep Since you are gone, And cloud and rain Bespeak their pain From dusk to dawn. The Harp is still, The Eagle shrill Is silent now ; The Northern Crown Has fallen down From Heaven's brow. Both of the Bears Lurk in their lairs The whole night long With folded wings The sweet Swan sings Her dying song. No arrows go From Archer's bow To Scorpion's hide, The Lions wild, Now meek and mild, In peace abide. The Pleiades And Antares And bright Altair Are hid from view Within the blue In deep despair. 290 The Dogs and Twins, The Fish with fins, The ebon Crow, And Pegasus (And all of us) Are deep in woe. The Sickle keen Has lost its sheen Of steely blue, And all seems dead E'er since we said Good-bye to you. Oh, when shall we Together see In glory spread The stars bedight In robes of white And blue and red? Tell us how soon The pallid Moon Shall see you here, For joy and mirth Come not to earth Till you appear. The stars that gem The diadem Of queenly Night Shall brighter burn When you return To our sight ! 291 Sympathy and Solace (To an old friend) Beyond the western sunset land An ocean with its golden sand Around it rolled Lies like a laver of vast worth Set in the temple of the earth And rimmed with gold. The molten sea that Hiram cast For Solomon in centuries past And gone afar Was but a tiny grain of sand To this constructed by the hand That made each star. And close beside its gilded brim The queen of all the seraphim Surpassing fair And with a grace, defying art, Born of a true and kindly heart Abideth there. Amid the incense and perfume And beauty of the lavish bloom Of Nature's smile She dwells beside the crystal sea An open-hearted soul and free From worldly guile, A creature that deserves no fate Except that ultra high estate The angels hold, And yet she suffers all the wrong That comes unto the common throng Of mortal mould, 292 For on her sunny fields the cloud And gloomy pall and somber shroud And shadows fall, And sorrows speechless, but for tears, That the relentless sweep of years Brings to us all. The bruises of the unkind word The sickened heart by hope deferred Fall to her share, And " sharper than a serpent's tooth " The vain regrets of wasted youth That all must bear. So oft her head beneath its weight The iron crown of ruthless fate Doth lowly bow, And on her brave heart crushing falls The stroke that staggers and appalls As it does now. But howsoever hard it seems When cherished hopes and fondest dreams Like bubbles burst, Let us have faith that all things tend Together towards the better end And not the worst. And may it not, perchance, be best That we endure the fiery test And bear the cross That we may come forth purer souled As from its crucibles the gold Devoid of dross. As from the height in years gone by The great Lawgiver turned his eye Towards Canaan fair Unto a land he should not press, (But dying in the wilderness Be buried there), 293 So oft I dearly love to stand And gaze into that far-off land With Fancy's eyes And throw a thousand sweet bouquets To my dear friend of other days I highly prize. That queen of flowers, the charming rose, The lily white as drifted snows The violets small, Hearts-ease and pinks of every hue, And sweet forget-me-nots of blue Around them all, And every flower with all its charms That Summer. Spring, and Autumn's arms Did e'er entwine I gather up from far and near And toss them to that good and dear Old friend of mine. Across the deserts and the high White mountain tops that touch the sky With snowy crown Bear them O kindly winds and s W cct Safely and gently to her feci And lay them down. All these and every cheering word That Hope and Promise ever heard I send along To brace and brighten and sustain ; As drooping flowers are by rain Made fresh and strong. And may her quickened pulses send True as the heart-beat of a friend Their ruddy flood Bounding through artery and vein And rejuvenating heart and brain With ruby blood. 294 And O, that all her life might be A song pitched in the happiest key That mortals know; A wild crescendo of pure joy Without a minim of alloy To check its flow. And ere Life's symphony shall cease May many years of smiling peace Their splendors roll And fill for her each day and night With mighty transports of delight And peace of soul. And so may joy to joy succeed And " the way to dusty death " but lead To greater bliss Ineffable and glory-crowned, A world where ecstasies abound Unknown in this. The Golden Wedding December 19, 1867— December 19, 1917 (To Judge and Mrs. W. M. Tomlinson) A golden cycle comes today In glory to its close, Blending blossom-laden May With Winter's grander snows! Kindly hearts of genial June Aglow at Life's Yuletide, The fervent warmth of Summer noon With you for aye abide Like the virile pines with crests And diadems of snow Holding Springtime in their breasts While Winter tempests blowl 295 We thank you for the kindly face That like an open scroll Reveals the wealth of inward grace And majesty of soul! On your benignant brows we lay The chaplets of esteem, The oak, the holly and the bay And our love supreme! Long years yet to bride and groom May gentle zephyrs blow The fragrance of the orange bloom Of fifty years ago! From Me and Doc To Norman Dietrich We say good-bye (The Doc and I) With great regret, For one more true To life than you We never met ! Y<»ur knightly style And genial smile And laugh of glee Gave rich joy Without alloy To Doc and me! When you blew in And flipped our fin The Doc and I Knew we had found The right compound Of earth and sky! 296 Your flow of wit That cheered and lit Old Central Block, Your taste and tact And tone and act Won me and Doc ! To me and Doc You are the clock That sets the Sun And on the tide The star to guide When day is done ! As day by day You go your way To fame and wealth The Doc and I Will lift it high And drink your health! The ebb and flow Of life may go On Time's sad sea, But till the end Count on a friend In Doc and me! To a Friend in Sorrow's Shadows Friend a thousand leagues away My thoughts are all of you today, And thought can quickly span the space parting me from thee ; 1 on Chicago's outer rim You on the western ocean's brim Down in the City of the Angels by the sunset sea. 297 Oh, how often have they sped Between us in the year that's fled, With loads of healing in their wings to solace your sad heart, And in the dark days of your grief With healing balm to give relief, To lift the heavy, inky pall and rift the clouds apart. Though laden with a good intent On futile missions were they sent, For heavy hearts by happy songs are never made more light, But though we know we can but fail Yet still we strive to part the veil, To push aside and pin with stars the curtains of the night. Oh, I have been appalled to view The darkened valley you passed through Beneath the heavy clouds of care, beholding through your tears The crowning sorrow of your days, The parting of the earthly ways And breaking of the dearest ties of all the fleeting years. And in your overwhelming gloom Deep as a black funereal plume Or as the raven robe of night ungarnished by the stars, My sympathies went out in lieu Of rod and staff to comfort you Like the tidal waves of ocean sweeping all the harbor bars. That all is but the common fate Does not one jot alleviate The heart-aches at the parting for the rest of mortal day, But this last hour leaves a trace That time and change will not efface Until the beating breast is still and memory fades away. 298 That mortal man was made to mourn Makes no less sharp the piercing thorn And all the sorrows of the world do not diminish mine, But each must tread the press alone From thrall to king upon the throne And from the lowly cotter to the prince of royal line. For so the sad procession goes From violets to drifting snows, From the baby's golden locks to the old man's whitened hair, Changing slowly day by day As embers turn from red to gray And the glowing, radiant forehead to the wrinkled brow of care. In the great drama of the past Through chiliads and cycles vast Man has played the tragic role, the comic and the mime, From the anchorite and clown Up to learning's cap and gown And in every form and fashion from the grotesque to sublime. Since the creation's primal dawn He has been but the puny pawn By fickle Fortune's index finger pushed about at will Across the checker-board of Fate Where light and darkness alternate, Held by the players, life and death, the hazard of their skill. But doubtless we need griefs and joys To keep our souls in equipoise And that the judgments laid on us are just and right de- crees, And like the royal orb of day Shower rich blessings all the way From Aurora's rosy portals to the sapphire sunset seas. 299 Then let us lay aside the rue And pin the hearts-ease on in lieu With thoughts of buds and blossoms and not of withered leaves ; But of bright flowers of the Spring When feathered songsters mate and sing And swallows swiftly skim the waters and build along the eaves. O Sunbeam fair, the brightest one Shot from the quiver of the Sun Since the primeval darkness that moved upon the deep Fled in its utter rout away Before the arrows of the Day When the great light of creation woke the universe from sleep, Dispel with your resplendent beams All mists and fogs and troubled dreams That come and stay unbidden like an uninvited guest, For your smile and jocund laugh Can scatter like wind-driven chaff All sad-eyed, melancholy cares between the East and West. Oh, be wise, brave heart, and know That there can be no radiant bow, Xo arch of hope and promise, except for clouds and rain, To lift its grand, majestic form Like a bridge that spans the storm, A highway through the heavens above the troubled plain. Now may you have the lion's share Of all the good and gay and fair And one sweet vale of Avilion may all your future be; Days of unspeakable delight And more entrancing dreams by night Than ever lotos leaves or poppies gave their dearest devotee. 300 May olive twigs and myrtle leaves Bedeck your brow like fillet wreaths And the orange, oak and holly and the lily and the bay Adorn your breast and noble head While round about you waft and spread All the redolence and glory of the gorgeous bloom of May! An Appreciation Your hearts' good gifts Came like the rifts In cloudy skies That give a view Of Heaven's blue To weeping eyes ! Your kindly words Were singing birds Unto my ear And to my heart A flaming dart Of mighty cheer ! As thirsty plain Receives the rain With grateful breast And flowers raise Their heads to praise The welcome guest, Just so from you The healing dew Upon me fell, And no sweet balm From pine to palm Could sooth so well! 301 May 15, 1914. As Jordan did Each year amid The harvest time, My stream of thanks O'erflows its banks In prose and rhyme ! To some you say I answer, nay, Because I know; And yet 'tis fine That friends of mine Should think it so I Lily and rose Until we close Life's little book, Let us, I plead, Be friends in deed And word and look! A Rose for Remembrance (To a friend) To speak in prose To a sweet rose Would be a wrong, And so I need My rustic reed To pipe a song. Full-blossomed May In one bouquet To you I send To let you know Where'er you go You have a friend. 302 And if sometime In an alien clime I shall appear, (As I may do Before I'm through Another year) And flowers fair Bloom everywhere And skies are blue, Each rose I see Shall bring to me A thought of you. When ocean wave And winds that rave Shall bear me far, Though vain I yearn, Thought shall return To where you are. And when I feel Beneath the keel The grating rock And bulkheads thin Shall crumble in Before the shock, I'll climb the mast And take a last Long look toward home Then with the ship I'll take a dip Beneath the foam Where with my head On coral bed I'll lie and dream, While high above The stars I love In grandeur gleam. 303 May 9, 1914. I'll dream of you With all my true And cherished friends And drink a toast To all the host That comprehends. But if my fate Shall be to wait Another doom Where death shall come With rolling drum And cannons' boom; Where shells shall shriek And sabers reek With Life's red wine Flowing so free It shall the sea Incarnadine, Amid the fray Where horses neigh And men fall dead, A rose in bloom Shall be the plume Upon my head. 304 Pure Friendship Yes, we are friends But there it ends, Though our friendship never, And never may We see the day That shall those bonds dissever. Within the sphere Of Friendship dear And in that sphere abiding, Give us the creed Of heart and deed And faith in Friendship's guiding! Indeed, I hold Dearer than gold Friendship's beacons burning That give to life Light for the strife From day to day returning! No crystal draught That men have quaffed Nor breezes from the mountain Can buoy me up Like one clear cup From Friendship's flowing fountain! A real friend Can heal and mend A spirit sad and broken — A cure complete For all defeat — By one word kindly spoken! 305 Then without art Let heart to heart Send to each other greeting And add a joy- Free from alloy At every casual meeting! Let's know the bounds And shoals and sounds And where to drop the plummet, Where waves run high And to the sky Lift up their foamy summit ! Let us clasp hands Like iron bands As friends — and never falter Till embers bright Turn ashen white Upon Life's glowing altar! Upon the scroll Whereon my soul Acknowledges its debtors, Brilliant and clear There shall appear Your name in golden letters! I prize your worth And kindly mirth, And prize them very greatly, And like a queen Your regal mien So ladylike and stately! In bold relief Among the chief Of all I hold the dearest Your name shall stand Serene and grand The brightest and the clearest! 306 I'll write that name With pen of flame Upon the list I cherish Where it shall stay Till that far day When white-beard Time shall perish. May poets' rhymes And silver chimes And strains of music blending Make life one long And grand, sweet song In glorious cadence ending! May 9, 1914. The Golden Wedding In shade and sun for fifty years A pathway through this vale of tears Did wend its winding way! Begun when war was in the land It ran, with Union, hand in hand Unto this peaceful day! With heart and hand and sword and pen Brave soldiers for the weal of men You bore the noblest parts, And as befits the brave and true We twine the laurel wreaths for you, O good and kindly hearts! In Summer's heat and Winter's blast; Through sunny fields with clouds o'ercast Where rue and roses grew, The good and ill that all must bear From raven locks to whitened hair You bore serene and true! 307 And now within your crowns of snow May happy thoughts of long ago Gleam as precious gems, And as the flying years increase May you wear in health and peace Your well-earned diadems! January 26, 1914. Despair The Sun has set. The light is lost, And I live in the afterglow When Autumn's hoar and killing frost Is blending with the Winter snow! My tree of Hope is stripped and bare And sere and yellow all its leaves, As Nature voices her despair Lamenting Summer's golden sheaves! Withered to its lowest roots And to its branches' endmost tips, Like Sodom's apples all its fruits Have turned to ashes on my lips! The trees like choir lofts when all The winged choristers have flown Wrapped in a deep cathedral pall Stand desolate and dark and lone! sunken sun, my sinking heart Like thee is shrouded in eclipse, And all my hopes now have their part In Despair's deep and sunless crypts! 1 call on Sleep to close my eyes And hide dark Sorrow's raven plume, Nor care I if the Sun arise For he cannot dispel my gloom! November 27, 1913. 308 Hymeneal The lovely Venus, so I hear, Will wed Apollo Belvedere In the great church tonight And he of the supernal brow Of Youth Immortal take the vow That faithful lovers plight! Yea, Hymen never saw a pair More stately and divinely fair Approach his blissful shrine Under June's resplendent rose Or underneath the mistletoes The holly and the pine! Bride with large and lustrous eyes Bright as when the Morning skies Make diamonds of the dew, I come to wish you joy today And on your bowered bridal way Just drop a rose or two! Groom adorned witli Wisdom's crown And robed in Learning's cap and gown. Of regal mind and mien; Fortune grant you a long reign, Peace smile on your rich domain Benignant and serene! Flowers spangle all your meads, Music blow its thousand reeds Strong and full and free With no note of broken flute, Loosened string or rifted lute To mar the melody. 309 1919. July 7, 1915. Kingly husband, queenly wife, In the primrose days of life So rich and glorified, As fleet Time in velvet shoon Shall glide on, may endless June In your glad hearts abide! To Judge W. M. Tomlinson (On vacation) Unto that king Of men we sing Our little, loyal lay, Whose scepter's sheen Is clear and keen And bright as breaking day! A crown of snow And heart below Of ermine's spotless white And soul as strong linst the wrong As manhood's men of might! Crowned with bays And length of days O kindly Judge and true, As verdant leaves To ripened sheaves We bow and bend to you! Swift be the sails And kind the gales And fair the fields of foam And bring you here Safe to the pier Within the port of home ! 310 The Real Royalty A King by right, Although no bright Tiara with a blazing gem Rests on his brow Or liegemen bow Prostrate before his diadem! An inward grace That lights the face Proclaims who is a rightful queen And fills her days With winsome ways And kindly looks and gentle mien ! No royal ring Can make a king Or shining mail a noble knight Unless the heart Is counterpart Of worthy actions, just and right! And likewise true No retinue Or pomp of Court can make a queen, Or jewelled crest Or handmaids dressed In snowy samite's silken sheen ! A regal state Can emanate But from the throne-room of the heart From whence all good And true knighthood And all the high impulses start! 311 Bon Voyage A thousand hearts in union beat, As one a thousand voices meet In chorus strong, Bearing to you their love supreme, Their lofty pride and high esteem In one great song! Peace rest on all the fields of foam And fair winds waft you to your home Of years of yore ; That stern, strong land where genius grows That precious isle, that noble rose We all adore! Oh, may the music of the deep From harps that all the free winds sweep At their wild will Bring you no sigh of sobbing surge, Xo threnody or doleful dirge Or tale of ill, But the great anthem of the sea Thrill you with its high majesty And solemn time, Its organ thunders multiplied, Its diapason full and wide — A song sublime! And O sweet and snow-crowned queen, May Memory's meadows fresh and green Bring joy to you, And Beauty spread, as in old days, O'er English fields and Scottish braes Your youth renew! 312 Fair daughters of exalted song, Of noble sire great and strong In Song's domain, In that high realm a peerless lord Of master key and major chord And grand refrain, The winds that sweep the Seven Seas (As your deft fingers sweep the keys Of Harmony) Their thousand songs sublime shall send And in your bosoms merge and blend Their melody ! O sweet sojourners, every heart " Bon Voyage " beats as you depart, And clear and true Shall flow a song of love serene In sweet antiphony between Our hearts and you! A. P. Here's to you Tried and true Jolly wight Full of fun As the sun Is of light! Full of wit, Nor a bit Dull or dry, With a bright Lurking light In his eye. 313 Pun and jest Just the best Ever heard! Smooth and smart True and tart Ev'ry word ! Full of mirth As the Earth Is of gold! Repartee Flashing free Quick and bold 1 Mind alert, Pat and pert Full of pep, Making gay Life's dull way Ev'ry step ! Let your gleams And bright beams Pierce the pall And the gloom Dark as doom Over all. Part and rift With the gift Of your fun Mist and cloud That enshroud The sweet Sun. Sprinkle nice Wholesome spice Upon life ; It is oil To the toil Tired strife, 314 Ev'ry joke Is a stroke Full and fair Piercing through Somber-blue Mailed Despair ! Ev'ry laugh Is a staff In the hand As we go Lame and slow- Through the land ! Jester king Laugh and sing Loud and long Until Death Stops your breath And your song! (Written en route the Hanly-Landrith Transcontinental Prohibition Special Train.) Wedding Wishes To L. St. C. Fair be the gales and smooth the sea O benedict about to be, As you embark To voyage with your winsome bride When Love shall launch upon the tide Your little ark! A happy haven be your home Beside the peaceful fields of foam Where sunlit sails Go daily by with jolly crews Sending their welcomes and adieus And hearty hails ! 315 May Wisdom stand beside the wheel And from top-gallant to the keel Keep watchful eye On beam and boom and gaff and spar And hold the compass to the star When day shall die! Without a master may the mates As joint co-pilots face to fates Immune to harm And through the far-extended days Adown the long companionways Walk arm in arm! These are the wishes of that band With whom you went from strand to strand Jocund and wise, And shall be with you to the end When twilight-dusk and dark shall blend And stars arise ! Wenatchee Apples Thanks for the apples of the West, The land where everything is best One easily believes; They were both beautiful and sweet And I fell for your luscious treat As Adam fell for Eve's ! May these three great apples be A triple bond between us three, A League of Nations pact, That shall grow stronger day by day And pleasanter in every way — In look and word and act ! 316 When fleet Time shall have effaced The flavor and the pleasant taste That now delights me so A sweeter essence shall abide — That subtle something glorified That only friends can know ! Reply to a Metrical Attack on Woodrow Wilson With rhyme and reason gone awry And all things to his jaundiced eye A yellow hue, From Helicon's soft-padded cell A " certain bardie " with a yell Has broken through ! Swift Pegasus he leaped astride And ripped the rowels in his side And shook the rein Until the curb and snaffle rang In tune to the wild words he sang With fierce refrain ! He saw in every yellow leaf A likeness to the Nation's Chief, The wise and great, And it was to his frenzied mind, Where Reason's eyes were stony blind, A thing of hate ! He smote with phantom sword the foe, And from his strong, full-tensioned bow His quills he shot Like fretful porcupines that dare To dart their bristles at a bear Who heeds them not ! 317 With reckless rant and words uncouth He called his Chief a foe to truth — A liar base — And with words of bane and blight Condemned his name to endless Xight And deep disgrace ! He called him coward and poltroon And damned him by the Sun and Moon And by the Pole, Then on bended knees he prayed Mount Vernon's mute and noble shade To blast his soul! O batty bard, the slop and slime You poured upon a name sublime Shall leave no mark; Go back to Helicon once mon. Lock the Pegasean stable door And keep it dark ! And if again you ever mean To drink a draught from Hippocrene Oh, let it be As pure and wholesome as the dew, And not the dark and poison brew Of upas tree ! February 22, 1916. 318 Lottie Holman O'Neill A noble woman keen as steel, A Mother militant and strong, A spirit gracious and genteel, A soul keyed to a martial song! A daughter of a great domain Whose starry splendors never set, A flower of its far-flung plain, A jewel in its coronet ! A clear light in the halls of State, A heart true to a high emprise, A guide in council and debate, An eye to pierce the web of lies! A mind well-poised to judge aright, A wisdom to discern the sin — The subtle poison and the blight — Of foes without and foes within ! This gifted woman, wise and sweet, O Illinois, we give to thee, To sit where thy law-givers meet, Among thy noble chivalry ! April 9, 1924. (On reelection to Illinois Legislature) 319 Lucy Page Gaston (Founder of Illinois Anti-Cigarette League) A Frances Willard warring with a viler vice Than Strong Drink's defilement of the sons of men, A true and dauntless woman paying the deadly price Of Ridicule's relentless poison tongue and pen! She shielded budding boyhood — the cherubim of earth, From the foul contagion of Narcotic's breath, And his heritage of health and wholesome mirth Against the pale miasma from the fens of death! Yet even children's fathers derided and reviled Her noble zeal and efforts for the cleaner life, Her pity and heart-burning for the addict's child Stumbling at the threshold of his years of strife 1 The universal habit now runs at fever pace As a fire sweeps through wood and flowery field, The charred and ashen relics of whose ruthless race Are wounded souls and bodies that cannot be healed! But the intrepid women who wear the twofold sign — The immaculate White Ribbon and the conquering Cross — E'en as they triumphed over the red hosts of Wine May yet turn back this scourge of tragedy and loss! Golden shall be the harvest of this brave pioneer Who sowed and tilled and watered in a barren land. And the desert yet shall blossom, in no far off year, Beneath the benediction of her faithful hand! August 14, 1924. 320 Susan B. Anthony She blazed the Way that now is a wide Thoroughfare Stretching to the margin of either mighty Sea, A Road of Right Resplendent, magnificently rare, A Galaxy that spans the Land of Liberty! Fearless, distant-visioned, intrepid pioneer, Whom wilderness and mountain could not stay or stop, Far off she saw the morning breaking bright and clear Glinting with its Glory the lofty mountain top! Undaunted by the drear, dark decades of defeat And hostile hordes of evil and misguided men, Her trumpet, triumph-timbered, never blew retreat, And never still her stirring martial voice and pen! Now twenty million women with the shining brand And panoply and buckler that her valor won Cleanse and scourge the dens and jungles of the land, As mist and fog and Night are routed by the Sun! Columbia's brave daughter, on the Charter's page Is your spirit writ in lines of living light, Thou noble statesman-seer, valiant soldier-sage, Forerunner of the Dawn of triumphant Right! August 24, 1924. 321 4 A Noble Woman Nobly Planned M To Mrs. E. S. S. Quiet Queen Sweet of mien And of face; Counterparts Of her heart's Ev'ry grace. Dian-browed And endowed With a mind Strong as steel, Yet genteel And refined. Winsome smile Without guile, Without art ; Sparkling cup Bub'ling up From her heart. 'Round her throne Taste and tone, Maidens sweet, Calm, sedate, Stand and wait At her feet. Culture lays Its green bays On her hair; Diadems Set with gems Rich and rare. 322 1916. Kindly light In the night Time of tears, Lend your gleam Through the dream Troubled years. O divine Beacon, shine Soft and sweet, Giving rest To our breast Full, complete ! Your Visit (To V.) O sagacious damsel, Deep as Aristotle, Sapient as Plato, Sage as Socrates ; Well I know your wisdom, Well you know my friendship, And within those limits May I send you these? — Like the first red robin In the leafless maples Chirping the bright promise Of the coming Spring, Was your visit welcome As this vernal prophet And the pleasant season He is heralding! 323 Like a gentle south-wind Warm and welcome blowing O'er the frozen Northland Desolate and drear, Opening the eyelids Of the sleeping flowers, Was the sunny splendor Of your advent here! Back to Wheaton's purlieus Came the singing throstle, Came the whistling plover Back to field and fen, Came the glossy red-wing To the reedy marshes Waking wood and meadow To new life again ! The sweet realms of Flora Full of fragrant roses Are not more delightful Than fair Friendship's field Whose soul-soothing flowers Shed their balmy attar Whereby every troubled Heavy heart is healed! Hold these lines I send you But a bunch of flowers A wayfarer gathered For a fellow soul As they haply journey To the Sunset Ocean Whose out-going vessels Seek an unknown goal! If their freshness sweetens But a passing moment Ere they fade and wither I will be content, 324 Feb. 7, 1921. Though I would each hour Be as full of sunshine As the Sun at noon-day In the firmament! Come again and often, Charm us with your witty Philosophic comment Upon men and things, With your apt word pictures And your fertile fancies Like a fountain bubbling Up from hidden springs ! To A Friend (In California) To say a word To a sweet bird In aught but rhyme Or else a song Would be a wrong, If not a crime ! So I must take For old times' sake Some minor key And sing to you Beside the blue And distant sea, Or either fill My fountain quill With those rare wines Of those rich blends Friends pledge to friends, To write my lines ! 325 The Temple bells Where Justice dwells Add their sweet chimes And noble song To send along With my poor rhymes ! And every note Of pen or throat In tempo true From basso G To concert C I send to you ! May Summer hold You in its fold And keep you warm While here we freeze And the white bees Of Winter swarm! To Baby Oakes O lucky lad With such a Dad And such a winsome Mother, For none more brave And fair e'er gave Their love to one another! O vine that yokes Laurels and Oakes — A tender, clinging creeper — May you grow strong As iron thong And rooted deep and deeper! 326 Long life to thee, Kind and care-free Be all your blissful hours As winds that sip The nectared lip Of honey-laden flowers ! Written on Fly-Leaf Presenting My Book Sweet flowers have delighted me, Sweet friends have spoken kindly words And aviary and nested tree Have sent the thrilling songs of birds! And buds and blossoms by the score Are pressed between this booklet's leaves Where present friends and friends of yore Are bound, like flowers in the sheaves! Yea, this book speaks of many stars, Of rainbows, Morn and Moon and Sun, Of seas and ships and ocean bars, But of charming birds — just one! But suns may set in sapphire seas And moonlight's silver splendors shine, Yet all were incomplete with these — Without this Bird — this friend of mine! If there is aught within this book Of singing bird or rippling brook Or flower fair Or gleaming star or bow that bends, It is because my splendid friends Have placed them there! 327 A few bright buds still wet with dew And bound herein were picked for you With gentle hand, With kindly thoughts and hopes sincere For added sweetness year by year As they expand! Take them, O genteel girl, and place Within the rare and fragile vase Of Friendship true And let them ever testify My unalloyed esteem and high Regards for you! A woman dowered with soul and sense Is the noblest work of Providence, Like honest men; And herein are some little lays To such a one — w r orthy the praise Of better pen ! The attributes that meet and blend To make Life's rarest flower — a friend — Are in her heart; Wise in words and kind in deeds She neither seeks nor knows nor needs The ways of art ! 328 " Darker Musings " As a tree dead at the core May live on a decade more In the wood, Green in Summer's genial glow And in Winter with the snow For a hood, Laboring with twig and leaf To conceal the inward grief Of its breast, Offering to all the sweet Airy songsters a retreat And a nest; Never mark or scar is there As when lightning's flaming share Plows its thin Ragged furrow down its sides; Yet the scar of death abides Far within! So I stand in shade and shine Showing by no outward sign My despair, Even singing happy songs And appearing to the throngs Free from care, While the inner, hidden part Is a breast without a heart, Dead and sere, Showing as the days go by Neither sorrow nor a sigh Nor a tear ! 329 Held in place against the blast By the deep roots of the past Firmly set ; Fair without to mortal eyes, But within — a thousand sighs Of regret ! November, 1914. A Vacation Message Majestic friend who doth combine The royal palm and noble pine In grace and stately mien; Our Temple is disconsolate And loyal subjects longing wait For their returning queen! Just as Nature greets the Sun And all the happy birds as one Sing the sweet " Reveille " And as the bright and rosy Dawn Is welcome when the Night is gone So shall your advent be ! Blest shall be the day and clear All the skies when you are here Again upon the throne, Regal, gracious, wise and fair, With that fine, unique and rare Effulgence all your own 1 330 Vacation Greetings With high regards we send these lines To a sweet primrose in the pines By Northern lake and stream. A fragile flower, truly rare, Exquisite, delicate and fair As a delightful dream! A maid of clear and quiet eyes, Like the serene and azure skies Deep-mirrored in the sea, With winsome ways, genteel and choice, And kindly speech and pleasant voice And laugh of lightsome glee! May the great forest sing to her And balm of balsam, spruce and fir Add all their healing charm, And Dryads dance among the trees And sylvan Nymphs and Naiades Protect her from all harm! And may she take on life anew, Like flowers freshened by the dew, And in a little while, When her vacation rest is o'er, The Temple of the Law once more Make brighter by her smile ! 331 To a Sick Singer Blest be the breeze that bears this word Of cheer unto a sick song bird Within her cruel cage, And may it carry healing balm And give her stormy fever calm And all her pain assuage ! Oh, may she be with us ere long And with the rhapsody of song Of birds uncaged and free Set all our sluggish souls in tune, E'en as the rare, rich days of June, By her sweet melody! Come quick, and from your silver throat Pour forth again the gladsome note Of sweet and noble song; The lightsome lute of mirth and glee And the great organ of the sea Melodious and strong! 332 A Spring Salutation As the Spring Seasons bring Birds and bloom And the long Days of song And perfume, They bring, too, Thoughts of you Like the glint Of new gold From the mold Of the mint! Buds and birds Without words Say sweet things To our hearts, Beyond art's Fathomings ! With delight Just the sight Of a rose Fills the soul Like a bowl That o'erflows! Take this wee Chickadee Vernal verse, In your gay Lightsome way Sweet and terse ! 333 Give it place For the space Of a wink, Or the lay Of a gay Bobolink! Violets And sunsets All shall fade, But not so Shall you go, Winsome maid! An Easter Morning Muse (To a friend) When the Spring awakens Like a sleeping infant And its eyes of violets Smilingly unclose, Then as lovely flowers Greet the glowing morning All my fancies open Like a budding rose ! On this splendid Easter When both men and Nature Speak of resurrection And of life anew, Spring in Memory's meadows Those delightful flowers Laden down with fragrant Kindly thoughts of you. Like the tender flowers Coming forth in triumph From the tomb of Winter In a glad array, 334 True friendships are immortal As the deathless flowers And become more precious Every passing day. When the flocks of wild geese Northward through the heavens Shoot like mighty arrows From an archer's bow, And the "wanderlust" resistless Makes the heart-beats quicken Till life's red river rises To an overflow, Then I flee in spirit To the sunset city By the broad Pacific Where the sunbeam dwells, And in Mercy's mission Leads a life of service That fills the world with music Sweet as silver bells. When the herald robin The outrunner of the army Of the airy songsters Sounds his primal notes And the hosts of warblers Come with songs outpouring In a sweet crescendo From a million throats, Then I hear the music Of your pleasant laughter And your good, full-hearted, Kindly words of cheer, Bright and gay and lively As a Summer river Full of little fishes Running swift and clear. 335 When the streamlets fleeing From their icy prison Through the daisied meadows Singing as they run, All their happy voices With praises for their freedom In unison arising To the golden Sun, Then I think of fountains In your sunny country That never felt the rigors Of the Northern cold, But all things are tempered By the smile benignant Of a glowing Sunbeam Bright as burnished gold. And now on you forever Kind Fortune be attendant With all the charm and beauty Of an open rose, A regal state befitting Thou most queenly Sunbeam And the best of mortals Earth or ocean knows! April 7, 1912. Easter Day Musings Birds may sing And bells ring Easter chimes, But of you Tried and true Are my rhymes ! There is naught In my thought Or my dream 336 That transcends The good friends I esteem! In the fawn- Colored Dawn And in bright Lucifer And Hesper I delight! The sun-kissed Amethyst Ev'ning skies Turning gray As the Day Slowly dies ; And each clean Silver sheen Starry light Like vedette Sentries set 'Round the Night The array Of the gay- Petaled host, Telling more Than the lore Sages boast, Making kind And refined Hearts and deeds, Putting love Far above Any creeds ! 337 All of these Thrill and please And enthuse Voice and pen Of all men And the Muse ! But as far As a star Is away And less bright Is the night Than the day, So the sweet And complete Earthly things Are alloys To the joys Friendship brings! As a friend Till the end That must be, I count you, And you, too, May count me I An Easter Salutation Easter morn Bloom, adorn All your days With the bright Kindly light Of its rays ! May a new- Risen view Of the world 338 And of men, To your ken Be unfurled, Like the great Flag of State White and red With bright bars And blue stars Overhead! Never nest On the crest Of a tree Ever heard Of a bird Like to thee ! Best of friends, Wherein blends Every grace ; Gentle birth, Wholesome mirth, Kindly face, Solid sense, Soul intense And precise, As a prim Seraphim, Just as nice ! Wise and clear As a seer Deep in lore, Tried and true Through and through To the core! 339 Genteel style, Winsome smile, Willing hand. Voice and mien Like a queen Of fayland! This wee verse Doth rehearse But a part Of the gold Manifold In your heart ! It is you To my view In outline With the best Unexpressed — Superfine ! In the strife Of your life Easter peace Multiplied, Come, abide And increase ! To a Friend at Easter Maid of moods and fancies Gay as dryad dances By the sylvan streams ; Be your Days but pleasure And your Nights a treasure House of happy dreams! Only stars adorning The bright brow of Morning Wonderfully fair, 340 Or the Easter flowers After April showers Can with you compare ! Now as Lent is ending All my thoughts are tending Towards you, winsome one, As the buds new-risen From their Winter prison Look up to the Sun ! An Easter Greeting The sweetest season of the year, The Spring with all its bloom, is here When latent life doth first appear And everything is green and growing, When Nature wears a verdant plume And loads the air with sweet perfume From buds just bursting into bloom, When balmy breezes, too, are blowing. On every side we see the sign Of the handiwork of the divine, E'en in the clouds the rainbows shine And earth is one great emerald beauty The singing streamlet softly flows Fed from its fields of melting snows, 'Tis the "time of Romeo and the rose" And the sleepless sentinel is on duty. It is the Easter time of earth — Of resurrection and new birth — When Nature sings her songs of mirth, Of promise, gladness and good tidings. No mortal minstrel's harp howe'er Strung with Apollo's golden hair In songs with Nature can compare To satisfy the soul's confidings. 341 Now in the Easter of our lives When hopes like rainbow arches rise Proclaiming promise from the skies Which Youth and Spring are both repeating, I wish as from a friend to friend, And may we be so to the end, To you, my College mate, to send A kindly, cordial Easter greeting. Easter (To a friend) Most beautiful Pagan, most sweet Jew." — Shakespeare With proud lilies in my view At this charming Easter hour, Still my thoughts are all of you, Noble Judah's choicest flower! Bright and pleasant as a star The great dome of Night adorning; Friend with whom I traveled far To the Sunset and the Morning! Lady, gentle, winsome, wise, Weaving work with lightsome laughter Kinder words and kinder eyes Know I not, nor shall hereafter! Life be a full-blossomed May Thrilling you with all its glory, As ten thousand hearts today Thrill to hear the Easter story! 342 A Thanksgiving Thought Oh, blessed be the dreams of day And blessed be the dreams of night In which we leave the tent of clay And roam beyond the realms of sight! I see you by the far-off main, I bring you on the wings of thought, For Fancy's lightning aeroplane Counts twenty hundred miles as naught 1 But pause upon this Day of Thanks Amid Life's never-resting war Where men crowd on in serried ranks Like ocean billows to the shore, And let us look with candor through The Day Book of the dying year With all the entries, false and true, That on its faded leaves appear! We count the bruises and the balm, We check the gladness and the grief, We weigh the tempests and the calm, The blossoms and the yellow leaf, And when the final score is told We scarce would change it if we could, For the weal exceeds a thousand fold The ill — which may be disguised good! 343 A Thanksgiving Day Muse (To a friend) A year of disappointments keen Has reached its close, Of buried expectations, e'en As Autumn with its golden sheen Beneath the snows, And barren as a Winter wood The world appears ; Where once a leafy forest stood A lone, green pine with snowy hood Its head uprears ! Adverse winds have blown since then Upon us all And nipped the flowering hopes of men And the white petals fell as when The snow flakes fall! Yet for our special thanks this Day Is set apart — And if we look aright we may Discern amid the gloom a ray To cheer the heart ! Behold the berries bright and red On holly bough Aflame with life— though earth is dead And Winter's counterpane is spread Upon it now ! Forgetting what 'twere vain to mourn Let us but see The blessings that the year hath borne From Fortune's overflowing horn To you and me ! 344 Thanks for memories that endear Our College home And the men whose lives appear Like the stars serene and clear Above its dome ; For the strength and grace to do The things we should, And hearts to stand up with the few And cast a ballot pure and true And wholly good ; For the mortal wounds the wrong Hath lately felt In the blows that felled the strong And lordly license party's throng, However dealt ! Though the wicked smote and slew Their wicked kin, Yet are thanks and praises due That the hosts are growing few That license sin! And for the routing of this host Of evil years, (A theme for Deborah almost) Add thou a patriotic boast To lusty cheers ! And indeed, what can afford A sight more grand Than woman to her rights restored With a white ballot for a sword Within her hand! While baffled evils cringe and grope Through darkened ways, We walk the broad highway of hope While in our retrospective scope Lie golden days ! 345 1912. But dearer than the showy sheen Of earthly arts Are thoughts — with naught to intervene- Like the telepathy between Two human hearts ! Be thou content and full of peace, Calm and serene, Yet with a song that shall not cease Until the spirit finds release In the Unseen ! May you in Mercy's work be such A force for weal That pain shall cease, however much, And whatsoever wounds you touch Shall straightway heal, As Filomena's hands restored In Crimea's day The ragged wounds of Russia's sword Where in Scutari's groaning ward The English lay! And may the final record tell In the great book That we wrestled long and well As Jacob did in Penuel Beside the brook, And that we truly loved our friend As our own life In ways that did not wind or bend But ran unswerving to the end Of mortal strife ! The rose and lily fresh with dew, And bergamot, I send an offering unto you; Wear thou for me the tiny, blue Forget-me-not ! 346 The Season's Greetings (To a friend) Crowned with green Glossy sheen Holly wreath, Let Discord Put the sword In its sheath ! Where the sore Scourge of War Brings its blight, Peace be spread Till the red Fields are white 1 And for you Ever true, Good and wise, May the mirth Of the earth Be your prize ! Heart and mind All combined Into one Shedding light Like the bright Golden sun! Girl of fame With a name Like a song In the trees When the breeze Sweeps along, 347 1914. Kindly notes Such as floats From a lark From the height As the light Meets the dark! Like a fine Virile pine May you grow, Xor the Yule Spirit cool With the snow, Knowing well There doth dwell 'Neath the white Counterpane Of the plain Flowers bright ! Wear, O Queen, Holly's green Coronets, While you sing Of the Spring Violets! Pleasant ways Fill your days To the end When the light And the Night Meet and blend! 348 A Yuletide Wish (To a friend) To the Bird that only sings Just the best and sweetest things And that never makes a discord in her song I send with this roundelay All the cheer of Christmas Day And the other things that thereunto belong. And forever may the note That shall ripple from her throat Be expressive of a happy, sunny soul, And may she, unknown to tears, Laugh and live a thousand years That shall ever grow in grandeur as they roll! May the orchards as they bloom And exhale their sweet perfume In their glory keep a guard about her nest; And beneath the smile of Peace May her ecstasies increase Till the Sun of Life shall fade within the golden West! 1913. A Holly Season Sentiment (To a friend) May all Christmas spirits blending Like the hues of rainbows bending In sweet benediction o'er the shower-freshened earth Set your inner soul to singing Songs of quiet peace and bringing All the outward blessings of abundant joy and mirth! 349 Peace in overflowing measure, Yet not circumscribing pleasure, Flood your soul with sunshine and your life with light, All the darkened doors unsealing, Driving cloudy cares and healing All behind the shuttered windows with the sable shades of night! All the Yuletide season's glories And the thousand tender stories That have charmed the childhood of two thousand years Hold your spirit with their beauty, Strengthening for every duty That you shall encounter in this world of hopes and fears! Crowned with never-fading holly, Maiden serious and jolly, With the winsome charms of woman's winning ways, Ever by sweet peace attended May your pathway grow more splendid With increasing richness for a hundred Christmas Days! 1914. Joy of Yule (To a friend) Friend afar Like a star Big and bright, Shining true In the blue Dome of Night ! Gentle peace Never cease In your soul, But add cheers As the years Onward roll! 350 1914 Like the red Roses spread To the Sun Life be sweet And complete Till 'tis done! Christmas bells Wherein dwells Music rare Passing words, Like the birds Of the air, Drifting snows, Mistletoes, Holly leaves, Are sublime As the time Of the sheaves ! May Concord Be restored To the earth, Break the spears And turn tears Into mirth ! And I would All were good, Wise and " dry " As you are, Kindly star In my sky ! Now adieu, But o'er you Through the strife Joy of Yule Reign and rule All your life! 351 1914. Christmastide Peace (To a friend) Peace to you Eyes of blue, From a friend ; Christmastide Peace, abide Till the end! Peace a king Cannot bring To a queen Fill your heart And impart Joy serene! Free from tears Through the years May you go, Laugh and sing Like the Spring Streamlet's flow! And for you May the rue Never bloom, Only sweet Buds, replete With perfume ! Holly bough Crown you now And for aye; Yuletide cheers Many years Come and stay ! 352 " For the Gift and the Grace of the Gift M (On receipt of a lettered handkerchief) Dear Priscilla, the best girl That lives amid the busy whirl Of great Chicago town, I tell you I am feeling great And richer than a potentate With diamonds in his crown! Your Christmas giftlets came to hand And pleased me too, to beat the band, Because they came from you And showed in neat design the art That skillful hand and kindly heart Can only jointly do. For the friendly thoughts that graced The gift of such exquisite taste That you have sent to me I make my low salaam to you With hearty thanks sincere and true And deep as Neptune's sea. May Fortune make your gift of worth A handmaid to the days of Mirth Beneath Life's sunny skies, And only may its use employ To wipe away the tears of joy From Laughter's brimming eyes, Or wave in salutation when We meet those of our fellow men We prize above the rest, Or on the highways of the world In earnest blessings be unfurled To " speed the parting guest." December 25, 1912. 353 Xmas and New Year Wishes (In College days) My dear little friend and fairy I hope your Christmas will be merry And that you may see the very Happiest New Year that has ever dawned upon your life on earth. May the new year be your brightest And its record be the whitest And your heart the gay and lightest And the fullest it has ever been of peace and joy and mirth. And may it be beyond all measure Both full of profit and of pleasure And a year that you shall treasure As a proud and pleasant memory when it shall have passed away ; May it not be harsh, imperious, Or morose, moody and mysterious, To one so sunny, sweet and serious, Kindly, courteous, cute and clever, gracious, good and gay. I wish only an unbounded blessing For the dear friend I am addressing And a Christmas merry beyond guessing And an endless source of comfort to which pleasant thoughts return. And this day may you long remember On the return of each December, And by this dying century's ember May a glowing fire be kindled that shall bright and brighter burn. And when the night of life is ended, When twilight and the dawn have blended May you find a day more splendid 354 And a glory more transcendent than you ever dreamed of here. But 'mid this old world's woe and folly May you be crowned with wreaths of holly, And again I wish you a most jolly, Joyous, merry Christmas and a happy, bright Xew Year. 1899. A Christmas Salute To the Rose that blooms as gay In the Winter as in May With a glory that is very superfine, I send with this little song All the good things that belong To the season of the holly and the pine! All the cheer and joys that go With the yule and mistletoe And the peace that rests upon the happy earth Be with her and there abide, But increased and magnified In accordance with her goodness and her worth ! The Season's Wishes May the story Christmas tells With the tongues of chiming bells In the soft and silver cadence of a song of rest and peace 'Compass you within the scope Of its spirit and its hope, Filling all your life with music and with joys that never cease ! Wear a crown with the bright sheen Of the holly's fadeless green As a sign of ceaseless Springtime in the heart that beats below, 355 Like the noble pines that stand Sentries o'er a sleeping land With their hearts aflame with Summer and their helmets white with snow! Songs of birds salute your ear Every morning of the year And the wayside bloom with daisies where you walk with many friends, And each sunset you behold Be a sea of molten gold And the sky a starry splendor when the sable shade de- scends ! Christmastime Wishes Christmas greetings, fragile flower Whom I met in one bright hour When I swept the great Republic to the rims of either shore, Blooming by the path of duty. Blending bits of all the beauty Of the violets I worship and the stars that I adore! Yuletide deck you with a glory Like the hemlocks high and hoary With their diadems of Winter and their royal robes of snow ; Peace be with you 'mid the thronging, Many merry joys belonging To the time of pine and holly and the mystic mistletoe! May your future smile serenely, Crowning you with all the queenly Gifts and graces of the noblest in the world of woman- kind, And you grow to the commanding Glory of a rose expanding, In whose beauty all the splendors of creation are com- bined ! 356 Christmas (To a friend) May the skies of Christmas bending O'er a world in war contending See the conflict cease; May the hearts of men be lifted And the war clouds rent and rifted By the sun of peace ! And to thee in quiet power May the spirit of the hour Come and ever stay, Making all a world of beauty And the path of daily duty An enchanted way ! Jocund Yule be your attendant, Hope the star in the ascendant In your mortal sky, Peace and friendships, never-ceasing, And all harmonies increasing As the years go by! 357 Yuletide My good friend of passing days, Fair as the resurgent rays When Aurora sweeps in splendor through the doorway of the Dawn, Peace of Christmastide be thine With the spirit of the pine That retains its life and vigor when the Summer days have gone! Holly wreaths upon your head, Rich with berries bright and red, Be but emblems of an endless vernal season in your soul, And your life like fruitful fields, Whose full ripened harvest yields Hope and health and joy abundant for a world of doubt and dole! Yule be in your youthful heart And its buoyant joys impart As your pathway winds and wanders through the wonder- land of life, Making all serene and sweet, And your light, peace-sandaled feet Beautiful upon the mountains and the plains of mortal strife! 358 Golden Wedding Wishes to Mr. and Mrs. Edwin A. Galusha (Dec. 8th, 1875— Dec. 8th, 1925) Hail, O royal pair who trod From marigold to golden rod The path of rue and rose Together to this honored day- Linking orchard blossomed May To Yuletide's chastened snows! A mute esteem I need must bring O, gracious queen and noble king To lay before your thone, E'er as words are vain to tell To singing bird and chiming bell The sweetness of their tone 1 And so my wishes must be told In symbols of unsullied gold Which only can impart My unalloyed regard and true Tribute of respect to you That issues from my heart! To bride and groom of that far day Now half a century away Winds of Memory blow A sweet attar and perfume Fragrant as the orange bloom Of fifty years ago! 359 This Book This is my Past. Without regret I leave it for the open seas That lie ahead, with all sails set And braced and stayed for every breeze! Yet not as old dismasted wrecks Hold I the years now drifted by Where phantoms walk deserted decks And tangled shrouds and rigging lie! For goodly galleys bore me far Over wide sunlit fields of foam, And compass true and constant star And kindly breezes brought me home! And yet some near-shipwrecks I knew And tempests menaced my frail barque, Rut these, by kindly fate, were few, And short the storm and brief the dark! Warned by the lighthouse of the Past On sunken reef and siren shore I face the deep, profound and vast, To take what Ocean has in store! 360 INDEX POEMS OF THE GREAT REFORM Page Dedication 7 Proem 8 The American Flag 9 The Prohibitionist 10 The Prohibition Pen 12 Illinois 13 Appeal to the Columbus Convention 16 The Field, the Foe and the Sword 19 The Female of the Species 20 To Hon. Charles H. Poole 21 To a New Knight 22 The W. C. T. U. (Song) 24 The New Star in the West 25 The Church Somnolent 27 The Prohibition Backslider 28 We Boys 29 A Lesson From a Legend 30 The Fiend of Drink 33 As Seen in Chicago 37 Voting for Woolley 47 The Impending Doom 48 An Argument 49 The Four New Stars 53 Twentieth Century Knighthood 54 National Woman's Suffrage 56 The Pirate Ships at Bay 57 The New Sisterhood 58 The Prohibitionist's Invitation 59 Chicago (Song) 60 Chicago (Song) 61 No Doubt About It 63 361 Page The Prohibition Party 64 To Woodrow Wilson 65 The Scar on Woman's Face 66 The Women Know 69 The Story of the Special 71 John P. St. John 90 The Sword of Hanly 91 The New America (Song) 92 Daniel A. Poling 93 Santa Monica 94 A Prohibition Story 95 The Seven States Ill Our Party 113 Our Constitutional Amendment 115 The Battle Imminent 117 Dr. Ira Landrith 118 The Noblest Deed 119 " Consummatum Est " 121 The Pen of Hanly 123 The Fifty Years' War 124 Oliver Wayne Stewart 127 Eugene Wilder Chafin 128 Lovisa M. Steck 129 To a Veteran Prohibitionist 130 His Armistice (Rev. Walter L Ferris) 132 The Knight of the Prairies 133 Robert H. Patton 135 Dan R. Sheen 136 William Jennings Bryan 138 Clinton N. Howard 139 POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR Dedication 144 "A State of War 1 * 145 America and France (Song) 146 The Flag Unfurled 147 The Khaki Hosts 148 The Red Cross 149 362 Page The Liberty Loan 149 Herod and Pilate 150 Bride and Khaki Groom 152 "The Republican" 153 Mars Ascendant 153 Norman James Tweedie 154 The Service Flag Unfurled 155 England 155 To J. Ellis Machamer 156 Private La Verne T. Perrottet 158 Willis Hugh Cork 159 The Home-Coming 160 The Star of Burnished Gold 161 Peace 162 Welcome to Lieut. Charles Wayland Brooks 163 "What Should Be Done With the Kaiser?" 164 The Hero of the Homestead 165 Stuart R. Murray 166 The Reserve Militia 167 Russell R. Brooks 168 The Story of the Service Flag 169 Woodrow Wilson 172 Woodrow Wilson (In Memoriam) 173 " The Wheaton " 174 St. Michael's Service Stars 175 Vincent I. March 176 Howard George Leonard 177 Rev. Jonas G. Brooks 178 The Return Triumphant (Song) 179 " Roads of Remembrance " — Memorial Trees 180 The Voice of Locarno 182 POEMS OF PHILOSOPHY AND FRIENDS Wheaton College 185 The College of Honor and Fame (Song) 186 The Christian College 187 Wheaton College Alumni Song 188 Alumni Thoughts 189 363 Page The School We Love Dearest (Song) 192 Ode to Wheaton College 194 The Graduates' Farewell (Song) 197 The Old Society Hall 198 The Excelsiors' Farewell (Song) 200 Farewell to the Seniors 201 Farewell 202 Welcome to the Class of 1917 204 Wheaton College (Song) 205 Alumni Salute to President Blanchard 207 Ode 208 Wheaton— My City 209 The City's Tribute (To Jesse C. Wheaton) 210 William R. Plum 211 Dr. Charles E. Allum 212 Mrs. Jessie Hadley Fox 213 " Doc " Hopf. ..." 214 Edward Garrity 215 Edward Garrity (In Memoriam) 217 Linn Hiatt 217 John H. Kampp 219 Dr. Harlow V. Holt 222 William E. Gary 223 Charles W. Hadley 224 Charles W. Hadley 225 Charles W. Hadley 226 " Red " Grange 227 Grange (Song) 228 The Badgers 229 "Red" Grange in 1924 230 Prof. J. B. Russell 231 Alumni Farewell Song W. H. S 232 1922 Coronation Ode 233 1024 Coronation Ode 234 From Court House Friends 235 To " Doc " (on Vacation) 235 The Court House Valedictory 236 Farewell Ode 237 364 Page To "Bluefox" 239 William W. Steven 240 To Bill and Sue 241 To Newton E. Matter 242 Judge Elbert H. Gary 243 Rev. F. Hobart Millett 244 A Salute 245 A Wave of the Hand 247 The Birds 249 On Reading a Booklet of Poems 250 Rev. E. C. Lumsden 251 Mater Carissima (Song) 252 Dedication 254 " De Senectute " 255 The Angel Israfel 257 The Dead Year 258 Voyage of " The Sunbeam " 260 Straying Thoughts 261 The Inward Monitor 262 " Bonum et Benignatas " 263 The Boys in the Blue (Song) 264 Dewey, the Pride of the Navy (Song) 266 Flag of the Eight and Forty Stars 267 Memorial Day (Song) 268 The Dead Suffragette 269 Unforgotten 270 To a Friend 271 A Vacation Wish 272 Memories That Make Us Strong 273 A Good Friend 276 Good-Bye to a Friend 278 To a College Friend 279 Age 23 280 The Passing Years 281 Birds 282 From a Wayfarer 283 In the Afterglow 284 The Queen Flower 285 365 Page 3.14159 285 Halloween 287 Interned 288 To a Kid Friend 289 The " Lost Pleiad " 290 Sympathy and Solace 292 The Golden Wedding 295 From Me and Doc 296 To a Friend in SofTOW*fl Shadows 297 An Appreciation 101 A Rom for Remembrance KB Pure Friendship 106 The Golden Wedding MP Despair Hymeneal 309 To Judge W. II. Tomlinson 110 The Real Royalty 311 H2 p m Wedding Withes MS Wenatchee Apples 116 Reply t«> a Met; k on W W'iNoii 317 Lottie Hotman o'Xedl 319 I. my Rage GottOH 120 :i B. Anthony K21 "A Noble Woman Nobly Planned" Your Visit 1 riend 325 To Baby Oakes 326 Written on Fly-Leaf of My Hook U7 " Darker Musing> " A Vacation liesaage 330 ition Greetings 331 To a Sick Singer 332 \ Spring Salutation 333 An Easter Morning Muse 334 Easter Day Musings 336 An Easter Salutation 338 366 Page To a Friend at Easter 340 An Easter Greeting 341 Easter 342 A Thanksgiving Thought 343 A Thanksgiving Day Muse 344 The Season's Greetings 347 A Yuletide Wish 349 A Holly Season Sentiment 349 Joy of Yule 350 Christmastide Peace 352 "For the Gift and the Grace of the Gift" 353 Xmas and New Year Wishes 354 A Christmas Salute 355 The Season's Wishes 355 Christmastide Wishes 356 Christmas 357 Yuletide 358 Golden Wedding Wishes 359 This Book 360 367 yr~