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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d4c53a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67152 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67152) diff --git a/old/67152-0.txt b/old/67152-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 0b0b4ad..0000000 --- a/old/67152-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11669 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Ballads and Other Poems, by George -Lansing Raymond - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Ballads and Other Poems - Fourth Edition, Revised - -Author: George Lansing Raymond - -Release Date: January 14, 2022 [eBook #67152] - -Language: English - -Produced by: K Nordquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS *** - - - - - - -Ballads and Other Poems - - - - - BALLADS - AND - OTHER POEMS - - BY - GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND - - _FOURTH EDITION, REVISED_ - - G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS - NEW YORK AND LONDON - The Knickerbocker Press - - “BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION” - COPYRIGHT, 1886 - BY - GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND - - “SKETCHES IN SONG” - COPYRIGHT, 1887 - BY - GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND - - THIRD EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1908 - BY - GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND - - FOURTH EDITION, COPYRIGHT, 1916 - BY - GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND - - [Illustration] - - Made in the United States of America - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - _BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION._ - - OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH 3 - - THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE 22 - - THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON 37 - - THE CROWN’S FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN’S RIGHT 55 - - THE RALLY OF THE FARMERS 64 - - ETHAN ALLEN 73 - - HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL 88 - - _MISCELLANEOUS._ - - A SONG ON SINGING 101 - - THE MUSIC OF LIFE 105 - - MY IDEAL 107 - - CAGED 108 - - WHATEVER THE MISSION OF LIFE MAY BE 109 - - THE DESTINY-MAKER 110 - - _DRAMATIC._ - - HAYDN 115 - - _SKETCHES IN SONG._ - - A FISH STORY 1 - - UNVEILING THE MONUMENT 2 - - UNDER THE NEW MOON 12 - - ALL IN ALL 14 - - NOTHING AT ALL 14 - - THE IDEALIST 15 - - A PHASE OF THE ANGELIC 17 - - THE BELLE 19 - - THE POET’S REASON 20 - - AMONG THE MOUNTAINS 21 - - MARTIN CRAEGIN 23 - - OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM 26 - - MY LOVE IS SAD 28 - - MY DREAM AT CORDOVA 29 - - THE FLOWER PLUCKED 36 - - THE ARTIST’S AIM 37 - - MUSICIAN AND MORALIZER 39 - - WHAT THE BOUQUET SAID 40 - - WITH THE YOUNG 41 - - A TRANSLATION 42 - - FARMER LAD 44 - - THE WIFE 45 - - NOTHING TO KEEP UNDER 47 - - OUR DAY AT PISA 48 - - THE HIGHEST CLAIMS 50 - - NOTES FROM THE VICTORY 52 - - THE POET’S LESSON 53 - - THE MOURNER ANSWERED 57 - - THE VACANT ROOM 58 - - THANKSGIVING DAY 60 - - A MISAPPREHENSION 61 - - AUNTY’S ANSWER 63 - - HIS LOVE’S FRUITION 64 - - WHAT WOULD I GIVE 65 - - _DRAMATIC._ - - IDEALS MADE REAL 69 - - _PATRIOTIC._ - - AMERICA, OUR HOME 159 - - HAIL THE FLAG 160 - - EXPANSION 162 - - A PRAYER FOR PEACE AND GOOD WILL 163 - - - - -BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION. - -REPRESENTING THE SPIRIT AND REASONS LEADING TO THE AMERICAN WAR FOR -INDEPENDENCE. - -_Third Edition, Revised._ - - - - -BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.[1] - - -OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH. - -1765. - - Great Britain’s lords[2] were planning— - So ran the world’s report— - To tax the colonies more and more,[4] - And treat our sires as if they wore - The liveries at the court. - - “The colonies’ hope is union,” - Said Franklin,[3] by and by; - “Not one of them that stands alone - Can hold its own against the throne. - We[3] join,” he wrote, “or die.” - - And “Freedom[4] is a birthright - Our fathers handed down; - Blood-bought,” James Otis[4] boldly said: - “One king of theirs it cost his head; - And one his throne and crown.[5] - - “Were we to lose it, England - Would share in our mishap[6]; - For not a net can harm us here, - But threatens every English peer, - Whom yet it may entrap. - - “Our laws are in our charters - For scores of years enjoy’d; - Nor has the King, or Parliament, - Or both without our own consent - The power to make them void.[5] - - “By them, the Magna Charta, - And all our Saxon rights; - By claims of nature, mind, descent, - We ought to send to Parliament[7] - And show it what it slights.” - - A protest then we sent it.[7] - But back came sail on sail;[8] - And less had leaves of law-books grave - Torn out and flung to wind and wave - Shown law could not prevail. - - They broke up our assembly;[9] - Supreme their army[10] made; - Removed the judge[11] who check’d their greed; - And on the church our fathers freed - The hands of bishops laid.[12] - - “Shall we, whose fathers won us - Our rights, abide their loss? - Nay,” Mayhew said;[13] “though these to take - Our Pharoah’s hosts of red-coats make - Blood-red the sea they cross. - - “The Lord o’errules the waters, - And He will guard our cause: - And Parliament—let Plymouth Rock - To whelm them all throw back the shock— - Will bid the tyrant pause.” - - “God guide the House of Commons,” - We cried with lifted eyes. - God guided it and us, alas, - But how He scorch’d our heaven to pass - His finger through the skies! - - The Commons framed the Stamp-Act.[14] - It legal writs refused, - And made our bargains go for naught, - Unless, in all we sold or bought, - Their stamps were bought and used. - - “The stamps are only vouchers,” - Wrote Green,[15] “to license knaves!” - “To tax, against their own consent, - Where none,” said Adams,[16] “represent - Our people, brands them slaves.” - - “Our charter’d free assemblies, - To which our laws entrust[17] - The right to tax us, and to pay - Each crown-official,—only they - Can ever keep him just.” - - Quoth Thomas Chase:[18] “They only! - But British agents curse - To find that our assemblies true - Have something nobler here to do - Than fill a noble’s purse.” - - “The admiralty,” said Hancock,[21] - “To swell the navy’s pelf, - Have pass’d a law that it empowers[19] - To seek in every ship of ours - A bounty for itself. - - “Would we dispute the seizure, - Our loss can be discuss’d - And righted but in England’s courts,[20] - And by a judge whom it supports;— - And that, they say, is just. - - “No fleet of mine[21] shall carry - A stamp, though all I lose. - I choose, ere it, to save my soul!” - The whole land heard, and soon the whole - Had sworn no stamps to use. - - New York had lived by commerce. - Her merchants vow’d, they all,[22] - Ere stamps they bought, would sail no boats, - And sell no goods, and pass no notes— - They would not live in thrall. - - Said Isaac Sears:[23] “No wonder - These human lords combine - The masses’ rivalling wealth to steal! - Let them be stript, my lord may feel - His decency divine. - - “For years, to gild the peerage - Have England’s ports been made[24] - The marts by law for all we bought.— - Alas! in what that we have wrought - Have they not check’d our trade? - - “The nobles, while their winnings - Like nuggets clog the sieve - That ours drop through, would not eschew - Their royal rule: ‘To others do - What makes them humbly live.’ - - “And shall we not live humbly - Who but our pride restrain? - And buy at home more homely goods?”— - “Buy homespun!”[25] rang from bay to woods. - Then rang the looms[25] amain. - - But keen and crafty tories, - They prowl’d around at night, - And plotted long, and bought and sold, - And hoax’d and coax’d the young and old - Their homespun league to slight.[26] - - “We must not wait till England - Shall send the stamps,” wrote Edes.[27] - “Once let our tories own a few, - They soon were sown the whole land through - To grow like seeds of weeds.” - - The Boston Stamp-man’s image - Men burn’d before his face. - Their roars, like thunder, threaten’d storm; - And torches flash’d; the air was warm; - The man resign’d his place. - - “Resign!” erelong the echo - Had roll’d to every town.[28] - None dared resist the people’s plea, - And none dared hold a stamp, or be - The stamp-man of the crown. - - “Our governors,” growl’d the tories, - “Will sell the stamps to us.” - The governors vow’d this course to take;[29] - But we, we vow’d, our lives the stake, - They should not thwart us thus. - - The night before the Stamp-Act - Should rule the colony, - We slept not much; we melted lead; - We whetted steel; we plann’d ahead, - We “Sons of Liberty.”[30] - - Then, when the morn was breaking,[31] - On every hill and plain, - In all the towns, we toll’d the bells,[31] - That all began with doleful knells, - As though for Freedom slain. - - Anon, they rang out madly[31] - What might have peal’d to be - The land’s alarm-bell—only now - They peal’d to hail the new-born vow - Of men that would be free. - - New York went wild to hear them.[32] - Men flooded every way: - They left their shops; they stopt their mills; - And farmers flock’d from all the hills, - And sailors from the bay. - - Now who would buy a stamp here? - Was ask’d in all the ways. - But not a shop was not shut to; - For all had wiser work to do - On this, our day of days. - - “We would not, and we will not - Submit,” said Isaac Sears.[33] - The governor said: “You fill the street, - But here a fort and there a fleet - May yet awake your fears.” - - “Our stamps,” cried James,[34] his major, - “Our stamps, if loaded down - Our cannon here, and scatter’d thence - Among the crowd, would soon commence - To circulate in town.” - - “Aha,” said Sears in answer, - “For this you soldiers came? - For this our wily governor here - Pretended border wars to fear—[35] - Aha, were we his game? - - “To tax us indirectly,— - Was it for this, the crown - Bade your imported troopers make - Our town[35] support you?—for the sake - Of being thus kept down? - - “To kill our leaders, was it, - The crown made them be rank’d - By Braddock’s braggarts, who could run - And leave a man like Washington[36] - By their commands outflank’d? - - “Yes, yes, in genuine danger - We know who[37] win the day; - And whose the coin and blood we miss, - That, from our fathers’ time to this, - Have held our foes at bay. - - “And need we now your army? - You know—your sovereign too, - Our wars are his—He[37] France attacks - And here her colony—when he lacks - Excuse for sending you. - - “How strong, think you, our patience? - How long ere it shall tire?— - Ah, Britain’s lion’s whelp may get - So tough by cuffs like this, as yet - To turn and rend her sire!” - - “Sheer treason!” cried the major; - And “Treason!” cried his chief. - Our spokesman’s eye their fury brook’d, - Then calmly toward his friends he look’d, - And gave his thoughts relief. - - “Nay, theirs are loyal spirits, - But when the wrong is great, - And forms of law do not deserve - Their soul’s allegiance, then they serve - The spirit of the state.” - - With this, he told those courtiers - Their words would he report. - They heard the people’s groans that rose - To greet the words he bore, and chose - To seek, near by, the fort.[38] - - Then from the fort the cannon - Were turn’d upon the town. - But “If you fire,” the people cried, - “We hang the governor here outside, - Or burn your quarters down.” - - The governor urged his honor; - “Had pledged,” he said, “his oath,”[39] - And ought to further Britain’s aims.“— - We thought New York had equal claims - On oath and honor both.[39] - - “And let him pledge his honor - To let the stamps alone,” - Said Isaac Sears; and all the crowd - Who heard him say it, shouted loud - To make his words their own. - - The people waited long then, - And hoped the strife would end; - But, when this course had nothing won, - No man[40] could check a course begun - The governor’s will to bend. - - At night, the boys with torches - Came trooping out for sport. - They sought the house of James,[41] and took - The army flags his fear forsook, - And march’d them round the fort. - - The governor own’d his coaches, - And one a coach of state. - They burst his barn-door in with cries[42] - And dragg’d them off before his eyes, - As trophies of their hate. - - An image of the devil, - And of the governor too[42] - They made, and made them both careen, - While, side by side, through Bowling Green, - They wheel’d them into view. - - At last, of all the coaches - They form’d a funeral pyre; - And, full in face of all the town, - Who only roar’d its roar to drown, - They set the whole on fire. - - Then came a wake and wailing, - As ashes cover’d all; - And not a clause in laws unjust - The man had thought on us to thrust - But some one would recall. - - “A foe[43] is he of England!” - “A foe to all of us!” - “In Scotland went with Jacobites!” - “Has vow’d to murder here our rights!— - Ere that we toast him thus!” - - The colony’s council[44] pass’d then - A vote opposed by none,— - That England had the stamps assign’d - To agents who had all resign’d, - Nor was the governor one. - - At this the governor waver’d, - And wrote a message thus: - “I wait the dawn of further light.” - Cried Sears then: “Keep the fox in sight! - He waits till free from us. - - “Now send we back this answer: - ‘Awhile the town will wait, - But four and twenty hours from now[45] - Will hold the stamps or else will vow - To hold no more debate.’” - - The governor begg’d the army,[46] - The army begg’d the fleet, - To take the stamps and save the fort; - But neither cared to brave the sport - Of those who fill’d the street. - - The courage of the courtiers - Had bow’d to wisdom higher: - The power of right that ruled the street - Had overawed the fort and fleet— - They did not dare to fire. - - They did not dare to kindle[46] - A spark that, should it flame, - Would shed no glory round a throne - Where prince and peer would flush alone - To blush for their own shame. - - So nothing now was left them - Except to yield us all.[47] - Our mayor took the stamps, at last, - And bore them off, and lock’d them fast - Within the City Hall. - - And loud the people shouted;[48] - They felt that right was done; - Cried “Liberty and Property! - No stamps to curse the Colony!” - And parted, one by one. - - The next day all the papers[49] - Without the stamps appear’d. - Men took no notes, but trusted men. - Our ships were off to sea again; - And none the navy fear’d. - - And none had bought a stamp there, - Or seal’d himself a slave; - And half of England, trust my word, - Were thrill’d with joy, when they had heard - How we ourselves could save.[50] - - At last there came a daybreak - When all the thankful kneel’d; - And bells were rung, and banners hung; - And England’s weal was drunk and sung—[51] - The Stamp Act was repeal’d. - - Great Britain’s lords in council - Had talked of fire and ball; - But, when they touch’d our liberties, - Met manhood in the colonies - They could not thus inthrall. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] “In writing a ballad the secrets of success are definiteness of aim, -directness of execution, and singleness of idea. The language must be -simple, but so vigorous that every word tells; the metre must also be -simple, but the versification demands a musical swing, a rush of rhyme, -the talent for which is rare. To smell of the lamp is fatal to the -ballad; it should have all the spontaneity of an impromptu. The author -must forget himself, for ballad poetry is essentially objective, and a -touch of subjectivity spoils it. Each incident must be related as though -the writer had taken part in it, and seeing with his mind’s eye, he must -paint as vividly as though that described were before him in very truth. -It is not an easy thing to write a ballad in these days, when the drift -of poetic thought is quite in the opposite direction.”—_Philadelphia -Inquirer_, 1876. - -[2] In 1761, “America knew that the Board of Trade had proposed -to annul colonial charters, to reduce all the colonies to royal -governments.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414. “The -king, the ministry, the crown officers all conspiring against her -liberties ... there was no help unless from Parliament.”—_Idem._, vol. -v., ch. 11, p. 236. - -[3] “Franklin looked for greater liberties than ... Parliament might -inaugurate. Having for his motto ‘Join or die,’ ... sketching the -outline of a confederacy.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 116. “William -Penn in 1697 had proposed an annual Congress ... to regulate commerce. -Franklin” in 1752 “revived the great idea, and breathed into it enduring -life.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 125. - -[4] “The Board of Trade had proposed ... collecting the duties ... the -justice of the restrictions on trade was denied and their authority -questioned; and when the officers of the customs asked for ‘writs of -assistance’ to enforce them, the colony regarded its liberties in peril. -This is the opening scene of American resistance. It began” in 1761 ... -“in a court-room ... James Otis ... stood up ... the champion of the -colonies.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414. - -[5] “‘I am determined,’ such were his words, ‘to sacrifice estate ... -life in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which cost one -king of England his head and another his throne.’ ... Tracing the -lineage of freedom to its origin, he opposed the claims of the British -officers by the authority of ‘reason,’ and that they were at war with the -‘Constitution’ he proved by appeals to the Charter of Massachusetts, and -its English liberties.... ‘An Act of Parliament against the Constitution -is void,’ he said.... ‘The crowded audience seemed ready to take up -arms.’”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, pp. 415-6. - -[6] “The true interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual. -Otis in 1763.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 90. - -[7] See the Representations of the General Assembly at New York to the -King, concerning the administration of justice in that province, 1762, -mentioned in _Idem._, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 84. “By the laws of nature and -of nations, the voice of universal reason and of God, by the statute -law and the common law, this memorial claimed for the colonists the -absolute rights of Englishmen, ... such were the views of Otis sent by -Massachusetts” in 1764 “to its agent in London.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. -10, pp. 198-9. - -[8] “Less than forty were willing to receive the petition of Virginia. A -third from South Carolina, a fourth from Connecticut, ... a fifth from -Massachusetts, ... shared the same refusal. That from New York, no one -could be prevailed upon to offer.... The House of Commons would neither -receive petitions nor hear council.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 246. -This was in Feb., 1765. - -[9] In 1763 Brown, the Governor of South Carolina, “assumed the -power of rejecting members whom the House declared duly elected -and returned.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 8, p. 150. In May, 1765, “The -Lieutenant-Governor” of Virginia “dissolved the Assembly.”—_Idem._, -ch. 13, p. 277. “Fearing a general expression of the sentiments of the -people, through their representatives ... Tyron issued a proclamation in -October proroguing the Assembly which was to meet on the thirtieth of -November, until the following March. This act incurred the indignation -of the people.”—_Lossing’s Field Book of the Revolution_, vol. ii., p. -568. Later, “Townshend’s revenue, so far as it provided an independent -support for the crown officers, did away with the necessity of -colonial legislatures.... Governors would have little inducement to -call assemblies, and an angry minister might dissolve them without -inconvenience to his administration.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vi., -ch. 29, p. 85. “An act of Parliament” in 1767 “suspended the functions -of its (N. Y.) legislature till they should render obedience to the -Imperial Legislature.”—_Idem._, p. 84. “Bernard ... prorogued them, -and then dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left without a -legislature.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 34, p. 165. - -[10] “This commission ... established a military power throughout the -continent independent of the colonial governors and superior to them ... -in 1756 the rule was established ... that troops might be kept up in the -colonies and quartered on them at pleasure without the consent of the -American Parliaments.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 9, pp. 229-30. In Feb., -1765, “Welbore Ellis, Secretary of War ... made known his intention ‘that -the orders of his commander-in-chief and ... the brigadier generals ... -should be supreme, and be obeyed by the troops as such in all the civil -governments of America.’ ... These instructions rested, as was pretended, -on ... the commission” (mentioned above) “... prepared for ... troops in -time of war.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 235. - -[11] In 1762 “was consummated the system of subjecting the halls of -justice to the prerogative. The king ... instituted courts, named the -judges, removed them at pleasure, fixed the amount of their salaries, -and paid them out of funds that were independent of legislative -grants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 19, p. 440. - -[12] About 1762 “a fund of two thousand pounds was subscribed to -a society which the legislature of Massachusetts had authorized -for promoting knowledge among the Indians; but the king interposed -his negative, and reserved the red man for the Anglican form of -worship.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 430. In 1765 “In North Carolina -... the legislature were even persuaded ... to make provision for -the support of the Church of England.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 13, p. -271. “For New York, the Lords of Trade refused to the Presbyterians -any immunities but such as might be derived from the British Law of -Toleration.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 29, p. 84. “O poor New England, there -is a deep plot against both your civil and religious liberties, and they -will be lost.”—Whitfield in 1764, _Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 193. - -[13] In Jan., 1750 ... “Mayhew summoned ... defensive war against -‘tyranny and priestcraft.’ ... He preached resistance.”—_Idem._, vol. -iv., ch. 3, p. 60. In Aug., 1765, “Choosing as his text ... Ye have -been called to liberty ... he preached fervently in behalf of civil and -religious freedom.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 16, p. 312. - -[14] “The act seemed sure to enforce itself. Unless stamps were used, -marriages would be null, notes of hand valueless, ships at sea prizes -to the first captors, suits at law impossible, transfers of real estate -invalid, inheritances unclaimable.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, pp. 251-2. - -[15] “The publishers of newspapers ... were ... called upon to stand the -brunt in braving the penalties of the act.... Timothy Green ... publisher -of the _New London Gazette_ ... fearlessly defended his country’s -rights.... On Friday the first day of November, his journal came forth -without stamps.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 352-3. - -[16] Speaking of Samuel Adams in 1764, “On his motion and in his words, -Boston ... asserted ... ‘If taxes are laid upon us ... without our having -a legal representation ... are we not reduced ... to the miserable state -of tributary slaves?’”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 197. - -[17] “The strength of the people in America” in 1748 “consisted also in -the exclusive right of its assemblies to levy and to appropriate colonial -taxes ... in America, the rapacity of the governors made it expedient to -preserve their dependence for their salaries on annual grants.”—_Idem._, -vol. iv., ch. 1, p. 19. - -[18] See note 27. - -[19] March, 1763, “it became lawful ... for each ... armed vessel to -stop and examine and, in case of suspicion, to seize each merchant ship -approaching the colonies, while avarice was stimulated by hope of large -emoluments to make as many seizures ... as possible.”—_Idem._, vol. v., -ch. 5, p. 92. - -[20] “The penalties and forfeitures for breach of the revenue laws were -to be decided in courts of Vice-Admiralty, without the interposition of a -jury, by a single judge, who had no support whatever but in his share of -the profits of his own condemnations.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 12, p. 268. - -[21] “The first American ship that ventured to sea with a rich cargo -and without stamped papers was owned by the Boston merchant, John -Hancock.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 20, p. 374. - -[22] “The merchants of New York, ... unanimously bound themselves to -send no new orders for goods or merchandise; to countermand all former -orders; and not even to receive goods on commission unless the Stamp Act -be repealed.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 351-2. - -[23] “Isaac Sears, the self-constituted, and for ten years the -recognized, head of the people of New York.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. -355. - -[24] “The colonists could not export the chief products of their industry -... to any place but Great Britain ... nor might any foreign ship enter -any colonial harbor.... In all other respects Great Britain was not only -the sole market for the products of America, but the only storehouse -for its supplies.... That the country which was the home of the beaver -might not manufacture its own hats, no man ... could be a hatter or a -journeyman at the trade unless he had served an apprenticeship of seven -years. No hatter might employ ... more than two apprentices. America -abounded in iron ores ... slitting mills, steel furnaces, and plating -forges ... were prohibited.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 12, pp. 265-7. - -[25] “‘We will none of us import British goods,’ said the traders in the -towns.... North Carolina set up looms ... and South Carolina was ready to -follow.... ‘We will have homespun markets of linen and woollens,’ passed -from mouth to mouth.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 14, p. 288. - -[26] “New England and Pennsylvania had imported nearly one half as much -as usual. New York alone had been perfectly true to its engagements,”—the -state of things in 1770.—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 44, p. 365. - -[27] “The fourteenth of August,” 1765, “saw the effigy of Oliver,” -Boston’s stamp agent, “tricked out with emblems of Bute and Grenville, -... prepared by Boston mechanics, true-born Sons of Liberty, Benjamin -Edes, the printer, ... Thomas Chase, a fiery hater of kings.”—_Idem._, -vol. v., ch. 16, p. 310. “Just after dark an ‘amazing’ multitude ... made -a funeral pyre for his effigy.... So the considerate self-seeker ... gave -it under his own hand that he would not serve as stamp officer.”—_Idem._, -vol. v., ch. 16, pp. 310-12. - -[28] “Everywhere, ... of themselves, or at the instance of the people, -amidst shouts and the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon, or -... with rage changing into courtesy on the ... submission of the -stamp-master, ... the officers resigned. There remained not one person -duly commissioned to distribute stamps.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 351. - -[29] “‘I am resolved to have the stamps distributed,’ wrote Colden.... On -the thirty-first of October, Colden and all the royal governors took the -oath to carry the stamp-act punctually into effect.... The governor of -Rhode Island stood alone in his patriotic refusal.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. -19, p. 350. - -[30] “The SONS OF LIBERTY ... organized at this time throughout the -colonies.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Bk. of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. 787. -“The association in New York had a correspondent ... in London, ... from -whom they ... regularly received intelligence of the movements of the -ministry.”—_Idem._, note. - -[31] “Friday, the first morning of November,” 1765, “broke upon a people -unanimously resolved to nullify the Stamp Act. From New Hampshire to the -far south the day was introduced by the tolling of muffled bells, ... a -eulogy was pronounced on liberty and its knell sounded, and then again -the note changed as if she were restored to life.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, -vol. v., ch. 19, p. 352. - -[32] “In New York the whole city rose up as one man.... The sailors came -from their shipping; the people flocked in ... by thousands.”—_Idem._, p. -355. - -[33] “The leader of the popular tumult was Isaac Sears.”—_Idem._ - -[34] “‘I will cram the stamps down their throats with the end of my -sword,’ cried the braggart James, Major of Artillery, ... ‘will drive -them all out of town.’”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 17, p. 332. - -[35] “The arbitrary invasion of private rights ... by the illegal and -usurped authority of a military chief was the great result of the -campaign. The frontier had been left open to the French; but the ... -example had been given ... of quartering troops in the principal towns at -the expense of the inhabitants.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 10, p. 241. - -[36] “Washington had left the service on account of a regulation by -which the colonial officers were made to rank under those of the regular -army.... Urged by General Braddock to accompany him, he consented to do -so ... as a volunteer.... Through the stubbornness of that general, his -contempt of the Indians, and the cowardice of many of his regular troops, -an army of thirteen hundred men was half destroyed. Braddock fell, -and the whole duty of distributing orders devolved upon the youthful -colonel.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., pp. 477-9. - -[37] “The King in council ... having thus invited a conflict with France -by instructions necessarily involving war, ... neither troops, nor -money, nor ships of war were sent over.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. iv., -ch. 4, p. 102. “_They protected by YOUR arms?_ They have nobly taken up -arms in your defence ... for the defence of a country whose frontier -was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little -savings to your emolument.”—Barré debating on the Stamp Act in the House -of Commons.—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 240. - -[38] “Colden himself retired within the fort.... He would have fired on -the people, but was menaced with being hanged.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. -v., ch. 19, p. 355. - -[39] “Colden pleaded his oath ... that ... the Act should be -observed, ... the contempt into which the government would fall by -concession.”—_Idem._, p. 357. “In Connecticut, Dyer ... entreated Fitch -(the governor) not to take an oath ... contrary to that of the governor -to maintain the rights of the colonies.”—_Idem._, p. 351. - -[40] “Isaac Sears and others, leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who had -issued strict orders forbidding injury to private property, endeavored to -restrain the mob.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. -788. - -[41] “A party of volunteers sacked the house occupied by James, and bore -off the colors of the royal regiments.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. -19, p. 356. - -[42] “In the evening a vast torchlight procession carrying, ... two -images, one of the governor; the other of the devil, ... broke open the -governor’s coach-house, took out his chariot, carried the images upon it, -... to burn them with his own carriages and sleighs before his own eyes -on the Bowling Green.”—_Idem._ - -[43] “He has bound himself,” they cried, “to be the chief murderer of our -rights.” “He was a rebel in Scotland, a Jacobite.” “He is an enemy to his -king, to his country, and mankind.”—_Idem._ “In the opinion of ... Colden -... the democratic or popular part of the American Constitution was too -strong.... His remedies were a perpetual revenue, fixed salaries, and an -hereditary council of priviledged landholders.”—_Idem._, vol. iv., ch. -16, p. 371. - -[44] “The council questioned” (_i.e._, the colony’s council) “his -authority to distribute the stamps, and unanimously advised him to -declare that he would do nothing in relation to them, but await the -arrival of the new governor, and his declaration to that effect ... -was immediately published. But the confidence of the people was -shaken.”—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 356. - -[45] “‘We will have the stamp papers,’ cried Sears to the multitude, -‘within four and twenty hours,’”—_Idem._ - -[46] “Colden invited Kenedy to receive them on board of the Coventry.... -Gage being appealed to, avowed his belief that a fire from the fort would -be the ... commencement of civil war.”—_Idem._, 356-7. - -[47] “Colden, perceiving further resistance ... unavailing, ordered -the stamps to be delivered to the Mayor (Cruger) and Common Council, -the former giving a receipt for the same, and the corporation agreeing -to pay for all the stamps that should be destroyed or lost. This was -satisfactory to the people.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. ii., p. -789. - -[48] “In all the streets were heard the shouts of Liberty, Property, and -no Stamps.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 357. - -[49] “The press continued its activity.”—_Idem._ - -[50] “I rejoice that America has resisted.”—William Pitt in the House of -Commons.—_Idem._, vol. v., ch. 21, p. 391. - -[51] “On ... the joyful intelligence of the repeal of the Stamp Act -... the city was filled with delight. Bells rang ... cannon roared -... the Sons of Liberty drank twenty-eight ‘loyal and constitutional -toasts.’”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., p. 789. - - -THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE. - -1772. - - One windy day in March,[1] - Ghost-white against the gray, - A cruiser fleet, through snow and sleet, - Made Narraganset Bay. - - There were smugglers in the bay, - And smugglers on the shore; - But loyal still to the royal will - Ten times as many more,— - - Ten times as many more, - Though every smuggler there - But thrived because of England’s laws[2] - And taxes none could bear. - - Yet the cruiser’s captain drawl’d, - The while he quaft his ale, - “These islands low are full you know, - Of fellows fled from jail, - - “Of Puritans fled from law - And kings they curse and fear. - Aha!” he laugh’d, “our loyal craft - Has brought the Cavalier! - - “Our guns will speak in tones - To make the whole bay ring; - And teach to each within their reach - The reverence due the king. - - “Their ships upon the bay - Shall heed our cannon’s call, - And dip their flags,[3] or sail in rags, - And yield us bounties all.[4] - - “Their sheep upon the shore, - A royal tax will be.[4] - No lack of food or kindling wood - Is here,” quoth he, “for me!” - - There were smugglers in the bay, - And smugglers on the shore; - This craft, I ken, a band of men - Ten times as lawless bore. - - Our sheriff[5] went and warn’d - Their captain, o’er and o’er, - To keep in sight the bounds of right, - And not to plunder more. - - The captain waved his hand, - Said he: “The fleet has made - A vow devout to carry out - The English ‘Acts of Trade.’”[6] - - Judge Hopkins[7] wrote him then: - “Our men demand their due.” - “I write because you break our laws,” - Wrote Governor Wanton[7] too. - - The captain bade them go - To Boston with their plea; - “Not his affair; the admiral[7] there - Had sent the ship to sea.” - - And then he turn’d away. - One heard him mutter near: - “I think I see the one they fee[8] - Ship back his bounties here.” - - The judge and governor wrote - The admiral, who but swore - His fleet would hang[9] the island gang, - If they should vex him more. - - “The navy[10] know their trade,” - His clerk to Wanton wrote; - “In mere pretence and insolence[11] - You board the sovereign’s[12] boat.” - - Wrote Wanton: “We shall ask - The throne[13] to judge your note; - And every time you hint of crime,[13] - Shall board the sovereign’s boat. - - “The English crown should serve - The English people’s cause, - And honor those, nor make them foes, - Who stand by English laws.” - - But months and months went on. - The cruiser fired away. - None plied an oar, lived near the shore, - But feared to be her prey.[4] - - Cried Captain Lindsey[14] then: - “This outrage none should bide! - Rhode Island grit must yet outwit, - And trip the scoundrel’s pride. - - “He knows my packet here, - And where I sail, and why; - And if he will may sink me, still - His guns will I defy. - - “If down we go, the law, - Will float to stand upon; - If that go too, this case is through; - But, Britain, more anon!” - - So high his flag[15] he flew; - And wide his jib he spread. - The cruiser fired; her crew grew tired, - Her captain wroth and red. - - “All hands aloft!” he cried; - “All sail!” and at the words, - The masts were fill’d with sailors drill’d - To climb and cling like birds. - - Wide flew each flapping sheet, - And sagg’d and bagg’d the gale, - And cloud-like lash’d the waves that dash’d - As if they felt a flail. - - When off of Nauquit[16] Point, - Shrewd Lindsey knew his ground; - He steer’d afar, and clear’d the bar; - And then the ship swung round.[16] - - Up toss’d her canvas high; - And dipp’d, as round she ran, - The saucy way that seems to say - Now catch me if you can. - - The cruiser’s captain look’d, - And mouth’d an awful oath: - “Now catch I not, let fire and shot - Or bottom catch us both. - - “Mind not the bar,” he cried, - “Straight on! With depth to spare,[15] - The tide is high, and, sailing by, - We head them off up there.” - - Deep plow’d the cruiser’s prow - The broken waves below, - So bows a bull whose pride is full - To toss a stubborn foe. - - She plung’d and reel’d and roll’d. - Ah, better had she tack’d! - The water flew the bulwark through. - The mainmast bent and crack’d. - - The wind, it whistled there; - The boatswain whistled here. - The captain swore; the mainsail tore; - The jib had ript its gear. - - A flood was on the deck. - The crew were floundering round. - Then, clean and chill, and safe and still, - The cruiser lay aground.[15] - - When Lindsey saw her fate, - So loudly cheer’d his men, - The hostile crew, that heard them, flew - To man their guns again. - - But Lindsey kept his course— - He now could do no more— - And told ere night the cruiser’s plight - To those he met on shore.[17] - - “There stays the ship,” said he, - “Till lifted by the tide.” - “Till Providence shall lift her thence,” - John Brown,[17] his friend, replied. - - And Providence, at dusk, - Was routed out to greet - The drumming fierce of Daniel Pierce[18] - Who cried in every street: - - “The cruiser lies aground! - High tide at three[18] o’clock! - Who care to go and meet her so, - Come all to Fenner’s[19] dock!” - - They came to Fenner’s dock; - And found, awaiting there, - Eight[19] yawls, that Brown[19] had lent the town, - In Captain Whipple’s[19] care. - - The crews that mann’d the yawls - Had muffled[19] every oar; - And they, and men who join’d them then,[20] - All told, were sixty-four.[21] - - Their arms were pick’d with care - From all their friends could loan; - And all the yawls, for cannon balls, - Were stock’d with paving-stone.[22] - - They battled wind and tide, - Three hours[23] amid the gloom. - The midnight pass’d.[23] They saw, at last, - The cruiser’s bulwarks loom. - - “Who comes?” her watch call’d out. - “Who comes!” her captain cried. - Then swift alarm’d, in tones that arm’d, - Her crew that toward him hied. - - “Move off!” her captain roar’d, - His pistol aiming well; - Then fired[23]—alack! fire answer’d back; - He started, stagger’d, fell. - - And then, as dark and fierce - As tidal waves, where fleets - Are whelm’d and whirl’d and downward hurl’d - Till death their deed completes, - - Our men, at Whipple’s[19] cry, - “Up, up!” clear’d every check; - And dash’d and leapt and slash’d and swept - Across the cruiser’s deck. - - But hold!—her men were gone. - Ours held the deck alone; - Their work had done, nor fired a gun; - The cruiser’s crew had flown.[24] - - “Surrender here!” rang out; - And out the cabin glanced - At first a few, then all the crew; - Then one and all advanced. - - “First know,” said Whipple then, - “That here you sail no more; - And next prepare your yawls to bear - Yourselves and yours ashore.”[25] - - The sailors went and came, - They came with bags and coats. - They call’d their roll, and said the whole - They own’d was in their boats. - - Meantime our men themselves[26] - The captain’s wound had dress’d; - And row’d him, sore but safe, ashore - With all that he possess’d.[27] - - “All hands embark!” rang out; - And all the yawls were full; - Save one whose crew had more to do - While off the rest should pull. - - This crew the cruiser fired,[28] - Till smoke, well under way, - Flew up the mast as white and fast - As e’er, of old, the spray. - - Then swiftly they embark’d, - And swiftly they withdrew; - As flash’d the fire, and, streaming higher, - The red flag redder flew. - - The cruiser burn’d in state, - Until she burst at last[28] - With every ball she bore and all - Her powder in the blast. - - It fill’d the heaven above, - But not to heaven was given: - A wounded cloud roar’d long and loud; - Then back the whole was driven. - - When all was o’er, there seem’d - Faint sparks to fill the place— - “There comes,” said one, “the morning sun; - A new day dawns apace!” - - It dawn’d for these, at least; - When soon they hove in sight - Of pier on pier pack’d full to cheer - Those heroes of the night. - - But hist! the cheers were check’d. - “Keep mum!” the murmur spread; - The crown, to get these men, had set - A price on every head. - - “Five hundred dollars down,[29] - For him who tells of one,” - Was first proclaim’d: but no one named - A man who aught had done. - - “Five thousand,”[30] then were pledged, - “To know who took the lead; - And half as much to know of such - As join’d him in the deed.” - - The King’s commission,[31] last, - Sat half a year or more; - But not a word it ever heard - About the sixty-four. - - Forgotten were they then? - They might have pass’d by day, - Without a wink to make you think, - Or hint that it was they. - - But, when the night had come; - And door and blind were lock’d, - And window fast, and blew the blast - Till all the chimney rock’d; - - When, safe from eyes and ears, - In homes where all were true, - The way those men were feasted then - A king, full well, might rue. - - And when the board was bare; - And round the roaring fire, - The nuts were crack’d and cider smack’d - Till tooth and tongue would tire; - - When each his tale would tell - About that ship and night, - And still the way he dodg’d, each day, - The British spy and spite; - - The boys who husk’d the corn - Would forward bend, and spring, - And draw the ears, like swords, with cheers, - To make the rafters ring! - - The host who stirr’d the fire - Would stab it through and through: - You might have thought the flames he brought - Had burn’d a cruiser too. - - The girls would fancy then - It was the cruiser flared; - And round the walls would aim like balls - The apples red they pared. - - “To arms!” would cry the men; - And each a maid purloin; - While mother’s yarn would snap, and darn - The dance that all would join. - - Ah, so we hush’d the tale! - Yet spies that nigh would roam - Could not decoy the smallest boy - To tell what pass’d at home. - - We hush’d it, till the hush - Became our countersign - To save from those we knew were foes, - And make our men combine. - - We hush’d it, till we learn’d - That thousands would be free, - And long’d to know which way to go - And when the call would be. - - We hush’d it, till we heard - What Concord had to bear; - Then shouted loud, a mighty crowd, - “Our heroes lead us there!” - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] She first appeared in ... Narraganset Bay in March, 1772, ... to -prevent infraction of the revenue laws, and to put a stop to ... illicit -trade.—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. ii., ch. 3, p. 60. - -[2] See “Our First Break with the British,” notes 5, 19, 20, 24. - -[3] “Often fired ... to compel their masters to take down their colors in -its presence—a haughty marine Gesler.”—_Idem._, p. 61. - -[4] “Plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired at -market boats, detained vessels without any colorable pretext, and made -illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were -worth.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 417. - -[5] “The Governor, ... sent a sheriff on board the Gaspee.”—_Idem._ - -[6] See _Idem._, vol. iv., ch. 8. Also “Our First Break with the -British,” Note 19. - -[7] “Hopkins, the Chief Justice, ... gave the opinion that any person -who should ... exercise any authority by force of arms without showing -his commission to the governor ... guilty of a trespass if not -piracy.”—_Idem._, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 416. “The governor, therefore, -sent ... to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted; and Duddington -referred the subject to the admiral.”—_Idem._ - -[8] See “Our First Break with the British,” Note 20. - -[9] “As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel, ... I -will hang them as pirates.”—_Idem._, p. 417. - -[10] “The Admiral answered from Boston: ‘The lieutenant, sir, has done -his duty.’”—_Idem._, p. 416. - -[11] “Your two insolent letters.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. ii., -ch. 3. - -[12] “I would advise you not to send your sheriff on board the king’s -ship again on such ridiculous errands.”—_Idem._ - -[13] “I shall transmit your letter to the Secretary of State.... I will -send the sheriff of this colony at any time, and to any place within the -body of it, as I shall think fit.”—_Idem._ - -[14] “On the 9th of June, 1772, Captain Lindsey left Newport for -Providence in his packet.”—_Idem._ “Called the Hannah and sailed between -New York and Providence.”—_Idem._, _note_. - -[15] “As Captain Lindsey, on this occasion, kept his colors flying, -the Gaspee gave chase, and continued it as far as Namquit (now Gaspee) -Point. The tide was ebbing, but the bar was covered. As soon as Lindsey -doubled the Point, he stood to the westward. Duddington, commander of -the Gaspee, eager to overtake the pursued, and ignorant of the extent of -the submerged point from the shore, kept on a straight course, and in a -few minutes struck the sand. The fast-ebbing tide soon left his vessel -hopelessly grounded.”—_Idem._ - -[16] Namquit, according to Lossing; Nauquit, according to Bancroft. - -[17] “Lindsey arrived at Providence at sunset, and ... communicated -the fact to Mr. John Brown, one of the leading merchants of that -city.”—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, v. ii., ch. 3. - -[18] “At dusk ... Daniel Pearce passed along the Main Street beating a -drum, and informing the inhabitants that the Gaspee lay aground, ... that -she could not get off until three o’clock, and inviting,” etc.—_Idem._ - -[19] Brown “ordered the preparation of eight of the largest long-boats -in the harbor, to be placed under the general command of Captain -Whipple, one of his most trusty ship-masters,” ... “the row-locks to be -muffled, and the whole put in readiness at half-past eight at Fenner’s -wharf.”—_Idem._ - -[20] “The principal actors in this affair were John Brown, Capt. Abraham -Whipple, John B. Hopkins, Benjamin Dunn, Dr. John Mawney, Benjamin -Page, Joseph Bucklin, Turpin Smith, Ephraim Bowen, and Capt. Joseph -Tillinghast.”—_Idem._ “Led by John Brown and Joseph Brown of Providence, -and Simeon Potter of Bristol.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 47. - -[21] “Filled with sixty-four well-armed men, a sea-captain in each boat -acting as a steersman.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. -ii., ch. 3. - -[22] “They took with them a quantity of wood paving-stone.”—_Idem._ - -[23] “The boats left Providence between ten and eleven.... Between one -and two ... they reached the Gaspee, when a sentinel hailed them.... -Duddington appeared, ... and waving the boats off fired a pistol at them. -This ... we returned.... Duddington was wounded.”—_Idem._ - -[24] “The crew retreating below.”—_Idem._ - -[25] “The schooner’s company were ordered to collect their clothing and -leave the vessel.”—_Idem._ - -[26] “Thomas Bucklin ... fired the musket.”... He afterwards assisted in -dressing the wound, supervised by Dr. John Mawney, an American.—_Idem._, -note. - -[27] “All the effects of ... Duddington being carefully placed in one of -the American boats.”—_Idem._ - -[28] “The _Gaspee_ was set on fire, and at dawn blew up.”—_Idem._ - -[29] “A reward of five hundred dollars for the discovery of the -perpetrator of said villainy.”—_Idem._ - -[30] “Afterwards, ... a reward of five thousand dollars for the leader -and two thousand five hundred ... the other parties.”—_Idem._ - -[31] “A commission of inquiry under the great seal of England ... sat -from the 4th until the 22d of January ... adjourned until ... May ... and -sat until the 23d of June. But not a solitary clue to the identity of the -perpetrators could be obtained.”—_Idem._ - - -THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON.[1] - -The Tea-Party, December 16, 1773. - - “New trouble brews in Boston,” - Was told us half the year; - Yet every week the postman came - With something new to fear. - - “Our freedom,” so they wrote soon, - “Such progress here begets - That England seeks to check it[2] - With swords and bayonets. - - “Their foreign ‘Board of Customs,’[3] - Past our laws’ reach, they say, - Here pluck from us their living, - As vultures from their prey. - Ah! would we keep our freedom, - We must not basely yield, - But claim our rights,[4] as when of old - The Stamp Act was repeal’d.” - - We read, and thought together - That something must be done; - And we were those to do it, - We boys of Lebanon. - - The words of Samuel Adams[4] - We heard a neighbor quote: - “They silence our Assembly;[5] - A sword is at its throat; - Our charter is their target, - Our judgment-seat their fort,[6] - Our men they rob for rations, - Our boys they shoot for sport; - Our faith that their horizon burst - And zenith held not down, - Their Toleration Law[7] would force - To cringe beneath the crown. - I care not what to others - A loyal feeling brings; - To me it still will loyal be - To serve the King of kings.”[8] - - We heard, and swore together - That work must be begun; - And we were those to do it, - We boys of Lebanon. - - We signed a pledge of “Union.” - To all the land we wrote. - We went to meet the postman. - We read the Boston note: - - “In Union only is there strength; - And strength is all our stay. - Alas that some divide us! - Alas that some give way! - Once none would touch a thing they tax; - To-day the weak agree, - And say: ‘Enough if none will taste, - If none will trade in tea.’[9] - The lords have found our weakness out; - And now are talking thus: - That India’s losing traders - May bring tea free to us.[10] - Ay, ay, as if these would not heap - Her lap with tribute gold, - ‘Let them,’ says England, ‘take the tax; - Let them the duties hold.’ - - “Already bound for Boston, - May tea be on the waves, - A bait flung out to tempt us - To touch, and then be slaves. - And if our strong men falter, - Nor thrust this bait away, - How can the weak be kept from all - That makes us England’s prey? - - “And yet, if we in Boston - To thwart the throne conspire, - Our town may prove an altar, - Our fortunes melt in fire. - The sacrifice is ready; - Yet first we wait reply,[11] - To know we own a country - To save, before we die.”[12] - - We met, and swore together, - If fighting must be done, - In Boston we would do it, - We boys of Lebanon. - - We started out at midnight, - And took the Indian suits, - Our fathers’ trophies from the wars - Where all had been recruits. - - We pack’d them up in knapsacks, - And then with each a gun - And tomahawk away we walk’d - In pairs or one by one. - By day we kept the forests; - But when the sun was down, - We hurried on to Boston, - And scatter’d through the town. - - We hunted out our cousins. - We told them why we came. - “Aha,” said they, “we plot the same. - We join you in the game.” - - They show’d us then, at morning, - The “Tree of Liberty,” - Where those who plann’d the Stamp Act[13] - Had hung in effigy. - A pole was now beside it; - A flag it bore flew high;[14] - The church bells all were ringing; - A crowd had gather’d nigh. - “To see this tree, the agent - Of stamps,” we heard, “resign’d. - Here too East India’s agent - Should learn the people’s mind: - The tea sent here to tax us - Untouch’d away shall go; - Or all will brand its consignee, - Our own, our country’s foe.”[15] - The people cheer’d the purpose; - From lip to lip it pass’d; - The crowd about went homeward; - The sky was overcast. - - Each agent heard the message; - No promise would he sign.[16] - Again the town demanded one; - Again did each decline.[17] - Then Boston’s grand “Committee[18] - Of Correspondence,” wrote - To ask the farmers, “Would they stand - By what the town would vote?” - - From every hill and valley - Came back, as though one word, - What Samuel Adams read with pride - Where all the people heard: - - “Without a voice dissenting, - We swear by you to stand. - Our wealth or life preventing, - The tea shall never land.”[18] - - Then dawn’d the stirring Sunday[19] - When swift the news was pass’d, - That one tea-ship they waited for, - Was in the port at last. - Not many went to church then; - But all began to pray, - With eyes to duty open wide— - The Puritanic way. - - In haste we met together, - Our work must be begun; - We plann’d, then, how to do it, - We boys of Lebanon. - With Proctor[20] for our captain, - We vow’d on hand to be, - And cling like air and water there - About the ship with tea. - - The Town-Select-Men waited on - The vessel’s consignees; - But these were waiting on the fort,[21] - Well lock’d with English keys. - True courtiers, they would tender - The governor there their tea. - The governor tried his council; - The council[22] said: “Not we; - Our homes are with the people; - And we are not the ones - To hold the cup of serfdom - To them, ourselves, or sons.” - - The consignees were waiting - Until, in forms of law, - Their tea was enter’d at the port, - When none could it withdraw.[23] - So quick the Town-Committee - Had made and seal’d a writ, - And pledg’d the vessel’s owner’s word - Not yet to enter it.[24] - - At Faneuil Hall,[25] next morning, - While all the bells were rung, - Men swarm’d, like bees, to buzz before, - Prepar’d to die, they stung. - The sheriff[26] came and cried aloud: - “You meet unlawfully!” - His cry but made them busier buzz, - With Saxon loyalty. - The consignees were summon’d; - “The tea,” they wrote, “we stack.”[27] - “The tea shall sail for England,” - The people answer’d back. - - And then to ports in England, - And those at home they wrote: - “Tea-taxers here, or traders, - Our country’s foes we vote.[28] - Think not our men will waver, - Our wives their vows abate; - The herbs they steep for tea will keep - Less bitter than their hate.” - - Two tea-ships more were sighted.[29] - Our guards, like nerves, were strung[30] - From bay to every belfry’s bell, - The slightest move had rung. - - Then spoke the vessels’ owners: - “Our tea is legal prey - For fort and fleet, if enter’d not - Before the twentieth[31] day.” - “Then send it off to sea again,” - The Town-Committee said. - “Too much you ask,” was answer’d, - “For then would blood be shed. - The port’s collector warns us - We must not clear the port. - Without his ‘Writ of Clearance,’ - We dare not brook the fort.” - They pointed down the harbor: - There lay the fleet,[32] alas, - Like prongs along the channel, - To rake whate’er should pass. - - They pointed toward the castle, - And all the guns within - Bespoke how they would treat a prey - That sought the sea to win. - - At this our Town-Committee - The port’s collector sought;[33] - The governor,[33] too, exulting[34] - To think his trap had caught. - “You mark the fleet and castle; - Should trouble brew,” said he; - “Your Hancocks, Rowes, and Phillips[34] - Might risk as much as we.” - But Molineux[35] said only: - “They more would risk if slaves; - For all they then could wish, would be - Enough to give them graves.” - “‘If slaves’!” the governor answer’d, - And rail’d against their cause; - “Aha!—you talk of ‘slaves,’ forsooth, - Because your land has laws! - And you would dare to break them?— - And reason, what of it?— - I trust in human nature, - When reason should submit.” - - “We trust in human nature,” - Said Young,[36] who near him stood; - “And peace that brooks oppression, - It does not deem a good. - We trust in human nature; - The conscience, ruling there, - May guard the right, full well as kings - With crowns their dearest care. - Love rules in human nature, - For, all of history through, - The slaves have been the many, - The tyrants been the few.” - - The governor turn’d in anger: - “Well, well, we then shall see. - Your hint of flint can wring no ‘Writ - Of Clearance’ here from me.” - - Then met the town together, - Their final vote to take. - Not one, of seven thousand[38] there, - Desired the peace to break. - - Said Quincy:[37] “Crowds and shoutings - Can never end our strife. - But sadder scenes and sounds await - Our loss of wealth and life. - The structures fair of freedom - Men rear beneath the sky, - Press down on deep foundations, - Where thousands buried lie. - Our course we well may ponder: - Hope’s rainbow in the cloud - May lure a march beneath its arch - To flash and bolt and shroud.” - The people paused and ponder’d; - But not a single hand,[38] - When call’d to vote, but voted, - “The tea shall never land.” - - And then we met together; - If fighting must be done, - We knew we now should do it, - We boys of Lebanon. - In one day more—one only—[39] - The fleet and fort would hold - The tea that none could longer keep - From being bought and sold. - Close by we sought our quarters; - And from our knapsacks quick - We took our Indian guises; - And stain’d our cheeks with brick. - Anon, we half were ready, - With tomahawks in hand[40]; - And half, with muskets only,[40] - And heard our last command. - A moment then we waited; - We knew the danger there; - We looked above for courage; - We bent below in prayer. - We swore by God in heaven, - To keep our names from all; - We swore to stand together, - Till all in death should fall; - We swore, by truth and honor, - Should half essay to flee, - To cast that half the harbor in - To perish with the tea.[40] - - The twilight long had tarried; - The darkness deeper grew; - In old South Church, the people - Still ponder’d what to do. - - The dimness veil’d our coming. - We listen’d near the door, - Till Samuel Adams rose and said,[41] - “We here can do no more.” - And then we pass’d the word on: - “To Griffin’s wharf now!—run!” - For we knew where to do the rest, - We boys of Lebanon. - - Then off flew some as pickets - To stand and sound alarms, - Should coming spies or soldiers - Compel resort to arms. - The twilight long had tarried; - The darkness deeper grew; - “Full time,” said we, “to take our tea!” - The people thought so too. - - To Griffin’s wharf we led them; - We row’d, and reach’d the ships; - No captain there, nor sailor, - Dared open once his lips. - We crowded every gangway; - We brought out every chest; - We smash’d and dash’d it overboard. - The bay did all the rest. - No time was there for shouting, - No wish was there for strife; - Three hours we wrought in silence, - And thank’d the Lord for life. - Anon, the work was ended; - Anon, we back could row; - The heaven was black above us; - The harbor black below. - - None thought on shore to cheer us,[42] - Though all had waited there; - Their silence match’d the silence, - Where souls have flown to prayer. - Their silence match’d the silence - Of war’s reserves, whose breath - Is hush’d to hear the order, - That orders all to death. - Their silence match’d the silence - Of heavens, close and warm, - Ere, like a shell incasing hell, - They burst and free a storm. - - As hush’d as on a Sabbath,[42] - The people homeward went; - Their eyes alone transparent, - To show their souls’ content. - But we, we met together, - When all our work was done, - To toast the dawn of freedom, - We boys of Lebanon. - - Then, early stirr’d at morning, - We left with Paul Revere,[43] - Who through the south went riding off - To bear, from Boston, cheer. - We spread through all the country; - We told, how all was done; - Till all the shoremen stored away - A tomahawk and gun. - Throughout the land, no Tory - Would brave their sworn attack; - East India found no agent; - The tea that came went back. - - But, better far for freedom,[44] - There ran from mouth to mouth, - From soul to soul, a tide to roll, - And flow from north to south. - Beyond the power of local pride - Or envy to withstand, - It burst each colony’s borders - To form one common land.[44] - Before men talk’d of Union; - But now was Union won, - When everywhere each village square - Held boys of Lebanon. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] In order to indicate the relations existing, at the time of the -“Tea-Party,” between Boston and the surrounding towns, as well as to -give unity of form to this ballad, the story has been told as given, -some years ago, by David Kinnison, one of the survivors of the party, -who boarded the tea-ships. He stated that certain young men of Lebanon, -Me., united in a secret society—one of many existing at that time—and -formed alliances with clubs in Boston and in other places. These young -men determined to destroy the tea, and went to Boston for that purpose. -Having resolved to stand by each other, to throw overboard those who -faltered, and not to reveal each other’s names, twenty-four went on board -as Indians, half armed with muskets and bayonets, half with tomahawks and -clubs, and all expecting a fight.—See _Lossing’s Pict. Field Bk. of the -Rev._, vol. i, p. 499. - -[2] In 1770, “September, Hutchinson received the order ... which marks -the beginning of a system of ... prevention of American independence.... -Boston was made the rendezvous of all ships ... and the fortress ... -garrisoned by regular troops.... But the charter of Massachusetts -purposely and emphatically reserved to its governor the command of the -militia of the colony, and of its forts; the castle had been built and -repaired and garrisoned by the colony itself at its own expense; to ... -bestow it on the commander-in-chief was a plain violation of the charter, -as well as of immemorial usage.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. -45, pp. 368, 369. - -[3] “Never was a community more distressed or divided by fear and hope -than ... Boston. There the ... Board of the Commissioners of the Customs -was to be established ... as the lawyers of England ... decided,” in -1767, “that American taxation by Parliament was legal and constitutional, -the press of Boston sought support in something more firm than human -opinion.... ‘The law of nation,’ said they, ‘is the law of God.’”—_Idem_, -ch. 30, pp. 101, 102. - -[4] “‘Hancock and most of the party,’ said the governor, ‘are quiet, and -all of them, except Adams, abate their virulence.’”—_Idem_, ch. 47, p. -407. - -[5] “Bernard ... dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left without a -legislature.”—_Idem_, ch. 34, pp. 165. See also “Our First Break with the -British,” note 9. - -[6] “The officers screened their men from legal punishment, and sometimes -even rescued them from the constables.”—_Idem_, ch. 43, p. 334. See also -the whole account, in this chapter, of the Boston massacre. - -[7] “For New York, the Lords of Trade ... refused to Presbyterians -any immunities but such as might be derived from the British Law of -Toleration.”—_Idem_, vol. vi., ch. 7, p. 84. See also “Our First Break -with the British,” note 12. - -[8] “‘It was not reverence for kings,’ he (Adams) would say, ‘that -brought the ancestors of New England to America. They fled from kings and -bishops, and looked up to the King of kings. We are free, therefore,’ he -concluded, ‘and want no kings.’”—_Idem_, ch. 36, pp. 194. - -[9] “New York alone had been perfectly true to its engagements ... -impatient of a system of voluntary renunciation ... so unequally kept.... -Merchants of New York ... consulted those of Philadelphia on agreeing to -a general importation of all articles except of tea ... and now trade -between America and England was open in every thing but tea.”—_Idem_, -ch. 44, pp. 365, 366. “The students at Princeton burnt the New York -merchants’ letter.... Boston tore it into pieces” at a full meeting of -the trade.—_Idem._ - -[10] “The continued refusal ... to receive tea ... had brought distress -upon the East India Company.... Praying ... to export teas, free of all -duties, to America ... Lord North proposed to give to the company itself -the right of exporting its teas ... the ministry would not listen to the -thought of relieving America from taxation.”—_Idem_, ch. 49, pp. 457, 458. - -[11] “Massachusetts ... elected its Committee of Correspondence, fifteen -in number. New Hampshire and Connecticut did the same, so that all New -England and Virginia ... on the first emergency, ... could convene a -congress.”—_Idem_, p. 460. - -[12] “‘Brethren,’ they wrote, ‘we are reduced to this dilemma—either to -sit down quiet ... or to rise up and resist ... we earnestly request your -advice.’”—_Idem_, p. 476. - -[13] See “Our First Break with the British,” note 27. Also _Idem_, vol. -v., ch. 16, p. 310. - -[14] “A large flag was hung out on the pole at Liberty Tree; the bells in -the meeting-houses were rung from eleven till noon.”—_Idem_, vol. vi., -ch. 50, p. 473. - -[15] “Molineux read a paper requiring the consignee to promise not to -sell the teas, but to return them.... Then read ... a Resolve passed at -Liberty Tree that the consignees who should refuse ... were enemies to -their country.”—_Idem_, pp. 473, 474. - -[16] “Each and all answered: ‘I cannot comply.’”—_Idem._ - -[17] “There was once more a legal Town Meeting to entreat the consignees -to resign. Upon their repeated refusal, the town passed no vote ... but -... broke up.”—_Idem_, p. 475. - -[18] “The Committee of Correspondence ... authorized Samuel Adams to -invite ... Dorchester, Rozbury, etc., ... to hold a mass meeting ... the -assembly resolved unanimously that ‘the tea should be sent back ... at -all events.’”—_Idem_, pp. 477, 478. See also the reply of the towns, p. -483. - -[19] “Sunday, the 28th of November,” 1773.—_Idem_, p. 477. - -[20] “A party ... under ... Edward Proctor as its captain, was appointed -to guard the tea-ship.”—_Idem_, p. 478. - -[21] “The select men ... sought in vain for the consignees, who had taken -sanctuary in the castle.”—_Idem_, 477. - -[22] “On the same day, the council, who had been solicited by the -Governor and the consignees to assume the guardianship of the tea, -coupled their refusal with a reference ... that the tax upon it ... was -unconstitutional.”—_Idem_, p. 478. - -[23] “Let the tea be entered, and it would be beyond the power of the -consignees to send it back.”—_Idem_, p. 477. - -[24] “The Committee of Correspondence ... obtained from the Quaker Rotch, -who owned the Dartmouth, a promise not to enter the ship.”—_Idem_, p. 477. - -[25] “Faneuil Hall could not contain the people ... on Monday.”—_Idem_, -478. - -[26] “The Sheriff ... entered with a Proclamation from the Governor, -warning, exhorting, and requiring ... each ... unlawfully assembled -forthwith to disperse.... The words were received with hisses, ... and a -unanimous vote not to disperse.”—_Idem_, p. 479. - -[27] “We now declare to you our readiness to store them.”—_Idem._ - -[28] “Every ship owner was forbidden, on pain of being deemed an enemy -to his country, to import or bring as freight any tea from Great -Britain till the unrighteous act taxing it should be repealed, and this -vote was printed and sent to every seaport in the province, and to -England.”—_Idem_, p. 480. - -[29] “Two more tea ships ... arrived.”—_Idem._ - -[30] “A military watch was regularly kept up ... by night. The tolling of -the bells would have been the signal for a general uprising.”—_Idem._ - -[31] “The ships, ... on the twentieth day from their arrival, would be -liable to seizure.”—_Idem._ - -[32] “The Active and the Kingfisher ... were sent to guard the passages -out of the harbor.... Orders were given ... to load guns at the castle so -that no vessel ... might go to sea without a permit.”—_Idem_, p. 482. - -[33] “A meeting of the people ... directed ... the owner of the Dartmouth -to apply for a clearance. He did so ... accompanied by ... eight others -as witnesses.... The collector and comptroller unequivocally and -finally refused.... Then said they (_i.e._, the people) ... protest -immediately against the custom-house, and apply to the Governor for his -pass.”—_Idem_, pp. 483-5. - -[34] “‘They find themselves,’ ... said Hutchinson, ‘involved in -invincible difficulties.... The wealth of Hancock, Phillips, Rowe, -Dennie, and so many other men of property, seemed to him a security -against violence.”—_Idem_, pp. 480-2. “Hutchinson began to clutch at -victory.”—_Idem_, p. 484. - -[35] See note 15 under this Ballad. - -[36] “‘The only way to get rid of it,’ said Young (speaking of the tea in -one of the Boston public meetings), ‘is to throw it overboard.’”—_Idem_, -p. 478. - -[37] “‘Shouts and hozannas will not terminate the trials of this day ... -insatiable revenge which actuates our enemies ... must bring on the most -... terrible struggle this country ever saw.’ Thus spoke the younger -Quincy.”—_Idem_, p. 486. - -[38] “The whole assembly of seven thousand voted unanimously that the tea -should not be landed.”—_Idem._ - -[39] “A few hours would have placed the tea under the protection of the -admiral at the castle.”—_Idem_, 487. - -[40] See note 1 under this Ballad. - -[41] “A quarter before six Rotch appeared ... relating that the governor -had refused him a pass.... Samuel Adams rose and gave the word: ‘This -meeting can do nothing more to save the country.’ On the instant, a shout -was heard at the porch.... A body of men ... disguised as Indians, ... -encouraged by ... others, repaired to Griffin’s wharf, posted guards -to prevent the intrusion of spies, ... and in about three hours, three -hundred and forty chests of tea, being the whole quantity ... were -emptied into the bay without ... injury to other property.”—_Idem_, pp. -486, 487. - -[42] “The people around ... were ... still.... After the work was done, -the town became as still and calm as if it had been holy time.”—_Idem._ - -[43] “The next morning the Committee of Correspondence ... sent -Paul Revere, as express with the information to New York and -Philadelphia.”—_Idem._ - -[44] “The ministry had chosen the most effectual measures to unite the -colonies.... Old jealousies were removed, and perfect harmony subsisted -between all.”—_Idem_, p. 488. - - -THE CROWN’S FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN’S RIGHT. - -LEXINGTON, APRIL 19, 1775. - - “A galloping horse is coming[1] - Across the field!—do you mark?”— - We woke and flew to the window, - We peer’d away in the dark. - - The cloud-black night was bringing - The stir of a storm to fear. - What flash’d and clash’d!—who brought it?— - “I, I!” cried Paul Revere.[1] - - “The British are off for Concord[1] - To seize the colony’s arms! - And Dawes[1] and I stole over - The river and over the farms.” - - “Wait, wait,” we cried, “a moment; - You trust our lead awhile! - A cross-cut here to the highway - Will save you more than a mile!” - - “Come quick!” said Paul. “Their plan is - To bear the arms away, - And store them safe in Boston - Before the break of day.” - - “Yet wait you, Paul, and, waiting, - Tell how does Boston fare?” - “Alas,” he sigh’d, “no telling - How many will breakfast there. - - “You know that, since the Port-Bill[2] - Laid up our merchant-fleet, - We had starved, unless the farmers[3] - Had sent us food to eat. - - “To stop this, chains of pickets - Are strung on Boston Neck; - Our bay is black with frigates, - And all our trade they check. - - “And thus they vow to treat us, - Till, humbled by their might, - We hold no courts nor meetings,[4] - And yield each charter’d right. - - “Ay, ay, and let our leaders, - For serving us too well, - Be borne in chains to Britain,[5] - To fill some dungeon-cell. - - “The men who call’d our Congress[6] - They swear to seize to-day.— - High time to rouse the country! - High time to save the prey!” - - “Off, off!” we cried, and parted; - Then dragg’d from under the hay[7] - The guns our goods had cover’d - When borne from Boston Bay. - - Our wives pour’d out the treasure - They too had brought from town,[7] - The powder, flint, and bullets - Well tuck’d in box and gown. - - We arm’d in haste, but hardly - Had left with pouch and gun, - Before the bell rang, telling - Of Paul in Lexington. - - At midnight saw he Charlestown; - Not two had struck the clock[8] - Yet here the trembling belfry - Was rallying all its flock. - - They sought the green together; - Set guards on every road; - Then sought the inn to measure - The fate they might forebode. - - Ten times their band in number - Were those they watch’d before; - And here should they withstand them? - Or fly to join with more? - - “Stand here!” said Jonas Parker[19]; - “The law has arm’d the town.” - “And here,” said Clark,[9] their pastor, - “Be right, and shame the crown. - - “What, though they fire, and fight us?— - Make every heart rain blood? - Their guns, if heard in Concord, - May save it from the flood. - - “And if the blood we give them - Shall save the colony-stores, - Like fruit shall we be falling, - Red-ripe to all our cores. - - “And if the blood we give them - Be given to make us free, - The court may learn a lesson - And let our charters be. - - “We are few, but what are numbers?— - This church may proof supply - That right may move to triumph - With only one—to die!” - - He paused—the door flew open; - All heard a watch call out: - “Full drive a horseman coming! - Perhaps an army-scout!” - - And out they flew to face him; - But on the charger fleet - No enemy, only a neighbor,[10] - Came galloping up the street. - - “The foe are coming!” he stammer’d; - “They capture all they meet; - I dodg’d a man and musket; - And hark!—you hear their feet!” - - We hush’d and heard a tramping - That well might bring despair, - And cause the nerves to tremble - Their loads of fear to bear. - - “Sound drum[11] and gun,” said Parker,[10] - “And bell! If they but halt, - Where time is all we plan for, - We win without an assault.” - - They halted,[12] then drew nearer;— - What need of halting more? - They came, a veteran army; - We never had fought before. - - We stood but sixty farmers,[13] - Our homes and wives between, - Whose hands, up waved or wringing, - Seem’d fringing half the green. - - “Be theirs the blame,” said Parker[14]; - “Fire not till they fire first. - God’s house is here, and heaven, - If worse should come to worst.” - - Athwart the gray of morning, - None knew how large a force - Came crowding against the common, - With cries and orders hoarse. - - But yet across the common, - And just beyond the church, - We form’d a line to check there - The crown’s illegal search. - - At double quick, and onward, - With bayonets fix’d, they came; - Then wide and wild their red coats - About us burst like flame. - - Before them rode their leader, - And cried with many a curse: - “Lay down your arms, you villains![15] - You villains you, disperse!” - - But, true to law and country, - Scarce one his musket dropt[16]; - And then their column falter’d, - Broke up, moved slower, stopt. - - “You rebels!” roar’d the leader, - While up his pistol came—[17] - A hint his minions welcomed; - We saw them all take aim. - - We saw them, but we waited, - Till “Fire!” their leader cried,[17] - And shot, and howl’d, “Surround them!” - And round us turn’d to ride. - - They fired and surged about us,[18] - Ah me, a fiery flood!— - All overwhelm’d, our brothers - Were falling, drench’d in blood. - - “Serve God before the Briton!” - Cried Parker,[19] where he bled; - And nine of us were wounded; - And seven of us were dead.[20] - - “Away!” a voice repeated,[21] - “Away while yet we may. - To stay were now but murder! - To wall and fence away!” - - Off sped we then to shoot them, - Like Indians, one by one, - But walls, in smoke between us, - They deem’d it wise to shun. - - They cheer’d[22] and left for Concord. - Our wounded home we bore: - Then we too left for Concord, - To meet them there once more.[23] - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] April 18, 1775. “Gage ... secretly prepared an expedition to destroy -the colony’s stores at Concord.... Warren ... at ten o’clock despatched -William Dawes through Roxbury to Lexington, and Paul Revere ... by way -of Charlestown. Revere ... five minutes before the sentinels received -the order to prevent it ... rowed ... across Charles River ... beyond -Charlestown Neck ... intercepted by two British officers ... he ... -escaped to Medford. As he passed on he ... continued to rouse almost -every house on the way to Lexington.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. -vii., ch. 27, pp. 288, 289. - -[2] “The privilege of its harbor was to be discontinued, and the port -closed against all commerce ... until the king should be satisfied that -... it would obey the laws.”—This the Boston port bill.—_Idem_, vol. vi., -ch. 52, p. 511. - -[3] For contributions in food and money sent at this time to Boston, see -_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Am. Rev._, vol. i., p. 535. - -[4] “The second penal bill ... abrogated so much of its charter as -gave to its legislature the election of the council, abolished town -meetings ... and ... intrusted the returning of juries to the dependent -sheriff.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. vi., ch. 52, p. 525. - -[5] “A third penal measure ... transferred the place of trial of any -magistrates, revenue officers, or soldiers indicted for murder, or other -capital offense, ... to Nova Scotia or Great Britain.”—_Idem._ “Letters -were written to Gage ... to arrest ... all ... thought to have committed -treason ... that the Massachusetts Congress was a treasonable body. The -power of pardon ... did not extend to the president of ‘that seditious -meeting,’ nor to its most forward members, ‘who ... were to be brought to -condign punishment’ ... either in America or in England.”—_Idem_, vol. -vii., ch. 26, p. 284. - -[6] “Adams and Hancock ... whose seizure was believed to be -intended.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, pp. 291, 292. - -[7] In anticipation of an attack from the British, the Americans had -been collecting stores for some time. Cannon-balls, and muskets had -been brought from Boston into the country under loads of manure; and -cartridges and powder by the women, in candle-boxes, baskets, etc.—See -_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. i., p. 522. - -[8] “At two in the morning about one hundred and thirty answered their -names.... A watch was ... set and the company dismissed.... Some went -to their own homes, some to the tavern.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. -vii., ch. 27, p. 292. - -[9] “Lexington ... having for their minister ... Jonas Clark, the bold -inditer of patriotic state papers which may yet be read on the town -records.”—_Idem_, p. 291. - -[10] One Bowman escaped, and on horseback notified Capt. Parker ... of -the enemy’s approach.—_Lossing’s Pic. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 524. - -[11] “The last stars were vanishing ... when the foremost party led by -Pitcairn ... was discovered.... Alarm guns were fired, and the drums -beat.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 292. - -[12] “The British van, hearing ... halted ...; the remaining companies -came up; and ... the advance party hurried forward at double quick -time.”—_Idem_, p. 293. - -[13] “Less than seventy, perhaps less than sixty ... were paraded ... a -few rods north of the meeting-house.”—_Idem_, p. 292. - -[14] “The captain, John Parker, ordered every one to load with powder and -ball, but ... not to be the first to fire.”—_Idem._ - -[15] “Pitcairn rode in front and ... cried out: ‘Disperse, ye villains, -...; lay down your arms.’”—_Idem_, 293. - -[16] “The main part of the countrymen stood motionless.”—_Idem._ - -[17] “At this, Pitcairn discharged a pistol, and with a loud voice cried, -‘Fire.’”—_Idem._ - -[18] “The order was instantly followed, first by a few guns ... then by a -heavy close and deadly discharge”—_Idem._ - -[19] “Jonas Parker (not the captain) ... had promised never to run from -British troops, and he kept his vow ... he lay on the post which he took -at the morning’s drum beat.”—_Idem_, pp. 293, 294. - -[20] “Seven of the men of Lexington were killed; nine wounded.”—_Idem._ - -[21] “In disparity of numbers, the common was a field of murder, not a -battle; Parker therefore ordered his men to disperse. Then, and not till -then, did a few of them return the British fire.”—_Idem._ Behind stone -walls and buildings. See _Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 524. - -[22] “The British ... huzzaed thrice by way of triumph, and after ... -less than thirty minutes, marched on for Concord.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, -vol vii., ch. 28, p. 297. - -[23] “In Lincoln (after the affair at Concord) the minute-men of -Lexington, commanded by John Parker, renewed the fight.”—_Idem_, p. 305. - - -THE RALLY OF THE FARMERS. - -CONCORD, APRIL 19, 1775. - - The Concord men had warning,[1] - And flew from all their farms, - Long hours before the daybreak, - To save the colony’s arms. - - And, days before the warning, - Our Salem Congress, too, - Had known their stores were menaced, - And here had left but few.[2] - - Yet these to drag and bury[1] - Or hide in woods and rills, - Men flock’d to town and from it, - Like ants about their hills. - - But soon, when came the morning, - The “red-coats”[3] rose in sight, - With guns above them flashing - Like surf in seas of light. - - Then, one by one, escaping - What could but bode them ill, - The farmers cross’d the river, - And climb’d, anon, a hill.[4] - - To the hill there came from Bedford,[4] - And Littleton, and Carlisle, - And Lincoln, Chelmsford, Westford, - More men through each defile. - - To the hill there came a rumor[5] - How Lexington had fared, - But no one spoke of yielding, - And all for strife prepared. - - From the hill they watch’d the village,[6] - Where every house to scout, - Like busy bees the red-coats[3] - Went bustling in and out. - - Despite our wives protesting, - Their hostile blows would shower, - Till scores of barrels, bursting, - Beclouded all with flour.[7] - - Ere long, they spiked our cannon, - And fill’d our pond with balls,[7] - And piled the cannon’s wagons - To block the roads like walls. - - And then this foe that fear’d it, - Our “liberty-pole” cut down,[7] - And burn’d it with the wagons - That yet might burn the town. - - Soon seem’d our court-house burning,[7] - With none the flames to stay;[8] - But “Justice,” cried our leader, - “Will house in heaven to-day. - - “Now wait we till these troopers - Of luck have had their fill, - And part of them drift hither, - Or all assault our hill. - - “The hill, if they move up it, - Their lines can never take; - Like waves that dash at headlands, - Their wavering ranks will break.” - - Just then, they most had started, - Though some were plundering still, - To seize two bridges crossing - The stream beneath the hill.[9] - - To seize them was to sever - Our women from our men, - Our homes from those who own’d them, - And what would follow then? - - “The north bridge,”—argued Hosmer[10]; - “Keep back from it the foe!” - “No man of mine from Acton,” - Said Davis,[10] “fears to go.” - - And then our leader Barrett[11] - The order “Forward!” gave, - Where moved the men of Acton[11] - Behind their captain brave. - - With arms beside them trailing, - In double file and slow,[12] - Not daunted by the danger, - These farmers faced their foe. - - The British ran to ruin - The bridge, and then retire.[13] - “Hold!” cried our Major Buttrick[14]; - They answer’d but to fire. - - Dead Davis fell, and Hosmer.[15] - “In God’s name,” Buttrick[16] cried, - “Fire, fire!”—and two fell dying - Upon the British side. - - Thus Heaven, where hung the purpose - A grander man to mould, - Had Saxon hurl’d on Saxon, - The new world on the old. - - Our foe in haste retreated.[17] - Their colonel, where they sped, - March’d forth to reinforce them; - Then all for Boston led.[18] - - But now our men from Reading[19] - And Sudbury hurried out, - And Woburn, wild to flank them: - Their march became a rout.[19] - - We had but half their number[20]; - But, wrongs avenging thus, - Their red coats had been safer - With Spanish bulls than us. - - Though guards at every turning, - Would cover well their flanks; - Our smoke, from ambush leaping,[21] - Shot, ghost-like, through their ranks. - - From Dedham, Essex, Danvers, - From Chelsea, Marblehead, - From Dorchester, and Brookline,[22] - Our men to meet them sped. - - Back slunk their line before us, - A weary, wounded snake: - Up hill, down dale, round river, - It wound and bled and brake. - - The whole reserve in Boston[23] - Pour’d out to help them back; - But all the trees and houses - Were haunting now their track. - - They turn’d to shoot our mothers; - They turn’d our babes to kill; - Our vengeance rose at Cambridge,[24] - And raged at Prospect Hill.[25] - - Down sweeping, Heath and Warren - A charge to break them led; - Then Pickering’s men from Salem[25] - Burst, flood-like o’er their head.[26] - - Full night had known its fullest, - Ere all their fears were still’d; - Full ninescore had we wounded, - And more than threescore kill’d.[27] - - Nor, till they touched the river,[28] - And by the fleet had pass’d, - Our eyes that faced the danger - Were once behind us cast. - - And then, alas to view it! - Hot, bitter tears we shed; - Full thirty found we wounded, - And wellnigh sixty dead.[27] - - Our wives had lost their husbands; - Our mothers lost their boys; - Our homes were fill’d with mourning, - And gone were all our joys. - - Yet, when we clasp’d those corpses, - As over Huns of old, - It seem’d the skies were filling - With souls for ours enroll’d. - - Our prayers when all were buried, - Were vows to Heaven o’erhead, - From hearts that hail’d the glory - Of joining there their dead. - - Then, too, we held our weapons; - Had foil’d the British aims; - And held our homes:—our women[29] - Had quench’d the court-house flames. - - Our men had met the army, - And fought, and from that hour - They all had grown to soldiers, - Who knew and felt their power. - - And so, despite the anguish - That fill’d the morrow’s morn, - The voice that wept betoken’d - A nation, newly born. - - “And I,” said Samuel Adams,[30] - “Thank God this day to see!” - “And I,” came back from Hancock[30]; - “It makes the new world free!” - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] “There, at about two in the morning, a peal from the belfry of the -meeting-house” called the inhabitants.—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. -27, p. 290. “There, in the morning hours, men ... were hiding what was -left of cannon and military stores.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, p. 297. - -[2] “The attempt had for several weeks been expected; ... in consequence, -the committee of safety removed a part of the public stores and secreted -the cannon.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, p. 288. - -[3] “Red-coats,” a nickname given to the British soldiers, who wore red -coats. - -[4] “About seven o’clock the British marched ... under the brilliant -sunshine into Concord.... The Americans ... therefore retreated ... till -... they gained high ground about a mile from ... the town.... There they -waited for aid.... Between nine and ten the number had increased to more -than four hundred ... from Bedford, ... Westford, ... from Littleton, -from Carlisle, and from Chelmsford.”—_Idem_, ch. 28, pp. 298, 299. - -[5] “The Americans had as yet received only uncertain rumors of the -morning’s events at Lexington.”—_Idem_, p. 300. - -[6] “The Americans saw before them ... British troops ... occupying their -town.”—_Idem._ - -[7] “Sixty barrels of flour were broken in pieces; ... five hundred -pounds of ball were thrown into a mill-pond. The liberty-pole and -several carriages for artillery were burned; and the court-house took -fire.”—_Idem._ - -[8] “At the sight of fire in the village, the impulse seized them ‘to -march into the town for its defence.’”—_Idem._ - -[9] This is literally true. See description of the circumstances.—_Idem._ - -[10] “James Hosmer urged to dislodge the enemy at the North Bridge.... -Capt. Isaac Davis, of Acton, said: ‘I have not a man that is afraid to -go.’”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., pp. 526, 527. - -[11] “Barrett, the colonel, ... then gave the order to advance, but -‘not to fire’ unless attacked.... Davis, looking at the men of Acton, -... cried: ‘March.’ His company ... led the way towards the bridge, he -himself at their head, and by his side Major John Buttrick, of Concord, -with John Robinson, ... lieutenant-colonel, ... but on this day a -volunteer without command.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 302. - -[12] “In double file with trailed arms.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, -vol. i., p. 527. - -[13] “The British began to take up the planks.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. -vii., ch. 28, p. 302. - -[14] “Major Buttrick called on them to desist.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field -Book_, vol. i., p. 190. - -[15] “A volley followed, and Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer ... fell -dead.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 303. - -[16] “Buttrick ... cried aloud: ... ‘Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God’s -sake, fire!’... Two of the British fell.”—_Idem._ - -[17] “The British retreated in disorder toward the main body.”—_Idem._ - -[18] “In ... Concord, Smith ... showed by marches and counter-marches, -his uncertainty of purpose. At last ... he left the town, to retreat the -way he came.”—_Idem_, p. 304. - -[19] “The minute-men and militia ... ran over the hills, ... placed -themselves in ambush, ... reinforced by men who were coming in from all -around, and ... the chase of the English began. Among the foremost were -the minute-men of Reading, ... of Billerica, ... the ... Sudbury company. -The men from Woburn came up in great numbers and well armed.”—_Idem_, pp. -304, 305. - -[20] “Of the Americans, there were never more than four hundred -together at any one time; but, as some grew tired, others took their -places.”—_Idem._, p. 308. The first detachment of British troops numbered -“not less than eight hundred.”—_Idem_, ch. 27, p. 288. - -[21] “Every piece of wood, every rock ... served as a lurking-place ... -‘the road was lined’ by an uninterrupted fire from behind stone walls and -trees.”—_Idem_, p. 305. - -[22] “Two waggons, sent out to them with supplies, were waylaid and -captured by Payson, the minister of Chelsea. From far and wide minute-men -were gathering. The men of Dedham, ... from Essex, and the lower -towns, ... The company from Danvers, ... lost eight men.... Below West -Cambridge, the militia from Dorchester, Roxbury, and Brookline came -up.”—_Idem_, pp. 307-9. - -[23] Lord Percy reinforced them with “about twelve hundred men.”—_Idem_, -ch. 28, p. 306. - -[24] “West Cambridge, where Joseph Warren and William Heath, ... the -latter a provincial general officer, gave ... organization to the -resistance, and the fight grew sharper.”—_Idem_, p. 308. - -[25] “The Americans pressed upon the rear of the fugitives, whose retreat -could not have been more precipitate ... had Pickering with his fine -regiment from Salem and Marblehead been alert enough to have intercepted -them in front ... they must have surrendered.”—_Idem_, p. 309. - -[26] See _Lossing’s Field Book_, vol. 1, p. 528, etc.; also _Bancroft’s -U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 308. - -[27] According to Lossing, the British lost sixty-five killed, one -hundred and eighty wounded, and twenty-eight prisoners; the Americans -fifty-nine killed, thirty-one wounded, and fifty missing.—See -_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. 1, p. 530. “The loss of the British -in killed, wounded, and missing was two hundred and seventy-three.... -Forty-nine Americans were killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five -missing.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 309. - -[28] “The guns of the ships of war ... saved them ... while they were -ferried across Charles River.”—_Idem._ - -[29] Mrs. Moulton extinguished the fire at the Concord -court-house.—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 526. - -[30] “Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams ... exclaimed: ‘Oh! what -a glorious morning is this!’ for he saw that his country’s independence -was ... hastening on.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 296. -“Adams and Hancock, whose proscription had already been divulged ... were -compelled by persuasion to retire toward Woburn.”—_Idem_, p. 292. - - -ETHAN ALLEN. - -TICONDEROGA, MAY 10, 1775. - - The bell that rang at Lexington - Had call’d our men to arms; - And but their wives and children now - Were home to work the farms. - - But soon, like words men whisper forth - Near foes who plot their death, - From farm to farm bad news was borne - On hush’d and trembling breath. - - “Fill’d full of ‘red-coats,’[1] Boston seem’d,” - They said, “a wounded prey - That yet drank in fresh draughts of blood[1] - From fleets that fill’d the bay; - - “To check their march, like mushrooms grew - Our earthworks, night by night; - But, if attack’d, our men would not - Have arms with which to fight.”[2] - - At Hartford our Assembly met,[3] - And heard this; nor in vain. - It sent men off to seize what fill’d - The fort on Lake Champlain. - - These pass’d to Pittsfield,[4] there were join’d - By Easton, Brown, and more; - Then on to Bennington,[5] and there - Could muster full twoscore. - - Too few were they to brave a fort - Well mann’d at every gun; - Yet those who slight the light of stars - But seldom see their sun. - - The sun that dawn’d before them here, - And brought them help indeed, - Was Ethan Allen’s[5] blade, that flash’d - His mountain troops to lead. - - And thick as rills that rift in spring - Each bond the sun destroys, - Came pouring over all those hills - His grand Green Mountain Boys. - - Two hundred[6] hardy men they were - As ever mountains rear’d; - They fought with bears and frost at home, - And naught abroad they fear’d. - - Erelong, a shout went ringing out; - For all had made their choice, - And all had chosen Allen chief; - And “Forward!” call’d his voice.[7] - - But one who heard his order, spurr’d - His charger from the rear, - And cried: “In me your leader see,[8] - For Cambridge sent me here.” - - “And Cambridge, Cambridge, what would she?” - Cried Mott[3] and Phelps, “Nay, Nay!— - ’Twas Hartford sent us forth, and we - Bade Allen lead the way.” - - “And we,” cried those Vermonters true, - “We came with Allen here; - And all agree that none but he - Shall lead the mountaineer.” - - The other hush’d when this he heard; - And give them honor all: - They faced the traitor Arnold[8] thus, - Who thus began his fall. - - Give honor due to Allen too; - High compliment it is, - That, when the traitor train’d with him, - He was no friend of his. - - Three days they tramp’d, then Allen said: - “We near the lake I see. - Let some go north and some go south, - And some straight on with me.[9] - - “Let those that push for north and south - Row off with all that floats, - And make for Shoreham, where we all - Will cross when come the boats.[9] - - “And let the others fall in line - Behind my lantern’s glare. - Beyond, Ticonderoga waits; - At morn, we breakfast there.” - - Then, down the hunter’s trail, our line - Wound on as winds a snake, - And, late at night, prepared to spring, - Lay coil’d beside the lake. - - “Now off,” said Allen, “north and south, - And hail each coming oar.” - Alas, to think that Heaven above - Should favor man no more! - - To north and south we scatter’d far, - We listened o’er and o’er, - But not a sound, from north or south, - The empty breezes bore. - - A few there were could cross at last,— - Alas, but all too few! - Night sped, and Allen, by the fort - Could count scarce eighty-two.[10] - - “My men,” he mutter’d,[11] “look—the dawn!— - Before can cross the lake - One boat again for other men, - The day in full will break. - - “Yet note the wall. You know it well; - Ten times our force, if seen, - Though clad in mail, could never scale - Those cannon thick between. - - “And here the boats.—What vote you all?— - Your guns lift up,—no breath.[11] - The lake cross here?—or weapons there? - Face cowardice?—or death? - - “Your guns all up?[12] your hearts all true? - How well! Had one turn’d back,[13] - Yon mounts were his no longer save - To hedge and hide his track. - - “He easier might have faced, at home, - When snows were all aflame, - The sun! than wives and little ones - Whose cheeks would fire with shame. - - “How oft have you, when driven off - The land you once had bought,[14] - Too poor to buy again a home - For those for whom you wrought; - - “How oft, when all was torn from you,[14] - And you had urged in vain - Your chartered rights, the common law, - And all that God makes plain; - - “How oft then have you pray’d aloud - That Heaven would send you down - A chance from off your country’s brow - To hurl the hated crown! - - “That chance has come! But once for all - Can dawn a day like this. - And those who will not use their light - Will all life’s glory miss. - - “But if one win it, yonder sun - Sheds not a splendor fit - With which to rise above his name, - Or earth that welcomes it! - - “Yes, earth! For they forgot, our lords, - They dealt with Puritans, - True sons of those whom Cromwell led, - Whose right means every man’s; - - “Who take their individual ills - For proofs of general pain, - And, where one prince has made them wince, - Fight all, that man may reign. - - “And they forgot, that mountaineers, - High rangers, like the Swiss, - Would learn to value freedom’s world - By looking down on this! - - “And yet should prove it! Ay, my men, - To-day they all shall see - How freemen, forced to care for self, - Take care to keep it free. - - “Now quick, but quiet; start with steel— - Nor fire till sure to hit— - First through the gate, if through we may; - If not, then over it. - - “I lead. You follow. Should I fall, - Move on: my corpse may give - At least a vantage ground! Move up: - The cause, it is, must live!” - - Then Allen turn’d, and Arnold[15] too, - His foremost rival still, - Then Brown and Easton,—all the line - Stole softly up the hill.[16] - - A startled sentry seized his gun, - And aim’d at Allen’s face[17]; - The flint miss’d fire, and Allen rush’d, - And wrench’d it from its place. - - The sentry dodg’d, and darted down - A passage through the mound.[17] - In pour’d our men; you might have thought - The sentry would be drown’d. - - Swift, one by one, by Allen led, - They plung’d along the gloom: - No fear of those who, just beyond, - Might make the place their tomb. - - On ran the sentry; on, our men.— - Their mountains gave no game, - Nor guide so quick to apprehend - The grounds on which they came. - - At last, uploom’d in dusky light, - And choking all the way, - A man who poised his bayonet[17] - To hold them all at bay. - - “Take heed!” he call’d. “We take it, man,” - Hiss’d Allen, where he sped; - Whose clashing sword had glanced the gun, - And gash’d the soldier’s head. - - “Have mercy!” groan’d the wounded wretch. - Said Allen: “Drop your gun. - Hist, hist, my men! The walls are ours. - Now seize the barrack—run!” - - No need to bid them! In a trice - Our boys had crown’d their race; - And closed, with shouts like thousands, round - The startled sleeping-place.[18] - - Meantime, “The captain!” Allen cried; - And scarce the word had said, - Ere on a door he pounded loud[19] - To rouse his foe from bed. - - It open’d partly, where behold! - In robes as white as fleece, - The chief, beside his blushing bride, - A picture stood of peace.[20] - - “Surrender!”[20] order’d Allen then; - “If not, by Him on high, - Your garrison—without a hope - For quarter from us—die!” - - The captain’s anger now had burst - The spell of night’s repose. - “Surrender?” hiss’d he—then turn’d pale - To hear loud shouts that rose. - - “And who are you?” he stammer’d out. - “And whose is this ado? - And whose the name in which you come - And bid us yield to you?” - - “The name of Great Jehovah,[21] and”— - Said Allen, drawing nigh, - “The Continental Congress!”—then - He flash’d his sword on high. - - “Jehovah?—Congress?” growl’d his foe; - But, cow’d by Allen’s eye,[20] - Jehovah, in the man, at least, - He did not dare defy. - - The day was won; the garrison - Filed out across the green. - More generous welcome where they came, - I think were seldom seen. - - Not one who bore a cumbering gun - Or lugg’d a weighty sword, - But we to ease him of his load, - Would our relief afford. - - Alack, we stack’d our shoulders full, - Relieving them of care, - Then proved our good-will, Arab-like, - By taking breakfast there. - - For days and days we never ceas’d - Attending to them thus, - Until, as pride escorts a bride, - We walk’d them home with us.[22] - - And then the fort—ah me, to see - The trouble rare it took - To clear the space, and give the place - A less unfriendly look! - - Tenscore of cannon, mounds of flint,[23] - And tons of guns and balls— - We waited weeks, to find the means - To cart them out the walls. - - But first, we mail’d a message home; - And I have heard it said, - In many a place, the floor was wet - With tears when it was read. - - At Cambridge, at the news, the air - With such a shout was rent, - It almost equal’d there the roar - Of guns our fort had sent. - - And Allen?—Allen lived and thrived, - And conquer’d all that tract, - Where Britain could not hold a fort[24] - That once our boys attack’d. - - But war has tricks; and life has turns; - Misfortunes find the true; - And Allen once, across the sea, - Was borne a prisoner too.[25] - - Yet heroes’ homes are human hearts, - And England’s crowds would cling - About the form of him they felt - Was grander than their king. - - He came back home, and church bells rang— - You might, in truth, have thought[25] - A second Christmas day had come, - And Saviour’s advent brought;— - - And guns were fired; and, hail’d with cheers, - Vermont bade all men call - This bravest, brightest of her sons, - The General of them all.[25] - - And all the people while he lived, - They loved his eagle eye[26]; - And when he died—ah, friends, you know - Such spirits cannot die! - - To-day, go search those mountain woods - And valleys, humbly trod - By souls whose pure, strong faith holds on - To country, home, and God; - - Ask men who own those towering trees, - Or plant the hillock steep; - The school-boys, bounding back from school, - Or watching well the sheep; - - The housewives, where in thrifty homes - The generous meals are spread; - The sisters, gently handing down - The Book when prayers are said; - - Ask all, who value aught they own, - Whose fame all value most?— - The flashing eye and flushing cheek - Will figure him they boast. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] The British forces, nicknamed “red-coats,” were reinforced after the -battle of Lexington.—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev._, vol. i., -p. 537. - -[2] “The provisional Assembly of Connecticut, after the battle of -Lexington, concerted a plan to seize the munitions of war at Ticonderoga, -for the use of the army ... at Cambridge and Roxbury.”—_Lossing’s Pict. -Field Book of the Rev._, vol. i., p. 123. - -[3] “Ed. Mott and Noah Phelps ... committee to ascertain ... strength of -... fort and to raise men.... Sixteen men went with them.”—_Idem._ - -[4] “At Pittsfield Col. Easton and John Brown (afterwards Col.) joined -them.... Col. Easton by the time he reached Bennington had enlisted forty -of his men.”—_Idem._ - -[5] “At Bennington, they found Ethan Allen ... he sent the alarm through -the hills ... about one hundred Green Mountain Boys and near fifty -soldiers from Massachusetts ... rallied.”—_Bancroft’s Hist. U. S._, vol. -vii., ch. 32, p. 339. - -[6] Lossing says in all about two hundred and seventy men went on the -expedition.—_Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 124. - -[7] “The men unanimously elected Ethan Allen their chief.”—_Bancroft’s U. -S._, vol. vii., ch. 23, p. 339. - -[8] “Arnold joined them here with a commission from the Committee of -Safety in Cambridge, and claimed the right to command. After Ticonderoga -was taken, he assumed command, but his orders were not heeded. He then -sent a written protest to Massachusetts, but this State sustained -Allen.”—See _Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 124, etc. - -[9] “It was arranged that Allen ... with the main body should march -to Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga; that Capt. Herrick should push to -Skenesborough, ... seize all the boats there and join Allen at Shoreham, -and that Capt. Douglas should go ... beyond Crown Point and secure all -boats that way.”—_Idem._ - -[10] “With the utmost difficulty ... eighty-three men crossing the lake -with Allen, landed near the garrison. The boats were sent back; ... if -... waited for their could be no surprise.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. -vii., ch. 32, p. 339. - -[11] “As the first beams of morning broke ... Allen addressed them, ... -‘we must ... quit our pretentions to valor, or possess this fortress ... -it is a desperate attempt, I do not urge it contrary to will. You that -will undertake voluntarily, poise your firelocks.’”—_Idem._ - -[12] “At the word, every firelock was poised.”—_Idem._ - -[13] Allen “drew up his men in three ranks on the shore, ... and in a -low, distinct tone harangued them.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. -i., p. 124. - -[14] “The king in council had ... dismembered New Hampshire, and annexed -to New York the country north of Massachusetts and west of Connecticut -River ... it was, therefore, held by the royalists that the grants -made under the sanction of the royal governor of New Hampshire were -annulled. Many of the lands for which the king had received the price -... were granted anew, and the former purchasers were compelled to -redeem them.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 10., p. 214. “Sixty-seven -families in as many houses ... had elected their own municipal officers; -founded three several public schools; set their meeting-house among the -primeval forests ... called their village Bennington. The royal officers -at New York disposed anew of that town, as well as of others near it, so -that the king was known ... chiefly by his agents, who had knowingly sold -his lands twice over.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. v., ch. 14., pp. 291, 292. - -[15] Allen led the party, “Arnold keeping emulously at his side.”—_Idem_, -vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 339. - -[16] “They marched quickly but stealthily ... to the sally -port.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. 124. - -[17] “The sentinel snapped his fusee at (Allen), but it missed, and he -retreated within the fort under a covered way. The Americans followed, -and were thus guided ... to the parade within the barracks. There another -sentinel made a thrust ... but a blow upon the head from Allen’s sword -made him beg for quarter.”—See _Idem_. - -[18] “The Americans rushed into the fort ... and raising the Indian -war-whoop, ... formed on the parade in hollow square to face each of the -barracks.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 339. - -[19] “Allen ... went ... to the door of the quarters of Capt. Delaplace, -... and giving three loud raps ... ordered him to appear, or the whole -garrison should be sacrificed.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. -125. - -[20] “Delaplace appeared in shirt and drawers, with the frightened face -of his pretty wife peering over his shoulder.”—_Idem._ - -[21] “‘Deliver me the fort instantly!’ said Allen. ‘By what authority?’ -asked Delaplace. ‘In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental -Congress.’ answered Allen. Delaplace ... at sight of Allen’s drawn sword -near his head ... gave up the garrison.”—_Bancroft’s U. S._, vol. vii., -ch. 32, p. 340. - -[22] “The garrison of forty-eight men were surrendered prisoners of war, -and ... sent to Hartford.”—See _Lossing’s Pict. Field Book_, vol. i., p. -125. - -[23] “120 pieces of cannon, 50 swivels, 2 ten-inch mortars ... 10 tons of -musket-balls, three cartloads of flints ... 100 stand of small-arms, 10 -casks of powder, 2 brass cannon, 30 barrels of flour, 18 barrels of port, -etc.”—See _Idem_. - -[24] “This success was followed by others; the capture of a -sloop-of-war and St. John’s Fort.... In the autumn of the same year, -he was twice sent into Canada to excite rebellion against the English -government.”—_Appleton’s Cyclopædia of Biography._ - -[25] “Allen was sent to Canada in 1775; was taken prisoner and carried -to England, where his appearance excited great interest. On his return, -he was received with great demonstrations of joy in Bennington, and made -Maj.-Gen. of Vermont. He died in 1789, aged fifty.”—See _Idem_. - -[26] Allen is said to have had a remarkably keen and expressive eye. - - -HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL.[1] - -NARRAGANSETT BAY, JULY 10, 1777. - - “Lord Prescott, down in Newport,” - Brave William Barton[1] said, - “Would make all show his colors, though - Their own blood dyed them red. - - “Perhaps he thinks our natives, - On England’s footstool here, - Did they not feel his lordly heel, - Might deem him not a peer.” - - “Say footpath here,” said Potter[8]; - “Just now their doorsteps go - To pave the way[2] where, once a day, - His lordship walks, you know. - - “And then if those who meet him - Go by, nor doff their caps,[3] - Aha, his cane will fall like rain, - To make them mend their lapse.” - - “Small spite! and yet,” said Barton: - “A wrinkle shows the will. - A grazing ass that kicks but grass - Has tricks that yet may kill. - - “Who minds it, though a Quaker, - Forsooth, lift not his hat; - Yet one in town, he first rode down,[4] - Then had him chain’d for that. - - “And Tripp[5]—when spies had jail’d him; - And none knew what it meant; - And when, half dead with fear, they said, - His wife to see him went; - - “Said Prescott: ‘Come and see him - When hang’d[5] and no dispute.’ - Who domineers o’er woman’s tears - Is less a man than brute! - - “And I, for one, would enter - This British lion’s lair, - And volunteer to fetch him here, - Or die beside him there.” - - “Sure death!” his comrades mutter’d; - “The troops guard every road. - A man to try your scheme should fly; - We know no other mode.” - - “He quarters now,” said Barton, - “At Overton’s,[6] the Friend’s, - Whose house is by the bay-road nigh - Where by the bay it bends. - - “The roads are block’d by soldiers; - We cannot reach him thus. - What then?—A way across the bay - May yet remain for us. - - “I know three frigates guard it.[7] - But when, some moonless night, - By clouds beset, the wind and wet - Have swept the sky of light; - - “And when the breeze and breakers - Out-sound a rowlock’s beat, - Amid the roar a muffled oar - Might safely pass the fleet.” - - His comrades hush’d and heard him; - Then swore to try the feat; - And soon with more each held an oar - To row him past the fleet.[8] - - The night was dark and stormy; - The bay was wild and wide; - And, deftly weigh’d, each paddle-blade - Like velvet stroked the tide. - - They near’d the English frigates, - They heard their sentries’ feet, - They heard a bell, and then “All’s well”[9] - Re-echo’d through the fleet. - - They pull’d around a guard-boat[9]; - They struck the land, and then - Filed softly out, and moved about, - Like shadows more than men. - - They split in three small parties[10]; - And each stole softly round, - A sentry near a guard-house here, - And there a camping ground. - - At last the three were guarding - The house on every side, - With six or eight before the gate[13] - They just had open’d wide. - - “Your countersign!” a sentry[11] - Call’d out; and Barton said: - “Have none to-night”;—his tone was light— - “Have here deserters fled?” - - “Ah, from the boats?” the guard said. - “Yes,” Barton hiss’d, “from one!” - But as he hiss’d he clutch’d, nor miss’d, - The sentry’s throat and gun. - - The sentry gasp’d and gave it; - Lay gunless, gagg’d, and bound. - Our men had pass’d the door, at last, - Nor yet had roused a sound. - - The Quaker sat there reading[12] - “What would you have?” he said; - Then, when they ask’d for Prescott, cast - His eyes up o’er his head. - - As whist as cats the captors - Crept up each tell-tale stair,[13] - And cross’d the floor to where a door - Was lock’d, nor time to spare. - - Then one of them—Jack Sisson,[13] - A burly, patriot black— - Bent down his frame, and, taking aim, - Burst through, and flung it back. - - They saw the general starting,[14] - And bounding forth from bed, - And seizing hold his watch of gold - That hung beside his head. - - “Let darkness take you robbers - From sword,” he cried, “and shot!” - “No robber harms; put up those arms,” - He heard, nor left the spot. - - “We came to take you captive, - Alive,” he heard, “or dead. - If you alarm the camp, the harm - Will fall on you,” they said.[14] - - “Move on.”—“I dress,” he told them.[15] - But they, in tones polite, - Replied: “Not so. We came, you know, - Without our wives to-night. - - “Your cloak is all you need now, - The night is black and hot. - Your last resort—our time too short!— - Thank God you were not shot.” - - Down stairs they march’d their captive. - But hark! In some far room - A window crash’d—and Barton dash’d - Out doors and through the gloom. - - No harm was done; for others - Had swiftly caught and bound - The general’s aid, just where he made - A leap to reach the ground.[16] - - So now they held three captives; - And these, by daggers led, - They slipt about the camp and out, - As needles flit with thread. - - At last they reach’d the water, - At last, row’d o’er the tide; - None heard their oars upon the shores, - Or boats by which they hied. - - They pass’d the English frigates, - They heard their sentries’ feet, - They heard, “All’s well!” call’d out to tell - How fool’d had been the fleet.[9] - - And then their stroke was bolder: - For Warwick Point[17] they bore. - A coach and pair were there to bear - Their captive far from shore. - - Here[17] Prescott broke the silence: - “Your push was boldly plann’d.” - Said Barton: “Yes, and with success”; - And took the reins in hand. - - Success it was for Newport. - The foe knew all it meant; - They lock’d no more a prison door - Against our innocent. - - Success it was for Barton. - In days like those of old - No envy rife, nor party strife, - Would slur a deed so bold. - - Through all our homes in Newport, - Through all our camps afar, - Men praised his name, and hoped he came - As victory’s morning star. - - Where Freedom’s day was dawning, - The man, whose light so shone - To bless the land, appear’d more grand - Because he rose alone. - - Erelong, a grateful Congress - Chose one that for him brought - A sword on which inscriptions rich - Recorded all they thought.[18] - - In green Vermont they gave him - A generous land-grant too.[18] - A part of what we all had got - By fighting, seem’d his due. - - But what by far was fittest, - And cheer’d in every tent, - Were words that raised this man we praised - To lead our regiment.[19] - - Where few and frail the forces - Our land could call its own, - All felt that he would steadfast be, - And fight, though left alone. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] “Brig.-Gen. Prescott ... had been nurtured in the lap of aristocracy, -and taught all its exclusive precepts.... He was a tyrant at heart, -and, having the opportunity, he exercised a tyrant’s plentiful -prerogatives.”—_Lossing’s Pict. Field Bk. of the Rev._, vol. ii., -p. 74. “William Barton was a native of Providence, Rhode Island.... -Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia of his State ... when he planned and -executed the expedition for the abduction of General Prescott,” who -commanded the British forces at Newport, Rhode Island.—_Idem_, p. 75. -_Note._ - -[2] “Prescott ... had a fine sidewalk made for his accommodation along -Pelham and up Spring streets; for which purpose, he took the door -steps.”—_Idem_, p. 75. _Note._ - -[3] “His habit, while walking the streets, if he saw any of the -inhabitants conversing together, was to shake his cane at them, and say: -‘Disperse ye rebels.’ He was also in the habit, when he met citizens -in the streets, of commanding them to take off their hats, and, unless -the order was instantly complied with, it was enforced by a rap of his -cane.”—_Idem_, p. 74. - -[4] “He overtook a Quaker who did not doff his hat. The general, who was -on horseback, dashed ... him against a stone wall, knocked off his hat, -and then put him under guard.”—_Idem._ - -[5] “Prescott caused many citizens of Newport to be imprisoned, some of -them for months, without any assigned reason. Among others ... William -Tripp.... He had a ... family, but the tyrant would not allow him to hold -any communication with them either written or verbal.... His wife sought -... a personal interview.... A captain, ... echoing his master’s words -... informed her, as he shut the door in her face, that he expected her -husband would be hung as a rebel in less than a week.”—_Idem._ - -[6] “General Prescott was quartered at the house of a Quaker, named -Overton.”—_Idem_, p. 75. - -[7] “These were three British frigates with their guard-boats ... almost -in front of Prescott’s quarters.”—_Idem._ - -[8] “With a few chosen men, Barton embarked in four whale boats with -muffled oars at Warwick Point at nine o’clock in the evening.”—_Idem._, -p. 75. “Mr. Barton, by request, furnished me with the following list -of the names of those who accompanied his father on his perilous -expedition. OFFICERS.—Andrew Stanton, Eleazer Adams, Samuel Potter, James -Wilcox. NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS.—Joshua Babcock and Samuel Phillips. -PRIVATES.—Benjamin Pren, James Potter, Henry Fisher, James Parker, Joseph -Guild, Nathan Smith, Isaac Brown, Billington Crumb, James Haines, Samuel -Apis, Alderman Crank, Oliver Simmons, Jack Sherman, Joel Briggs, Clark -Packard, Samuel Cory, James Weaver, Clark Crandall, Sampson George, -Joseph Ralph, Jedediah Grenale, Richard Hare, Darius Wale, Joseph Denis, -William Bruff, Charles Hassett, Thomas Wilcox, Pardon Cory, Jeremiah -Thomas, John Hunt, Thomas Austin, Daniel Page (a Narraganset Indian), -Jack Sisson (black), and—Howe or Whiting, boat-steerer.”—_Idem_, p. 76. -_Note._ - -[9] “They heard the cry: ‘All’s well,’ from the guard-boat of the enemy -as they passed silently.”—_Idem_, p. 76. - -[10] “Barton divided his men into several squads.... The main portion -passed ... between a British guard-house and the encampment of a company -of light-horse, while the remainder was ... to approach Prescott’s -quarters from the rear.”—_Idem._ - -[11] “As Barton and his men approached the gate, a sentinel hailed them -twice, and then demanded the countersign. ‘We have no countersign to -give,’ Barton said, and quickly added: ‘Have you seen any deserters here -to-night?’ The sentinel was misled by this question, supposing them to be -friends ... until his musket was seized, and himself bound and menaced -with instant death if he made any noise.”—_Idem._ - -[12] “Barton entered the front passage boldly. Mr. Overton sat alone -reading.... Barton inquired for Gen. Prescott’s room. Overton pointed -upward, signifying that it was directly over.”—_Idem_, p. 77. - -[13] “With four strong men and Sisson, a powerful negro ... Barton -ascended the stairs, and gently tried the door. It was locked; no time -was to be lost ... the negro drew back ... and using his head for a -battering-ram, burst open the door at the first effort.”—_Idem._ - -[14] “The general supposing the intruders to be robbers, sprang from his -bed, and seized his gold watch that was hanging upon the wall. Barton ... -told him he was his prisoner, and that perfect silence was now his only -safety.”—_Idem._ - -[15] “Prescott begged time to dress, but it being a hot July night, and -time precious, Barton refused acquiescence, feeling that it would not be -cruel to take him ... where he could make his toilet ... at his leisure. -So, throwing his cloak around him ... the prisoner was hurried to the -shore.”—_Idem._ - -[16] “Prescott’s aid, hearing the noise in the general’s room, leaped -from a window to escape, but was captured.”—_Idem._ - -[17] “At Warwick Point ... Prescott first broke the silence by saying to -Col. Barton: ‘Sir, you have made a bold push, to-night.’ ‘We have been -fortunate,’ coolly replied Barton. Captain Elliot was there with a coach -to convey the prisoners to Providence.”—_Idem._ - -[18] “For that service Congress honored him by the presentation of a -sword, and also by a grant of land in Vermont.”—_Idem_, p. 75. _Note._ - -[19] “And on the 24th of December following he was promoted to the rank -and pay of colonel in the Continental army.”—_Idem_, p. 77. - - - - -MISCELLANEOUS. - - -A SONG ON SINGING. - -A SUPPOSED IMPROMPTU. - - The board is bare, the lights are low, - My songs are sung, but, ere we go, - One more I bring, and answer so - Your kindly plaudits ringing. - No wealth and rank belong to me, - But yet, where thought and word are free, - The voice alone a power may be, - And rule the world by singing. - - How oft, of old, when reign’d the wrong, - And rare and regal rose in song, - The call sublime that roused the strong - From hut and hamlet springing, - Like avalanches launch’d in might, - Where thunder shakes an Alpine height, - Resistless down its path of white, - Has right been led by singing. - - How oft, when sounds of war awoke, - And wide as earth a vision broke - Of sword and gun in flash and smoke, - And flags o’er freemen springing; - Where few escaped the foeman’s power, - As fail’d the chief and fell the tower, - The land has yet survived the hour - When nerved anew by singing. - - All else, at last, with death may meet,— - Brave hearts whose hopes had made them beat, - Like moats beneath the soldiers’ feet, - When victory’s cheers are ringing; - But e’en the dead whose deeds inspire - The minstrel, o’er the grave or pyre - May rise, like Israel’s cloud of fire, - And lead their race through singing. - - Nor less the power of song, when peace - Has dawn’d apace, and hopes increase, - As men in thrall have found release, - Their fetters from them flinging. - Oh, what could make their thanks complete, - Did crowds exultant fail to meet - In great Town Hall, or village street, - And shout their joy in singing! - - Or when sad souls the wine would quaff - Of mirth brimm’d bubbling o’er with laugh, - What sparkling draughts in their behalf, - The comic bard comes bringing! - And ever, round the social board, - As full the foaming pledge is pour’d, - See how good-will the heart could hoard - Is lavish’d with the singing. - - How blest are homes, all fill’d with song, - The mother’s hum, the choral strong, - The hymn that bears great thoughts that throng - Where all pure hope is winging! - How heaves the breast in air so sweet, - How thrills the blood it fills to meet, - While all the spirit bounds to greet - The joys of life in singing! - - There let sweet love a pair ensnare - With dainty dreams of visions fair, - Wherein, like wings athrob the air, - Rare wedding bells are ringing. - Then, stirr’d by moods that move the heart, - What tunes upon the lip will start, - As if true love could not impart - Such sweets except through singing! - - The cares may come that track success, - Or storms of swift and full distress - May make of life a wilderness, - A flood of anguish bringing; - The sorrows of the soul will rise, - And pour their woe through weeping eyes, - And drain at last the source of sighs, - When hearts o’erflow in singing. - - If doubt and vice with cloud and tide - Surround a wretch whose father’s pride - And mother’s love have wellnigh died, - And sister’s hands are wringing, - Ah, then, beyond the waves that roar, - He too may heed the friendly shore, - Where others, won from woes before, - Their heartfelt praise are singing. - - Through mists that, like a shroud around, - In densest folds the soul had bound, - My life has known a song to sound, - Nerve dying hope by ringing - As clear as tolls a lighthouse bell - Where ghost-like rush the breakers fell— - The soul they would have borne to hell - Was warn’d from it by singing. - - A shadeless waste, a mist-hid sea, - Were earth that knew no songs of glee; - And what would heaven beyond it be - If anthems ne’er were springing - From voices there, where funeral knells - Are sweeter far than marriage bells - To love call’d hence that ever dwells - Within the sound of singing! - - The wise who once thought heavenly spheres, - As all unroll’d their store of years, - Woke music through their atmospheres - That soft and far was ringing; - Heard subtler music, it may be, - Where love rules all, yet all are free, - And though not thoughts, yet hearts agree, - For all beat time in singing. - - Ah, when no lights of life remain, - As dimly death’s cold draft we drain, - How sweetly then will sound the strain - From heaven through darkness winging, - Where choirs above through endless years - Praise love that ransoms all from fears - Nor asks for aught, save what to seers - Appears to be glad singing! - - But stay—to keep below with men - The minstrel knows not how nor when. - Here end I then—yet once again - Let echoes answer, ringing - To that which lulls the babe at birth, - And voices all the good of earth, - Gives God His glory, heaven its worth,— - Eternal sway to singing! - - -THE MUSIC OF LIFE. - - Music round the world is ringing, - Sweeter ne’er is heard by man; - Music angel hosts were singing, - Ere the morning stars began; - Sweeter ’tis than dreams of music, - Music one awakes to hear - Trailing on a train of echoes - O’er a mild and moonlit meer; - More it moves than martial marches, - More than gleams of long-lost hope, - More than suns to glory lifting - Dew they draw from plain and slope; - Music ’tis that thrills us only - In the art that hearts control, - When the breath of ardor holy - Softly stirs a sighing soul. - - Music in the breast is bringing - Every soul its own reward, - Like the lute’s that tunes to singing - Only tones that with it chord. - Let the heart devoid of pleasure - Throb as throbs its rhythmic beat, - Soon will joys that none can measure - Round it and within it meet,— - Joys without in those about it, - Joys within, that pulsing come, - Firm of tread as warriors marching - Where before them rolls the drum; - Known by inward senses only, - Only known like bliss above, - Life of life and order holy, - Sounds the music soft of love. - - -MY IDEAL. - - She came: she went: ’twas all a dream, - A groundless hope, a barren scheme; - And yet a dearer dream did seem - Than ever made a dawn seem drear. - She tuned sweet music in my breast, - Till every sad or joyous guest, - That sway’d it once, with wondering rest, - Grew hush’d as hate when heaven is near. - - She came: she went: a beam sublime - That, straying toward a sunless clime, - Trembled along the edge of Time - And then in fright sped back amain. - Ah, wherefore came she if to go! - I had not known the half of woe - Had I not felt that heavenly glow, - And, match’d with it, found earth so vain. - - She came: she went: I know I dream’d; - Nor dared to test fond hopes that gleam’d; - But yet how dear the future seem’d, - And, though it was the world, how real! - Ah, wherefore did she leave so soon, - And change to night what had been noon! - Did Heaven sufficient deem the boon - To grant to me a form ideal? - - -CAGED. - - Our jest and gossip ceased at last; - It seem’d as if my lips were fast. - Ah me, such holy hopes loom’d then; - My mind could only think, “Amen.” - But soon she cried out, “How absurd!” - And laugh’d, whereat her little bird - Caught up the music of the word, - And trill’d an echo, loud and long, - Till, deafen’d quite, she check’d the song. - - “That bird,” said she,—“Hush, hush, you thing!— - Flew in the window here, one spring. - We caught and caged him, and he grew - The sweetest pet that ever flew; - I hold my finger toward him so, - And down he flies and lights, you know, - And pecks my hair and lips, and oh, - How jauntily—you ought to see— - He perks his head and chirps for me! - - “Last year, he flew away, one day, - And then, the scene we had! the way - We wept for him; and search’d the town! - And how it made the neighbors frown - The twentieth time we ask’d for him! - But, just as day was growing dim, - He lit on yonder ash-tree limb; - And ‘Dick,’ I call’d, and back he flew; - Now, didn’t you, birdie?—naughty you!” - - With this again she laugh’d at him; - And I,—I thought the room grew dim; - And then, I whisper’d: “Dear, a word,— - For I—I know one other bird - That longs and longs to fly to you; - And, dearest, you may cage it, too; - ’Twill sing, and serve, and be so true.” - And then she blush’d, and then she wept, - And then this bird of love she kept. - - -WHATEVER THE MISSION OF LIFE MAY BE. - - Whatever the mission of life may be, - Let love keep true, and let thought keep free, - And never, whatever may cause the plan, - Enlarge the calling to lessen the man. - The cut of a coat, - Cant chatter’d by rote, - A priestly or princely state remote - From the ties that bind - A man to mankind, - Are a clog and a curse to spirit and mind; - For God, who made us, made only a man, - No arms of a snob, no shield of a clan. - Far better a friend that is friendly to God, - Than a sycophant kissing a ribbon or rod. - - Help on no ways nor words that extol - The vise of a bias that binds the soul; - No rank held up by holding down - True worth as an underling stript of his crown; - No cause with a lie - For a party-cry - To catch the low or to court the high; - No life with a creed - That ends all the need - Of knowing or growing in thought or deed.— - Weigh well their worth; true dawnings of light - Can abide your waiting and grow more bright. - Weigh not, you prove the trend of my thought: - Your soul is a slave to be sold and bought. - - -THE DESTINY-MAKER. - - She came; and I who linger’d there, - I saw that she was very fair; - And, with my sighs that pride suppress’d, - There rose a trembling wish for rest. - But I, who had my own design - For destiny that should be mine, - I turn’d me to my task and wrought, - And so forgot the passing thought. - - She paused; and I who question’d there, - I heard she was as good as fair; - And in my soul a still, small voice - Enjoin’d me not to check my choice. - But I, who had my own design - For destiny that should be mine, - I bade the gentle guardian down, - And strove to think about renown. - - She left; and I who wander, fear - There comes no more to see or hear; - Those walls that ward my paradise - Are very high, nor open twice. - And I, who had my own design - For destiny that should be mine, - Can only wait without the gate - And sit and sigh—“Too late! too late!” - - - - -DRAMATIC. - - -HAYDN. - -This poem was suggested by the tale entitled “A First Love,” in the -“Musical Sketches” of Elize Polko. Her authority for the narrative was -the historical fact that the wife of Haydn had a sister who was beloved -by him, and who entered a convent. My own authority for the imagined -connection indicated in the poem between the marriage of Haydn and the -influence of the father and the priest, is derived from such passages as -these, which may be found in every biography of the musician: “Forced to -seek a lodging” (_i.e._ when a boy in Vienna), “by chance he met with -a wig-maker, named Keller, who had often noticed and been delighted -with the beauty of his voice at the Cathedral, and now offered him an -asylum. This Haydn most gladly accepted; and Keller received him as a -son.... His residence here had, however, a fatal influence on his after -life.... Keller had two daughters; his wife and himself soon began to -think of uniting the young musician to one of them; and even ... ventured -to name the subject to Haydn.... He did not forget his promise to his -old friend Keller, of his marrying his daughter.... But he soon found -that she ... had ... a mania for priests and nuns.... He was himself -incessantly annoyed and interrupted in his studies by their clamorous -conversation.... At length he separated from his wife, whom, however, he -always, in pecuniary concerns, treated with perfect honor.” _Biographical -Dictionary of Musicians_, 2 vols., London, 1827. - -Such facts, taken in connection with the well-known piety of Haydn, are a -sufficient warrant, as I think, for my supposing that “priests and nuns” -who so annoyed him had had something to do with drawing into a convent -that member of the family whom he had loved the most. In the poem I have -endeavored to bring the personality of the musician before the mind of -the reader by using the name Haydn, rather than his baptismal name, -Joseph. - - -I. - - Hark, sister! hear we not the vesper hymn? - And is it not the hymn that Haydn wrote? - Why not push wide the window? Rob we God, - If, while our praise to Him be passing by, - Some air, made sweeter, tarry here with us? - There, there—it dies away.—Why say “it dies”?— - Because it lived?—Ay, ay, my body here, - Because it moves and throbs and tells of thought - And wakens thought in others, thus you know - My body lives. And music, while it sounds, - Does it not move and throb and tell of thought - And waken thought in others?—Then it dies.— - But ah, the music, it has never sinn’d, - No wish has ever known save that of heaven, - And need not linger long here. Yet to eyes - That scan eternity, time cannot be - The measure gauging vital force; nay, nay: - Then heavenly lightning were a weaker thing - Then earthly smoke.—Ah, sister, I have thought, - If there may rise, high up in halls of heaven, - Sweet echoes of our earthly lives, re-lived, - Yet not as here they lived, that there may rise - From earthly music, echoes just as real. - At least, my Haydn’s music throbs with life. - The sounds are sentient as his own dear soul; - They make me thrill, as if a power should come, - And touch, with hands below these fleshly robes, - And clasp, as loving spirits do, the spirit. - They woo me as a god might, owning heaven. - - Why should I not talk thus? Go bid the flowers - Keep back their perfume; then, perchance, may souls, - All sweet with blooming love, keep back sweet words. - I love him.—Shrink not, sister. Hear you must.— - And say not I am weak. Should I not grow - Far weaker, holding in a love so strong? - - -II. - - For years he lived there in my father’s house, - My elder brother and my lover too, - My helper, and my hero: all my youth - Was one bright dawn about that sunny face. - Four years my senior was he; yet, withal, - So delicate in blunt and boyish ways, - And young in all things but in being kind, - He seem’d more near me. Ere I knew of it, - In budding girlhood even, he had pluck’d - My blushing love, and wore it on his heart; - And all my life took root where sprang his own. - - -III. - - Once I remember now our strolling far - Down through that glen, whose deep gorge unannounced - Heaves all its bordering plains to sudden hills. - The time of year it was, when nature seems - In mood most motherly, with every breath - Held in a mild suspense above a world - Of just born babyhood, when tiny leaves, - Like infant fingers, reach to drain warm dews - From palpitating winds, and when small brooks - Do babble much, birds chirp, lambs bleat, and then, - While all around is one sweet nursery, - Not strange it seems that men ape childhood too, - And lisp—ah me!—minute the syllables, - Yet still too coarse for love’s ethereal sense! - - -IV. - - As was her wont, at that time walk’d with us - Doretta fair, my sister, such an elf! - My pride and Haydn’s pet, whose merry tones - Would ring out, if our thoughts turn’d far from her, - Like bells that homeward lure the wind-blown bees, - And bring our flighty fancies back again. - - But Haydn liked this not, would ward it off, - And turn her chafing overcharge of nerve - From tongue to foot, with “Here, Doretta, imp! - You cannot climb the ledge,” or “leap the brook,” - Or “find the flowers”;—then bending down to me, - Say: “I abhor our German prudery. - We too should walk alone, or else have four, - Or six. When two agree they make a match. - A third is but a wedge with which to split - The two apart.” - And once he paused with me; - And while Doretta linger’d, hid from view, - We two sat languidly upon the turf. - “Who feel like springing in the Spring?” he said, - “Yet all life may spring on as bodies do - That draw first back, or down, and then leap up. - To feel relax’d, perchance, prepares one best - To leap the hedge of each untested year; - First action, then reaction—eh, not so?— - And think—The same may form the law of souls: - They stoop, then rise; they kneel, then know of heaven,— - And say, Pauline, if once there rose in view - An aim sublime, to make one proud, so proud, - Say, would he not do thus?”— - “Ha!” laugh’d a voice; - And soon Doretta’s curls a shade shook down - Between his face and mine. She smooth’d his brow; - And with a wreath of heart’s-ease crown’d it then. - “There, there, my sweet heart, be at ease,” we heard. - “You take my head then for my heart,” he said. - “Nay, nay,” she answer’d, “nay—would crown them both; - Your music with your muse; your head, the home; - The mistress there, your heart.” - “With all one’s heart - But mistress of his head alone, would love - Gain much?” he ask’d. - “Immortal fame,” said she; - “Not so?” - “And do you think,” he sigh’d, “that this - Could set the heart at ease?—or think you none, - If set at ease, can thrill with drum-like throbs - That marshal on the spirit to success?— - You may be right. In life’s unending strife, - The wrestler the most fit to win the palm - May be the strong soul’s restlessness, while rest, - Like sweetmeats, all too sweet, when served ere meats, - But surfeits appetite before it acts. - - “But look,” he added, starting suddenly; - “The sun has touch’d the earth. See how its disk, - Red-hot against the river, starts the mist, - Like steam, to drive us home.” With that we all - Walk’d home together; nor a chance was given - For him to say the thing he would have said. - - Yet, sister, I have lately often thought - His lips, thus closed, were making ready then, - When came Doretta there, to breathe to me - What might have roused me, like a Gabriel’s trump - When rise dead hearts at resurrection-time, - And open’d for me here a life of love. - - -V. - - Nay, do not bid me cease. I must confess. - It is not discontentment with my lot. - My heart, it suffocates. This feeling here, - It stifles me. I think that one might die, - Forbidden speech. Ah, friend, had you a babe, - A little puny thing that needed air, - And nursing too; and now and then a kiss, - A mother’s kiss, to quiet it; and arms, - Warm arms to wrap and rock it so to sleep; - Would you deny it these? And yet there lives - A far more tender babe that God calls love; - And when He sends it, why, we mortals here,— - I would not say we grudge the kiss, the clasp,— - We grudge the little heavenling even air. - The tears will come. It makes me weep to think - Of this poor gentle babe, this heir of heaven, - So wronged because men live ashamed of it. - Not strange is it that earth knows little love - While all so little dare of love to speak. - For once (I ask no more) you must permit - That I should nurse the stranger, give it air, - Ay, ay, and food, if need be; let it grow. - God’s child alone, I have no fear of it. - - -VI. - - Long after that, our Haydn found no chance - To talk with me; and this, I know not why. - My father—I could never find out why - My father aught surmised: we walk’d alone, - Doretta, Haydn, I—my father though - From this time seem’d less trustful; not that he - Loved less his favorite, Haydn; but we both - Were still so young. And he, poor man, who earn’d - With all his toil not much, had form’d a plan - (As one might form a rosary, stringing beads, - Then spending all his hours in counting them), - Where hung bright hopes, but strung on flimsy thread,— - Mere lint, brush’d off a worldling’s flattery, - That I for wealth should wed. So, like a gem - For future pride, he lock’d me up in school. - - -VII. - - And there strange faces drove my lonely thoughts - Back into memory for companionship - And there imagination moved anon - To fill the void love felt in earth about, - Invoking fancies where it found no facts, - Beheld an earth about that seemed bewitch’d. - - If Haydn’s presence had my love call’d forth, - His absence, thus conjured, (could it do else?) - call’d forth my worship. You remember, friend, - Those heroes of old Rome appear’d not gods - Till all were dead and veil’d from mortal eyes. - And so with Haydn was it, and his world,— - These never had appear’d so fill’d with light - As when so far from me. The slightest hint - Of home, that made me think this home was his, - Made all things there as bright as heaven itself;— - Yes, yes, though heaven so very bright must be!— - For even here the past is bright; and there, - Up there, we faith shall have, such perfect faith, - That none can longer fear the future. No: - As restful shall it seem as now the past; - And then with all things bright, behind, before, - Where could a place for gloom be? Even here, - Could gloom be found if only men had faith? - - -VIII. - - A year pass’d over me. Can I forget - That wondrous April day that set me free? - At first, as though I own’d no soul at all, - I seem’d myself a part of that wide air, - And all things else had souls. The very earth - Beneath me seem’d alive! its pulse to throb - Through every trembling bush! its lungs to heave - Where soft-blown wind-sighs thrill’d the wooded hills! - And then, this great life broke in many lives, - All one through sympathy. In lieu of clouds, - The gusty breeze caught up the fluttering lark - And shook down showers of trills that made bare rocks - More sweet than fount-spray’d flowers, while all the leaves - Went buzzing on their boughs like swarming bees. - Then reverence hush’d the whole; for, greeting me, - Our dear church spire seem’d soon to mount the hill, - Our home to reach around a slow-turn’d rock,— - And all stood still with Haydn. Chill as ice, - My hot cheek felt my sister’s kiss then, then my father’s, - And then bewilder’d, as from out a dream, - At last I woke. - And what a dawn was that! - As if the sun had drawn the earth to itself, - I dwelt in central light; and heaven, high heaven— - Could feel some rays, perhaps, was touch’d by them, - At star-points in the sky, but own’d no more. - - -IX. - - Doretta in the year had grown so fair - That, in her first ripe flush of maidenhood, - I did not wonder, while I watch’d his eyes, - My Haydn’s eyes, that he could crave the fruit. - And intimate they were. Right merrily - Through all the house I heard their voices chime. - But me our Haydn did not seem to know; - So quiet was he, and reserved with me. - Yet all my heart would flutter like a bird’s - At his approach; and all my will fly off, - And, as if poised in air and not in me, - Leave half my words and ways without control, - Until I seem’d as if I prized him not. - - -X. - - But this he little mark’d. Doretta’s form - Had cast a shade, perhaps, that dimm’d his view. - Then, too, within the year, still subtler charms - Had cast their spells about him: work had come. - He needed now no more to earn his bread - By joining us wig-makers while we plied— - My sister and myself—our father’s trade. - The church that had dismiss’d him, when from change - It could now keep that voice, whose tones, of yore, - Had touch’d my father so that heart and house - Had both sprung open that the sweet-voiced boy - Might find a home,—the church had called him back - To aid again, but in the orchestra, - The fresher singing of his younger mates. - With this had pupils fill’d his vacant hours - And, far away, an organ, play’d at Mass, - Besiren’d all the Sundays. Thus cheer’d on, - His brighten’d prospects had renew’d the charms - Of music rivalling all things else with him. - Full often, could we watch him, listless, gaze, - Ay, even toward Doretta’s voice and form; - Then turn, like one bewildered by a dream - Fast-closing every sense to all besides, - And seek our small bare attic, where anon, - For hours together, pausing not for aught, - The ringing strings within his harpsichord - Would seem to call toward form that formless force - Enrapturing so the spirit. When his moods - Would note Doretta not, nor waiting meals, - Nor sunset hues, nor moonlight at its full, - Nor e’en the striking of the midnight bell, - What could I think that he could care for me? - - -XI. - - At last his illness came. How pale he lay! - We fear’d for him, lest life should slip its net: - The fleshly cords were worn to film so thin! - But how the soul would shine through them! Its light, - I would not say that it could gladden me, - Yet—strange is it?—while sitting near him then, - The fresh air fanning toward him, which his lungs - Were all too weak to draw there for themselves, - For that so gentle, babelike sufferer, - I lost all fear; and, true to womanhood, - I loved him more for low and helpless moans - Than ever I had loved him when in health. - - -XII. - - How oft I thank’d the Power that gave me power - To think and do for him what he could not. - I knelt: I gave my body to his needs: - Brain, hands, and all things would I yield to him. - And was I not paid back?—His dear, sweet heart, - Each slightest beat of it, would seem to thrill - Through all my veins, twice dear when serving two. - And this was love! You know the Master’s words, - That they alone who lose it find their life. - ’Tis true. No soul can feel full consciousness - Of full existence till it really love, - And yield its own to serve another’s life. - “To serve Christ’s life,” you say?—But part of that - By Christ’s humaneness is to serve mankind. - I speak a law of life, a truth of God: - To heaven I dare as little limit it - As to the earth; whatever be our sphere, - We know not life therein until we love. - - -XIII. - - True love has life eternal, infinite. - Complete within itself, and craving naught, - It needs no future far, nor outlet vast, - Nor aught to feel or touch in time or space. - A sense within, itself its own reward, - It waits not on return. For it, to love - Is better than to be loved, better far - To be a God than man. - At least, my love - More further’d me than Haydn. With all I long’d - And all I toil’d, Doretta was the one - Who could the best succeed in aiding him. - For she at home had dwelt, knew household ways; - And I was but a bungler, knew them not. - And so to me was mainly given the task, - To fan him while he slept. But, when he woke, - Although his lips would move with no complaint, - Nor eyes would glance for other than myself, - I could not do for him as then could she. - For she would turn his pillow, tell him tales, - Bring books and pictures, just what pleas’d him most. - But, ah, to me those patient eyes of his - Appear’d such holy things! My deeds were hush’d: - I did not dare disturb the silence there. - It could not all have been mere selfishness; - Yet I to look at him was all content. - - -XIV. - - And my inaptitude my sister knew. - And partly since as well as I she knew it. - And partly since as well as I she loved, - Whene’er she heard him waking, she would come - And by him sit till fast asleep again; - And only when there thus was little left - That could be done, would I be left to do it. - - At times then I would lean above his couch, - And grieve to think that I could do no more; - At times would rise in thankfulness that God - Would let me do so much. A thought like this - Perhaps He chose to bless. I came to think - That even though I might not have her art, - Doretta’s art, that I at least might have - As much, perhaps, as guardian angels have, - Without our hands or voices, keeping watch - In spirit only. Still, when sister came, - The thought would come that, if their souls unseen - Could envy, sometimes they might envy men. - - -XV. - - How hard I strove against this jealousy!— - Would plead with Mary, and would kneel to Christ; - And seek the priestly father and confess - The feeling all to him. Nor would he chide - One half as much as I would chide myself. - How would he shame me that I dared to love - “A man who had not ask’d me for my love! - A man who loved my sister and not me!”— - Then bid me count my beads for hours and hours - A week or more I slept not, counting them; - But, while my thought was fixt but on my sin, - It seem’d my sin but grew. It grew in fact: - For on this voyage of life, not seas alone, - But skies—all things about us—mirror back - The souls that they surround. With each to him - That hath, is given back more of what he hath: - One smiles at aught, it gives him back a smile; - He frowns, it gives a frown; he looks with love, - He finds love; but without love, none can find it. - Alas, that men should think one secret fault - Can hide itself. Their sin will find them out. - Before, behind, from every quarter flash - Their moods reflected. Let them tell the tale, - Nay, let them whisper, glance, or shrug one hint - Of what they find in earth about, and lo! - In this, their tale of it, all read their own. - - -XVI. - - I wander much. There came a change at last. - Our charge was better; and, one afternoon, - Almost before I found that he had waked, - Upon my cheeks arose a burning heat, - While, past a mist of tears that flow’d, there dawn’d - The light that waited in his clear, blue eye. - “Pauline,” he murmur’d then, “Pauline, my friend— - And what?—You weep for me! I shall not die.— - Nay, do not rise, nor call Doretta yet. - Hist, hist!—nor let her hear us. Why is this, - That you stay never with me when I wake? - - “You think you ‘cannot do for me’?—do what? - And have I ask’d you any thing to do?— - I pray you stay: do not do any thing,— - What pretty cuffs!—There, there: it still shall lie, - The little hand; I like to look at it.— - Who said I wish’d for books, and prints, and tales, - And bustlings all about?—Who told you this? - Your sister?—She a good, kind nurse has been: - And you, you too, have been a good, kind nurse. - Think you that I have never lain awake, - Nor known the long hours you have watch’d with me?— - - “What say?—‘Done’ but ‘your duty’?—Say not so. - A friend most pleases when, forgetting due, - He seems to do his pleasure; but a foe,— - Who does not shrink to feel him near enough - To freeze one with a chill though duteous touch? - Mere duty forms the body-part of love: - Let love be present, and this body seems - The fitting vestment of a finer life: - Let love be gone, it leaves a hideous corpse! - Pauline, I crave the life, I crave the soul: - Would you content me with a skeleton? - - “I ‘meant’ your ‘sister’? Why?—who named her?—I?— - Name her, did I, as being duteous?— - Who ‘mean’ I then?—You little fluttering bird - Suppose you were some actual little bird, - How would you tell whence came or whither went - The wind that ruff’d your feathers?—Do you know, - You women always will match thoughts to things? - You chat as birds chirp, when their mates grow bright: - You love when comes a look that smiles on you. - We men are more creative. We love love, - Our own ideal long before aught real: - Our halo of young fancy circles naught - Save empty sky far off.—And yet those rays - Fit like a crown, at last, about the face - That fortune drives between our goal and us. - - “Yet, all may fail of truth; none fail like those - Who deem themselves the most infallible: - None more than men who, fallible in proof, - Yet flout the failure of a woman’s guess. - And your guess?—it went right. I thought of her, - Your sister. We both honor her, and much. - And yet I fear her, lest her will so strong - Should overmatch by aught your strength of will. - For God has given you your own moods, friend; - And are you not responsible for them? - And if you yield them up too readily, - Not meaning wrong, yet may you not mistake? - Our lives, remember, are not sounding-boards, - Not senseless things, resounding for a world - That nothing new can find in what we give. - If one but echo back another’s note, - Can he give forth God’s message through his own? - Yet,—Nay, I would not chide, I caution you. - Wit heeds a hint; ’tis dulness questions it. - - “And so you thought I wish’d my pillow turn’d, - And books, and tales, and bustlings all about? - Does not the world, then, worry life enough,— - That one should crave for more to worry him? - Do I so lack for exercise? Ah me! - Some nervous mothers—bless them!—shake their babes. - I never deem’d it wise; oh, no—am sure - The friction frets the temper of the child.— - Not natural, you see: God never shakes - The ground with earthquakes when we wish for spring. - He does not drive life from its germ, He draws - By still, bright warmth. Pauline, but look at me. - Too weak am I now to be driven to life; - Nay, nay, but must be drawn.—And ah! could tell - Where orbs there are more bright than suns could be— - Nay, do nor blush nor turn that face away. - You dream, aha, that I want sunset?—what?— - The colors come right pretty, but—there, there— - - “What say?—I ‘dare not face’ you now?—Those eyes, - Too bright, are they? or loving? Love, like God, - So brightly dear is it, that lives like ours, - Poor vapory lives, mere dews before the dawn, - Dare not to face it lest we melt away?— - Then be it so. Then look, Pauline, I dare - Am I not yours? Should you not use your own?— - Ay, darling, draw me all within yourself.” - - -XVII. - - Then, while he spoke with hands there clasping mine, - And eyes that tired mine own with so much light - Their trembling lids were vext by feeble tears, - Doretta came. - But startled, seeing me, - She only smiled; said: “Haydn, what! awake?— - And you, Pauline?—You good have been, so good; - Nor call’d me; no. How very kind in you! - Why, after all, some little training thus - Might make you like, perhaps, to be a nurse,— - Or housekeeper.—To-day, how wreck’d it look’d, - Your room! Our father just now came from there; - So vex’d, you know.” - I flush’d, and thought, at least, - That she to speak of it had not been kind. - And could have told her so, but check’d the words, - And went my way; and sought my father first, - And told him what the cause had been, and then - I sought my room, and pray’d that I might know - If it were well to tell my father too - Of Haydn’s love; or tell my own to Haydn; - Or if he loved me, since my sister’s words. - If only he could know my soul in truth, - I felt that I could suffer all things then; - Could die, if so the veil about my heart - Withdrawn could be, and show him how I loved. - Alas, I did not know then, had not learn’d, - That love may more endure than even death. - - -XVIII. - - The sunset brought Doretta to my room; - And she began, and chided me, and said: - “How dared you talk! and what were Haydn’s words?— - He lay so ill, with fever high, so high. - He could but rave. How dared you lead him on? - He worse may grow,—Who knows, Pauline?—may die; - And all the cause may be your nursing him!— - When will you learn to learn what you know not?” - - -XIX. - - And then she told me such a long, sad tale, - Of how great store she placed upon his life; - And how they two had thought the self-same thing: - She knew each inner chamber in his heart, - And what key could unlock it; and she named - First one and then another of our friends, - Whom she could never love as him she loved. - Then sigh’d she: “Ah, Pauline, had you explored - The world about, with all its barren wastes, - And found one little nook; and had you work’d - And till’d it well, and form’d a garden there; - And had you watch’d the plantlets grow until - Their dainty bowers bent over you with shade, - All sweet with bursting buds and carolling birds, - What could you think of one who came and stript - Your life of this, the thing that so you prized?— - Alas, and what could I,—if any power - Should wrest from me my Haydn, all that soil - Where spring all hopes that bless my lonely hours, - And make it sweet for me to live my life,— - What could I think of her? Though you, Pauline, - You have not known and tired of many men. - You have not search’d, as I have, through the world”— - - “Nay, sister, I have not,” I said. - Then she— - “Quite right: and cannot yet know love, true love. - Kept close at school you were, and hard it was; - And harder still to-day that you must wait, - As I have done,—at your age too. But yet - Right love is ripe love. Life must be exposed - In sun and storm—to frost and bruising too: - The fruit grows mellow by and by alone.” - - “Why, dear,” said I, “I think that I can love! - You know what Haydn sings,—that maids, like flowers, - Are sweetest, pluck’d when in the bud?” - “There now, - You always will be quoting him!” she cried,— - “Because, forsooth, a man, your first man-friend! - Yet, not compared by you with other men, - How know you him, what sort of man he is?— - Girls unsophisticated are like bees: - They buzz for all, and yet sip all their sweets - From the first flowery lips that open to them.” - - -XX. - - “Nay,” answer’d I, “I like him not for that,— - Because a man!” - “What?—not for that?” she said: - “Aha, have shrewder plans?—I know, I know - It would be well if you, or I, could feel - That all were settled for our wedded life; - So many ifs and ifs, it vexes one; - It would be better, were we done with them. - But we, poor girls, too trusting natures have. - Weak parasites at best, each tall stout man - Seems just the thing that we should cling about. - But, dear, I think that half these trunks give way:— - The wonder is we dare to cling at all!” - - “But Haydn,” said I, “Haydn”— - “As for him,” - She sigh’d, “may be he is not trustless all; - Yet if he be, or be not, how know you - Who know not human nature, nor have learn’d - The way to work it, and bring out its worth? - A friend grows grain and chaff. Sift out the first - And cultivate it well, some gain may come— - Some profit from your friendship.” - “But,” said I, - “If you should change yourself who change your friend, - Or change but his relations to yourself, - Or, some way, make a new, strange man of him?”— - - “Then would I make,” she said, “what pleases me; - And with what pleases me preserve my love.” - - -XXI. - - “And I,” replied I, “not for future gain, - For what he may become, would prize my friend; - I prize the thing he is; nor wish him changed. - I would not dare disturb for aught besides - The poise of traits composing sympathy, - Which, as they are, so balance my desires. - Ah, did I chiefly look for gain to come, - For him or me, where were my present joy?— - Nay, nay, that love I, which I find possess’d.” - - “Pray, how much can you find possess’d?” she ask’d. - - “Enough to love,” I said. - “What holds enough - For that?” she laugh’d. - “Enough,” I answer’d her,— - “To make his presence here a boon to me; - To make his wishes a behest for me; - To make me feel an instinct seeking him, - And, finding him, a consciousness of all.” - - “‘A consciousness of all,’ is vague,” she said. - “I ask for reasons and you rave alone. - This very vagueness, while you answer me, - Proves all your love a myth, or immature.” - - “Ah, dear,” replied I, “there is higher love,— - A love of God, a love all worshipful; - And that love should you ask me to define, - I might an answer vaguer still give back: - The finite only can be well defined.” - - “The finite!” she repeated; then exclaim’d: - “Oh, you wish worship! We must find you then - An idol! and I know a golden one; - And so do you—nay, nay, deny it not.— - And father’s heart is fix’d on him; besides - Your lover could fall down and worship you; - So father says. Two idols you could have,— - Your home a very temple; only, dear, - Be not so backward. Had but I your chance— - To you our suitors all present their best. - You get the diamonds as if you were noon; - While I, I get but coals. They never touch, - Unless to burn or else to blacken me.” - - -XXII. - - She spoke, then left abruptly. Strange it was, - With what abhorrence I would shrink from her - While speaking thus. Not selfish seem’d she all, - But so insensible; and these, our tastes, - These dainty despots of desire, our tastes - The worst of tyrants are; nor brook offense. - I wellnigh hated her. Yet minded thus, - While musing on her moods that seemed so hard— - Have not you noticed at the arsenal, - At times, when watching those grim helmets there, - All suddenly, upon their polish’d brass - A wondrous brightness? then, within the disk, - Your own face hideous render’d? So with me: - Amid her harsher traits that there appear’d, - Shone soon the brighter metal; out of it, - Leer’d back to greet me my own hideousness!— - For I, it seem’d, had been the selfish one. - Had I regarded her, my father’s wish, - That suitor’s choice?—Nay, I had thought of none, - None saving Haydn. - Then I ask’d again, - Could this be true—the thing my sister said,— - Could aught so sweet as Haydn’s love exude - From moods, all mushroom’d by disease? I thought - How marvellously throng’d with strange weird shapes - Deep halls of fancy loom, when lighted up - By fires of fever; how, with trust complete, - The weak lean oft on all beside themselves, - And soon I blamed my heart that it could dare - To lure his poor, weak, crazed confession on; - And then I flush’d, and broke in passionate sobs, - To think Doretta dared to hint such things. - - -XXIII. - - Three days my woes alternated, and then - I went to my confessor for relief. - - “What, child,” he said, “love troubles you again? - The rest of us poor mortals here, we fret - Because we have too little of it, you - Because you have too much. All girls are prone, - Young girls, to deem their own love great and grand; - But you, my child, find yours a very monster! - It taxes all your powers to get it food; - Yet nothing does unless to tramp on you. - Now tell me, think you God it is, or man, - Who makes our earthly love so troublesome?” - - “Why, man,” I said, “of course.” - “Of course,” he said; - “Then think you not it might be wise to get - Some less of man in you, and more of God?— - How fares it with your prayers?” - “But yet,” I urged, - “It scarcely seems my fault, this woe of mine.” - - “Seems not your fault?” he answer’d; “weigh the sides: - One for you—three against you—which should - yield?” - - “No; two for me,” I said,—“myself and Haydn; - Besides, the other three have no such love.” - - “No love?” he said. “Is that a Christian mood? - A modest, humble mood?—‘Have no such love’? - How test we love, my child? It seems to me - That love, like light, is tested by its rays. - The halo crowns the saints, our lights of life, - Just as the love they shed surrounds their souls. - Where one is God’s, the strong soul serves the weak; - The mother yields her powers to bless her babes; - The man his powers, for her; and Christ for all. - Ah, child, if you were strong! had love like theirs!” - - I sigh’d, “But how can one know whom to serve?” - - “How?—Put it thus:—your own wish? or your father’s?— - How reads the decalogue?” - “But,” answer’d I, - “It seems as if some higher power there were - That first should be obey’d—some power like God.” - - “Yes, child,” he said, “there is, of course, the Church: - Of course, of course.” - “Who is the Church?” I ask’d. - And then he laugh’d: “Who?—What a question, child!— - Why, read your prayer-book. Why, of course, the Church, - Speaks through its ministers.” - “If you speak then,” - Inquired I, trembling,—“give advice to us, - Is that the last resort?—must one obey?” - - “Why, that depends,” he said;—“but, dear me, child, - You must not think us bears! We growl at times - In sermons, eh?—But then, dear me, dear me, - We would not eat our flock up, little lamb!— - But come,” he added, “come; enough of this; - How fares it with your prayers?” - - -XXIV. - - Soon after that, - One day, while troubled much, I met by chance, - My Haydn, half restored, outside his room. - For once, he sat alone; and, seeing me,— - - “Why, friend, what accident is this?” he ask’d. - “In tears, too, tears?—Tell now, what sullen storm - Has left such heavy drops? Did it not know - That these too tender lids might droop? if droop, - What rare views they might close to some one here?— - What can have happen’d? - - “Why not speak to me?— - You seem the very statue of yourself.— - Why, what has chill’d you so?—Not I?—Not I?— - Pauline, I know, if I to you were cold, - A certain rosy face with opening lips - Could come with power to bring me summer air, - Dispelling sweetly my most wintry wish, - Despite myself!—Why will you trust me not?” - - And then I spoke to him. I hinted first - My moods were odd; not moods for him to mind. - - “Odd,” answer’d he; “I knew a family - Where all the children grew so very odd,— - Like fruit when tough to touch and sour to taste. - Not ripe nor mellow. Too much spring had they, - And not enough of summer in their home.— - I know that you are not so very odd - That you would keep apart from one you love. - And I, can I not hope that I am one?” - - -XXV. - - At these words then (how could I help myself?) - My heart-gates flew wide open; emptied all,— - The whole the priest had told me of my sin; - And how we should not talk together more. - - How wild it made him! Never had I seen - One shaken so. His anger frighten’d me. - “This crafty priest,” he said, “you ask’d of God: - He answer’d you about the Church, ‘of course.’ - And of the Church about the priests, ‘of course,’ - And of the priests about himself, ‘of course.’ - I tell you this is cursèd selfishness; - I tell you it is downright sacrilege!— - To strain the oceans of the Infinite - Down through that sieve, man’s windpipe, wheezing out, - ‘I deal the voice of God, I, I, the priest.’” - - “O Haydn,” said I, “How—how can you dare?” - - “How dare?” he cried out, “dare? Am I a dog, - A dog or woman cringing to a man, - Because of kicks or curses?” - “Nay,” I sobb’d, - “I kneel before his office, not to him.” - - “Poor girl,” he said, “forgive me—stop—I beg— - What? can you think that I would make you weep? - Not, darling, not of you, I meant to speak, - But of the system.” - “System,” I replied; - “Why, Haydn, are you not a Christian, then?” - - “And wherefore not?” he ask’d. - “Because,” I said, - “You speak so of the Church.” - “But I,” said he, - “Was arguing not of that, but of the priest.” - - “And he has been ordain’d,” I said: “And you, - You reverence not the ministers of God?” - - “Of God,” he mutter’d,—“yes, when that they are. - I reverence the princeship; not the prince - Who doffs his regal robes, and leaves his throne, - And lowers his aims and slaves it with mere serfs.” - - -XXVI. - - “What can you mean?” I ask’d. - “I mean that priests - Are not ordain’d for work in every sphere. - A prince dispenses, does not mine, his gold. - A priest administers the truth reveal’d; - What power has he to delve divine designs, - Or minister dictation, in the spheres - Where God, to train our reason, leaves us free? - Your priest who tampers with our home-life here,— - What warrant holds he, human or divine? - Whatever move him—if he serve your father, - Or deem that gifts like those he fancies mine, - May worthier prove, devoted to the Church, - Is he in this our final arbiter?— - Have I no judgment?—are not you of age? - Pauline, but heed me; let no power, I beg, - Succeed in sundering us. Heaven hears my words - I fear some plot may crush, or make your soul - (God save you if you yield) a mere bent truck - To bear some weight of meanness on to ill.” - - “But I,” I said, “had ask’d the priest’s advice.” - - “He handled ill th’ occasion,” answer’d he. - “I would not dare to mould another thus. - Nay, though I knew that I could model thence - The best-form’d manhood of my mind’s ideal. - Who knows?—My own ideal, my wisest aim, - May tempt myself, and others, too, astray. - If I be made one soul to answer for, - And make myself responsible for two, - I may be doubly damn’d. How impious,— - The will that thus would manage other wills; - As though we men were puppets of a show, - Not spirits, restless and irresolute, - Poised on a point between the right and wrong - From which a breath may launch for heaven or hell!— - You dare submit to this impiety?” - - “But, Haydn,” said I, “you, too, heed advice.” - - “Advice?” he answer’d. “What?—is this the ground - On which these base authority?—Nay, nay, - Base where they may, their ground is wilfulness, - Years back invested; not disrobed, because - Old forms are reverenced.—Yes, but are they right? - Think you God gives to strength of will the right - To say what is right? And if not, what then? - If one obey then, how can he be sure - That he obeys not sin?” - “They may have will,” - I said, “but you forget; the priests are wise.” - - “About what life?” he cried. “In every path - Experience is the warrant for advice. - But life for them—what know they real of life?— - Naught, naught; and if they give you their advice - They give you naught, or else they give you whims;— - A bachelor teaching dames about their babes! - Or matrons how to guide their grown-up girls! - Alas, their counsels ignorant, partial, false, - Repel toward infidelity the wise; - And half of those they hope will follow them - Make hypocrites or hypochondriacs.” - - -XXVII. - - What could I say? I rose to leave him then. - - “And have they really separated us?” - He ask’d. - And I, “What mean you?” - “Are you then - My friend or not?” he went on, mournfully. - - “What is a friend?” I ask’d. - “What else,” he said, - “But, in a world, where all misjudge one so, - A soul to whom one dares to speak the truth?” - - “Ah, Haydn,” ask’d I, “must we speak all truth?” - - “Why not?” he said, “is ill less ill when hid?— - Is not the penitent a sinner frank, - The hypocrite a sinner not so frank?”— - - “But yet,” protested I, “the truth may harm.” - - “How so?” he ask’d. “If one show naked sin,— - Who knows?—it then may shame men from the sin. - And could the naked good accomplish more? - Must not we Christians here confess our faults? - Why should we not? Has wrong such lovely smiles - And loving tones, that men should long for it? - The harm is in the lie that masks the sin.” - - “And yet,” I said, “the young—the prejudiced”— - - “For their sake,” said he, “wisdom may be wise - In what it screens from folly.—Yet you know - The crime of Socrates,—‘corrupting youth’? - The tale is old; this lying world wants liars, - But what of that? The Christs lie not: they die. - Our God is great. I deem Him great enough - His truth to save without subverting ours. - True sovereignty has truth: ’tis not a sham - That holds high rank because we courteous men, - Considerate men, allow it seeming rank. - Who lies to save the truth, distrusts the truth, - Disowns the soul, and does despite to God. - Who strives to save his life thus, loses it, - In evil trusting and the Evil One,— - Salvation through the Devil, not through Christ!” - - -XXVIII. - - Then while he sat there, with his flushing cheeks, - Himself defending thus,—I, charm’d the while,— - The door flew open, and behind it stood - My father and the priest. - Then had they said - But one harsh word, it had not been so sad. - But kind they were, too kind. Ah, sister dear, - Have you not felt how much more pain it gives, - This pain from kindness? Love is like the sun: - It brightens life, but yet may parch it too. - And wind may blow, and man may screen himself; - And rain may fall, and he may shelter find; - And frost may chill, and he may clothing wear; - But what can ward off sun-stroke?—Love, - Its first degree may bring fertility; - Its next one barrenness. It lights; it blights. - The flames of heaven, flash’d far and spent, turn smoke - To glut the gloom of hell. - - Words kind as these - (We could have braced ourselves against them else) - Threw wide, like spells, each passage to our hearts - That caution should have guarded. “We knew not - Our own minds, poor young pair,” they said. “At least, - Our love could wait: meantime, whose love could claim - Our trust, like theirs whose treasure lay in us?” - - -XXIX. - - And then to me alone they spoke of Haydn:— - “He passionate had been:—how knew I when - His passion might be turn’d against myself? - And he had sinn’d, so sorely, sorely sinn’d:— - How could one thus defame the Church and priest? - And did my love for him suggest such words, - Or should my love hereafter sanction them, - Might not his wrong prove mine?—If I should yield, - Be won by his unbridled words, might not - My act confirm his trust in thought uncheck’d? - And thought uncheck’d,—it oft more danger fronts - Than does the uncheck’d steed, whose frenzied flight - Defies the rein, and, dashing down a road - Straight deathward, trails his luckless driver on, - Whirl’d powerless to prevent all as a babe.” - - I spake of Haydn’s love. - They bade me think - “How often love that loses earthly friends, - Comes back from all things outward toward itself; - And finding self, finds heaven’s design within? - Did not I know that loss and gain are both - Sent here to aid the worth of inner traits - And change the phases of the spirit’s growth?— - Each passing season circling round a tree - Leaves, clasping it, a ring; the rings remain, - So seasons past remain about the soul: - And men can trace its former life far less - By tales the tongue may tell, than by the range - And reach of that which circumscribes the mood, - Including or excluding right or wrong.” - - -XXX. - - And then they added: “Might it not be found - That loss of my love was the very means - Design’d by Providence for Haydn’s good?” - - To this I could but answer that “his love - Seem’d Providential too, a holy thing.” - - They only frown’d, and said: “The Prince of Ill - Came oft robed like an angel of the light;— - Why not like love?—The only holy thing, - Such proven to be, was Christ. And what of Him - When moved by love?—of His great sacrifice!— - And did I really prize this Haydn so, - Would love prompt naught in me!” - And thus they talk’d, - Till, welcoming doubt, my faith succumb’d to it; - And all the love once making me so proud, - Whose growth, I thought, would be so sweet and fair, - Stung like a very thistle in my soul; - Each breath of theirs would blow its prickles keen, - And sow its pestering seedlets far and wide - O’er every pleasing prospect of my life. - - -XXXI. - - And I recall my calling out in prayer, - How long, how toilfully, how fruitlessly! - At last, my doubt had made me leave my beads, - And, moved as if to cool a feverish faith, - Pass out, the night air seeking. There I saw - The moon. It soothed me always with strange spells, - The moon. But now, as though all things would join - To rout my peace, I seem’d this moon to see - Caught up behind an angry horde of clouds, - Chased by the hot breath of a coming storm - That clang’d his thunder-bugle through the west. - When once the rude gust hit the moon, it tipt— - Or so it seem’d—and with a deafening peal - It spilt one blinding flash. Then, where this lit, - Just in the path before me gleam’d a knife! - Held o’er a form of white! To see the thing - I scream’d aloud. It seem’d a ghost! - My scream - Awoke no echo save Doretta’s voice:— - “Pauline?—and were you frighten’d?” - Then to this, - In part because the shock had stunn’d me much, - In part because I felt me much provoked, - But most because my ears were deaf to sport, - I answer’d naught. Whereat, as now I think, - Though then in that unnatural, nervous mood - My mind surmised more horrid inference, - Her voice, in still more mischievous caprice, - Went on to vex me more. - “What?—Fear you me! - And have you done so much against me, then! - And if you have, why fear you here a knife?— - You think the blade might draw some little blood;— - Would that much signify?—the body pain’d? - Suppose that one should wield some subtler blade - And draw some tears, mere watery tears, weak things;— - Would they much signify?—a soul in pain? - And did you never now do that?—draw tears?— - And think, is not the soul much worse to harm - Than is the body?—Fy! why fear a knife? - If I supposed that through a lifetime long - My soul should bleed its dear strength out in tears, - Why would it not be mercy to myself - For me to check the longer, stronger woe - By shedding here some drops of weaker blood, - Now, once for all?” - “O dear Doretta mine,” - I cried, and still more anxious, “do you mean”— - - “This,” answer’d she; “I mean that I would cut - My body’s life in two parts, rather than - My soul’s life.” - “Sister,” I could only gasp, - “Cease—do;—put by that knife”— - “Why?” answer’d she;— - “For what?—Your wish? Do you so often yield - When I wish aught?—Say now what would you give?” - - “Give?—Any thing!” I answer’d. - “Be not rash,” - Came then. “It scarcely seems your way; besides, - The light is dim. How know you? may not ears - Not far off overhear us here? Beware!— - But stay!” she added, “I will go my way, - And you go yours. Who cares what either does?” - - -XXXII. - - “Doretta, nay; but stop,” I cried again, - “Put by the knife!—and if you will, then I— - Then I and Haydn will not”— - “You?” she laugh’d, - “And Haydn?—Humph!—Who cares what you may do?— - But ah—if planning thus to vent your thought, - Could I have chosen, eh, a shrewder way?— - Ha! ha!—to murder me, or you, or him! - It starts all madness, yes, to tap your moods. - But go in, simpleton,—the rain has come,— - And trust the knife to me. It meant no harm - Except to this beheaded cabbage here.” - - And, shaking this aloft, she flitted off, - While I walk’d vaguely back, to find my room - Still sadder than before. I could not think - That my surmise was just; yet could not think - That all her strange demean was meaningless; - To this day yet, I pause and puzzle oft - That scene to ponder; then, to moods confused, - It seem’d the final blow, unsettling all. - - -XXXIII. - - What comes as direful as the direful night - A spirit spends in trouble?—fill’d with fears - That sleep may bring distressful nightmares now; - And now, that morn may come before we sleep; - Until, betwixt the two, distracted quite, - Awake one dreams, and dreaming seems awake, - And evermore does weep at what he dreams, - And then does weep that he should dream no more. - In darkest fancies all that night I lay, - A murderess, guilty of Doretta’s death. - - -XXXIV. - - Alas! and after those long hours of woe, - More woe awaited me when morning came. - Our Haydn’s bed-worn frame, so frail before, - New-rent by throes of passion yesterday, - Once more lay prostrate in the arms of death: - So thought we all: I, ere the fact I heard, - Could feel its cold shade creeping over me. - The shutters closed, the silence everywhere, - The very coffin of our lively home, - The sadden’d looks, the voices all suppress’d, - The kind physician’s face, that wore no smile,— - I did not need to ask the cause of all. - I sought and saw my Haydn. How his face - Gazed forth, a ghost’s, against my sense of guilt! - For I, perhaps, had made his last thought sin; - And I, perhaps, had lured him toward his doom. - I thought then of my father, of the priest, - What they of love had said, of genuine love, - Such love as Christ had had. I ask’d myself - If there was naught that I could sacrifice? - - -XXXV. - - Ah, friend, do you recall that afternoon - When first we met? How sad yet sweet it seem’d! - So many kindly sisters with me spake, - And for me prayed, and when the dusk had come, - And hardly any eye but God’s could see, - We knelt before the altar; and I rose, - Content if like that light before the shrine - Within my heart one light alone could burn; - Though all the earth beside might loom as dark - As those chill, shadowy chapels down the aisle. - - I felt another life when walking home. - Such conflicts come but seldom; storms of spring, - Uprooting much, and wracking much the soil, - They find it frost-bound, and they leave it green. - Alas, if grain or chaff grow then, depends - Upon the germs their rains have wrought upon. - - -XXXVI. - - When Haydn grew less ill, could talk once more, - And proved our prayers for him were not in vain, - The kind physician urged that he and I - Be kept no more apart. My father then, - At first, would not consent. I went to him. - “My father,” said I, “do not fear for me. - If God will give our poor friend health once more - Then have I vow’d that never will I take - A veil, save one that weds me to the Church.” - - “My daughter,—what?” he ask’d, “you never take— - Ay, what is this you say?—you wed the Church?— - In God’s name, child, explain yourself.” - “A vow,” - I said, “A vow that I have made the Virgin.” - - “What strange, what thoughtless deed is this?” he ask’d. - “You take a vow, one not to be recall’d, - That you will thwart our hopes, our plans for you?— - And shut away, away from all of us, - This face, this form, so cherish’d all these years?— - True?—Is it true?—I would not frighten you: - Poor girl, God knows that you will have enough - To shudder for.—Yet, it bewilders me: - How could you, you who had been wont to be - So trustful and considerate and calm, - How could you do a thing so rash, so wrong, - Nor once consult me?—Tell me this, my child: - What false inducement could have tempted you?” - - “Woe me!” I sobb’d, “I marvell’d when you said - I could do so, the time I told you here - That I would rather be a nun than be - That rich man’s wife.” - “You dear, poor girl,” he sigh’d, - “Those words were but a whiff, whiff light as breath - One blows at flies that come to trouble him. - And can it be that they?—I half believe - (My words have conjured cursèd deeds before) - The very atoms of the air, like pools, - Hold spawn-strown vermin-eggs! If one but speak, - But break the silence; if his breath but bear - One faintest puff from passionate heat within, - Lo, breaking open some accursèd shell, - It hatches forth foul broods of venomous life - That come, blown backward by the changing wind, - To haunt him who provok’d their devilish birth! - By day they sting our eyes, and make us weep; - By night steal through unguarded gates of sense, - And sting our souls in dreams!—My heart! and you?— - How could you deem my thoughtless words to be - The voice of so deform’d a wish as this?” - - “But father,” said I, “he, the priest, your friend,— - At least, it seem’d—so thought.” - “The priest!” he cried, - “Has he been meddling with your malady?— - My friend?—My friend is he no more.” - “Nay, I,” - I said, “had sought his counsel; even then - He said but little.” - “Little!” he rejoin’d; - “That little was too much! Nay, never more— - Yet hold.”—And here he paused.—“The priest has power— - Yes, now I think of it, it need not all - Be darkness; no.—The priest—one clew there is - May clear this labyrinth.—The priest, he may,— - He shall an absolution get; yes, yes, - An absolution, that shall make us right.” - - And then my father, in his hopeful way, - Recover’d somewhat. And he fondled me. - “I see, my child, you love this Haydn, yes. - Why, here you stand a woman when I thought - You only were my pet, my little girl.— - But do not cry: no, no; I honor you, - My little woman!—There, forgive me now; - Forgive my words. And when it comes, my child, - The absolution, then, we then shall see, - If your old father can be kind or not.” - With this he kiss’d me. And at that, I wept; - Nor could I tell him that his hopes were vain. - I scarce could think myself that they were vain. - - -XXXVII. - - From this time onward no one check’d me more, - Attending Haydn. All the household heard - My sire “could trust his child to be discreet”; - And e’en Doretta too had something learn’d - That made her caution more than half relax. - - Then days and weeks and months pass’d quickly by - In which, when Haydn’s prison’d love would start, - E’en while I heard the trembling of its bars, - My lips would check him, saying, gently, then, - “But not now, Haydn; nay, but we will wait.” - - And thus a habit grew that our two lives - Dwelt there like friends, made separate by war, - Who out from hostile camps, wave now a hand, - And now a kerchief, but who never speak. - And yet I cannot say love never spoke.— - We did not mean it; but I think that love - May tell its tales, unconscious of the fact, - For who is conscious when God touches him?— - But littlest acts there were; yet spirits read - From signs too fine for measurements of space; - Love heeds no measurements. But hints there were; - And yet what words of love yield more than these? - They hit the sense of love, but fail of sense - Where nothing loving waits to take the hint. - - This learn’d our souls at last; I wot not how. - And kitten-like, at play beside the hearth, - We told our secrets, and none knew of them. - - -XXXVIII. - - How swiftly sped the hours in happy nights - When, after work, he rested there at home! - Such winning ways he had to lure my trust! - Such sweet pet names would call me, till I felt - So fondly small, he well might be my lord! - Would tease me so, anon to comfort me! - Or rouse my temper that he mild might seem; - Or tell such tales, that in my dreams I laugh’d - At wit reflecting, though distorting, his; - Or better still, would play for me,—such strains! - The very thought of them would seem like sleep, - While half the night I linger’d still awake, - Half-conscious of the call of early birds - And sparkling spray of light dash’d o’er the dews. - - -XXXIX. - - At last, one night, when no one else was by, - Some new impatience moved him; and he spoke: - “Pauline, my friend, allow me only once;— - And say not, now, say not we still can wait: - Have I not waited long? Pauline, my own, - What forms the substance of this mystery - Whose dark shade rests about you? Surely, friend, - The slightest will on your part would have power - To bid it off.” - “Not so,” I answer’d him - (I felt that I should tell him all at last); - “Not if the shade that so you speak of fall - From something you and I could not remove.” - - “That cannot be,” he cried. “How can it be? - Of old your father would not brook our love; - But lately much has done to forward it.” - - “And know you then,” I asked, “what wrought his change?” - - “His wiser judgment,” answer’d he; “not so?” - - “Are there not times in life,” I asked, “and paths - Where conscientiousness and love may cross?” - - “There,” he exclaim’d, “the same old plea again!— - Your weakness is your wickedness. Why, friend, - Does not our conscience come from consciousness? - And when, then, are we conscious? When unwell: - Hot, swollen blood frets limbs that feel inflamed: - A sound man lives unconscious of its flow. - And so a morbid train of foul ideas - Will vex a soul diseased. But if in health, - Its aims all true to God and self,—what call - For conscience, which we wear but as the curb - Whereby God reins the thought that love reins not?— - If right I be, then nothing needs to cross - Pure love. It may have freedom.— - “Or at most - Our conscience is the leaven of character; - And just enough of it may sweeten life, - But too much keeps in ferment moods that work, - Like brewings, flung to froth and sediment: - The froth flies up and off to vex our friends; - The rest sinks down in self, embittering - Our own experience.” - “And yet,” I said, - “Our conscience, in religion”— - “There,” he cried, - “This too much conscience, overbalancing - All wiser judgment, has wrought worse results, - Made men crave heaven and fear for hell, so much - That, in the gap betwixt the two, was left - No charity with which to do good here - While on the earth.” - “I hope that mine,” I said, - “Will prompt to some small good in present life. - What would you say, some day, were I a nun?” - - “‘Say!’” answer’d he—and scorn was in the tone,— - “What say?—why this: that if those blooming looks - Hid wormy fruit like that, I ne’er would trust - Sound health again! - “Pauline, I half believe - The conscience of a nun is consciousness - Of mere unrest—no more. In natures framed - Of spirit, mind, and flesh, the cause may be - Some sin that clogs the current of the soul; - But, just as likely, thought that puzzles one; - Yes, yes, or indigestion, nerves diseased— - No trace of sin whatever;—moods cured best - By sunshine, clean clothes, larders full, good cheer.” - - -XL. - - His words I styled “irreverent, unjust!”— - - “I might be both of these,” he said, “in case - I blamed the poor souls for the life they lead. - But did I blame them? Nay, for in this world, - Between youth’s immature credulity, - That dares to think but what some guardian thinks, - And manhood’s faith mature that thinks for itself, - A realm there is where will must learn to act - Through doubt and danger; where the character, - First wean’d from oversight, must learn to choose. - Then, like a tottering child it yearns to cling - To one whose greater power can for it act. - Its moods determine that to which they cling. - Some girls are giddy:—they embrace a lover. - And some are gloomy:—they beset a priest. - He, like the first, may ply his own designs, - May take advantage of their weaker state, - And capture them for veils, if not for vice.” - - “But marriage is a capture, too,” I said. - - “If so,” he answer’d, “yet a natural state, - Made statelier through authority of law, - That, otherwise, might authorize the wrong;— - A state to which, as not to convent life, - All social instincts prompt; may prompt the more - The more one’s years. Who then can it forswear?— - Think you a maid, with half her moods unform’d - At twenty, can conceive what thoughts may come - To turn or torture her at thirty-five?— - - “But what, Pauline, Pauline,—you turning pale!— - In earnest, were you!—Had you really thought?— - In God’s name, darling, this could never be!— - Think only—Wherefore now?” - “Because,” I said, - “I hoped some good to do.” - “And do you deem,” - He ask’d, “that then the Virgin did no good, - When nursing her sweet babe?—and was no saint? - And what of Christ, who ate and drank with all, - Call’d glutton and a bibber, yes, of wine?— - Was He no saint?—What think you mortals need— - To learn of life that never can be theirs? - Nay, nay, to learn of life, inspired by love, - Which all can live, made better by its power. - If you a saint would be, oh, do not seek - For truth so sunder’d from the common thought, - For love that knows no common sympathies.” - - -XLI. - - “Are some,” I said, “not call’d in special ways - To nurse and tend the aged, sick, and poor?” - - “Are some not call’d,” he ask’d, “in special ways - To tend like this the men they love the best?— - Whate’er old age may need, needs it the most - The young who old have grown before their time?— - Need sick men nurses pale?—or poor men, those - Whose moods have never stored the rich results - Mined from a world the world’s heir should explore?— - Nay, nay, these all would be more ably served - By spirits free to live their own love’s life. - Who gains aught where the spirit is not free? - Think you the veil, too hastily assumed, - May never change the hues and views of life, - Perverting them?—or cause beclouded love - That might have bloom’d in light, to fade in gloom? - ’Tis only when those knowing what they leave - Turn calmly from all else to convent walls - That love should not dissuade them. Let them find - Large, sunny, healthful halls; and dwell therein: - From thence deal forth that gentle charity - So potent coming from a woman’s hand. - Not strange it were if sickness, tended thus, - Enliven’d by her smiles of light, should flush - Or blush to perfect health! if wickedness, - Beneath incrusted woes of years of wrong, - Should feel the earlier faith of childhood waked - By woman’s voice, and thus be born again!— - And find a life renew’d within the soul - As well as body. Let the convent thrive. - But rid it of all circumscribing vows.” - - “Of all its vows?” I ask’d. - “Why not?” he said: - “No character, I think, grows wholly ripe - Save that which grows as nature guides its growth; - And nature made us pairs. I know some say - The soul should conquer nature; but this means - That spirits all should claim their rights,—be lords - Of forms that spring from earth. But are they so - When by a vow they swear to serve a form, - And don the life and livery of a slave? - Would men look’d Godward more! ’Twould save their souls - From many a hell that their own hands have made. - One time when young I stood before a tree, - And vow’d that, till an hour had pass’d away, - My eye should see it not. What came of it?— - The vow in misery kept me through the hour. - And had it been a maid and not a tree, - The vow had caused me more of misery. - Yet God’s laws never bade me turn my back - On tree or maid: nay, were my nature framed - With any touch of truth, these both were made - For souls like mine to look at and enjoy.” - - -XLII. - - “But, Haydn,” said I, “your strange convent, fill’d - With age and vowless maids—you banish thence - Christ’s life, self-sacrifice.” - “And sacrifice - But sates the worst of vanity,” he said, - “Unless our yielding yield to higher good. - Christ’s work here glorified humanity— - I must believe that souls, not when outside - The world but in the world, though not of it, - And in the body acting bodily, - The lives transfiguring our common lives - And common cares, the most resemble His.— - The one who seeks to glorify herself - In feigning burial to human cares, - Humiliates rather her humanity. - She hints—not so?—that truest womanhood - Is maidenhood?—By Eve and Mary, false!— - The mother lives the model of her sex, - And not the maid. And she who seeks to lower - The mother’s rank that she may lift her own, - Yields less than she bids others yield to her.” - - “But she serves God,” I said, “and others men.” - - “How serves one God in doing this?” he ask’d. - “God made our nature. Who make way with it, - Make way with manhood, turn to suicide. - He made the world where works His Providence - To train our life. Who leave the world, leave Him— - May add but more damnation to their woe.” - - “But if men leave the world,” I said, “for this,— - That they may serve the Church, how leave they God?— - They rather go to him.” - “What is the Church?” - He ask’d. - “The kingdom of the Lord,” I said. - - “Yes, yes,” he cried; “and add the Master’s words: - ‘The kingdom is within you.’—And, if so, - I own some right to heed the voice within; - And none can rightly bid my spirit bend, - A passive slave to laws outside of me.” - - -XLIII. - - “O Haydn,” begg’d I, “say not this. Here speaks - The same rebellion that was once my own. - We must not judge for self, but reverence - The words of men ordain’d to teach the world; - The words of men so learnèd in the truth; - The words of councils fill’d with just such men.— - No reverence have you for authority?” - - “Mere common courtesy would teach me that,” - He said. “And how could common piety, - If awed before the Power above the sky, - Deny a kindred awe to power on earth? - The Church has power—and more. I reverence it. - It may be God’s own storehouse of the truth. - But ah, some truths have never yet been stored! - Infinity is broad, and broad enough - For truth to grow within me and without, - In self as well as in the best about it. - And I believe that all things God makes grow, - Unfold in ways that work in harmony. - And, when I love a soul as you I love, - Did all the priests on earth assemble here, - In front of them the pope, in front of him - A shining form put forth by them as Christ, - And tell me this pure love could lie to me, - I would not”— - “Haydn stop!—dare not!” I cried;— - “And I have pray’d to God so much, so much, - To make you more submissive.” - “I submit - To God,” he said; “but with my love to God, - How can I yield the godliest thing I own?” - - And there he sat, so firm and yet so kind, - I could not help but sigh, “You make me doubt.” - - “Would God,” he said, “I could do that for you! - Then might you have true faith. Where springs from will - One wise effect that does not follow doubt? - One choice that does not weigh alternatives? - Doubt comes with waverings of the balances - Before the heavier motive settles down. - Let those who feel so sure their views are right, - Dissolve my doubt:—I dare to doubt if they - Walk not by knowledge rather than by faith. - I read that Jesus answer’d him who pray’d, - ‘Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief’; - That on the cross itself even He could cry: - ‘My God, O why hast thou forsaken me?’ - And so I think, at times, these doubts of ours - May only rise like minor preludes here, - Ere that triumphant cadence, ‘It is finished.’ - But come, Pauline,” he added then with warmth, - “And promise me that you will yield them up, - These dark, sad thoughts. Why, they could make of me - An infidel outright! Could faith destroy - Our love, what good then might it not destroy?” - A wonder is it, that to moods like this - I could not say the thing I would? - - -XLIV. - - Months pass’d. - My time drew nigh. My vows must be fulfill’d. - I told my father of it, and he wept. - Poor man, he spent his hours alternately. - At times he urged; at times he chided me; - At times he kiss’d my cheek and look’d at me; - At times he took me by the hand, and said: - “My daughter, dear, we will defer the deed”; - At times he moaned: “My daughter will do right.” - - -XLV. - - Then slowly dawn’d on Haydn’s mind the fact, - Though not, as yet, the reason of my vow. - And all the household grew so mild with me, - And all the neighbors gazed so piteously: - If they had clothed my body in a shroud, - And I had loiter’d round it there, a ghost, - Life scarce had seem’d more lonely or more chill. - - But yet more sad than all it seem’d for me - To shun poor Haydn. To his attic driven, - Who knew his grief? Alas, who knew it not? - Did ever harpsichord so crave a voice - To utter forth a cry of full despair? - Did ever aught that human hands could touch - So tremble to reveal such agony - As wrung the frame of him whose fingers wrought, - Along the sympathetic key-board there, - The counterpoint still pointing out his woe? - - -XLVI. - - Through all those days how heeded I each sound, - That broke the stillness in that room of his! - Would hold my breath between the notes to feel - His own suspense before the impending strain - When fell, anon, the spirit’s overflow. - I never so had trembled at the peals - Of thunder as beneath the chords he struck; - Nor felt my cheek so moist by rains as there - By tears that flow’d as flow’d his melodies; - While all the air about appear’d surcharged - With dangerous force electric, touch’d alone - To flash keen suffering from his heart to mine. - And yet, each day, his music sweeter swell’d. - Ere that, it may have lack’d in undertone, - The pleading pathos of half-utter’d grief: - Since then, I never hear it but it seems - As if the heavens had been bereaved of love, - And pour’d their sad complaint on earth beneath; - And I who listen to the sweetness of it - Can never tell if I should smile or weep - To think that it has come so far below, - Or feel that it has left so much above. - - -XLVII. - - One night I found my father still more sad - Than was his wont. I knelt before him then, - And “O my father, why is this?” I ask’d. - But he said nothing. Then I question’d him: - And found the cause out. Haydn was the cause. - My father loved him so, as men love sons; - And long had hoped he might a son become. - But they had talk’d in confidence, and talk’d - About Doretta. “Ah,” my father sigh’d; - “My plans for all of you are vain!— - “Why now?” - He cried, “in this my old age, now, too late - To be replaced again, should I have lost - My aims, my home, my hope, my happiness?— - And who has brought it on? has done such wrong - His deeds deserve it?—Here am I, myself,— - I loved you, loved you both, but plann’d your good: - The priest loved (so he says) the Church and you: - Doretta loved; sought only love’s full fruit: - And Haydn loved; wish’d but to show his love: - And you, child, loved, were but obedient: - We all of us were loving, were we not? - Yet working outward, wisely, as we deem’d, - We all have done the thing to doom us all. - Alas what power has wrought to thwart us thus? - I do believe, though long I doubted it, - There lives a Devil! Hell-scorch’d hands alone - Could weave such death-black shrouds from thread so bright, - Drawn from sleek skeins of love. That spider-fiend, - Feeding on our sweet plans, emits this web, - To trip and trap us in like flies!—Ah me, - It may be well that one should suffer here - Until a wish bereaved shriek prayers for death; - But through what fearful pangs earth peels away - This withering flesh from off the worthier soul! - The scales about my own grow thin, how thin! - Pauline and Haydn gone, and home, and hope,— - What further shred invests the love so stript!— - Is this, then, being freed from earth?—Yet where - Are signs of heaven?—My God, I see them not.” - - “O father, rave not thus,” I cried. “O if— - If Haydn,—if I had some power with him.”— - - “Nay, daughter, nay,” he said. Yet o’er his face - Flush’d hope like hues at dawn. I kiss’d his brow, - Said, “Father, I will try,” and went my way. - - -XLVIII. - - And Haydn then, when found, appear’d so sad. - “Ah,” sigh’d he, “we two souls were fitted so - To match each other. Here, where jars the world, - And all goes contrary, where every sun - That ripes this, withers that; and every storm - That brings refreshment here, sends deluge there, - We two, exceptions to the general rule, - Like living miracles (is love fulfill’d - A miracle indeed?), seem’d born to draw - The self-same tale of weal or woe from each. - I saw but last night, darling, in my dreams, - Our spirits journeying through this under gloom: - And hand in hand they walk’d; and over them, - As over limner’d seraphs, did there hang - A halo, love reflected. By its glow - The gloom about grew brightness: while far off, - In clearest lines, the path passed up and on.— - Pauline, but heed me: once again, I pray - (If ever once I pray’d to God above), - Blot not this light from all my future life.” - - -XLIX. - - “Ah, Haydn,” said I, “would you have me change? - What soul shall dwell on God’s most holy hill - But he ‘that sweareth to his own hurt,’ yes, - ‘And changeth not’?” - “But yet,” he said, “but yet - If you were wrong to swear? How can it be - That any project so against the soul— - Each instinct of one’s nature—should be right?” - - “Yet nature,” said I, “may be but corrupt. - What is this instinct, that it should not lie? - If one should feel the instinct of the lamb - While skipping to welcome the butcher’s knife - That waits to slaughter it, would he be wise - To follow instinct?” - “Why not?” answer’d he: - “The lamb was made that it might die for man: - It follows instinct and dies easily. - The soul was made that it might live for God: - It follows instinct and lives happily. - The cases differ thus. May there not be - Some depth, beyond the reach of mortal sight, - Within whose grooves unseen our spirits glide - Unconscious of the balancings of will? - God’s touch may be too subtle to be sensed. - May it not stir beneath all conscious powers, - A spontaneity that moves the soul - As instinct moves the body?—Ah, to me, - Love seems an instinct that impels them both.” - - “How so?” I ask’d, in hope to guide his thought - Toward sacrifice. - “You wish me then,” he said, - “To turn philosopher for you?—I will. - This love, in morals based on faith in man, - And in religion on our faith in God, - Seems, in its essence, an experience - Not wholly feeling, yet not wholly thought,— - Not all of body, yet not all of soul, - Of what we are or what we are to be,— - But more akin to marriage, within self, - Of our two separate natures, form and spirit. - God meant them to be join’d: when wedded thus, - One rests content, the other waits in hope.” - - “To rest, to wait,” I said to this; “and if - Such ends displaced were, would there not remain - The work that forms our earthly heritage?” - - “And may not God,” rejoin’d he, “grant us more - Than that which we inherit?” - “He may grant - His rest,” I said. “Yet rest, the Paradise - Of work, is yet the Purgatory, too, - Of indolence.” - “The soul’s true Paradise - Is nothing earn’d,” he said. “It is a gift. - With Eden lost, insolvent made by sin, - Work, as I view it, is a loan from Hope - With which man pays the debt of Memory. - But if I reckon right, a pauper still, - He scarce can earn enough to pay them both. - And so our rest, I take it, is a gift - That crowns our strife, yet is not won by it; - Which, as we live not conscious how ’tis earn’d, - We live not conscious how it may be lost. - Things out of consciousness are out of care. - We rest not as in death that furthers naught; - We rest as in a dream, in sleep,—a state - Wherein God watches while the soul regales. - We rest not from the healthful stir of work, - But from the slavery proportioning - Our pleasure to our pain—a law for serfs, - But not for sons. Our rest is peaceful, hush’d, - The very church of choice, as different - From other joy as prayer may be from sport.” - - “And does not choice,” I ask’d, “feel often moved - To spurn a lesser for a greater good? - For greater good, too, may not Love on high - Unseat some idol of our ignorance?”— - - -L. - - With this, I pictured for him brightest life; - And, like a blot on every scene, myself; - I claim’d my character was not the one - That best could aid his own; show’d how my sire, - The priest, Doretta, all agreed in this. - And then, in contrast with myself, I sketch’d - A nature all deem’d fitted for his moods. - I may have sinn’d in it; but, grim as fate, - My father’s face, recall’d, would urge me on; - I noted all Doretta’s nobler traits; - And when I thought he must my aim surmise, - And while he held his gaze upon the floor, - As though he gave assent, at last I spake - Doretta’s name. - And if the solid earth - Had quaked, he had not started more. O God, - Why did I not accept his instinct then! - He look’d at me, first pale, then flush’d, then firm; - And then with tremulous, painful breath, he said:— - “And this device from you? from you, so pure? - So free from guile? You should have spared me this. - That Jesuit has train’d you well! Ah, now, - I know how Adam grieved that Eve could fall; - How Eve herself, when round her soul first crept - The serpent’s cautious coils of smooth deceit, - To strap her inch by inch! I read it now, - That tale: ’tis all an allegory, ay;— - That serpent means the world. The world steals round, - Intent to seize and own each heir of heaven. - Not long are souls allow’d ideal life, - Not long unfetter’d sense or hearts unbound: - Our smiles grow stiffer, till, some fatal day, - The last is clutch’d and held, a hideous grin. - Then, when the body stirs not with the soul, - The last nerve wrested from the Spirit’s rule, - Naught in us left of love, the world unwinds: - Our capturer dissolves in mist or dust:— - And we, for its embrace, have lost our God!” - - -LI. - - His mood alarm’d me, yet could I protest: - “Nay, Haydn, nay! I do not love the world: - I long to leave it; yes, all thought of it.” - “How much less worldliness is found,” he ask’d, - “Within the Church than in your world so call’d?— - The Prince of this World is not nice in choice - Of equipages; where he cannot check, - He mounts the car of truth and grasps the rein; - And when the Devil drives, he drives for home. - ‘The world,’ what means this, but the world alone,— - The mass, devoid of mind, truth, spirit, love?— - But holds no church the same?—A mass?—ay, ay. - Devoid of mind?—Why not?—But show the place - It crowds not reason out to edge in faith.— - But ‘faith,’ say you, ‘is reasonable’?—Ay, - When in it there is reason; when the thing - In which it trusts is truth. But ah! too oft - Just prick the forms, and back of them you find— - What?—truth?—nay, nay, a priest—a man, forsooth, - Who differs from the rest of men in clothes, - In wearing worn-out habits, which the need - And progress of our times have cast aside;— - Ay, wearing them o’er body, mind, and soul; - Though all who think know well that moods, whose range - Is girt by customs past, (which could alone - Prejudge thought’s present range) fit prejudice; - And this is in behind your Church’s forms. - - “You say, perhaps, ‘the Spirit formed the forms - To fit the life’?—they fitted life that was; - But life, if life, will grow; the life of love - Has not yet fill’d the scope around, above, - Of heavens that for it wait. What form’d the forms - Can still be forming them.—If forms exist - Wherein no Spirit works, no present life,— - The things are hollow; and a hollow form - The Devil flies for, like a flying squirrel - For hollow tree-trunks; and when once within, - But half disguised inside his robes of white, - Loud chanting out mere ceremonious cant, - He tempts toward his hypocrisy an age - That knows too much of Christian life, at last, - For heathen life to tempt it. - - “Judge by fruits: - Here you—God gave you beauty—to be seen! - And grace to bless this dear, sweet home. What power - Would snatch you from us? make a very hell - Of what might else be heaven?—Think you ’tis love? - Not so; it only hates love; plays the part— - Not of the Christ who yielded up his life, - But of the world that made him yield it up; - It only trusts in force, in force that lies; - And now that it can hold you with a vow - Which but deceit could claim that God enjoin’d, - It seizes you to plunge you down, down, down, - To feel the full damnation of a faith - That can believe the voice within the soul - A lying guide which cannot be obey’d - Without foul consciousness of inward sin,— - To plunge you down, and hold you till the cells - Of your pure, guileless heart, all stain’d and steep’d, - Drip only dregs of stagnant viciousness!” - - -LII. - - “You terrify me, Haydn!” I exclaim’d. - “And you have done far more to me!” he cried. - “You were—Ah me, what were you not?—so pure, - Transparent as the mid-day atmosphere. - Should some red thunderbolt from sunlight burst - And burn all torturing blindness through my eyes, - The night came less foretoken’d! I, who dream’d - That here I gazed on truth, here bent these knees - Upon the very battlements of heaven,— - I to be tript thus from my dear proud trust, - Sent reeling down by such foul-aim’d deceit!— - Strange is it if my jolted brain should slip - The grooves of reason?—if I rave or curse?— - You, who had known my heart, and after that, - And after I had warn’d you of the thing, - And simulating all the while such love,— - You, vowing to abjure me! more than this, - To-day with such cold-blooded, soulless tact, - Soft-stealing, through the door-ways left ajar, - Within the inmost chambers of my heart, - To snare,—as though the victim of a cat - That could be play’d with, trick’d with, kill’d, cast off,— - This heart of mine which, as you might have known, - Was throbbing but to serve you!—Yes, once more, - You gain your end! Once more, your wish is mine. - How can I love?—God help me!—Go you free.” - - -LIII. - - How fiercely then did Haydn’s music storm! - And soon he would have left our home in haste: - My father spoke to stay him. Long they spoke; - And sometimes wrathful were the words they used. - But then, at last, my father told him all,— - Why I had vow’d, that I his life might save, - And he broke down before it. - Never more - May God permit me to behold again - A broken man! Alas, how pleaded he! - And pray’d me for my pardon o’er and o’er, - Till wellnigh I believed he heard me not; - And in the end sigh’d out: “It might be so, - My plan be wisest; nay, he would not yield - His manlier judgment, to fulfil my wish, - To make me happy, or my sire or me:— - Doretta surely was a housewife wise: - It seem’d the older custom, thus to wed: - He young had been, had whims.—God bless us all.” - - -LIV. - - Oft, after that, I urged him ne’er to wed - One whom he could not love. He only sigh’d: - “This heart of mine that once loved you, Pauline, - How could it love again with love as true? - Yet what, if not? My soul was immature, - Romantic, young. It must be manly now. - A man has breadth. I take it manly love - Is love that yields most blessings to the most. - And mine shall bless yourself, your father, her.”— - And so he calm’d my doubt and cheer’d me much. - - -LV. - - And oft I spoke with him about the Church. - “Can I forget its holding you?” he ask’d. - - “Ah, Haydn,” said I, “I remember once - When young you were, when music scarce had lured - Your soul, so thrill’d! to test its energies: - Then Gluck your master was; you follow’d him, - And far beyond your own, as then you deem’d, - Flowed forth the full perfection of his chords. - Now men see Gluck behind you. Yet, e’en now, - Before you still, sweet chords allure you on. - Ah, friend, Gluck only happen’d in the path - That open’d then beyond you. But those chords?— - Those you can reach not, Haydn, till you reach - The choirs of heaven! - “And thus, at times, I think - That I too may have happen’d in your path; - And this, your love, now looking toward myself, - May gaze, when I am gone, on holier things, - Ideal all.” - “When you—alas,” he sigh’d, - “When you are gone, then life will all become— - I fear it much—one lonely wail for you.” - - “And yet a lonely wail, breathed forth,” I said, - “From one with spirit sweeten’d, sweet may seem - To earth that hears it.” - “Ah, I take the thought, - You mean my music,” answer’d he. “O God, - To save one’s art must love be sacrificed?— - Redeem’d at that price, art would be too dear!” - - -LVI. - - One thing he promis’d me. I urged it much. - “In secret convent-prayers,” I said to him, - “My soul must know if it should praise or plead. - A year from now, we two must meet once more. - We cannot talk, and yet we may commune - While I stand silent at the cloister bars. - Then if your wedded life afford you joy— - I doubt it not,—bring with you fresh-pluck’d flowers; - If else than this, bring but the wilted stems - Of these I give you now.” - Then soon had pass’d - The last vague hours that saw me part from all. - I stood before the shrine. I feel it yet:— - The organ moaning sweetly far away; - The people whispering low amid the aisles; - My heart so loud, nor hush’d in sermon-time; - The multitude with wide eyes fix’d on me; - Doretta, and my father, still and sad; - And Haydn’s face upon his pale, pale hands. - - -LVII. - - And two months after that I saw them wed, - My Haydn and Doretta, in the church. - And, since then, I have pray’d for him long days, - And longer nights; and I have oft had hopes - That my faint life new strength would gain from God. - But now so white, so thin, my body seems, - With scarce enough of substance left in it - To be a ghost;—ah, what if, like a ghost, - It soon should vanish? - So I thought, to-night, - If I could tell you this, confess my fault, - Unload my heart of all her sweet, sad love, - That God might give me rest. I did not, nay, - I did not mean it, to excite myself. - They told me it might bring my death; but oh! - Have I not borne enough to merit life? - How had I counted all these weeks and days, - Up to the hour we two should meet again, - And I should find how all my prayers were heard, - And heaven had made my Haydn blest!— - He came, - Last week: and what, what, think you, can it mean?— - He brought the wilted stems.— - I do not know. - I only know that I can earn no rest: - And all our household so much else have earn’d. - And now how can I?—I can try no more; - But all my pathway has been block’d for me. - They say such words are infidelity,— - O Christ!—yet I can try no more. - Hark! hark!— - Is not that Haydn’s hymn we hear again?— - How faint it sounds!—or I, I faint may be. - The window—move me. There—look out—those clouds— - The sunset?—Ah, what comes on earth so bright, - So beautiful as clouds?—There were no clouds - Where one could always look and see the heaven. - The music, hear it—hear how sweet!—Say, say, - Did I sing then?—Not so?—and only dream’d?— - I thought that music mine, and then myself; - And Haydn’s heart, it beat here, beat in me,— - Ah me, so tired!—Yes, let me rest on you. - O God, for but one hour to live!—For what? - Have I not loved then?—Yes, and tell him so, - Tell Haydn; thank him.—God, praise Him for it. - Life, life—I did not know it—has been sweet.— - Hark! music!—Does it not come from above? - - - - -SKETCHES IN SONG. - -_Third Edition, Revised._ - - - - -SKETCHES IN SONG. - - -A FISH STORY - -FOR THE LITTLE CRITICS. - - A strange fish came from an inland home - On a journey down to the sea. - He split the ripples, and ript the foam, - And danced and dived in glee. - “Ho, ho!” cried the fry where the sea grew near, - “Hurrah for a fresh-water fool! - One gulp of our salt when he comes out here - Will send him back to his pool.” - - The fish was fleet, but the bar was high, - And the low tide roil’d and dim; - And he groped, as he slowly pass’d the fry, - And to and fro would swim. - “Ho, ho!” cried they, as they shook their scales, - “The muddled one misses his way!” - And they fann’d their fins, and slash’d their tails— - “Aha, he here will stay!” - - The fish paused not till the way grew clear; - Then launch’d out under the spray; - And shower’d his fins in a white-cap near - That rivall’d the rays of the day. - “Ho, ho, showing off to the sharks!” cried the fry; - “And look—a gull on the shoal. - Yon surface-shiner would better be shy; - The bird will swallow him whole.” - - The fish pass’d on, till the sea grew deep, - Then, plunging down through the blue, - A flash came back from a parting leap, - As at last he sank from view. - “Ho, ho,” cried the fry, “we can all do that, - If we only go out with the tide.” - But the tide had gone, so, left on the flat, - They fried in the sun, and died. - - -UNVEILING THE MONUMENT. - - -I. - - The monument stands, no longer the care - Of mallet and chisel and plummet and square. - With a flourish of trumpets and rolling of drums - The glad hour comes - When the statue above it will loom unveil’d. - Lo, now the crowds that are under it sway; - The bugles are sounding; and look!—away - The veil is dropt!—and afar is hail’d, - With wild huzzas and hands that fly, - The form of the man that stands on high. - - -II. - - How the crowd are cheering! but, ah, their cheer - Recalls a day - When few were here; - And the most of them daintily shrank away, - Afraid a foot or a frill to smear - In the mire of this place, while deep in the clay - The soil was dug for the monument here. - - -III. - - And was there not, when his course began, - While clearing the ground for the life he had plann’d, - A time this crowd would have shrunk from the man - Whose image is now enthroned by the land? - Alas, how oft in youth’s chill morn - Their tears alone are the dews that adorn - The natures that wake - To the light of a day beginning to break! - - And oft how long, ere the light will burst, - The mists of the valley surround them first! - And oh, how many and many a tomb - Of a dead hope, buried and left in gloom, - Must mark the path of the man whose need - Is taught through failure how to succeed! - And oft how long, ere he knows of this, - Will hard work doom - His heart that in sympathy seeks for bliss - To a life as lone as death in a tomb, - Where sweetness and light - Are all shut out, - Nor a flower nor a bird - Is heeded or heard, - Nor often, if ever, there comes a sight - Of a friend who cares what he cares about, - Or is willing to soil - A finger with even a touch of his toil! - For our race are too ready to turn with a sneer - From arms that are brawny, and hands that smear - While a man is dependent, in need of a friend, - The world is a snob, and shuns its own peer. - When a man is a master, his need at an end, - The world is a sycophant, cringing to cheer. - Cheer on, wise world, but, oh! forget not, - Whatever encouragement each man got - When in gloom and doubt his course began, - But little he heard from the lips of man. - - -IV. - - But the monument knew a different day, - When masons with mortar and mallet wrought here - The firm and deep foundation to lay. - Still few would turn from the well-trod way - To climb the mounds of marble and clay - Which hid the work; or, if some drew near, - They only came with a stare of surprise, - Or a shrug or sigh for its form or size. - - -V. - - That man, too, now on the monument resting,— - How long and hard life’s basis to lay, - Strove he, while about him was nothing suggesting - The meed that the present is proud to pay! - When all sailing is over, the shouts of a state - That hail a Columbus may name him great. - Before it is over, that isle of the west, - The goal of his quest, - Is merely, for most, the point of a jest. - Nor a few, the while he turns to his mission, - Will deem him moved by a mean ambition. - Ay, often indeed, the nobler the claims - Inspiring his aims, - The more earth deems - They are selfish schemes - Of a Joseph it hates for having strange dreams. - - Alas, where hate - Is a normal state, - Who serves the world with a love that is great - Is rated a foe by those who refuse it, - Nor always a friend by those who use it; - For he, forsooth, he knew of their need - In the day they knew not how to succeed!— - And thus this man in the marble wrought on, - Life’s fruit fell off, and the fall frost froze, - And the winter of life came, weary and wan, - Ere words to welcome his worth arose. - Wise world, the one who is now your boast - Heard few of your cheers, when needing them most: - The pride of his youth in his life or its plan, - It came not then from the praise of man. - - -VI. - - But the monument grew, anon to display - Above its foundation, - Those fair white sides that rose to their station - All cunningly wrought into tablet and column. - Then children, and others, as childlike as they, - Would delight in its beauty; but, doubtful and solemn, - The wise were all wary. “A man cannot rate - A work till complete,” said they, “so we must wait.” - - -VII. - - And thus the man grew, - And thus did a few - Find, thoughtfully plann’d for the wants they divined, - His work that is now the pride of his kind. - Who prized it at first?— - Ah, those little verst - In the codes that are current turn first from them all - To the herald that comes to trump a new call. - Those nearest their youth - Live nearest the breasts that glow with the truth, - And welcome it gratefully warm from the heart. - Earth’s elders and sages, - Far off from the place where the springs all start, - Scarce ever can prize - A stream that supplies - A draft less far from its font than their age is. - No deeds can course from as grand a source - As the life of which they in their youth form’d a part. - Naught sparkles as bright - To them as the light - Of an old, cold, frozen, and crystallized art. - But, ah, if you ask them what was true - When the words or the ways of their art were new, - If you ask them what were the traits it would show - Ere the form now frozen no longer could flow, - Or how it differ’d in nature from those - That spring in the present, when first it rose,— - All this their critic cares not to know. - He is nothing if not the dog of his day, - Who barks or who licks - As his master, the world, may make him obey - By throwing him bones or swinging him kicks. - Pray, what can he know till all the world know it! - If currents in view - Are to crystallize too - Like things of the past, the winter will show it. - The future must rate - The fruit of the present: so shrewd men wait, - And but of the dead - Are their eulogies read.— - Good souls, they never will let one rest - Until he is borne to the land of the blest! - No heart is aglow - With the burning zeal of a holiest mission, - But makes them fearful of heat below, - And tremble in dread of a fiend’s apparition. - For Satan has toils that, no matter whether - Come evil or good, trap all men together. - Whenever one spies - Light coming, he cries, - “’Tis naught but a will-o-the-wisp to the wise.” - Half trust him, and half, not duped by his lies, - Begin to dispute them; and then, at the quarrel, - The seer of the light has thorns for his laurel. - - Ay, rare, indeed, in that day is his fate, - If the eye of the prophet—so noble a trait— - Escape from censure and gibe and hate. - For an eye like his will a goal pursue - So far in advance of his time and its view, - That only the march of an age, forsooth, - Can o’ertake the vision he sees in his youth. - But, oh! in that age, when it comes, the earth - Will live in his light and know of his worth. - And many and many will be the men - Who move on then, - And about them find - The scenes that he in his day divined, - Who, sure of his presence, will know he is nigh, - And feel he is leading, and never can die. - This man of the monument lived like that. - Men cheer him now; but of old they sat - In judgment against him; while, far away - From the place where they had chosen to stay, - He push’d for the light; and grew old and hoar - Ere one whom he knew had begun to explore, - Or seek what he sought. Alone in the van, - He had fail’d of aid had he thought it in man. - - -VIII. - - Yet now are justice and judgment one. - That statue glows in the gleam of the sun, - Amid drumming and trumpeting, chorus and song, - The praise of the speaker, the shout of the throng, - Throned white o’er the waving of plumes and of flags - That surge to its base as a sea to her crags. - Now cheer we the monument, capp’d and clear’d, - So cheer we the man for whom it is rear’d. - - -IX. - - What? cheer we the man? - No doubt, in youth - There were times when the joy in his heart overran - At a smile from one who knew him in truth; - There were times, years later, when merely a tear - From a grateful eye - Would have seem’d more dear - Than all the glitter that gold could buy; - But, alas! in age, when character stands - As fix’d as yon monument, then it demands, - Ere aught can move it, far more, far more - Than the cheer or the sigh that had stirr’d it of yore. - Not oft, nor till ages of suns and storms - Have wrought with the verdure in earthly forms, - Are these turn’d into stone, no more to decay. - But often on earth - The owners of worth - That men image in marble grow stony, that way. - Ah, man, whom in hardship you might make a friend - And turn from—beware, beware in the end, - Lest he whom you harden grow hard unto you. - O world, when ready your hero to cheer, - How heeds he your welcome? say, what does he do? - His eye, does it see? his ear, does it hear? - His heart, does it throb? his pulse, does it thrill? - Or his touch, is it cold? his clasp, is it chill?— - O world, you have waited long; what have you done? - O man, you have wrought so long; what have you won?— - - -X. - - That monument there, - So high, so fair, - That throne of light for the man who led, - Is only a tomb. They are cheering the dead. - - -XI. - - And he himself—did he know it all? - Had he look’d, in his youth, - Past the shadows of form to the substance of truth? - Had he learn’d that all life turns to seasons, and shifts - From winter and spring into summer and fall? - Or divined that eternity, balancing gifts, - Grants honor like heaven, a state after strife, - And a glorified name to a sacrificed life? - Did he know that sighs, when yearning for love, - Best open the soul to breathe in from above - The air immortal, and make it worth while - That art should chisel in marble clear - The lines divine that temper a smile - Beyond the sway of a mortal’s cheer?— - Did he know it or not, perchance for his good - His work was lonely and misunderstood. - Perchance it was well, the best for the soul, - Its nature, its nurture, that aught to control - The aims inspiring his life or its plan - Had gain’d but little from earth or man. - - -UNDER THE NEW MOON. - - The hills rang back our parting jest; - The dear, dear day was over; - The sun had sunk below the west; - We walk’d home through the clover. - Our words were gay, but thought astray - Our parting kept regretting,— - “The old old way!” would seem to say; - “The suns are ever setting.” - Then, gazing back with longing soon, - At once my step grew bolder; - For, bright and new, I spied the moon - Just over my right shoulder. - - I turn’d about and bade her look; - We were not superstitious; - We jok’d about that shining hook, - Bright bait, and skies auspicious. - We joked, but, oh, I thought with woe, - “This bright bait lures me only,— - Like more before it, comes to go, - And leave life dark and lonely. - Past yon horizon, things are strewn - With broken moons,” I told her: - “Each bore a bright hope, too, each moon, - When over my right shoulder. - - “Alas to trust in each new light, - A man were moonstruck, surely,— - A lunatic!”—We laugh’d outright, - And then look’d back demurely. - Lo, dimly shown, the moon’s old zone - Made full hope’s crescent new one. - I thought, “Would my old love, made known, - Prove hope of love a true one?— - What would she say?”—I ask’d her soon, - And took her hand to hold her. - “Ah, love,” she sigh’d, “to-night the moon - Is over my right shoulder.” - - -ALL IN ALL. - - Be calm, O Wind, and gently blow, - Nor rouse the waves’ commotion. - Ye Clouds, veil not the bay so low: - My love sails o’er the ocean. - - Out, boatman, out! The wind will rise; - The yawl will find it stormy. - Ay, thrice thy fee.—Her signal flies.— - My love is waiting for me. - - Blow on, ye Winds, your prey is flown, - Who cares for wave or weather? - My love, my own! no more alone, - We walk the shore together. - - -NOTHING AT ALL. - - So many eyes that dim tears fill, - That a glance of love could clear; - So many ears, all sad and still, - That a sigh of love could cheer; - - So many hearts that are beating to greet - Love that will heed no sign; - So many lips that are parting to meet - Love that is air, like mine;— - - Dykes that fashion has bank’d so fast, - Burst from our souls apart! - Burst! and let the truth flow past, - Filling each unfill’d heart. - - -THE IDEALIST. - - I Hear fair Fancy call’d a guide - Who smiles when one is youthful, - But oft in sudden shades will hide, - And prove at times untruthful. - “When through the skies,” - They say, “she flies - And leaves behind each earthly care; - When round about her in the air - No danger seems attending - The light we find her wending, - Beware! amid the brightest air - The storm may burst, the lightning tear, - Beware and fear! - With earth so near - None can be free from care.” - - I hear fair Fancy call’d a guide - Of rarest grace and beauty; - But prone to lead the soul aside - From irksome paths of duty. - “Man is but man: - He cannot scan - Too high delights, and highly rate - The lowly joys of earth’s estate. - A soul to fancy turning,” - They say, “is fill’d with yearning; - And lives in dreams and idle schemes, - That with their lure of rival gleams - Make dim the light - About the sight - The working soul esteems.” - - I hear fair Fancy call’d a guide - Oft rendering life distressful, - With views that loom too high, too wide, - To make a man successful. - They say, “We err - Who soar with her. - Earth only shoos or shoots a bird; - To draw its wealth, it yokes the herd.— - But few are those not tiring - Of natures too aspiring. - The common leaders of the day - Amid the common people stay, - Who but confide - In those that guide - Along the common way.” - - And yet my dear and dangerous guide, - I prize thy peerless beauty. - I chose thee long ago my bride - For love and not for booty. - How much is wrought - By risking naught? - When I behold a path of bliss, - Tho’ bordering on the worst abyss, - My fears of falling under - Will not restrain my wonder. - And, from what thou hast found for me, - Full many a truth my soul can see - That earth must know - Ere it forego - Its need of knowing thee. - - -A PHASE OF THE ANGELIC. - - I wonder not that artists’ hands, - Inspired by themes of joy - To picture forms of angel-bands, - Paint, first of all, the boy. - - I know if I were set the task - To lure a man’s desire - By traits the heavenliest one could ask, - When most our souls aspire, - - I would not take a blushing bride, - For she may wed for pelf; - Nor him who stands the bride beside, - He may but love himself; - - Nor matron, with her thoughts confined - To maxims meant for youth; - Nor man mature: too oft his mind - Will close to others’ truth. - - But I would blend the purity - Of her whom I adore - With manly power for mastery - And promise yet in store. - - So I would take the boy who roams - Toward life, half understood, - From thresholds of those holy homes - That face alone the good;— - - A boy who has not reach’d the brink - Where vice will cross his track, - Whose wish that loathes the wish to drink - Still keeps the tempter back;— - - A boy who hardly knows of ill, - Or ill can apprehend, - With cheeks that blush, with eyes that fill, - And faith that fears no end. - - And oh, I know that those who love - The purest part of joy, - Would choose with me from all above - The heaven that held my boy. - - -THE BELLE. - - A smile—could it be meant for me?— - Yet there she stood before me. - But she had charm’d so many eyes - And I was neither rich nor wise,— - The belle of all the county, she: - I seem’d a child, - She only smiled - Because she knew her mien was mild, - While mine confusion bore me. - - And praise—could it be meant for me?— - Ah, how could I suppose it? - The rarest minds I knew about - Had held her gauge of them in doubt. - A prize past all I hoped for, she; - But young was I; - And this was why - She thought my pride to gratify; - Yet I could but disclose it. - - A blush—could it be meant for me?— - Yet so she met no other. - A face that all with joy would meet, - Could it have blush’d my own to greet? - A belle whom all had sought for, she; - Yet I could see - Heave but for me - A sigh that strove and would be free. - I spoke to free another. - - She answer’d—All was meant for me - Whom rivals off were shoving; - And all my love had burst in flame - To feel her ardor while it came. - “A woman, whosoe’er she be, - Is nothing more, - O loved of yore, - Than just a woman, nothing o’er, - And can but love the loving.” - - -THE POET’S REASON. - - I live to write; and write, good friend. - In part, I know, for you; - Though, while I do so, in the end - Myself it pleases too. - - “The world,” you think, “may prize my rhymes.” - Of old, I hoped it would. - But many and many have been the times - I only deem’d them good! - - I “love to write”? You near the truth. - I love to talk, as well; - And poems breathe a part, forsooth, - Of what the soul would tell.— - - Ay, ay, the soul. For it how meet - That those we love should see— - Not poems—but the poem sweet - That all one’s life would be! - - -AMONG THE MOUNTAINS. - - My mountains, how I love your forms that stand - So beautiful, so bleak, so grim, so grand. - Your gleaming crags above my boyhood’s play, - Undimm’d as hope, rose o’er each rising day. - When now light hope has yielded place to care, - O’er steadfast work I see you steadfast there. - And when old age at last shall yearn for rest, - By your white peaks will each aspiring glance be blest. - - How bright and broad with ever fresh surprise, - The scenes ye brought allured my youthful eyes! - Now, when rude hands those views of old assail, - When growing towns have changed the lower vale, - When other friends are lost or sadly strange, - Ye stand familiar still, ye do not change. - And when all else abides as now no more, - In you I still may see the forms I loved of yore. - - Ye mounts deserve long life. Your peaks at dawn - Catch light no sooner from the night withdrawn, - Than those ye rear see truth, when brave men vow - To serve the serf, and bid the despot bow. - In vales below, if tyrants make men mild, - The weak who scale your sides learn winds are wild, - That beasts break loose, and birds awaken’d flee, - As if in deepest sleep they dream’d of being free. - - High homes of manhood, human lips can phrase - No tribute fit to echo half your praise. - By Piedmont’s church and Ziska’s rock-wall’d see, - By Swiss and Scot who left their children free, - By our New England, when she named him knave - Who, flank’d by bloodhounds, chased his fleeing slave, - Stand ye like them, whose memories, ever grand, - Tower far above earth’s lords, as ye above its land. - - Ay, stand like monuments in lasting stone - To souls as lofty as the world has known. - Ye fitly symbol, when with kindling light - The dawn and sunset gild your summits white, - The glories of their pure, aspiring worth - Who aim’d at stars to feed the hopes of earth; - And fitly point where they, in brighter skies, - View grander scenes than yours where your heights cannot rise. - - -MARTIN CRAEGIN. - -“Martin Cooney,” [I have found, upon making inquiry at Pittston, that -the boy’s name was Craegin, not Cooney] “is the name of the boy who, -deep down in the horrid depths of the Pittston mine, performed a deed -of heroic self-sacrifice which shames into insignificance the actions -by which many happier men have climbed to fame and honor. Cooney and a -companion stood at the bottom of the shaft as the car was about to ascend -for the last time. High above them roaring flame and blinding smoke amid -the crash of falling timber were fast closing up the narrow way to light -and life; below them in the gloomy pit were a score of men working on, -unconscious of their deadly peril. Cooney, with one foot upon the car, -thought of his endangered friends. He proposed to his companion that they -should return and warn the miners of their threatened fate. His companion -refused to go, and then Cooney, without a moment’s hesitation, but with -full consciousness that he had chosen almost certain death, leaped from -the car and groped his way back through the growing darkness. It was too -late: the miners had closed the ventilating door before he reached them; -and standing there between the immovable barrier and the shaft, the hot -breath of the fiery pit poured in upon him in a pitiless blast, and so he -died.”—_Philadelphia Evening Bulletin_, June 5, 1871. - - Up, thou Warden gray of Honor, - Swing thy temple’s rusted door; - Hither from the mine of Pittston, - Hies, at last, one hero more. - - ... - - While he toil’d amid the miners, - Came a cry that startled him; - “Fire!” he heard, and o’er him quickly, - Saw the smoking shaft grow dim. - - “Now for life!” a comrade shouted, - “Mount this car! no more cars go!” - “Nay for life,” replied young Martin, - “Call the men at work below!” - - Cried the first: “No time to tarry! - Look!—The flames!—We must not stay!” - “Time for them to close the smoke out!” - Martin cried, and rush’d away. - - “Fire! fire! fire!” he shouted shrilly, - Groping down the passage dim. - “Fire!” those heard, and closed the passage, - Closed it on the smoke and him. - - “Stop the smoke!” cried men above him.— - Still the ghastly fumes crept on; - Caught the boy, and, crawling round him, - Choked his corpse they clung upon. - - “Woe on woe!” cried those above him, - “All will die; the fires descend!” - By the coal-pit, by the coal-boy, - Never light like that was kenn’d. - - Whence, O whence that blinding brightness? - What had touch’d the boy afar?— - For the chariot of Elijah - Had he spurn’d his comrade’s car? - - “Stop the fire!” cried all the village,— - Ah, but none could now keep down - Martin’s love, there marshal’d heavenward, - Haloed by a martyr’s crown. - - Not the flood that men set flowing - Faster than the fire could spread, - Now could quench the flame eternal - Burning in the soul that sped. - - Not the cloud of smoke that gather’d, - Not the dark, sad funeral pall, - Now could dim the boy’s devotion, - With its glory gilding all. - - ... - - Up, thou Warden gray of Honor, - Wheels immortal sweep the sky, - Swing thy gates!—another hero - Love incites to do and die. - - -OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM. - - What has a child that a man has not, - When “of such is the kingdom” on high? - At play in the home, at work in the school, - Oh, what does he care for the soul, or its rule, - Or for aught that hints of the sky? - Ay, what does he serve but his own desires, - Impell’d by a fancy that toils or tires? - His moods flow on like currents in brooks, - Or ruffled or smooth, to answer the crooks. - All things that are sweet or fair to see - He buzzes and bustles about like a bee. - He would work his arms at ball and bow, - Though he never had known it would make them grow.— - What virtue is his?—While a man can doubt - The truth within him, nor show it without, - The child holds fast, unfetter’d by lies, - A faith that he never has dared to despise, - Expression that knows no other control - Than that of the Maker who moves the soul, - A beauty of wisdom that works to obey - A holy, because a natural way; - And that may he have that a man may not. - - What has a man that a child has not, - When “of such is the kingdom” on high? - Oh, he has been train’d by the world and the school - To curb his character in by rule - Till the rule of his life is a lie. - A man like that would spurn to find - In God’s designs the quest of his mind. - He crams and drams for an appetite - That nothing on earth can sate or excite. - His words are as dry as the words of a book,— - Your sentence is ready, wherever you look. - His views—he never saw any thing strange: - If he did, some fellow might question his range. - And all of profit he tests by pelf, - And all of manhood measures by self, - Forgets that God rules the world he is at, - And stars himself as its autocrat. - Alas for reason with such a judge! - If ever you whisper or smile or budge— - You may study and ponder and prove and pray— - But he has a sneering, cynical way; - And that may he have that a child has not. - - What has a man that a child has too, - When “of such is the kingdom” on high? - He knows that life is better’d by rules, - But he knows how split the wise and the fools - When judging of rules they apply. - He feels that life worth living proceeds - From nature that prompts the bent of deeds; - And he lets the reins of his being go, - Whenever the soul moves upward so. - If he look to God through self or His Book, - Or leading the way through a bishop’s crook, - He welcomes whatever has worth in the new, - Though it grew outside of his Timbuctoo. - For modest he is, and loves to find - Earth blest by minds that differ in kind. - In short, to the simple, the frail, and the few - He is fill’d with charity through and through; - And, waiving your reason its right of control, - Trusts God for enough truth left in your soul; - And though he may tell you he doubts your way, - He has much to love in spite of his “nay”; - And that may a man and a child have too. - - -MY LOVE IS SAD. - - My love is “fill’d with gloom,” you say; - Yet think! when I had spied her, - The flowers that made her bower so gay - Had lost their light beside her. - Ah, could my darling see it so, - And gloomy seem? No, no; no, no. - - My love is weary, wandering; - Yet I, who sped to find her - With worlds of fancies on the wing, - Saw all fall far behind her. - Ah, could my darling see it so, - And weary seem? No, no; no, no. - - My love is lone and weeps, I see; - Yet here I wait to win her, - For what is all the world to me, - My arms are clasping in her. - Ah, could my darling see it so, - And lonely seem? No, no; no, no. - - -MY DREAM AT CORDOVA. - - -I. - - Night bade me rest. I left the street, - Its faces fair and banter sweet; - And oh, how human seem’d the town - Beside which I had laid me down! - But, ere I slept, the rising moon, - From skies as blue as if ’twere noon, - Pour’d forth her light in silvery streams, - Eclipsing all my light of dreams. - And soon, as if some power would shake - My drowsy eyes, and make them wake, - The walls were spray’d with showers of light, - Whose flickerings left a fountain bright - That toss’d the moonbeams in its play, - And dash’d and flash’d their gleams away. - I just could see the fountain flow - Within a marble court[1] below. - It seem’d a spirit, clothed in white, - But half reveal’d to mortal sight, - Whose glancing robes would lift and glide - O’er dainty limbs that danced inside, - And touched the ground with throbbing sweet - As if the tread of fairy feet; - While round about the fount-sent shower, - That strung with pearls each grateful flower, - Rare fragrance rose from bush and bower. - - -II. - - Ere long across the marble court - Soft laughter rang and calls of sport, - And maidens pass’d the entering gate, - Whose voices rose in sweet debate, - So clear, so pure, they might have sprung - From moonlight, not from mortal tongue. - I lay there charm’d, my eyelids closed, - My limbs enchain’d; but, ere I dozed, - Gave one look more. Alas for me! - The moon had moved, and made me see, - In dreamlike light where slept the day, - Vague forms that join’d those maids at play. - They linger’d there, half hid by trees - And sprawling cactus; now at ease, - Now whirling off in shadowy sets - Where urged guitars[2] and castonets.[2] - Anon, this music rose and fell, - As if, because, all fill’d so well, - So laden down with sweets before, - The languid air could hold no more. - “Ah, how could it or I?” I thought; - “This land of lasting spring is fraught - With charms that pale by living truth - The brightest dreams that lured my youth.” - Then, while the music heaved my breast, - The thought it cradled sank to rest. - - -III. - - I slept and dreamt. To you it seems - No censor, swung to souls in dreams - Before the mind’s most holy shrine, - Rear’d there to memories most divine, - Could incense hold whose fumes could rise - And dim what bless’d my closing eyes. - You think my soul most surely thought - Of Cordova in dreams it brought. - You think that once again it calms - My mood to watch beneath the palms - The ancient river[3] freshly lave - Rome’s ruined bridge[3] that naught could save. - You think, once more, my wonder wends - Across that orange-court[4] and bends - In that cathedral-mosk,[5] in which - A thousand[5] shafts with sculptures rich - Surround the soul like ghosts of trees - Beyond the touch of time or breeze, - While all the shafts to all bespeak, - In jasper, porphyry, verdantique, - The skill that train’d their artist’s hand - In grand old times that blest this land - Before the Moor’s glad suns had set - On days that earth can ne’er forget. - Nay, nay, I dreamt with joy intense, - But did not heed a hint from thence. - - -IV. - - You think my spirit rose to flights, - Aspiring past all present sights, - Invoking from the grave of time - The heroes of that city’s prime,— - The great Gonsalvo[6] marching on, - Or Ferdinand[7] of Aragon?— - You think I saw, by camp-fires bright, - The turban bow beneath the sight - Of chieftains marshall’d, far and near, - With drifting plume and flashing spear, - Like cloud and lightning sent to sweep - Abdillah’s[7] Moors across the deep?— - You think I trod these lanes in days - When Califs vied to sound their praise, - And term’d the town that seem’d so blest - “The grander Bagdad of the west”[8]; - Or trod them, when it gave the Goth - His “Home of holiness and troth”[8]; - Or, long ere through its children’s veins - Flow’d Roman[9] blood to richen Spain’s, - Beheld it named by every mouth, - “The matchless gem of all the south”?[8]— - Nay, nay, I dreamt with joy intense, - But did not heed a hint from thence. - - -V. - - It must have been Spain’s year-long spring - That gave my winter’d fancies wing; - And brought to life a long-lost love - That these had come to brood above. - How throbb’d my heart to see once more - That face, that form, that friend of yore! - Again my arms were round that neck; - And cheek to cheek without a check - Our souls had met. O Love, long cold, - What frame could hope to feel, when old - And numb from long bound loads of pain, - Such warmth and life thrill every vein! - The gone delight was all too dear. - With heart aglow, as dawn drew near, - To him who slept amid the past, - A Spanish sky seem’d overcast. - - -VI. - - Bright Sun, I sigh’d, no light can gleam - Beside true love and shine supreme! - Fair Spain, no realm so fair may be; - But love recall’d unsexes thee. - Nay, no land shows one sunlit scene - That rose-like bursts from earth’s wide green, - But brings an image swept away - When eyelids close at close of day. - ’Tis but the impress mind receives, - That, sunn’d or sombre, never leaves. - Ah, if the past must always cope - With future joys for which we hope, - How vain the aims that make their quest - A life that merely shall be blest, - And slight earth’s meed of lowly sweets - For purple heights and golden streets! - Faith fails that merely waits below. - Dreams after death would bring but woe - Without remember’d love that blest - The soul before it found its rest. - - -VII. - - Keep, Cordova, thy rare renown. - The veils of twilight, falling down, - Could fold around no fairer town; - Yet many a sight, where came the night, - To this, my soul, had seem’d as bright. - I left thee sad; but bore away, - With light to linger night and day, - And charms divine as thine to me, - The dream that came to rival thee. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] “A thoroughly national hotel ... I look down from my window through -marble colonnades ... perfumed with the scent of ... trees, which bend -... over a richly sculptured fountain.”—_Hare’s Wanderings in Spain_, pp. -93, 94. - -[2] Instruments found everywhere in Spain. - -[3] “The bridge over the Guadalquivir ... composed of sixteen arches ... -very picturesque ... built by Octavius Cæsar.”—_O’Shea’s Guide to Spain._ - -[4] “What spot can be more delightful than the grand old court, -surrounded by flame-shaped battlements ... beneath huge orange trees -planted some three hundred years ago.”—_Hare’s Wanderings in Spain_, p. -88. - -[5] “From the court you step with bewilderment into a roofed-in forest of -pillars ... amid the thousand still remaining columns of varied color, -thickness, and material, which divide the building into twenty-nine naves -one way and nineteen the other. Into the midst of all a cathedral was -engrafted in 1547.” (It was built originally for a mosk.)—_Idem_, p. 89. - -[6] Gonsalvo de Cordova, called “the great captain,” born 1443. - -[7] Ferdinand of Aragon, whose forces, setting out from Cordova, drove -Abu-Abdillah, or Boabdil, the king of the Moors, from Granada in 1492. - -[8] Titles applied to the city in different periods of its history,—when -inhabited by the Moors, the Goths, and before the Romans conquered it. - -[9] Referring to the “blue blood” of the Spanish aristocracy, supposed to -be indicative of Roman ancestry. - - -THE FLOWER PLUCKED. - - “You say you leave forever? - Our walks and talks have had their day? - You say this flower blooms not to stay, - Nor friendship;—we must sever?— - Alas, to think my favorite flower, - That so delay’d its blooming hour - Through all the stormy weather, - Through March and April, May and June - Has open’d now to shut so soon! - Nay, nay; it shall not fail me so. - It yet shall feel—though but my blow.” - She spoke, and smote with all her might - The fragile stem and blossom bright; - And both flew off together. - - “Not so,” he cried; “nay, never. - Forgive it! Spare the flower! alas!” - And knelt and pick’d it from the grass. - “What, did she love thee ever? - If so the blow she gave to thee - Has made thee doubly dear to me. - Ah, Flower, in sunny weather, - And not in March, nay, nay, in June - Thy leaves in opening brought this boon; - Nor so shall close! There waits for thee - One mission more, thy best, I see!” - He spoke, and placed the fallen flower - Against his heart—and so that hour - The maid and flower together. - - -THE ARTIST’S AIM. - - In candor, my friend, you seem too much at home - With nymphs of Olympus and gods of old Rome. - The world has advanced, and the artist, if sage, - Will seek to give form to the thoughts of his age. - The curve of a limb and the pose of a head - May be all the same in the living as dead; - But she that you woo, must have life and be young - And speak, ere you love her, and speak your own tongue. - - Truth only is lasting, and only the face - Transfigured by it has a lasting grace. - And truth is in nature, nor dealt second-hand - Through art, though most artful to fill the demand. - So think of the present, its deeds and its dreams, - As Raphael thought, but not Raphael’s themes; - Nor be a Venetian to picture like Titian - A woman to worship or goddess to kiss. - You are a new-world’s man: model from this. - - Ay, let the dead bury their dead, and pursue - The aims of a people that push for the new. - The proudest ambition, the readiest hand, - Might wisely embody ideals less grand; - No sweeter Murillo’s divine designs, - Whose purity rivals each thought it refines, - While the dreamy intent of a life-brooding haze - Throngs thick with the beauty of immature praise. - Conceptions immaculate still may be - In the pure white light that he could see, - Inspired to incarnate a soul in each plan, - The life of a picture as well as of man. - - The wants of the present, one never can gauge - By the heathenish tastes of a heathenish age. - The mummy lived once, and spoke as it ought. - We moderns, forgetting its life and its thought, - For lost art sighing, too oft re-array - What is only a corpse, and ought to decay. - E’en if it were living, long centuries fraught - With progress in action and feeling and thought - Outgrow the old charms, and make the world crave - New phases of art that the past never gave. - - So I fear, when I see men striving to mold - The forms of the new after those that are old, - While all true life grows better and better, - That classical models a modern may fetter. - Small virtue has one with no hope in his heart, - And little of merit, if none in his art. - While only the light of a coming ideal - Lures those to the good who imagine it real, - No work can ever inspire the earth - That embodies no promise of unfulfill’d worth, - And naught that the world accounts worthy of fame, - In art as in act, but is rank’d by its aim. - - -MUSICIAN AND MORALIZER. - - What am I “doing,” night and day, - Loitering here with the flute?— - Doing?—why blowing my plaints away, - Off, till I blow them mute. - - “Foolish” am I?—It may be so. - Who, forsooth, are the wise? - I to the wind my sorrows blow: - Others hoard up their sighs. - - “Useless” am I?—The while I play, - Many another one’s heart - Throbs to my melody, till, they say, - All of his woes depart. - - Nothing of sweetness can fill the air, - Nothing of beauty bloom, - Save as visions of life more fair - Over the spirit loom. - - Listen to this now—mine and thine. - How could I show more worth, - Than as a reed for a breath divine, - Blowing from heaven to earth? - - “Music-mad” am I?—Have your say, - Whether you blame or applaud, - I the behest of my soul obey, - Just as it came from God. - - -WHAT THE BOUQUET SAID. - - For one who would himself be here, - And for ourselves who hold you dear, - We come, fair maid, to welcome you. - For sun-bright eyes like yours we grew, - For cheeks like yours, with ardor meet, - Would flush, aglow their glow to greet; - And up to you, our fragrance rare - Is breathed from lips that burst in prayer. - Our goddess dear, our sister sweet, - This meeting leaves our lives complete. - Now dew may fail, or frost may sear, - We fade, we die; but have been here. - - -WITH THE YOUNG. - - Our struggles with the world, I know, - Are blessings in disguise. - No honors that elsewhere earth can show - Outshine its victor’s prize. - Yet, when, with naught their course to guide, - My feelings freely well, - My thoughts will turn to souls untried, - And with the young I dwell. - - Why ask a feeling the reason why?— - One’s lot may have been too hard. - Those loved in youth, as years go by, - May rouse no more regard. - Who knows how many in age may fall - Whose feet all deem’d secure? - Who knows how many can trip at all - And ever again be pure? - - Perchance through each fair childish face - I seem to see, as of yore, - A form whose young and tender grace - Beside me moves no more; - And yet a form that waits for me, - Where still, as hope maintains, - What has been, is, or is to be, - In a state unchanged remains - - Perchance, I share in heaven’s delight - Whose hosts recall the past, - And guide, at times, in robes of white, - Earth’s young through gloom and blast. - But leave the cause yet undivined, - When feelings freely well, - The young have claims no others find, - And with the young I dwell. - - -A TRANSLATION. - -In 1864, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin was celebrated with -unusual splendor in the Church de la Companiè of Santiago, Chili. In -the midst of the ceremonies the draped image of the Virgin caught fire. -Almost instantly the flames were communicated to ropes suspending along -the ceiling upward of twenty thousand colored lamps. These fell in a rain -of fire upon the audience below, burning with the church itself as many -as two thousand persons, chiefly young ladies from the higher grades of -society. - - O’er Santiago’s happy homes - The parting sun delay’d, - And brightly o’er its roofs and domes - In gleams of sunset play’d; - And toward the dome most bright came throngs - Of maidens hastening there; - And from them words more sweet than songs - Went pulsing through the air. - They sought that dome because the home - Of God where sins were shriven; - Now under it with splendor fit - Should prayer to Him be given. - - Within, a thousand banners bright - Would wave o’er walls ablaze; - And priests, array’d in gold and white, - Like seraphs chant their praise. - Within, the organ’s ardent strains - Would rise with incense rare; - Ah, then, how sweet would be their gains - Who breathed that sweeter air! - Sent upward so their prayers would flow - Like fountains heavenward driven, - That far away would break in spray, - And fall in blessings given. - - And soon those thousand banners bright - Did wave o’er walls ablaze; - And priests, array’d in gold and white, - Like seraphs chant their praise— - When up there flared a flame that glared - Athwart the lamp-strung dome; - And hot as hell its red lights fell - To fright their victims home; - And, o’er and o’er, was heard: “The door!” - And cries where fright had striven. - But oh, no more would swing that door, - On throngs against it driven. - - Red lips of fire flew to and fro, - And kiss’d each maiden’s cheek; - They blush’d, but oh, too deep the glow! - They kneel’d, but oh, too meek! - Death wrapt them round in robes of flame, - Let loose their streaming hair, - And, when their souls were won, became, - Ash-white, their couch-mate fair. - Anon, the fire was raging higher. - But these to rest were given, - Long ere the bells had wail’d farewells - When out the belfry driven. - - To Santiago’s mourning homes - At morn a stranger stray’d, - And found, where once of all those domes - The brightest sunn’d the shade, - Four hundred carts of corpses charr’d, - Two thousand nameless dead, - And scores of thousands weeping hard - For life so sadly fled. - And all around the smoking ground, - Whence all hope else was driven, - With lifted eye, their dome the sky, - Their prayers to God were given. - - -FARMER LAD. - - Farmer lad, in the morning gray, - Blest may seem the town, and they, - Slumbering late, who, void of blame, - Seek at their leisure wealth and fame; - But how many there, thy race would run - To know thy rest when the day is done! - - Farmer lad, when the herd’s faint bells - Clink far off o’er the sunburnt fells, - Better may seem the coin that calls - Ringing and bright from the town’s cool halls; - But how many there, would give all its gleams - For the golden light of thy guileless dreams! - - Farmer lad, where the herd will drink - Waits a maid that bathes by the brink - Bare brown feet; and the rill, made sweet, - Thrills to touch her who thee would greet. - There is more for thee in the blue of her eye - Than in all the towns that are under the sky. - - -THE WIFE. - - About her fair sweet face, all bright, - Is a constant halo of calm delight; - And her smile attracts - To genial acts - All those who live in the sunny sight. - - She moves in a sphere not wholly obscure, - With ways that are not wholly mature, - But ready to go - Where friend or foe - May point the way to the wise or pure. - - Her mien by every grace refined - With a welcome bends to all things kind; - But something true - To duty too - Remains unbent in her inner mind. - - Her soul seeks not the name of wife, - To sit by a plume, or the prize of a strife. - She longs to share - Not the outward glare, - But the inward glow of her husband’s life. - - Ah, like the sky encircling the sea, - Embracing his thoughts wherever they be, - She rests above - His life with a love - That binds him fast, yet leaves him free. - - Toward her his thoughts in fancies rise, - Like mists aglow in the sunset skies, - And like nights here - When the stars appear, - His gloom gives way at the glance of her eyes. - - Through her his hope like a morning dream - Attains a day of love supreme, - Suffused with a light - That makes earth bright, - And life what it otherwise could but seem. - - Would God her heart could ever abide, - A heaven for his heart’s heaving tide, - Still calm above - His restless love, - And all the storms that over it glide! - - -NOTHING TO KEEP UNDER. - - You envy those whom all men greet - With favors never ceasing, - The men whose ways are so discreet - Their friends go on increasing, - Whose moods get more than they deserve, - Because not oft they blunder; - But, even when unkind, have nerve - To keep unkindness under. - - You envy those whose lips imply - A smile for every neighbor, - Though all his deeds may give the lie - To truth for which they labor,— - Good, easy souls, who never need - To fret in wrath or wonder, - To feel how hard is life, indeed, - With so much to keep under. - - You envy those whose calm consent, - Amid all earth’s mutations, - Can sail the sea of life content - With others’ observations; - Who entertain no wish for strife - Near shores where breakers thunder; - But hold a cautious helm to life, - And keep ambition under. - - Hold friend—the good for which men yearn - Makes ill to them provoking; - And zeal it is, on fire to burn, - That fills its air with smoking. - If this be so, some day, your soul - A worth world-wide may sunder - From those who have—their self-control, - But nothing to keep under. - - -OUR DAY AT PISA. - - We took the train at Florence,[1] we,— - The day was warm and pleasant. - The town of Pisa would we see. - No time was like the present. - Anon we climb’d the Leaning Tower,[2] - Dropt something down, and sat an hour; - And then the grand Baptistry[2] door - They swung for us; and, o’er and o’er, - We made its domed rotunda roar, - To echo back our joking. - - We set our pockets jingling, we, - To make our guide a crony, - Saw the cathedral, paid a fee, - And ate some macaroni, - Then feasted on an outside view - Of all three buildings,[2] yet so new; - Then bought, in alabaster[3] wrought, - Some models of them; then we sought - The Campo Santo,[4] where we thought - About the dead, while smoking. - - We took the train at sunset, we, - And while we left the station, - Extoll’d the land, “How much to see! - How grand this Roman nation! - Our own, how mean!—no works of art!” - We strove to sigh, but check’d a start - And cried, “How home-like!” o’er and o’er.— - What thrill’d us thus?—alas, it bore - No hint from art; we heard once more - A frog, near by us, croaking. - - -FOOTNOTES - -[1] The poem is supposed to be written by an American “doing” Italy. - -[2] The Leaning Tower, the Baptistry (under the dome of which may be -heard, by those who care for it, an echo, repeating itself many times), -and the Cathedral are all found in one square. - -[3] Alabaster worked into articles suitable for gifts is one of the chief -commodities of Pisa. Great quantities of it are purchased for presents. - -[4] Campo Santo or cemetery, the most famous in Italy. - - -THE HIGHEST CLAIMS. - - I woke and found my dream withdrawn, - And, with it, each weird guest, - Whose urgency, from eve to dawn, - Had robb’d me of my rest. - One call’d me ruler of the land; - One chief of hosts enroll’d; - One brought me wealth; one bade my hand - A pen immortal hold; - But none spake aught of aims I thought - More blest than theirs could be; - And, leading on to all I sought, - Still claim’d the most from me. - - “To hold a sceptre in the state, - Like Moses o’er the sea, - Controlling thus a rival’s fate, - Who overwhelm’d will be; - To wield a sword in dangerous times, - Till foes yield up each aim, - While hope with firmer footstep climbs - The crumbling ledge of fame,— - All this I know were well, but though - Each foe should bend the knee, - An homage grander still, I trow, - Would claim the most from me. - - “To join the throngs whose efforts prove - How dear the wealth they earn; - Or those whose thought the world can move - To deeds for which they yearn; - All this were well; but gold is mined - In depths that lure below, - And thought more lasting forms can find - Than lip and line bestow. - When gem and scroll a living soul - With all its powers may be, - Naught else that might my deeds control - Can claim the most from me. - - “Ah, why through all life’s little day - Should drum and trumpet call, - And cluster’d smoke from many a fray - Hang o’er earth like a pall? - How small a space above each fight - Its rising thunder jars! - The echo sleeps in paths of light - Where shine unmoved the stars. - To draw toward love like heaven’s above - One’s earthly work may be; - And nothing less than perfect love - Can claim the most from me.” - - I spoke, and, ere the beams of day - Could bar him out, each guest - That I had thought had gone for aye, - Return’d and term’d me blest. - One call’d me ruler of the land; - One chief of hosts enroll’d; - One brought me wealth; one bade my hand - A pen immortal hold; - And every voice breath’d forth: “Rejoice; - O soul, thy wisdom see:— - While love rules all, thy ruling choice - Must claim the most from me.” - - -NOTES FROM THE VICTORY. - - Ah me, who is ringing those bells? - Right merry for funeral knells! - If the winds of hell could ring them as well, - What woe would the demons lack? - My light blew out in the gust of the rout: - My boy will never come back. - - And drums!—How lightly they roll! - Coarse drums, can they call the soul? - Folks, out of breath, do you shout at death? - Can you rend the tomb?—Alack, - Vain echoes around, pale under the ground, - My boy will never come back. - - Guns too! O why do they roar? - Alas, I thought it was o’er. - Though why care I, though a million die, - And all of us wear but black? - I, too, with the proud have my blood-stain’d shroud: - My boy will never come back. - - Our land!—Who wants it to last! - Its future is doom’d by the past. - And the tears that rise to its mourners’ eyes - Will ever dim all they track. - Chill, shivering breast, freeze, freeze into rest: - My boy will never come back. - - -THE POET’S LESSON. - - “O poet vain, put by thy pen, - Put by this dreamy mood, - Move outward through the walks of men; - And do the world some good.” - - These words I heard, and waived my will, - And left my rhymes behind, - And past the sill and down the hill - Went forth my work to find. - - And first I spied a romping child. - “My child,” I stopt and said, - “The sun is bright; the air is mild; - Your cheeks with health are red. - - “It does you good to leap and run, - And chase your mates about”— - But ah, my talk had scarce begun - Before the child cried out: - - “O please, man, please keep back, I say! - O but you spoil my sport! - O but they all will flee away,— - My prisoners, from my fort!” - - I saw no foe, nor fortress wall, - My coming had attack’d. - This child, I thought, knows not at all - A fancy from a fact. - - Too young is he; nor yet has learn’d - The laws of health, like me; - Nor cares to know them; so I turn’d - And left his fancy free. - - A man approach’d with bending frame, - His eyes by searching task’d; - A chance, I thought, to help one came; - So, “What is lost?” I ask’d. - - “Lost?—every thing!” he said, and frown’d; - “Ay, every thing I sought. - All day and night, the whole week round, - My mind had track’d the thought; - - “And just had found it, but for you!” - I blush’d at this; and he, - He craved my pardon, said, he too, - Had done a wrong to me. - - “Nay, I,” said I, “should make amend. - Your search was on the ground; - And I dreamt not, who saw you bend, - That thought could there be found.” - - He answer’d not; but, passing then, - With shadows paved the way; - The while I vow’d that not again - Would I such help essay. - - With this I turn’d my footsteps where - A man long ill abode, - Assured it would do good to share - This weary sufferer’s load. - - “My friend,” I said, “your smile is bright; - Your pains are lessening then; - Erelong they all will take their flight, - Your health be sound again.” - - “Be sound?” he ask’d; “and can it be - That you misjudge me too? - Ah, not the thing you deem, set free - The smile that welcomed you. - - “Nay, friend, but wisdom learn from one - Who long on earth has wrought; - Our ways would leave us wrecks undone, - If but of earth we thought. - - “A double life we all must live,— - Of spirit and of flesh; - And but the former life can give - A joy forever fresh. - - “Look up; there looms a region nigh, - And there the Master is; - And if like Him live you and I, - Then you and I live His. - - “When all day long of Him I muse, - And all day with Him live, - The glory that the spirit views - Dims all that earth can give.” - - I heard his words, and went my way, - My lesson learn’d betimes; - No more I felt could I obey - A voice that rail’d at rhymes. - - Oh what were life without the worth - Of ideality,— - Its home, heaven’s halo round the earth; - Its language, poetry. - - The world of deeds whose armor gleams - May light the path to right - Far less than rays that rise in dreams, - And days that dawn at night. - - God’s brightest light illumes the soul. - That light this life denies - Till earth’s horizons lift and roll - Like lids from opening eyes. - - -THE MOURNER ANSWERED. - - Amid the twilight’s gathering gloom, - She knelt beside her babe’s new tomb. - “My child,” she sigh’d, “did heaven not know - How deep and dread would be my woe? - For this did nature give thee birth, - For this,—to bury thee?—O God!” - She groan’d, then started. Earth to earth, - Her lips had kiss’d the common sod. - - “Amid life’s flowers that fade and fall, - What need to pluck a bud so small? - With ripen’d harvests full supplied, - What need had heaven of thee?” she cried; - Then mark’d the flowers that, while she stoop’d, - E’en yet made sweet her last-brought wreath: - Those full-blown all had dropt or droop’d; - The buds alone bloom’d bright beneath. - - “Why leave, O God,” was then her moan, - “My widow’d soul still more alone? - Why wrest from life the last thing dear? - What harm that love should linger here?” - And lo, the neighboring spire above - Rang forth its evening call to prayer; - And music fill’d from lips of love - The House of God whose door was there. - - -THE VACANT ROOM. - - Ah, wraith-lit star, that shone afar, - And lured my eager footsteps on! - This door I pass, and find, alas, - The friend for whom I long’d is gone. - O think how drear mere sands appear - To travellers worn who pray for springs. - More drear this place without the face - I sought to cheer my wanderings. - - Have diamonds rare no gleams to spare - The light that their own light would shun? - Do roses droop when many a group - Of clouds crowd off the autumn sun? - The gem and rose less dull repose - When all are gone that caused their worth, - Than lip and eye when none are nigh - With smiles that break in bursts of mirth. - - Are lovers wild, when maidens mild - Their wisest ways of wooing shun? - Do mothers weep, when waked from sleep - Whose dream restored a long-lost son? - Ah, scarce the man’s or mother’s plans - Appear so rudely overthrown, - As his whose thought in vain here sought - A word to echo back his own. - - But time speeds on, and duties wan, - Like ghosts untombed, forbid my stay; - But though I go, this note shall show - The loss, my friend, you cause to-day. - It craves a thought for him who sought - A sight of eyes that light it now; - For him who waits till kindlier fates - His hopes a kindlier fate allow. - - -THANKSGIVING DAY. - - I Sought the house Thanksgiving Day, - And found its inmates all away, - Save her who sat before the fire, - And, by her side, her palsied sire. - - At play, betwixt her fingers white, - A needle nimbly glanced the light; - But oft her eyes it could not stay, - To either side would glance away. - - And on her right hand, open spread, - There lay the Book of God she read; - And on her left I just could trace - An infant namesake’s pictured face. - - The Book of God, the housekeeper, - The babe that had been named for her, - The book and babe and she between,— - Through doors ajar I mark’d the scene. - - And, while she sat before me so, - Content to share another’s woe; - A captive for her sisters gone, - Whom all their joy depended on; - - Cheer’d now to read of heavenly worth - For souls denying self on earth; - Moved now to do the deed she should, - Lest wrong should lead that child from good;— - - Another soul, my heart felt sure - Could keep, if so surrounded, pure,— - If there God lured his thought above, - And here one shared his name and love. - - The scene was homely; yes, I know, - But homely scenes may haunt one so!— - That still her sweet face with me stays, - My days are all Thanksgiving Days. - - -A MISAPPREHENSION - -NOT UNCOMMON. - - In loneliness I wander’d; - When, lo, above me, ringing - Amid the breeze - That shook the trees, - I heard a bird’s glad singing. - I looked, and through the leaves could see - The warbler nod and chirp for me. - “One friend is left me yet,” thought I, - And ventur’d near - The song to hear; - But when he saw me drawing nigh, - Alas, in fright - He took to flight! - Not, not for me had been his care. - He sang to greet the sunny air, - And serve his own sweet nature. - - In loneliness I ponder’d; - And lo, sweet laughter woke there - The gentlest rills, - That broke in trills - About the lips that spoke there. - Through smiles and blushes burst the glee,— - And eyes that fill’d and flash’d for me. - “Her soul,” I thought, “has heard my sigh”; - And, drawing near, - I bade her hear - My tale of love—but from her eye - The joy had flown. - Not I alone, - Alas, not I had been her care. - She fill’d the world with sweetness there, - To serve her own sweet nature. - - -AUNTY’S ANSWER. - - My child, you come, and ask me why, - The reason why I stared at you?— - Ah, darling, one can use her eye!— - Nay, did I stare?—You saw me too? - - I stared, then, at these great round eyes; - And thought of all that each would see, - Of all the cares, and all the cries, - Ere you were old, you sprite, like me. - - And then I saw these tiny ears, - And thought of how they both would grow, - And thrill and tremble, ere the years - Had taught them all they had to know. - - I saw these dainty limbs here, too, - That run and jump and snatch and throw; - And thought how little mine can do— - Ah me, not always was it so! - - And what of these things?—Nothing, dear. - You ask’d me only, that is all; - And old is aunty, old and queer; - So kiss me, child, and catch the ball. - - Alas, the darling!—How could I - Tell her the thought?—It touch’d me so - To think how—were she but to die - Before she learn’d it all, you know. - - -HIS LOVE’S FRUITION. - - “Come, Love, be mine,” the boy implored; - And from his fresh young heart there pour’d - Full streams of life that flush’d his face - And thrill’d his breast for Love’s embrace. - “Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied; - “The worth of boyhood must be tried.” - So, like the spring’s uncertain sun, - Love lured his hope; but was not won. - - “Come, Love, be mine,” the young man pray’d, - As if some angel were the maid; - And could with bliss have knelt beside - The only power that awed his pride. - “Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied; - “For vintage-time must life provide.” - So brightly, like a summer-sun, - Love cheer’d his way; but was not won. - - “Come, Love, be mine,” the strong man urged; - “The mounts above in cloud are merged; - And, hand in hand with thee, my life - Will better brave the looming strife.” - “Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied, - “The harvests wait; the fields are wide.” - So, clouded like an autumn-sun, - Love veil’d her light, and was not won. - - “Come, Love, be mine,” the old man said; - And meekly bow’d his whiten’d head; - Then, while it sank against his breast, - “O Love, has life not won its rest?” - “I come,” his Love at last replied; - And clasp’d him; but he only sigh’d. - And, faint and chill, life’s wintry sun - In gold had set; his Love was won. - - -WHAT WOULD I GIVE. - -WRITTEN ON A SUNDAY IN GERMANY. - - There, where the flowers more fragrant lie, - Crushed by the crowds that have pass’d them by, - Stands a chapel; and oft from its door - Hymns of the lowly worshippers pour, - Crush’d like the flowers, I trow. - O little Church, but what would I give, - What would I give, and how would I live, - To know as thy sweet souls know! - - There, where the trees on the great knoll sway - Swept by the wind that they fail to stay, - Bend great crowds, while organ and bell - Hail God’s Host that is deigning to dwell - Shrined in their church below. - O great Church, but what would I give, - What would I give, and how would I live, - To know as thy hush’d throngs know! - - There on the cliff that chancels the park, - Nigh to the cloud where is trilling the lark, - Men and maidens dance to the lay - Blown by the blasts of the trumpeters gay, - Fluttering to and fro. - O gay Cliff, but what would I give, - What would I give, and how would I live, - To know as thy light hearts know! - - There, where the sun burns all the view, - What sounds there in the boundless blue? - Faith—is it more than a meek despair? - Truth—than one’s own note echoed in air? - Hope—than his dawn’s bright dew? - O hush’d Heaven, but what would I give, - How would I love, and how would I live, - To know the soul’s tale to be true! - - - - -DRAMATIC. - - -IDEALS MADE REAL. - - -I. - - It seem’d a rare and royal friendship, ours, - The very sovereignty of sympathy; - Begun so early too—mere lads we were— - And now I never look back there again - But, swept like shading from a hero’s face - In pictures,—those of Rembrandt,—all the school - Appear in hues of dim uncertainty - Surrounding Elbert, shining in relief. - - Not strange was it; too tender was I made; - Nor oft had felt a touch save that of age, - When moulding all my methods to its own. - Kept back from contact with rough boys at play, - Till sensitive and shrinking as a girl, - A hint of their regard could master me; - No maiden, dreaming of her wedding day, - Could wake at morning with more trembling hopes - Than I, when looking forward to my school. - But when I reach’d it, not a Bluebeard more - Could have disturb’d a trusting bride’s romance. - - -II. - - At first, they lodged me there with such a loon! - “Our clown!” so said the boys; and clown he was; - Would tease all day, and tumble round all night; - And, every morning, sure as came the sun, - Would start and rout me out, with strap in hand, - Plied like a coach-whip round my dancing shape, - Well put to blush until I dodged away. - - A chum had Elbert too; and, like my own, - A wild boy caged, who seem’d more wild at times - Through beating at his bars, a hapless wretch. - And when our happier love had flower’d in us, - Half pitying each other, half this chum, - Which pity grew, we both stood round, scarce loath - To note his own wild set inflating him - With well-blown whims that swell’d his empty pride - Forsooth, the better bubble he could be, - The better hope we two could have of what - Should blow him from us. Then the blow came on:— - A gust of scolding struck him, and he went,— - Obey’d the call that had been mouthed for him,— - An inn-clerk’s, as I think,—and bow’d content - To sink from view like Paul, one gloomy night, - From out the window of his room; while we, - Much giggling, flung his luggage after him. - - -III. - - My friend, thus widow’d, caused that our school’s head, - Already nodding o’er his noonday pipe, - Should beck at sever’d dreams with one nod more, - And so consent to our dreams. - Room-mates made, - We slamm’d his door and woke him; not ourselves. - Our dreamland lasted, that is, when we two - Were by ourselves. When more surrounded us— - You know boy-friends are shy: is it a trait, - Their shielding of their hearts, that fits them thus - For life-tilts of their manhood?—How we two - Would rasp each other when the world look’d on! - In truth, each seem’d to wear his nature’s coat - The soft side inward, comforting himself, - And turn the rough side only toward the world. - If strangers chafed against it, yet oneself - And friend were saved this. - - When thus Elbert’s cloak - Was mine, and mine was his, and both held both, - No proof could have convinced me in those days - His peer had ever liv’d. What seem’d in him - So mild and beautiful, was more than marks - Mere difference between a porcupine - Provok’d and peaceable. The kind was new; - Not human, so angelic. Ay, that soul, - As pure as loving, and as fine as frank, - I half believe to-day, as I did then, - Stood strange amid his comrades of the play - As dogwood, wedded to the skies of spring, - White in a wilderness of wintry pines. - Ah me, could all find all on earth so dear, - Christ’s work were common. I had died for him. - In fact, to shield the rogue, I just escap’d - That very fate a score of times or more, - Bluft, bruis’d, and battling for him on the green. - - -IV. - - Our love kept warm until our school-day-sun - Had set; and afterwards the smouldering fires - Were fed by letters, and rekindl’d oft - By friction of a frequent intercourse - Through visits in vacations; then, for years, - Behind it there was left a lingering light - Pervading moods of memory like the rays - Pour’d through a prism, wherein the commonest hues - Will spray to uncommon colors when they break. - In truth, I never see to-day a face - Where flash the kindling feelings of a boy, - But back of it, I seem to feel the warmth - Of Elbert’s heart. No school-boy past me bounds - But his dear presence comes to leap the years, - And rush on recollection, with a force - That brings from depths of joy, still’d long ago, - A spray as fresh as dash’d from them when first - They stream’d in cataracts. With love like his - To flood its brim, my soul appear’d so full - That, overflowing at each human touch, - Its pleasures could not stagnate. - But, you know - How fly the clouds above us, and in drought - The old springs fail; and long we liv’d apart. - - -V. - - Then Elbert, when we met, talk’d much of this: - How, all its chairs made vacant one by one, - Th’ applause rose thinner at his bachelor-club; - How, brief as birds’, are human mating-times; - How men, mere songs forgot, withdraw to nests— - To homes—their worlds, where all the sky is fill’d - With sunny smiles they love, and shadowy locks. - How sweet were life whose light and shade were these! - - “We, Norman,” said he, “were contented once; - To love each other only; but men part; - And I confess that, while this light of love - Plays lambent round so many glowing lips, - I feel as chill, and lost, and out of place, - As one lone dew-drop, prison’d in a shade - Of universal noon.” - “The sun,” said I, - “Will free it, by and by. Our time will come.” - - “Must come,” replied he, “or I go to it. - Henceforth, let beauty’s beams but gleam for me, - I shall not shun them, as has been my wont, - But make my eyes a sun-glass for my heart, - And let them burn it.” - - “May they burn,” I cried, - “Until love’s fragrant opiate fume so strong - It make your brain beclouded as a Turk’s. - But I, alas, though wild o’er many a maid, - Am never mad enough to marry her.” - - “You poets,” laugh’d he, “soar above earth so - That common clouds like these can reach you not. - But why say ‘clouds’? for clouds rise o’er a flame - That smoulders. Love that burns is always clear.” - - “But mine will not burn clearly, till it show - A woman,” said I, “fitted for a mate, - Whose mind, like yours, can really match my own. - Till then must memory, jealous for her past, - Out-do love’s hope that cannot promise more.” - - “But maidens,” cried he, “are not loved like men. - Bind beauty to their souls, then weigh the twain. - If one weigh naught, he waives his judgment then. - We must be practical.” - - Thus Elbert spoke, - While I, for whom these light and vapory moods - Had gather’d o’er that soul in slightest clouds, - Not tokening the storm that yet should burst, - Smiled only, thinking how, where throbb’d his heart, - Some maid unnamed must surely stand and knock; - Though this I had forgotten, save for that - Which happen’d later. You shall hear of it. - - -VI. - - It came in Dresden, something like a year - More late than when my plan for life was changed. - The change seem’d sudden; but, you know, the blow - That swept from me my parents, fortune, all, - Could not but stun me, and I could not think. - No other theme seem’d mine; I could not write. - - So came my change—no myth—I felt it all:— - One time, when, lonely, I to Christ had knelt, - I rose to seem not lonely; I was His, - He mine. I vow’d to live then but for Him, - To break away from every cord of Earth, - And make my life accordant with his own. - Not only would I think the truth, but yield - Each grain in all my being to the truth, - And sow in wildest wastes, where all should germ - In generations growing toward the good. - - But still, a novice yet, though, like St. Paul, - To will was present with me; to perform - I found not how; but, on performance bent, - Within a chancel chanting with the choir, - I stood before an altar, half the day, - And half before my books, with cravings pale - For church and stole and sermons of my own. - - -VII. - - Then was it Elbert’s friendship further’d me. - For finding me, and staring at my face, - And books, and cassock—when the puzzle pass’d,— - He, humbling to my humor, praised the priest - And all the powers of priesthood, till delight - Relax’d the rigor of my rôle; and then - He wedged the wisdom of his own desire - Within my dreams, and broke apart their spell, - And drew aside the curtains of their couch, - And spoke of dawn, and light for all the world. - - “First learn about this world,” he urged, “and then - Learn how to help it. Minds like mine,” he said, - “Should teach, revise, reform, and start the thought - To counteract ill aim’d philosophy. - Here loom’d an end worth reaching! which to reach - ’Twere well to cross the sea.—His purse was mine. - And go you as a student,” Elbert said, - “Nor clad so like a priest, for whom all earth - Will don some Sabbath-day demean; go free - To find the man, hard by his work, at home.” - - Thus pleading many days, at last he won; - And, yielding to his wish, the sea I cross’d. - - -VIII. - - Soon, borne to Dresden for a leisure week, - With whom, one morning, should I chance to meet - But Elbert’s elder sister?—now grown staid - And matronly withal, a second wife, - In charge of half a dozen sturdy boys; - Though these I saw not then; but all alone, - Much flush’d and flurried, sweeping up the street, - She stopp’d, and cried abruptly, “Why, my friend, - Are you here, Norman?—you?—where from?—how long? - Not heard of you for years! That Elbert, drone, - Will never write the news. How glad I am - To see a man on hand when needed once! - Two girls, young friends of mine, just come to town, - Have lost their trunks,—and I my husband too,— - And there they stand amid such throngs of men!— - And did you note the statues in Berlin, - In all the streets?—of warriors, every one! - And these two girls, here travelling, by themselves, - Where might makes right, and woman slighted is, - Not strange it is their feelings toward you men, - In heat of indignation seething up, - Should brew some barm at times of bitterness!” - - -IX. - - Thus, rattling on, she led me, as confused - As feels a warrior at the morning drum, - Till came a sight supreme, arousing me:— - Two bright eyes only, sparkling in the light, - Where flush’d a face that flared, then hid itself - Behind a travelling hood, befleck’d with dust, - And fring’d with venturous locks of careless hair. - - “I have them now!” it cried; and straight began - A tale, strain’d sweeter through those lips aglow - Than sunset music. Then, when all was told, - The name I heard was “Edith.” - Bowing low, - “Well done!” essay’d I; then,—to bandy back - That charge against the men I just had heard - From her who brought me,—“Well done as a man!” - - -X. - - “That speech,” laugh’d she thus bandied, “scarce deserves - Our ‘Well done as a woman!’—Edith, hark, - His praise for you is, ‘Well done as a man!’” - - Then Edith, echoing after, naïvely dropt, - “I tell you—nay—I will not say it though.” - - “Please do?” I ventur’d. - “Nay; it may offend,” - Replied she; while her shoulders gently shrugg’d - As if to tempt me like two dainty doors, - Doors all but swung ajar before a heart - That love was dared to enter! - “Nay,” I said, - “I vow you such a deal of patience now!” - - “I do not know,” she answer’d; “am not sure. - Your manly patience might break loose to sigh - More hints about my manhood! Just to think - That half of all mankind are merely girls - And so must borrow all their tact from men!” - - “Not so,” I said; “not so; but commonly.”— - - “Ah, commonly! and what,” she sigh’d, “is this - That men-minds do so well?—discriminate? - Yet even I, dull woman, I can see - Brains differ in their grain. But men, forsooth, - Feel so much matter lodged in their brains—eh?— - That they weigh mind like matter in the lump, - And judge of character, as if ’twere clay:— - This forms a man—has wisdom, firmness, power; - And that, a maid—is foolish, fickle, frail, - And never can be wholly safe, forsooth, - Except when subject to a man, her lord!” - - “Ah, but,” I said, “we men all prize you so! - To hold you ours, our pride seems infinite. - Thus lifted up by you, it is your fault - If we seem lords to you.” - “Is it?” she ask’d, - “Or have you seem’d so long our lords, you think - Your lording over us has trained in us - What still needs lording over? Fashion yields - A man, at times, exemption from her forms, - But woman never. Wherefore, pray, is this? - Do not they both have souls? and both aspire? - Must one class only slave it to her sex?— - I think the soul of woman as of man - May show some mastery over its abode.” - - “But yet,” I said, “You know, her frame divine— - And soul, too—men confuse things—who can tell - Which is the soul?” - - She answer’d absently: - “In truth they do confuse things! only wise, - As owls that blink at light!—so blind—nor see - What day dawns with a wife’s enfranchisement; - Ambitious, but forgetting that the meek, - Inherit heaven, or that the oppressor dwarfs - His own surroundings; that if pride stoop not, - Then must the soul; that earthly lords must bend, - And lift their consorts to their own prized seats, - As equals, queens; or else must house with slaves, - And make the slavish habits there their own.” - - -XI. - - “Well said!” I thought. “Disown it, though she may, - This maiden’s mood is manlier than she deems”; - And, as with manhood, so my wits went forth - To find a way to test her further still. - - Just then the sister of Elbert, gesturing toward - The sister of Edith, Alice, whom she fetch’d, - Cried, half-way introducing us, “My fan!” - I stoop’d, and pick’d it up. Then, bowing low, - “Your humble slave,” I said. “You know, some claim - That genuine friends of either sex are slaves; - And only want of love would snatch a whip, - And snapping it, cry out: ‘This way—serve me.’” - - “And I, like them,” said Edith, slightly flush’d, - “Seem wholly loveless. You may mourn it less - That yonder carriage waits me. For to-day, - All thanks for coming! We may meet once more.” - - -XII. - - My face flamed hot as if its veil of flesh - Would burn, and bare the soul, to show I meant - No rudeness. Elbert’s keen-eyed sister laugh’d, - And, walking homeward then, kept bantering me, - To storm my heart with courage womanly, - So sure that love of sex controls us all. - “So fortunate!” she cried; “Heaven favor’d me. - They had no escort,—I no rival near; - And I must ply my arts this very eve.” - - “Ah, but my plans!” I said;—“I leave to-day - For studies at Berlin.” - - “Yes, yes; your plans!— - You serve ideals, like all idiots. - But you are more, much more, than out your teens; - And—well, you are no hermit, any way.” - - “Then must I find”—I laugh’d, yet half in earnest— - “The charms to tempt me!” and my reckoning - Fill’d all my fingers doubly with the traits - Of perfect womanhood. - “She owns,” I heard, - “All these, and more. For once, my poet, dream; - And full Elysium waits you when you wake. - But mind you, Norman, maids of Edith’s kind, - In whose one person love so womanly - With intellect so manly has been join’d, - Need not to marry for a hand or head. - There, hearts alone can win. Bear this in mind; - And fan your fancy till your words grow warm, - Ay, glow to flash the white heat of the soul!” - Then, crying from her door, “Farewell till eve,” - True to her sex, unanswer’d yet assured, - The woman left. - - -XIII. - - And so my will was caught, - The net so deftly drawn, I flounder’d first, - Then, resting, smiled. We fight the hydra, we, - Who war against our nature. Every head - That reason clove would rise redoubled there. - Forsooth, my rudeness:—that should be explain’d; - For which a single visit would suffice; - And this, for scarce a day, need check my work; - Or, if I linger’d longer, all my life - Lay still before me. Wherefore haste away? - Fate might be beckoning!—“Nay, I should not leave,” - Sigh’d hope, too warm, at last, by more than half; - Then roused sweet echoes of faint hints, recall’d - From churchly sources, of one’s need to wed, - If he would work the best, for all, with all. - Thus, like two cowards, clinging each to each, - Weak wish nudged wisdom, and weak wisdom wish. - Who gets on better? - - -XIV. - - So that night we went. - And, all the way, my gay guide rail’d at me. - “Aha, my bachelor, your roving love, - Aha, has had its day! Yon sunset hues - But deck the curtains hung before its night.” - - “Alas,” I cried, “if I must through them pass, - Woe me who wish it! See, in front of them, - The river in the horizon underneath—” - “Your Jordan, ere your promis’d land!” she said; - “You need baptizing for your harden’d heart.” - - “Ah me!” I sigh’d, yet strangely; for there seem’d, - While all the way the twilight thicker sank, - Sweet silence luring dreamward wind and bird - Until the reverent air lay hush’d where came - The hallowing influence of holier stars. - And, all the way, deep folding round my soul, - With every nerve vibrating at its touch, - Fell dim delight, through which, as through a veil, - Some nearer presence breath’d of holier life. - Ah, wandering Heart, and had I had my day?— - With closing gates as golden as yon west? - And whither was I moving in the dark?— - “Who knows?” my spirit ask’d, “who knows or cares? - On through the twilight threshold, trustingly! - What halt thou, Night, that weary souls need fear? - Thou home of love entranced, thou haunt of dreams, - Thy halls alone can hoard the truth of heaven! - Thy dome alone can rise to reach the stars!” - - -XV. - - She roused me, crying out, “Look toward the porch!” - I look’d, and there beheld our waiting friends, - And, grouped with them, some ruddy German maids - Whose deeper hues but finely rimmed with shade - The subtler beauty of our special hosts. - These came from out that western world wherein, - By fresher breezes and by brighter suns, - The Saxon tissue, sweeten’d and refined, - Unfolds, each season, more ethereally. - - The two then moving from their sister-maids, - Like petals loos’d from roses when in bloom, - Came forth to welcome us; and, greetings o’er, - Of Europe, Edith spoke, and Germany, - And books, and music—how the church of Greece - Had carved earth’s pivot that earth whirls upon - Within the centre of a flag-stone round - That paves a chapel in Jerusalem. - But she, who track’d that viewless whirl by sound, - And deem’d all harmony to centre here, - A Grecian only in her love of art, - Had found that pivot fix’d in Germany. - - -XVI. - - “True Grecian, she!” the sister of Elbert cried; - “Each morning brings her fresh from shrines of art, - All flush’d, a priestess from an oracle, - To sanctify us grosser mortals here - With vague suggestions! mutter’d mysteries! - Ah me, to hear her rave once!” - Edith smiled, - “And eyes that see are blest!—and which sees most— - My worship, or your wonder? Know you, friend,” - She turn’d to me and asked,—“this critic’s ground?— - The Sistine Babe it was, we spoke of Him. - Because I find art’s glass, when rightly held, - Revealing through the real the truth ideal, - I said: ‘I seem to see not only Him, - The Babe, but back of Him, His heavenly home. - I seem to enter this—His handmaid there, - And there commune until my soul is blest.’ - I said: ‘From thence my spirit seems to come, - And feel its arms to be the throne of Christ. - And this,’ I said, ‘is wrought for me by art. - Some hold that souls transmigrate after death, - But art,’ I said, ‘makes mine transmigrate here.’ - For this you hear of raving. Do I err? - The soul of feeling is in thought, not so? - Then one, to feel refresh’d, must think she bathes - In rills that reach her from the freshest springs.” - - -XVII. - - “Ah,” said the sister of Elbert, soothingly, - “Our soaring lark here bathes in each bright pool. - So be not frighten’d off; her plumes but shake - A sprinkling from the bath they had to-day.” - - “Some please the world,” said Edith; “I, myself,— - My soul, I mean; nor long to clip that soul - To suit mere worldling’s notions. Courting crowds, - A soul lives crampt; but if one speak the truth, - Crowds leave—good riddance!—place is clear’d for friends.” - - “Clear’d verily!” her sister cried, “Long live - These household pet-gods of our modern homes, - Like sprites to fright the stranger off! Now own - The fear you felt. It would appease her so!” - - -XVIII. - - To this rose no reply to Edith’s lips. - I mark’d, instead, a gentle trembling there, - Like ripples roused upon a tranquil sea - That rise from deep, unseen disturbances. - “They fail to read her rightly,” thought I, then— - You know no man can flinch it: woman’s grief, - If there be any manhood left in him, - Will rouse his efforts to bespeak her peace— - I found myself her soul’s expositor - To clear the channel of its overflow. - - “And when the thought is in one, when it springs, - Why, then, not let it spring? The world is not - So fill’d with thoughts that it can spare our own. - And if we startle folks, jog off the guise - Of their deceit, we spy them as they are. - Between souls thus discover’d, Edith deems - That love must flow; while friendship caught by craft - Is lost by confidence. I think her right. - Why not? We all when in our noblest moods - Crave homage for our souls’ nobility. - But what our souls are in themselves, who know, - Save as our rôles report us outwardly? - Did not divine hands form us as we are? - Who love us as we are, love higher things - Than those who love what earth would make of us.” - - “My champion!” Edith cried; and waved her thanks, - With white sleeves fluttering from her shapely sides— - Ah me, a wing’d one sent to save my soul - Had scarcely stirr’d in me a greater joy. - - -XIX. - - My mien must have reveal’d it. Like a lake, - Whose fogs unfold, when comes a genial sun, - Her moods unfolded to my sympathy; - And, brightly imaged in her nature’s depths, - I seem’d, at every turn, to face my own. - - So new to me such views were, that I felt - As thrill’d as feels the savage maid, when first - She finds her own face in a stranger’s glass, - Then spell-bound lingers, learning of herself. - So wrapt, my wonder hung, all wistfully, - About that spirit bright. What meant it all? - I could not then believe,—I scout it yet,— - That mortals can afford to slight the souls - Reflecting theirs, who make them mind themselves - And prize the good they own, and dread the ill. - - You smile, friend: yes; and often so would I. - My head would oft, made jealous of my heart, - Deny that reason ruled my impulses. - And oft my heart, to bear such weight of joy, - Would faint from too much feeling. I would ask - Could I be sane yet find my life so sweet?— - At least I would be sure; so like a friend - Who finds a long-lost friend amid a crowd, - And stares, and holds him at arm’s length, a time, - Ere clasping him with courage to his breast - That wellnigh bursts the while, I held her off, - This long-sought soul that mine had found a friend; - And did not dare to trust her as I would. - - -XX. - - What struggles then were mine! Too cautious grown, - To dare to risk a fall, though but in love, - How would I brace my powers against her charms - That might unbalance me! How would my will, - That strove to master my reluctant mien, - Make stiff my every smile! or, were my heart - Too strong to be suppress’d, how would I thwart - And turn each glance that could reveal one glimpse - Of how I loved her, toward her sister first! - Unconscious Edith,—could she read deceit?— - ’Twas all I dared to use. How could I else, - Poor fool, that then I felt myself to be, - Hide my infatuation! - - -XXI. - - What of her?— - How could she know me when a mask I wore? - Was not her sister pleased, when pleasing me? - Did Edith not please me, when pleasing her? - And so for Alice only seem’d her care; - And Alice was a fair and flippant naught, - An empty echo only of my love. - The sweetness of the family all had gone - To fill the elder Edith. - Then alas, - Too late, I learn’d my error. How I chafed, - Kept back from midnight strolls for sake of Alice! - And jogg’d from tête-a-têtes to give her place! - Then with her left, inspired alone to wish - To be like her a dunce; and thus to be - Like her, in some way, Edith’s all-in-all. - - -XXII. - - Nor could I hint this truth to Edith; nay. - Unselfish, all ethereal in her thought, - A disembodied soul had held less moods - Touch’d through the senses. One had sooner snared - With tatter’d nets of tow a wind of spring, - Or with his own breath warm’d the wintry air. - Her love’s regard in no way could be reach’d. - At times, I would essay philosophy, - Or try to freight her fancy’s wings with facts. - Like merest sand, flung off a nervous bird, - My pleas were shaken back. - She “There,” would cry; - “Some everlasting everybody’s law - Applied again to me! Nay, nay, this world - Would grind one’s very soul to common dust!” - - -XXIII. - - “And what else are we?” turn’d I once to ask; - “Would God we all could free ourselves from laws; - But half our lives we spend in learning them; - And half in learning how to love them then. - And but in souls that learn life’s laws by heart, - Has wisdom, so it seems, a sway complete.” - - “’Tis thus with earthly wisdom,” she rejoin’d; - “But earth is ruled by folly,—idiot child - Of freedom fetter’d. You may live the slave; - But I choose freedom!” - - And, as then she left, - “You lawless,” thought I, “will you always prove - The water Undine of my wilderness, - All maddening, with strange metamorphoses, - My faint love thirsting to refresh itself?”— - - -XXIV. - - Oft while I this would moot, she changed, and seem’d - A fount of laughter now that sprang within, - O’er-rill’d her lips and rippled round her guise, - The very train’s hem shaken by the flow. - “Nay, nay, but I shall trust you yet,” I thought; - “And still believe you good, and hold it true - That maids, like minnows, rarely show themselves - Till, caught and drawn from out the open sea, - They frisk in safety in some household pond!” - - Like this, my moods moved on,—life’s usual way, - The mainspring sped by balanced contraries, - And every pulse, whose beating proves we live, - Anon with deathlike voids alternating. - One hour, my faith in her was like the sun, - The next, my doubt was lightless as the night. - All prefaced fitly that which you shall hear. - - -XXV. - - I, once, recurring to my youth, had said - Of Elbert, that he soon, fulfilling plans - Long form’d, would join me here in Germany. - - “Why,” Alice cried, “to think you know so well - Our Elbert!” - “Yours?” I ask’d. - “Ours,” Edith said, - “Ay, ay; our families have been friends for years.” - But spite her careless tone, her eyes appear’d, - Slipping through lashes long, to shun my own. - - And why was this?—And why, too, had she flush’d?— - What subtle weapon had been used to cut - Beneath the surface of her mien, and bring - The heart-blood from its core? - Then I recall’d - How Elbert’s moods, of late, had hid themselves - In strange far mists of fancy.—Could it be - That Edith, she was his?—And he, my friend, - Was he the one then that had caged her love, - And placed it where my soul in reaching forth - Could sense but bars of chill indifference?— - I could not ask her nor her sister this; - Nor even Elbert’s now, for in the week - When first I met her, she had sail’d for home. - But soon, like worms that would not wait for death, - Fear-fretted jealousies clung round the form - Of dying hope that now prized Edith more, - To feel that Elbert too had prized her so. - - -XXVI. - - A few days later, as we sat and talk’d, - He on us burst, and brought a sudden light - Illuminating her, and paling me, - Blanch’d, ash-like, in the flame of that hot flush - That warm’d her welcome. All my heart and breath - Seem’d sunk in silence like the buzzing bees - When autumn steals the sunlight from the flowers, - And frost seals down their sweets. I heard them talk - Like one who just has walk’d a glacier path - With boist’rous friends; then, stumbling, slips away, - Far suck’d through freezing fathoms down to death, - Yet hears the cruel laughter crackling still. - - -XXVII. - - This hardly tuned my mood for Elbert’s glee, - When then we left the sisters. “Ah, good friend, - So glad to see you! Such a desert, life! - And friendship, such an oasis!—Your health! - Our dusty throats need clearing first, and then - Shall drafts drawn deeper clear our dusty souls.” - - Thus led he, hurrying on from thought to thought, - Yet not one breath for Edith could he spare.— - Why not? Could he not trust my friendship yet? - Half anxious then, half curious to detect, - Though wary still of love so subtly hid, - My lips, bold-braced yet trembling at the deed, - Essay’d a note to touch him,—Edith’s praise. - - -XXVIII. - - “She looks well,” said he, somewhat absently. - “She looks well!” cried I, half-way nettled now; - Should Edith be abused, forsooth, to show - What brutes men are who lose their trust! “She looks— - For what then do you take her? for a frame, - An empty effigy of human shape, - Like what a shopman hangs his gowns upon?— - Her soul is what I spoke of,—of her soul.” - - “Her soul?” he said; “may be; but I, may be, - Have never seen it.” - “How?—this too!” I thought, - “A slight is it?—or triumph that he vaunts?” - - He caught my feeling from my fever’d mien, - And words confused and few; and, warming then, - Made answer: “Norman, if I loved you less, - I more might love, and more might spare myself. - The thing my sister wrote, I deemed her whim; - Could not conceive it true, yet can it be?— - I swear, it staggers half one’s faith to find - A man, devoted to the aims you claim, - So little circumspect.” - What meant he now? - Could he believe that I had form’d a plan - To woo his Edith, knowing she was his?— - And could my sleepless nights, my troubled heart, - My prayerful deeds, my nature that he knew, - Be so misjudged, without some fault in him?— - “So little circumspect in what?” I ask’d. - - And then with words that could but anger me, - “In what but choice of company?” he said; - “No more you think of study, duty, church, - But waste the whole day long with one like this!— - Nay, check me not. I understand my words.— - This actress, though right artless in her way, - This actress here, would play”— - “With me!” I cried; - “This ‘actress!’” and I know not what I said; - But yet recall what kept him forcing in, - “You err!”—“You do me wrong!”—“You know her not!”— - Wild words, the which he ended, saying then: - “Not such am I as you profess to be; - But had you common-sense, no piety, - You might perceive a farce, if not a fault: - A broad church yours will be then, when your mate, - Attracting toward the stage by charms you lack, - Will draw the sinner, while you draw the saint.” - - -XXIX. - - Struck blind, I scarcely could have felt more stunn’d. - Was this the truth? An actress would she be? - Why had that sister of his not told me this?— - - “Not told you this?” cried Elbert; “What? not told? - Ay, ay, I see.—She hoped that love, perchance— - It is a woman’s balm for every ill— - Might woo this Edith from her present life. - She knows her not.—And you—have you told her?— - Does Edith know your plans?” - “She must have known”— - I answer’d back; and then I check’d myself. - Did not she blush to hear that Elbert came?— - For fear was it, lest he should tell the truth?— - To me, her friend? to me, deceived, her dupe? - To me, whose love she might have known, yet knew - That all that she had seem’d was not her all?— - If she had meant deception, could my love - Survive the test? - Those watching death-beds, mark - That souls, when dying, ere above they spring, - Breathe deep, then pass away. And so with minds, - When come the deadliest woes. Down deep in thought, - I scarce had deem’d that aught from hell could roil - Such dregs of bitterness long undisturb’d. - - -XXX. - - The fault, sigh’d conscience, had been all my own: - How safely might one sail the sea of life - If all his reckonings were but true to heaven! - Ah, siren-like, a rivalling earthly love - May lure to realms whose mountain heights are clouds, - Clouds warmly hued above a cold gray shoal, - Whose only outlines are the breakers’ caps, - Whose only stir, the fury of the storm. - - And I, who now had learn’d the truth, what now?— - Should I turn back to aims I knew were safe?— - I swore to do it; yet I thought—and thrill’d— - Could I but hold her soul, but own herself, - Though all things else were lost, this gain were sweet!— - Were sweet, though all were lost? Why need this be? - All might be saved. Did I believe in God?— - That he could change a life through human means? - Might not her life be chang’d then?—What were I - But faithless wholly, did I try this not? - - -XXXI. - - So, soon, to draw her thoughts out, baiting mine, - Some slur I dropt, suggested by a church: - It touch’d a theatre. “Extremes,” I said, - “Have met.” - “Extremes have met,” she said, “before! - I take your meaning. Elbert has disclosed— - Not what I am, but what I seem to be - To those who will not view me as I am. - You join their lists?—I hoped for better things.” - - “But was it right to keep me ignorant?” - - “I hoped it right,” she said, “to keep you wise. - What Elbert thought, I knew. With you, had hopes, - That she who might not seem so wholly wrong - Might better represent a class unknown,—” - - “Without design, might represent amiss,” - I answer’d. “As for you, however class’d, - I fear no class could claim you, all in all. - For all rules have exceptions.” - “Take but rules - For this time,” said she. “Did you ever find - That ever, when the seers look forth through heaven, - They view there pews and pulpits?—Nay, not so: - Yet oft they note a stage and galleries, - All throng’d with white-robed hosts attendant there. - So these, you see, at times may hint of good.” - - “They may,” I said, “but do they, as a rule?” - - “Ah, as a rule,” she said, “they hint of life—” - - “But mainly life to laugh at or to fear,” - I answer’d. - “When emotion swells and shrinks, - The spirit’s wings are moving,” she replied. - “And that art moves them most, which mirrors most - The life that is, and therefore is the truth. - So often have I heard my father say: - ‘We read of truth who spell from nature’s page; - And art can best make out the meanings there; - For ’tis the artist’s thought that finds each form - A form of thought,—imagination’s glass - That views the infinite in the finite fact. - Here moves a man, you say. What see you?—man?— - Nay, nay; that guise material fashions there - The image only of his manliness. - And you can only know his life within, - As from the image you imagine it. - Yon little girl that skips beside the porch,— - I know her, love her, not, save as I pass - Behind that face to reach a region rare - Where dolls are sentient babes, and brothers kings. - And yonder maidens, musing in delight, - I know not, love not, till, in sacrifice, - My spirit seems to yield to their desires, - To wait a watchful servant unto them, - To move with motives that inspire their deeds, - To look through their own eyes and see their views, - And thrill with rhythm when their ear-drums throb; - Then, joining all with all, imagine thus - The movements of their hidden inner moods. - Thus too, through all of life, how know we more? - All things are fitful images alone, - Reflecting glory from the Absolute; - And he who can imagine from the part - What marks the whole, walks in the light of heaven. - Find then a life where every child becomes - Earth’s animated toy of manliness, - Each man the mass from which to mould a god, - And earth the pit whence all heaven’s wealth is mined, - You find for thought a life worth living for, - A life the artist gives us: it is he - Discerns a spirit always veil’d in shape, - A soul in man, and reason everywhere.’” - - -XXXII. - - Ah, Edith, so I mused, an artist thou, - Thou art indeed! but not an actress, no, - Whatever may have train’d thee, save to tread - The stage of truth! and Elbert’s every act - Against my flinty confidence in her - Struck fire and flash’d, each time I met him now; - The more so, that each time I met him now, - In earnest, or to stir me to distrust, - He flutter’d like her fan at Edith’s beck, - Her silence fill’d with subtlest flattery, - Her vacant hours invaded with himself; - Till all my life, at last, appear’d a plot - To steal upon his absence, and then pluck - Love’s fruit which once his presence only brought. - - -XXXIII. - - And so, henceforth, I less could welcome him. - How could I do it,—with his views of her, - Yet wooing her?—He wellnigh made me doubt - If I might not mistake her,—doubt I check’d, - Flush’d fiercely soon that Elbert’s deeds could hint - Thought so unworthy. When I spoke to him, - He laugh’d me off. - “Why, man, I like your friend, - And she likes me; and with the other sex - The more we like, sometimes, the less we love— - Or think we love. Do I deceive her, then, - In showing friendliness?—Why think you so?— - Forsooth, if beauty pleases me, I smile; - If gracefulness beguile me, gaze at it; - If wisdom awe me, offer my respect. - Good art I laud; with fancy, am a poet; - And with emotion, an enthusiast. - What then?—Am I a hypocrite?—How so?— - Must all our sympathy be personal? - Must one appropriate all that he would praise? - Is beauty such a flower, or is a man - So much a beast, that, having taste for it, - He needs must go and gorge it down?—Go to!— - I watch the fair thing; of its fragrance quaff; - Then leave for others. Edith knows this well; - For that, trust her.” - - -XXXIV. - - But was it, as he claim’d? - Were both of them so wise?—Or would he now - By sheer sharp practice cut us two apart? - This more seem’d like him, and more anger’d me. - Was I a boy that he should foil me thus? - - Yet what to do?—The more I question’d this, - The more I saw but only one true course. - Our aims—my own and Edith’s—differ’d much. - Yet knew I more than this. Our hearts were one - In all desires that had inspired these aims. - And if our lives and hearts could be but join’d, - Could not my love and hers, together put, - Outweigh such aims as would be hers alone? - Why not have faith in love, mine join’d with hers? - What power was mightier in the universe? - Why not have faith to trust this only soul - That ever I had met, to whom my moods - Could be unroll’d, assured of insight there - To read them rightly? Why, ’twas all decreed: - Her power to read my soul gave her the right - To know its love, whatever might be hers. - And were I but to speak the truth to her, - So tell her all, why fear the simple truth? - For I would say I loved her, not her aims. - If then she should prefer her aims to me, - It would be proof that she could love me not. - But if she should prefer me to her aims, - Then surely she could yield her wish to mine. - - -XXXV. - - So, near the sunset of a summer’s day, - While walking by the lake within the park, - “I mean,” I breathed out cautiously, “to write - A tale of love; and I have plann’d the tale - To open here. In after time, perchance, - Those minds to whom it proves of interest - May love to linger here, recalling it. - Look now—this lake. To gain the full effect - Of palace, park, and yonder heaven unveil’d, - One, gazing downward in the water’s depth - Should note them wash’d of gross reality, - And—as in art—reflected. With this view - This tale of mine shall open. First of all, - Here, in the sunshine near us—at our feet— - Ay, in the water; ay, friend, here I mean— - Just underneath us,—mark you, mark you, there, - The hero, and, beside him, his ideal!” - - -XXXVI. - - And when she saw us two there, “What?” she cried; - And then stood speechless; whereat I sped on, - Detailing all my plans and all my hopes: - How she, with soul so true and aim so high, - Might meet in them the mission meant for her,— - How all the wrongs of earth might be redeem’d - Through sacrificial deeds of such as we. - - Still stood she silent. Then I spoke again: - “But think not, Edith, for my plans alone - I plead with you. I plead, too, for myself; - And tell my plans that you may know myself; - Not holding that I stand above you, friend. - Nay, nay; I oft feel worthy scarce to touch - Your fingers’ tips, or stand erect and taint - The level of the air you breathe in; nay, - I would not judge your life; would only crave, - When we have so much else in sympathy, - That holy state where two souls, else at one, - Would both be God’s.—Ah, could you thus be mine?” - - -XXXVII. - - Her silence then was broken. “Well might I - Be proud to be thus yours. Who could not find - All meet for manhood, in your manliness? - But no, for you forget our different aims. - You never told me of these plans before. - And, Norman, now—no, no; for, through your church, - That fann’d some whim of his, left smouldering, - Some spark of doubt to ardent heresy, - My father suffer’d, lost his honor’d name, - His living, all; nor struggled, scrimpt, and starved - To leave his daughter ignorant of the cause. - And I?—no, no; it courses through my blood; - And you would hate my tastes, which cannot be - Like yours religious; no, for I was made - To be the minister of only art.” - - “But, Edith,” urged I, “truth far more includes - Than most men deem who would deem all things theirs.— - Your tastes are not religious?—Mine are not, - If by religion you mean piety,— - Religion’s brew, froth’d bubbling to be seen. - But how is it beneath the surface, friend? - Down deep within?—is not the substance there? - I never seem’d religious half so much - As when at one with you.” - She but replied - To tell me how “her father’s legacy - Had been her sister, whom she must not leave. - For her sake, seeking means of livelihood, - She first rejected, then accepted what - Her spirit, spurning once, had learn’d to love; - As had her sister; and for both of them - Each hope, and joy, and all they thought of now, - Was bounded by the music of the stage. - Nor could my logic change this; nay,” she said, - “Not logic leads the artist on, but light.” - - -XXXVIII. - - I heard in vain—I could not give her up. - I urged her still, still hoping her to swerve. - My slight of music, rousing her defence, - But proved my love too weak to rival it. - - “My father oft,” she said, “would quote your Book; - Say ‘music marshall’d all the better life. - What else could sway the soul, yet leave love free - To think and choose and do?’—What different moods,” - She added, while before us play’d the band, - “These chords, we hear, arouse in different minds! - That maid may smile amid sweet dreams of love; - Her dark attendant dream of but her wealth; - That matron plan some fresh self-sacrifice; - And that spare fellow, twirling near her side - The soft mustache that downs his pursing lips, - Plan only how to hide their stingy look. - And thus all listen, musing different things; - And all, with conscious freedom, muse of them; - And yet one harmony controls them all, - Aroused or calm to match its changing flow. - What else but music frees the mind it rules? - ‘Good-will to man,’ was first proclaim’d in song.” - - “Good-will,” I said, “but follows will for good.” - - “And will for good will come,” she answer’d back. - “As in the older advent, so to-day, - Would I believe in power behind sweet song - To hold the universe in harmony, - Expelling evil and impelling good - Through all the limits of created life,— - A spirit’s power!—What though we mortals here - With eyes material cannot see the hosts - That issue forth in forms that while they move - Awake around us echoes everywhere! - We spring to spy them, but we only hear - Their rustle in the trees by which they pass; - Or where, with dash of water o’er the rocks, - They leave the sea or linger in the rill. - At times they rest a moment on the earth, - When twilight hides them, sighing gently then, - And lull to dreams, with tones in sympathy, - The lowly insect and the lowing herd. - At times, amid the winds that rise at morn, - They sweep across the land and startle sleep - From nervous birds that twitter in their track; - And, now and then, in clouds that close the sky, - They bound adown the rift the lightning cleaves - Till sunlight overhead pours through again. - A spirit’s power has music; and must rule - Unrivall’d still as far as ear can heed, - Or reason hark behind it. All the chords - Of all things true are tuned by hands divine, - And thrill to feel the touch!— - But sounds may rise - In souls untuned, like harp-strings when they snap, - Or, though more soft than dreamland breezes are, - May fright like forests when the dark leaves blow - About the solitary murderer— - And sweetest airs to sweetest moods may bring - But foretastes vague of harmonies on high. - The school-girl hears her comrade’s ringing laugh,— - ’Tis but the key-note trill’d before the tune. - The maiden heeds her lover’s mellow plea,— - ’Tis but the gamut rill’d ere surge the chords. - The dame is moved by tones that cheer her home,— - And they perchance prelude the theme of heaven. - For even blows of toil and battle-guns - May be the drum-rolls of the martial strains - That rise to greet the glory yet to come. - Ay, wait we long enough, we all may hear - In all things music; far above, at last, - May hear the treble thrilling down from heaven, - And e’en from hell no discord in the jar - That only thunders back a trembling bass.” - - Thus Edith spake; while I, left lonely all, - Beheld her, ardent for her art, a cloud, - Aglow by dawn, then drawn away, away. - - -XXXIX. - - I said, I know not what; but far too proud, - Intoxicated though I was by love, - To let her view the folly of my fall, - I said not all I felt; but what I felt, - Beneath the first fierce humbling of the storm, - Floods o’er my memory yet with half the woe - That overwhelm’d me then. Am I, I thought, - So strong in love, and waiting long for it, - And always true to it, to be outweigh’d - By mere brute chaff of manhood, on the stage - Or in the pit? I swore ’twas ever so - With all her sex. Worth never weigh’d a straw. - A very satyr could outwoo a sage.— - Weak woman!—yet she must be weak—in brain - Or body. Better to be weak in brain! - She then, perchance, might serve a husband’s thought, - And wisdom’s voice might rule the family! - But were her moods too strong to serve his thought, - She might serve that in him which could not think.— - To wed she-brains, a man should seek to be - Commended as a fool! - - -XL. - - And then I stopp’d:— - Here raved I, jealous of this fool alone, - This coming clown.—To think of him I blush’d— - But what of her?—of Edith?—She would live, - With faintest smile, to fascinate—ah—crowds! - The rabble would be ravish’d but, forsooth, - To clap with crazy hands the rarer air - Wherein she moved. For them, her voice would sound, - With every trill so swaying all who heard - That thronging cheers would thunder in response!— - Her form, so sweet, would plead till foulest lives - Would feel how pure were joys beyond their reach, - And long for things their touch could never taint! - My sweet, sweet love!— - But, moving at her side, - Should I be aught?—Alas, I could but seem— - Beside the gilded glory of the stage, - Beside the loud-mouthed suitors of the show, - An unwhipt cur, to wait at some backdoor, - And jar with signalling bark the echo sweet - Of all-the-town’s applause. She mine would be - But as the sun, whose flaming brow has touch’d - The morning sea that flushes far and near, - Is thine, O trembling globulet of spray, - Because, forsooth, his image, glass’d in all - The sea and world, is glass’d, as well, in thee!— - Fool, fool! yet dear, dear folly! - These my thoughts; - My words—all I recall now—came at last - When slowly sauntering back we reach’d her home. - “Would God,” I sigh’d, “the time might come for us, - When, looking toward the future now so lone, - We two should need no more to say good-night.” - - “Good-bye,” she said, and left me in the gloom. - - -XLI. - - Then was it, as I turn’d about, by chance, - I came on Elbert; and my whole soul rose - To dash at him its briny bitterness. - Is he here, thought I,—he to whom, alas, - The very potion, poisoning all my hopes, - Will prove the sparkling nectar of success, - And bring good cheer, though bringing death to me?— - Then let him share it!—Still, my wiser pride - The purpose check’d, and balancing rash hate - With hateful prudence, closed his opening smile - But with a frown that would not welcome him. - - With any truth to self, so argued I, - I could do nothing else; nor could abide - A town that held him. So I left the town; - And so these friends of mine, so prized of old, - And I had parted,—not as friends would part, - With love’s high zenith fever’d like the skies - Where eve has rent from them a fervid sun, - Then cool’d and calm’d in starlight sprinkled thick - Until the sun come back. We crack’d apart, - Like icebergs drifting southward, join’d no more, - And sunn’d alone the while they melt away. - - -XLII. - - No need is there that here I should recall— - I would not if I could—my suffering. - From Elbert, best of friends, my nobler self, - My soul of virtue and my heart of love, - What cause could rightly tear me?—Asking this, - My heart rose up from reason to rebel; - Indignant to have found a theory - That dared to hold an innate impulse down; - While will, caught there, betwixt the heart and head, - Each charge would bear, and yet forbear to act. - And Edith, peerless Edith! how my soul - Would struggle to forget her! Struggling thus, - How fair her form, conjured by raving thought, - Would rise, a Venus o’er my sea of sighs, - Till I would bend, and seem to plead anon - To be forgiven for forgetting her! - And then, how would I tear her traits apart; - And pluck the petals from each budding grace - And hope its naked stem some trace would show, - Too void of beauty, to suggest again - The bloom and sweetness of the life I loved. - Alas, but while I wrought for this alone, - How would her virtues but the more unfold!— - Like God’s own glory flowering in the skies, - That those detect who would not find it there, - But, when they test the stars, have dealt with light. - - -XLIII. - - I wrought and rested; it was all in vain. - My highest consolation was the hope - That hard-earn’d sleep might hold me long in dreams - Where evermore my soul might with her dwell, - Though every morn I seem’d yet more alone. - Awake, asleep, throned constant o’er my heart, - I served this image all intangible, - This photographic fantasy of truth, - This fairy nothingness of vanish’d fact, - A shape to love, minute yet mighty still, - To senses nothing, but to spirit all. - - -XLIV. - - Thus lived I, triumph’d over; as are clouds - Whereon the sun sits throned; all bright are they, - And bright beneath them is the sunset sea. - In splendid serfdom to its love, my soul, - That shone with kindling glory, thence beheld - A kindling glory shine from all about. - - No whim of mine was this; it fills my creed; - The graft of all true love regenerates. - Those in whom love is born are born anew, - And all their family of fancies then - Bear family traits; those loving, and those not, - Being wide apart as rainbows and the rain. - I might be superstitious, but to me - The temple of my life’s experience - Had been less sacred, had it held no shrine - Whereon to heap sweet tokens of my love. - And all that loom’d around seem’d holier now, - Illumed by holy lights of memory. - - Nor long was it ere I had grown to share - In all the love of all with whom I met; - And oft, too, thus invoking sympathy, - My wishes wrought like witches, and conjured - The thing they wish’d for: sympathy would come. - - -XLV. - - And so my moods, thus moving on, at last - Found special pleasure in a friendship form’d - Upon a day of tramping through the Alps. - Her name was Grace, and gracious was her mien; - And graces everywhere attended her - Through jars and joys of journeys afterward. - So splendid never as my Edith; never - So striking, so alluring, or so shunn’d; - Her brilliance would not dim a rival’s eyes, - Nor beauty shade another’s face with frowns. - One saw in her a modest, model maid, - A woman loved by women; and with men - A presence, mellow-lighting like the moon; - Yet could she shed no light when came my storms, - As now they came full often. Then it seem’d - Her very mildness made her moods too dull - To penetrate the clouds that cover’d mine. - - -XLVI. - - “It must be lonesome here for one like you, - A stranger-land, indeed, here,” would she sigh. - “Why could we not, church people, day by day, - Have converse here, and thus live more at one?” - - When hearts hold secrets, even love that comes, - And comes in crowds, will bring the prying soul - Full drive to spring them open. How I shrank - To meet with those with whom my soul could find - No source of sympathy beneath the sound - Produced when tongue and teeth and lips combine - To mouth one shibboleth! A fate like this - Foretoken’d only, made me well nigh faint - As feels a soldier, falling at his post, - With heart shell’d out and emptied of the soul. - I could but find excuses, partly real - And partly feign’d, the fringe of ready whims. - - -XLVII. - - She startled echoes from my inmost soul - By words that named my “life-work.” - “Yes,” I said; - “We all should sympathize. All own one lord; - All wait beside one shore; all watch one tide.— - So too do snipes and snails! and so do souls - That yet shall rule in heaven ten towns and one. - Souls differ, Grace; and John from James, as well - As both from Judas.—Judas lingers too.” - - “So many,” sigh’d she, “sell their Christ, and think - Souls rich, that but receive suggestions rich - From art or——” - Had regard for Edith, now, - Made me, at last, a champion of art?— - “However or wherever plied,” I said, - “Real power for good owns good enough to claim - Some courtesy from Christian charity. - If I but fling a stone in yonder pond, - Wherever it may fall, it stirs the whole. - So if I throw out thought for mind or heart, - Through art or through religion, each may move - The whole man thus, and move him for his good.” - - “Ah, but,” she breathed, with slight dogmatic stress, - “A simple woman, I would move his heart, - Through love, as Christ too did; not so?” - “Do this,” - I said, “you do but what is woman’s right; - And none about you will dispute the right. - But ask me not to limit thus the Christ. - How dare I?—if our churches teach the truth, - If He incarnated the sum of life - And spirit of all good,—his holiness - His wholeness, and His perfectness, the proof - Of what He was? Nor dare I limit those - Who follow Him.—Why may they not live His, - Not aiming here nor there, but everywhere - To make the most of all God meant them for. - And things there are that art can do for man - To make him manlier. Not the senseless rock - Is all it fashions into forms of sense; - But senseless manhood, natures hard and harsh, - Great classes crush’d, and races driven to crawl - Till all their souls are stain’d with smut and soil,— - More human seem these when the hands of art - Have grasp’d their better traits and hold them forth. - And men who see these better traits, and see - The tender touch of art that holds them forth, - Behold a beauty never else beheld; - And all their hearts beat more humanely while - They heed the plea of these humanities. - And so, I think, although the wilderness, - At times, a John in camel’s hair may need, - There open too, in ways of life less wild, - More ways, where love may plead in guise more soft. - In short, as long as one may choose his course, - ’Tis best we do what each can do the best.” - - -XLVIII. - - “Oh, you perplexing!” cried she; “not for me, - For _your_ brain! Tell, pray, where it rummaged last, - To catch these cobwebs?—I have seen them, yes; - These halls are full of them, and libraries, - Old musty things!—But, Norman, soberly, - This German text is bad for eyesight, yes; - And half I doubt—Come, tell me, tell the truth, - Do _you_ see clearly aught that you can do?” - “Why so?” I ask’d; “do you?” - “Why not,” she said, - All serious now, “do what shall yield life’s day - The most of glory at its evening hour?— - The sun sets brightest after days of storm.” - - “What, always?” ask’d I; “are you sure of this? - I know true faith that mainly aims to rid - Our present life from fears of future ill. - To it what need of storms, if sunshine here - May best prepare one for the future calm? - That future is eternal; even so - How can we gauge th’ eternal save by time? - How can we judge of joy that will not end, - Save by our own, if ours would only last? - What is it to be blessèd, if not this,— - To find our process of becoming blest - Made permanent, our young weak wings of faith - Full fledged and flying by habit?—and if so, - Heaven’s habits are form’d here. Suppose a youth, - That, by and by, he may enjoy much wealth, - Act miserly,—what gains he by and by?— - Much wealth, perhaps; but, holding with it, too, - The miser’s moods, establish’d now as traits, - Incorporated modes of all his life, - He with them holds what most unfits the soul - To use wealth, or enjoy it. So on earth - When avarice, aim’d for heaven, makes man a monk, - What can he gain thereby, save monkish moods, - Become establish’d in him now as traits. - Incorporated modes of all his life? - But, holding these, the soul must with them hold - What most unfits it to enjoy—not here, - In any sphere at all,—a life of love.” - - -XLIX. - - “You surely would not mean,” she ask’d and paused, - “That you could throw aside your hopes? your vows? - Your life-work?—seek enjoyment?” - “Ah,” said I, - “Enjoyment is the man’s most heartfelt praise - To Him that fram’d his being. What should I, - A child of God, do here but live God’s life?— - Which is not now, nor then, but evermore. - My soul must thrive the best, as best I make - My now, eternal; my eternal, now. - So when a storm comes, let me bar it out; - And, braced against the present ill, grow strong; - And when the sunshine, let me open wide - To that which makes all nature grow more sweet. - Thus, realizing in my earthly state - The aim of heaven, why do I praise Him less - Whose life is that of heaven, than those who wear - The guises of that slattern of the soul, - Asceticism, shuffling toward far good, - Slipshod and snivelling?”— - “Now, that goes too far!” - Cried Grace. “Do I do this?—Ah, but I know - A man so moody!—Own it. Were I you, - I just would set to work. To work off whims, - The best way, say they, is to work them out; - One hand at work is worth ten heads that shirk.” - - “You find me moody!” sigh’d I; “and complain; - Deem moods not meet. Oh, no they prove we feel!— - Nor pious they: they prove we think!” - - -L. - - And yet, - I could but blame myself; so fain to draw - This gentler soul from her still streams of life - Toward waves thus fiercely dash’d about my own! - You know, though, how it is: our thought, like light, - Opposed, will vaunt itself; and brightest play, - Glanced off from things it does not penetrate. - So, more to shock her than for sympathy, - My thought play’d round the surface of her life: - It had been shaped so—to so smooth a thing— - I burn’d to warp it of complacency. - Oft, though unconscious of the least mistruth, - I feign’d a fall in fancied depths of ill, - And mock’d that I might hear her call me thence; - And learn’d therein to envy some the rake. - For what a charm it were to hear—not so? - That is, if one were vicious, through and through— - Such pleas for love from lips that aye were pure? - The very depth of one’s unworthiness - Would whet such relish for a thing so strange! - - -LI. - - But weeks and months went by, in which she fill’d - A certain void in life; and, every eve, - We parted for the night made better friends. - Once, ending thus, the pleasures of the day, - We chanced upon a path where, sauntering too, - Lo, Elbert enter’d and encounter’d us. - - At first scarce friendly, after divers tests, - And in the new light of my life with her, - His older love return’d with oldest warmth: - “To think so thin a fancy,” he exclaim’d, - “As last I found you folded in, should screen - Our genuine hearts, a moment, each from each!” - - -LII. - - The fancy thin!—I let him keep his word; - I would not argue.—Still, with care not loath - To guard some credit yet for having sense, - I hinted at the truth,—how I had changed, - And how had changed my thoughts about myself, - About my life-work. “For that fancy, friend, - That fancy thin my own true self reveal’d. - If spray it were, it left a constant sea - That heaves and heaves. With moods that move like mine, - So madden’d by traditions, calm’d by dreams, - Content scarce ever, till at hazard dash’d - Through ways that lead to sheer uncertainty, - Where fancy more may seek than matter shows - In things that are but matter,—what am I - For life-work such as priesthood, sure in creeds - And sureties for the soul, whereon may lean - All weaker faith, with warrant not to bend?” - - -LIII. - - Then Elbert laugh’d. “Ah, were you but a bow, - Your bending most would shoot most.—Not a priest? - A man alone?—You yet a brother are - To many a soul that sails the sea of life, - Where oft the horizon trembles with the change - Of wind and wave; and hope, too hale, oft mourns - Fair promises, like skies that fade in fog. - A man alone?—And yet the moods of man - May make men love us for our manliness, - Who draw them, Christ-like through our sympathy, - Toward self,—God’s image here, and thus toward Him.” - - “But draw them how?” I cried. “Woe me, I stand, - A poet born, who deem’d his Muse had fled; - That time and trouble had a stone roll’d up, - Her sweet form sealing in their sepulchre. - And yet one breath of love could rouse the dead. - All day the subtle spirit haunts me now, - Thrill’d through and through to sound her sweetness forth.” - - “Then let it sound!” he said. “Rare rest it were, - Were all one’s recreation freshen’d thus; - And slumber serenaded by the Muse.” - - “One’s recreation! slumber!” I exclaim’d; - “Is mind a deep that wells with most of thought - When void the most? I tell you none can draw - A truthful inspiration save from truth. - The poet’s ken may people heaven like clouds, - All phantom shaped, and splendid as their sun; - But all his fairest forms were vapors first - That heaven drew, mist-like, from the earth beneath. - Thought decks itself in holiday attire,— - Turns fantasy,—to expend the inertia large - Of large reserves of philosophic force, - Forced into play, the night’s dream opening where - The day’s work closes.” - “Close work thus,” he said; - “And all the measures of your verse may show - How sweet can be the echoes waked anon - By labor’s ringing anvil.” - “Nay,” I sigh’d. - “Such work would bring too much of sleep,—no dreams. - When born with souls like harps the Muse would play, - What better can men do than toil to keep - Their thoughts and feelings close in tune with truth? - For this will tax them wholly. They, who try, - With those few strings that fate has given to them, - To play all parts of all the orchestra - Will help the play of no part. We are men; - And straight and narrow must our pathways be. - If, Adam-like, we would be gods, we fall. - Not given to mortal is the life supreme, - In naught unbalanced, laden light in naught, - Existence evermore at equipoise, - Complete with that which on itself depends. - Oft, who his worth would double, nothing does - Except to break the back of worth that was, - While doubled burdens fall to doubled waste. - We men should humbler be, and pray to heaven - To have horizons hanging nearer us. - Our views too broad unfit us for the earth, - Yet fit us not for loneliness divine,— - The wide chill chaos, back behind the stars.” - - -LIV. - - Thus would I talk, and trouble Elbert much, - For he would rouse me in his rattling way: - “Why, Norman, you are hedging all our hopes. - Do not you pity moods that dote on you? - If, man, your metaphysics be not yet - Beyond all physics, pray you, cure yourself; - Be more material; or material powers - Will alienated grow, and so forget - And count you out in all their reckonings; - And you who are of earth, will earth own not; - And you who would be heaven’s, will heaven own not. - To own yourself and only own yourself, - Is worse than serfdom that has earn’d a smile, - Though but from wrinkling cheeks of sham good-will.” - - -LV. - - Then, through my gloom exploring for its cause, - His thought would light on Edith. He was right; - Perhaps less right, grew garrulous of Grace. - For deeming love’s return my only hope, - And, seeking this, resolved, as well, to find it, - My slightest flush could furnish him a glow - As bright to light his pathway as the day. - - Of course I could deny it; say I held - No key to spring the latch of love like hers. - Our lips, but parting e’en to speak of love, - Infringe on Cupid; and, before they shut, - Some tingling arrow of that jealous god - Will make them drop all soberness. - He laugh’d: - “Now say you never saw the sea, for waves; - Or stars, for twinkling; or the trees, for leaves; - But tell me not, you never saw the heart - That bosom heaves; nor ever saw the play - Of faith and freak within that twinkling eye; - Nor ever saw the spirit when the smile - That breaks in laughter shakes the form aside. - Come, friend, I know you better. Say you err; - Or, by my soul, I never read you yet.” - - “And more,” said I; “she is not my ideal.” - - He laugh’d again: “Most men who court ideals - Have first their idol; and, the false god fell’d, - Hoard then the fringe that dangled on its train, - And spend their lives in hunting other trains - To match but forms and colors of the first. - It strikes me, friend, that all things truthful grow. - E’en love outgrows the fashion of its youth:— - The world whirls on apace; and different hues - Turn toward the noonday-sun. No dawn returns. - What form or color robes the infinite?— - Yet aught to worship matches that alone. - So look you less for worship, than for worth. - You need a mate, friend; not a mystery.” - - “A mate,” I said, “but she for whims could waive - The truth whereto was anchor’d all my soul.” - - -LVI. - - Still Elbert parried me: “To hear you prate - Of truth—with women!—Why, you tried that once, - With Edith, not so?—and she liked it, eh? - Herself had love for that same truth?—What then?— - How very strange, when yesterday she pass’d, - She craved no more of it.” - “She pass’d?” I cried. - - “Ay, ay,” said he; “while you, so wrapp’d in Grace, - Walk’d near, and noted nothing. How she turn’d!— - Then spoke of ‘haste, such haste, she could not stay’; - And bade me ‘not to tell’ you.—Thus, you see, - I keep my word; I promised nothing though.” - - At this, I blush’d; it but encouraged him. - - “This flame of sympathy you deem’d so bright - Extinguish’d was—you may have thought by me. - If so, I tell you, friend, ’twas lightly done. - I but outblew you; and the moral is:— - True flames, these women flicker with the wind. - But use you breath enough, their natures yield. - Yet blow for their sakes, not for your ideals. - One seldom finds a sweetheart sweet enough - To love her suitor’s pinings for mere whims. - Nay, they alone our all-in-all would be; - And so are jealous of our male ideals. - Then, too, they are creative less than we, - And cling more to the creature, love and serve - Embodied life that may be seen and felt. - You doubt me?—Test it.—Read that rhyme you wrote, - Inspired by fancy.—Say so;—still they hint. - ‘Ah, this was she, or she, whom once he loved.’ - It may be, Grace does waive your love of truth. - If so, ’tis better; more you seem her own.” - - “More likely,” cried I, “I and all my truth - Seem like champagne,—a thing that pops and shocks, - But yet enlivens when the hour is dull.” - - “She likes the shocking,” said he. “Know you not - Most maids love mastery? and the closest cling - To those who show the strength to hold them fast? - Full many a suitor, when he wins his love, - Will treat her merely like some petted puss, - Caress, then cuff her, till she yield at last, - Won solely through his wondrous wilfulness. - If one defer to her, she pities him; - And names him friend, because she feels him frail. - Her favorite cavalier seems less a friend, - At first, than foe who stays the brunt in time - To seem to save her when she seems to fall.” - - “And should make him fall,” cried I. “’Tis not strange - Such onsets numb her senses! Heaven preserve - The world from women rear’d to feel but weak, - Whose whole experience, nurtur’d not to think, - Unfolds in passions pert of wishes dwarf’d, - Afraid of truth and dodging to deceit! - Let loose from home, their thing that ought to think - Is dry and hollow as a sounding-board - Behind a tongue that, like a weather vane, - Creaks with the windy scandal of the town - Till endless malice make one’s ear-drum ache, - At one spot hammer’d sore, and o’er and o’er, - With humdrum gossip of surrounding naught. - Small gain are they, to crown our courtships grand, - Prinked out with flowers and flattery! Wise man; - Flowers draw the bee, and flattery the fool. - One stings; the other—Laugh not, Elbert, nay, - You know it well, what friendship craves; and these - Light, simpering women, testing manhood’s woof - By worthless nap that tickles their vanity,— - O I shall wait some coming woman, I, - Who needs no suing since in soul we suit; - Nor ruling either.—Love shall rule us both.” - - “You true Pygmalion,” cried he, “make a maid!— - But all maids grow to us, when wedded once; - For practical, they are, far more than men, - And bow to powers that be. Though caught, like fish, - Through bait they crave not ere men tender it, - They cleave to love once offer’d them; nor turn, - Like male-friends, clinging—true as iron, forsooth— - To each new stronger magnet! Were they thus, - Our homes might hardly hold our rivals there. - Accept the facts, friend; in this world of reals, - Ideals must give way. So look to Grace,— - Despite your protest, your true mate; and love - In maids like her is limitless when won. - You like her, too; now, now”— - - -LVII. - - And so we talk’d. - I never thought it meant much; for we talk’d - Of all things, almost; and, in play, at times, - Would I indulge in hopes that he was right. - Once too, far up in clouds, my fancy feign’d - To question if her friends, or she, would wish - My calling to be hers. I scarce had dream’d - Of Elbert’s giving weight to whims like this. - Yet after that I mark’d him much with Grace; - But naught surmised until, one time, he said: - - “All right, my Norman; I have talk’d with her; - All but to tell her why I talk’d with her; - And with her parents talk’d, and now they all - Agree in praising plans of life like yours; - These latter actually sighing oft, - ‘Would we but had a son for work like that!’ - So, friend, your way is clear.” - - -LVIII. - - But was it clear?— - So sure was it, that I could pluck this fruit? - If sure, so sure the Eden open’d not - To tempt, as well as bless me?—Could it be - That love could yet be mine?—The hope seem’d sweet; - Yet strange!—Why strange?—The change?— - Seem’d all change so?— - Yet marriage?—Why did mortals marry then?— - For love, they said, for love. And what was love? - What more than liking well?—Whom liked I so; - And all in all, and always?—Edith?—What?— - And liked her calling?—If I liked not that, - I liked not her, not wholly. If not her, - Then liked I no one wholly; and my will - In love, as in all other earthly states, - A choice must make,—take one of different boons, - And all imperfect. Why should not my love - Serve thus my judgment? Grace could stand this test, - And life with one like her so sweet could be! - - -LIX. - - I thought; but all my thinking stirr’d but thought - Until, one time, I mused of other days; - How once, and at the merest hint of love, - My younger blood, like some just conquering host - That trembling hope bears on, would bound through veins - That thrill’d and thrill’d while shook each trodden pulse; - How, hot as deserts parch’d by swift simoons, - And wild as forests fell’d by sudden blasts, - My frame would glow and bend at every breath - That tidings bore me of the soul I loved. - Love Grace did I?—How then had love been tamed! - Mere self-control was it, that now, grown strong, - Had broken in, at last, that bounding blood, - And held the rein to joy?—Ah, self-control, - The rest rheumatic of a zest grown old, - It came with time; but mine had come from care. - Cold self-control, the curse of northern climes, - The artful despot of the Arctic heart,— - Before my summer scarce had warm’d me yet, - Was it to freeze me with its wintry clutch - Of colorless indifference? chill and check - The springs of love till still’d in ice-like death? - - Woe me! I sigh’d; but then, with nobler cause, - More nobly moved, I mourn’d that older love. - It aye had come from regions far and pure, - From sacred heights of dream-land and desire, - And trailing light like Moses from the mount, - With one hand clasping mine, one pointing up - To something earthly, yet more near the sky. - It aye had thrill’d the throbbing veins it near’d - And made my brow flush proudly as the boor’s - When king’s hands knight him, and he bears away - Ennobled blood forever.—My mood though— - This lax-limb’d, loitering, sisterly regard, - So cold, so calm, so cautious,—what was this?— - To call it love my spirit could have swoon’d, - Shrunk like some parent’s when he first has found - His fair babe’s brain to be a gibbering blank.— - And then, down underneath my deep despair, - Where heaved a sigh that loosen’d all my soul, - Like some sweet kiss of sudden death that draws - To sudden bliss, when men to heaven are snatch’d - From all the roar and rage of war, there came - One hope for Edith;—and my shaken powers - Lost hold of Grace forever! - - -LX. - - Still would doubt - Survive, and question if, when off my guard, - In fancy rampant, I had Grace deceived - As I had Elbert? Could it be, indeed, - That I, who wish’d it not, had won her love? - And if so, what?—The problem wore me thin. - My very wits, indeed, seem’d whittled off - To point and probe it. - Strangely was it solved. - I dropp’d a vague surmise,—how two “should act, - In case one loved, and love were not return’d.” - - She arch’d her answer with so rare a blush, - That all my doubts dissolved; and, catching truth - From hers contagious, like a boy confused, - All fused in frankness bubbling o’er the brim, - I blurted out about my older love; - To root it out would root out love itself, - And not to do so, leave none else a place. - - “I love not you!” she cried, with look so changed, - My weight of shame had sunk me through the floor. - But, driven to words, like one some startle shocks, - I stammer’d “Elbert!”—and stood shock’d in truth; - For had I wrench’d it from her bodily, - Scarce redder had her flushing brow repell’d - My wresting rudely such a secret thence. - At one bound then my honor had return’d. - A bandit had I been, to force the spring - That lock’d her secret—but had spied her soul!— - And back to right it brought me. “Pardon, Grace,” - I breathed, then hush’d: With strange and holy power, - New-welling love seem’d fountain’d in my heart, - And shower’d and stream’d through all my thrilling veins; - And then I check’d it. She was not for me, - Alas, unworthy! She was Elbert’s—all! - - “Grace,” breathed I, “you are doubly now my friend, - And doubly dear, since Elbert’s dearest friend; - Thank Heaven that you have loved so true a man. - I go to him.” - “Nay not to him,” she urged. - - But I, though yielding to her, as it seem’d, - Made loose the letter for the sake of spirit; - Nor promised aught, unless he loved her not. - - -LXI. - - But Elbert, found, the whole sweet truth confess’d, - With all his love for her so satisfied, - And all the sacrifice for me so clear, - I honor’d God the more from this, the hour - I found His honor so encased in man. - “Nay, thank me not,” he said. “You brought me her. - Nor did I dream I loved her, ere I sought - Your cause to plead; and, aim’d for what it wills, - My will is wilful. There, you know the whole.” - And soon, as if he fear’d our former strife - Were not yet still’d, “And you, perhaps, were right - With Edith, too,” he said; “at least, were safe. - Hold still to truth. It yet may save us both.” - - -LXII. - - And then I learn’d—as many a friend has learn’d— - Who with them strove my joy for them to share, - How much more joy was theirs, when theirs alone. - But this could scarcely turn my thought aside - From self, left lonelier now than e’er before. - I strove to drown my grief in work. The work - Was but a worm’s that eats from day to day - The morrow’s bed, at morning dragging on - A soulless trunk, through troubles void of hope. - - My soul to startled sighs was roused alone - When Edith cross’d my vision. Then my mood, - As gloom would gather round again, would grieve - To think, in sorting souls, fate bungled so, - And let our traits be judged of by our trades,— - The dusty imprint of the things we touch. - “As well,” cried I, “to judge of winds of heaven, - By bogs they brush, or fogs they bear away! - We two that so could trust each other’s hearts, - Why should we not join hearts, and leave to them - The hands? If wiser than the world we were, - Why should we act, forsooth, in worldly ways? - What need that all should don the uniform - That fits men for the social march of fools? - What need?—Ah me,” I thought, “all need, indeed, - If one wish influence in the world or church.— - Or church!—Must it then crucify the soul - To save appearances? the body? form? - The Christ gave up all these to save the soul. - ’Tis treason when His churches join the world, - And courting smiles from bigotry appeased, - And grinning hell that holds the whole its own, - Preach up the crucifixion of the soul - To save the body, save the outward form. - A church is His no more, whose rites or creeds - Keep souls untrue to truth within that shows - God’s tempering there, the touch that makes man man.” - - -LXIII. - - I swore it should not be, it could not be; - No life could so be cleansed,—by wringing thence - The blood that warms the heart; no face made pure - By turning pale the blush of beauty cast - By shadows where sweet love goes in and out. - Love, love should never be a slave, but free.— - “Come, Edith!”—Then I question’d, Would she come?— - Nay, not to my life. Mine must go to hers. - But this, mine could not,—could do nothing there;— - And would not!—Whence then sprang my call to her?— - If not from reason, from my wish, forsooth.— - My wish for what?—for her?—as now she was?— - Not so; but rather might be.—Whence then sprang - This ‘might be’?—whence, alas, but from myself, - As I kept moulding it within my soul? - Why rail’d I, then, against the church and world?— - Not these alone, but I would have her changed. - These all but echoed back my own soul’s voice; - And yet, augmented by the voice of all, - In heeding them, I heeded not myself, - But something greater, grander than myself. - For if a single man may image God, - Then many men who join their partial gifts - And parted wisdom,—till the whole become - Not merely human but humanity’s,— - May watch our ways and keep them circumspect - With eyes that often wellnigh stand for His - Who still more fully in mankind than man - Rules over truth in each through truth in all. - Why term me slave, then, when I serve my kind?— - Through serving it, I best may serve, as well, - My godlier self!—Let general thought take shape; - What better can incarnate sovereignty? - What stir to nobler dreams or grander deeds? - The soul in reverence may kneel to it, - Yield all to it.—So may my neighbors reign, - And I may be their slave, yet own myself; - And deify, while I defy my pride! - - -LXIV. - - A new conversion, say you?—call it so. - The truth converts one oft, if he be true. - The true man loves his own, and fights for it; - And, since his own is little and God’s is large, - He often fights to fall. Yet ranks on high - Now throng with heroes, whose too slender blades - Were wielded but for slender causes once; - Nor sheathed, ere flying shatter’d from their grasp, - Till truth they fought had proven too strong for them. - Then, when they knew themselves, and knew the truth, - And knew its mercy too, they loved the truth, - And came to be its champions, evermore. - So now with me: rebellious though I was, - Rebellion wrought my rescue. Truth triumphant - Enlisted duty for a loyalty - That made all life seem lordlike. Work began. - Thank God, we all have heads above our hearts; - And, if we let them reason with us well, - They rule us for our best. - - -LXV. - - What Elbert wish’d, - When first I cross’d the sea, was more than wrought. - I brought back not alone what books could give, - But in myself a sense of others’ wants,— - For in my heart a wondrous wealth of love; - Ay, wealth it was; though, like the ore in mines, - It only proved that that which lived had died. - What though my life, complete with her alone, - Seem’d always rent? a weight of broken quartz - That only gleam’d where it had fractur’d been? - That weight was wealth that sparkled back to greet - Each glance of sunshine. - Thus I found that love - At times may prove a treasure even dead, - If dead enough in spirits yet alive. - Mine, thwarted so, had made me more the man - That Elbert wish’d,—a man for all mankind;— - No special pleader for a special class - Whose grasping greed crowds out the general good;— - But one who pleads for all fair rights for all. - Nor would I bide content with utter’d words. - Too often, these, when widest welcomed, wake - But echoes brief as breath from which they spring. - I craved the mission less of roaring waves - Than of the rare wrought shells that, evermore, - When storms are gone, suggest their living presence. - - -LXVI. - - Anon it happen’d that through others’ hands - My tales, pour’d forth to voice my loneliness - In echoing talk and song, were framed in plays, - And then were phrased in music; and, in time, - Arose like sighings of a human wind - Above a human sea, while, all about, - There swept, like surgings of a rhythmic surf, - The shifting scenes and singers of the stage. - And, chief of all the singers in those throngs, - Who best of all could body forth the truth - That most of all had seem’d to be inspired - By Edith’s influence, while in all I thought - Her love had ever lured expression on, - Was her own self. - - -LXVII. - - But love outstrips my tale. - Erelong, from shores where surged that surf of song, - Like gems the ocean casts upon its coast, - About me lay a growing store of wealth. - And then, with broaden’d means, led on to push - Toward broaden’d purposes, I spoke and wrote; - And found, anon, while aiding here and there - Where aid was rare, wide opening to my view, - A worthiest mission in this new reform - That seeks to make the server and the served - Walk hand in hand, while wage gives way to share, - And, furthering all men to their furthest due, - Thus lifts the low and lost. - - -LXVIII. - - At last, one day, - There came a letter from our bureau’s head, - With it, another, sent him, so he wrote, - “By some enthusiast, a character— - A woman, and a woman too of mind; - And yet, withal, who had been strangely led, - Through doubtful ways, he thought, toward doubtful ends, - Till doubts had wrought reaction,—as when clouds - That course on clouds, at last, bring lightnings forth - That clear them off. And now her vision, clear’d, - Had found within her soul a wish to work,— - In new ways truly for a cause like ours,— - For us and with us. But I held her note, - She dwelt near by me: could I visit her? - And give my judgment then?” - - -LXIX. - - This note, so sent, - Was—would you guess it?—Edith’s. What she wrote, - Weighs love against all liking to this hour. - All thrill’d with hope, yet trembling for my fate, - I spell’d out all her tale:—“Her sire—his aims— - And her fulfilment of them—her success— - Earth seem’d a kingdom prostrate at her feet, - And she, a queen; alas, but, like a queen, - Was doom’d to hold a throne where rivals came, - To spy her weakness out, and wrest away - A power that could be kept by power alone.— - How sad for woman when her hopes were based - On practice that must all her heart conceal, - That must be conquering ever or be crush’d! - At first her love for art had kept her up,— - And for success, and for a sister dear, - Who shared her earnings, who, while cheer’d the crowds, - At last, had died, and left her all alone. - And, after that, her soul had loathed applause, - Had found her nature so belied, misjudged, - Her life the embodiment of hollow sound, - And all surroundings echoing back but sound, - Chill admiration in the place of love, - Her friends but flatterers, and herself unknown. - - “With this, her world had grown so hard, so parch’d, - Without one source affording sympathy— - She took no credit to herself for aught; - The weakest sigh that could have heaved a breast, - A dying breast, had crack’d so dry a crust— - She rose, one morn, and swore to free her soul, - Let pent-up love in softening currents flow - Till something human, ay, and heavenly, too, - Were nurtured by the wish from which it sprang. - - “She could not work now for herself alone; - For she had learn’d that all life’s purposes - Are held like lenses that a soul may use - To gather in heaven’s light and flash it round - Upon its world illumin’d; or, not so,— - If turn’d on self,—to but inflame and dim - Its own self-centered vision. So she now - One only purpose knew,—to pledge her gifts - To those who most might need them; and she came, - With all she was or hoped she yet might be, - Her gifts of nature and her skill in art, - To work for us, whose aims were plann’d so well, - To further all men to their furthest goals, - And lift the low and lost.” - - -LXX. - - And then I rode, - As fast as trains could take me; and I wrote, - Like one intoxicated, from the inn: - “The bureau’s agent here abides your wish”; - And, signing not my name, awaited thus - The welcome sure to seem more sweet than life. - It came. I went. - - “You?” Edith cried, “and whence?” - “From whence?” I said. “Each slightest spark of good - Flies upward, and the heaven returns it where - It fires the most?—and where were tinder found - Like my heart?” - “Why is this?” I heard; “My note— - Did it miscarry?—Would you thwart me now— - Or, though my gifts could aid them, do they wish - No help from me?—My heart was fix’d on it.” - - “On my cause,” breathed I. “Did you never think - That work with them would make you work with me?” - - “Why think of that?” she ask’d.—“Enough to know - I sought my own work here.” - - “Why, Edith, friend,” - I answer’d—“Why could not your work be mine? - What parts us now? What though, like mine, your soul - Had come to look down life’s long dreary vista, - And watch yourself alone. Why bide alone? - I, I, at least, through all these years have seen— - Not you yourself, for that too dear had been!— - But I have seen a vision, seeming you - Within the far horizon of my hopes, - The sweet mirage before me. Now, at last, - I know those misty outlines veil’d the truth; - It must have meant that you would yet be found— - That we should meet. Heaven surely meant it so.” - - -LXXI. - - Her mien had chang’d; and yet she ask’d again, - “But how with Grace? I thought”— - “Alas,” I said, - “With your dear spirit thron’d above my love, - What were I but a traitor, wedding Grace? - This heart was yours, your dwelling-place alone. - Nay, now I do not come to give it you: - It only opens to an owner old. - How sacredly I guarded it for you!— - A holy place, though there, above the shrine, - The niche was empty. Ah, has earth seem’d rude? - Some reason was there; surely some there was. - We war with Providence, who war with life. - We seek to mould our own existence out; - But life, best made, is mainly for us made. - Each passing circumstance, a tool of heaven, - Grates by to smooth some edge of character, - And model manhood into better shape. - Has nought been wrought with you? Ah, idol mine, - You living image of all hope, would God, - Love’s niche were fill’d, love’s altar stood complete!” - - -LXXII. - - Then Edith lean’d her face against her hand, - And slowly came the words that seem’d so dear: - “It may be, Norman, may—I know—I feel— - It must be earth, so roughly handling one, - Should round experience for some wise design. - Yet this—it cannot be—how can it?—nay— - For me you come—and you? your voice I hear? - No echo void, oft, oft so sweet in dreams?— - Nor now to wake me?—Nay I trust. You may— - ’Twill stray no more—take back your wanderer.” - - “My wanderer!” I answer’d, when I could; - “Ah Edith, you but wander’d as the lamb; - My spotless, worldling-mediator, you!— - It wander’d?—yes; it cross’d a threshold chill; - A proud cathedral enter’d; there found one - Too pleased with what he had, to gaze outside. - To him those arches low seem’d high as heaven; - And all the sweet and sunny air without, - When strain’d through stain’d and smoke-wreathed window-panes, - Gleam’d lurid as were hell. This man spied you: - He saw you shun him—leave him. He pursued— - Out, past the doorway—and he found God’s world - So much more broad than walls named after Him!” - - -LXXIII. - - “And Norman,” said she, “think you, evermore, - Recalling you, the worldling could forget - How walls exclusive could exclude not love? - Or, love rejecting, gain from all the world, - Though brimm’d with but applause, one draft so sweet?— - But then earth held such promise yet, so lured; - How could I know that merely sighs there were - Could thrill me more than all its thunders could? - Ah, did I love you then, so loves he heaven - Who has not courage yet to leave the world. - I might have left it never; but, you know, - That sister mine—At last, life meant but this,— - To envy that cold tomb, all night, all day, - That held her only.—Norman, pardon me: - Such woe, such loneliness,—ah, strange was it - That oft then I recall’d your form, your words? - And when I render’d forth upon the stage - Scenes you had visioned, phrases you had fram’d, - That then I came to do as you would do, - And think as you would think?—or that my tongue - Should linger o’er your language, as o’er sweets - Re-tasted still again?—or that, anon, - Those accents ardent with your own dear aims, - Should fire mine own to ardor?—or that then - My soul should flash forth light that flamed within, - And tracing far the rays that sped from it, - Should find here”— - - “One to help you, friend?” I asked— - “Then let us both thank heaven that made us weak. - So may a mortal pair bide, each to each, - Both priest and partner; like the church, their home; - For what are churches here but chosen courts - Of One pure Spirit, moving all to love? - And, think you, writ or vestment, art or arch, - Can image Him, or His domain unbound? - Nay, trust my word, we worship Him the best, - When two or three together, loving truth - And one another, thus repeat, once more, - An incarnation, imitating Christ” - - -LXXIV. - - “I catch it, Norman,” cried she, “the ideal! - Henceforth our aim be this,—the art of life. - I saw it not before: the stage of spirit - So much more broad is than the stage of sense! - Comes on the soul now, actor, all divine, - At play no longer; nay, but shadowing forth - A love complete that personates a God! - And what love is complete that walks alone?” - - “None,” answer’d I. “In true love, hand in hand, - Each leads his like. For this the whole world waits. - It waits for love,—why say not love like ours? - When souls touch souls, they touch the springs of life; - For them the veils of sense are drawn aside, - Are burn’d away in radiance divine, - The while their spirit’s contact starts afresh - The electric flash that scores new glory here, - And lights the lines of being back to God. - Then, with their whole existences renew’d, - Far up these lines, the souls that thus commune, - Discern anon that sacred home on high, - Where boundless rest is blest by boundless love - And dreams the dreams of bounty absolute.— - They find that home, whence issue floods of light, - Which, flowing forth from white mysterious heights, - Flame down and flash and burst anon in sparks - That star the dark through all life’s firmament;— - They find that home, whence whirl the cycles wide - Where all the wastes of nature fuse and form, - And all the things that thought can touch take shape, - Until the restless wheels of matter, roll’d - Through roadways worn to waste by speeding years, - At last in fatal friction fire themselves, - And light returns to light from whence it sprang. - Through all, where souls commune with central love, - They stay secure, awaiting birth or death; - The Spring that starts the blossom blown to fall, - Or Fall that drops the seed that springs afresh. - They watch nor fear whatever change evolve,— - The splendor grand of epochs borne to waste, - The ruin wild of times that end in law, - The monarch mail’d whose lustre dims his folk, - The people’s guns whose echoes hush their king. - What though dark clouds loom up and storms descend? - True faith would not bemoan the forms they wreck; - For forms if true are formulas of love - That still is ardent to consume them all. - Though lightnings thunder till they crack the sky, - What unroofs rage leaves heaven to dome our peace. - The more convulsion shakes and fire consumes, - The more of love and light may both set free; - The earlier may they end these earthly days - That fret our lives with flickerings vague below - Of steadfast light in endless day above; - The earlier may the power of hate give way, - And good awake, and every path be bright, - While hope of glory gilds the gloom on high. - We too—come, Edith. Christ will go with us; - And by and by the glory so shall flame - Heaven cannot hold the halo!—Edith, come; - We join the plans above.” - - -LXXV. - - But hold—I rave— - I know, I know—no matter, so would you.— - But find your soul’s ideal, and you would find, - If common-sense be reason, you would rave, - Till you forgot that common-sense could be— - Though I forget it not. My tale is told. - Why talk I more? I know one household now - All radiant through its mistress! Where she dwells - A sweet content pervades the very air, - And genial sympathy smiles on to make - Each whole long year one summer of delight. - - - - -PATRIOTIC. - - -AMERICA, OUR HOME. - -Sung, to music composed by the author, at the anniversary of the battle -of Concord, at Concord, Mass., 1898. - - This land of ours, we love it. - ’Tis Freedom’s own, where reign - No tyrants throned above it - O’er serfs that wear their chain; - Where birth and wealth to worth give way, - And none in camp or court have sway, - Except as all ordain. - - CHORUS: - - O Land that leaves the true man free - For all the soul would do or be, - Thank Heaven for life that gave us thee, - America, our home! - - Kind homes are ours that wake us - To life whose morn is bright. - Free schools are ours that make us - Believe in truth and right. - Our churches all are churches taught - That conscience guides the wisest thought, - And love wins more than might. - CHORUS: O Land that leaves, etc. - - We love the rule that trains us - To duty, self-control’d, - And honor’d toil that gains us - What order helps us hold; - Where never, save for threaten’d right, - Our starry flags, like stars at night, - O’er war’s dark storms unfold. - CHORUS: O Land that leaves, etc. - - We love the life that bears us - Toward all that seers can see, - And, led by hope, prepares us - The whole world’s hope to be, - When, in the day that war shall cease, - Our GOLDEN RULE shall keep the peace, - And all mankind be free. - CHORUS: O Land that leaves, etc. - - -HAIL THE FLAG. - -Sung, to the music of “Marching through Georgia,” at the anniversary of -the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution, held in -Columbia Theatre, Washington, D. C., Feb. 22, 1899. - - Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Oh, how oft, to right - Wrong that war alone could end, that flag has led the fight, - Streaming on with fire and shot till, through the smoke, the light - Burst on the victory of freedom! - - CHORUS: - - Hurrah! Hurrah! beneath the flag to be! - Hurrah! Hurrah! its loyal wards are we! - Where the STARS AND STRIPES are flying over land or sea, - Under the flag there is freedom. - - Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Peace is in each hue; - Storms are signal’d not by stars, or skies red, white, or blue; - Peace is in it e’en in war, for, when the war is through, - That which has won then is freedom. - CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc. - - Hail, all hail, the flag above us. In its blue more bright - Shine the stars to guide our way than in the dome of night; - Higher aims the hope that sees them, for their spotless white - Symbols the pure light of freedom. - CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc. - - Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Nature never knew, - In the dawn’s red ladder-bars where daylight climbs to view, - Stripes that brought as fair a day as these anon shall do, - When all the world turns to freedom. - CHORUS: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc. - - -EXPANSION. - - Not mountain chains, nor streams that cleave the plains, - Nor the wide ocean that around them rolls - Can bound the realm of Freedom’s loyal souls - Who serve the Spirit that above it reigns. - Not the mean few who snatch for selfish gains - Through pathways opening toward the noblest goals - Can shake Heaven’s children’s faith that Heaven controls - That life the most which Earth the least enchains. - O ye who see but lust for wealth or rule - Where love would end one more wrong’d people’s thrall, - As your sires ended yours, how blind are ye! - Who says there is no God is no more fool - Than he who hears not God’s voice in each call - To loose man’s bonds and let the oppress’d go free. - - -A PRAYER FOR PEACE AND GOOD WILL. - - Creative Spirit, Source of Life, - And Father whom we trust, - Keep us and keep our state from strife - Through deeds to all men just. - Teach us that each, though poor or base, - Is yet a child of Thine, - And born, whate’er his rank or race, - Or wheresoe’er his dwelling-place, - To destiny divine. - - Let not one nation’s pride of might - On other nations prey - With brute-like hosts that boast a right - To plunder and to slay. - If one land’s war-lord claim his own - To be Thy Spirit’s call, - Teach men that no God so made known, - No God of but one land alone, - Was ever God of all. - - Grant all, oh Lord, through lives of love, - A glory to attain - As far as heaven’s could be above - What earthly battles gain. - Grant all, wherever patriots view - Their country’s flag unfurled, - The right to think that service due - God’s country calls for patriots too - Whose country is the world. - - -END - - - - -_PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS_ - - -THE AZTEC GOD, AND OTHER DRAMAS - -BY GEORGE L. RAYMOND - -16MO, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25 - - “It is not with the usual feeling of disappointment that one - lays down this little book. One reads ‘The Aztec God’ with - pleasure.... ‘Cecil the Seer’ is a drama of the occult. In it - the author attempts to describe the conditions in the spiritual - world exactly as they exist according to coinciding testimony - of Swedenborg, of the modern Spiritualist, and of all supposed - to have explored them in trance states. Indirectly, perhaps, - the whole is a much needed satire upon the social, political, - and religious conditions of our present materialistic life.... - In ‘Columbus’ one finds a work which it is difficult to avoid - injuring with fulsome praise. The character of the great - discoverer is portrayed grandly and greatly.... It is difficult - to conceive how anyone who cares for that which is best in - literature ... could fail to be strengthened and uplifted - by this heroic treatment of one of the great stories of the - world.”—_N. Y. Press._ - - “One must unreservedly commend the clear, vigorous statement, - the rhythmic facility, the copious vocabulary, and the - unvarying elevated tone of the three dramas.... The poetic - quality reveals itself in breadth of vision and picturesque - imagery. One is, indeed, not seldom in peril of forgetting plot - and character-action in these dramas, because of the glowing - imagination.”—_Home Journal._ - - “The time and place make the play an historic study of - interest, aside from its undoubted high poetic quality - and elevation of thought.... The metre of the dramas is - Shakespearian, and that master’s influence is constantly - apparent. It is needless to say to those who know the author’s - remarkable abilities that the plays are substantial and reflect - perfectly the author’s mind.”—_Portland Transcript._ - -=Modern Fishers of Men.= 12mo, cloth, gilt top =$1.00= - - “This delightful novel is written with charming insight. The - rare gift of character delineation the author can claim in - full.... Shrewd comments upon life and character add spice to - the pages.”—_Nashville Tennessean._ - - “Deals with love and religion in a small country town, and - under the facile pen and keen humor of the author, the - various situations ... are made the most of ... true to the - life.”—_Boston Globe._ - - “Such a spicy, racy, more-truth-than-fiction work has not been - placed in our hands for a long time.”—_Chicago Evening Journal._ - - “Essentially humorous, with an undercurrent of satire ... also - subtle character delineation, which will appeal strongly to - those who have the perceptive faculties highly developed.”—_San - Francisco Bulletin._ - -A LIFE IN SONG - -BY GEORGE L. RAYMOND - -16mo, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25 - - “An age-worn poet dying amid strangers in a humble village - home, leaves the record of his life in a pile of manuscript - poems. These are claimed by a friend and comrade of the poet, - but, at the request of the cottagers, he reads them over before - taking them away. The poet’s life is divided into seven books - or ‘notes,’ because seven notes seem to make up the gamut - of life.... This is the simple but unique plan, ... which - ... forms but the mere outline of a remarkably fine study of - the hopes, aspirations, and disappointments of life, ... an - American modern life.... The author sees poetry, and living - poetry, where the most of men see prose.... The objection, so - often brought against our young poets, that form outweighs - the thought, cannot be urged in this instance, for the poems - of Prof. Raymond are full of keen and searching comments - upon life. Neither can the objection be urged of the lack of - the human element. ‘A Life in Song’ is not only dramatic in - tendency, but is singularly realistic and acute.... The volume - will appeal to a large class of readers by reason of its clear, - musical, flexible verse, its fine thought, and its intense - human interest.”—_Boston Transcript._ - - “Professor Raymond is no dabbler in the problem of the human - spirit, and no tyro in the art of word painting, as those who - know his prose works can testify. These pages contain a mine - of rich and disciplined reflection, and abound in beautiful - passages.”—_Hartford Theological Seminary Record._ - - “Here are lines which, if printed in letters of gold upon the - front of every pulpit, and practised by every one behind one, - would transform the face of the theological world.... In short, - if you are in search of ideas that are unconventional and - up-to-date, get ‘A Life in Song,’ and read it.”—_Unity._ - - “Some day Dr. Raymond will be universally recognized as one of - the leaders in the new thought-movement.... He is a poet in - the truest sense. His ideals are ever of the highest, and his - interpretation is of the clearest and sweetest. He has richness - of genius, intensity of human feeling, and the refinement of - culture. His lines are alive with action, luminous with thought - and passion, and melodious with music.”—_Cleveland World._ - - “The main impulse and incident of the life are furnished by the - enlistment of the hero in the anti-slavery cause. The story of - his love is also a leading factor, and is beautifully told. The - poem displays a mastery of poetic rhythm and construction, and, - as a whole, is pervaded by the imaginative quality which lifts - ‘a life’ into the region of poetry,—the peculiar quality which - marks Wordsworth.”—_Christian Intelligencer._ - - “It is a great work, and shows that America has a great - poet.... A century from now this poem will be known and - quoted wherever fine thought is appreciated, or brave deeds - sung.”—_Western Rural._ - -BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS - -BY GEORGE L. RAYMOND - -16mo, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25 - - “In the construction of the ballad, he has given some notable - examples of what may be wrought of native material by one who - has a tasteful ear and practised hand. If he does not come up - to the standard of the ancient ballad, which is the model, he - has done as well as any of the younger American authors who - have attempted this kind of work, and there is true enjoyment - in all that he has written. Of his other poems, the dramatic - poem, ‘Haydn,’ is finished in form, and has literary value, as - well as literary power.”—_Boston Globe._ - - “The author has achieved a very unusual success, a success - to which genuine poetic power has not more contributed than - wide reading and extensive preparation. The ballads overflow, - not only with the general, but the very particular, truths of - history.”—_Cincinnati Times._ - - “It may well find readers in abundance ... for the sake of the - many fine passages which it contains.... ‘Ideals made Real’ has - one point of very high excellence ... we have in the conception - of the character of Edith the work of a genuinely dramatic - poet.... In Edith we have a thoroughly masculine intellect in a - thoroughly feminine soul, not merely by the author’s assertion, - but by actual exhibition. Every word that Edith speaks, every - act that she does, is in accord with this conception.... It - is sufficient, without doubt, to give life to a less worthy - performance, and it proves beyond doubt that Mr. Raymond is - the possessor of a poetic faculty which is worthy of the most - careful and conscientious cultivation.”—_N. Y. Evening Post._ - - “A very thoughtful study of character ... great knowledge of - ... aims and motives.... Such as read this poem will derive - from it a benefit more lasting than the mere pleasure of the - moment.”—_London Spectator._ - - “Mr. Raymond is a poet emphatically, and not a scribbler in - rhyme.”—_London Literary Churchman._ - - “His is no mere utterance of dreams and fancies. His poetry - takes hold on life; it enters the arena where its grandest - and purest motives are discussed, and by the vigor and beauty - of the language it holds itself on a level with the highest - themes.... Every thoughtful reader ... will wish that the - poems had been longer or that there had been more of them. - It would be possible to quote passage after passage of rare - beauty.”—_Utica Herald._ - - “... Rhythmical in its flow and deliciously choice in language - ... indicating a deep acquaintance with human nature, while - there is throughout a tone that speaks plainly of a high - realization of the divine purpose in life.... Not the least - charming characteristic is its richness in pen-and-ink pictures - marked by rare beauty and presenting irresistibly that which - the poet saw in his mind’s eye.... We confidently promise that - any one taking it up will enjoy the reading throughout, that - is, if there is any poetry in him.”—_Boston Evening Journal._ - -BOOKS BY PROFESSOR RAYMOND - -=Dante and Collected Verse.= 16mo, cloth, gilt top =$1.25= - - “Epigram, philosophy, history—these are the predominant - elements ... which masterly construction, pure diction, and - lofty sentiment unite in making a glowing piece of blank - verse.”—_Chicago Herald._ - - “The poems will be read with keenest enjoyment by all who - appreciate literary genius, refined sentiment, and genuine - culture. The publication is a gem throughout.”—_New Haven - Leader._ - - “The poet and the reformer contend in Professor Raymond. When - the latter has the mastery, we respond to the justice, the - high ideals, the truth of all he says—and says with point and - vigor—but when the poet conquers, the imagination soars.... The - mountain poems are the work of one with equally high ideals of - life and of song.”—_Glasgow_ (Scotland) _Herald_. - - “Brother Jonathan can not claim many great poets, but we think - he has ‘struck oil,’ in Professor Raymond.”—_Western_ (England) - _Morning News_. - - “This brilliant composition ... gathers up and concentrates - for the reader more of the reality of the great Italian - than is readily gleaned from the author of the _Inferno_ - himself.”—_Oakland Enquirer._ - -=Pictures in Verse.= With 20 illustrations by Maud Stumm. Square 8vo, in -ornamental cloth covers =$.75= - - “Little love poems of a light and airy character, describing - pretty rustic scenes, or domestic interiors.... As charming for - its illustrations as for its reading matter.”—_Detroit Free - Press._ - - “Simple songs of human every-day experience ... with a twinkle - of homely humor and a wholesome reflection of domestic cheer. - We like his optimistic sentiments, and unspoiled spirit of - boyishness when he strikes the chord of love. It is all very - true and good.”—_The Independent._ - -=The Mountains about Williamstown.= With an introduction by M. M. Miller, -and 35 full-page illustrations from original photographs; oblong shape, -cloth, gilt edges. Net, postpaid =$2.00= - - “The beauty of these photographs from so many points of vantage - would of itself suffice to show the fidelity and affection with - which Professor Raymond pursued the theme of his admirably - constructed poems. The introduction by his pupil, friend, and - associate is an exhaustive study. No better or more thorough - review could be written of the book, or more clearly point out - the directness and power of Professor Raymond’s work.... Among - his many books none justifies more brilliantly the correctness - and charm of his rhetorical instruction, or his facility in - exemplifying what he commends.”—_Hartford_ (Conn.) _Courant_. - -=Rhythm and Harmony in Poetry and Music.= 8º =$1.75= - - “The reader must be, indeed, a person either of supernatural - stupidity or of marvellous erudition, who does not discover - much information in Prof. Raymond’s exhaustive and instructive - treatise. From page to page it is full of suggestion.”—_The - Academy_ (London). - -PROFESSOR RAYMOND’S ART-BOOKS - -=Art in Theory.= 8vo, cloth extra. =$1.75= - - “A well grounded, thoroughly supported, and entirely artistic - conception of art as a whole, that will lead observers to - apply its principles ... and to distrust the charlatanism that - imposes an idle and superficial mannerism upon the public in - place of true beauty and honest workmanship.”—_The New York - Times._ - - “His style is good, and his logic sound, and ... of the - greatest possible service to the student of artistic - theories.”—_Art Journal_ (London). - -=The Representative Significance of Form.= 8vo, cloth extra. =$2.00= - - “Evidently the ripe fruit of years of patient and exhaustive - study on the part of a man singularly fitted for his task. - It is profound in insight, searching in analysis, broad in - spirit, and thoroughly modern in method and sympathy.”—_The - Universalist Leader._ - - “An original thinker and writer, the charm of his style and - clearness of expression make Mr. Raymond’s book possible to the - general reader, though worthy of the study of the student and - scholar.”—_Hartford Courant._ - -=Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, as Representative Arts.= With 225 -illustrations, 8vo. =$2.50= - - “Expression by means of extension or size ... shape ... - regularity in outlines ... the human body ... posture, gesture, - and movement ... are all considered.... A specially interesting - chapter is the one on color.”—_Current Literature._ - - “The whole book is the work of a man of exceptional - thoughtfulness, who says what he has to say in a remarkably - lucid and direct manner.”—_The Philadelphia Press._ - -=The Genesis of Art-Form.= Fully illustrated. 8vo. =$2.25= - - “In a spirit at once scientific and that of the true artist, he - pierces through the manifestations of art to their sources, and - shows the relations, intimate and essential, between painting, - sculpture, poetry, music, and architecture. A book that - possesses not only singular value, but singular charm.”—_N. Y. - Times._ - - “A help and a delight. Every aspirant for culture in any of the - liberal arts, including music and poetry, will find something - in this book to aid him.”—_Boston Times._ - -=Proportion and Harmony of Line and Color in Painting, Sculpture, and -Architecture.= Fully illustrated. 8vo. =$2.50= - - “No critical person can afford to ignore so valuable - a contribution to the art-thought of the day.”—_The - Art-Interchange_ (N. Y.). - - “One does not need to be a scholar to follow this scholar - as he teaches while seeming to entertain; for he does - both.”—_Burlington Hawk-Eye._ - - “The artist who wishes to penetrate the mysteries of color, - the sculptor who desires to cultivate his sense of proportion, - or the architect whose ambition is to reach to a high standard - will find the work helpful and inspiring.”—_Boston Transcript._ - -BOOKS BY PROFESSOR RAYMOND - -=Poetry as a Representative Art.= 8º =$1.75= - -This book is an attempt, in accordance with modern methods, aided by -the results of modern investigation, to determine scientifically the -laws of poetic composition and criticism, by deriving and distinguishing -the methods and meanings of the various factors of poetic form and -thought from those of the elocution and rhetoric of ordinary speech, of -which poetry is an artistic development. The principles unfolded are -illustrated by quotations from the first English poets. - - “I have read it with pleasure, and a sense of instruction on - many points.”—_Francis Turner Palgrave, Professor of Poetry, - Oxford University._ - - “Dieses ganz vortreffliche Werk.”—_Englische Studien, - Universität Breslau._ - - “An acute, interesting, and brilliant piece of work.... - As a whole the essay deserves unqualified praise.”—_N. Y. - Independent._ - -=The Essentials of Æsthetics.= Fully illustrated. 8º =$2.50= - -A compendium of all the art-volumes, designed as a Text-Book. - - “So lucid in expression and rich in illustration that every - page contains matter of deep interest even to the general - reader.”—_Boston Herald._ - - “It can hardly fail to make talent more rational, genius - more conscious of the principles of art, and the critic and - connoisseur better equipped for impression, judgment, and - appraisement.”—_New York Times._ - -=The Orator’s Manual.= 12mo =$1.50= - -A Practical and Philosophic Treatise on Vocal Culture, Emphasis, and -Gesture, together with Hints for the Composition of Orations and -Selections for Declamation and Reading, designed as a Text-book for -Schools and Colleges, and for Public Speakers and Readers who are obliged -to Study without an Instructor, fully revised with important Additions -after the Fifteenth Edition. - - “It is undoubtedly the most complete and thorough treatise - on oratory for the practical student ever published.”—_The - Educational Weekly_, Chicago. - - “I consider it the best American book upon technical elocution. - It has also leanings toward a philosophy of expression that no - other book written by an American has presented.”—_Moses True - Brown_, Head of the Boston School of Oratory. - -=The Writer= (with POST WHEELER, Litt.D.) 12mo =$1.00= - -A Concise, Complete, and Practical Text-book of Rhetoric, designed to aid -in the Appreciation, as well as Production of All Forms of Literature, -Explaining, for the first time, the Principles of Written Discourse by -correlating them to those of Oral Discourse. - - “A book of unusual merit ... prepared by practical teachers, - and the end in view is evidently to teach rather than to give - information.”—_The Pacific Educational Journal._ - - “The pupil will forget he is studying rhetoric, and will come - to express himself for the pure pleasure he has in this most - beautiful art.”—_Indiana School Journal._ - -=Ethics and Natural Law.= 8vo. Net, =$2.25.= - -A Reconstructive Review of Moral Philosophy, Applied to the Rational Art -of Living,—a Book that is in effect a Continuation and Completion of -the Author’s well-known Æsthetic Works, showing the Relationship of the -Principles underlying Art to the Culture of Character. - - “The student of ethics will considerably fortify his knowledge - of the history of ethical thought by reading the book, - especially the first twelve chapters. In these Mr. Raymond - embodies, with copious references, his extensive knowledge - of what has been written and thought by moral philosophers. - On pp. 63-67, for instance, will be found in footnotes a - kind of classified anthology of all the definitions given of - conscience by modern writers. The various ethical theories - holding the field do not, he thinks, recognize as indispensable - the coöperation, in every slightest detail of thought and - feeling, of the two necessary factors of every desire; and he - claims that his own doctrine keeps to the purpose he avows - in his opening chapter,—to draw no inference, and to advance - no theory, not warranted by known facts as ascertainable in - connection with the operations of natural law.... Chapters XIII - to XXIII deal acutely and comprehensively with the various - sides of American life.”—_London_ (England) _Times_. - - In an article entitled _A Desirable Acquaintance_, _Prof. - A. S. Hobart_, _D.D. of Crozer Theological Seminary_, after - mentioning his twenty years’ experience in teaching Ethics, - says, “I find this book the only one that has come within the - range of my reading which has, for the basis of its system, - what I have found to be satisfactory. The writer assumes that - there is in the nature of things a law of ethical conduct - as continuous and self-evincing as is the law of physical - health.... The study of psychology has opened the mind to - inspection as we open the back of a watch-case and see the - wheels go round; and this study lays its crown of victorious - explorations at the feet of ethics.... His view is that - conscience is the sense of conflict between bodily and mental - desires ... therefore not a guide; it is only a sense of - lostness in the woods, that wants a guide. Good sense and good - religion are the guides to be consulted. By many illustrations - and very clear reasoning he verifies his view. Then, ... he - takes up the task unusual in such books—of showing how the - leading moral qualities can and ought to be cultivated. In - view of my own careful reading of the book I venture to call - attention to it as a most fertile source of instruction and - suggestion for ethical teaching.”—_The Baptist._ - - “The book is clear and comprehensive. His theory in regard to - conflict is reasonable, and the principles deduced from it have - philosophic foundation.”—_Boston Transcript._ - - “Professor Raymond extracts a fundamental principle that - largely reconciles existing ethical theories ... makes - distinctions that have vitality, and will repay the necessary - study and application.”—_Scientific American._ - -=A Poet’s Cabinet= and =An Art Philosopher’s Cabinet=. - -Two books containing quotations, the one from the poems, and the other -from the æsthetic works of George Lansing Raymond, selected by Marion -Mills Miller, Litt.D., editor of _The Classics, Greek, and Latin_. Each -book 8vo. cloth-bound, gilt top. $2.00 - - “Dr. Raymond is one of the most just and pregnant critics, - as well as one of the most genuine poets, that America has - produced.... His verse generally, and his prose frequently, - is a solid pack of epigrams; and hundreds of the epigrams are - vigorous, fresh, telling, worth collecting and cataloguing.... - Probably from no other American but Emerson could a collection - at all comparable be made. Many of the phrases are profound - paradox.... Others are as hard-headed as La Rochefoucauld.... - Some are plain common sense, set in an audacious figure, or - a vigorous turn of phrase.... But few or none of them are - trivial.... As an æsthetic critic, Professor Raymond is, by - training and temperament, remarkably versatile and catholic. - He is almost or quite equally interested in architecture, - painting, sculpture, music, poetry.... Each is as definitely - placed in his system as the several instruments in a great - orchestra.... If Dr. Raymond had been born in France, England, - or Germany, he would, no doubt, have enjoyed a wider vogue. But - it is just as well that he was none of these; for the, as yet, - æsthetically immature New World has sore need of him.”—_Revue - Internationale_, Paris. - - “We risk little in foretelling a day when all considerable - libraries, private as well as public, will be deemed quite - incomplete if lacking these twin volumes. Years after the - thinker has paid the debt to nature due, his thoughts will - rouse action and emotion in the hearts and minds of generations - now unborn.”—_Worcester_ (Mass.) _Gazette_. - - “This Poet’s Cabinet is the best thing of its class—that - confined to the works of one author—upon which our eyes have - fallen, either by chance or purpose. We can’t help wishing that - we had a whole book-shelf of such volumes in our own private - library.”—_Columbus_, (O.) _Journal_. - - “The number and variety of the subjects are almost - overwhelming, and the searcher for advanced or new thought as - expressed by this particular philosopher has no difficulty in - coming almost immediately upon something that may strike his - fancy or aid him in his perplexities. To the student of poetry - and the higher forms of literature ... the volume will be of - distinct aid.”—_Utica_ (N. Y.) _Observer_. - - “Dr. Miller’s task in selecting representative extracts from - Professor Raymond’s works has not been a light one, for there - has been no chaff among the wheat, and there was an ever - present temptation to add bulk to the book through freedom in - compilation. He thought best, however, to eliminate all but - the features which revealed the rare rich soul and personality - of the poet, and each quotation is a gem.”—_Albany_ (N. Y.) - _Times-Union_. - - “To study the works of any one man so that we are completely - familiar with his ideas upon all important subjects—if the - man have within him any element of greatness—is a task which - is likely to repay the student’s work.... This fact makes the - unique quality of the present volume ... quotations which deal - with practically every subject to be found in more general - anthologies.”—_Boston_ (Mass.) _Advertiser_. - -=The Psychology of Inspiration=. 8vo, cloth. (New Revised Edition). Net, -=$2.00=; by mail, =$2.14= - -The book founds its conclusions on a study of the action of the human -mind when obtaining and expressing truth, as this action has been -revealed through the most recent investigations of physiological, -psychological, and psychic research; and the freshness and originality -of the presentation is acknowledged and commended by such authorities as -Dr. J. Mark Baldwin, Professor of Psychology in Johns Hopkins University, -who says that its psychological position is “new and valuable”; Dr. W. -T. Harris, late United States Commissioner of Education and the foremost -metaphysician in the country, who says it is sure “to prove helpful to -many who find themselves on the border line between the Christian and the -non-Christian beliefs”; and Dr. Edward Everett Hale, who says that “no -one has approached the subject from this point of view.” - -The first and, perhaps, the most important achievement of the book -is to show that the _fact_ of _inspiration_ can be _demonstrated -scientifically_; in other words, that the inner subconscious mind _can_ -be influenced irrespective of influences exerted through the eyes and the -ears, _i.e._, by what one sees or hears. In connection with this fact it -is also shown that, when the mind is thus inwardly or inspirationally -influenced, as, for example, in hypnotism, the influence is _suggestive_ -and _not dictatorial_. Not only so, but such faith as it is natural -and right that a rational being should exercise can be stimulated and -developed in only the degree in which the text of a sacred book is -characterized by the very vagueness and variety of meaning and statement -which the higher criticism of the Bible has brought to light. The book -traces these to the operation and requirements of the human mind through -which inspiration is received and to which it is imparted. Whatever -inspires must appear to be, in some way, beyond the grasp of him who -communicates it, and can make him who hears it _think_ and _train him to -think_, in the degree only in which it is not comprehensive or complete; -but merely, like everything else in nature, illustrative of that portion -of truth which the mind needs to be made to find out for itself. - - “The sane, fair, kindly attitude taken gives of itself a - profitable lesson. The author proves conclusively that his - mind—and if his, why not another’s?—can be at one and the - same time sound, sanitary, scientific, and essentially - religious.”—_The Examiner_, Chicago. - - “The author writes with logic and a ‘sweet reasonableness’ that - will doubtless convince many halting minds. It is an inspiring - book.”—_Philadelphia Inquirer._ - - “It is, we think, difficult to overestimate the value of - this volume at the present critical pass in the history of - Christianity.”—_The Arena_, Boston. - - “The author has taken up a task calling for heroic effort, - and has given us a volume worthy of careful study.... - The conclusion is certainly very reasonable.”—_Christian - Intelligencer_, New York. - - “Interesting, suggestive, helpful.”—_Boston Congregationalist._ - -=Fundamentals in Education, Art, and Civics: Essays and Addresses.= 8vo, -cloth. Net, =$1.40=; by mail, =$1.53= - - “Of fascinating interest to cultured readers, to the student, - the teacher, the poet, the artist, the musician, in a word - to all lovers of sweetness and light. The author has a lucid - and vigorous style, and is often strikingly original. What - impresses one is the personality of a profound thinker and a - consummate teacher behind every paragraph.”—_Dundee Courier_, - Scotland - - “The articles cover a wide field and manifest a uniformly high - culture in every field covered. It is striking how this great - educator seems to have anticipated the educational tendencies - of our times some decades before they imprest the rest of - us. He has been a pathfinder for many younger men, and still - points the way to higher heights. The book is thoroughly - up-to-date.”—_Service_, Philadelphia. - - “Clear, informing, and delightfully readable. Whether the - subject is art and morals, technique in expression, or - character in a republic, each page will be found interesting - and the treatment scholarly, but simple, sane, and - satisfactory ... the story of the Chicago fire is impressingly - vivid.”—_Chicago Standard._ - - “He is a philosopher, whose encouraging idealism is well - grounded in scientific study, and who illuminates points of - psychology and ethics as well as of art when they come up in - the course of the discussion.”—_The Scotsman_, Edinburgh, - Scotland. - - “Agreeably popularizes much that is fundamental in theories - of life and thought. The American people owe much of their - progress, their optimism, and we may say their happiness to - the absorption of just such ideals as Professor Raymond stands - for.”—_Minneapolis Book Review Digest._ - -=Suggestions for the Spiritual Life—College Chapel Talks.= 8vo, cloth. -Net, =$1.50=; by mail, =$1.63= - - “Sermons of more than usual worth, full of thought of the - right kind, fresh, strong, direct, manly.... Not one seems to - strain to get a young man’s attention by mere popular allusions - to a student environment. They are spiritual, scriptural; of - straight ethical import, meeting difficulties, confirming - cravings, amplifying tangled processes of reasoning, and not - forgetting the emotions.”—_Hartford Theological Seminary - Record_ (Congregationalist). - - “The clergyman who desires to reach young men especially, and - the teacher of men’s Bible Classes may use this collection - of addresses to great advantage.... The subjects are those - of every man’s experience in character building ... such a - widespread handling of God’s word would have splendid results - in the production of men.”—_The Living Church_ (Episcopalian). - - “Great themes, adequately considered.... Surely the young - men who listened to these sermons must have been stirred - and helped by them as we have been stirred and helped as we - read them.”—_Northfield_ (Mass.) _Record of Christian Work_ - (Evangelical). - - “They cover a wide range. They are thoughtful, original, - literary, concise, condensed, pithy. They deal with subjects - in which the young will be interested.”—_Western Christian - Advocate_ (Methodist). - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Ballads and Other Poems</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:1em;'>Fourth Edition, Revised</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: George Lansing Raymond</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 14, 2022 [eBook #67152]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: K Nordquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS ***</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_i"></a>[i]</span></p> - -<h1>Ballads and<br /> -Other Poems</h1> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="titlepage larger"><span class="smcap larger red">Ballads</span><br /> -<br /> -<span class="smaller">AND</span><br /> -<br /> -OTHER POEMS</p> - -<p class="titlepage">BY<br /> -<span class="red">GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><i>FOURTH EDITION, REVISED</i></p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="red">G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS</span></p> - -<p class="center">NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> -<span class="gothic">The Knickerbocker Press</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_ii"></a>[ii]</span></p> - -<p class="titlepage">“BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION”<br /> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1886<br /> -by</span><br /> -GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND</p> - -<p class="titlepage">“SKETCHES IN SONG”<br /> -<span class="smcap">Copyright, 1887<br /> -by</span><br /> -GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smcap">Third Edition, Copyright, 1908<br /> -by</span><br /> -GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND</p> - -<p class="titlepage"><span class="smcap">Fourth Edition, Copyright, 1916<br /> -by</span><br /> -GEORGE LANSING RAYMOND</p> - -<div class="figcenter titlepage" style="width: 200px;"> -<img src="images/knickerbocker-press.jpg" width="200" height="350" alt="The Knickerbocker Press New York" /> -</div> - -<p class="center">Made in the United States of America</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii"></a>[iii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS.</h2> - -</div> - -<table summary="Contents"> - <tr> - <td></td> - <td class="tdpg smaller">PAGE</td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#BALLADS_OF_THE_REVOLUTION"><i><span - class="smcap">Ballads of the Revolution.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Our First Break with the British</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads1">3</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Last Cruise of the Gaspee</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads2">22</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Lebanon Boys in Boston</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads3">37</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Crown’s Fight against the Town’s Right</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads4">55</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Rally of the Farmers</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads5">64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Ethan Allen</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads6">73</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">How Barton Took the General</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#ballads7">88</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#MISCELLANEOUS"><i><span - class="allsmcap">MISCELLANEOUS.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Song on Singing</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc1">101</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Music of Life</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc2">105</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">My Ideal</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc3">107</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Caged</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc4">108</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Whatever the Mission of Life may be</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc5">109</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Destiny-Maker</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#misc6">110</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#HAYDN"><i><span class="allsmcap">DRAMATIC.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Haydn</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#haydn1">115</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv"></a>[iv]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#SKETCHES_IN_SONG"><i> - <span class="smcap">Sketches in Song.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Fish Story</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Unveiling the Monument</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches2">2</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Under the New Moon</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches3">12</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">All in All</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches4">14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Nothing at All</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches5">14</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Idealist</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches6">15</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Phase of the Angelic</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches7">17</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Belle</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches8">19</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Poet’s Reason</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches9">20</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Among the Mountains</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches10">21</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Martin Craegin</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches11">23</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Of Such is the Kingdom</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches12">26</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">My Love is Sad</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches13">28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">My Dream at Cordova</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches14">29</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Flower Plucked</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches15">36</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Artist’s Aim</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches16">37</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Musician and Moralizer</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches17">39</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">What the Bouquet Said</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches18">40</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">With the Young</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches19">41</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Translation</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches20">42</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Farmer Lad</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches21">44</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Wife</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches22">45</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Nothing To Keep under</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches23">47</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Our Day at Pisa</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches24">48</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Highest Claims</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches25">50</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Notes from the Victory</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches26">52</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v"></a>[v]</span></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Poet’s Lesson</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches27">53</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Mourner Answered</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches28">57</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">The Vacant Room</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches29">58</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Thanksgiving Day</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches30">60</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Misapprehension</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches31">61</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Aunty’s Answer</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches32">63</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">His Love’s Fruition</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches33">64</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">What Would I Give</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#sketches34">65</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#DRAMATIC"><i><span class="allsmcap">DRAMATIC.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Ideals Made Real</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#dramatic1">69</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="tdc" colspan="2"><a href="#PATRIOTIC"><i><span class="allsmcap">PATRIOTIC.</span></i></a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">America, Our Home</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#patriotic1">159</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Hail the Flag</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#patriotic2">160</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">Expansion</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#patriotic3">162</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td><span class="smcap">A Prayer for Peace and Good Will</span></td> - <td class="tdpg"><a href="#patriotic4">163</a></td> - </tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="BALLADS_OF_THE_REVOLUTION">BALLADS OF THE REVOLUTION.</h2> - -<p class="center">REPRESENTING THE SPIRIT AND REASONS<br /> -LEADING TO THE<br /> -AMERICAN WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE.</p> - -<p class="center"><i>Third Edition, Revised.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak"><span class="smcap">Ballads of the Revolution.</span><a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads1">OUR FIRST BREAK WITH THE BRITISH.</h3> - -<p class="center">1765.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Great Britain’s lords<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> were planning—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So ran the world’s report—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tax the colonies more and more,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And treat our sires as if they wore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The liveries at the court.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The colonies’ hope is union,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Franklin,<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> by and by;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not one of them that stands alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can hold its own against the throne.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We<a href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> join,” he wrote, “or die.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And “Freedom<a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> is a birthright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our fathers handed down;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blood-bought,” James Otis<a href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> boldly said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“One king of theirs it cost his head;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And one his throne and crown.<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Were we to lose it, England</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would share in our mishap<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For not a net can harm us here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But threatens every English peer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whom yet it may entrap.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our laws are in our charters</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For scores of years enjoy’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor has the King, or Parliament,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or both without our own consent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The power to make them void.<a href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“By them, the Magna Charta,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all our Saxon rights;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By claims of nature, mind, descent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We ought to send to Parliament<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And show it what it slights.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A protest then we sent it.<a href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">But back came sail on sail;<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And less had leaves of law-books grave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Torn out and flung to wind and wave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shown law could not prevail.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They broke up our assembly;<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Supreme their army<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Removed the judge<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> who check’d their greed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on the church our fathers freed</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The hands of bishops laid.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Shall we, whose fathers won us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our rights, abide their loss?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay,” Mayhew said;<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> “though these to take</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Pharoah’s hosts of red-coats make</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blood-red the sea they cross.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The Lord o’errules the waters,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And He will guard our cause:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Parliament—let Plymouth Rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To whelm them all throw back the shock—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will bid the tyrant pause.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“God guide the House of Commons,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We cried with lifted eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God guided it and us, alas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But how He scorch’d our heaven to pass</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His finger through the skies!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Commons framed the Stamp-Act.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">It legal writs refused,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And made our bargains go for naught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unless, in all we sold or bought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their stamps were bought and used.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The stamps are only vouchers,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrote Green,<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> “to license knaves!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To tax, against their own consent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where none,” said Adams,<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> “represent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our people, brands them slaves.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our charter’d free assemblies,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To which our laws entrust<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The right to tax us, and to pay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each crown-official,—only they</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can ever keep him just.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Quoth Thomas Chase:<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> “They only!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But British agents curse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To find that our assemblies true</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have something nobler here to do</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than fill a noble’s purse.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The admiralty,” said Hancock,<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“To swell the navy’s pelf,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have pass’d a law that it empowers<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">To seek in every ship of ours</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A bounty for itself.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Would we dispute the seizure,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our loss can be discuss’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And righted but in England’s courts,<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And by a judge whom it supports;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And that, they say, is just.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No fleet of mine<a href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> shall carry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A stamp, though all I lose.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I choose, ere it, to save my soul!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whole land heard, and soon the whole</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had sworn no stamps to use.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">New York had lived by commerce.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her merchants vow’d, they all,<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere stamps they bought, would sail no boats,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sell no goods, and pass no notes—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They would not live in thrall.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Said Isaac Sears:<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> “No wonder</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These human lords combine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The masses’ rivalling wealth to steal!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let them be stript, my lord may feel</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His decency divine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“For years, to gild the peerage</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have England’s ports been made<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The marts by law for all we bought.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas! in what that we have wrought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have they not check’d our trade?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The nobles, while their winnings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like nuggets clog the sieve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ours drop through, would not eschew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their royal rule: ‘To others do</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What makes them humbly live.’</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And shall we not live humbly</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who but our pride restrain?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And buy at home more homely goods?”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Buy homespun!”<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> rang from bay to woods.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then rang the looms<a href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> amain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But keen and crafty tories,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They prowl’d around at night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And plotted long, and bought and sold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hoax’d and coax’d the young and old</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their homespun league to slight.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We must not wait till England</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall send the stamps,” wrote Edes.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Once let our tories own a few,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They soon were sown the whole land through</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To grow like seeds of weeds.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Boston Stamp-man’s image</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Men burn’d before his face.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their roars, like thunder, threaten’d storm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And torches flash’d; the air was warm;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The man resign’d his place.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Resign!” erelong the echo</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had roll’d to every town.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">None dared resist the people’s plea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And none dared hold a stamp, or be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The stamp-man of the crown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our governors,” growl’d the tories,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Will sell the stamps to us.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The governors vow’d this course to take;<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">But we, we vow’d, our lives the stake,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They should not thwart us thus.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The night before the Stamp-Act</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should rule the colony,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We slept not much; we melted lead;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We whetted steel; we plann’d ahead,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We “Sons of Liberty.”<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, when the morn was breaking,<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">On every hill and plain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all the towns, we toll’d the bells,<a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">That all began with doleful knells,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As though for Freedom slain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon, they rang out madly<a href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">What might have peal’d to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The land’s alarm-bell—only now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They peal’d to hail the new-born vow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of men that would be free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">New York went wild to hear them.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Men flooded every way:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They left their shops; they stopt their mills;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And farmers flock’d from all the hills,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sailors from the bay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Now who would buy a stamp here?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was ask’d in all the ways.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But not a shop was not shut to;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For all had wiser work to do</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On this, our day of days.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We would not, and we will not</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Submit,” said Isaac Sears.<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor said: “You fill the street,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But here a fort and there a fleet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May yet awake your fears.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our stamps,” cried James,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a> his major,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our stamps, if loaded down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our cannon here, and scatter’d thence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Among the crowd, would soon commence</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To circulate in town.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Aha,” said Sears in answer,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“For this you soldiers came?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this our wily governor here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pretended border wars to fear—<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Aha, were we his game?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To tax us indirectly,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was it for this, the crown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bade your imported troopers make</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our town<a href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> support you?—for the sake</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of being thus kept down?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To kill our leaders, was it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crown made them be rank’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Braddock’s braggarts, who could run</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leave a man like Washington<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">By their commands outflank’d?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yes, yes, in genuine danger</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We know who<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> win the day;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whose the coin and blood we miss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, from our fathers’ time to this,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have held our foes at bay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And need we now your army?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You know—your sovereign too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our wars are his—He<a href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> France attacks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here her colony—when he lacks</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Excuse for sending you.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How strong, think you, our patience?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How long ere it shall tire?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, Britain’s lion’s whelp may get</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So tough by cuffs like this, as yet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To turn and rend her sire!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sheer treason!” cried the major;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And “Treason!” cried his chief.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our spokesman’s eye their fury brook’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then calmly toward his friends he look’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gave his thoughts relief.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, theirs are loyal spirits,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when the wrong is great,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And forms of law do not deserve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their soul’s allegiance, then they serve</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The spirit of the state.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With this, he told those courtiers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their words would he report.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They heard the people’s groans that rose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To greet the words he bore, and chose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seek, near by, the fort.<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then from the fort the cannon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were turn’d upon the town.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But “If you fire,” the people cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“We hang the governor here outside,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or burn your quarters down.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor urged his honor;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Had pledged,” he said, “his oath,”<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ought to further Britain’s aims.“—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We thought New York had equal claims</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On oath and honor both.<a href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And let him pledge his honor</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To let the stamps alone,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Said Isaac Sears; and all the crowd</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who heard him say it, shouted loud</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make his words their own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The people waited long then,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hoped the strife would end;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, when this course had nothing won,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No man<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> could check a course begun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The governor’s will to bend.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At night, the boys with torches</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came trooping out for sport.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They sought the house of James,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> and took</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The army flags his fear forsook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And march’d them round the fort.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor own’d his coaches,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And one a coach of state.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They burst his barn-door in with cries<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dragg’d them off before his eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As trophies of their hate.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">An image of the devil,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And of the governor too<a href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">They made, and made them both careen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While, side by side, through Bowling Green,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They wheel’d them into view.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, of all the coaches</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They form’d a funeral pyre;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, full in face of all the town,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who only roar’d its roar to drown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They set the whole on fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then came a wake and wailing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As ashes cover’d all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not a clause in laws unjust</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man had thought on us to thrust</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But some one would recall.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A foe<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> is he of England!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“A foe to all of us!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In Scotland went with Jacobites!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Has vow’d to murder here our rights!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere that we toast him thus!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The colony’s council<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> pass’d then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A vote opposed by none,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That England had the stamps assign’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To agents who had all resign’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor was the governor one.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At this the governor waver’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wrote a message thus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I wait the dawn of further light.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cried Sears then: “Keep the fox in sight!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He waits till free from us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now send we back this answer:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘Awhile the town will wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But four and twenty hours from now<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will hold the stamps or else will vow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hold no more debate.’”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor begg’d the army,<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The army begg’d the fleet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To take the stamps and save the fort;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But neither cared to brave the sport</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of those who fill’d the street.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The courage of the courtiers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had bow’d to wisdom higher:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The power of right that ruled the street</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had overawed the fort and fleet—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They did not dare to fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They did not dare to kindle<a href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">A spark that, should it flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would shed no glory round a throne</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where prince and peer would flush alone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To blush for their own shame.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So nothing now was left them</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Except to yield us all.<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our mayor took the stamps, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bore them off, and lock’d them fast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the City Hall.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And loud the people shouted;<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">They felt that right was done;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cried “Liberty and Property!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No stamps to curse the Colony!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And parted, one by one.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The next day all the papers<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Without the stamps appear’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men took no notes, but trusted men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our ships were off to sea again;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And none the navy fear’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And none had bought a stamp there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or seal’d himself a slave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half of England, trust my word,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were thrill’d with joy, when they had heard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How we ourselves could save.<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last there came a daybreak</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When all the thankful kneel’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bells were rung, and banners hung;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And England’s weal was drunk and sung—<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Stamp Act was repeal’d.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Great Britain’s lords in council</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had talked of fire and ball;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, when they touch’d our liberties,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Met manhood in the colonies</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They could not thus inthrall.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> “In writing a ballad the secrets of success are definiteness of aim, -directness of execution, and singleness of idea. The language must be -simple, but so vigorous that every word tells; the metre must also be simple, -but the versification demands a musical swing, a rush of rhyme, the -talent for which is rare. To smell of the lamp is fatal to the ballad; it -should have all the spontaneity of an impromptu. The author must forget -himself, for ballad poetry is essentially objective, and a touch of subjectivity -spoils it. Each incident must be related as though the writer -had taken part in it, and seeing with his mind’s eye, he must paint as -vividly as though that described were before him in very truth. It is not -an easy thing to write a ballad in these days, when the drift of poetic -thought is quite in the opposite direction.”—<i>Philadelphia Inquirer</i>, 1876.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> In 1761, “America knew that the Board of Trade had proposed to annul -colonial charters, to reduce all the colonies to royal governments.”—<i>Bancroft’s -Hist. U. S.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414. “The king, the ministry, -the crown officers all conspiring against her liberties ... there -was no help unless from Parliament.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 236.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> “Franklin looked for greater liberties than ... Parliament might -inaugurate. Having for his motto ‘Join or die,’ ... sketching -the outline of a confederacy.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 116. “William -Penn in 1697 had proposed an annual Congress ... to regulate commerce. -Franklin” in 1752 “revived the great idea, and breathed into it -enduring life.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 5, p. 125.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> “The Board of Trade had proposed ... collecting the duties -... the justice of the restrictions on trade was denied and their -authority questioned; and when the officers of the customs asked for -‘writs of assistance’ to enforce them, the colony regarded its liberties in -peril. This is the opening scene of American resistance. It began” in -1761 ... “in a court-room ... James Otis ... stood up ... the -champion of the colonies.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 18, p. 414.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> “‘I am determined,’ such were his words, ‘to sacrifice estate ... -life in opposition to a kind of power, the exercise of which cost one king -of England his head and another his throne.’ ... Tracing the lineage -of freedom to its origin, he opposed the claims of the British officers by the -authority of ‘reason,’ and that they were at war with the ‘Constitution’ -he proved by appeals to the Charter of Massachusetts, and its English -liberties.... ‘An Act of Parliament against the Constitution is void,’ -he said.... ‘The crowded audience seemed ready to take up arms.’”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. iv., ch. 18, pp. 415-6.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> “The true interests of Great Britain and her plantations are mutual. -Otis in 1763.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 90.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> See the Representations of the General Assembly at New York to the -King, concerning the administration of justice in that province, 1762, mentioned -in <i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 5, p. 84. “By the laws of nature and of nations, -the voice of universal reason and of God, by the statute law and the -common law, this memorial claimed for the colonists the absolute rights of -Englishmen, ... such were the views of Otis sent by Massachusetts” in -1764 “to its agent in London.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 10, pp. 198-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> “Less than forty were willing to receive the petition of Virginia. A -third from South Carolina, a fourth from Connecticut, ... a fifth from -Massachusetts, ... shared the same refusal. That from New York, no -one could be prevailed upon to offer.... The House of Commons would -neither receive petitions nor hear council.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 246. -This was in Feb., 1765.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> In 1763 Brown, the Governor of South Carolina, “assumed the power -of rejecting members whom the House declared duly elected and returned.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. v., ch. 8, p. 150. In May, 1765, “The Lieutenant-Governor” -of Virginia “dissolved the Assembly.”—<i>Idem.</i>, ch. 13, p. 277. -“Fearing a general expression of the sentiments of the people, through -their representatives ... Tyron issued a proclamation in October -proroguing the Assembly which was to meet on the thirtieth of November, -until the following March. This act incurred the indignation of the people.”—<i>Lossing’s -Field Book of the Revolution</i>, vol. ii., p. 568. Later, -“Townshend’s revenue, so far as it provided an independent support for -the crown officers, did away with the necessity of colonial legislatures.... -Governors would have little inducement to call assemblies, and an -angry minister might dissolve them without inconvenience to his administration.”—<i>Bancroft’s -U. S.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 29, p. 85. “An act of Parliament” -in 1767 “suspended the functions of its (N. Y.) legislature till they should -render obedience to the Imperial Legislature.”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 84. “Bernard -... prorogued them, and then dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts -was left without a legislature.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 34, p. 165.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> “This commission ... established a military power throughout -the continent independent of the colonial governors and superior to them -... in 1756 the rule was established ... that troops might be kept -up in the colonies and quartered on them at pleasure without the consent -of the American Parliaments.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 9, pp. 229-30. -In Feb., 1765, “Welbore Ellis, Secretary of War ... made known -his intention ‘that the orders of his commander-in-chief and ... the -brigadier generals ... should be supreme, and be obeyed by the troops -as such in all the civil governments of America.’ ... These instructions -rested, as was pretended, on ... the commission” (mentioned above) -“... prepared for ... troops in time of war.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 11, -p. 235.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> In 1762 “was consummated the system of subjecting the halls of justice -to the prerogative. The king ... instituted courts, named the -judges, removed them at pleasure, fixed the amount of their salaries, and -paid them out of funds that were independent of legislative grants.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. iv., ch. 19, p. 440.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> About 1762 “a fund of two thousand pounds was subscribed to a society -which the legislature of Massachusetts had authorized for promoting -knowledge among the Indians; but the king interposed his negative, and -reserved the red man for the Anglican form of worship.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., -ch. 18, p. 430. In 1765 “In North Carolina ... the legislature were -even persuaded ... to make provision for the support of the Church -of England.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 13, p. 271. “For New York, the Lords -of Trade refused to the Presbyterians any immunities but such as might -be derived from the British Law of Toleration.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 29, -p. 84. “O poor New England, there is a deep plot against both your -civil and religious liberties, and they will be lost.”—Whitfield in 1764, -<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 193.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> In Jan., 1750 ... “Mayhew summoned ... defensive war -against ‘tyranny and priestcraft.’ ... He preached resistance.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. iv., ch. 3, p. 60. In Aug., 1765, “Choosing as his text ... -Ye have been called to liberty ... he preached fervently in behalf of civil -and religious freedom.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 16, p. 312.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> “The act seemed sure to enforce itself. Unless stamps were used, -marriages would be null, notes of hand valueless, ships at sea prizes to the -first captors, suits at law impossible, transfers of real estate invalid, inheritances -unclaimable.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 11, pp. 251-2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> “The publishers of newspapers ... were ... called upon to -stand the brunt in braving the penalties of the act.... Timothy -Green ... publisher of the <i>New London Gazette</i> ... fearlessly defended -his country’s rights.... On Friday the first day of November, -his journal came forth without stamps.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 352-3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Speaking of Samuel Adams in 1764, “On his motion and in his -words, Boston ... asserted ... ‘If taxes are laid upon us ... without -our having a legal representation ... are we not reduced ... to the -miserable state of tributary slaves?’”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 10, p. 197.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “The strength of the people in America” in 1748 “consisted also in -the exclusive right of its assemblies to levy and to appropriate colonial taxes -... in America, the rapacity of the governors made it expedient to preserve -their dependence for their salaries on annual grants.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. -iv., ch. 1, p. 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> See note 27.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> March, 1763, “it became lawful ... for each ... armed vessel -to stop and examine and, in case of suspicion, to seize each merchant ship -approaching the colonies, while avarice was stimulated by hope of large -emoluments to make as many seizures ... as possible.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., -ch. 5, p. 92.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> “The penalties and forfeitures for breach of the revenue laws were -to be decided in courts of Vice-Admiralty, without the interposition of a -jury, by a single judge, who had no support whatever but in his share of -the profits of his own condemnations.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 12, p. 268.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> “The first American ship that ventured to sea with a rich cargo and -without stamped papers was owned by the Boston merchant, John Hancock.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. v., ch. 20, p. 374.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> “The merchants of New York, ... unanimously bound themselves -to send no new orders for goods or merchandise; to countermand all -former orders; and not even to receive goods on commission unless the -Stamp Act be repealed.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, pp. 351-2.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> “Isaac Sears, the self-constituted, and for ten years the recognized, -head of the people of New York.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 355.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> “The colonists could not export the chief products of their industry -... to any place but Great Britain ... nor might any foreign -ship enter any colonial harbor.... In all other respects Great -Britain was not only the sole market for the products of America, but the -only storehouse for its supplies.... That the country which was the -home of the beaver might not manufacture its own hats, no man ... -could be a hatter or a journeyman at the trade unless he had served an -apprenticeship of seven years. No hatter might employ ... more than -two apprentices. America abounded in iron ores ... slitting mills, steel -furnaces, and plating forges ... were prohibited.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. -12, pp. 265-7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> “‘We will none of us import British goods,’ said the traders in the -towns.... North Carolina set up looms ... and South Carolina was -ready to follow.... ‘We will have homespun markets of linen and woollens,’ -passed from mouth to mouth.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 14, p. 288.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> “New England and Pennsylvania had imported nearly one half as -much as usual. New York alone had been perfectly true to its engagements,”—the -state of things in 1770.—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 44, p. 365.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> “The fourteenth of August,” 1765, “saw the effigy of Oliver,” Boston’s -stamp agent, “tricked out with emblems of Bute and Grenville, -... prepared by Boston mechanics, true-born Sons of Liberty, Benjamin -Edes, the printer, ... Thomas Chase, a fiery hater of kings.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. v., ch. 16, p. 310. “Just after dark an ‘amazing’ multitude -... made a funeral pyre for his effigy.... So the considerate self-seeker -... gave it under his own hand that he would not serve as stamp officer.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. v., ch. 16, pp. 310-12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> “Everywhere, ... of themselves, or at the instance of the people, -amidst shouts and the ringing of bells and the firing of cannon, or ... -with rage changing into courtesy on the ... submission of the stamp-master, -... the officers resigned. There remained not one person duly -commissioned to distribute stamps.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 351.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> “‘I am resolved to have the stamps distributed,’ wrote Colden.... -On the thirty-first of October, Colden and all the royal governors -took the oath to carry the stamp-act punctually into effect.... The -governor of Rhode Island stood alone in his patriotic refusal.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. v., ch. 19, p. 350.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> “The <span class="smcap">Sons of Liberty</span> ... organized at this time throughout -the colonies.”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Bk. of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., p. 787. -“The association in New York had a correspondent ... in London, ... -from whom they ... regularly received intelligence of the movements of -the ministry.”—<i>Idem.</i>, note.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> “Friday, the first morning of November,” 1765, “broke upon a -people unanimously resolved to nullify the Stamp Act. From New -Hampshire to the far south the day was introduced by the tolling of muffled -bells, ... a eulogy was pronounced on liberty and its knell sounded, -and then again the note changed as if she were restored to life.”—<i>Bancroft’s -U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 352.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> “In New York the whole city rose up as one man.... The sailors -came from their shipping; the people flocked in ... by thousands.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -p. 355.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> “The leader of the popular tumult was Isaac Sears.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> “‘I will cram the stamps down their throats with the end of my -sword,’ cried the braggart James, Major of Artillery, ... ‘will drive -them all out of town.’”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 17, p. 332.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> “The arbitrary invasion of private rights ... by the illegal and -usurped authority of a military chief was the great result of the campaign. -The frontier had been left open to the French; but the ... example had -been given ... of quartering troops in the principal towns at the expense -of the inhabitants.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 10, p. 241.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> “Washington had left the service on account of a regulation by -which the colonial officers were made to rank under those of the regular -army.... Urged by General Braddock to accompany him, he consented -to do so ... as a volunteer.... Through the stubbornness of that general, -his contempt of the Indians, and the cowardice of many of his regular -troops, an army of thirteen hundred men was half destroyed. Braddock -fell, and the whole duty of distributing orders devolved upon the youthful -colonel.”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., pp. 477-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> “The King in council ... having thus invited a conflict with -France by instructions necessarily involving war, ... neither troops, -nor money, nor ships of war were sent over.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. iv., -ch. 4, p. 102. “<i>They protected by <span class="smcap">your</span> arms?</i> They have nobly taken up -arms in your defence ... for the defence of a country whose frontier -was drenched in blood, while its interior parts yielded all its little savings -to your emolument.”—Barré debating on the Stamp Act in the House of -Commons.—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 11, p. 240.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> “Colden himself retired within the fort.... He would have -fired on the people, but was menaced with being hanged.”—<i>Bancroft’s -U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 355.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> “Colden pleaded his oath ... that ... the Act should be observed, -... the contempt into which the government would fall by -concession.”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 357. “In Connecticut, Dyer ... entreated -Fitch (the governor) not to take an oath ... contrary to that of the -governor to maintain the rights of the colonies.”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 351.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> “Isaac Sears and others, leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who had -issued strict orders forbidding injury to private property, endeavored to -restrain the mob.”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., p. 788.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> “A party of volunteers sacked the house occupied by James, and -bore off the colors of the royal regiments.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. -19, p. 356.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="label">[42]</a> “In the evening a vast torchlight procession carrying, ... two -images, one of the governor; the other of the devil, ... broke open -the governor’s coach-house, took out his chariot, carried the images upon -it, ... to burn them with his own carriages and sleighs before his -own eyes on the Bowling Green.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="label">[43]</a> “He has bound himself,” they cried, “to be the chief murderer of our -rights.” “He was a rebel in Scotland, a Jacobite.” “He is an enemy to -his king, to his country, and mankind.”—<i>Idem.</i> “In the opinion of ... -Colden ... the democratic or popular part of the American Constitution -was too strong.... His remedies were a perpetual revenue, -fixed salaries, and an hereditary council of priviledged landholders.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -vol. iv., ch. 16, p. 371.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="label">[44]</a> “The council questioned” (<i>i.e.</i>, the colony’s council) “his authority -to distribute the stamps, and unanimously advised him to declare that he -would do nothing in relation to them, but await the arrival of the new governor, -and his declaration to that effect ... was immediately published. -But the confidence of the people was shaken.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, -p. 356.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="label">[45]</a> “‘We will have the stamp papers,’ cried Sears to the multitude, -‘within four and twenty hours,’”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="label">[46]</a> “Colden invited Kenedy to receive them on board of the Coventry.... -Gage being appealed to, avowed his belief that a fire from the -fort would be the ... commencement of civil war.”—<i>Idem.</i>, 356-7.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="label">[47]</a> “Colden, perceiving further resistance ... unavailing, ordered -the stamps to be delivered to the Mayor (Cruger) and Common Council, -the former giving a receipt for the same, and the corporation agreeing to -pay for all the stamps that should be destroyed or lost. This was satisfactory -to the people.”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book</i>, vol. ii., p. 789.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="label">[48]</a> “In all the streets were heard the shouts of Liberty, Property, and -no Stamps.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. 19, p. 357.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="label">[49]</a> “The press continued its activity.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="label">[50]</a> “I rejoice that America has resisted.”—William Pitt in the House -of Commons.—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. v., ch. 21, p. 391.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="label">[51]</a> “On ... the joyful intelligence of the repeal of the Stamp Act -... the city was filled with delight. Bells rang ... cannon roared -... the Sons of Liberty drank twenty-eight ‘loyal and constitutional -toasts.’”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., p. 789.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads2">THE LAST CRUISE OF THE GASPEE.</h3> - -<p class="center">1772.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">One windy day in March,<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ghost-white against the gray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A cruiser fleet, through snow and sleet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made Narraganset Bay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There were smugglers in the bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And smugglers on the shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But loyal still to the royal will</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten times as many more,—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten times as many more,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though every smuggler there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But thrived because of England’s laws<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And taxes none could bear.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet the cruiser’s captain drawl’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The while he quaft his ale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“These islands low are full you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of fellows fled from jail,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Of Puritans fled from law</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And kings they curse and fear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aha!” he laugh’d, “our loyal craft</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has brought the Cavalier!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our guns will speak in tones</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make the whole bay ring;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And teach to each within their reach</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The reverence due the king.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Their ships upon the bay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall heed our cannon’s call,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dip their flags,<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> or sail in rags,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And yield us bounties all.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Their sheep upon the shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A royal tax will be.<a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">No lack of food or kindling wood</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is here,” quoth he, “for me!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">There were smugglers in the bay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And smugglers on the shore;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This craft, I ken, a band of men</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten times as lawless bore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Our sheriff<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> went and warn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their captain, o’er and o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To keep in sight the bounds of right,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And not to plunder more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The captain waved his hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said he: “The fleet has made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A vow devout to carry out</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The English ‘Acts of Trade.’”<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Judge Hopkins<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> wrote him then:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our men demand their due.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I write because you break our laws,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrote Governor Wanton<a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> too.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The captain bade them go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To Boston with their plea;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not his affair; the admiral<a href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had sent the ship to sea.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And then he turn’d away.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One heard him mutter near:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I think I see the one they fee<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ship back his bounties here.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The judge and governor wrote</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The admiral, who but swore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His fleet would hang<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> the island gang,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If they should vex him more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“The navy<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> know their trade,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His clerk to Wanton wrote;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In mere pretence and insolence<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">You board the sovereign’s<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> boat.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Wrote Wanton: “We shall ask</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The throne<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> to judge your note;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every time you hint of crime,<a href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall board the sovereign’s boat.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“The English crown should serve</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The English people’s cause,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And honor those, nor make them foes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who stand by English laws.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But months and months went on.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser fired away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None plied an oar, lived near the shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But feared to be her prey.<a href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Cried Captain Lindsey<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> then:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“This outrage none should bide!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rhode Island grit must yet outwit,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And trip the scoundrel’s pride.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“He knows my packet here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And where I sail, and why;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if he will may sink me, still</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His guns will I defy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“If down we go, the law,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will float to stand upon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If that go too, this case is through;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But, Britain, more anon!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">So high his flag<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> he flew;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wide his jib he spread.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cruiser fired; her crew grew tired,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her captain wroth and red.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“All hands aloft!” he cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“All sail!” and at the words,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The masts were fill’d with sailors drill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To climb and cling like birds.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Wide flew each flapping sheet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sagg’d and bagg’d the gale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cloud-like lash’d the waves that dash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As if they felt a flail.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When off of Nauquit<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Point,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shrewd Lindsey knew his ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He steer’d afar, and clear’d the bar;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then the ship swung round.<a href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Up toss’d her canvas high;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And dipp’d, as round she ran,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The saucy way that seems to say</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now catch me if you can.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser’s captain look’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And mouth’d an awful oath:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now catch I not, let fire and shot</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or bottom catch us both.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Mind not the bar,” he cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Straight on! With depth to spare,<a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tide is high, and, sailing by,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We head them off up there.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Deep plow’d the cruiser’s prow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The broken waves below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So bows a bull whose pride is full</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To toss a stubborn foe.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">She plung’d and reel’d and roll’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, better had she tack’d!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The water flew the bulwark through.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The mainmast bent and crack’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The wind, it whistled there;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The boatswain whistled here.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The captain swore; the mainsail tore;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The jib had ript its gear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">A flood was on the deck.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crew were floundering round.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, clean and chill, and safe and still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser lay aground.<a href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When Lindsey saw her fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So loudly cheer’d his men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hostile crew, that heard them, flew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To man their guns again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But Lindsey kept his course—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He now could do no more—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And told ere night the cruiser’s plight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To those he met on shore.<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“There stays the ship,” said he,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Till lifted by the tide.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Till Providence shall lift her thence,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">John Brown,<a href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> his friend, replied.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And Providence, at dusk,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was routed out to greet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The drumming fierce of Daniel Pierce<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who cried in every street:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“The cruiser lies aground!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High tide at three<a href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> o’clock!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who care to go and meet her so,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Come all to Fenner’s<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> dock!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They came to Fenner’s dock;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And found, awaiting there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eight<a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> yawls, that Brown<a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> had lent the town,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In Captain Whipple’s<a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> care.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The crews that mann’d the yawls</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had muffled<a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> every oar;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they, and men who join’d them then,<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">All told, were sixty-four.<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Their arms were pick’d with care</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From all their friends could loan;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the yawls, for cannon balls,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were stock’d with paving-stone.<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">They battled wind and tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Three hours<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> amid the gloom.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The midnight pass’d.<a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> They saw, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser’s bulwarks loom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Who comes?” her watch call’d out.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Who comes!” her captain cried.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then swift alarm’d, in tones that arm’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her crew that toward him hied.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Move off!” her captain roar’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His pistol aiming well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then fired<a href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>—alack! fire answer’d back;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He started, stagger’d, fell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And then, as dark and fierce</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As tidal waves, where fleets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are whelm’d and whirl’d and downward hurl’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till death their deed completes,</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Our men, at Whipple’s<a href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Up, up!” clear’d every check;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dash’d and leapt and slash’d and swept</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across the cruiser’s deck.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But hold!—her men were gone.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ours held the deck alone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their work had done, nor fired a gun;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser’s crew had flown.<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Surrender here!” rang out;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And out the cabin glanced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first a few, then all the crew;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then one and all advanced.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“First know,” said Whipple then,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“That here you sail no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And next prepare your yawls to bear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yourselves and yours ashore.”<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The sailors went and came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They came with bags and coats.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They call’d their roll, and said the whole</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They own’d was in their boats.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Meantime our men themselves<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The captain’s wound had dress’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And row’d him, sore but safe, ashore</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With all that he possess’d.<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“All hands embark!” rang out;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the yawls were full;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save one whose crew had more to do</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While off the rest should pull.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">This crew the cruiser fired,<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till smoke, well under way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flew up the mast as white and fast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As e’er, of old, the spray.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Then swiftly they embark’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And swiftly they withdrew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As flash’d the fire, and, streaming higher,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The red flag redder flew.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The cruiser burn’d in state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until she burst at last<a href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">With every ball she bore and all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her powder in the blast.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">It fill’d the heaven above,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But not to heaven was given:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A wounded cloud roar’d long and loud;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then back the whole was driven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When all was o’er, there seem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Faint sparks to fill the place—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“There comes,” said one, “the morning sun;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A new day dawns apace!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">It dawn’d for these, at least;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When soon they hove in sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of pier on pier pack’d full to cheer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Those heroes of the night.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But hist! the cheers were check’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Keep mum!” the murmur spread;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crown, to get these men, had set</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A price on every head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Five hundred dollars down,<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">For him who tells of one,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was first proclaim’d: but no one named</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A man who aught had done.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Five thousand,”<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> then were pledged,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“To know who took the lead;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half as much to know of such</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As join’d him in the deed.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The King’s commission,<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> last,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sat half a year or more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But not a word it ever heard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the sixty-four.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Forgotten were they then?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They might have pass’d by day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without a wink to make you think,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or hint that it was they.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">But, when the night had come;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And door and blind were lock’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And window fast, and blew the blast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all the chimney rock’d;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When, safe from eyes and ears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In homes where all were true,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The way those men were feasted then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A king, full well, might rue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And when the board was bare;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And round the roaring fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The nuts were crack’d and cider smack’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till tooth and tongue would tire;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">When each his tale would tell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About that ship and night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And still the way he dodg’d, each day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The British spy and spite;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The boys who husk’d the corn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would forward bend, and spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And draw the ears, like swords, with cheers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make the rafters ring!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The host who stirr’d the fire</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would stab it through and through:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You might have thought the flames he brought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had burn’d a cruiser too.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">The girls would fancy then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It was the cruiser flared;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And round the walls would aim like balls</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The apples red they pared.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“To arms!” would cry the men;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And each a maid purloin;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While mother’s yarn would snap, and darn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dance that all would join.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, so we hush’d the tale!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet spies that nigh would roam</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could not decoy the smallest boy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To tell what pass’d at home.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We hush’d it, till the hush</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Became our countersign</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To save from those we knew were foes,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And make our men combine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We hush’d it, till we learn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thousands would be free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And long’d to know which way to go</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when the call would be.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">We hush’d it, till we heard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What Concord had to bear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then shouted loud, a mighty crowd,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our heroes lead us there!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="label">[1]</a> She first appeared in ... Narraganset Bay in March, 1772, ... -to prevent infraction of the revenue laws, and to put a stop to ... -illicit trade.—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., ch. 3, p. 60.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="label">[2]</a> See “Our First Break with the British,” notes 5, 19, 20, 24.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="label">[3]</a> “Often fired ... to compel their masters to take down their colors -in its presence—a haughty marine Gesler.”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 61.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="label">[4]</a> “Plundered the islands of sheep and hogs, cut down trees, fired -at market boats, detained vessels without any colorable pretext, and made -illegal seizures of goods of which the recovery cost more than they were -worth.”—<i>Bancroft’s Hist. U. S.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 417.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="label">[5]</a> “The Governor, ... sent a sheriff on board the Gaspee.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="label">[6]</a> See <i>Idem.</i>, vol. iv., ch. 8. Also “Our First Break with the British,” -Note 19.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="label">[7]</a> “Hopkins, the Chief Justice, ... gave the opinion that any person -who should ... exercise any authority by force of arms without showing -his commission to the governor ... guilty of a trespass if not -piracy.”—<i>Idem.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 47, p. 416. “The governor, therefore, sent -... to ascertain by what orders the lieutenant acted; and Duddington -referred the subject to the admiral.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="label">[8]</a> See “Our First Break with the British,” Note 20.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="label">[9]</a> “As sure as the people of Newport attempt to rescue any vessel, -... I will hang them as pirates.”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 417.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="label">[10]</a> “The Admiral answered from Boston: ‘The lieutenant, sir, has -done his duty.’”—<i>Idem.</i>, p. 416.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="label">[11]</a> “Your two insolent letters.”—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book</i>, vol. ii., ch. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="label">[12]</a> “I would advise you not to send your sheriff on board the king’s ship -again on such ridiculous errands.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="label">[13]</a> “I shall transmit your letter to the Secretary of State.... I will -send the sheriff of this colony at any time, and to any place within the -body of it, as I shall think fit.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="label">[14]</a> “On the 9th of June, 1772, Captain Lindsey left Newport for Providence -in his packet.”—<i>Idem.</i> “Called the Hannah and sailed between -New York and Providence.”—<i>Idem.</i>, <i>note</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="label">[15]</a> “As Captain Lindsey, on this occasion, kept his colors flying, the Gaspee -gave chase, and continued it as far as Namquit (now Gaspee) Point. -The tide was ebbing, but the bar was covered. As soon as Lindsey -doubled the Point, he stood to the westward. Duddington, commander -of the Gaspee, eager to overtake the pursued, and ignorant of the extent of -the submerged point from the shore, kept on a straight course, and in a -few minutes struck the sand. The fast-ebbing tide soon left his vessel -hopelessly grounded.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="label">[16]</a> Namquit, according to Lossing; Nauquit, according to Bancroft.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="label">[17]</a> “Lindsey arrived at Providence at sunset, and ... communicated -the fact to Mr. John Brown, one of the leading merchants of that city.”—<i>Lossing’s -Pic. Field Book</i>, v. ii., ch. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="label">[18]</a> “At dusk ... Daniel Pearce passed along the Main Street beating -a drum, and informing the inhabitants that the Gaspee lay aground, -... that she could not get off until three o’clock, and inviting,” etc.—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="label">[19]</a> Brown “ordered the preparation of eight of the largest long-boats in -the harbor, to be placed under the general command of Captain Whipple, -one of his most trusty ship-masters,” ... “the row-locks to be -muffled, and the whole put in readiness at half-past eight at Fenner’s -wharf.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="label">[20]</a> “The principal actors in this affair were John Brown, Capt. Abraham -Whipple, John B. Hopkins, Benjamin Dunn, Dr. John Mawney, Benjamin -Page, Joseph Bucklin, Turpin Smith, Ephraim Bowen, and Capt. -Joseph Tillinghast.”—<i>Idem.</i> “Led by John Brown and Joseph Brown of -Providence, and Simeon Potter of Bristol.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vi., -ch. 47.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="label">[21]</a> “Filled with sixty-four well-armed men, a sea-captain in each boat -acting as a steersman.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. -ii., ch. 3.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="label">[22]</a> “They took with them a quantity of wood paving-stone.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="label">[23]</a> “The boats left Providence between ten and eleven.... Between -one and two ... they reached the Gaspee, when a sentinel hailed them.... -Duddington appeared, ... and waving the boats off fired a pistol -at them. This ... we returned.... Duddington was wounded.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="label">[24]</a> “The crew retreating below.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="label">[25]</a> “The schooner’s company were ordered to collect their clothing and -leave the vessel.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="label">[26]</a> “Thomas Bucklin ... fired the musket.”... He afterwards -assisted in dressing the wound, supervised by Dr. John Mawney, an -American.—<i>Idem.</i>, note.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="label">[27]</a> “All the effects of ... Duddington being carefully placed in one -of the American boats.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="label">[28]</a> “The <i>Gaspee</i> was set on fire, and at dawn blew up.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="label">[29]</a> “A reward of five hundred dollars for the discovery of the perpetrator -of said villainy.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="label">[30]</a> “Afterwards, ... a reward of five thousand dollars for the leader -and two thousand five hundred ... the other parties.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="label">[31]</a> “A commission of inquiry under the great seal of England ... sat -from the 4th until the 22d of January ... adjourned until ... -May ... and sat until the 23d of June. But not a solitary clue to -the identity of the perpetrators could be obtained.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads3">THE LEBANON BOYS IN BOSTON.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3> - -<p class="center">The Tea-Party, December 16, 1773.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“New trouble brews in Boston,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was told us half the year;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet every week the postman came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With something new to fear.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our freedom,” so they wrote soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Such progress here begets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That England seeks to check it<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">With swords and bayonets.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Their foreign ‘Board of Customs,’<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Past our laws’ reach, they say,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here pluck from us their living,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As vultures from their prey.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah! would we keep our freedom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We must not basely yield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But claim our rights,<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> as when of old</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Stamp Act was repeal’d.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We read, and thought together</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That something must be done;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we were those to do it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The words of Samuel Adams<a href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">We heard a neighbor quote:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“They silence our Assembly;<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sword is at its throat;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our charter is their target,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our judgment-seat their fort,<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Our men they rob for rations,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our boys they shoot for sport;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our faith that their horizon burst</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And zenith held not down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their Toleration Law<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> would force</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To cringe beneath the crown.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I care not what to others</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A loyal feeling brings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To me it still will loyal be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To serve the King of kings.”<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We heard, and swore together</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That work must be begun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we were those to do it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We signed a pledge of “Union.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To all the land we wrote.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We went to meet the postman.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We read the Boston note:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In Union only is there strength;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And strength is all our stay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas that some divide us!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alas that some give way!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once none would touch a thing they tax;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To-day the weak agree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And say: ‘Enough if none will taste,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If none will trade in tea.’<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lords have found our weakness out;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And now are talking thus:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That India’s losing traders</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May bring tea free to us.<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, ay, as if these would not heap</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her lap with tribute gold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Let them,’ says England, ‘take the tax;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let them the duties hold.’</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Already bound for Boston,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May tea be on the waves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A bait flung out to tempt us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To touch, and then be slaves.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And if our strong men falter,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor thrust this bait away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can the weak be kept from all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That makes us England’s prey?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And yet, if we in Boston</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To thwart the throne conspire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our town may prove an altar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our fortunes melt in fire.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sacrifice is ready;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet first we wait reply,<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">To know we own a country</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To save, before we die.”<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We met, and swore together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If fighting must be done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In Boston we would do it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We started out at midnight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And took the Indian suits,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our fathers’ trophies from the wars</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where all had been recruits.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We pack’d them up in knapsacks,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And then with each a gun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tomahawk away we walk’d</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In pairs or one by one.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By day we kept the forests;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But when the sun was down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We hurried on to Boston,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And scatter’d through the town.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We hunted out our cousins.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">We told them why we came.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Aha,” said they, “we plot the same.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">We join you in the game.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They show’d us then, at morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The “Tree of Liberty,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where those who plann’d the Stamp Act<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent4">Had hung in effigy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A pole was now beside it;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A flag it bore flew high;<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The church bells all were ringing;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A crowd had gather’d nigh.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To see this tree, the agent</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Of stamps,” we heard, “resign’d.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Here too East India’s agent</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should learn the people’s mind:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tea sent here to tax us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Untouch’d away shall go;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or all will brand its consignee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our own, our country’s foe.”<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The people cheer’d the purpose;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From lip to lip it pass’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crowd about went homeward;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sky was overcast.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Each agent heard the message;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No promise would he sign.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again the town demanded one;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Again did each decline.<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Boston’s grand “Committee<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Correspondence,” wrote</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To ask the farmers, “Would they stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By what the town would vote?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From every hill and valley</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came back, as though one word,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What Samuel Adams read with pride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where all the people heard:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Without a voice dissenting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We swear by you to stand.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our wealth or life preventing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tea shall never land.”<a href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then dawn’d the stirring Sunday<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">When swift the news was pass’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That one tea-ship they waited for,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was in the port at last.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not many went to church then;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But all began to pray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With eyes to duty open wide—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Puritanic way.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In haste we met together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our work must be begun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We plann’d, then, how to do it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Proctor<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> for our captain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We vow’d on hand to be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cling like air and water there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the ship with tea.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Town-Select-Men waited on</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The vessel’s consignees;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But these were waiting on the fort,<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Well lock’d with English keys.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True courtiers, they would tender</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The governor there their tea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor tried his council;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The council<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> said: “Not we;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our homes are with the people;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And we are not the ones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hold the cup of serfdom</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To them, ourselves, or sons.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The consignees were waiting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Until, in forms of law,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tea was enter’d at the port,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When none could it withdraw.<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">So quick the Town-Committee</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had made and seal’d a writ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pledg’d the vessel’s owner’s word</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not yet to enter it.<a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At Faneuil Hall,<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> next morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While all the bells were rung,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men swarm’d, like bees, to buzz before,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Prepar’d to die, they stung.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sheriff<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> came and cried aloud:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“You meet unlawfully!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His cry but made them busier buzz,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Saxon loyalty.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The consignees were summon’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The tea,” they wrote, “we stack.”<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The tea shall sail for England,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The people answer’d back.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then to ports in England,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And those at home they wrote:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Tea-taxers here, or traders,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our country’s foes we vote.<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think not our men will waver,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our wives their vows abate;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The herbs they steep for tea will keep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Less bitter than their hate.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Two tea-ships more were sighted.<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our guards, like nerves, were strung<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">From bay to every belfry’s bell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The slightest move had rung.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spoke the vessels’ owners:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Our tea is legal prey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For fort and fleet, if enter’d not</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before the twentieth<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> day.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then send it off to sea again,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Town-Committee said.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Too much you ask,” was answer’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“For then would blood be shed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The port’s collector warns us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We must not clear the port.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without his ‘Writ of Clearance,’</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We dare not brook the fort.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They pointed down the harbor:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There lay the fleet,<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> alas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like prongs along the channel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To rake whate’er should pass.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They pointed toward the castle,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all the guns within</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bespoke how they would treat a prey</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That sought the sea to win.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At this our Town-Committee</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The port’s collector sought;<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[33]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor,<a href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> too, exulting<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To think his trap had caught.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You mark the fleet and castle;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should trouble brew,” said he;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your Hancocks, Rowes, and Phillips<a href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Might risk as much as we.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Molineux<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> said only:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“They more would risk if slaves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For all they then could wish, would be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Enough to give them graves.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘If slaves’!” the governor answer’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rail’d against their cause;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Aha!—you talk of ‘slaves,’ forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Because your land has laws!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you would dare to break them?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And reason, what of it?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I trust in human nature,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When reason should submit.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We trust in human nature,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Young,<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> who near him stood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And peace that brooks oppression,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It does not deem a good.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We trust in human nature;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The conscience, ruling there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May guard the right, full well as kings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With crowns their dearest care.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love rules in human nature,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For, all of history through,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The slaves have been the many,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tyrants been the few.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The governor turn’d in anger:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Well, well, we then shall see.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your hint of flint can wring no ‘Writ</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Clearance’ here from me.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then met the town together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their final vote to take.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not one, of seven thousand<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Desired the peace to break.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Said Quincy:<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> “Crowds and shoutings</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can never end our strife.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But sadder scenes and sounds await</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our loss of wealth and life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The structures fair of freedom</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Men rear beneath the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Press down on deep foundations,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where thousands buried lie.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our course we well may ponder:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hope’s rainbow in the cloud</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May lure a march beneath its arch</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To flash and bolt and shroud.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The people paused and ponder’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But not a single hand,<a href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">[38]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">When call’d to vote, but voted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The tea shall never land.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then we met together;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If fighting must be done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We knew we now should do it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In one day more—one only—<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fleet and fort would hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tea that none could longer keep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From being bought and sold.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Close by we sought our quarters;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And from our knapsacks quick</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We took our Indian guises;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And stain’d our cheeks with brick.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon, we half were ready,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With tomahawks in hand<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[40]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half, with muskets only,<a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heard our last command.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A moment then we waited;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We knew the danger there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We looked above for courage;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We bent below in prayer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We swore by God in heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To keep our names from all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We swore to stand together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till all in death should fall;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We swore, by truth and honor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should half essay to flee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To cast that half the harbor in</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To perish with the tea.<a href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The twilight long had tarried;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The darkness deeper grew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In old South Church, the people</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still ponder’d what to do.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The dimness veil’d our coming.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We listen’d near the door,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till Samuel Adams rose and said,<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“We here can do no more.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then we pass’d the word on:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“To Griffin’s wharf now!—run!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For we knew where to do the rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then off flew some as pickets</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To stand and sound alarms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should coming spies or soldiers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Compel resort to arms.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The twilight long had tarried;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The darkness deeper grew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Full time,” said we, “to take our tea!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The people thought so too.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Griffin’s wharf we led them;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We row’d, and reach’d the ships;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No captain there, nor sailor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dared open once his lips.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We crowded every gangway;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We brought out every chest;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">We smash’d and dash’d it overboard.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bay did all the rest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No time was there for shouting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No wish was there for strife;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Three hours we wrought in silence,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thank’d the Lord for life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon, the work was ended;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Anon, we back could row;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heaven was black above us;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The harbor black below.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">None thought on shore to cheer us,<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though all had waited there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their silence match’d the silence,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where souls have flown to prayer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their silence match’d the silence</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of war’s reserves, whose breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is hush’d to hear the order,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That orders all to death.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their silence match’d the silence</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of heavens, close and warm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere, like a shell incasing hell,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They burst and free a storm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As hush’d as on a Sabbath,<a href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The people homeward went;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Their eyes alone transparent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To show their souls’ content.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But we, we met together,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When all our work was done,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To toast the dawn of freedom,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, early stirr’d at morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We left with Paul Revere,<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who through the south went riding off</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To bear, from Boston, cheer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We spread through all the country;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We told, how all was done;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all the shoremen stored away</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A tomahawk and gun.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Throughout the land, no Tory</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would brave their sworn attack;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">East India found no agent;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The tea that came went back.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But, better far for freedom,<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">There ran from mouth to mouth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From soul to soul, a tide to roll,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flow from north to south.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the power of local pride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or envy to withstand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It burst each colony’s borders</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To form one common land.<a href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">[44]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before men talk’d of Union;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But now was Union won,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When everywhere each village square</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Held boys of Lebanon.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="label">[1]</a> In order to indicate the relations existing, at the time of the “Tea-Party,” -between Boston and the surrounding towns, as well as to give -unity of form to this ballad, the story has been told as given, some years -ago, by David Kinnison, one of the survivors of the party, who boarded -the tea-ships. He stated that certain young men of Lebanon, Me., united -in a secret society—one of many existing at that time—and formed alliances -with clubs in Boston and in other places. These young men determined -to destroy the tea, and went to Boston for that purpose. Having -resolved to stand by each other, to throw overboard those who faltered, -and not to reveal each other’s names, twenty-four went on board as Indians, -half armed with muskets and bayonets, half with tomahawks and -clubs, and all expecting a fight.—See <i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Bk. of the -Rev.</i>, vol. i, p. 499.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="label">[2]</a> In 1770, “September, Hutchinson received the order ... which -marks the beginning of a system of ... prevention of American independence.... -Boston was made the rendezvous of all ships ... -and the fortress ... garrisoned by regular troops.... But the -charter of Massachusetts purposely and emphatically reserved to its governor -the command of the militia of the colony, and of its forts; the -castle had been built and repaired and garrisoned by the colony itself at -its own expense; to ... bestow it on the commander-in-chief was a -plain violation of the charter, as well as of immemorial usage.”—<i>Bancroft’s -Hist. U. S.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 45, pp. 368, 369.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="label">[3]</a> “Never was a community more distressed or divided by fear and -hope than ... Boston. There the ... Board of the Commissioners -of the Customs was to be established ... as the lawyers of -England ... decided,” in 1767, “that American taxation by Parliament -was legal and constitutional, the press of Boston sought support in something -more firm than human opinion.... ‘The law of nation,’ said -they, ‘is the law of God.’”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 30, pp. 101, 102.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="label">[4]</a> “‘Hancock and most of the party,’ said the governor, ‘are quiet, -and all of them, except Adams, abate their virulence.’”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 47, p. -407.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="label">[5]</a> “Bernard ... dissolved the Assembly. Massachusetts was left -without a legislature.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 34, pp. 165. See also “Our First -Break with the British,” note 9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="label">[6]</a> “The officers screened their men from legal punishment, and sometimes -even rescued them from the constables.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 43, p. 334. -See also the whole account, in this chapter, of the Boston massacre.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="label">[7]</a> “For New York, the Lords of Trade ... refused to Presbyterians -any immunities but such as might be derived from the British Law of -Toleration.”—<i>Idem</i>, vol. vi., ch. 7, p. 84. See also “Our First Break -with the British,” note 12.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="label">[8]</a> “‘It was not reverence for kings,’ he (Adams) would say, ‘that -brought the ancestors of New England to America. They fled from -kings and bishops, and looked up to the King of kings. We are free, -therefore,’ he concluded, ‘and want no kings.’”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 36, pp. 194.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="label">[9]</a> “New York alone had been perfectly true to its engagements ... -impatient of a system of voluntary renunciation ... so unequally kept.... -Merchants of New York ... consulted those of Philadelphia on -agreeing to a general importation of all articles except of tea ... and -now trade between America and England was open in every thing but -tea.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 44, pp. 365, 366. “The students at Princeton burnt the -New York merchants’ letter.... Boston tore it into pieces” at a full -meeting of the trade.—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="label">[10]</a> “The continued refusal ... to receive tea ... had brought -distress upon the East India Company.... Praying ... to export -teas, free of all duties, to America ... Lord North proposed to give to -the company itself the right of exporting its teas ... the ministry -would not listen to the thought of relieving America from taxation.”—<i>Idem</i>, -ch. 49, pp. 457, 458.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="label">[11]</a> “Massachusetts ... elected its Committee of Correspondence, fifteen -in number. New Hampshire and Connecticut did the same, so that -all New England and Virginia ... on the first emergency, ... -could convene a congress.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 460.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="label">[12]</a> “‘Brethren,’ they wrote, ‘we are reduced to this dilemma—either -to sit down quiet ... or to rise up and resist ... we earnestly request -your advice.’”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 476.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="label">[13]</a> See “Our First Break with the British,” note 27. Also <i>Idem</i>, vol. v., -ch. 16, p. 310.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="label">[14]</a> “A large flag was hung out on the pole at Liberty Tree; the bells in -the meeting-houses were rung from eleven till noon.”—<i>Idem</i>, vol. vi., ch. -50, p. 473</p> - -</div>. - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="label">[15]</a> “Molineux read a paper requiring the consignee to promise not to -sell the teas, but to return them.... Then read ... a Resolve -passed at Liberty Tree that the consignees who should refuse ... -were enemies to their country.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 473, 474.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="label">[16]</a> “Each and all answered: ‘I cannot comply.’”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="label">[17]</a> “There was once more a legal Town Meeting to entreat the consignees -to resign. Upon their repeated refusal, the town passed no vote -... but ... broke up.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 475.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="label">[18]</a> “The Committee of Correspondence ... authorized Samuel Adams -to invite ... Dorchester, Rozbury, etc., ... to hold a mass meeting -... the assembly resolved unanimously that ‘the tea should be sent -back ... at all events.’”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 477, 478. See also the reply of -the towns, p. 483.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="label">[19]</a> “Sunday, the 28th of November,” 1773.—<i>Idem</i>, p. 477.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="label">[20]</a> “A party ... under ... Edward Proctor as its captain, was appointed -to guard the tea-ship.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 478.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="label">[21]</a> “The select men ... sought in vain for the consignees, who had -taken sanctuary in the castle.”—<i>Idem</i>, 477.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="label">[22]</a> “On the same day, the council, who had been solicited by the Governor -and the consignees to assume the guardianship of the tea, coupled -their refusal with a reference ... that the tax upon it ... was unconstitutional.”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 478.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="label">[23]</a> “Let the tea be entered, and it would be beyond the power of the -consignees to send it back.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 477.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="label">[24]</a> “The Committee of Correspondence ... obtained from the Quaker -Rotch, who owned the Dartmouth, a promise not to enter the ship.”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 477.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="label">[25]</a> “Faneuil Hall could not contain the people ... on Monday.”—<i>Idem</i>, -478.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="label">[26]</a> “The Sheriff ... entered with a Proclamation from the Governor, -warning, exhorting, and requiring ... each ... unlawfully assembled -forthwith to disperse.... The words were received with hisses, ... -and a unanimous vote not to disperse.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 479.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="label">[27]</a> “We now declare to you our readiness to store them.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="label">[28]</a> “Every ship owner was forbidden, on pain of being deemed an enemy -to his country, to import or bring as freight any tea from Great Britain -till the unrighteous act taxing it should be repealed, and this vote was -printed and sent to every seaport in the province, and to England.”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 480.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="label">[29]</a> “Two more tea ships ... arrived.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="label">[30]</a> “A military watch was regularly kept up ... by night. The tolling -of the bells would have been the signal for a general uprising.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="label">[31]</a> “The ships, ... on the twentieth day from their arrival, would be -liable to seizure.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="label">[32]</a> “The Active and the Kingfisher ... were sent to guard the passages -out of the harbor.... Orders were given ... to load guns at the -castle so that no vessel ... might go to sea without a permit.”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 482.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="label">[33]</a> “A meeting of the people ... directed ... the owner of the -Dartmouth to apply for a clearance. He did so ... accompanied by ... -eight others as witnesses.... The collector and comptroller unequivocally -and finally refused.... Then said they (<i>i.e.</i>, the people) ... protest -immediately against the custom-house, and apply to the Governor for -his pass.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 483-5.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="label">[34]</a> “‘They find themselves,’ ... said Hutchinson, ‘involved in invincible -difficulties.... The wealth of Hancock, Phillips, Rowe, Dennie, -and so many other men of property, seemed to him a security against violence.”—<i>Idem</i>, -pp. 480-2. “Hutchinson began to clutch at victory.”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 484.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="label">[35]</a> See note 15 under this Ballad.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="label">[36]</a> “‘The only way to get rid of it,’ said Young (speaking of the tea in -one of the Boston public meetings), ‘is to throw it overboard.’”—<i>Idem</i>, -p. 478.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="label">[37]</a> “‘Shouts and hozannas will not terminate the trials of this day ... -insatiable revenge which actuates our enemies ... must bring on -the most ... terrible struggle this country ever saw.’ Thus spoke the -younger Quincy.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 486.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="label">[38]</a> “The whole assembly of seven thousand voted unanimously that the -tea should not be landed.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="label">[39]</a> “A few hours would have placed the tea under the protection of the -admiral at the castle.”—<i>Idem</i>, 487.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="label">[40]</a> See note 1 under this Ballad.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="label">[41]</a> “A quarter before six Rotch appeared ... relating that the governor -had refused him a pass.... Samuel Adams rose and gave the -word: ‘This meeting can do nothing more to save the country.’ On the -instant, a shout was heard at the porch.... A body of men ... -disguised as Indians, ... encouraged by ... others, repaired to -Griffin’s wharf, posted guards to prevent the intrusion of spies, ... and -in about three hours, three hundred and forty chests of tea, being the -whole quantity ... were emptied into the bay without ... injury -to other property.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 486, 487.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="label">[42]</a> “The people around ... were ... still.... After the work was -done, the town became as still and calm as if it had been holy time.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="label">[43]</a> “The next morning the Committee of Correspondence ... sent -Paul Revere, as express with the information to New York and Philadelphia.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="label">[44]</a> “The ministry had chosen the most effectual measures to unite the -colonies.... Old jealousies were removed, and perfect harmony subsisted -between all.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 488.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads4">THE CROWN’S FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN’S RIGHT.</h3> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Lexington, April 19, 1775.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A galloping horse is coming<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Across the field!—do you mark?”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We woke and flew to the window,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We peer’d away in the dark.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The cloud-black night was bringing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The stir of a storm to fear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What flash’d and clash’d!—who brought it?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“I, I!” cried Paul Revere.<a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The British are off for Concord<a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To seize the colony’s arms!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Dawes<a href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> and I stole over</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The river and over the farms.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Wait, wait,” we cried, “a moment;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You trust our lead awhile!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A cross-cut here to the highway</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will save you more than a mile!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come quick!” said Paul. “Their plan is</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To bear the arms away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And store them safe in Boston</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before the break of day.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet wait you, Paul, and, waiting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tell how does Boston fare?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alas,” he sigh’d, “no telling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How many will breakfast there.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You know that, since the Port-Bill<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Laid up our merchant-fleet,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">We had starved, unless the farmers<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had sent us food to eat.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To stop this, chains of pickets</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are strung on Boston Neck;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our bay is black with frigates,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all our trade they check.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And thus they vow to treat us,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till, humbled by their might,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We hold no courts nor meetings,<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And yield each charter’d right.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ay, ay, and let our leaders,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For serving us too well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be borne in chains to Britain,<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To fill some dungeon-cell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The men who call’d our Congress<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">They swear to seize to-day.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">High time to rouse the country!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High time to save the prey!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Off, off!” we cried, and parted;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then dragg’d from under the hay<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The guns our goods had cover’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When borne from Boston Bay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our wives pour’d out the treasure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They too had brought from town,<a href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The powder, flint, and bullets</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Well tuck’d in box and gown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We arm’d in haste, but hardly</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had left with pouch and gun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the bell rang, telling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of Paul in Lexington.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At midnight saw he Charlestown;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not two had struck the clock<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet here the trembling belfry</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was rallying all its flock.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They sought the green together;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Set guards on every road;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then sought the inn to measure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fate they might forebode.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ten times their band in number</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were those they watch’d before;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here should they withstand them?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or fly to join with more?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Stand here!” said Jonas Parker<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The law has arm’d the town.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And here,” said Clark,<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> their pastor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Be right, and shame the crown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What, though they fire, and fight us?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Make every heart rain blood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their guns, if heard in Concord,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May save it from the flood.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And if the blood we give them</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall save the colony-stores,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like fruit shall we be falling,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Red-ripe to all our cores.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And if the blood we give them</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Be given to make us free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The court may learn a lesson</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And let our charters be.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We are few, but what are numbers?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This church may proof supply</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That right may move to triumph</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With only one—to die!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He paused—the door flew open;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All heard a watch call out:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Full drive a horseman coming!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Perhaps an army-scout!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And out they flew to face him;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But on the charger fleet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No enemy, only a neighbor,<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came galloping up the street.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The foe are coming!” he stammer’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“They capture all they meet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I dodg’d a man and musket;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hark!—you hear their feet!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We hush’d and heard a tramping</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That well might bring despair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cause the nerves to tremble</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their loads of fear to bear.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sound drum<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> and gun,” said Parker,<a href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“And bell! If they but halt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where time is all we plan for,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We win without an assault.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They halted,<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> then drew nearer;—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What need of halting more?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They came, a veteran army;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We never had fought before.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We stood but sixty farmers,<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our homes and wives between,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose hands, up waved or wringing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Seem’d fringing half the green.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Be theirs the blame,” said Parker<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Fire not till they fire first.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s house is here, and heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If worse should come to worst.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Athwart the gray of morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">None knew how large a force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came crowding against the common,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With cries and orders hoarse.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet across the common,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And just beyond the church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We form’d a line to check there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crown’s illegal search.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At double quick, and onward,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With bayonets fix’d, they came;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then wide and wild their red coats</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About us burst like flame.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Before them rode their leader,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cried with many a curse:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Lay down your arms, you villains!<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">You villains you, disperse!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But, true to law and country,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Scarce one his musket dropt<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">[16]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then their column falter’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Broke up, moved slower, stopt.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You rebels!” roar’d the leader,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While up his pistol came—<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hint his minions welcomed;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We saw them all take aim.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We saw them, but we waited,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till “Fire!” their leader cried,<a href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shot, and howl’d, “Surround them!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And round us turn’d to ride.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They fired and surged about us,<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, a fiery flood!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All overwhelm’d, our brothers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were falling, drench’d in blood.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Serve God before the Briton!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cried Parker,<a href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> where he bled;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And nine of us were wounded;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And seven of us were dead.<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Away!” a voice repeated,<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Away while yet we may.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To stay were now but murder!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To wall and fence away!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Off sped we then to shoot them,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Indians, one by one,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But walls, in smoke between us,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They deem’d it wise to shun.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They cheer’d<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> and left for Concord.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our wounded home we bore:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then we too left for Concord,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To meet them there once more.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="label">[1]</a> April 18, 1775. “Gage ... secretly prepared an expedition to -destroy the colony’s stores at Concord.... Warren ... at ten o’clock -despatched William Dawes through Roxbury to Lexington, and Paul -Revere ... by way of Charlestown. Revere ... five minutes before -the sentinels received the order to prevent it ... rowed ... across -Charles River ... beyond Charlestown Neck ... intercepted by two -British officers ... he ... escaped to Medford. As he passed on he -... continued to rouse almost every house on the way to Lexington.”—<i>Bancroft’s -Hist. U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 27, pp. 288, 289.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="label">[2]</a> “The privilege of its harbor was to be discontinued, and the port -closed against all commerce ... until the king should be satisfied that -... it would obey the laws.”—This the Boston port bill.—<i>Idem</i>, vol. -vi., ch. 52, p. 511.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="label">[3]</a> For contributions in food and money sent at this time to Boston, see -<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book of the Am. Rev.</i>, vol. i., p. 535.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="label">[4]</a> “The second penal bill ... abrogated so much of its charter as -gave to its legislature the election of the council, abolished town meetings -... and ... intrusted the returning of juries to the dependent -sheriff.”—<i>Bancroft’s Hist. U. S.</i>, vol. vi., ch. 52, p. 525.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="label">[5]</a> “A third penal measure ... transferred the place of trial of any -magistrates, revenue officers, or soldiers indicted for murder, or other -capital offense, ... to Nova Scotia or Great Britain.”—<i>Idem.</i> “Letters -were written to Gage ... to arrest ... all ... thought to have -committed treason ... that the Massachusetts Congress was a treasonable -body. The power of pardon ... did not extend to the president -of ‘that seditious meeting,’ nor to its most forward members, ‘who ... -were to be brought to condign punishment’ ... either in America or in -England.”—<i>Idem</i>, vol. vii., ch. 26, p. 284.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="label">[6]</a> “Adams and Hancock ... whose seizure was believed to be intended.”—<i>Idem</i>, -ch. 27, pp. 291, 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="label">[7]</a> In anticipation of an attack from the British, the Americans had -been collecting stores for some time. Cannon-balls, and muskets had -been brought from Boston into the country under loads of manure; and -cartridges and powder by the women, in candle-boxes, baskets, etc.—See -<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. i., p. 522.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="label">[8]</a> “At two in the morning about one hundred and thirty answered their -names.... A watch was ... set and the company dismissed.... -Some went to their own homes, some to the tavern.”—<i>Bancroft’s Hist. -U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="label">[9]</a> “Lexington ... having for their minister ... Jonas Clark, the -bold inditer of patriotic state papers which may yet be read on the town -records.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 291.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="label">[10]</a> One Bowman escaped, and on horseback notified Capt. Parker ... -of the enemy’s approach.—<i>Lossing’s Pic. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 524.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="label">[11]</a> “The last stars were vanishing ... when the foremost party -led by Pitcairn ... was discovered.... Alarm guns were fired, and the -drums beat.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="label">[12]</a> “The British van, hearing ... halted ...; the remaining companies -came up; and ... the advance party hurried forward at double -quick time.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 293.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="label">[13]</a> “Less than seventy, perhaps less than sixty ... were paraded ... -a few rods north of the meeting-house.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="label">[14]</a> “The captain, John Parker, ordered every one to load with powder -and ball, but ... not to be the first to fire.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="label">[15]</a> “Pitcairn rode in front and ... cried out: ‘Disperse, ye villains, -...; lay down your arms.’”—<i>Idem</i>, 293.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="label">[16]</a> “The main part of the countrymen stood motionless.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="label">[17]</a> “At this, Pitcairn discharged a pistol, and with a loud voice cried, -‘Fire.’”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="label">[18]</a> “The order was instantly followed, first by a few guns ... then by -a heavy close and deadly discharge”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="label">[19]</a> “Jonas Parker (not the captain) ... had promised never to run from -British troops, and he kept his vow ... he lay on the post which he -took at the morning’s drum beat.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 293, 294.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="label">[20]</a> “Seven of the men of Lexington were killed; nine wounded.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="label">[21]</a> “In disparity of numbers, the common was a field of murder, not a -battle; Parker therefore ordered his men to disperse. Then, and not till -then, did a few of them return the British fire.”—<i>Idem.</i> Behind stone -walls and buildings. See <i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 524.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="label">[22]</a> “The British ... huzzaed thrice by way of triumph, and after ... -less than thirty minutes, marched on for Concord.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, -vol vii., ch. 28, p. 297.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="label">[23]</a> “In Lincoln (after the affair at Concord) the minute-men of Lexington, -commanded by John Parker, renewed the fight.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 305.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads5">THE RALLY OF THE FARMERS.</h3> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Concord, April 19, 1775.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Concord men had warning,<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flew from all their farms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long hours before the daybreak,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To save the colony’s arms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, days before the warning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our Salem Congress, too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had known their stores were menaced,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And here had left but few.<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet these to drag and bury<a href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or hide in woods and rills,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men flock’d to town and from it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like ants about their hills.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon, when came the morning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The “red-coats”<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> rose in sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With guns above them flashing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like surf in seas of light.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, one by one, escaping</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What could but bode them ill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The farmers cross’d the river,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And climb’d, anon, a hill.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To the hill there came from Bedford,<a href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Littleton, and Carlisle,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Lincoln, Chelmsford, Westford,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More men through each defile.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To the hill there came a rumor<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">How Lexington had fared,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But no one spoke of yielding,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all for strife prepared.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From the hill they watch’d the village,<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">[6]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where every house to scout,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like busy bees the red-coats<a href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Went bustling in and out.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Despite our wives protesting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their hostile blows would shower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till scores of barrels, bursting,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beclouded all with flour.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere long, they spiked our cannon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fill’d our pond with balls,<a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And piled the cannon’s wagons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To block the roads like walls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then this foe that fear’d it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our “liberty-pole” cut down,<a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And burn’d it with the wagons</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That yet might burn the town.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon seem’d our court-house burning,<a href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">With none the flames to stay;<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">But “Justice,” cried our leader,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Will house in heaven to-day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now wait we till these troopers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of luck have had their fill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And part of them drift hither,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or all assault our hill.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The hill, if they move up it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their lines can never take;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like waves that dash at headlands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their wavering ranks will break.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Just then, they most had started,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Though some were plundering still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To seize two bridges crossing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The stream beneath the hill.<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To seize them was to sever</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our women from our men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our homes from those who own’d them,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And what would follow then?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The north bridge,”—argued Hosmer<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Keep back from it the foe!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“No man of mine from Acton,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Davis,<a href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> “fears to go.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then our leader Barrett<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">The order “Forward!” gave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where moved the men of Acton<a href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behind their captain brave.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With arms beside them trailing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In double file and slow,<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not daunted by the danger,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">These farmers faced their foe.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The British ran to ruin</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bridge, and then retire.<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Hold!” cried our Major Buttrick<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">[14]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They answer’d but to fire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Dead Davis fell, and Hosmer.<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“In God’s name,” Buttrick<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fire, fire!”—and two fell dying</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Upon the British side.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus Heaven, where hung the purpose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A grander man to mould,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had Saxon hurl’d on Saxon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The new world on the old.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our foe in haste retreated.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their colonel, where they sped,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">March’d forth to reinforce them;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then all for Boston led.<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But now our men from Reading<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Sudbury hurried out,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Woburn, wild to flank them:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their march became a rout.<a href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We had but half their number<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">[20]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But, wrongs avenging thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their red coats had been safer</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With Spanish bulls than us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Though guards at every turning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would cover well their flanks;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our smoke, from ambush leaping,<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shot, ghost-like, through their ranks.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From Dedham, Essex, Danvers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From Chelsea, Marblehead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Dorchester, and Brookline,<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our men to meet them sped.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Back slunk their line before us,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A weary, wounded snake:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up hill, down dale, round river,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">It wound and bled and brake.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The whole reserve in Boston<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Pour’d out to help them back;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all the trees and houses</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were haunting now their track.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They turn’d to shoot our mothers;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They turn’d our babes to kill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our vengeance rose at Cambridge,<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And raged at Prospect Hill.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Down sweeping, Heath and Warren</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A charge to break them led;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Pickering’s men from Salem<a href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burst, flood-like o’er their head.<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">[26]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Full night had known its fullest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere all their fears were still’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full ninescore had we wounded,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And more than threescore kill’d.<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor, till they touched the river,<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And by the fleet had pass’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our eyes that faced the danger</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were once behind us cast.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, alas to view it!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hot, bitter tears we shed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full thirty found we wounded,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wellnigh sixty dead.<a href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our wives had lost their husbands;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our mothers lost their boys;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our homes were fill’d with mourning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gone were all our joys.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, when we clasp’d those corpses,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As over Huns of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d the skies were filling</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With souls for ours enroll’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our prayers when all were buried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were vows to Heaven o’erhead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From hearts that hail’d the glory</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of joining there their dead.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, too, we held our weapons;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had foil’d the British aims;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And held our homes:—our women<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">[29]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had quench’d the court-house flames.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our men had met the army,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fought, and from that hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They all had grown to soldiers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who knew and felt their power.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And so, despite the anguish</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That fill’d the morrow’s morn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The voice that wept betoken’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A nation, newly born.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I,” said Samuel Adams,<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Thank God this day to see!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I,” came back from Hancock<a href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“It makes the new world free!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="label">[1]</a> “There, at about two in the morning, a peal from the belfry of the -meeting-house” called the inhabitants.—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 27, -p. 290. “There, in the morning hours, men ... were hiding what was -left of cannon and military stores.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 28, p. 297.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="label">[2]</a> “The attempt had for several weeks been expected; ... in consequence, -the committee of safety removed a part of the public stores and -secreted the cannon.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 27, p. 288.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="label">[3]</a> “Red-coats,” a nickname given to the British soldiers, who wore red -coats.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="label">[4]</a> “About seven o’clock the British marched ... under the brilliant -sunshine into Concord.... The Americans ... therefore retreated -... till ... they gained high ground about a mile from ... the town.... -There they waited for aid.... Between nine and ten the number -had increased to more than four hundred ... from Bedford, ... -Westford, ... from Littleton, from Carlisle, and from Chelmsford.”—<i>Idem</i>, -ch. 28, pp. 298, 299.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="label">[5]</a> “The Americans had as yet received only uncertain rumors of the -morning’s events at Lexington.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 300.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="label">[6]</a> “The Americans saw before them ... British troops ... occupying -their town.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="label">[7]</a> “Sixty barrels of flour were broken in pieces; ... five hundred -pounds of ball were thrown into a mill-pond. The liberty-pole and several -carriages for artillery were burned; and the court-house took fire.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="label">[8]</a> “At the sight of fire in the village, the impulse seized them ‘to march -into the town for its defence.’”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="label">[9]</a> This is literally true. See description of the circumstances.—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="label">[10]</a> “James Hosmer urged to dislodge the enemy at the North Bridge.... -Capt. Isaac Davis, of Acton, said: ‘I have not a man that is afraid -to go.’”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., pp. 526, 527.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="label">[11]</a> “Barrett, the colonel, ... then gave the order to advance, but -‘not to fire’ unless attacked.... Davis, looking at the men of Acton, -... cried: ‘March.’ His company ... led the way towards the -bridge, he himself at their head, and by his side Major John Buttrick, of -Concord, with John Robinson, ... lieutenant-colonel, ... but on this -day a volunteer without command.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 28, -p. 302.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="label">[12]</a> “In double file with trailed arms.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, -vol. i., p. 527.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="label">[13]</a> “The British began to take up the planks.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. -vii., ch. 28, p. 302.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="label">[14]</a> “Major Buttrick called on them to desist.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field -Book</i>, vol. i., p. 190.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="label">[15]</a> “A volley followed, and Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer ... fell -dead.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 303.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="label">[16]</a> “Buttrick ... cried aloud: ... ‘Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God’s -sake, fire!’... Two of the British fell.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="label">[17]</a> “The British retreated in disorder toward the main body.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="label">[18]</a> “In ... Concord, Smith ... showed by marches and counter-marches, -his uncertainty of purpose. At last ... he left the town, to -retreat the way he came.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 304.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="label">[19]</a> “The minute-men and militia ... ran over the hills, ... placed -themselves in ambush, ... reinforced by men who were coming in from -all around, and ... the chase of the English began. Among the foremost -were the minute-men of Reading, ... of Billerica, ... the ... -Sudbury company. The men from Woburn came up in great numbers -and well armed.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 304, 305.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="label">[20]</a> “Of the Americans, there were never more than four hundred together -at any one time; but, as some grew tired, others took their places.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -p. 308. The first detachment of British troops numbered “not -less than eight hundred.”—<i>Idem</i>, ch. 27, p. 288</p> - -</div>. - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="label">[21]</a> “Every piece of wood, every rock ... served as a lurking-place -... ‘the road was lined’ by an uninterrupted fire from behind stone -walls and trees.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 305.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="label">[22]</a> “Two waggons, sent out to them with supplies, were waylaid and -captured by Payson, the minister of Chelsea. From far and wide minute-men -were gathering. The men of Dedham, ... from Essex, and -the lower towns, ... The company from Danvers, ... lost eight men.... -Below West Cambridge, the militia from Dorchester, Roxbury, and -Brookline came up.”—<i>Idem</i>, pp. 307-9.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="label">[23]</a> Lord Percy reinforced them with “about twelve hundred men.”—<i>Idem</i>, -ch. 28, p. 306.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="label">[24]</a> “West Cambridge, where Joseph Warren and William Heath, ... -the latter a provincial general officer, gave ... organization to the resistance, -and the fight grew sharper.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 308.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="label">[25]</a> “The Americans pressed upon the rear of the fugitives, whose retreat -could not have been more precipitate ... had Pickering with his -fine regiment from Salem and Marblehead been alert enough to have intercepted -them in front ... they must have surrendered.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 309.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="label">[26]</a> See <i>Lossing’s Field Book</i>, vol. 1, p. 528, etc.; also <i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, -vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 308.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="label">[27]</a> According to Lossing, the British lost sixty-five killed, one hundred -and eighty wounded, and twenty-eight prisoners; the Americans fifty-nine -killed, thirty-one wounded, and fifty missing.—See <i>Lossing’s Pict. -Field Book</i>, vol. 1, p. 530. “The loss of the British in killed, wounded, -and missing was two hundred and seventy-three.... Forty-nine Americans -were killed, thirty-nine wounded, and five missing.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. -S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 28, p. 309.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="label">[28]</a> “The guns of the ships of war ... saved them ... while they -were ferried across Charles River.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="label">[29]</a> Mrs. Moulton extinguished the fire at the Concord court-house.—<i>Lossing’s -Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 526.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="label">[30]</a> “Heedless of his own danger, Samuel Adams ... exclaimed: ‘Oh! -what a glorious morning is this!’ for he saw that his country’s independence -was ... hastening on.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 27, p. 296. -“Adams and Hancock, whose proscription had already been divulged ... -were compelled by persuasion to retire toward Woburn.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 292.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="ballads6">ETHAN ALLEN.</h3> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Ticonderoga, May 10, 1775.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The bell that rang at Lexington</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had call’d our men to arms;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And but their wives and children now</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Were home to work the farms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon, like words men whisper forth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Near foes who plot their death,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From farm to farm bad news was borne</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On hush’d and trembling breath.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fill’d full of ‘red-coats,’<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> Boston seem’d,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They said, “a wounded prey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That yet drank in fresh draughts of blood<a href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">From fleets that fill’d the bay;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To check their march, like mushrooms grew</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our earthworks, night by night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, if attack’d, our men would not</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have arms with which to fight.”<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At Hartford our Assembly met,<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And heard this; nor in vain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It sent men off to seize what fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The fort on Lake Champlain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">These pass’d to Pittsfield,<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> there were join’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By Easton, Brown, and more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then on to Bennington,<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and there</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could muster full twoscore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Too few were they to brave a fort</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Well mann’d at every gun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet those who slight the light of stars</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But seldom see their sun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun that dawn’d before them here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And brought them help indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was Ethan Allen’s<a href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> blade, that flash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His mountain troops to lead.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And thick as rills that rift in spring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each bond the sun destroys,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came pouring over all those hills</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His grand Green Mountain Boys.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Two hundred<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> hardy men they were</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As ever mountains rear’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They fought with bears and frost at home,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And naught abroad they fear’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Erelong, a shout went ringing out;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For all had made their choice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all had chosen Allen chief;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And “Forward!” call’d his voice.<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But one who heard his order, spurr’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His charger from the rear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cried: “In me your leader see,<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">For Cambridge sent me here.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And Cambridge, Cambridge, what would she?”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Cried Mott<a href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and Phelps, “Nay, Nay!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas Hartford sent us forth, and we</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bade Allen lead the way.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And we,” cried those Vermonters true,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“We came with Allen here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all agree that none but he</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shall lead the mountaineer.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The other hush’d when this he heard;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And give them honor all:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They faced the traitor Arnold<a href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who thus began his fall.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Give honor due to Allen too;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High compliment it is,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, when the traitor train’d with him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He was no friend of his.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Three days they tramp’d, then Allen said:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“We near the lake I see.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let some go north and some go south,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And some straight on with me.<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Let those that push for north and south</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Row off with all that floats,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make for Shoreham, where we all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will cross when come the boats.<a href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And let the others fall in line</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Behind my lantern’s glare.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond, Ticonderoga waits;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At morn, we breakfast there.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, down the hunter’s trail, our line</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wound on as winds a snake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, late at night, prepared to spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lay coil’d beside the lake.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now off,” said Allen, “north and south,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And hail each coming oar.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, to think that Heaven above</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should favor man no more!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To north and south we scatter’d far,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We listened o’er and o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But not a sound, from north or south,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The empty breezes bore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A few there were could cross at last,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alas, but all too few!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Night sped, and Allen, by the fort</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could count scarce eighty-two.<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">[10]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My men,” he mutter’d,<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> “look—the dawn!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before can cross the lake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One boat again for other men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The day in full will break.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet note the wall. You know it well;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ten times our force, if seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though clad in mail, could never scale</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Those cannon thick between.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And here the boats.—What vote you all?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your guns lift up,—no breath.<a href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lake cross here?—or weapons there?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Face cowardice?—or death?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your guns all up?<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> your hearts all true?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How well! Had one turn’d back,<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon mounts were his no longer save</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hedge and hide his track.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He easier might have faced, at home,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When snows were all aflame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun! than wives and little ones</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose cheeks would fire with shame.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How oft have you, when driven off</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The land you once had bought,<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too poor to buy again a home</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For those for whom you wrought;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How oft, when all was torn from you,<a href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And you had urged in vain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your chartered rights, the common law,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all that God makes plain;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How oft then have you pray’d aloud</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That Heaven would send you down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A chance from off your country’s brow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hurl the hated crown!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“That chance has come! But once for all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can dawn a day like this.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And those who will not use their light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will all life’s glory miss.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But if one win it, yonder sun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sheds not a splendor fit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With which to rise above his name,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or earth that welcomes it!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yes, earth! For they forgot, our lords,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They dealt with Puritans,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True sons of those whom Cromwell led,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose right means every man’s;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Who take their individual ills</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For proofs of general pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, where one prince has made them wince,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fight all, that man may reign.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And they forgot, that mountaineers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">High rangers, like the Swiss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would learn to value freedom’s world</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By looking down on this!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And yet should prove it! Ay, my men,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To-day they all shall see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How freemen, forced to care for self,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Take care to keep it free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now quick, but quiet; start with steel—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor fire till sure to hit—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First through the gate, if through we may;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If not, then over it.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I lead. You follow. Should I fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Move on: my corpse may give</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At least a vantage ground! Move up:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The cause, it is, must live!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Allen turn’d, and Arnold<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His foremost rival still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Brown and Easton,—all the line</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stole softly up the hill.<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A startled sentry seized his gun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And aim’d at Allen’s face<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flint miss’d fire, and Allen rush’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And wrench’d it from its place.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sentry dodg’d, and darted down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A passage through the mound.<a href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">In pour’d our men; you might have thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sentry would be drown’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Swift, one by one, by Allen led,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They plung’d along the gloom:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No fear of those who, just beyond,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Might make the place their tomb.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">On ran the sentry; on, our men.—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their mountains gave no game,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor guide so quick to apprehend</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The grounds on which they came.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, uploom’d in dusky light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And choking all the way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man who poised his bayonet<a href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hold them all at bay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Take heed!” he call’d. “We take it, man,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hiss’d Allen, where he sped;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose clashing sword had glanced the gun,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And gash’d the soldier’s head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Have mercy!” groan’d the wounded wretch.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Allen: “Drop your gun.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hist, hist, my men! The walls are ours.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now seize the barrack—run!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No need to bid them! In a trice</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our boys had crown’d their race;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And closed, with shouts like thousands, round</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The startled sleeping-place.<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Meantime, “The captain!” Allen cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And scarce the word had said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere on a door he pounded loud<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">To rouse his foe from bed.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It open’d partly, where behold!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In robes as white as fleece,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The chief, beside his blushing bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A picture stood of peace.<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Surrender!”<a href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> order’d Allen then;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“If not, by Him on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your garrison—without a hope</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For quarter from us—die!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The captain’s anger now had burst</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The spell of night’s repose.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Surrender?” hiss’d he—then turn’d pale</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To hear loud shouts that rose.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And who are you?” he stammer’d out.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“And whose is this ado?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whose the name in which you come</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bid us yield to you?”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The name of Great Jehovah,<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> and”—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Said Allen, drawing nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The Continental Congress!”—then</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He flash’d his sword on high.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Jehovah?—Congress?” growl’d his foe;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But, cow’d by Allen’s eye,<a href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Jehovah, in the man, at least,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He did not dare defy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The day was won; the garrison</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filed out across the green.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More generous welcome where they came,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I think were seldom seen.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not one who bore a cumbering gun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or lugg’d a weighty sword,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But we to ease him of his load,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would our relief afford.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Alack, we stack’d our shoulders full,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Relieving them of care,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then proved our good-will, Arab-like,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By taking breakfast there.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For days and days we never ceas’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Attending to them thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until, as pride escorts a bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We walk’d them home with us.<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">[22]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then the fort—ah me, to see</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The trouble rare it took</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To clear the space, and give the place</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A less unfriendly look!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Tenscore of cannon, mounds of flint,<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">[23]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And tons of guns and balls—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We waited weeks, to find the means</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To cart them out the walls.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But first, we mail’d a message home;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I have heard it said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In many a place, the floor was wet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With tears when it was read.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At Cambridge, at the news, the air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With such a shout was rent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It almost equal’d there the roar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of guns our fort had sent.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And Allen?—Allen lived and thrived,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And conquer’d all that tract,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Britain could not hold a fort<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">That once our boys attack’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But war has tricks; and life has turns;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Misfortunes find the true;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Allen once, across the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was borne a prisoner too.<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet heroes’ homes are human hearts,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And England’s crowds would cling</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About the form of him they felt</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was grander than their king.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He came back home, and church bells rang—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You might, in truth, have thought<a href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">A second Christmas day had come,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And Saviour’s advent brought;—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And guns were fired; and, hail’d with cheers,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Vermont bade all men call</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This bravest, brightest of her sons,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The General of them all.<a href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">[25]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the people while he lived,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They loved his eagle eye<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when he died—ah, friends, you know</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such spirits cannot die!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To-day, go search those mountain woods</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And valleys, humbly trod</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By souls whose pure, strong faith holds on</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To country, home, and God;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ask men who own those towering trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or plant the hillock steep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The school-boys, bounding back from school,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or watching well the sheep;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The housewives, where in thrifty homes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The generous meals are spread;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sisters, gently handing down</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The Book when prayers are said;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ask all, who value aught they own,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose fame all value most?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flashing eye and flushing cheek</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will figure him they boast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="label">[1]</a> The British forces, nicknamed “red-coats,” were reinforced after the -battle of Lexington.—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. i., p. 537.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="label">[2]</a> “The provisional Assembly of Connecticut, after the battle of Lexington, -concerted a plan to seize the munitions of war at Ticonderoga, for -the use of the army ... at Cambridge and Roxbury.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. -Field Book of the Rev.</i>, vol. i., p. 123.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="label">[3]</a> “Ed. Mott and Noah Phelps ... committee to ascertain ... -strength of ... fort and to raise men.... Sixteen men went with -them.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="label">[4]</a> “At Pittsfield Col. Easton and John Brown (afterwards Col.) joined -them.... Col. Easton by the time he reached Bennington had enlisted -forty of his men.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="label">[5]</a> “At Bennington, they found Ethan Allen ... he sent the alarm -through the hills ... about one hundred Green Mountain Boys and -near fifty soldiers from Massachusetts ... rallied.”—<i>Bancroft’s Hist. -U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="label">[6]</a> Lossing says in all about two hundred and seventy men went on the -expedition.—<i>Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="label">[7]</a> “The men unanimously elected Ethan Allen their chief.”—<i>Bancroft’s -U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 23, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="label">[8]</a> “Arnold joined them here with a commission from the Committee of -Safety in Cambridge, and claimed the right to command. After Ticonderoga -was taken, he assumed command, but his orders were not heeded. -He then sent a written protest to Massachusetts, but this State sustained -Allen.”—See <i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 124, etc.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="label">[9]</a> “It was arranged that Allen ... with the main body should march to -Shoreham, opposite Ticonderoga; that Capt. Herrick should push to -Skenesborough, ... seize all the boats there and join Allen at Shoreham, -and that Capt. Douglas should go ... beyond Crown Point and -secure all boats that way.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="label">[10]</a> “With the utmost difficulty ... eighty-three men crossing the lake -with Allen, landed near the garrison. The boats were sent back; ... if -... waited for their could be no surprise.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. -vii., ch. 32, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="label">[11]</a> “As the first beams of morning broke ... Allen addressed them, -... ‘we must ... quit our pretentions to valor, or possess this fortress ... -it is a desperate attempt, I do not urge it contrary to will. You that -will undertake voluntarily, poise your firelocks.’”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="label">[12]</a> “At the word, every firelock was poised.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="label">[13]</a> Allen “drew up his men in three ranks on the shore, ... and in a -low, distinct tone harangued them.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., -p. 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="label">[14]</a> “The king in council had ... dismembered New Hampshire, and -annexed to New York the country north of Massachusetts and west of Connecticut -River ... it was, therefore, held by the royalists that the grants -made under the sanction of the royal governor of New Hampshire were annulled. -Many of the lands for which the king had received the price ... -were granted anew, and the former purchasers were compelled to redeem -them.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. 10., p. 214. “Sixty-seven families in -as many houses ... had elected their own municipal officers; founded -three several public schools; set their meeting-house among the primeval -forests ... called their village Bennington. The royal officers at New -York disposed anew of that town, as well as of others near it, so that the -king was known ... chiefly by his agents, who had knowingly sold his -lands twice over.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. v., ch. 14., pp. 291, 292.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="label">[15]</a> Allen led the party, “Arnold keeping emulously at his side.”—<i>Idem</i>, -vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="label">[16]</a> “They marched quickly but stealthily ... to the sally port.”—<i>Lossing’s -Pict. Field Book</i>, vol. i., p. 124.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="label">[17]</a> “The sentinel snapped his fusee at (Allen), but it missed, and he retreated -within the fort under a covered way. The Americans followed, -and were thus guided ... to the parade within the barracks. There -another sentinel made a thrust ... but a blow upon the head from -Allen’s sword made him beg for quarter.”—See <i>Idem</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="label">[18]</a> “The Americans rushed into the fort ... and raising the Indian -war-whoop, ... formed on the parade in hollow square to face each -of the barracks.”—<i>Bancroft’s U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 339.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="label">[19]</a> “Allen ... went ... to the door of the quarters of Capt. Delaplace, -... and giving three loud raps ... ordered him to appear, -or the whole garrison should be sacrificed.”—<i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, -vol. i., p. 125.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="label">[20]</a> “Delaplace appeared in shirt and drawers, with the frightened face -of his pretty wife peering over his shoulder.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="label">[21]</a> “‘Deliver me the fort instantly!’ said Allen. ‘By what authority?’ -asked Delaplace. ‘In the name of the great Jehovah and the Continental -Congress.’ answered Allen. Delaplace ... at sight of Allen’s -drawn sword near his head ... gave up the garrison.”—<i>Bancroft’s -U. S.</i>, vol. vii., ch. 32, p. 340.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="label">[22]</a> “The garrison of forty-eight men were surrendered prisoners of -war, and ... sent to Hartford.”—See <i>Lossing’s Pict. Field Book</i>, -vol. i., p. 125.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="label">[23]</a> “120 pieces of cannon, 50 swivels, 2 ten-inch mortars ... 10 tons of -musket-balls, three cartloads of flints ... 100 stand of small-arms, 10 -casks of powder, 2 brass cannon, 30 barrels of flour, 18 barrels of port, etc.”—See -<i>Idem</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="label">[24]</a> “This success was followed by others; the capture of a sloop-of-war and -St. John’s Fort.... In the autumn of the same year, he was twice sent -into Canada to excite rebellion against the English government.”—<i>Appleton’s -Cyclopædia of Biography.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="label">[25]</a> “Allen was sent to Canada in 1775; was taken prisoner and carried to -England, where his appearance excited great interest. On his return, he -was received with great demonstrations of joy in Bennington, and made -Maj.-Gen. of Vermont. He died in 1789, aged fifty.”—See <i>Idem</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="label">[26]</a> Allen is said to have had a remarkably keen and expressive eye.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span></p> - -<h3 id="ballads7">HOW BARTON TOOK THE GENERAL.<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h3> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Narragansett Bay, July 10, 1777.</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Lord Prescott, down in Newport,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Brave William Barton<a href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Would make all show his colors, though</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their own blood dyed them red.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Perhaps he thinks our natives,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On England’s footstool here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did they not feel his lordly heel,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Might deem him not a peer.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Say footpath here,” said Potter<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Just now their doorsteps go</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To pave the way<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> where, once a day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His lordship walks, you know.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And then if those who meet him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Go by, nor doff their caps,<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aha, his cane will fall like rain,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make them mend their lapse.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Small spite! and yet,” said Barton:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“A wrinkle shows the will.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A grazing ass that kicks but grass</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has tricks that yet may kill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Who minds it, though a Quaker,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Forsooth, lift not his hat;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet one in town, he first rode down,<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then had him chain’d for that.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And Tripp<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>—when spies had jail’d him;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And none knew what it meant;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when, half dead with fear, they said,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His wife to see him went;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Said Prescott: ‘Come and see him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When hang’d<a href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> and no dispute.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who domineers o’er woman’s tears</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is less a man than brute!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I, for one, would enter</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This British lion’s lair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And volunteer to fetch him here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or die beside him there.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Sure death!” his comrades mutter’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The troops guard every road.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man to try your scheme should fly;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We know no other mode.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He quarters now,” said Barton,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“At Overton’s,<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> the Friend’s,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose house is by the bay-road nigh</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where by the bay it bends.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The roads are block’d by soldiers;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We cannot reach him thus.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What then?—A way across the bay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May yet remain for us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I know three frigates guard it.<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">But when, some moonless night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By clouds beset, the wind and wet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Have swept the sky of light;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And when the breeze and breakers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Out-sound a rowlock’s beat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the roar a muffled oar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Might safely pass the fleet.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His comrades hush’d and heard him;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then swore to try the feat;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon with more each held an oar</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To row him past the fleet.<a href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The night was dark and stormy;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bay was wild and wide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, deftly weigh’d, each paddle-blade</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like velvet stroked the tide.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They near’d the English frigates,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They heard their sentries’ feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They heard a bell, and then “All’s well”<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Re-echo’d through the fleet.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They pull’d around a guard-boat<a href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They struck the land, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Filed softly out, and moved about,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like shadows more than men.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They split in three small parties<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And each stole softly round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sentry near a guard-house here,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And there a camping ground.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last the three were guarding</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The house on every side,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With six or eight before the gate<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">They just had open’d wide.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your countersign!” a sentry<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">Call’d out; and Barton said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Have none to-night”;—his tone was light—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Have here deserters fled?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, from the boats?” the guard said.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Yes,” Barton hiss’d, “from one!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But as he hiss’d he clutch’d, nor miss’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The sentry’s throat and gun.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sentry gasp’d and gave it;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lay gunless, gagg’d, and bound.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our men had pass’d the door, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor yet had roused a sound.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Quaker sat there reading<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">“What would you have?” he said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, when they ask’d for Prescott, cast</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes up o’er his head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As whist as cats the captors</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crept up each tell-tale stair,<a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cross’d the floor to where a door</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was lock’d, nor time to spare.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then one of them—Jack Sisson,<a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">A burly, patriot black—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bent down his frame, and, taking aim,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burst through, and flung it back.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They saw the general starting,<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">And bounding forth from bed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seizing hold his watch of gold</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That hung beside his head.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Let darkness take you robbers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From sword,” he cried, “and shot!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“No robber harms; put up those arms,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He heard, nor left the spot.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We came to take you captive,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alive,” he heard, “or dead.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you alarm the camp, the harm</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will fall on you,” they said.<a href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">[14]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Move on.”—“I dress,” he told them.<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent2">But they, in tones polite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Replied: “Not so. We came, you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Without our wives to-night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your cloak is all you need now,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The night is black and hot.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your last resort—our time too short!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Thank God you were not shot.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Down stairs they march’d their captive.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But hark! In some far room</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A window crash’d—and Barton dash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Out doors and through the gloom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No harm was done; for others</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had swiftly caught and bound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The general’s aid, just where he made</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A leap to reach the ground.<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">[16]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So now they held three captives;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And these, by daggers led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They slipt about the camp and out,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As needles flit with thread.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last they reach’d the water,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At last, row’d o’er the tide;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None heard their oars upon the shores,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or boats by which they hied.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They pass’d the English frigates,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They heard their sentries’ feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They heard, “All’s well!” call’d out to tell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How fool’d had been the fleet.<a href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then their stroke was bolder:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For Warwick Point<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> they bore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A coach and pair were there to bear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their captive far from shore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Here<a href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> Prescott broke the silence:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Your push was boldly plann’d.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Said Barton: “Yes, and with success”;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And took the reins in hand.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Success it was for Newport.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The foe knew all it meant;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They lock’d no more a prison door</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Against our innocent.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Success it was for Barton.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In days like those of old</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No envy rife, nor party strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would slur a deed so bold.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all our homes in Newport,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through all our camps afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men praised his name, and hoped he came</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As victory’s morning star.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Where Freedom’s day was dawning,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The man, whose light so shone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bless the land, appear’d more grand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Because he rose alone.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Erelong, a grateful Congress</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Chose one that for him brought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sword on which inscriptions rich</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Recorded all they thought.<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In green Vermont they gave him</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A generous land-grant too.<a href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">A part of what we all had got</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By fighting, seem’d his due.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But what by far was fittest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cheer’d in every tent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were words that raised this man we praised</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To lead our regiment.<a id="FNanchor_224" href="#Footnote_224" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Where few and frail the forces</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our land could call its own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All felt that he would steadfast be,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fight, though left alone.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span></p> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="label">[1]</a> “Brig.-Gen. Prescott ... had been nurtured in the lap of aristocracy, -and taught all its exclusive precepts.... He was a tyrant at heart, and, -having the opportunity, he exercised a tyrant’s plentiful prerogatives.”—<i>Lossing’s -Pict. Field Bk. of the Rev.</i>, vol. ii., p. 74. “William Barton -was a native of Providence, Rhode Island.... Lieutenant-Colonel in -the militia of his State ... when he planned and executed the expedition -for the abduction of General Prescott,” who commanded the -British forces at Newport, Rhode Island.—<i>Idem</i>, p. 75. <i>Note.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="label">[2]</a> “Prescott ... had a fine sidewalk made for his accommodation -along Pelham and up Spring streets; for which purpose, he took the door -steps.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 75. <i>Note.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="label">[3]</a> “His habit, while walking the streets, if he saw any of the inhabitants -conversing together, was to shake his cane at them, and say: ‘Disperse -ye rebels.’ He was also in the habit, when he met citizens in the streets, -of commanding them to take off their hats, and, unless the order was instantly -complied with, it was enforced by a rap of his cane.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 74.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="label">[4]</a> “He overtook a Quaker who did not doff his hat. The general, who -was on horseback, dashed ... him against a stone wall, knocked off his -hat, and then put him under guard.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="label">[5]</a> “Prescott caused many citizens of Newport to be imprisoned, some of -them for months, without any assigned reason. Among others ... -William Tripp.... He had a ... family, but the tyrant would not -allow him to hold any communication with them either written or verbal.... -His wife sought ... a personal interview.... A captain, ... echoing -his master’s words ... informed her, as he shut the door in her -face, that he expected her husband would be hung as a rebel in less than -a week.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="label">[6]</a> “General Prescott was quartered at the house of a Quaker, named -Overton.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 75.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="label">[7]</a> “These were three British frigates with their guard-boats ... -almost in front of Prescott’s quarters.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="label">[8]</a> “With a few chosen men, Barton embarked in four whale boats with -muffled oars at Warwick Point at nine o’clock in the evening.”—<i>Idem.</i>, -p. 75. “Mr. Barton, by request, furnished me with the following list of -the names of those who accompanied his father on his perilous expedition. -<span class="smcap">Officers.</span>—Andrew Stanton, Eleazer Adams, Samuel Potter, James Wilcox. -<span class="smcap">Non-Commissioned Officers.</span>—Joshua Babcock and Samuel -Phillips. <span class="smcap">Privates.</span>—Benjamin Pren, James Potter, Henry Fisher, James -Parker, Joseph Guild, Nathan Smith, Isaac Brown, Billington Crumb, -James Haines, Samuel Apis, Alderman Crank, Oliver Simmons, Jack -Sherman, Joel Briggs, Clark Packard, Samuel Cory, James Weaver, -Clark Crandall, Sampson George, Joseph Ralph, Jedediah Grenale, Richard -Hare, Darius Wale, Joseph Denis, William Bruff, Charles Hassett, -Thomas Wilcox, Pardon Cory, Jeremiah Thomas, John Hunt, Thomas -Austin, Daniel Page (a Narraganset Indian), Jack Sisson (black), and—Howe -or Whiting, boat-steerer.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 76. <i>Note.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="label">[9]</a> “They heard the cry: ‘All’s well,’ from the guard-boat of the enemy -as they passed silently.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 76.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="label">[10]</a> “Barton divided his men into several squads.... The main portion -passed ... between a British guard-house and the encampment of a -company of light-horse, while the remainder was ... to approach Prescott’s -quarters from the rear.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="label">[11]</a> “As Barton and his men approached the gate, a sentinel hailed them -twice, and then demanded the countersign. ‘We have no countersign -to give,’ Barton said, and quickly added: ‘Have you seen any deserters -here to-night?’ The sentinel was misled by this question, supposing them -to be friends ... until his musket was seized, and himself bound and menaced -with instant death if he made any noise.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="label">[12]</a> “Barton entered the front passage boldly. Mr. Overton sat alone -reading.... Barton inquired for Gen. Prescott’s room. Overton pointed -upward, signifying that it was directly over.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 77.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="label">[13]</a> “With four strong men and Sisson, a powerful negro ... Barton -ascended the stairs, and gently tried the door. It was locked; no time -was to be lost ... the negro drew back ... and using his head for a -battering-ram, burst open the door at the first effort.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="label">[14]</a> “The general supposing the intruders to be robbers, sprang from -his bed, and seized his gold watch that was hanging upon the wall. Barton -... told him he was his prisoner, and that perfect silence was now -his only safety.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="label">[15]</a> “Prescott begged time to dress, but it being a hot July night, and -time precious, Barton refused acquiescence, feeling that it would not be -cruel to take him ... where he could make his toilet ... at his -leisure. So, throwing his cloak around him ... the prisoner was hurried -to the shore.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="label">[16]</a> “Prescott’s aid, hearing the noise in the general’s room, leaped from -a window to escape, but was captured.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="label">[17]</a> “At Warwick Point ... Prescott first broke the silence by saying to -Col. Barton: ‘Sir, you have made a bold push, to-night.’ ‘We have -been fortunate,’ coolly replied Barton. Captain Elliot was there with a -coach to convey the prisoners to Providence.”—<i>Idem.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="label">[18]</a> “For that service Congress honored him by the presentation of a -sword, and also by a grant of land in Vermont.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 75. <i>Note.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_224" href="#FNanchor_224" class="label">[19]</a> “And on the 24th of December following he was promoted to the -rank and pay of colonel in the Continental army.”—<i>Idem</i>, p. 77.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="MISCELLANEOUS">MISCELLANEOUS.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span></p> - -<h3 id="misc1">A SONG ON SINGING.</h3> - -<p class="center">A SUPPOSED IMPROMPTU.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The board is bare, the lights are low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My songs are sung, but, ere we go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One more I bring, and answer so</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your kindly plaudits ringing.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No wealth and rank belong to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet, where thought and word are free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The voice alone a power may be,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And rule the world by singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How oft, of old, when reign’d the wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rare and regal rose in song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The call sublime that roused the strong</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From hut and hamlet springing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like avalanches launch’d in might,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where thunder shakes an Alpine height,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Resistless down its path of white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Has right been led by singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How oft, when sounds of war awoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wide as earth a vision broke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of sword and gun in flash and smoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And flags o’er freemen springing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where few escaped the foeman’s power,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">As fail’d the chief and fell the tower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The land has yet survived the hour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When nerved anew by singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">All else, at last, with death may meet,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brave hearts whose hopes had made them beat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like moats beneath the soldiers’ feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When victory’s cheers are ringing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But e’en the dead whose deeds inspire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The minstrel, o’er the grave or pyre</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May rise, like Israel’s cloud of fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lead their race through singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor less the power of song, when peace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has dawn’d apace, and hopes increase,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As men in thrall have found release,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their fetters from them flinging.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, what could make their thanks complete,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did crowds exultant fail to meet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In great Town Hall, or village street,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And shout their joy in singing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Or when sad souls the wine would quaff</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mirth brimm’d bubbling o’er with laugh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What sparkling draughts in their behalf,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The comic bard comes bringing!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ever, round the social board,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As full the foaming pledge is pour’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">See how good-will the heart could hoard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is lavish’d with the singing.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How blest are homes, all fill’d with song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother’s hum, the choral strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hymn that bears great thoughts that throng</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where all pure hope is winging!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How heaves the breast in air so sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How thrills the blood it fills to meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all the spirit bounds to greet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The joys of life in singing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There let sweet love a pair ensnare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With dainty dreams of visions fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherein, like wings athrob the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rare wedding bells are ringing.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, stirr’d by moods that move the heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What tunes upon the lip will start,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if true love could not impart</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Such sweets except through singing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The cares may come that track success,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or storms of swift and full distress</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May make of life a wilderness,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A flood of anguish bringing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sorrows of the soul will rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pour their woe through weeping eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And drain at last the source of sighs,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When hearts o’erflow in singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If doubt and vice with cloud and tide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surround a wretch whose father’s pride</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And mother’s love have wellnigh died,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And sister’s hands are wringing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, then, beyond the waves that roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He too may heed the friendly shore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where others, won from woes before,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their heartfelt praise are singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through mists that, like a shroud around,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In densest folds the soul had bound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My life has known a song to sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nerve dying hope by ringing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As clear as tolls a lighthouse bell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where ghost-like rush the breakers fell—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul they would have borne to hell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Was warn’d from it by singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A shadeless waste, a mist-hid sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were earth that knew no songs of glee;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what would heaven beyond it be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If anthems ne’er were springing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From voices there, where funeral knells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are sweeter far than marriage bells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To love call’d hence that ever dwells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Within the sound of singing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wise who once thought heavenly spheres,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As all unroll’d their store of years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Woke music through their atmospheres</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That soft and far was ringing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heard subtler music, it may be,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Where love rules all, yet all are free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And though not thoughts, yet hearts agree,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For all beat time in singing.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, when no lights of life remain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As dimly death’s cold draft we drain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How sweetly then will sound the strain</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From heaven through darkness winging,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where choirs above through endless years</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Praise love that ransoms all from fears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor asks for aught, save what to seers</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Appears to be glad singing!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But stay—to keep below with men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The minstrel knows not how nor when.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here end I then—yet once again</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let echoes answer, ringing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To that which lulls the babe at birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And voices all the good of earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gives God His glory, heaven its worth,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Eternal sway to singing!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="misc2">THE MUSIC OF LIFE.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Music round the world is ringing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sweeter ne’er is heard by man;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Music angel hosts were singing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere the morning stars began;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweeter ’tis than dreams of music,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">Music one awakes to hear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trailing on a train of echoes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er a mild and moonlit meer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More it moves than martial marches,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More than gleams of long-lost hope,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More than suns to glory lifting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dew they draw from plain and slope;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Music ’tis that thrills us only</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In the art that hearts control,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the breath of ardor holy</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Softly stirs a sighing soul.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Music in the breast is bringing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Every soul its own reward,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like the lute’s that tunes to singing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Only tones that with it chord.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let the heart devoid of pleasure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Throb as throbs its rhythmic beat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon will joys that none can measure</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Round it and within it meet,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Joys without in those about it,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Joys within, that pulsing come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Firm of tread as warriors marching</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where before them rolls the drum;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Known by inward senses only,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Only known like bliss above,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Life of life and order holy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Sounds the music soft of love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span></p> - -<h3 id="misc3">MY IDEAL.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She came: she went: ’twas all a dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A groundless hope, a barren scheme;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet a dearer dream did seem</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than ever made a dawn seem drear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She tuned sweet music in my breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till every sad or joyous guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That sway’d it once, with wondering rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Grew hush’d as hate when heaven is near.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She came: she went: a beam sublime</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, straying toward a sunless clime,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trembled along the edge of Time</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then in fright sped back amain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wherefore came she if to go!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I had not known the half of woe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had I not felt that heavenly glow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, match’d with it, found earth so vain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She came: she went: I know I dream’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor dared to test fond hopes that gleam’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet how dear the future seem’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, though it was the world, how real!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wherefore did she leave so soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And change to night what had been noon!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did Heaven sufficient deem the boon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To grant to me a form ideal?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span></p> - -<h3 id="misc4">CAGED.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our jest and gossip ceased at last;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d as if my lips were fast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, such holy hopes loom’d then;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My mind could only think, “Amen.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon she cried out, “How absurd!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And laugh’d, whereat her little bird</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Caught up the music of the word,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And trill’d an echo, loud and long,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till, deafen’d quite, she check’d the song.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“That bird,” said she,—“Hush, hush, you thing!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flew in the window here, one spring.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We caught and caged him, and he grew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sweetest pet that ever flew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I hold my finger toward him so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And down he flies and lights, you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pecks my hair and lips, and oh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How jauntily—you ought to see—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He perks his head and chirps for me!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Last year, he flew away, one day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, the scene we had! the way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We wept for him; and search’d the town!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And how it made the neighbors frown</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The twentieth time we ask’d for him!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, just as day was growing dim,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He lit on yonder ash-tree limb;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And ‘Dick,’ I call’d, and back he flew;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now, didn’t you, birdie?—naughty you!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With this again she laugh’d at him;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I,—I thought the room grew dim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, I whisper’d: “Dear, a word,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For I—I know one other bird</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That longs and longs to fly to you;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, dearest, you may cage it, too;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twill sing, and serve, and be so true.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then she blush’d, and then she wept,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then this bird of love she kept.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="misc5">WHATEVER THE MISSION OF LIFE MAY BE.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever the mission of life may be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let love keep true, and let thought keep free,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And never, whatever may cause the plan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enlarge the calling to lessen the man.</div> - <div class="verse indent12">The cut of a coat,</div> - <div class="verse indent12">Cant chatter’d by rote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A priestly or princely state remote</div> - <div class="verse indent12">From the ties that bind</div> - <div class="verse indent12">A man to mankind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are a clog and a curse to spirit and mind;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For God, who made us, made only a man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No arms of a snob, no shield of a clan.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far better a friend that is friendly to God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than a sycophant kissing a ribbon or rod.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Help on no ways nor words that extol</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The vise of a bias that binds the soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No rank held up by holding down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True worth as an underling stript of his crown;</div> - <div class="verse indent12">No cause with a lie</div> - <div class="verse indent12">For a party-cry</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To catch the low or to court the high;</div> - <div class="verse indent12">No life with a creed</div> - <div class="verse indent12">That ends all the need</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of knowing or growing in thought or deed.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weigh well their worth; true dawnings of light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can abide your waiting and grow more bright.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weigh not, you prove the trend of my thought:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your soul is a slave to be sold and bought.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="misc6">THE DESTINY-MAKER.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She came; and I who linger’d there,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I saw that she was very fair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, with my sighs that pride suppress’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There rose a trembling wish for rest.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But I, who had my own design</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> - <div class="verse indent4">For destiny that should be mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I turn’d me to my task and wrought,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And so forgot the passing thought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She paused; and I who question’d there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I heard she was as good as fair;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in my soul a still, small voice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enjoin’d me not to check my choice.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But I, who had my own design</div> - <div class="verse indent4">For destiny that should be mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I bade the gentle guardian down,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And strove to think about renown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She left; and I who wander, fear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There comes no more to see or hear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those walls that ward my paradise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are very high, nor open twice.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And I, who had my own design</div> - <div class="verse indent4">For destiny that should be mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Can only wait without the gate</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And sit and sigh—“Too late! too late!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="HAYDN">DRAMATIC.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span></p> - -<h3 id="haydn1">HAYDN.</h3> - -<p>This poem was suggested by the tale entitled “A First Love,” in -the “Musical Sketches” of Elize Polko. Her authority for the narrative -was the historical fact that the wife of Haydn had a sister who was beloved -by him, and who entered a convent. My own authority for the -imagined connection indicated in the poem between the marriage of -Haydn and the influence of the father and the priest, is derived from such -passages as these, which may be found in every biography of the musician: -“Forced to seek a lodging” (<i>i.e.</i> when a boy in Vienna), “by chance -he met with a wig-maker, named Keller, who had often noticed and been -delighted with the beauty of his voice at the Cathedral, and now offered -him an asylum. This Haydn most gladly accepted; and Keller received -him as a son.... His residence here had, however, a fatal influence on -his after life.... Keller had two daughters; his wife and himself soon -began to think of uniting the young musician to one of them; and even ... -ventured to name the subject to Haydn.... He did not forget his promise -to his old friend Keller, of his marrying his daughter.... But he -soon found that she ... had ... a mania for priests and nuns.... He -was himself incessantly annoyed and interrupted in his studies by their -clamorous conversation.... At length he separated from his wife, whom, -however, he always, in pecuniary concerns, treated with perfect honor.” -<i>Biographical Dictionary of Musicians</i>, 2 vols., London, 1827.</p> - -<p>Such facts, taken in connection with the well-known piety of Haydn, -are a sufficient warrant, as I think, for my supposing that “priests and -nuns” who so annoyed him had had something to do with drawing into a -convent that member of the family whom he had loved the most. In -the poem I have endeavored to bring the personality of the musician before -the mind of the reader by using the name Haydn, rather than his -baptismal name, Joseph.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span></p> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hark, sister! hear we not the vesper hymn?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And is it not the hymn that Haydn wrote?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not push wide the window? Rob we God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If, while our praise to Him be passing by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some air, made sweeter, tarry here with us?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, there—it dies away.—Why say “it dies”?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Because it lived?—Ay, ay, my body here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because it moves and throbs and tells of thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wakens thought in others, thus you know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My body lives. And music, while it sounds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does it not move and throb and tell of thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And waken thought in others?—Then it dies.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ah, the music, it has never sinn’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No wish has ever known save that of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And need not linger long here. Yet to eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That scan eternity, time cannot be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The measure gauging vital force; nay, nay:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then heavenly lightning were a weaker thing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then earthly smoke.—Ah, sister, I have thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If there may rise, high up in halls of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet echoes of our earthly lives, re-lived,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet not as here they lived, that there may rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From earthly music, echoes just as real.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At least, my Haydn’s music throbs with life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sounds are sentient as his own dear soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They make me thrill, as if a power should come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And touch, with hands below these fleshly robes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And clasp, as loving spirits do, the spirit.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They woo me as a god might, owning heaven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Why should I not talk thus? Go bid the flowers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Keep back their perfume; then, perchance, may souls,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All sweet with blooming love, keep back sweet words.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I love him.—Shrink not, sister. Hear you must.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And say not I am weak. Should I not grow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far weaker, holding in a love so strong?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For years he lived there in my father’s house,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My elder brother and my lover too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My helper, and my hero: all my youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was one bright dawn about that sunny face.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Four years my senior was he; yet, withal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So delicate in blunt and boyish ways,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And young in all things but in being kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He seem’d more near me. Ere I knew of it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In budding girlhood even, he had pluck’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My blushing love, and wore it on his heart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all my life took root where sprang his own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Once I remember now our strolling far</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down through that glen, whose deep gorge unannounced</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaves all its bordering plains to sudden hills.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The time of year it was, when nature seems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In mood most motherly, with every breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Held in a mild suspense above a world</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of just born babyhood, when tiny leaves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like infant fingers, reach to drain warm dews</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From palpitating winds, and when small brooks</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Do babble much, birds chirp, lambs bleat, and then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all around is one sweet nursery,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not strange it seems that men ape childhood too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lisp—ah me!—minute the syllables,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet still too coarse for love’s ethereal sense!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">As was her wont, at that time walk’d with us</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta fair, my sister, such an elf!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My pride and Haydn’s pet, whose merry tones</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would ring out, if our thoughts turn’d far from her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like bells that homeward lure the wind-blown bees,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bring our flighty fancies back again.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But Haydn liked this not, would ward it off,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And turn her chafing overcharge of nerve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From tongue to foot, with “Here, Doretta, imp!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You cannot climb the ledge,” or “leap the brook,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or “find the flowers”;—then bending down to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say: “I abhor our German prudery.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We too should walk alone, or else have four,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or six. When two agree they make a match.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A third is but a wedge with which to split</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The two apart.”</div> - <div class="verse indent20">And once he paused with me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And while Doretta linger’d, hid from view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We two sat languidly upon the turf.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Who feel like springing in the Spring?” he said,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet all life may spring on as bodies do</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That draw first back, or down, and then leap up.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To feel relax’d, perchance, prepares one best</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To leap the hedge of each untested year;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First action, then reaction—eh, not so?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And think—The same may form the law of souls:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They stoop, then rise; they kneel, then know of heaven,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And say, Pauline, if once there rose in view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An aim sublime, to make one proud, so proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say, would he not do thus?”—</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Ha!” laugh’d a voice;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon Doretta’s curls a shade shook down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between his face and mine. She smooth’d his brow;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with a wreath of heart’s-ease crown’d it then.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“There, there, my sweet heart, be at ease,” we heard.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You take my head then for my heart,” he said.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, nay,” she answer’d, “nay—would crown them both;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your music with your muse; your head, the home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mistress there, your heart.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“With all one’s heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But mistress of his head alone, would love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gain much?” he ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“Immortal fame,” said she;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not so?”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> - <div class="verse indent8">“And do you think,” he sigh’d, “that this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could set the heart at ease?—or think you none,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If set at ease, can thrill with drum-like throbs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That marshal on the spirit to success?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You may be right. In life’s unending strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wrestler the most fit to win the palm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May be the strong soul’s restlessness, while rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like sweetmeats, all too sweet, when served ere meats,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But surfeits appetite before it acts.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But look,” he added, starting suddenly;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The sun has touch’d the earth. See how its disk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Red-hot against the river, starts the mist,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like steam, to drive us home.” With that we all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Walk’d home together; nor a chance was given</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For him to say the thing he would have said.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, sister, I have lately often thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His lips, thus closed, were making ready then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When came Doretta there, to breathe to me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What might have roused me, like a Gabriel’s trump</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When rise dead hearts at resurrection-time,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And open’d for me here a life of love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, do not bid me cease. I must confess.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is not discontentment with my lot.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">My heart, it suffocates. This feeling here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It stifles me. I think that one might die,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forbidden speech. Ah, friend, had you a babe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A little puny thing that needed air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And nursing too; and now and then a kiss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A mother’s kiss, to quiet it; and arms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Warm arms to wrap and rock it so to sleep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would you deny it these? And yet there lives</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A far more tender babe that God calls love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when He sends it, why, we mortals here,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not say we grudge the kiss, the clasp,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We grudge the little heavenling even air.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tears will come. It makes me weep to think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of this poor gentle babe, this heir of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So wronged because men live ashamed of it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not strange is it that earth knows little love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all so little dare of love to speak.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For once (I ask no more) you must permit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I should nurse the stranger, give it air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, ay, and food, if need be; let it grow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s child alone, I have no fear of it.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Long after that, our Haydn found no chance</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To talk with me; and this, I know not why.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father—I could never find out why</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father aught surmised: we walk’d alone,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta, Haydn, I—my father though</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From this time seem’d less trustful; not that he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loved less his favorite, Haydn; but we both</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were still so young. And he, poor man, who earn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all his toil not much, had form’d a plan</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(As one might form a rosary, stringing beads,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spending all his hours in counting them),</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where hung bright hopes, but strung on flimsy thread,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mere lint, brush’d off a worldling’s flattery,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I for wealth should wed. So, like a gem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For future pride, he lock’d me up in school.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And there strange faces drove my lonely thoughts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Back into memory for companionship</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there imagination moved anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fill the void love felt in earth about,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Invoking fancies where it found no facts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beheld an earth about that seemed bewitch’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">If Haydn’s presence had my love call’d forth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His absence, thus conjured, (could it do else?)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">call’d forth my worship. You remember, friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those heroes of old Rome appear’d not gods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all were dead and veil’d from mortal eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so with Haydn was it, and his world,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These never had appear’d so fill’d with light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As when so far from me. The slightest hint</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Of home, that made me think this home was his,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made all things there as bright as heaven itself;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes, yes, though heaven so very bright must be!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For even here the past is bright; and there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up there, we faith shall have, such perfect faith,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That none can longer fear the future. No:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As restful shall it seem as now the past;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then with all things bright, behind, before,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where could a place for gloom be? Even here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could gloom be found if only men had faith?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A year pass’d over me. Can I forget</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That wondrous April day that set me free?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first, as though I own’d no soul at all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I seem’d myself a part of that wide air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all things else had souls. The very earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath me seem’d alive! its pulse to throb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through every trembling bush! its lungs to heave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where soft-blown wind-sighs thrill’d the wooded hills!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, this great life broke in many lives,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All one through sympathy. In lieu of clouds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gusty breeze caught up the fluttering lark</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shook down showers of trills that made bare rocks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More sweet than fount-spray’d flowers, while all the leaves</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Went buzzing on their boughs like swarming bees.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then reverence hush’d the whole; for, greeting me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our dear church spire seem’d soon to mount the hill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our home to reach around a slow-turn’d rock,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all stood still with Haydn. Chill as ice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My hot cheek felt my sister’s kiss then, then my father’s,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then bewilder’d, as from out a dream,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last I woke.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">And what a dawn was that!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if the sun had drawn the earth to itself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I dwelt in central light; and heaven, high heaven—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could feel some rays, perhaps, was touch’d by them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At star-points in the sky, but own’d no more.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta in the year had grown so fair</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, in her first ripe flush of maidenhood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I did not wonder, while I watch’d his eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My Haydn’s eyes, that he could crave the fruit.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And intimate they were. Right merrily</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all the house I heard their voices chime.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But me our Haydn did not seem to know;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So quiet was he, and reserved with me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet all my heart would flutter like a bird’s</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At his approach; and all my will fly off,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And, as if poised in air and not in me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leave half my words and ways without control,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until I seem’d as if I prized him not.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>X.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But this he little mark’d. Doretta’s form</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had cast a shade, perhaps, that dimm’d his view.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, too, within the year, still subtler charms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had cast their spells about him: work had come.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He needed now no more to earn his bread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By joining us wig-makers while we plied—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My sister and myself—our father’s trade.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The church that had dismiss’d him, when from change</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It could now keep that voice, whose tones, of yore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had touch’d my father so that heart and house</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had both sprung open that the sweet-voiced boy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might find a home,—the church had called him back</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To aid again, but in the orchestra,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fresher singing of his younger mates.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With this had pupils fill’d his vacant hours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, far away, an organ, play’d at Mass,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Besiren’d all the Sundays. Thus cheer’d on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His brighten’d prospects had renew’d the charms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of music rivalling all things else with him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full often, could we watch him, listless, gaze,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, even toward Doretta’s voice and form;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then turn, like one bewildered by a dream</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fast-closing every sense to all besides,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seek our small bare attic, where anon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For hours together, pausing not for aught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ringing strings within his harpsichord</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would seem to call toward form that formless force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enrapturing so the spirit. When his moods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would note Doretta not, nor waiting meals,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor sunset hues, nor moonlight at its full,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor e’en the striking of the midnight bell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What could I think that he could care for me?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last his illness came. How pale he lay!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We fear’d for him, lest life should slip its net:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fleshly cords were worn to film so thin!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But how the soul would shine through them! Its light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not say that it could gladden me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet—strange is it?—while sitting near him then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fresh air fanning toward him, which his lungs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were all too weak to draw there for themselves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For that so gentle, babelike sufferer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I lost all fear; and, true to womanhood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I loved him more for low and helpless moans</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than ever I had loved him when in health.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span></p> - -<h4>XII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How oft I thank’d the Power that gave me power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think and do for him what he could not.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I knelt: I gave my body to his needs:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brain, hands, and all things would I yield to him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And was I not paid back?—His dear, sweet heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each slightest beat of it, would seem to thrill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all my veins, twice dear when serving two.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this was love! You know the Master’s words,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they alone who lose it find their life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis true. No soul can feel full consciousness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of full existence till it really love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yield its own to serve another’s life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To serve Christ’s life,” you say?—But part of that</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Christ’s humaneness is to serve mankind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I speak a law of life, a truth of God:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To heaven I dare as little limit it</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As to the earth; whatever be our sphere,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We know not life therein until we love.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">True love has life eternal, infinite.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Complete within itself, and craving naught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It needs no future far, nor outlet vast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor aught to feel or touch in time or space.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sense within, itself its own reward,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">It waits not on return. For it, to love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is better than to be loved, better far</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be a God than man.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">At least, my love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More further’d me than Haydn. With all I long’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all I toil’d, Doretta was the one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who could the best succeed in aiding him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For she at home had dwelt, knew household ways;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I was but a bungler, knew them not.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so to me was mainly given the task,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fan him while he slept. But, when he woke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Although his lips would move with no complaint,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor eyes would glance for other than myself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not do for him as then could she.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For she would turn his pillow, tell him tales,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bring books and pictures, just what pleas’d him most.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, ah, to me those patient eyes of his</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appear’d such holy things! My deeds were hush’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I did not dare disturb the silence there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It could not all have been mere selfishness;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet I to look at him was all content.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And my inaptitude my sister knew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And partly since as well as I she knew it.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And partly since as well as I she loved,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whene’er she heard him waking, she would come</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And by him sit till fast asleep again;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And only when there thus was little left</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That could be done, would I be left to do it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At times then I would lean above his couch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grieve to think that I could do no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times would rise in thankfulness that God</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would let me do so much. A thought like this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perhaps He chose to bless. I came to think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That even though I might not have her art,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta’s art, that I at least might have</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As much, perhaps, as guardian angels have,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without our hands or voices, keeping watch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In spirit only. Still, when sister came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thought would come that, if their souls unseen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could envy, sometimes they might envy men.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How hard I strove against this jealousy!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would plead with Mary, and would kneel to Christ;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And seek the priestly father and confess</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The feeling all to him. Nor would he chide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One half as much as I would chide myself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How would he shame me that I dared to love</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“A man who had not ask’d me for my love!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man who loved my sister and not me!”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bid me count my beads for hours and hours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A week or more I slept not, counting them;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, while my thought was fixt but on my sin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d my sin but grew. It grew in fact:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For on this voyage of life, not seas alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But skies—all things about us—mirror back</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The souls that they surround. With each to him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That hath, is given back more of what he hath:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One smiles at aught, it gives him back a smile;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He frowns, it gives a frown; he looks with love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He finds love; but without love, none can find it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, that men should think one secret fault</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can hide itself. Their sin will find them out.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before, behind, from every quarter flash</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their moods reflected. Let them tell the tale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, let them whisper, glance, or shrug one hint</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of what they find in earth about, and lo!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In this, their tale of it, all read their own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I wander much. There came a change at last.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our charge was better; and, one afternoon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Almost before I found that he had waked,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon my cheeks arose a burning heat,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While, past a mist of tears that flow’d, there dawn’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The light that waited in his clear, blue eye.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Pauline,” he murmur’d then, “Pauline, my friend—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what?—You weep for me! I shall not die.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, do not rise, nor call Doretta yet.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hist, hist!—nor let her hear us. Why is this,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That you stay never with me when I wake?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You think you ‘cannot do for me’?—do what?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And have I ask’d you any thing to do?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I pray you stay: do not do any thing,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What pretty cuffs!—There, there: it still shall lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The little hand; I like to look at it.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who said I wish’d for books, and prints, and tales,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bustlings all about?—Who told you this?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your sister?—She a good, kind nurse has been:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you, you too, have been a good, kind nurse.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think you that I have never lain awake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor known the long hours you have watch’d with me?—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What say?—‘Done’ but ‘your duty’?—Say not so.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A friend most pleases when, forgetting due,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He seems to do his pleasure; but a foe,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who does not shrink to feel him near enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To freeze one with a chill though duteous touch?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mere duty forms the body-part of love:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let love be present, and this body seems</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The fitting vestment of a finer life:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let love be gone, it leaves a hideous corpse!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauline, I crave the life, I crave the soul:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would you content me with a skeleton?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I ‘meant’ your ‘sister’? Why?—who named her?—I?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Name her, did I, as being duteous?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who ‘mean’ I then?—You little fluttering bird</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Suppose you were some actual little bird,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How would you tell whence came or whither went</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wind that ruff’d your feathers?—Do you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You women always will match thoughts to things?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You chat as birds chirp, when their mates grow bright:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You love when comes a look that smiles on you.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We men are more creative. We love love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our own ideal long before aught real:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our halo of young fancy circles naught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save empty sky far off.—And yet those rays</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fit like a crown, at last, about the face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That fortune drives between our goal and us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet, all may fail of truth; none fail like those</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who deem themselves the most infallible:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None more than men who, fallible in proof,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet flout the failure of a woman’s guess.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And your guess?—it went right. I thought of her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your sister. We both honor her, and much.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet I fear her, lest her will so strong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should overmatch by aught your strength of will.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For God has given you your own moods, friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And are you not responsible for them?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if you yield them up too readily,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not meaning wrong, yet may you not mistake?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our lives, remember, are not sounding-boards,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not senseless things, resounding for a world</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That nothing new can find in what we give.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one but echo back another’s note,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can he give forth God’s message through his own?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet,—Nay, I would not chide, I caution you.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wit heeds a hint; ’tis dulness questions it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And so you thought I wish’d my pillow turn’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And books, and tales, and bustlings all about?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does not the world, then, worry life enough,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That one should crave for more to worry him?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do I so lack for exercise? Ah me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some nervous mothers—bless them!—shake their babes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I never deem’d it wise; oh, no—am sure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The friction frets the temper of the child.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not natural, you see: God never shakes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ground with earthquakes when we wish for spring.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He does not drive life from its germ, He draws</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By still, bright warmth. Pauline, but look at me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too weak am I now to be driven to life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, but must be drawn.—And ah! could tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where orbs there are more bright than suns could be—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, do nor blush nor turn that face away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You dream, aha, that I want sunset?—what?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The colors come right pretty, but—there, there—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What say?—I ‘dare not face’ you now?—Those eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too bright, are they? or loving? Love, like God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So brightly dear is it, that lives like ours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poor vapory lives, mere dews before the dawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dare not to face it lest we melt away?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then be it so. Then look, Pauline, I dare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Am I not yours? Should you not use your own?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, darling, draw me all within yourself.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, while he spoke with hands there clasping mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And eyes that tired mine own with so much light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their trembling lids were vext by feeble tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta came.</div> - <div class="verse indent14">But startled, seeing me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She only smiled; said: “Haydn, what! awake?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you, Pauline?—You good have been, so good;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor call’d me; no. How very kind in you!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why, after all, some little training thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might make you like, perhaps, to be a nurse,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or housekeeper.—To-day, how wreck’d it look’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your room! Our father just now came from there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So vex’d, you know.”</div> - <div class="verse indent12">I flush’d, and thought, at least,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That she to speak of it had not been kind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And could have told her so, but check’d the words,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And went my way; and sought my father first,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And told him what the cause had been, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I sought my room, and pray’d that I might know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If it were well to tell my father too</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Haydn’s love; or tell my own to Haydn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or if he loved me, since my sister’s words.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If only he could know my soul in truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I felt that I could suffer all things then;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could die, if so the veil about my heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Withdrawn could be, and show him how I loved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, I did not know then, had not learn’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love may more endure than even death.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The sunset brought Doretta to my room;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And she began, and chided me, and said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“How dared you talk! and what were Haydn’s words?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He lay so ill, with fever high, so high.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He could but rave. How dared you lead him on?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He worse may grow,—Who knows, Pauline?—may die;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the cause may be your nursing him!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When will you learn to learn what you know not?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then she told me such a long, sad tale,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of how great store she placed upon his life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And how they two had thought the self-same thing:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She knew each inner chamber in his heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what key could unlock it; and she named</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First one and then another of our friends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom she could never love as him she loved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then sigh’d she: “Ah, Pauline, had you explored</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world about, with all its barren wastes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found one little nook; and had you work’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And till’d it well, and form’d a garden there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And had you watch’d the plantlets grow until</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their dainty bowers bent over you with shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All sweet with bursting buds and carolling birds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What could you think of one who came and stript</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your life of this, the thing that so you prized?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, and what could I,—if any power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should wrest from me my Haydn, all that soil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where spring all hopes that bless my lonely hours,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And make it sweet for me to live my life,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What could I think of her? Though you, Pauline,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You have not known and tired of many men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You have not search’d, as I have, through the world”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, sister, I have not,” I said.</div> - <div class="verse indent32">Then she—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Quite right: and cannot yet know love, true love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kept close at school you were, and hard it was;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And harder still to-day that you must wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As I have done,—at your age too. But yet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Right love is ripe love. Life must be exposed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In sun and storm—to frost and bruising too:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fruit grows mellow by and by alone.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, dear,” said I, “I think that I can love!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You know what Haydn sings,—that maids, like flowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are sweetest, pluck’d when in the bud?”</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“There now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You always will be quoting him!” she cried,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Because, forsooth, a man, your first man-friend!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, not compared by you with other men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How know you him, what sort of man he is?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Girls unsophisticated are like bees:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They buzz for all, and yet sip all their sweets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the first flowery lips that open to them.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span></p> - -<h4>XX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay,” answer’d I, “I like him not for that,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because a man!”</div> - <div class="verse indent12">“What?—not for that?” she said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Aha, have shrewder plans?—I know, I know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It would be well if you, or I, could feel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That all were settled for our wedded life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So many ifs and ifs, it vexes one;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It would be better, were we done with them.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But we, poor girls, too trusting natures have.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weak parasites at best, each tall stout man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seems just the thing that we should cling about.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, dear, I think that half these trunks give way:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wonder is we dare to cling at all!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But Haydn,” said I, “Haydn”—</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“As for him,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She sigh’d, “may be he is not trustless all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet if he be, or be not, how know you</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who know not human nature, nor have learn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The way to work it, and bring out its worth?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A friend grows grain and chaff. Sift out the first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cultivate it well, some gain may come—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some profit from your friendship.”</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“But,” said I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“If you should change yourself who change your friend,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or change but his relations to yourself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, some way, make a new, strange man of him?”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then would I make,” she said, “what pleases me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with what pleases me preserve my love.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I,” replied I, “not for future gain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For what he may become, would prize my friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I prize the thing he is; nor wish him changed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not dare disturb for aught besides</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The poise of traits composing sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which, as they are, so balance my desires.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, did I chiefly look for gain to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For him or me, where were my present joy?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, that love I, which I find possess’d.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Pray, how much can you find possess’d?” she ask’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Enough to love,” I said.</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“What holds enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For that?” she laugh’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“Enough,” I answer’d her,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To make his presence here a boon to me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make his wishes a behest for me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make me feel an instinct seeking him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, finding him, a consciousness of all.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘A consciousness of all,’ is vague,” she said.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I ask for reasons and you rave alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This very vagueness, while you answer me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proves all your love a myth, or immature.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, dear,” replied I, “there is higher love,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A love of God, a love all worshipful;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that love should you ask me to define,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I might an answer vaguer still give back:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The finite only can be well defined.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The finite!” she repeated; then exclaim’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, you wish worship! We must find you then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An idol! and I know a golden one;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so do you—nay, nay, deny it not.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And father’s heart is fix’d on him; besides</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your lover could fall down and worship you;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So father says. Two idols you could have,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your home a very temple; only, dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be not so backward. Had but I your chance—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To you our suitors all present their best.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You get the diamonds as if you were noon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While I, I get but coals. They never touch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unless to burn or else to blacken me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She spoke, then left abruptly. Strange it was,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With what abhorrence I would shrink from her</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While speaking thus. Not selfish seem’d she all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But so insensible; and these, our tastes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These dainty despots of desire, our tastes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The worst of tyrants are; nor brook offense.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I wellnigh hated her. Yet minded thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While musing on her moods that seemed so hard—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have not you noticed at the arsenal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times, when watching those grim helmets there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All suddenly, upon their polish’d brass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A wondrous brightness? then, within the disk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your own face hideous render’d? So with me:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid her harsher traits that there appear’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shone soon the brighter metal; out of it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Leer’d back to greet me my own hideousness!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For I, it seem’d, had been the selfish one.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had I regarded her, my father’s wish,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That suitor’s choice?—Nay, I had thought of none,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None saving Haydn.</div> - <div class="verse indent22">Then I ask’d again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could this be true—the thing my sister said,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could aught so sweet as Haydn’s love exude</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From moods, all mushroom’d by disease? I thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How marvellously throng’d with strange weird shapes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deep halls of fancy loom, when lighted up</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By fires of fever; how, with trust complete,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The weak lean oft on all beside themselves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon I blamed my heart that it could dare</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To lure his poor, weak, crazed confession on;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then I flush’d, and broke in passionate sobs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think Doretta dared to hint such things.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Three days my woes alternated, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I went to my confessor for relief.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What, child,” he said, “love troubles you again?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rest of us poor mortals here, we fret</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because we have too little of it, you</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because you have too much. All girls are prone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Young girls, to deem their own love great and grand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But you, my child, find yours a very monster!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It taxes all your powers to get it food;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet nothing does unless to tramp on you.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now tell me, think you God it is, or man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who makes our earthly love so troublesome?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, man,” I said, “of course.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Of course,” he said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then think you not it might be wise to get</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some less of man in you, and more of God?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How fares it with your prayers?”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“But yet,” I urged,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“It scarcely seems my fault, this woe of mine.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Seems not your fault?” he answer’d; “weigh the sides:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">One for you—three against you—which should</div> - <div class="verse indent0">yield?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No; two for me,” I said,—“myself and Haydn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Besides, the other three have no such love.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“No love?” he said. “Is that a Christian mood?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A modest, humble mood?—‘Have no such love’?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How test we love, my child? It seems to me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love, like light, is tested by its rays.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The halo crowns the saints, our lights of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just as the love they shed surrounds their souls.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where one is God’s, the strong soul serves the weak;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother yields her powers to bless her babes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man his powers, for her; and Christ for all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, child, if you were strong! had love like theirs!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I sigh’d, “But how can one know whom to serve?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How?—Put it thus:—your own wish? or your father’s?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How reads the decalogue?”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“But,” answer’d I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“It seems as if some higher power there were</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That first should be obey’d—some power like God.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yes, child,” he said, “there is, of course, the Church:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of course, of course.”</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“Who is the Church?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then he laugh’d: “Who?—What a question, child!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why, read your prayer-book. Why, of course, the Church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Speaks through its ministers.”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“If you speak then,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inquired I, trembling,—“give advice to us,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is that the last resort?—must one obey?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, that depends,” he said;—“but, dear me, child,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You must not think us bears! We growl at times</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In sermons, eh?—But then, dear me, dear me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We would not eat our flock up, little lamb!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But come,” he added, “come; enough of this;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How fares it with your prayers?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32">Soon after that,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One day, while troubled much, I met by chance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My Haydn, half restored, outside his room.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For once, he sat alone; and, seeing me,—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, friend, what accident is this?” he ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In tears, too, tears?—Tell now, what sullen storm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has left such heavy drops? Did it not know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That these too tender lids might droop? if droop,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What rare views they might close to some one here?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What can have happen’d?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">“Why not speak to me?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You seem the very statue of yourself.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why, what has chill’d you so?—Not I?—Not I?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauline, I know, if I to you were cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A certain rosy face with opening lips</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could come with power to bring me summer air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dispelling sweetly my most wintry wish,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Despite myself!—Why will you trust me not?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then I spoke to him. I hinted first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My moods were odd; not moods for him to mind.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Odd,” answer’d he; “I knew a family</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where all the children grew so very odd,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like fruit when tough to touch and sour to taste.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not ripe nor mellow. Too much spring had they,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not enough of summer in their home.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know that you are not so very odd</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That you would keep apart from one you love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I, can I not hope that I am one?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span></p> - -<h4>XXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At these words then (how could I help myself?)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My heart-gates flew wide open; emptied all,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whole the priest had told me of my sin;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And how we should not talk together more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How wild it made him! Never had I seen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One shaken so. His anger frighten’d me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This crafty priest,” he said, “you ask’d of God:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He answer’d you about the Church, ‘of course.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And of the Church about the priests, ‘of course,’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And of the priests about himself, ‘of course.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I tell you this is cursèd selfishness;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I tell you it is downright sacrilege!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To strain the oceans of the Infinite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down through that sieve, man’s windpipe, wheezing out,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘I deal the voice of God, I, I, the priest.’”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O Haydn,” said I, “How—how can you dare?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How dare?” he cried out, “dare? Am I a dog,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A dog or woman cringing to a man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because of kicks or curses?”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“Nay,” I sobb’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I kneel before his office, not to him.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Poor girl,” he said, “forgive me—stop—I beg—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What? can you think that I would make you weep?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not, darling, not of you, I meant to speak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But of the system.”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“System,” I replied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, Haydn, are you not a Christian, then?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And wherefore not?” he ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Because,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You speak so of the Church.”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“But I,” said he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Was arguing not of that, but of the priest.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And he has been ordain’d,” I said: “And you,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You reverence not the ministers of God?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Of God,” he mutter’d,—“yes, when that they are.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I reverence the princeship; not the prince</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who doffs his regal robes, and leaves his throne,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lowers his aims and slaves it with mere serfs.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What can you mean?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“I mean that priests</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are not ordain’d for work in every sphere.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A prince dispenses, does not mine, his gold.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A priest administers the truth reveal’d;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">What power has he to delve divine designs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or minister dictation, in the spheres</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where God, to train our reason, leaves us free?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your priest who tampers with our home-life here,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What warrant holds he, human or divine?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever move him—if he serve your father,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or deem that gifts like those he fancies mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May worthier prove, devoted to the Church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is he in this our final arbiter?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have I no judgment?—are not you of age?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauline, but heed me; let no power, I beg,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Succeed in sundering us. Heaven hears my words</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I fear some plot may crush, or make your soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(God save you if you yield) a mere bent truck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bear some weight of meanness on to ill.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But I,” I said, “had ask’d the priest’s advice.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He handled ill th’ occasion,” answer’d he.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I would not dare to mould another thus.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, though I knew that I could model thence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The best-form’d manhood of my mind’s ideal.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who knows?—My own ideal, my wisest aim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May tempt myself, and others, too, astray.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I be made one soul to answer for,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make myself responsible for two,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I may be doubly damn’d. How impious,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The will that thus would manage other wills;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">As though we men were puppets of a show,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not spirits, restless and irresolute,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poised on a point between the right and wrong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From which a breath may launch for heaven or hell!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You dare submit to this impiety?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, Haydn,” said I, “you, too, heed advice.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Advice?” he answer’d. “What?—is this the ground</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On which these base authority?—Nay, nay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Base where they may, their ground is wilfulness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Years back invested; not disrobed, because</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Old forms are reverenced.—Yes, but are they right?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think you God gives to strength of will the right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To say what is right? And if not, what then?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one obey then, how can he be sure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he obeys not sin?”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“They may have will,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said, “but you forget; the priests are wise.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“About what life?” he cried. “In every path</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Experience is the warrant for advice.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But life for them—what know they real of life?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Naught, naught; and if they give you their advice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They give you naught, or else they give you whims;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A bachelor teaching dames about their babes!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or matrons how to guide their grown-up girls!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, their counsels ignorant, partial, false,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Repel toward infidelity the wise;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half of those they hope will follow them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make hypocrites or hypochondriacs.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What could I say? I rose to leave him then.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And have they really separated us?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent10">And I, “What mean you?”</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“Are you then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My friend or not?” he went on, mournfully.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What is a friend?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“What else,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, in a world, where all misjudge one so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A soul to whom one dares to speak the truth?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, Haydn,” ask’d I, “must we speak all truth?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why not?” he said, “is ill less ill when hid?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is not the penitent a sinner frank,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hypocrite a sinner not so frank?”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But yet,” protested I, “the truth may harm.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How so?” he ask’d. “If one show naked sin,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who knows?—it then may shame men from the sin.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And could the naked good accomplish more?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must not we Christians here confess our faults?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why should we not? Has wrong such lovely smiles</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And loving tones, that men should long for it?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The harm is in the lie that masks the sin.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And yet,” I said, “the young—the prejudiced”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“For their sake,” said he, “wisdom may be wise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In what it screens from folly.—Yet you know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The crime of Socrates,—‘corrupting youth’?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tale is old; this lying world wants liars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But what of that? The Christs lie not: they die.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our God is great. I deem Him great enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His truth to save without subverting ours.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True sovereignty has truth: ’tis not a sham</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That holds high rank because we courteous men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Considerate men, allow it seeming rank.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who lies to save the truth, distrusts the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Disowns the soul, and does despite to God.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who strives to save his life thus, loses it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In evil trusting and the Evil One,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Salvation through the Devil, not through Christ!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then while he sat there, with his flushing cheeks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Himself defending thus,—I, charm’d the while,—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The door flew open, and behind it stood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father and the priest.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">Then had they said</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But one harsh word, it had not been so sad.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But kind they were, too kind. Ah, sister dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have you not felt how much more pain it gives,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This pain from kindness? Love is like the sun:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It brightens life, but yet may parch it too.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wind may blow, and man may screen himself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rain may fall, and he may shelter find;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And frost may chill, and he may clothing wear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But what can ward off sun-stroke?—Love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its first degree may bring fertility;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its next one barrenness. It lights; it blights.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flames of heaven, flash’d far and spent, turn smoke</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To glut the gloom of hell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">Words kind as these</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(We could have braced ourselves against them else)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Threw wide, like spells, each passage to our hearts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That caution should have guarded. “We knew not</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our own minds, poor young pair,” they said. “At least,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our love could wait: meantime, whose love could claim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our trust, like theirs whose treasure lay in us?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span></p> - -<h4>XXIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then to me alone they spoke of Haydn:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“He passionate had been:—how knew I when</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His passion might be turn’d against myself?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he had sinn’d, so sorely, sorely sinn’d:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could one thus defame the Church and priest?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And did my love for him suggest such words,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or should my love hereafter sanction them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might not his wrong prove mine?—If I should yield,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be won by his unbridled words, might not</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My act confirm his trust in thought uncheck’d?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thought uncheck’d,—it oft more danger fronts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than does the uncheck’d steed, whose frenzied flight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Defies the rein, and, dashing down a road</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Straight deathward, trails his luckless driver on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whirl’d powerless to prevent all as a babe.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I spake of Haydn’s love.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">They bade me think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“How often love that loses earthly friends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Comes back from all things outward toward itself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And finding self, finds heaven’s design within?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did not I know that loss and gain are both</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sent here to aid the worth of inner traits</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And change the phases of the spirit’s growth?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each passing season circling round a tree</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Leaves, clasping it, a ring; the rings remain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So seasons past remain about the soul:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And men can trace its former life far less</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By tales the tongue may tell, than by the range</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And reach of that which circumscribes the mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Including or excluding right or wrong.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then they added: “Might it not be found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That loss of my love was the very means</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Design’d by Providence for Haydn’s good?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To this I could but answer that “his love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seem’d Providential too, a holy thing.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">They only frown’d, and said: “The Prince of Ill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came oft robed like an angel of the light;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not like love?—The only holy thing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such proven to be, was Christ. And what of Him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When moved by love?—of His great sacrifice!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And did I really prize this Haydn so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would love prompt naught in me!”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">And thus they talk’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till, welcoming doubt, my faith succumb’d to it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the love once making me so proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose growth, I thought, would be so sweet and fair,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Stung like a very thistle in my soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each breath of theirs would blow its prickles keen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sow its pestering seedlets far and wide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er every pleasing prospect of my life.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And I recall my calling out in prayer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How long, how toilfully, how fruitlessly!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, my doubt had made me leave my beads,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, moved as if to cool a feverish faith,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pass out, the night air seeking. There I saw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The moon. It soothed me always with strange spells,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The moon. But now, as though all things would join</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To rout my peace, I seem’d this moon to see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Caught up behind an angry horde of clouds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chased by the hot breath of a coming storm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That clang’d his thunder-bugle through the west.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When once the rude gust hit the moon, it tipt—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or so it seem’d—and with a deafening peal</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It spilt one blinding flash. Then, where this lit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just in the path before me gleam’d a knife!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Held o’er a form of white! To see the thing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I scream’d aloud. It seem’d a ghost!</div> - <div class="verse indent36">My scream</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awoke no echo save Doretta’s voice:—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“Pauline?—and were you frighten’d?”</div> - <div class="verse indent36">Then to this,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In part because the shock had stunn’d me much,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In part because I felt me much provoked,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But most because my ears were deaf to sport,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I answer’d naught. Whereat, as now I think,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though then in that unnatural, nervous mood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My mind surmised more horrid inference,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her voice, in still more mischievous caprice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Went on to vex me more.</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“What?—Fear you me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And have you done so much against me, then!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if you have, why fear you here a knife?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think the blade might draw some little blood;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would that much signify?—the body pain’d?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Suppose that one should wield some subtler blade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And draw some tears, mere watery tears, weak things;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would they much signify?—a soul in pain?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And did you never now do that?—draw tears?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And think, is not the soul much worse to harm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than is the body?—Fy! why fear a knife?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I supposed that through a lifetime long</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul should bleed its dear strength out in tears,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why would it not be mercy to myself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For me to check the longer, stronger woe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By shedding here some drops of weaker blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now, once for all?”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> - <div class="verse indent24">“O dear Doretta mine,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I cried, and still more anxious, “do you mean”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This,” answer’d she; “I mean that I would cut</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My body’s life in two parts, rather than</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul’s life.”</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“Sister,” I could only gasp,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Cease—do;—put by that knife”—</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“Why?” answer’d she;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“For what?—Your wish? Do you so often yield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When I wish aught?—Say now what would you give?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Give?—Any thing!” I answer’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent32">“Be not rash,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came then. “It scarcely seems your way; besides,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The light is dim. How know you? may not ears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not far off overhear us here? Beware!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But stay!” she added, “I will go my way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you go yours. Who cares what either does?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Doretta, nay; but stop,” I cried again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Put by the knife!—and if you will, then I—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then I and Haydn will not”—</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“You?” she laugh’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And Haydn?—Humph!—Who cares what you may do?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ah—if planning thus to vent your thought,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Could I have chosen, eh, a shrewder way?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ha! ha!—to murder me, or you, or him!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It starts all madness, yes, to tap your moods.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But go in, simpleton,—the rain has come,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And trust the knife to me. It meant no harm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Except to this beheaded cabbage here.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, shaking this aloft, she flitted off,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While I walk’d vaguely back, to find my room</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still sadder than before. I could not think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That my surmise was just; yet could not think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That all her strange demean was meaningless;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To this day yet, I pause and puzzle oft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That scene to ponder; then, to moods confused,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d the final blow, unsettling all.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What comes as direful as the direful night</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A spirit spends in trouble?—fill’d with fears</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That sleep may bring distressful nightmares now;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now, that morn may come before we sleep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until, betwixt the two, distracted quite,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awake one dreams, and dreaming seems awake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And evermore does weep at what he dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then does weep that he should dream no more.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In darkest fancies all that night I lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A murderess, guilty of Doretta’s death.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span></p> - -<h4>XXXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas! and after those long hours of woe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More woe awaited me when morning came.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Haydn’s bed-worn frame, so frail before,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">New-rent by throes of passion yesterday,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once more lay prostrate in the arms of death:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So thought we all: I, ere the fact I heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could feel its cold shade creeping over me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shutters closed, the silence everywhere,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very coffin of our lively home,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sadden’d looks, the voices all suppress’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The kind physician’s face, that wore no smile,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I did not need to ask the cause of all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I sought and saw my Haydn. How his face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gazed forth, a ghost’s, against my sense of guilt!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For I, perhaps, had made his last thought sin;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I, perhaps, had lured him toward his doom.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I thought then of my father, of the priest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What they of love had said, of genuine love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such love as Christ had had. I ask’d myself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If there was naught that I could sacrifice?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, friend, do you recall that afternoon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When first we met? How sad yet sweet it seem’d!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So many kindly sisters with me spake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for me prayed, and when the dusk had come,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And hardly any eye but God’s could see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We knelt before the altar; and I rose,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Content if like that light before the shrine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within my heart one light alone could burn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though all the earth beside might loom as dark</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As those chill, shadowy chapels down the aisle.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I felt another life when walking home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such conflicts come but seldom; storms of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Uprooting much, and wracking much the soil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They find it frost-bound, and they leave it green.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, if grain or chaff grow then, depends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon the germs their rains have wrought upon.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When Haydn grew less ill, could talk once more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And proved our prayers for him were not in vain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The kind physician urged that he and I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be kept no more apart. My father then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first, would not consent. I went to him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My father,” said I, “do not fear for me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If God will give our poor friend health once more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then have I vow’d that never will I take</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A veil, save one that weds me to the Church.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My daughter,—what?” he ask’d, “you never take—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, what is this you say?—you wed the Church?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In God’s name, child, explain yourself.”</div> - <div class="verse indent40">“A vow,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said, “A vow that I have made the Virgin.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What strange, what thoughtless deed is this?” he ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You take a vow, one not to be recall’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That you will thwart our hopes, our plans for you?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shut away, away from all of us,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This face, this form, so cherish’d all these years?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True?—Is it true?—I would not frighten you:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poor girl, God knows that you will have enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shudder for.—Yet, it bewilders me:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could you, you who had been wont to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So trustful and considerate and calm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could you do a thing so rash, so wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor once consult me?—Tell me this, my child:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What false inducement could have tempted you?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Woe me!” I sobb’d, “I marvell’d when you said</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could do so, the time I told you here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I would rather be a nun than be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That rich man’s wife.”</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“You dear, poor girl,” he sigh’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Those words were but a whiff, whiff light as breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One blows at flies that come to trouble him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And can it be that they?—I half believe</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">(My words have conjured cursèd deeds before)</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very atoms of the air, like pools,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hold spawn-strown vermin-eggs! If one but speak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But break the silence; if his breath but bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One faintest puff from passionate heat within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo, breaking open some accursèd shell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It hatches forth foul broods of venomous life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That come, blown backward by the changing wind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To haunt him who provok’d their devilish birth!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By day they sting our eyes, and make us weep;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By night steal through unguarded gates of sense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sting our souls in dreams!—My heart! and you?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could you deem my thoughtless words to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The voice of so deform’d a wish as this?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But father,” said I, “he, the priest, your friend,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At least, it seem’d—so thought.”</div> - <div class="verse indent24">“The priest!” he cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Has he been meddling with your malady?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My friend?—My friend is he no more.”</div> - <div class="verse indent36">“Nay, I,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said, “had sought his counsel; even then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He said but little.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Little!” he rejoin’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“That little was too much! Nay, never more—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet hold.”—And here he paused.—“The priest has power—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes, now I think of it, it need not all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be darkness; no.—The priest—one clew there is</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May clear this labyrinth.—The priest, he may,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He shall an absolution get; yes, yes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An absolution, that shall make us right.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then my father, in his hopeful way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Recover’d somewhat. And he fondled me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I see, my child, you love this Haydn, yes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why, here you stand a woman when I thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You only were my pet, my little girl.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But do not cry: no, no; I honor you,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My little woman!—There, forgive me now;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forgive my words. And when it comes, my child,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The absolution, then, we then shall see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If your old father can be kind or not.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With this he kiss’d me. And at that, I wept;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor could I tell him that his hopes were vain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I scarce could think myself that they were vain.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">From this time onward no one check’d me more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attending Haydn. All the household heard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My sire “could trust his child to be discreet”;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And e’en Doretta too had something learn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That made her caution more than half relax.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then days and weeks and months pass’d quickly by</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In which, when Haydn’s prison’d love would start,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en while I heard the trembling of its bars,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My lips would check him, saying, gently, then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“But not now, Haydn; nay, but we will wait.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus a habit grew that our two lives</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dwelt there like friends, made separate by war,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who out from hostile camps, wave now a hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now a kerchief, but who never speak.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet I cannot say love never spoke.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We did not mean it; but I think that love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May tell its tales, unconscious of the fact,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For who is conscious when God touches him?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But littlest acts there were; yet spirits read</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From signs too fine for measurements of space;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love heeds no measurements. But hints there were;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet what words of love yield more than these?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They hit the sense of love, but fail of sense</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where nothing loving waits to take the hint.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This learn’d our souls at last; I wot not how.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And kitten-like, at play beside the hearth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We told our secrets, and none knew of them.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How swiftly sped the hours in happy nights</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, after work, he rested there at home!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Such winning ways he had to lure my trust!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such sweet pet names would call me, till I felt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So fondly small, he well might be my lord!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would tease me so, anon to comfort me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or rouse my temper that he mild might seem;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or tell such tales, that in my dreams I laugh’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At wit reflecting, though distorting, his;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or better still, would play for me,—such strains!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very thought of them would seem like sleep,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While half the night I linger’d still awake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Half-conscious of the call of early birds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sparkling spray of light dash’d o’er the dews.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, one night, when no one else was by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some new impatience moved him; and he spoke:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Pauline, my friend, allow me only once;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And say not, now, say not we still can wait:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have I not waited long? Pauline, my own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What forms the substance of this mystery</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose dark shade rests about you? Surely, friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The slightest will on your part would have power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To bid it off.”</div> - <div class="verse indent18">“Not so,” I answer’d him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(I felt that I should tell him all at last);</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not if the shade that so you speak of fall</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From something you and I could not remove.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“That cannot be,” he cried. “How can it be?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of old your father would not brook our love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But lately much has done to forward it.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And know you then,” I asked, “what wrought his change?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“His wiser judgment,” answer’d he; “not so?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Are there not times in life,” I asked, “and paths</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where conscientiousness and love may cross?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“There,” he exclaim’d, “the same old plea again!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your weakness is your wickedness. Why, friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does not our conscience come from consciousness?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when, then, are we conscious? When unwell:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hot, swollen blood frets limbs that feel inflamed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sound man lives unconscious of its flow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so a morbid train of foul ideas</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will vex a soul diseased. But if in health,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its aims all true to God and self,—what call</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For conscience, which we wear but as the curb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereby God reins the thought that love reins not?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If right I be, then nothing needs to cross</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pure love. It may have freedom.—</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“Or at most</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our conscience is the leaven of character;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And just enough of it may sweeten life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But too much keeps in ferment moods that work,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like brewings, flung to froth and sediment:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The froth flies up and off to vex our friends;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rest sinks down in self, embittering</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our own experience.”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“And yet,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our conscience, in religion”—</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“There,” he cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This too much conscience, overbalancing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All wiser judgment, has wrought worse results,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made men crave heaven and fear for hell, so much</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, in the gap betwixt the two, was left</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No charity with which to do good here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While on the earth.”</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“I hope that mine,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Will prompt to some small good in present life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What would you say, some day, were I a nun?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘Say!’” answer’d he—and scorn was in the tone,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“What say?—why this: that if those blooming looks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hid wormy fruit like that, I ne’er would trust</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sound health again!</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“Pauline, I half believe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The conscience of a nun is consciousness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of mere unrest—no more. In natures framed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of spirit, mind, and flesh, the cause may be</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Some sin that clogs the current of the soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, just as likely, thought that puzzles one;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes, yes, or indigestion, nerves diseased—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No trace of sin whatever;—moods cured best</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By sunshine, clean clothes, larders full, good cheer.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XL.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His words I styled “irreverent, unjust!”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I might be both of these,” he said, “in case</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I blamed the poor souls for the life they lead.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But did I blame them? Nay, for in this world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between youth’s immature credulity,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That dares to think but what some guardian thinks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And manhood’s faith mature that thinks for itself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A realm there is where will must learn to act</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through doubt and danger; where the character,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">First wean’d from oversight, must learn to choose.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, like a tottering child it yearns to cling</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To one whose greater power can for it act.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its moods determine that to which they cling.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some girls are giddy:—they embrace a lover.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And some are gloomy:—they beset a priest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He, like the first, may ply his own designs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May take advantage of their weaker state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And capture them for veils, if not for vice.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But marriage is a capture, too,” I said.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“If so,” he answer’d, “yet a natural state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made statelier through authority of law,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, otherwise, might authorize the wrong;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A state to which, as not to convent life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All social instincts prompt; may prompt the more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more one’s years. Who then can it forswear?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think you a maid, with half her moods unform’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At twenty, can conceive what thoughts may come</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To turn or torture her at thirty-five?—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But what, Pauline, Pauline,—you turning pale!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In earnest, were you!—Had you really thought?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In God’s name, darling, this could never be!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think only—Wherefore now?”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Because,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I hoped some good to do.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“And do you deem,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He ask’d, “that then the Virgin did no good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When nursing her sweet babe?—and was no saint?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what of Christ, who ate and drank with all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Call’d glutton and a bibber, yes, of wine?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was He no saint?—What think you mortals need—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To learn of life that never can be theirs?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, to learn of life, inspired by love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which all can live, made better by its power.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">If you a saint would be, oh, do not seek</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For truth so sunder’d from the common thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For love that knows no common sympathies.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Are some,” I said, “not call’d in special ways</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To nurse and tend the aged, sick, and poor?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Are some not call’d,” he ask’d, “in special ways</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tend like this the men they love the best?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whate’er old age may need, needs it the most</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The young who old have grown before their time?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Need sick men nurses pale?—or poor men, those</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose moods have never stored the rich results</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mined from a world the world’s heir should explore?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, these all would be more ably served</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By spirits free to live their own love’s life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who gains aught where the spirit is not free?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Think you the veil, too hastily assumed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May never change the hues and views of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perverting them?—or cause beclouded love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That might have bloom’d in light, to fade in gloom?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis only when those knowing what they leave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn calmly from all else to convent walls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love should not dissuade them. Let them find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Large, sunny, healthful halls; and dwell therein:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">From thence deal forth that gentle charity</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So potent coming from a woman’s hand.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not strange it were if sickness, tended thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enliven’d by her smiles of light, should flush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or blush to perfect health! if wickedness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath incrusted woes of years of wrong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should feel the earlier faith of childhood waked</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By woman’s voice, and thus be born again!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And find a life renew’d within the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As well as body. Let the convent thrive.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But rid it of all circumscribing vows.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Of all its vows?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“Why not?” he said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“No character, I think, grows wholly ripe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save that which grows as nature guides its growth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And nature made us pairs. I know some say</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul should conquer nature; but this means</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That spirits all should claim their rights,—be lords</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of forms that spring from earth. But are they so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When by a vow they swear to serve a form,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And don the life and livery of a slave?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would men look’d Godward more! ’Twould save their souls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From many a hell that their own hands have made.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One time when young I stood before a tree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And vow’d that, till an hour had pass’d away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My eye should see it not. What came of it?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The vow in misery kept me through the hour.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And had it been a maid and not a tree,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The vow had caused me more of misery.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet God’s laws never bade me turn my back</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On tree or maid: nay, were my nature framed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With any touch of truth, these both were made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For souls like mine to look at and enjoy.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, Haydn,” said I, “your strange convent, fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With age and vowless maids—you banish thence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Christ’s life, self-sacrifice.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“And sacrifice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But sates the worst of vanity,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Unless our yielding yield to higher good.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Christ’s work here glorified humanity—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I must believe that souls, not when outside</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world but in the world, though not of it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the body acting bodily,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lives transfiguring our common lives</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And common cares, the most resemble His.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The one who seeks to glorify herself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In feigning burial to human cares,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Humiliates rather her humanity.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She hints—not so?—that truest womanhood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is maidenhood?—By Eve and Mary, false!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother lives the model of her sex,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And not the maid. And she who seeks to lower</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mother’s rank that she may lift her own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yields less than she bids others yield to her.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But she serves God,” I said, “and others men.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How serves one God in doing this?” he ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“God made our nature. Who make way with it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make way with manhood, turn to suicide.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He made the world where works His Providence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To train our life. Who leave the world, leave Him—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May add but more damnation to their woe.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But if men leave the world,” I said, “for this,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they may serve the Church, how leave they God?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They rather go to him.”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“What is the Church?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent12">“The kingdom of the Lord,” I said.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yes, yes,” he cried; “and add the Master’s words:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘The kingdom is within you.’—And, if so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I own some right to heed the voice within;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And none can rightly bid my spirit bend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A passive slave to laws outside of me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span></p> - -<h4>XLIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O Haydn,” begg’d I, “say not this. Here speaks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The same rebellion that was once my own.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We must not judge for self, but reverence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The words of men ordain’d to teach the world;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The words of men so learnèd in the truth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The words of councils fill’d with just such men.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No reverence have you for authority?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Mere common courtesy would teach me that,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He said. “And how could common piety,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If awed before the Power above the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deny a kindred awe to power on earth?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Church has power—and more. I reverence it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It may be God’s own storehouse of the truth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ah, some truths have never yet been stored!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Infinity is broad, and broad enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For truth to grow within me and without,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In self as well as in the best about it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I believe that all things God makes grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unfold in ways that work in harmony.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, when I love a soul as you I love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did all the priests on earth assemble here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In front of them the pope, in front of him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A shining form put forth by them as Christ,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tell me this pure love could lie to me,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not”—</div> - <div class="verse indent8">“Haydn stop!—dare not!” I cried;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I have pray’d to God so much, so much,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make you more submissive.”</div> - <div class="verse indent32">“I submit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To God,” he said; “but with my love to God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can I yield the godliest thing I own?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And there he sat, so firm and yet so kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not help but sigh, “You make me doubt.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Would God,” he said, “I could do that for you!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then might you have true faith. Where springs from will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One wise effect that does not follow doubt?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One choice that does not weigh alternatives?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doubt comes with waverings of the balances</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the heavier motive settles down.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let those who feel so sure their views are right,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dissolve my doubt:—I dare to doubt if they</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Walk not by knowledge rather than by faith.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I read that Jesus answer’d him who pray’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief’;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That on the cross itself even He could cry:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘My God, O why hast thou forsaken me?’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so I think, at times, these doubts of ours</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May only rise like minor preludes here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere that triumphant cadence, ‘It is finished.’</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But come, Pauline,” he added then with warmth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And promise me that you will yield them up,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These dark, sad thoughts. Why, they could make of me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An infidel outright! Could faith destroy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our love, what good then might it not destroy?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A wonder is it, that to moods like this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not say the thing I would?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">Months pass’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My time drew nigh. My vows must be fulfill’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I told my father of it, and he wept.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poor man, he spent his hours alternately.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times he urged; at times he chided me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times he kiss’d my cheek and look’d at me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times he took me by the hand, and said:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My daughter, dear, we will defer the deed”;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times he moaned: “My daughter will do right.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then slowly dawn’d on Haydn’s mind the fact,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though not, as yet, the reason of my vow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the household grew so mild with me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the neighbors gazed so piteously:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">If they had clothed my body in a shroud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I had loiter’d round it there, a ghost,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Life scarce had seem’d more lonely or more chill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet more sad than all it seem’d for me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To shun poor Haydn. To his attic driven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who knew his grief? Alas, who knew it not?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did ever harpsichord so crave a voice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To utter forth a cry of full despair?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did ever aught that human hands could touch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So tremble to reveal such agony</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As wrung the frame of him whose fingers wrought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Along the sympathetic key-board there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The counterpoint still pointing out his woe?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all those days how heeded I each sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That broke the stillness in that room of his!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would hold my breath between the notes to feel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His own suspense before the impending strain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When fell, anon, the spirit’s overflow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I never so had trembled at the peals</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of thunder as beneath the chords he struck;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor felt my cheek so moist by rains as there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By tears that flow’d as flow’d his melodies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all the air about appear’d surcharged</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With dangerous force electric, touch’d alone</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To flash keen suffering from his heart to mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet, each day, his music sweeter swell’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere that, it may have lack’d in undertone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pleading pathos of half-utter’d grief:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since then, I never hear it but it seems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if the heavens had been bereaved of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pour’d their sad complaint on earth beneath;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I who listen to the sweetness of it</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can never tell if I should smile or weep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think that it has come so far below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or feel that it has left so much above.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">One night I found my father still more sad</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than was his wont. I knelt before him then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And “O my father, why is this?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he said nothing. Then I question’d him:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found the cause out. Haydn was the cause.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father loved him so, as men love sons;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And long had hoped he might a son become.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But they had talk’d in confidence, and talk’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About Doretta. “Ah,” my father sigh’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My plans for all of you are vain!—</div> - <div class="verse indent36">“Why now?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He cried, “in this my old age, now, too late</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be replaced again, should I have lost</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">My aims, my home, my hope, my happiness?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And who has brought it on? has done such wrong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His deeds deserve it?—Here am I, myself,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I loved you, loved you both, but plann’d your good:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The priest loved (so he says) the Church and you:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta loved; sought only love’s full fruit:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Haydn loved; wish’d but to show his love:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you, child, loved, were but obedient:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We all of us were loving, were we not?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet working outward, wisely, as we deem’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We all have done the thing to doom us all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas what power has wrought to thwart us thus?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I do believe, though long I doubted it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There lives a Devil! Hell-scorch’d hands alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could weave such death-black shrouds from thread so bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drawn from sleek skeins of love. That spider-fiend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Feeding on our sweet plans, emits this web,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To trip and trap us in like flies!—Ah me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It may be well that one should suffer here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until a wish bereaved shriek prayers for death;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But through what fearful pangs earth peels away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This withering flesh from off the worthier soul!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scales about my own grow thin, how thin!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauline and Haydn gone, and home, and hope,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What further shred invests the love so stript!—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Is this, then, being freed from earth?—Yet where</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are signs of heaven?—My God, I see them not.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O father, rave not thus,” I cried. “O if—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If Haydn,—if I had some power with him.”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, daughter, nay,” he said. Yet o’er his face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flush’d hope like hues at dawn. I kiss’d his brow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Said, “Father, I will try,” and went my way.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And Haydn then, when found, appear’d so sad.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah,” sigh’d he, “we two souls were fitted so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To match each other. Here, where jars the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all goes contrary, where every sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ripes this, withers that; and every storm</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That brings refreshment here, sends deluge there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We two, exceptions to the general rule,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like living miracles (is love fulfill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A miracle indeed?), seem’d born to draw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The self-same tale of weal or woe from each.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I saw but last night, darling, in my dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our spirits journeying through this under gloom:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hand in hand they walk’d; and over them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As over limner’d seraphs, did there hang</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A halo, love reflected. By its glow</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The gloom about grew brightness: while far off,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In clearest lines, the path passed up and on.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pauline, but heed me: once again, I pray</div> - <div class="verse indent0">(If ever once I pray’d to God above),</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blot not this light from all my future life.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, Haydn,” said I, “would you have me change?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What soul shall dwell on God’s most holy hill</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he ‘that sweareth to his own hurt,’ yes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘And changeth not’?”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“But yet,” he said, “but yet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you were wrong to swear? How can it be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That any project so against the soul—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each instinct of one’s nature—should be right?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Yet nature,” said I, “may be but corrupt.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What is this instinct, that it should not lie?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one should feel the instinct of the lamb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While skipping to welcome the butcher’s knife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That waits to slaughter it, would he be wise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To follow instinct?”</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“Why not?” answer’d he:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The lamb was made that it might die for man:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It follows instinct and dies easily.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul was made that it might live for God:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It follows instinct and lives happily.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The cases differ thus. May there not be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some depth, beyond the reach of mortal sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within whose grooves unseen our spirits glide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unconscious of the balancings of will?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s touch may be too subtle to be sensed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May it not stir beneath all conscious powers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A spontaneity that moves the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As instinct moves the body?—Ah, to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love seems an instinct that impels them both.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How so?” I ask’d, in hope to guide his thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toward sacrifice.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“You wish me then,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To turn philosopher for you?—I will.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This love, in morals based on faith in man,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in religion on our faith in God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seems, in its essence, an experience</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not wholly feeling, yet not wholly thought,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not all of body, yet not all of soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of what we are or what we are to be,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But more akin to marriage, within self,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of our two separate natures, form and spirit.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God meant them to be join’d: when wedded thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One rests content, the other waits in hope.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To rest, to wait,” I said to this; “and if</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such ends displaced were, would there not remain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The work that forms our earthly heritage?”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And may not God,” rejoin’d he, “grant us more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than that which we inherit?”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“He may grant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His rest,” I said. “Yet rest, the Paradise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of work, is yet the Purgatory, too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of indolence.”</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“The soul’s true Paradise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is nothing earn’d,” he said. “It is a gift.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Eden lost, insolvent made by sin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Work, as I view it, is a loan from Hope</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With which man pays the debt of Memory.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if I reckon right, a pauper still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He scarce can earn enough to pay them both.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so our rest, I take it, is a gift</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That crowns our strife, yet is not won by it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which, as we live not conscious how ’tis earn’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We live not conscious how it may be lost.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Things out of consciousness are out of care.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We rest not as in death that furthers naught;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We rest as in a dream, in sleep,—a state</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherein God watches while the soul regales.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We rest not from the healthful stir of work,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But from the slavery proportioning</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our pleasure to our pain—a law for serfs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But not for sons. Our rest is peaceful, hush’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very church of choice, as different</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From other joy as prayer may be from sport.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And does not choice,” I ask’d, “feel often moved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To spurn a lesser for a greater good?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For greater good, too, may not Love on high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unseat some idol of our ignorance?”—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>L.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With this, I pictured for him brightest life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, like a blot on every scene, myself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I claim’d my character was not the one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That best could aid his own; show’d how my sire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The priest, Doretta, all agreed in this.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, in contrast with myself, I sketch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A nature all deem’d fitted for his moods.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I may have sinn’d in it; but, grim as fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father’s face, recall’d, would urge me on;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I noted all Doretta’s nobler traits;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when I thought he must my aim surmise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And while he held his gaze upon the floor,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As though he gave assent, at last I spake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta’s name.</div> - <div class="verse indent16">And if the solid earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had quaked, he had not started more. O God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why did I not accept his instinct then!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He look’d at me, first pale, then flush’d, then firm;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then with tremulous, painful breath, he said:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And this device from you? from you, so pure?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So free from guile? You should have spared me this.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Jesuit has train’d you well! Ah, now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know how Adam grieved that Eve could fall;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How Eve herself, when round her soul first crept</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The serpent’s cautious coils of smooth deceit,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To strap her inch by inch! I read it now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That tale: ’tis all an allegory, ay;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That serpent means the world. The world steals round,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Intent to seize and own each heir of heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not long are souls allow’d ideal life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not long unfetter’d sense or hearts unbound:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our smiles grow stiffer, till, some fatal day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last is clutch’d and held, a hideous grin.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, when the body stirs not with the soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last nerve wrested from the Spirit’s rule,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Naught in us left of love, the world unwinds:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our capturer dissolves in mist or dust:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And we, for its embrace, have lost our God!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">His mood alarm’d me, yet could I protest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, Haydn, nay! I do not love the world:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I long to leave it; yes, all thought of it.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“How much less worldliness is found,” he ask’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Within the Church than in your world so call’d?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The Prince of this World is not nice in choice</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of equipages; where he cannot check,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He mounts the car of truth and grasps the rein;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when the Devil drives, he drives for home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘The world,’ what means this, but the world alone,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mass, devoid of mind, truth, spirit, love?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But holds no church the same?—A mass?—ay, ay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Devoid of mind?—Why not?—But show the place</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It crowds not reason out to edge in faith.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ‘faith,’ say you, ‘is reasonable’?—Ay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When in it there is reason; when the thing</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In which it trusts is truth. But ah! too oft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just prick the forms, and back of them you find—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What?—truth?—nay, nay, a priest—a man, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who differs from the rest of men in clothes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In wearing worn-out habits, which the need</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And progress of our times have cast aside;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, wearing them o’er body, mind, and soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though all who think know well that moods, whose range</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is girt by customs past, (which could alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prejudge thought’s present range) fit prejudice;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this is in behind your Church’s forms.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You say, perhaps, ‘the Spirit formed the forms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fit the life’?—they fitted life that was;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But life, if life, will grow; the life of love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has not yet fill’d the scope around, above,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of heavens that for it wait. What form’d the forms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can still be forming them.—If forms exist</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherein no Spirit works, no present life,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The things are hollow; and a hollow form</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Devil flies for, like a flying squirrel</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For hollow tree-trunks; and when once within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But half disguised inside his robes of white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Loud chanting out mere ceremonious cant,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He tempts toward his hypocrisy an age</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That knows too much of Christian life, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For heathen life to tempt it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent30">“Judge by fruits:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here you—God gave you beauty—to be seen!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grace to bless this dear, sweet home. What power</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would snatch you from us? make a very hell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of what might else be heaven?—Think you ’tis love?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not so; it only hates love; plays the part—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not of the Christ who yielded up his life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But of the world that made him yield it up;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It only trusts in force, in force that lies;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now that it can hold you with a vow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which but deceit could claim that God enjoin’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seizes you to plunge you down, down, down,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To feel the full damnation of a faith</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That can believe the voice within the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A lying guide which cannot be obey’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without foul consciousness of inward sin,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To plunge you down, and hold you till the cells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of your pure, guileless heart, all stain’d and steep’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Drip only dregs of stagnant viciousness!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You terrify me, Haydn!” I exclaim’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And you have done far more to me!” he cried.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You were—Ah me, what were you not?—so pure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transparent as the mid-day atmosphere.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should some red thunderbolt from sunlight burst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And burn all torturing blindness through my eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The night came less foretoken’d! I, who dream’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That here I gazed on truth, here bent these knees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon the very battlements of heaven,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I to be tript thus from my dear proud trust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sent reeling down by such foul-aim’d deceit!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strange is it if my jolted brain should slip</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The grooves of reason?—if I rave or curse?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You, who had known my heart, and after that,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And after I had warn’d you of the thing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And simulating all the while such love,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You, vowing to abjure me! more than this,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To-day with such cold-blooded, soulless tact,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soft-stealing, through the door-ways left ajar,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the inmost chambers of my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To snare,—as though the victim of a cat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That could be play’d with, trick’d with, kill’d, cast off,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This heart of mine which, as you might have known,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was throbbing but to serve you!—Yes, once more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You gain your end! Once more, your wish is mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can I love?—God help me!—Go you free.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How fiercely then did Haydn’s music storm!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon he would have left our home in haste:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father spoke to stay him. Long they spoke;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sometimes wrathful were the words they used.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then, at last, my father told him all,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why I had vow’d, that I his life might save,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he broke down before it.</div> - <div class="verse indent28">Never more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May God permit me to behold again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A broken man! Alas, how pleaded he!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pray’d me for my pardon o’er and o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till wellnigh I believed he heard me not;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the end sigh’d out: “It might be so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My plan be wisest; nay, he would not yield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His manlier judgment, to fulfil my wish,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make me happy, or my sire or me:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta surely was a housewife wise:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d the older custom, thus to wed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He young had been, had whims.—God bless us all.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft, after that, I urged him ne’er to wed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One whom he could not love. He only sigh’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This heart of mine that once loved you, Pauline,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could it love again with love as true?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet what, if not? My soul was immature,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Romantic, young. It must be manly now.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man has breadth. I take it manly love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is love that yields most blessings to the most.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mine shall bless yourself, your father, her.”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so he calm’d my doubt and cheer’d me much.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft I spoke with him about the Church.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Can I forget its holding you?” he ask’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, Haydn,” said I, “I remember once</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When young you were, when music scarce had lured</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your soul, so thrill’d! to test its energies:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Gluck your master was; you follow’d him,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And far beyond your own, as then you deem’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flowed forth the full perfection of his chords.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now men see Gluck behind you. Yet, e’en now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before you still, sweet chords allure you on.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, friend, Gluck only happen’d in the path</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That open’d then beyond you. But those chords?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those you can reach not, Haydn, till you reach</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The choirs of heaven!</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“And thus, at times, I think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I too may have happen’d in your path;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this, your love, now looking toward myself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May gaze, when I am gone, on holier things,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ideal all.”</div> - <div class="verse indent12">“When you—alas,” he sigh’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“When you are gone, then life will all become—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I fear it much—one lonely wail for you.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And yet a lonely wail, breathed forth,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“From one with spirit sweeten’d, sweet may seem</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To earth that hears it.”</div> - <div class="verse indent24">“Ah, I take the thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You mean my music,” answer’d he. “O God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To save one’s art must love be sacrificed?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Redeem’d at that price, art would be too dear!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">One thing he promis’d me. I urged it much.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In secret convent-prayers,” I said to him,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“My soul must know if it should praise or plead.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A year from now, we two must meet once more.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We cannot talk, and yet we may commune</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While I stand silent at the cloister bars.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then if your wedded life afford you joy—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I doubt it not,—bring with you fresh-pluck’d flowers;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If else than this, bring but the wilted stems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of these I give you now.”</div> - <div class="verse indent28">Then soon had pass’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The last vague hours that saw me part from all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I stood before the shrine. I feel it yet:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The organ moaning sweetly far away;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The people whispering low amid the aisles;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My heart so loud, nor hush’d in sermon-time;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The multitude with wide eyes fix’d on me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doretta, and my father, still and sad;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Haydn’s face upon his pale, pale hands.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And two months after that I saw them wed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My Haydn and Doretta, in the church.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, since then, I have pray’d for him long days,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And longer nights; and I have oft had hopes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That my faint life new strength would gain from God.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But now so white, so thin, my body seems,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With scarce enough of substance left in it</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be a ghost;—ah, what if, like a ghost,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It soon should vanish?</div> - <div class="verse indent28">So I thought, to-night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I could tell you this, confess my fault,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unload my heart of all her sweet, sad love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That God might give me rest. I did not, nay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I did not mean it, to excite myself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They told me it might bring my death; but oh!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have I not borne enough to merit life?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How had I counted all these weeks and days,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Up to the hour we two should meet again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I should find how all my prayers were heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And heaven had made my Haydn blest!—</div> - <div class="verse indent36">He came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Last week: and what, what, think you, can it mean?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He brought the wilted stems.—</div> - <div class="verse indent34">I do not know.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I only know that I can earn no rest:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all our household so much else have earn’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now how can I?—I can try no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all my pathway has been block’d for me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They say such words are infidelity,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O Christ!—yet I can try no more.</div> - <div class="verse indent34">Hark! hark!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is not that Haydn’s hymn we hear again?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How faint it sounds!—or I, I faint may be.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The window—move me. There—look out—those clouds—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sunset?—Ah, what comes on earth so bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So beautiful as clouds?—There were no clouds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where one could always look and see the heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The music, hear it—hear how sweet!—Say, say,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did I sing then?—Not so?—and only dream’d?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I thought that music mine, and then myself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Haydn’s heart, it beat here, beat in me,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, so tired!—Yes, let me rest on you.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O God, for but one hour to live!—For what?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have I not loved then?—Yes, and tell him so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tell Haydn; thank him.—God, praise Him for it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Life, life—I did not know it—has been sweet.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hark! music!—Does it not come from above?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="SKETCHES_IN_SONG">SKETCHES IN SONG.</h2> - -<p class="center"><i>Third Edition, Revised.</i></p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_1"></a>[1]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak"><span class="smcap">Sketches in Song.</span></h2> - -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches1">A FISH STORY</h3> - -<p class="center">FOR THE LITTLE CRITICS.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A strange fish came from an inland home</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On a journey down to the sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He split the ripples, and ript the foam,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And danced and dived in glee.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ho, ho!” cried the fry where the sea grew near,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Hurrah for a fresh-water fool!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One gulp of our salt when he comes out here</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will send him back to his pool.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fish was fleet, but the bar was high,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And the low tide roil’d and dim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he groped, as he slowly pass’d the fry,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And to and fro would swim.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ho, ho!” cried they, as they shook their scales,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The muddled one misses his way!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they fann’d their fins, and slash’d their tails—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Aha, he here will stay!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_2"></a>[2]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fish paused not till the way grew clear;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then launch’d out under the spray;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shower’d his fins in a white-cap near</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That rivall’d the rays of the day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ho, ho, showing off to the sharks!” cried the fry;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“And look—a gull on the shoal.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon surface-shiner would better be shy;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bird will swallow him whole.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fish pass’d on, till the sea grew deep,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then, plunging down through the blue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A flash came back from a parting leap,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">As at last he sank from view.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ho, ho,” cried the fry, “we can all do that,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If we only go out with the tide.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the tide had gone, so, left on the flat,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They fried in the sun, and died.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches2">UNVEILING THE MONUMENT.</h3> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The monument stands, no longer the care</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of mallet and chisel and plummet and square.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With a flourish of trumpets and rolling of drums</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The glad hour comes</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_3"></a>[3]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When the statue above it will loom unveil’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Lo, now the crowds that are under it sway;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The bugles are sounding; and look!—away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The veil is dropt!—and afar is hail’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With wild huzzas and hands that fly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The form of the man that stands on high.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">How the crowd are cheering! but, ah, their cheer</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Recalls a day</div> - <div class="verse indent4">When few were here;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the most of them daintily shrank away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Afraid a foot or a frill to smear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the mire of this place, while deep in the clay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The soil was dug for the monument here.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And was there not, when his course began,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">While clearing the ground for the life he had plann’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A time this crowd would have shrunk from the man</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose image is now enthroned by the land?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, how oft in youth’s chill morn</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their tears alone are the dews that adorn</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The natures that wake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the light of a day beginning to break!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_4"></a>[4]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft how long, ere the light will burst,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mists of the valley surround them first!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oh, how many and many a tomb</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of a dead hope, buried and left in gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must mark the path of the man whose need</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is taught through failure how to succeed!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft how long, ere he knows of this,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Will hard work doom</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His heart that in sympathy seeks for bliss</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To a life as lone as death in a tomb,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Where sweetness and light</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Are all shut out,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Nor a flower nor a bird</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Is heeded or heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor often, if ever, there comes a sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of a friend who cares what he cares about,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Or is willing to soil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A finger with even a touch of his toil!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For our race are too ready to turn with a sneer</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From arms that are brawny, and hands that smear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While a man is dependent, in need of a friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The world is a snob, and shuns its own peer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When a man is a master, his need at an end,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The world is a sycophant, cringing to cheer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheer on, wise world, but, oh! forget not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever encouragement each man got</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When in gloom and doubt his course began,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But little he heard from the lips of man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But the monument knew a different day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When masons with mortar and mallet wrought here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The firm and deep foundation to lay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Still few would turn from the well-trod way</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To climb the mounds of marble and clay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Which hid the work; or, if some drew near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They only came with a stare of surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or a shrug or sigh for its form or size.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">That man, too, now on the monument resting,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How long and hard life’s basis to lay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strove he, while about him was nothing suggesting</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The meed that the present is proud to pay!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When all sailing is over, the shouts of a state</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That hail a Columbus may name him great.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before it is over, that isle of the west,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The goal of his quest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is merely, for most, the point of a jest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor a few, the while he turns to his mission,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will deem him moved by a mean ambition.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, often indeed, the nobler the claims</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Inspiring his aims,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The more earth deems</div> - <div class="verse indent6">They are selfish schemes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of a Joseph it hates for having strange dreams.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_6"></a>[6]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">Alas, where hate</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Is a normal state,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who serves the world with a love that is great</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is rated a foe by those who refuse it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor always a friend by those who use it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For he, forsooth, he knew of their need</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the day they knew not how to succeed!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus this man in the marble wrought on,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Life’s fruit fell off, and the fall frost froze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the winter of life came, weary and wan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere words to welcome his worth arose.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wise world, the one who is now your boast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heard few of your cheers, when needing them most:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The pride of his youth in his life or its plan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It came not then from the praise of man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But the monument grew, anon to display</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Above its foundation,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those fair white sides that rose to their station</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All cunningly wrought into tablet and column.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then children, and others, as childlike as they,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would delight in its beauty; but, doubtful and solemn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wise were all wary. “A man cannot rate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A work till complete,” said they, “so we must wait.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_7"></a>[7]</span></p> - -<h4>VII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">And thus the man grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And thus did a few</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Find, thoughtfully plann’d for the wants they divined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His work that is now the pride of his kind.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Who prized it at first?—</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Ah, those little verst</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the codes that are current turn first from them all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the herald that comes to trump a new call.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Those nearest their youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Live nearest the breasts that glow with the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And welcome it gratefully warm from the heart.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Earth’s elders and sages,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far off from the place where the springs all start,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Scarce ever can prize</div> - <div class="verse indent8">A stream that supplies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A draft less far from its font than their age is.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No deeds can course from as grand a source</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As the life of which they in their youth form’d a part.</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Naught sparkles as bright</div> - <div class="verse indent8">To them as the light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of an old, cold, frozen, and crystallized art.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, ah, if you ask them what was true</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When the words or the ways of their art were new,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you ask them what were the traits it would show</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere the form now frozen no longer could flow,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_8"></a>[8]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or how it differ’d in nature from those</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That spring in the present, when first it rose,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All this their critic cares not to know.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He is nothing if not the dog of his day,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Who barks or who licks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As his master, the world, may make him obey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By throwing him bones or swinging him kicks.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pray, what can he know till all the world know it!</div> - <div class="verse indent6">If currents in view</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Are to crystallize too</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like things of the past, the winter will show it.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The future must rate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fruit of the present: so shrewd men wait,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And but of the dead</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Are their eulogies read.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Good souls, they never will let one rest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until he is borne to the land of the blest!</div> - <div class="verse indent6">No heart is aglow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With the burning zeal of a holiest mission,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But makes them fearful of heat below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tremble in dread of a fiend’s apparition.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For Satan has toils that, no matter whether</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Come evil or good, trap all men together.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Whenever one spies</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Light coming, he cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis naught but a will-o-the-wisp to the wise.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Half trust him, and half, not duped by his lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Begin to dispute them; and then, at the quarrel,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The seer of the light has thorns for his laurel.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_9"></a>[9]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, rare, indeed, in that day is his fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If the eye of the prophet—so noble a trait—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Escape from censure and gibe and hate.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For an eye like his will a goal pursue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So far in advance of his time and its view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That only the march of an age, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can o’ertake the vision he sees in his youth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, oh! in that age, when it comes, the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will live in his light and know of his worth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And many and many will be the men</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Who move on then,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And about them find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The scenes that he in his day divined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who, sure of his presence, will know he is nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And feel he is leading, and never can die.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This man of the monument lived like that.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men cheer him now; but of old they sat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In judgment against him; while, far away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From the place where they had chosen to stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He push’d for the light; and grew old and hoar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere one whom he knew had begun to explore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or seek what he sought. Alone in the van,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He had fail’d of aid had he thought it in man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet now are justice and judgment one.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That statue glows in the gleam of the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid drumming and trumpeting, chorus and song,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_10"></a>[10]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The praise of the speaker, the shout of the throng,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Throned white o’er the waving of plumes and of flags</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That surge to its base as a sea to her crags.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now cheer we the monument, capp’d and clear’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So cheer we the man for whom it is rear’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">What? cheer we the man?</div> - <div class="verse indent6">No doubt, in youth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There were times when the joy in his heart overran</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At a smile from one who knew him in truth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There were times, years later, when merely a tear</div> - <div class="verse indent6">From a grateful eye</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Would have seem’d more dear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than all the glitter that gold could buy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, alas! in age, when character stands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As fix’d as yon monument, then it demands,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere aught can move it, far more, far more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than the cheer or the sigh that had stirr’d it of yore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not oft, nor till ages of suns and storms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have wrought with the verdure in earthly forms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are these turn’d into stone, no more to decay.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">But often on earth</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The owners of worth</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_11"></a>[11]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That men image in marble grow stony, that way.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, man, whom in hardship you might make a friend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And turn from—beware, beware in the end,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest he whom you harden grow hard unto you.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O world, when ready your hero to cheer,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How heeds he your welcome? say, what does he do?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eye, does it see? his ear, does it hear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His heart, does it throb? his pulse, does it thrill?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or his touch, is it cold? his clasp, is it chill?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O world, you have waited long; what have you done?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O man, you have wrought so long; what have you won?—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>X.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">That monument there,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">So high, so fair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That throne of light for the man who led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is only a tomb. They are cheering the dead.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And he himself—did he know it all?</div> - <div class="verse indent10">Had he look’d, in his youth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Past the shadows of form to the substance of truth?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had he learn’d that all life turns to seasons, and shifts</div> - <div class="verse indent2">From winter and spring into summer and fall?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_12"></a>[12]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Or divined that eternity, balancing gifts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grants honor like heaven, a state after strife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a glorified name to a sacrificed life?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did he know that sighs, when yearning for love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Best open the soul to breathe in from above</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The air immortal, and make it worth while</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That art should chisel in marble clear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lines divine that temper a smile</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beyond the sway of a mortal’s cheer?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did he know it or not, perchance for his good</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His work was lonely and misunderstood.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance it was well, the best for the soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its nature, its nurture, that aught to control</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The aims inspiring his life or its plan</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had gain’d but little from earth or man.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches3">UNDER THE NEW MOON.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The hills rang back our parting jest;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dear, dear day was over;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun had sunk below the west;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We walk’d home through the clover.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our words were gay, but thought astray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Our parting kept regretting,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The old old way!” would seem to say;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“The suns are ever setting.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, gazing back with longing soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At once my step grew bolder;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_13"></a>[13]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">For, bright and new, I spied the moon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Just over my right shoulder.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I turn’d about and bade her look;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We were not superstitious;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We jok’d about that shining hook,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Bright bait, and skies auspicious.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We joked, but, oh, I thought with woe,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“This bright bait lures me only,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like more before it, comes to go,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And leave life dark and lonely.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Past yon horizon, things are strewn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With broken moons,” I told her:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Each bore a bright hope, too, each moon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When over my right shoulder.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alas to trust in each new light,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A man were moonstruck, surely,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A lunatic!”—We laugh’d outright,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And then look’d back demurely.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo, dimly shown, the moon’s old zone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Made full hope’s crescent new one.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I thought, “Would my old love, made known,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Prove hope of love a true one?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What would she say?”—I ask’d her soon,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And took her hand to hold her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, love,” she sigh’d, “to-night the moon</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Is over my right shoulder.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_14"></a>[14]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches4">ALL IN ALL.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Be calm, O Wind, and gently blow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor rouse the waves’ commotion.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye Clouds, veil not the bay so low:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My love sails o’er the ocean.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Out, boatman, out! The wind will rise;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The yawl will find it stormy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, thrice thy fee.—Her signal flies.—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My love is waiting for me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Blow on, ye Winds, your prey is flown,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who cares for wave or weather?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My love, my own! no more alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">We walk the shore together.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches5">NOTHING AT ALL.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So many eyes that dim tears fill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That a glance of love could clear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So many ears, all sad and still,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That a sigh of love could cheer;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So many hearts that are beating to greet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love that will heed no sign;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So many lips that are parting to meet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love that is air, like mine;—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_15"></a>[15]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Dykes that fashion has bank’d so fast,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burst from our souls apart!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Burst! and let the truth flow past,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Filling each unfill’d heart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches6">THE IDEALIST.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I Hear fair Fancy call’d a guide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who smiles when one is youthful,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But oft in sudden shades will hide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And prove at times untruthful.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">“When through the skies,”</div> - <div class="verse indent4">They say, “she flies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And leaves behind each earthly care;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When round about her in the air</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No danger seems attending</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The light we find her wending,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beware! amid the brightest air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The storm may burst, the lightning tear,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Beware and fear!</div> - <div class="verse indent4">With earth so near</div> - <div class="verse indent0">None can be free from care.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I hear fair Fancy call’d a guide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of rarest grace and beauty;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But prone to lead the soul aside</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_16"></a>[16]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">From irksome paths of duty.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">“Man is but man:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">He cannot scan</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too high delights, and highly rate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lowly joys of earth’s estate.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A soul to fancy turning,”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They say, “is fill’d with yearning;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lives in dreams and idle schemes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That with their lure of rival gleams</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Make dim the light</div> - <div class="verse indent4">About the sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The working soul esteems.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I hear fair Fancy call’d a guide</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Oft rendering life distressful,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With views that loom too high, too wide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make a man successful.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">They say, “We err</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Who soar with her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth only shoos or shoots a bird;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To draw its wealth, it yokes the herd.—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But few are those not tiring</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of natures too aspiring.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The common leaders of the day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the common people stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Who but confide</div> - <div class="verse indent4">In those that guide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Along the common way.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_17"></a>[17]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet my dear and dangerous guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I prize thy peerless beauty.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I chose thee long ago my bride</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For love and not for booty.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">How much is wrought</div> - <div class="verse indent4">By risking naught?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When I behold a path of bliss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ bordering on the worst abyss,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My fears of falling under</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will not restrain my wonder.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, from what thou hast found for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full many a truth my soul can see</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That earth must know</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Ere it forego</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its need of knowing thee.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches7">A PHASE OF THE ANGELIC.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I wonder not that artists’ hands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Inspired by themes of joy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To picture forms of angel-bands,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Paint, first of all, the boy.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I know if I were set the task</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To lure a man’s desire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By traits the heavenliest one could ask,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When most our souls aspire,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_18"></a>[18]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not take a blushing bride,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For she may wed for pelf;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor him who stands the bride beside,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">He may but love himself;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor matron, with her thoughts confined</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To maxims meant for youth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor man mature: too oft his mind</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will close to others’ truth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But I would blend the purity</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of her whom I adore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With manly power for mastery</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And promise yet in store.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So I would take the boy who roams</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Toward life, half understood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From thresholds of those holy homes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That face alone the good;—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A boy who has not reach’d the brink</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where vice will cross his track,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose wish that loathes the wish to drink</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still keeps the tempter back;—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A boy who hardly knows of ill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or ill can apprehend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With cheeks that blush, with eyes that fill,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And faith that fears no end.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_19"></a>[19]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And oh, I know that those who love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The purest part of joy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would choose with me from all above</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The heaven that held my boy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches8">THE BELLE.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A smile—could it be meant for me?—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Yet there she stood before me.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But she had charm’d so many eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And I was neither rich nor wise,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The belle of all the county, she:</div> - <div class="verse indent6">I seem’d a child,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">She only smiled</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because she knew her mien was mild,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">While mine confusion bore me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And praise—could it be meant for me?—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Ah, how could I suppose it?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The rarest minds I knew about</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had held her gauge of them in doubt.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A prize past all I hoped for, she;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">But young was I;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And this was why</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She thought my pride to gratify;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Yet I could but disclose it.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_20"></a>[20]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A blush—could it be meant for me?—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Yet so she met no other.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A face that all with joy would meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could it have blush’d my own to greet?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A belle whom all had sought for, she;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Yet I could see</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Heave but for me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sigh that strove and would be free.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">I spoke to free another.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She answer’d—All was meant for me</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Whom rivals off were shoving;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all my love had burst in flame</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To feel her ardor while it came.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“A woman, whosoe’er she be,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Is nothing more,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">O loved of yore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than just a woman, nothing o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And can but love the loving.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches9">THE POET’S REASON.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I live to write; and write, good friend.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In part, I know, for you;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though, while I do so, in the end</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Myself it pleases too.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_21"></a>[21]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The world,” you think, “may prize my rhymes.”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of old, I hoped it would.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But many and many have been the times</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I only deem’d them good!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I “love to write”? You near the truth.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I love to talk, as well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And poems breathe a part, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of what the soul would tell.—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, ay, the soul. For it how meet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That those we love should see—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not poems—but the poem sweet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That all one’s life would be!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches10">AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">My mountains, how I love your forms that stand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So beautiful, so bleak, so grim, so grand.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your gleaming crags above my boyhood’s play,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Undimm’d as hope, rose o’er each rising day.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When now light hope has yielded place to care,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er steadfast work I see you steadfast there.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when old age at last shall yearn for rest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By your white peaks will each aspiring glance be blest.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_22"></a>[22]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">How bright and broad with ever fresh surprise,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The scenes ye brought allured my youthful eyes!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Now, when rude hands those views of old assail,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When growing towns have changed the lower vale,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When other friends are lost or sadly strange,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye stand familiar still, ye do not change.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And when all else abides as now no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In you I still may see the forms I loved of yore.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye mounts deserve long life. Your peaks at dawn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Catch light no sooner from the night withdrawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than those ye rear see truth, when brave men vow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To serve the serf, and bid the despot bow.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In vales below, if tyrants make men mild,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The weak who scale your sides learn winds are wild,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That beasts break loose, and birds awaken’d flee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if in deepest sleep they dream’d of being free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">High homes of manhood, human lips can phrase</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No tribute fit to echo half your praise.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By Piedmont’s church and Ziska’s rock-wall’d see,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By Swiss and Scot who left their children free,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">By our New England, when she named him knave</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who, flank’d by bloodhounds, chased his fleeing slave,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Stand ye like them, whose memories, ever grand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tower far above earth’s lords, as ye above its land.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_23"></a>[23]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Ay, stand like monuments in lasting stone</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To souls as lofty as the world has known.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ye fitly symbol, when with kindling light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The dawn and sunset gild your summits white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The glories of their pure, aspiring worth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who aim’d at stars to feed the hopes of earth;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fitly point where they, in brighter skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">View grander scenes than yours where your heights cannot rise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches11">MARTIN CRAEGIN.</h3> - -<p>“Martin Cooney,” [I have found, upon making inquiry at Pittston, that -the boy’s name was Craegin, not Cooney] “is the name of the boy who, -deep down in the horrid depths of the Pittston mine, performed a deed of -heroic self-sacrifice which shames into insignificance the actions by which -many happier men have climbed to fame and honor. Cooney and a companion -stood at the bottom of the shaft as the car was about to ascend for -the last time. High above them roaring flame and blinding smoke amid -the crash of falling timber were fast closing up the narrow way to light -and life; below them in the gloomy pit were a score of men working -on, unconscious of their deadly peril. Cooney, with one foot upon the car, -thought of his endangered friends. He proposed to his companion that -they should return and warn the miners of their threatened fate. His -companion refused to go, and then Cooney, without a moment’s hesitation, -but with full consciousness that he had chosen almost certain death, -leaped from the car and groped his way back through the growing darkness. -It was too late: the miners had closed the ventilating door before -he reached them; and standing there between the immovable barrier and -the shaft, the hot breath of the fiery pit poured in upon him in a pitiless -blast, and so he died.”—<i>Philadelphia Evening Bulletin</i>, June 5, 1871.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Up, thou Warden gray of Honor,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Swing thy temple’s rusted door;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hither from the mine of Pittston,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hies, at last, one hero more.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse center">...</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_24"></a>[24]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">While he toil’d amid the miners,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Came a cry that startled him;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fire!” he heard, and o’er him quickly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saw the smoking shaft grow dim.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now for life!” a comrade shouted,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Mount this car! no more cars go!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay for life,” replied young Martin,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Call the men at work below!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Cried the first: “No time to tarry!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Look!—The flames!—We must not stay!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Time for them to close the smoke out!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Martin cried, and rush’d away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fire! fire! fire!” he shouted shrilly,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Groping down the passage dim.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fire!” those heard, and closed the passage,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Closed it on the smoke and him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Stop the smoke!” cried men above him.—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still the ghastly fumes crept on;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Caught the boy, and, crawling round him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Choked his corpse they clung upon.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Woe on woe!” cried those above him,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“All will die; the fires descend!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_25"></a>[25]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">By the coal-pit, by the coal-boy,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Never light like that was kenn’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Whence, O whence that blinding brightness?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What had touch’d the boy afar?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For the chariot of Elijah</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had he spurn’d his comrade’s car?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Stop the fire!” cried all the village,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, but none could now keep down</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Martin’s love, there marshal’d heavenward,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Haloed by a martyr’s crown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not the flood that men set flowing</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Faster than the fire could spread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now could quench the flame eternal</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Burning in the soul that sped.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not the cloud of smoke that gather’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Not the dark, sad funeral pall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now could dim the boy’s devotion,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With its glory gilding all.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse center">...</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Up, thou Warden gray of Honor,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wheels immortal sweep the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swing thy gates!—another hero</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Love incites to do and die.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_26"></a>[26]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches12">OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">What has a child that a man has not,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When “of such is the kingdom” on high?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At play in the home, at work in the school,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, what does he care for the soul, or its rule,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Or for aught that hints of the sky?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, what does he serve but his own desires,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Impell’d by a fancy that toils or tires?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His moods flow on like currents in brooks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or ruffled or smooth, to answer the crooks.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All things that are sweet or fair to see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He buzzes and bustles about like a bee.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He would work his arms at ball and bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though he never had known it would make them grow.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What virtue is his?—While a man can doubt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The truth within him, nor show it without,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The child holds fast, unfetter’d by lies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A faith that he never has dared to despise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Expression that knows no other control</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than that of the Maker who moves the soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A beauty of wisdom that works to obey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A holy, because a natural way;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And that may he have that a man may not.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">What has a man that a child has not,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When “of such is the kingdom” on high?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_27"></a>[27]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, he has been train’d by the world and the school</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To curb his character in by rule</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till the rule of his life is a lie.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man like that would spurn to find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In God’s designs the quest of his mind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He crams and drams for an appetite</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That nothing on earth can sate or excite.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His words are as dry as the words of a book,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your sentence is ready, wherever you look.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His views—he never saw any thing strange:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If he did, some fellow might question his range.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all of profit he tests by pelf,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all of manhood measures by self,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forgets that God rules the world he is at,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stars himself as its autocrat.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas for reason with such a judge!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If ever you whisper or smile or budge—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You may study and ponder and prove and pray—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he has a sneering, cynical way;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And that may he have that a child has not.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">What has a man that a child has too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When “of such is the kingdom” on high?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He knows that life is better’d by rules,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But he knows how split the wise and the fools</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When judging of rules they apply.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He feels that life worth living proceeds</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_28"></a>[28]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">From nature that prompts the bent of deeds;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he lets the reins of his being go,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whenever the soul moves upward so.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If he look to God through self or His Book,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or leading the way through a bishop’s crook,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He welcomes whatever has worth in the new,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though it grew outside of his Timbuctoo.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For modest he is, and loves to find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth blest by minds that differ in kind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In short, to the simple, the frail, and the few</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He is fill’d with charity through and through;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, waiving your reason its right of control,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Trusts God for enough truth left in your soul;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And though he may tell you he doubts your way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He has much to love in spite of his “nay”;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that may a man and a child have too.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches13">MY LOVE IS SAD.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My love is “fill’d with gloom,” you say;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet think! when I had spied her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The flowers that made her bower so gay</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had lost their light beside her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, could my darling see it so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And gloomy seem? No, no; no, no.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My love is weary, wandering;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet I, who sped to find her</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_29"></a>[29]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With worlds of fancies on the wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Saw all fall far behind her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, could my darling see it so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And weary seem? No, no; no, no.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My love is lone and weeps, I see;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Yet here I wait to win her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For what is all the world to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My arms are clasping in her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, could my darling see it so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lonely seem? No, no; no, no.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches14">MY DREAM AT CORDOVA.</h3> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Night bade me rest. I left the street,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its faces fair and banter sweet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oh, how human seem’d the town</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside which I had laid me down!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, ere I slept, the rising moon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From skies as blue as if ’twere noon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pour’d forth her light in silvery streams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Eclipsing all my light of dreams.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon, as if some power would shake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My drowsy eyes, and make them wake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The walls were spray’d with showers of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose flickerings left a fountain bright</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_30"></a>[30]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">That toss’d the moonbeams in its play,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dash’d and flash’d their gleams away.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I just could see the fountain flow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within a marble court<a id="FNanchor_225" href="#Footnote_225" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> below.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d a spirit, clothed in white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But half reveal’d to mortal sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose glancing robes would lift and glide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er dainty limbs that danced inside,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And touched the ground with throbbing sweet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if the tread of fairy feet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While round about the fount-sent shower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That strung with pearls each grateful flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rare fragrance rose from bush and bower.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere long across the marble court</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soft laughter rang and calls of sport,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And maidens pass’d the entering gate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose voices rose in sweet debate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So clear, so pure, they might have sprung</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From moonlight, not from mortal tongue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I lay there charm’d, my eyelids closed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My limbs enchain’d; but, ere I dozed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gave one look more. Alas for me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The moon had moved, and made me see,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_31"></a>[31]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In dreamlike light where slept the day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vague forms that join’d those maids at play.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They linger’d there, half hid by trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sprawling cactus; now at ease,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now whirling off in shadowy sets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where urged guitars<a id="FNanchor_226" href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and castonets.<a href="#Footnote_226" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon, this music rose and fell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if, because, all fill’d so well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So laden down with sweets before,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The languid air could hold no more.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, how could it or I?” I thought;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This land of lasting spring is fraught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With charms that pale by living truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The brightest dreams that lured my youth.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, while the music heaved my breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thought it cradled sank to rest.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I slept and dreamt. To you it seems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No censor, swung to souls in dreams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the mind’s most holy shrine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rear’d there to memories most divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could incense hold whose fumes could rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dim what bless’d my closing eyes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think my soul most surely thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Cordova in dreams it brought.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think that once again it calms</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_32"></a>[32]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">My mood to watch beneath the palms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ancient river<a id="FNanchor_227" href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> freshly lave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rome’s ruined bridge<a href="#Footnote_227" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> that naught could save.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think, once more, my wonder wends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Across that orange-court<a id="FNanchor_228" href="#Footnote_228" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> and bends</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In that cathedral-mosk,<a id="FNanchor_229" href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> in which</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A thousand<a href="#Footnote_229" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> shafts with sculptures rich</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surround the soul like ghosts of trees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the touch of time or breeze,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all the shafts to all bespeak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In jasper, porphyry, verdantique,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The skill that train’d their artist’s hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In grand old times that blest this land</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before the Moor’s glad suns had set</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On days that earth can ne’er forget.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, I dreamt with joy intense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But did not heed a hint from thence.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">You think my spirit rose to flights,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aspiring past all present sights,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_33"></a>[33]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Invoking from the grave of time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heroes of that city’s prime,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The great Gonsalvo<a id="FNanchor_230" href="#Footnote_230" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> marching on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or Ferdinand<a id="FNanchor_231" href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> of Aragon?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think I saw, by camp-fires bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The turban bow beneath the sight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of chieftains marshall’d, far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With drifting plume and flashing spear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like cloud and lightning sent to sweep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Abdillah’s<a href="#Footnote_231" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> Moors across the deep?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You think I trod these lanes in days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When Califs vied to sound their praise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And term’d the town that seem’d so blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The grander Bagdad of the west”<a id="FNanchor_232" href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or trod them, when it gave the Goth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His “Home of holiness and troth”<a href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, long ere through its children’s veins</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flow’d Roman<a id="FNanchor_233" href="#Footnote_233" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> blood to richen Spain’s,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beheld it named by every mouth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The matchless gem of all the south”?<a href="#Footnote_232" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay, I dreamt with joy intense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But did not heed a hint from thence.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_34"></a>[34]</span></p> - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It must have been Spain’s year-long spring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That gave my winter’d fancies wing;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And brought to life a long-lost love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That these had come to brood above.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How throbb’d my heart to see once more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That face, that form, that friend of yore!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Again my arms were round that neck;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cheek to cheek without a check</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our souls had met. O Love, long cold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What frame could hope to feel, when old</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And numb from long bound loads of pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such warmth and life thrill every vein!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gone delight was all too dear.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With heart aglow, as dawn drew near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To him who slept amid the past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A Spanish sky seem’d overcast.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Bright Sun, I sigh’d, no light can gleam</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside true love and shine supreme!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fair Spain, no realm so fair may be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But love recall’d unsexes thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, no land shows one sunlit scene</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That rose-like bursts from earth’s wide green,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But brings an image swept away</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_35"></a>[35]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When eyelids close at close of day.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis but the impress mind receives,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, sunn’d or sombre, never leaves.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, if the past must always cope</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With future joys for which we hope,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How vain the aims that make their quest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A life that merely shall be blest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And slight earth’s meed of lowly sweets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For purple heights and golden streets!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faith fails that merely waits below.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dreams after death would bring but woe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without remember’d love that blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul before it found its rest.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Keep, Cordova, thy rare renown.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The veils of twilight, falling down,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could fold around no fairer town;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet many a sight, where came the night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To this, my soul, had seem’d as bright.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I left thee sad; but bore away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With light to linger night and day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And charms divine as thine to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dream that came to rival thee.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_225" href="#FNanchor_225" class="label">[1]</a> “A thoroughly national hotel ... I look down from my window -through marble colonnades ... perfumed with the scent of ... -trees, which bend ... over a richly sculptured fountain.”—<i>Hare’s -Wanderings in Spain</i>, pp. 93, 94.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_226" href="#FNanchor_226" class="label">[2]</a> Instruments found everywhere in Spain.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_227" href="#FNanchor_227" class="label">[3]</a> “The bridge over the Guadalquivir ... composed of sixteen arches -... very picturesque ... built by Octavius Cæsar.”—<i>O’Shea’s Guide -to Spain.</i></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_228" href="#FNanchor_228" class="label">[4]</a> “What spot can be more delightful than the grand old court, surrounded -by flame-shaped battlements ... beneath huge orange trees planted some -three hundred years ago.”—<i>Hare’s Wanderings in Spain</i>, p. 88.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_229" href="#FNanchor_229" class="label">[5]</a> “From the court you step with bewilderment into a roofed-in forest -of pillars ... amid the thousand still remaining columns of varied color, -thickness, and material, which divide the building into twenty-nine naves -one way and nineteen the other. Into the midst of all a cathedral was -engrafted in 1547.” (It was built originally for a mosk.)—<i>Idem</i>, p. 89.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_230" href="#FNanchor_230" class="label">[6]</a> Gonsalvo de Cordova, called “the great captain,” born 1443.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_231" href="#FNanchor_231" class="label">[7]</a> Ferdinand of Aragon, whose forces, setting out from Cordova, drove -Abu-Abdillah, or Boabdil, the king of the Moors, from Granada in -1492.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_232" href="#FNanchor_232" class="label">[8]</a> Titles applied to the city in different periods of its history,—when -inhabited by the Moors, the Goths, and before the Romans conquered -it.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_233" href="#FNanchor_233" class="label">[9]</a> Referring to the “blue blood” of the Spanish aristocracy, supposed -to be indicative of Roman ancestry.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_36"></a>[36]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches15">THE FLOWER PLUCKED.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“You say you leave forever?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our walks and talks have had their day?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You say this flower blooms not to stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nor friendship;—we must sever?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, to think my favorite flower,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That so delay’d its blooming hour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Through all the stormy weather,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through March and April, May and June</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has open’d now to shut so soon!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay; it shall not fail me so.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It yet shall feel—though but my blow.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She spoke, and smote with all her might</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fragile stem and blossom bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And both flew off together.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Not so,” he cried; “nay, never.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forgive it! Spare the flower! alas!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And knelt and pick’d it from the grass.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“What, did she love thee ever?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If so the blow she gave to thee</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has made thee doubly dear to me.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah, Flower, in sunny weather,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not in March, nay, nay, in June</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy leaves in opening brought this boon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor so shall close! There waits for thee</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One mission more, thy best, I see!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_37"></a>[37]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">He spoke, and placed the fallen flower</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against his heart—and so that hour</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The maid and flower together.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches16">THE ARTIST’S AIM.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In candor, my friend, you seem too much at home</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With nymphs of Olympus and gods of old Rome.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world has advanced, and the artist, if sage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will seek to give form to the thoughts of his age.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The curve of a limb and the pose of a head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May be all the same in the living as dead;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But she that you woo, must have life and be young</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And speak, ere you love her, and speak your own tongue.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Truth only is lasting, and only the face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Transfigured by it has a lasting grace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And truth is in nature, nor dealt second-hand</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through art, though most artful to fill the demand.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So think of the present, its deeds and its dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As Raphael thought, but not Raphael’s themes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor be a Venetian to picture like Titian</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A woman to worship or goddess to kiss.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You are a new-world’s man: model from this.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, let the dead bury their dead, and pursue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The aims of a people that push for the new.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_38"></a>[38]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The proudest ambition, the readiest hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might wisely embody ideals less grand;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No sweeter Murillo’s divine designs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose purity rivals each thought it refines,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While the dreamy intent of a life-brooding haze</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Throngs thick with the beauty of immature praise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Conceptions immaculate still may be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the pure white light that he could see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inspired to incarnate a soul in each plan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The life of a picture as well as of man.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The wants of the present, one never can gauge</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By the heathenish tastes of a heathenish age.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mummy lived once, and spoke as it ought.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We moderns, forgetting its life and its thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For lost art sighing, too oft re-array</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What is only a corpse, and ought to decay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en if it were living, long centuries fraught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With progress in action and feeling and thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Outgrow the old charms, and make the world crave</div> - <div class="verse indent0">New phases of art that the past never gave.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So I fear, when I see men striving to mold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The forms of the new after those that are old,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all true life grows better and better,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That classical models a modern may fetter.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Small virtue has one with no hope in his heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And little of merit, if none in his art.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_39"></a>[39]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While only the light of a coming ideal</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lures those to the good who imagine it real,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No work can ever inspire the earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That embodies no promise of unfulfill’d worth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And naught that the world accounts worthy of fame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In art as in act, but is rank’d by its aim.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches17">MUSICIAN AND MORALIZER.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What am I “doing,” night and day,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Loitering here with the flute?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doing?—why blowing my plaints away,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Off, till I blow them mute.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Foolish” am I?—It may be so.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who, forsooth, are the wise?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I to the wind my sorrows blow:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Others hoard up their sighs.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Useless” am I?—The while I play,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Many another one’s heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Throbs to my melody, till, they say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">All of his woes depart.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nothing of sweetness can fill the air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nothing of beauty bloom,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_40"></a>[40]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Save as visions of life more fair</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Over the spirit loom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Listen to this now—mine and thine.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How could I show more worth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than as a reed for a breath divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Blowing from heaven to earth?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Music-mad” am I?—Have your say,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whether you blame or applaud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I the behest of my soul obey,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Just as it came from God.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches18">WHAT THE BOUQUET SAID.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">For one who would himself be here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for ourselves who hold you dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We come, fair maid, to welcome you.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For sun-bright eyes like yours we grew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For cheeks like yours, with ardor meet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would flush, aglow their glow to greet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And up to you, our fragrance rare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is breathed from lips that burst in prayer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our goddess dear, our sister sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This meeting leaves our lives complete.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now dew may fail, or frost may sear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We fade, we die; but have been here.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_41"></a>[41]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches19">WITH THE YOUNG.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our struggles with the world, I know,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Are blessings in disguise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No honors that elsewhere earth can show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Outshine its victor’s prize.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet, when, with naught their course to guide,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My feelings freely well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My thoughts will turn to souls untried,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with the young I dwell.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Why ask a feeling the reason why?—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One’s lot may have been too hard.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those loved in youth, as years go by,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May rouse no more regard.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who knows how many in age may fall</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose feet all deem’d secure?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who knows how many can trip at all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ever again be pure?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance through each fair childish face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I seem to see, as of yore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A form whose young and tender grace</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Beside me moves no more;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet a form that waits for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where still, as hope maintains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What has been, is, or is to be,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In a state unchanged remains</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_42"></a>[42]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Perchance, I share in heaven’s delight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose hosts recall the past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And guide, at times, in robes of white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s young through gloom and blast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But leave the cause yet undivined,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When feelings freely well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The young have claims no others find,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And with the young I dwell.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches20">A TRANSLATION.</h3> - -<p>In 1864, the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin was celebrated with -unusual splendor in the Church de la Companiè of Santiago, Chili. In -the midst of the ceremonies the draped image of the Virgin caught fire. -Almost instantly the flames were communicated to ropes suspending along -the ceiling upward of twenty thousand colored lamps. These fell in a -rain of fire upon the audience below, burning with the church itself as -many as two thousand persons, chiefly young ladies from the higher grades -of society.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er Santiago’s happy homes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The parting sun delay’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And brightly o’er its roofs and domes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In gleams of sunset play’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And toward the dome most bright came throngs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of maidens hastening there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from them words more sweet than songs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Went pulsing through the air.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They sought that dome because the home</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of God where sins were shriven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now under it with splendor fit</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should prayer to Him be given.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_43"></a>[43]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Within, a thousand banners bright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would wave o’er walls ablaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And priests, array’d in gold and white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like seraphs chant their praise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within, the organ’s ardent strains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would rise with incense rare;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, then, how sweet would be their gains</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who breathed that sweeter air!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sent upward so their prayers would flow</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like fountains heavenward driven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That far away would break in spray,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And fall in blessings given.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon those thousand banners bright</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Did wave o’er walls ablaze;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And priests, array’d in gold and white,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like seraphs chant their praise—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When up there flared a flame that glared</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Athwart the lamp-strung dome;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hot as hell its red lights fell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To fright their victims home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, o’er and o’er, was heard: “The door!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And cries where fright had striven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But oh, no more would swing that door,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">On throngs against it driven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Red lips of fire flew to and fro,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And kiss’d each maiden’s cheek;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_44"></a>[44]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">They blush’d, but oh, too deep the glow!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">They kneel’d, but oh, too meek!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Death wrapt them round in robes of flame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Let loose their streaming hair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, when their souls were won, became,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ash-white, their couch-mate fair.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon, the fire was raging higher.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But these to rest were given,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long ere the bells had wail’d farewells</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When out the belfry driven.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To Santiago’s mourning homes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">At morn a stranger stray’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found, where once of all those domes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The brightest sunn’d the shade,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Four hundred carts of corpses charr’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Two thousand nameless dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And scores of thousands weeping hard</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For life so sadly fled.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all around the smoking ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whence all hope else was driven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With lifted eye, their dome the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their prayers to God were given.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches21">FARMER LAD.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Farmer lad, in the morning gray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blest may seem the town, and they,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slumbering late, who, void of blame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seek at their leisure wealth and fame;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_45"></a>[45]</span> - <div class="verse indent2">But how many there, thy race would run</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know thy rest when the day is done!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Farmer lad, when the herd’s faint bells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clink far off o’er the sunburnt fells,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Better may seem the coin that calls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ringing and bright from the town’s cool halls;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But how many there, would give all its gleams</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For the golden light of thy guileless dreams!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Farmer lad, where the herd will drink</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Waits a maid that bathes by the brink</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bare brown feet; and the rill, made sweet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thrills to touch her who thee would greet.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">There is more for thee in the blue of her eye</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than in all the towns that are under the sky.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches22">THE WIFE.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">About her fair sweet face, all bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is a constant halo of calm delight;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And her smile attracts</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To genial acts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All those who live in the sunny sight.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She moves in a sphere not wholly obscure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ways that are not wholly mature,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But ready to go</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_46"></a>[46]</span> - <div class="verse indent4">Where friend or foe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May point the way to the wise or pure.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Her mien by every grace refined</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With a welcome bends to all things kind;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">But something true</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To duty too</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Remains unbent in her inner mind.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Her soul seeks not the name of wife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sit by a plume, or the prize of a strife.</div> - <div class="verse indent4">She longs to share</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Not the outward glare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the inward glow of her husband’s life.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, like the sky encircling the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embracing his thoughts wherever they be,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">She rests above</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His life with a love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That binds him fast, yet leaves him free.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Toward her his thoughts in fancies rise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like mists aglow in the sunset skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And like nights here</div> - <div class="verse indent4">When the stars appear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His gloom gives way at the glance of her eyes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Through her his hope like a morning dream</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attains a day of love supreme,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_47"></a>[47]</span> - <div class="verse indent4">Suffused with a light</div> - <div class="verse indent4">That makes earth bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And life what it otherwise could but seem.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Would God her heart could ever abide,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A heaven for his heart’s heaving tide,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Still calm above</div> - <div class="verse indent4">His restless love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the storms that over it glide!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches23">NOTHING TO KEEP UNDER.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">You envy those whom all men greet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With favors never ceasing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The men whose ways are so discreet</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their friends go on increasing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose moods get more than they deserve,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Because not oft they blunder;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, even when unkind, have nerve</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To keep unkindness under.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">You envy those whose lips imply</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A smile for every neighbor,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though all his deeds may give the lie</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To truth for which they labor,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Good, easy souls, who never need</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To fret in wrath or wonder,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_48"></a>[48]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To feel how hard is life, indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With so much to keep under.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">You envy those whose calm consent,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Amid all earth’s mutations,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can sail the sea of life content</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With others’ observations;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who entertain no wish for strife</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Near shores where breakers thunder;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But hold a cautious helm to life,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And keep ambition under.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hold friend—the good for which men yearn</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Makes ill to them provoking;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And zeal it is, on fire to burn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That fills its air with smoking.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If this be so, some day, your soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A worth world-wide may sunder</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From those who have—their self-control,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">But nothing to keep under.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches24">OUR DAY AT PISA.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We took the train at Florence,<a id="FNanchor_234" href="#Footnote_234" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> we,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The day was warm and pleasant.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The town of Pisa would we see.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">No time was like the present.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_49"></a>[49]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon we climb’d the Leaning Tower,<a id="FNanchor_235" href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Dropt something down, and sat an hour;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then the grand Baptistry<a href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They swung for us; and, o’er and o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We made its domed rotunda roar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To echo back our joking.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We set our pockets jingling, we,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To make our guide a crony,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Saw the cathedral, paid a fee,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ate some macaroni,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then feasted on an outside view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all three buildings,<a href="#Footnote_235" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> yet so new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then bought, in alabaster<a id="FNanchor_236" href="#Footnote_236" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> wrought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some models of them; then we sought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Campo Santo,<a id="FNanchor_237" href="#Footnote_237" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> where we thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the dead, while smoking.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We took the train at sunset, we,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And while we left the station,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Extoll’d the land, “How much to see!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How grand this Roman nation!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our own, how mean!—no works of art!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We strove to sigh, but check’d a start</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_50"></a>[50]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And cried, “How home-like!” o’er and o’er.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What thrill’d us thus?—alas, it bore</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No hint from art; we heard once more</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A frog, near by us, croaking.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<h4>FOOTNOTES</h4> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_234" href="#FNanchor_234" class="label">[1]</a> The poem is supposed to be written by an American “doing” Italy.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_235" href="#FNanchor_235" class="label">[2]</a> The Leaning Tower, the Baptistry (under the dome of which may be -heard, by those who care for it, an echo, repeating itself many times), and -the Cathedral are all found in one square.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_236" href="#FNanchor_236" class="label">[3]</a> Alabaster worked into articles suitable for gifts is one of the chief -commodities of Pisa. Great quantities of it are purchased for presents.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_237" href="#FNanchor_237" class="label">[4]</a> Campo Santo or cemetery, the most famous in Italy.</p> - -</div> - -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches25">THE HIGHEST CLAIMS.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I woke and found my dream withdrawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And, with it, each weird guest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose urgency, from eve to dawn,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had robb’d me of my rest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One call’d me ruler of the land;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One chief of hosts enroll’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One brought me wealth; one bade my hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A pen immortal hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But none spake aught of aims I thought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">More blest than theirs could be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, leading on to all I sought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Still claim’d the most from me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To hold a sceptre in the state,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like Moses o’er the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Controlling thus a rival’s fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who overwhelm’d will be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To wield a sword in dangerous times,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Till foes yield up each aim,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_51"></a>[51]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">While hope with firmer footstep climbs</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The crumbling ledge of fame,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All this I know were well, but though</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Each foe should bend the knee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An homage grander still, I trow,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would claim the most from me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“To join the throngs whose efforts prove</div> - <div class="verse indent2">How dear the wealth they earn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or those whose thought the world can move</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To deeds for which they yearn;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All this were well; but gold is mined</div> - <div class="verse indent2">In depths that lure below,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thought more lasting forms can find</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Than lip and line bestow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When gem and scroll a living soul</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With all its powers may be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Naught else that might my deeds control</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can claim the most from me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, why through all life’s little day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Should drum and trumpet call,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cluster’d smoke from many a fray</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hang o’er earth like a pall?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How small a space above each fight</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its rising thunder jars!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The echo sleeps in paths of light</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Where shine unmoved the stars.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_52"></a>[52]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To draw toward love like heaven’s above</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One’s earthly work may be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And nothing less than perfect love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can claim the most from me.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I spoke, and, ere the beams of day</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Could bar him out, each guest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I had thought had gone for aye,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Return’d and term’d me blest.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One call’d me ruler of the land;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">One chief of hosts enroll’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One brought me wealth; one bade my hand</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A pen immortal hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every voice breath’d forth: “Rejoice;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O soul, thy wisdom see:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While love rules all, thy ruling choice</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Must claim the most from me.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches26">NOTES FROM THE VICTORY.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, who is ringing those bells?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Right merry for funeral knells!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If the winds of hell could ring them as well,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What woe would the demons lack?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My light blew out in the gust of the rout:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My boy will never come back.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_53"></a>[53]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">And drums!—How lightly they roll!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Coarse drums, can they call the soul?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Folks, out of breath, do you shout at death?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Can you rend the tomb?—Alack,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Vain echoes around, pale under the ground,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My boy will never come back.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Guns too! O why do they roar?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Alas, I thought it was o’er.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though why care I, though a million die,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all of us wear but black?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I, too, with the proud have my blood-stain’d shroud:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My boy will never come back.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">Our land!—Who wants it to last!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its future is doom’d by the past.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the tears that rise to its mourners’ eyes</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Will ever dim all they track.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chill, shivering breast, freeze, freeze into rest:</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My boy will never come back.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches27">THE POET’S LESSON.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O poet vain, put by thy pen,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Put by this dreamy mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Move outward through the walks of men;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And do the world some good.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_54"></a>[54]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">These words I heard, and waived my will,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And left my rhymes behind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And past the sill and down the hill</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Went forth my work to find.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And first I spied a romping child.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“My child,” I stopt and said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The sun is bright; the air is mild;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your cheeks with health are red.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“It does you good to leap and run,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And chase your mates about”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ah, my talk had scarce begun</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before the child cried out:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O please, man, please keep back, I say!</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O but you spoil my sport!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O but they all will flee away,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My prisoners, from my fort!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I saw no foe, nor fortress wall,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My coming had attack’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This child, I thought, knows not at all</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A fancy from a fact.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Too young is he; nor yet has learn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The laws of health, like me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor cares to know them; so I turn’d</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And left his fancy free.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_55"></a>[55]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A man approach’d with bending frame,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His eyes by searching task’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A chance, I thought, to help one came;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So, “What is lost?” I ask’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Lost?—every thing!” he said, and frown’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">“Ay, every thing I sought.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All day and night, the whole week round,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My mind had track’d the thought;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And just had found it, but for you!”</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I blush’d at this; and he,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He craved my pardon, said, he too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had done a wrong to me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, I,” said I, “should make amend.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your search was on the ground;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I dreamt not, who saw you bend,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That thought could there be found.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He answer’d not; but, passing then,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With shadows paved the way;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while I vow’d that not again</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Would I such help essay.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With this I turn’d my footsteps where</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A man long ill abode,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Assured it would do good to share</div> - <div class="verse indent2">This weary sufferer’s load.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_56"></a>[56]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My friend,” I said, “your smile is bright;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your pains are lessening then;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Erelong they all will take their flight,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Your health be sound again.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Be sound?” he ask’d; “and can it be</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That you misjudge me too?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, not the thing you deem, set free</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The smile that welcomed you.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, friend, but wisdom learn from one</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Who long on earth has wrought;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our ways would leave us wrecks undone,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">If but of earth we thought.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A double life we all must live,—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of spirit and of flesh;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And but the former life can give</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A joy forever fresh.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Look up; there looms a region nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And there the Master is;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if like Him live you and I,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Then you and I live His.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“When all day long of Him I muse,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all day with Him live,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The glory that the spirit views</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Dims all that earth can give.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_57"></a>[57]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I heard his words, and went my way,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">My lesson learn’d betimes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No more I felt could I obey</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A voice that rail’d at rhymes.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh what were life without the worth</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of ideality,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its home, heaven’s halo round the earth;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Its language, poetry.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The world of deeds whose armor gleams</div> - <div class="verse indent2">May light the path to right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far less than rays that rise in dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And days that dawn at night.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s brightest light illumes the soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That light this life denies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till earth’s horizons lift and roll</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like lids from opening eyes.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches28">THE MOURNER ANSWERED.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Amid the twilight’s gathering gloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She knelt beside her babe’s new tomb.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My child,” she sigh’d, “did heaven not know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How deep and dread would be my woe?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this did nature give thee birth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">For this,—to bury thee?—O God!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_58"></a>[58]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">She groan’d, then started. Earth to earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Her lips had kiss’d the common sod.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Amid life’s flowers that fade and fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What need to pluck a bud so small?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With ripen’d harvests full supplied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What need had heaven of thee?” she cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then mark’d the flowers that, while she stoop’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">E’en yet made sweet her last-brought wreath:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those full-blown all had dropt or droop’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The buds alone bloom’d bright beneath.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why leave, O God,” was then her moan,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“My widow’d soul still more alone?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why wrest from life the last thing dear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What harm that love should linger here?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lo, the neighboring spire above</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Rang forth its evening call to prayer;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And music fill’d from lips of love</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The House of God whose door was there.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches29">THE VACANT ROOM.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wraith-lit star, that shone afar,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lured my eager footsteps on!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This door I pass, and find, alas,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The friend for whom I long’d is gone.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_59"></a>[59]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">O think how drear mere sands appear</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To travellers worn who pray for springs.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More drear this place without the face</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I sought to cheer my wanderings.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Have diamonds rare no gleams to spare</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The light that their own light would shun?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do roses droop when many a group</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Of clouds crowd off the autumn sun?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The gem and rose less dull repose</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When all are gone that caused their worth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than lip and eye when none are nigh</div> - <div class="verse indent2">With smiles that break in bursts of mirth.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Are lovers wild, when maidens mild</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Their wisest ways of wooing shun?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do mothers weep, when waked from sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Whose dream restored a long-lost son?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, scarce the man’s or mother’s plans</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Appear so rudely overthrown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As his whose thought in vain here sought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A word to echo back his own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But time speeds on, and duties wan,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Like ghosts untombed, forbid my stay;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But though I go, this note shall show</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The loss, my friend, you cause to-day.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_60"></a>[60]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">It craves a thought for him who sought</div> - <div class="verse indent2">A sight of eyes that light it now;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For him who waits till kindlier fates</div> - <div class="verse indent2">His hopes a kindlier fate allow.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches30">THANKSGIVING DAY.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I Sought the house Thanksgiving Day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found its inmates all away,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save her who sat before the fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, by her side, her palsied sire.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At play, betwixt her fingers white,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A needle nimbly glanced the light;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But oft her eyes it could not stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To either side would glance away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And on her right hand, open spread,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There lay the Book of God she read;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And on her left I just could trace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An infant namesake’s pictured face.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The Book of God, the housekeeper,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The babe that had been named for her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The book and babe and she between,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through doors ajar I mark’d the scene.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_61"></a>[61]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And, while she sat before me so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Content to share another’s woe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A captive for her sisters gone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whom all their joy depended on;</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Cheer’d now to read of heavenly worth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For souls denying self on earth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Moved now to do the deed she should,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lest wrong should lead that child from good;—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Another soul, my heart felt sure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could keep, if so surrounded, pure,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If there God lured his thought above,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And here one shared his name and love.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The scene was homely; yes, I know,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But homely scenes may haunt one so!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That still her sweet face with me stays,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My days are all Thanksgiving Days.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches31">A MISAPPREHENSION</h3> - -<p class="center">NOT UNCOMMON.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In loneliness I wander’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">When, lo, above me, ringing</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Amid the breeze</div> - <div class="verse indent6">That shook the trees,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">I heard a bird’s glad singing.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_62"></a>[62]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I looked, and through the leaves could see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The warbler nod and chirp for me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“One friend is left me yet,” thought I,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And ventur’d near</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The song to hear;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when he saw me drawing nigh,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Alas, in fright</div> - <div class="verse indent6">He took to flight!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not, not for me had been his care.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He sang to greet the sunny air,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And serve his own sweet nature.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">In loneliness I ponder’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And lo, sweet laughter woke there</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The gentlest rills,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">That broke in trills</div> - <div class="verse indent2">About the lips that spoke there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through smiles and blushes burst the glee,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And eyes that fill’d and flash’d for me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Her soul,” I thought, “has heard my sigh”;</div> - <div class="verse indent6">And, drawing near,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">I bade her hear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My tale of love—but from her eye</div> - <div class="verse indent6">The joy had flown.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Not I alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, not I had been her care.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She fill’d the world with sweetness there,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To serve her own sweet nature.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_63"></a>[63]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches32">AUNTY’S ANSWER.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My child, you come, and ask me why,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The reason why I stared at you?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, darling, one can use her eye!—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Nay, did I stare?—You saw me too?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I stared, then, at these great round eyes;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thought of all that each would see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all the cares, and all the cries,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ere you were old, you sprite, like me.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then I saw these tiny ears,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And thought of how they both would grow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thrill and tremble, ere the years</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Had taught them all they had to know.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I saw these dainty limbs here, too,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">That run and jump and snatch and throw;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thought how little mine can do—</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Ah me, not always was it so!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And what of these things?—Nothing, dear.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">You ask’d me only, that is all;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And old is aunty, old and queer;</div> - <div class="verse indent2">So kiss me, child, and catch the ball.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, the darling!—How could I</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Tell her the thought?—It touch’d me so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think how—were she but to die</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Before she learn’d it all, you know.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_64"></a>[64]</span></p> - -<h3 id="sketches33">HIS LOVE’S FRUITION.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, Love, be mine,” the boy implored;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And from his fresh young heart there pour’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full streams of life that flush’d his face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thrill’d his breast for Love’s embrace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The worth of boyhood must be tried.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So, like the spring’s uncertain sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love lured his hope; but was not won.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, Love, be mine,” the young man pray’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if some angel were the maid;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And could with bliss have knelt beside</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The only power that awed his pride.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“For vintage-time must life provide.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So brightly, like a summer-sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love cheer’d his way; but was not won.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, Love, be mine,” the strong man urged;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The mounts above in cloud are merged;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, hand in hand with thee, my life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will better brave the looming strife.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, nay; not yet,” his Love replied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The harvests wait; the fields are wide.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So, clouded like an autumn-sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love veil’d her light, and was not won.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_65"></a>[65]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, Love, be mine,” the old man said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And meekly bow’d his whiten’d head;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, while it sank against his breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“O Love, has life not won its rest?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I come,” his Love at last replied;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And clasp’d him; but he only sigh’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, faint and chill, life’s wintry sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In gold had set; his Love was won.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="sketches34">WHAT WOULD I GIVE.</h3> - -<p class="center">WRITTEN ON A SUNDAY IN GERMANY.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There, where the flowers more fragrant lie,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crushed by the crowds that have pass’d them by,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stands a chapel; and oft from its door</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hymns of the lowly worshippers pour,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crush’d like the flowers, I trow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O little Church, but what would I give,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What would I give, and how would I live,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know as thy sweet souls know!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There, where the trees on the great knoll sway</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Swept by the wind that they fail to stay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bend great crowds, while organ and bell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail God’s Host that is deigning to dwell</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Shrined in their church below.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_66"></a>[66]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">O great Church, but what would I give,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What would I give, and how would I live,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know as thy hush’d throngs know!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There on the cliff that chancels the park,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nigh to the cloud where is trilling the lark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Men and maidens dance to the lay</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blown by the blasts of the trumpeters gay,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Fluttering to and fro.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O gay Cliff, but what would I give,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What would I give, and how would I live,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know as thy light hearts know!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">There, where the sun burns all the view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What sounds there in the boundless blue?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Faith—is it more than a meek despair?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Truth—than one’s own note echoed in air?</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Hope—than his dawn’s bright dew?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O hush’d Heaven, but what would I give,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How would I love, and how would I live,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To know the soul’s tale to be true!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_67"></a>[67]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_68"></a>[68]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="DRAMATIC">DRAMATIC.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_69"></a>[69]</span></p> - -<h3 id="dramatic1">IDEALS MADE REAL.</h3> - -<h4>I.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It seem’d a rare and royal friendship, ours,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very sovereignty of sympathy;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Begun so early too—mere lads we were—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And now I never look back there again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, swept like shading from a hero’s face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In pictures,—those of Rembrandt,—all the school</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Appear in hues of dim uncertainty</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Surrounding Elbert, shining in relief.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not strange was it; too tender was I made;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor oft had felt a touch save that of age,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When moulding all my methods to its own.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Kept back from contact with rough boys at play,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till sensitive and shrinking as a girl,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A hint of their regard could master me;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No maiden, dreaming of her wedding day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could wake at morning with more trembling hopes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than I, when looking forward to my school.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when I reach’d it, not a Bluebeard more</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could have disturb’d a trusting bride’s romance.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_70"></a>[70]</span></p> - -<h4>II.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At first, they lodged me there with such a loon!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our clown!” so said the boys; and clown he was;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would tease all day, and tumble round all night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, every morning, sure as came the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would start and rout me out, with strap in hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Plied like a coach-whip round my dancing shape,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Well put to blush until I dodged away.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A chum had Elbert too; and, like my own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A wild boy caged, who seem’d more wild at times</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through beating at his bars, a hapless wretch.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when our happier love had flower’d in us,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Half pitying each other, half this chum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which pity grew, we both stood round, scarce loath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To note his own wild set inflating him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With well-blown whims that swell’d his empty pride</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forsooth, the better bubble he could be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The better hope we two could have of what</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should blow him from us. Then the blow came on:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A gust of scolding struck him, and he went,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Obey’d the call that had been mouthed for him,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An inn-clerk’s, as I think,—and bow’d content</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sink from view like Paul, one gloomy night,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From out the window of his room; while we,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much giggling, flung his luggage after him.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_71"></a>[71]</span></p> - -<h4>III.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My friend, thus widow’d, caused that our school’s head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Already nodding o’er his noonday pipe,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should beck at sever’d dreams with one nod more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so consent to our dreams.</div> - <div class="verse indent28">Room-mates made,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We slamm’d his door and woke him; not ourselves.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our dreamland lasted, that is, when we two</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were by ourselves. When more surrounded us—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You know boy-friends are shy: is it a trait,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their shielding of their hearts, that fits them thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For life-tilts of their manhood?—How we two</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would rasp each other when the world look’d on!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In truth, each seem’d to wear his nature’s coat</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soft side inward, comforting himself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And turn the rough side only toward the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If strangers chafed against it, yet oneself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And friend were saved this.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">When thus Elbert’s cloak</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was mine, and mine was his, and both held both,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No proof could have convinced me in those days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His peer had ever liv’d. What seem’d in him</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So mild and beautiful, was more than marks</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_72"></a>[72]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Mere difference between a porcupine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Provok’d and peaceable. The kind was new;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not human, so angelic. Ay, that soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As pure as loving, and as fine as frank,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I half believe to-day, as I did then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stood strange amid his comrades of the play</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As dogwood, wedded to the skies of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">White in a wilderness of wintry pines.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, could all find all on earth so dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Christ’s work were common. I had died for him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In fact, to shield the rogue, I just escap’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That very fate a score of times or more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bluft, bruis’d, and battling for him on the green.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Our love kept warm until our school-day-sun</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had set; and afterwards the smouldering fires</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were fed by letters, and rekindl’d oft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By friction of a frequent intercourse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through visits in vacations; then, for years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind it there was left a lingering light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pervading moods of memory like the rays</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Pour’d through a prism, wherein the commonest hues</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will spray to uncommon colors when they break.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In truth, I never see to-day a face</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where flash the kindling feelings of a boy,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_73"></a>[73]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But back of it, I seem to feel the warmth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Elbert’s heart. No school-boy past me bounds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But his dear presence comes to leap the years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And rush on recollection, with a force</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That brings from depths of joy, still’d long ago,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A spray as fresh as dash’d from them when first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They stream’d in cataracts. With love like his</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To flood its brim, my soul appear’d so full</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, overflowing at each human touch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its pleasures could not stagnate.</div> - <div class="verse indent34">But, you know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How fly the clouds above us, and in drought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The old springs fail; and long we liv’d apart.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>V.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Elbert, when we met, talk’d much of this:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, all its chairs made vacant one by one,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Th’ applause rose thinner at his bachelor-club;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, brief as birds’, are human mating-times;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How men, mere songs forgot, withdraw to nests—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To homes—their worlds, where all the sky is fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sunny smiles they love, and shadowy locks.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How sweet were life whose light and shade were these!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“We, Norman,” said he, “were contented once;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To love each other only; but men part;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_74"></a>[74]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And I confess that, while this light of love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Plays lambent round so many glowing lips,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I feel as chill, and lost, and out of place,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As one lone dew-drop, prison’d in a shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of universal noon.”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“The sun,” said I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Will free it, by and by. Our time will come.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Must come,” replied he, “or I go to it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Henceforth, let beauty’s beams but gleam for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I shall not shun them, as has been my wont,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But make my eyes a sun-glass for my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And let them burn it.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">“May they burn,” I cried,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Until love’s fragrant opiate fume so strong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It make your brain beclouded as a Turk’s.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I, alas, though wild o’er many a maid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Am never mad enough to marry her.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You poets,” laugh’d he, “soar above earth so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That common clouds like these can reach you not.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But why say ‘clouds’? for clouds rise o’er a flame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That smoulders. Love that burns is always clear.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But mine will not burn clearly, till it show</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A woman,” said I, “fitted for a mate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose mind, like yours, can really match my own.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_75"></a>[75]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Till then must memory, jealous for her past,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Out-do love’s hope that cannot promise more.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But maidens,” cried he, “are not loved like men.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bind beauty to their souls, then weigh the twain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one weigh naught, he waives his judgment then.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We must be practical.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">Thus Elbert spoke,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While I, for whom these light and vapory moods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had gather’d o’er that soul in slightest clouds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not tokening the storm that yet should burst,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Smiled only, thinking how, where throbb’d his heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some maid unnamed must surely stand and knock;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though this I had forgotten, save for that</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which happen’d later. You shall hear of it.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">It came in Dresden, something like a year</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More late than when my plan for life was changed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The change seem’d sudden; but, you know, the blow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That swept from me my parents, fortune, all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could not but stun me, and I could not think.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No other theme seem’d mine; I could not write.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So came my change—no myth—I felt it all:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One time, when, lonely, I to Christ had knelt,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_76"></a>[76]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I rose to seem not lonely; I was His,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He mine. I vow’d to live then but for Him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To break away from every cord of Earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make my life accordant with his own.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not only would I think the truth, but yield</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each grain in all my being to the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sow in wildest wastes, where all should germ</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In generations growing toward the good.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But still, a novice yet, though, like St. Paul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To will was present with me; to perform</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I found not how; but, on performance bent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within a chancel chanting with the choir,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I stood before an altar, half the day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half before my books, with cravings pale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For church and stole and sermons of my own.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then was it Elbert’s friendship further’d me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For finding me, and staring at my face,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And books, and cassock—when the puzzle pass’d,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He, humbling to my humor, praised the priest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the powers of priesthood, till delight</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Relax’d the rigor of my rôle; and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He wedged the wisdom of his own desire</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within my dreams, and broke apart their spell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And drew aside the curtains of their couch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spoke of dawn, and light for all the world.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_77"></a>[77]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“First learn about this world,” he urged, “and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Learn how to help it. Minds like mine,” he said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Should teach, revise, reform, and start the thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To counteract ill aim’d philosophy.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here loom’d an end worth reaching! which to reach</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twere well to cross the sea.—His purse was mine.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And go you as a student,” Elbert said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nor clad so like a priest, for whom all earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will don some Sabbath-day demean; go free</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To find the man, hard by his work, at home.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus pleading many days, at last he won;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, yielding to his wish, the sea I cross’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>VIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Soon, borne to Dresden for a leisure week,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With whom, one morning, should I chance to meet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But Elbert’s elder sister?—now grown staid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And matronly withal, a second wife,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In charge of half a dozen sturdy boys;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though these I saw not then; but all alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much flush’d and flurried, sweeping up the street,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She stopp’d, and cried abruptly, “Why, my friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are you here, Norman?—you?—where from?—how long?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_78"></a>[78]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Not heard of you for years! That Elbert, drone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will never write the news. How glad I am</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To see a man on hand when needed once!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Two girls, young friends of mine, just come to town,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have lost their trunks,—and I my husband too,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there they stand amid such throngs of men!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And did you note the statues in Berlin,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all the streets?—of warriors, every one!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And these two girls, here travelling, by themselves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where might makes right, and woman slighted is,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not strange it is their feelings toward you men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In heat of indignation seething up,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should brew some barm at times of bitterness!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>IX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, rattling on, she led me, as confused</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As feels a warrior at the morning drum,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till came a sight supreme, arousing me:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Two bright eyes only, sparkling in the light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where flush’d a face that flared, then hid itself</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind a travelling hood, befleck’d with dust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fring’d with venturous locks of careless hair.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I have them now!” it cried; and straight began</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A tale, strain’d sweeter through those lips aglow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than sunset music. Then, when all was told,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_79"></a>[79]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The name I heard was “Edith.”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">Bowing low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Well done!” essay’d I; then,—to bandy back</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That charge against the men I just had heard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From her who brought me,—“Well done as a man!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>X.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“That speech,” laugh’d she thus bandied, “scarce deserves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our ‘Well done as a woman!’—Edith, hark,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His praise for you is, ‘Well done as a man!’”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Edith, echoing after, naïvely dropt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I tell you—nay—I will not say it though.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Please do?” I ventur’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent24">“Nay; it may offend,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Replied she; while her shoulders gently shrugg’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As if to tempt me like two dainty doors,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Doors all but swung ajar before a heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love was dared to enter!</div> - <div class="verse indent32">“Nay,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I vow you such a deal of patience now!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I do not know,” she answer’d; “am not sure.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your manly patience might break loose to sigh</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_80"></a>[80]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">More hints about my manhood! Just to think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That half of all mankind are merely girls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so must borrow all their tact from men!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not so,” I said; “not so; but commonly.”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, commonly! and what,” she sigh’d, “is this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That men-minds do so well?—discriminate?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet even I, dull woman, I can see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Brains differ in their grain. But men, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Feel so much matter lodged in their brains—eh?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they weigh mind like matter in the lump,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And judge of character, as if ’twere clay:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This forms a man—has wisdom, firmness, power;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that, a maid—is foolish, fickle, frail,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And never can be wholly safe, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Except when subject to a man, her lord!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, but,” I said, “we men all prize you so!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hold you ours, our pride seems infinite.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus lifted up by you, it is your fault</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If we seem lords to you.”</div> - <div class="verse indent24">“Is it?” she ask’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Or have you seem’d so long our lords, you think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your lording over us has trained in us</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What still needs lording over? Fashion yields</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man, at times, exemption from her forms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But woman never. Wherefore, pray, is this?</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_81"></a>[81]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not they both have souls? and both aspire?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must one class only slave it to her sex?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I think the soul of woman as of man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May show some mastery over its abode.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But yet,” I said, “You know, her frame divine—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soul, too—men confuse things—who can tell</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which is the soul?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">She answer’d absently:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In truth they do confuse things! only wise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As owls that blink at light!—so blind—nor see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What day dawns with a wife’s enfranchisement;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ambitious, but forgetting that the meek,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inherit heaven, or that the oppressor dwarfs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His own surroundings; that if pride stoop not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then must the soul; that earthly lords must bend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lift their consorts to their own prized seats,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As equals, queens; or else must house with slaves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And make the slavish habits there their own.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Well said!” I thought. “Disown it, though she may,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This maiden’s mood is manlier than she deems”;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, as with manhood, so my wits went forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To find a way to test her further still.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_82"></a>[82]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Just then the sister of Elbert, gesturing toward</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sister of Edith, Alice, whom she fetch’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cried, half-way introducing us, “My fan!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I stoop’d, and pick’d it up. Then, bowing low,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your humble slave,” I said. “You know, some claim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That genuine friends of either sex are slaves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And only want of love would snatch a whip,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And snapping it, cry out: ‘This way—serve me.’”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And I, like them,” said Edith, slightly flush’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Seem wholly loveless. You may mourn it less</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That yonder carriage waits me. For to-day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All thanks for coming! We may meet once more.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My face flamed hot as if its veil of flesh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would burn, and bare the soul, to show I meant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No rudeness. Elbert’s keen-eyed sister laugh’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, walking homeward then, kept bantering me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To storm my heart with courage womanly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So sure that love of sex controls us all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“So fortunate!” she cried; “Heaven favor’d me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They had no escort,—I no rival near;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I must ply my arts this very eve.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, but my plans!” I said;—“I leave to-day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For studies at Berlin.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_83"></a>[83]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">“Yes, yes; your plans!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You serve ideals, like all idiots.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But you are more, much more, than out your teens;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And—well, you are no hermit, any way.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then must I find”—I laugh’d, yet half in earnest—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The charms to tempt me!” and my reckoning</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fill’d all my fingers doubly with the traits</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of perfect womanhood.</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“She owns,” I heard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“All these, and more. For once, my poet, dream;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And full Elysium waits you when you wake.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But mind you, Norman, maids of Edith’s kind,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In whose one person love so womanly</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With intellect so manly has been join’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Need not to marry for a hand or head.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There, hearts alone can win. Bear this in mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And fan your fancy till your words grow warm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, glow to flash the white heat of the soul!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, crying from her door, “Farewell till eve,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True to her sex, unanswer’d yet assured,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The woman left.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent18">And so my will was caught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The net so deftly drawn, I flounder’d first,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, resting, smiled. We fight the hydra, we,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_84"></a>[84]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Who war against our nature. Every head</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That reason clove would rise redoubled there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forsooth, my rudeness:—that should be explain’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For which a single visit would suffice;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this, for scarce a day, need check my work;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, if I linger’d longer, all my life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lay still before me. Wherefore haste away?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fate might be beckoning!—“Nay, I should not leave,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sigh’d hope, too warm, at last, by more than half;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then roused sweet echoes of faint hints, recall’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From churchly sources, of one’s need to wed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If he would work the best, for all, with all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, like two cowards, clinging each to each,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weak wish nudged wisdom, and weak wisdom wish.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who gets on better?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">So that night we went.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, all the way, my gay guide rail’d at me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Aha, my bachelor, your roving love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aha, has had its day! Yon sunset hues</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But deck the curtains hung before its night.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Alas,” I cried, “if I must through them pass,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Woe me who wish it! See, in front of them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The river in the horizon underneath—”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_85"></a>[85]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“Your Jordan, ere your promis’d land!” she said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You need baptizing for your harden’d heart.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah me!” I sigh’d, yet strangely; for there seem’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While all the way the twilight thicker sank,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Sweet silence luring dreamward wind and bird</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the reverent air lay hush’d where came</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hallowing influence of holier stars.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, all the way, deep folding round my soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With every nerve vibrating at its touch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fell dim delight, through which, as through a veil,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some nearer presence breath’d of holier life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, wandering Heart, and had I had my day?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With closing gates as golden as yon west?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And whither was I moving in the dark?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Who knows?” my spirit ask’d, “who knows or cares?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On through the twilight threshold, trustingly!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What halt thou, Night, that weary souls need fear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou home of love entranced, thou haunt of dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy halls alone can hoard the truth of heaven!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy dome alone can rise to reach the stars!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She roused me, crying out, “Look toward the porch!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I look’d, and there beheld our waiting friends,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_86"></a>[86]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And, grouped with them, some ruddy German maids</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose deeper hues but finely rimmed with shade</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The subtler beauty of our special hosts.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These came from out that western world wherein,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By fresher breezes and by brighter suns,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Saxon tissue, sweeten’d and refined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unfolds, each season, more ethereally.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The two then moving from their sister-maids,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like petals loos’d from roses when in bloom,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came forth to welcome us; and, greetings o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Europe, Edith spoke, and Germany,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And books, and music—how the church of Greece</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had carved earth’s pivot that earth whirls upon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the centre of a flag-stone round</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That paves a chapel in Jerusalem.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But she, who track’d that viewless whirl by sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And deem’d all harmony to centre here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A Grecian only in her love of art,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had found that pivot fix’d in Germany.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“True Grecian, she!” the sister of Elbert cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Each morning brings her fresh from shrines of art,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All flush’d, a priestess from an oracle,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To sanctify us grosser mortals here</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_87"></a>[87]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">With vague suggestions! mutter’d mysteries!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, to hear her rave once!”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">Edith smiled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And eyes that see are blest!—and which sees most—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My worship, or your wonder? Know you, friend,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She turn’d to me and asked,—“this critic’s ground?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Sistine Babe it was, we spoke of Him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because I find art’s glass, when rightly held,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Revealing through the real the truth ideal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said: ‘I seem to see not only Him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Babe, but back of Him, His heavenly home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I seem to enter this—His handmaid there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And there commune until my soul is blest.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said: ‘From thence my spirit seems to come,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And feel its arms to be the throne of Christ.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And this,’ I said, ‘is wrought for me by art.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some hold that souls transmigrate after death,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But art,’ I said, ‘makes mine transmigrate here.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this you hear of raving. Do I err?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul of feeling is in thought, not so?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then one, to feel refresh’d, must think she bathes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In rills that reach her from the freshest springs.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah,” said the sister of Elbert, soothingly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Our soaring lark here bathes in each bright pool.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_88"></a>[88]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So be not frighten’d off; her plumes but shake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sprinkling from the bath they had to-day.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Some please the world,” said Edith; “I, myself,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul, I mean; nor long to clip that soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To suit mere worldling’s notions. Courting crowds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A soul lives crampt; but if one speak the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crowds leave—good riddance!—place is clear’d for friends.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Clear’d verily!” her sister cried, “Long live</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These household pet-gods of our modern homes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like sprites to fright the stranger off! Now own</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fear you felt. It would appease her so!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">To this rose no reply to Edith’s lips.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I mark’d, instead, a gentle trembling there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like ripples roused upon a tranquil sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That rise from deep, unseen disturbances.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“They fail to read her rightly,” thought I, then—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You know no man can flinch it: woman’s grief,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If there be any manhood left in him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will rouse his efforts to bespeak her peace—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I found myself her soul’s expositor</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To clear the channel of its overflow.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And when the thought is in one, when it springs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why, then, not let it spring? The world is not</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_89"></a>[89]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So fill’d with thoughts that it can spare our own.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if we startle folks, jog off the guise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of their deceit, we spy them as they are.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between souls thus discover’d, Edith deems</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love must flow; while friendship caught by craft</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is lost by confidence. I think her right.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not? We all when in our noblest moods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Crave homage for our souls’ nobility.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But what our souls are in themselves, who know,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save as our rôles report us outwardly?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did not divine hands form us as we are?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who love us as we are, love higher things</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than those who love what earth would make of us.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My champion!” Edith cried; and waved her thanks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With white sleeves fluttering from her shapely sides—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah me, a wing’d one sent to save my soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had scarcely stirr’d in me a greater joy.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My mien must have reveal’d it. Like a lake,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose fogs unfold, when comes a genial sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her moods unfolded to my sympathy;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_90"></a>[90]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And, brightly imaged in her nature’s depths,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I seem’d, at every turn, to face my own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So new to me such views were, that I felt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As thrill’d as feels the savage maid, when first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She finds her own face in a stranger’s glass,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spell-bound lingers, learning of herself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So wrapt, my wonder hung, all wistfully,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About that spirit bright. What meant it all?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not then believe,—I scout it yet,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That mortals can afford to slight the souls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reflecting theirs, who make them mind themselves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And prize the good they own, and dread the ill.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">You smile, friend: yes; and often so would I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My head would oft, made jealous of my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deny that reason ruled my impulses.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft my heart, to bear such weight of joy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would faint from too much feeling. I would ask</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could I be sane yet find my life so sweet?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At least I would be sure; so like a friend</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who finds a long-lost friend amid a crowd,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And stares, and holds him at arm’s length, a time,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere clasping him with courage to his breast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That wellnigh bursts the while, I held her off,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This long-sought soul that mine had found a friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And did not dare to trust her as I would.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_91"></a>[91]</span></p> - -<h4>XX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">What struggles then were mine! Too cautious grown,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To dare to risk a fall, though but in love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How would I brace my powers against her charms</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That might unbalance me! How would my will,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That strove to master my reluctant mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make stiff my every smile! or, were my heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too strong to be suppress’d, how would I thwart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And turn each glance that could reveal one glimpse</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of how I loved her, toward her sister first!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unconscious Edith,—could she read deceit?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas all I dared to use. How could I else,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Poor fool, that then I felt myself to be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hide my infatuation!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">What of her?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could she know me when a mask I wore?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was not her sister pleased, when pleasing me?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did Edith not please me, when pleasing her?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so for Alice only seem’d her care;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Alice was a fair and flippant naught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An empty echo only of my love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sweetness of the family all had gone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To fill the elder Edith.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">Then alas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too late, I learn’d my error. How I chafed,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_92"></a>[92]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Kept back from midnight strolls for sake of Alice!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And jogg’d from tête-a-têtes to give her place!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then with her left, inspired alone to wish</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be like her a dunce; and thus to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like her, in some way, Edith’s all-in-all.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor could I hint this truth to Edith; nay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unselfish, all ethereal in her thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A disembodied soul had held less moods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Touch’d through the senses. One had sooner snared</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With tatter’d nets of tow a wind of spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or with his own breath warm’d the wintry air.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her love’s regard in no way could be reach’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times, I would essay philosophy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or try to freight her fancy’s wings with facts.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like merest sand, flung off a nervous bird,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My pleas were shaken back.</div> - <div class="verse indent24">She “There,” would cry;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Some everlasting everybody’s law</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Applied again to me! Nay, nay, this world</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would grind one’s very soul to common dust!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And what else are we?” turn’d I once to ask;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Would God we all could free ourselves from laws;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_93"></a>[93]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But half our lives we spend in learning them;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half in learning how to love them then.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And but in souls that learn life’s laws by heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has wisdom, so it seems, a sway complete.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis thus with earthly wisdom,” she rejoin’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“But earth is ruled by folly,—idiot child</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of freedom fetter’d. You may live the slave;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I choose freedom!”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">And, as then she left,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You lawless,” thought I, “will you always prove</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The water Undine of my wilderness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All maddening, with strange metamorphoses,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My faint love thirsting to refresh itself?”—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft while I this would moot, she changed, and seem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A fount of laughter now that sprang within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O’er-rill’d her lips and rippled round her guise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very train’s hem shaken by the flow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, nay, but I shall trust you yet,” I thought;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And still believe you good, and hold it true</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That maids, like minnows, rarely show themselves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till, caught and drawn from out the open sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They frisk in safety in some household pond!”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_94"></a>[94]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Like this, my moods moved on,—life’s usual way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The mainspring sped by balanced contraries,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And every pulse, whose beating proves we live,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon with deathlike voids alternating.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One hour, my faith in her was like the sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The next, my doubt was lightless as the night.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All prefaced fitly that which you shall hear.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I, once, recurring to my youth, had said</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Elbert, that he soon, fulfilling plans</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Long form’d, would join me here in Germany.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why,” Alice cried, “to think you know so well</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our Elbert!”</div> - <div class="verse indent12">“Yours?” I ask’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent30">“Ours,” Edith said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ay, ay; our families have been friends for years.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But spite her careless tone, her eyes appear’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slipping through lashes long, to shun my own.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And why was this?—And why, too, had she flush’d?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What subtle weapon had been used to cut</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the surface of her mien, and bring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The heart-blood from its core?</div> - <div class="verse indent30">Then I recall’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How Elbert’s moods, of late, had hid themselves</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_95"></a>[95]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In strange far mists of fancy.—Could it be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Edith, she was his?—And he, my friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was he the one then that had caged her love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And placed it where my soul in reaching forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could sense but bars of chill indifference?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could not ask her nor her sister this;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor even Elbert’s now, for in the week</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When first I met her, she had sail’d for home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But soon, like worms that would not wait for death,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fear-fretted jealousies clung round the form</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of dying hope that now prized Edith more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To feel that Elbert too had prized her so.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A few days later, as we sat and talk’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He on us burst, and brought a sudden light</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illuminating her, and paling me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Blanch’d, ash-like, in the flame of that hot flush</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That warm’d her welcome. All my heart and breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seem’d sunk in silence like the buzzing bees</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When autumn steals the sunlight from the flowers,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And frost seals down their sweets. I heard them talk</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like one who just has walk’d a glacier path</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With boist’rous friends; then, stumbling, slips away,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_96"></a>[96]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Far suck’d through freezing fathoms down to death,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet hears the cruel laughter crackling still.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This hardly tuned my mood for Elbert’s glee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When then we left the sisters. “Ah, good friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So glad to see you! Such a desert, life!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And friendship, such an oasis!—Your health!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our dusty throats need clearing first, and then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shall drafts drawn deeper clear our dusty souls.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus led he, hurrying on from thought to thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet not one breath for Edith could he spare.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not? Could he not trust my friendship yet?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Half anxious then, half curious to detect,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though wary still of love so subtly hid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My lips, bold-braced yet trembling at the deed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Essay’d a note to touch him,—Edith’s praise.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“She looks well,” said he, somewhat absently.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“She looks well!” cried I, half-way nettled now;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should Edith be abused, forsooth, to show</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What brutes men are who lose their trust! “She looks—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For what then do you take her? for a frame,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An empty effigy of human shape,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_97"></a>[97]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Like what a shopman hangs his gowns upon?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her soul is what I spoke of,—of her soul.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Her soul?” he said; “may be; but I, may be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have never seen it.”</div> - <div class="verse indent20">“How?—this too!” I thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“A slight is it?—or triumph that he vaunts?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He caught my feeling from my fever’d mien,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And words confused and few; and, warming then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made answer: “Norman, if I loved you less,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I more might love, and more might spare myself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thing my sister wrote, I deemed her whim;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could not conceive it true, yet can it be?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I swear, it staggers half one’s faith to find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man, devoted to the aims you claim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So little circumspect.”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">What meant he now?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could he believe that I had form’d a plan</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To woo his Edith, knowing she was his?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And could my sleepless nights, my troubled heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My prayerful deeds, my nature that he knew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be so misjudged, without some fault in him?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“So little circumspect in what?” I ask’d.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then with words that could but anger me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“In what but choice of company?” he said;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_98"></a>[98]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“No more you think of study, duty, church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But waste the whole day long with one like this!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, check me not. I understand my words.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This actress, though right artless in her way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This actress here, would play”—</div> - <div class="verse indent28">“With me!” I cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“This ‘actress!’” and I know not what I said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet recall what kept him forcing in,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“You err!”—“You do me wrong!”—“You know her not!”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wild words, the which he ended, saying then:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not such am I as you profess to be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But had you common-sense, no piety,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You might perceive a farce, if not a fault:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A broad church yours will be then, when your mate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Attracting toward the stage by charms you lack,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will draw the sinner, while you draw the saint.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Struck blind, I scarcely could have felt more stunn’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was this the truth? An actress would she be?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why had that sister of his not told me this?—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not told you this?” cried Elbert; “What? not told?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, ay, I see.—She hoped that love, perchance—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_99"></a>[99]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">It is a woman’s balm for every ill—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might woo this Edith from her present life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She knows her not.—And you—have you told her?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Does Edith know your plans?”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“She must have known”—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I answer’d back; and then I check’d myself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did not she blush to hear that Elbert came?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For fear was it, lest he should tell the truth?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To me, her friend? to me, deceived, her dupe?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To me, whose love she might have known, yet knew</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That all that she had seem’d was not her all?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If she had meant deception, could my love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Survive the test?</div> - <div class="verse indent16">Those watching death-beds, mark</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That souls, when dying, ere above they spring,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Breathe deep, then pass away. And so with minds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When come the deadliest woes. Down deep in thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I scarce had deem’d that aught from hell could roil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such dregs of bitterness long undisturb’d.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fault, sigh’d conscience, had been all my own:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How safely might one sail the sea of life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If all his reckonings were but true to heaven!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, siren-like, a rivalling earthly love</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_100"></a>[100]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">May lure to realms whose mountain heights are clouds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Clouds warmly hued above a cold gray shoal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose only outlines are the breakers’ caps,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose only stir, the fury of the storm.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And I, who now had learn’d the truth, what now?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should I turn back to aims I knew were safe?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I swore to do it; yet I thought—and thrill’d—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could I but hold her soul, but own herself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though all things else were lost, this gain were sweet!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were sweet, though all were lost? Why need this be?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All might be saved. Did I believe in God?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That he could change a life through human means?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might not her life be chang’d then?—What were I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But faithless wholly, did I try this not?</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So, soon, to draw her thoughts out, baiting mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some slur I dropt, suggested by a church:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It touch’d a theatre. “Extremes,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Have met.”</div> - <div class="verse indent6">“Extremes have met,” she said, “before!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I take your meaning. Elbert has disclosed—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not what I am, but what I seem to be</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_101"></a>[101]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To those who will not view me as I am.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You join their lists?—I hoped for better things.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But was it right to keep me ignorant?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I hoped it right,” she said, “to keep you wise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What Elbert thought, I knew. With you, had hopes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That she who might not seem so wholly wrong</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might better represent a class unknown,—”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Without design, might represent amiss,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I answer’d. “As for you, however class’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I fear no class could claim you, all in all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For all rules have exceptions.”</div> - <div class="verse indent32">“Take but rules</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this time,” said she. “Did you ever find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ever, when the seers look forth through heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They view there pews and pulpits?—Nay, not so:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet oft they note a stage and galleries,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All throng’d with white-robed hosts attendant there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So these, you see, at times may hint of good.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“They may,” I said, “but do they, as a rule?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, as a rule,” she said, “they hint of life—”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But mainly life to laugh at or to fear,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I answer’d.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_102"></a>[102]</span> - <div class="verse indent14">“When emotion swells and shrinks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The spirit’s wings are moving,” she replied.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And that art moves them most, which mirrors most</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The life that is, and therefore is the truth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So often have I heard my father say:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘We read of truth who spell from nature’s page;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And art can best make out the meanings there;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For ’tis the artist’s thought that finds each form</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A form of thought,—imagination’s glass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That views the infinite in the finite fact.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here moves a man, you say. What see you?—man?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay; that guise material fashions there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The image only of his manliness.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you can only know his life within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As from the image you imagine it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yon little girl that skips beside the porch,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know her, love her, not, save as I pass</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind that face to reach a region rare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where dolls are sentient babes, and brothers kings.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yonder maidens, musing in delight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know not, love not, till, in sacrifice,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My spirit seems to yield to their desires,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To wait a watchful servant unto them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To move with motives that inspire their deeds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To look through their own eyes and see their views,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_103"></a>[103]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And thrill with rhythm when their ear-drums throb;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, joining all with all, imagine thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The movements of their hidden inner moods.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus too, through all of life, how know we more?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All things are fitful images alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Reflecting glory from the Absolute;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he who can imagine from the part</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What marks the whole, walks in the light of heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Find then a life where every child becomes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth’s animated toy of manliness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each man the mass from which to mould a god,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And earth the pit whence all heaven’s wealth is mined,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You find for thought a life worth living for,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A life the artist gives us: it is he</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Discerns a spirit always veil’d in shape,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A soul in man, and reason everywhere.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, Edith, so I mused, an artist thou,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou art indeed! but not an actress, no,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whatever may have train’d thee, save to tread</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The stage of truth! and Elbert’s every act</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Against my flinty confidence in her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Struck fire and flash’d, each time I met him now;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more so, that each time I met him now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In earnest, or to stir me to distrust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He flutter’d like her fan at Edith’s beck,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_104"></a>[104]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Her silence fill’d with subtlest flattery,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her vacant hours invaded with himself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all my life, at last, appear’d a plot</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To steal upon his absence, and then pluck</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love’s fruit which once his presence only brought.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And so, henceforth, I less could welcome him.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could I do it,—with his views of her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet wooing her?—He wellnigh made me doubt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I might not mistake her,—doubt I check’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flush’d fiercely soon that Elbert’s deeds could hint</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thought so unworthy. When I spoke to him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He laugh’d me off.</div> - <div class="verse indent18">“Why, man, I like your friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And she likes me; and with the other sex</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more we like, sometimes, the less we love—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or think we love. Do I deceive her, then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In showing friendliness?—Why think you so?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forsooth, if beauty pleases me, I smile;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If gracefulness beguile me, gaze at it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If wisdom awe me, offer my respect.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Good art I laud; with fancy, am a poet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with emotion, an enthusiast.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What then?—Am I a hypocrite?—How so?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must all our sympathy be personal?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Must one appropriate all that he would praise?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is beauty such a flower, or is a man</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_105"></a>[105]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So much a beast, that, having taste for it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He needs must go and gorge it down?—Go to!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I watch the fair thing; of its fragrance quaff;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then leave for others. Edith knows this well;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For that, trust her.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">But was it, as he claim’d?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were both of them so wise?—Or would he now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By sheer sharp practice cut us two apart?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This more seem’d like him, and more anger’d me.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was I a boy that he should foil me thus?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet what to do?—The more I question’d this,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more I saw but only one true course.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our aims—my own and Edith’s—differ’d much.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet knew I more than this. Our hearts were one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all desires that had inspired these aims.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if our lives and hearts could be but join’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could not my love and hers, together put,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Outweigh such aims as would be hers alone?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not have faith in love, mine join’d with hers?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What power was mightier in the universe?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why not have faith to trust this only soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That ever I had met, to whom my moods</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could be unroll’d, assured of insight there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To read them rightly? Why, ’twas all decreed:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her power to read my soul gave her the right</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_106"></a>[106]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To know its love, whatever might be hers.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And were I but to speak the truth to her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So tell her all, why fear the simple truth?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For I would say I loved her, not her aims.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If then she should prefer her aims to me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It would be proof that she could love me not.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if she should prefer me to her aims,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then surely she could yield her wish to mine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">So, near the sunset of a summer’s day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While walking by the lake within the park,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“I mean,” I breathed out cautiously, “to write</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A tale of love; and I have plann’d the tale</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To open here. In after time, perchance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those minds to whom it proves of interest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May love to linger here, recalling it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Look now—this lake. To gain the full effect</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of palace, park, and yonder heaven unveil’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One, gazing downward in the water’s depth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should note them wash’d of gross reality,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And—as in art—reflected. With this view</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This tale of mine shall open. First of all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here, in the sunshine near us—at our feet—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, in the water; ay, friend, here I mean—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Just underneath us,—mark you, mark you, there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hero, and, beside him, his ideal!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_107"></a>[107]</span></p> - -<h4>XXXVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And when she saw us two there, “What?” she cried;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then stood speechless; whereat I sped on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Detailing all my plans and all my hopes:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How she, with soul so true and aim so high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Might meet in them the mission meant for her,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How all the wrongs of earth might be redeem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through sacrificial deeds of such as we.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Still stood she silent. Then I spoke again:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“But think not, Edith, for my plans alone</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I plead with you. I plead, too, for myself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tell my plans that you may know myself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not holding that I stand above you, friend.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, nay; I oft feel worthy scarce to touch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your fingers’ tips, or stand erect and taint</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The level of the air you breathe in; nay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not judge your life; would only crave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When we have so much else in sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That holy state where two souls, else at one,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would both be God’s.—Ah, could you thus be mine?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Her silence then was broken. “Well might I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be proud to be thus yours. Who could not find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All meet for manhood, in your manliness?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But no, for you forget our different aims.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_108"></a>[108]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">You never told me of these plans before.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, Norman, now—no, no; for, through your church,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That fann’d some whim of his, left smouldering,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some spark of doubt to ardent heresy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My father suffer’d, lost his honor’d name,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His living, all; nor struggled, scrimpt, and starved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To leave his daughter ignorant of the cause.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I?—no, no; it courses through my blood;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you would hate my tastes, which cannot be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like yours religious; no, for I was made</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be the minister of only art.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But, Edith,” urged I, “truth far more includes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than most men deem who would deem all things theirs.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your tastes are not religious?—Mine are not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If by religion you mean piety,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Religion’s brew, froth’d bubbling to be seen.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But how is it beneath the surface, friend?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Down deep within?—is not the substance there?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I never seem’d religious half so much</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As when at one with you.”</div> - <div class="verse indent30">She but replied</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tell me how “her father’s legacy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had been her sister, whom she must not leave.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For her sake, seeking means of livelihood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She first rejected, then accepted what</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_109"></a>[109]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Her spirit, spurning once, had learn’d to love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As had her sister; and for both of them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each hope, and joy, and all they thought of now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was bounded by the music of the stage.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor could my logic change this; nay,” she said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not logic leads the artist on, but light.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I heard in vain—I could not give her up.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I urged her still, still hoping her to swerve.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My slight of music, rousing her defence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But proved my love too weak to rival it.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My father oft,” she said, “would quote your Book;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say ‘music marshall’d all the better life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What else could sway the soul, yet leave love free</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think and choose and do?’—What different moods,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She added, while before us play’d the band,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“These chords, we hear, arouse in different minds!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That maid may smile amid sweet dreams of love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her dark attendant dream of but her wealth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That matron plan some fresh self-sacrifice;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that spare fellow, twirling near her side</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soft mustache that downs his pursing lips,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Plan only how to hide their stingy look.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_110"></a>[110]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And thus all listen, musing different things;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all, with conscious freedom, muse of them;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet one harmony controls them all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aroused or calm to match its changing flow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What else but music frees the mind it rules?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Good-will to man,’ was first proclaim’d in song.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Good-will,” I said, “but follows will for good.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And will for good will come,” she answer’d back.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“As in the older advent, so to-day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would I believe in power behind sweet song</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To hold the universe in harmony,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Expelling evil and impelling good</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all the limits of created life,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A spirit’s power!—What though we mortals here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With eyes material cannot see the hosts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That issue forth in forms that while they move</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awake around us echoes everywhere!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We spring to spy them, but we only hear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their rustle in the trees by which they pass;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or where, with dash of water o’er the rocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They leave the sea or linger in the rill.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times they rest a moment on the earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When twilight hides them, sighing gently then,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lull to dreams, with tones in sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The lowly insect and the lowing herd.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times, amid the winds that rise at morn,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_111"></a>[111]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">They sweep across the land and startle sleep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From nervous birds that twitter in their track;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, now and then, in clouds that close the sky,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They bound adown the rift the lightning cleaves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till sunlight overhead pours through again.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A spirit’s power has music; and must rule</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unrivall’d still as far as ear can heed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or reason hark behind it. All the chords</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all things true are tuned by hands divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And thrill to feel the touch!—</div> - <div class="verse indent32">But sounds may rise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In souls untuned, like harp-strings when they snap,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, though more soft than dreamland breezes are,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May fright like forests when the dark leaves blow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About the solitary murderer—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sweetest airs to sweetest moods may bring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But foretastes vague of harmonies on high.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The school-girl hears her comrade’s ringing laugh,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis but the key-note trill’d before the tune.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The maiden heeds her lover’s mellow plea,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis but the gamut rill’d ere surge the chords.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dame is moved by tones that cheer her home,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And they perchance prelude the theme of heaven.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For even blows of toil and battle-guns</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May be the drum-rolls of the martial strains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That rise to greet the glory yet to come.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, wait we long enough, we all may hear</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_112"></a>[112]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In all things music; far above, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May hear the treble thrilling down from heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And e’en from hell no discord in the jar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That only thunders back a trembling bass.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus Edith spake; while I, left lonely all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beheld her, ardent for her art, a cloud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Aglow by dawn, then drawn away, away.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XXXIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I said, I know not what; but far too proud,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Intoxicated though I was by love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To let her view the folly of my fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said not all I felt; but what I felt,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the first fierce humbling of the storm,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Floods o’er my memory yet with half the woe</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That overwhelm’d me then. Am I, I thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So strong in love, and waiting long for it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And always true to it, to be outweigh’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By mere brute chaff of manhood, on the stage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or in the pit? I swore ’twas ever so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all her sex. Worth never weigh’d a straw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A very satyr could outwoo a sage.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weak woman!—yet she must be weak—in brain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or body. Better to be weak in brain!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She then, perchance, might serve a husband’s thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wisdom’s voice might rule the family!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_113"></a>[113]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But were her moods too strong to serve his thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She might serve that in him which could not think.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To wed she-brains, a man should seek to be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Commended as a fool!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XL.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">And then I stopp’d:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Here raved I, jealous of this fool alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This coming clown.—To think of him I blush’d—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But what of her?—of Edith?—She would live,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With faintest smile, to fascinate—ah—crowds!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The rabble would be ravish’d but, forsooth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To clap with crazy hands the rarer air</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherein she moved. For them, her voice would sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With every trill so swaying all who heard</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That thronging cheers would thunder in response!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her form, so sweet, would plead till foulest lives</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would feel how pure were joys beyond their reach,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And long for things their touch could never taint!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My sweet, sweet love!—</div> - <div class="verse indent26">But, moving at her side,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should I be aught?—Alas, I could but seem—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside the gilded glory of the stage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beside the loud-mouthed suitors of the show,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An unwhipt cur, to wait at some backdoor,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_114"></a>[114]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And jar with signalling bark the echo sweet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all-the-town’s applause. She mine would be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But as the sun, whose flaming brow has touch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The morning sea that flushes far and near,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is thine, O trembling globulet of spray,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Because, forsooth, his image, glass’d in all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sea and world, is glass’d, as well, in thee!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fool, fool! yet dear, dear folly!</div> - <div class="verse indent28">These my thoughts;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My words—all I recall now—came at last</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When slowly sauntering back we reach’d her home.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Would God,” I sigh’d, “the time might come for us,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, looking toward the future now so lone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We two should need no more to say good-night.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Good-bye,” she said, and left me in the gloom.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then was it, as I turn’d about, by chance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I came on Elbert; and my whole soul rose</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To dash at him its briny bitterness.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is he here, thought I,—he to whom, alas,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very potion, poisoning all my hopes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will prove the sparkling nectar of success,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bring good cheer, though bringing death to me?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then let him share it!—Still, my wiser pride</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_115"></a>[115]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The purpose check’d, and balancing rash hate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With hateful prudence, closed his opening smile</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But with a frown that would not welcome him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">With any truth to self, so argued I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could do nothing else; nor could abide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A town that held him. So I left the town;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so these friends of mine, so prized of old,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I had parted,—not as friends would part,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With love’s high zenith fever’d like the skies</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where eve has rent from them a fervid sun,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then cool’d and calm’d in starlight sprinkled thick</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the sun come back. We crack’d apart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like icebergs drifting southward, join’d no more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sunn’d alone the while they melt away.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No need is there that here I should recall—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not if I could—my suffering.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From Elbert, best of friends, my nobler self,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul of virtue and my heart of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What cause could rightly tear me?—Asking this,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My heart rose up from reason to rebel;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Indignant to have found a theory</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That dared to hold an innate impulse down;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While will, caught there, betwixt the heart and head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each charge would bear, and yet forbear to act.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_116"></a>[116]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And Edith, peerless Edith! how my soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would struggle to forget her! Struggling thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How fair her form, conjured by raving thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would rise, a Venus o’er my sea of sighs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till I would bend, and seem to plead anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To be forgiven for forgetting her!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, how would I tear her traits apart;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And pluck the petals from each budding grace</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And hope its naked stem some trace would show,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too void of beauty, to suggest again</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bloom and sweetness of the life I loved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, but while I wrought for this alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How would her virtues but the more unfold!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like God’s own glory flowering in the skies,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That those detect who would not find it there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, when they test the stars, have dealt with light.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I wrought and rested; it was all in vain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My highest consolation was the hope</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That hard-earn’d sleep might hold me long in dreams</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where evermore my soul might with her dwell,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though every morn I seem’d yet more alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Awake, asleep, throned constant o’er my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I served this image all intangible,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This photographic fantasy of truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This fairy nothingness of vanish’d fact,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_117"></a>[117]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A shape to love, minute yet mighty still,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To senses nothing, but to spirit all.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus lived I, triumph’d over; as are clouds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereon the sun sits throned; all bright are they,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bright beneath them is the sunset sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In splendid serfdom to its love, my soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That shone with kindling glory, thence beheld</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A kindling glory shine from all about.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">No whim of mine was this; it fills my creed;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The graft of all true love regenerates.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those in whom love is born are born anew,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all their family of fancies then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Bear family traits; those loving, and those not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Being wide apart as rainbows and the rain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I might be superstitious, but to me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The temple of my life’s experience</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had been less sacred, had it held no shrine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whereon to heap sweet tokens of my love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all that loom’d around seem’d holier now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Illumed by holy lights of memory.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor long was it ere I had grown to share</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all the love of all with whom I met;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And oft, too, thus invoking sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My wishes wrought like witches, and conjured</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The thing they wish’d for: sympathy would come.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_118"></a>[118]</span></p> - -<h4>XLV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And so my moods, thus moving on, at last</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Found special pleasure in a friendship form’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon a day of tramping through the Alps.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her name was Grace, and gracious was her mien;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And graces everywhere attended her</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through jars and joys of journeys afterward.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So splendid never as my Edith; never</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So striking, so alluring, or so shunn’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her brilliance would not dim a rival’s eyes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor beauty shade another’s face with frowns.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One saw in her a modest, model maid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A woman loved by women; and with men</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A presence, mellow-lighting like the moon;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet could she shed no light when came my storms,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As now they came full often. Then it seem’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her very mildness made her moods too dull</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To penetrate the clouds that cover’d mine.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“It must be lonesome here for one like you,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A stranger-land, indeed, here,” would she sigh.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why could we not, church people, day by day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have converse here, and thus live more at one?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">When hearts hold secrets, even love that comes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And comes in crowds, will bring the prying soul</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_119"></a>[119]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Full drive to spring them open. How I shrank</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To meet with those with whom my soul could find</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No source of sympathy beneath the sound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Produced when tongue and teeth and lips combine</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To mouth one shibboleth! A fate like this</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Foretoken’d only, made me well nigh faint</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As feels a soldier, falling at his post,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With heart shell’d out and emptied of the soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could but find excuses, partly real</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And partly feign’d, the fringe of ready whims.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She startled echoes from my inmost soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By words that named my “life-work.”</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“Yes,” I said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“We all should sympathize. All own one lord;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All wait beside one shore; all watch one tide.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So too do snipes and snails! and so do souls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That yet shall rule in heaven ten towns and one.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Souls differ, Grace; and John from James, as well</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As both from Judas.—Judas lingers too.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“So many,” sigh’d she, “sell their Christ, and think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Souls rich, that but receive suggestions rich</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From art or——”</div> - <div class="verse indent18">Had regard for Edith, now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made me, at last, a champion of art?—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_120"></a>[120]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">“However or wherever plied,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Real power for good owns good enough to claim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some courtesy from Christian charity.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I but fling a stone in yonder pond,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherever it may fall, it stirs the whole.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So if I throw out thought for mind or heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through art or through religion, each may move</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The whole man thus, and move him for his good.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah, but,” she breathed, with slight dogmatic stress,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“A simple woman, I would move his heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through love, as Christ too did; not so?”</div> - <div class="verse indent38">“Do this,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I said, “you do but what is woman’s right;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And none about you will dispute the right.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But ask me not to limit thus the Christ.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How dare I?—if our churches teach the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If He incarnated the sum of life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spirit of all good,—his holiness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His wholeness, and His perfectness, the proof</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of what He was? Nor dare I limit those</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who follow Him.—Why may they not live His,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not aiming here nor there, but everywhere</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make the most of all God meant them for.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And things there are that art can do for man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make him manlier. Not the senseless rock</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is all it fashions into forms of sense;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_121"></a>[121]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But senseless manhood, natures hard and harsh,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Great classes crush’d, and races driven to crawl</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till all their souls are stain’d with smut and soil,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More human seem these when the hands of art</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have grasp’d their better traits and hold them forth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And men who see these better traits, and see</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The tender touch of art that holds them forth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behold a beauty never else beheld;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all their hearts beat more humanely while</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They heed the plea of these humanities.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so, I think, although the wilderness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times, a John in camel’s hair may need,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There open too, in ways of life less wild,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More ways, where love may plead in guise more soft.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In short, as long as one may choose his course,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis best we do what each can do the best.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, you perplexing!” cried she; “not for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For <i>your</i> brain! Tell, pray, where it rummaged last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To catch these cobwebs?—I have seen them, yes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These halls are full of them, and libraries,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Old musty things!—But, Norman, soberly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This German text is bad for eyesight, yes;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And half I doubt—Come, tell me, tell the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do <i>you</i> see clearly aught that you can do?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why so?” I ask’d; “do you?”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Why not,” she said,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_122"></a>[122]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">All serious now, “do what shall yield life’s day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The most of glory at its evening hour?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sun sets brightest after days of storm.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“What, always?” ask’d I; “are you sure of this?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know true faith that mainly aims to rid</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our present life from fears of future ill.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To it what need of storms, if sunshine here</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May best prepare one for the future calm?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That future is eternal; even so</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can we gauge th’ eternal save by time?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can we judge of joy that will not end,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save by our own, if ours would only last?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What is it to be blessèd, if not this,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To find our process of becoming blest</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made permanent, our young weak wings of faith</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full fledged and flying by habit?—and if so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s habits are form’d here. Suppose a youth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That, by and by, he may enjoy much wealth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Act miserly,—what gains he by and by?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Much wealth, perhaps; but, holding with it, too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The miser’s moods, establish’d now as traits,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Incorporated modes of all his life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He with them holds what most unfits the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To use wealth, or enjoy it. So on earth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When avarice, aim’d for heaven, makes man a monk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What can he gain thereby, save monkish moods,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Become establish’d in him now as traits.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_123"></a>[123]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Incorporated modes of all his life?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But, holding these, the soul must with them hold</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What most unfits it to enjoy—not here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In any sphere at all,—a life of love.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>XLIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You surely would not mean,” she ask’d and paused,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“That you could throw aside your hopes? your vows?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your life-work?—seek enjoyment?”</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“Ah,” said I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Enjoyment is the man’s most heartfelt praise</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Him that fram’d his being. What should I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A child of God, do here but live God’s life?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which is not now, nor then, but evermore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul must thrive the best, as best I make</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My now, eternal; my eternal, now.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So when a storm comes, let me bar it out;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, braced against the present ill, grow strong;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when the sunshine, let me open wide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To that which makes all nature grow more sweet.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus, realizing in my earthly state</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The aim of heaven, why do I praise Him less</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose life is that of heaven, than those who wear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The guises of that slattern of the soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Asceticism, shuffling toward far good,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Slipshod and snivelling?”—</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_124"></a>[124]</span> - <div class="verse indent20">“Now, that goes too far!”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cried Grace. “Do I do this?—Ah, but I know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man so moody!—Own it. Were I you,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I just would set to work. To work off whims,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The best way, say they, is to work them out;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One hand at work is worth ten heads that shirk.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You find me moody!” sigh’d I; “and complain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Deem moods not meet. Oh, no they prove we feel!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor pious they: they prove we think!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>L.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent42">And yet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I could but blame myself; so fain to draw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This gentler soul from her still streams of life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toward waves thus fiercely dash’d about my own!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You know, though, how it is: our thought, like light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Opposed, will vaunt itself; and brightest play,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Glanced off from things it does not penetrate.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So, more to shock her than for sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My thought play’d round the surface of her life:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It had been shaped so—to so smooth a thing—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I burn’d to warp it of complacency.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft, though unconscious of the least mistruth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I feign’d a fall in fancied depths of ill,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And mock’d that I might hear her call me thence;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_125"></a>[125]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And learn’d therein to envy some the rake.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For what a charm it were to hear—not so?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That is, if one were vicious, through and through—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such pleas for love from lips that aye were pure?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The very depth of one’s unworthiness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would whet such relish for a thing so strange!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But weeks and months went by, in which she fill’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A certain void in life; and, every eve,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We parted for the night made better friends.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once, ending thus, the pleasures of the day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We chanced upon a path where, sauntering too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo, Elbert enter’d and encounter’d us.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At first scarce friendly, after divers tests,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And in the new light of my life with her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His older love return’d with oldest warmth:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“To think so thin a fancy,” he exclaim’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“As last I found you folded in, should screen</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our genuine hearts, a moment, each from each!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">The fancy thin!—I let him keep his word;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I would not argue.—Still, with care not loath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To guard some credit yet for having sense,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I hinted at the truth,—how I had changed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And how had changed my thoughts about myself,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_126"></a>[126]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">About my life-work. “For that fancy, friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That fancy thin my own true self reveal’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If spray it were, it left a constant sea</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That heaves and heaves. With moods that move like mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So madden’d by traditions, calm’d by dreams,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Content scarce ever, till at hazard dash’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through ways that lead to sheer uncertainty,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where fancy more may seek than matter shows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In things that are but matter,—what am I</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For life-work such as priesthood, sure in creeds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And sureties for the soul, whereon may lean</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All weaker faith, with warrant not to bend?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Elbert laugh’d. “Ah, were you but a bow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your bending most would shoot most.—Not a priest?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man alone?—You yet a brother are</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To many a soul that sails the sea of life,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where oft the horizon trembles with the change</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of wind and wave; and hope, too hale, oft mourns</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Fair promises, like skies that fade in fog.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man alone?—And yet the moods of man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May make men love us for our manliness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who draw them, Christ-like through our sympathy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toward self,—God’s image here, and thus toward Him.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_127"></a>[127]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“But draw them how?” I cried. “Woe me, I stand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A poet born, who deem’d his Muse had fled;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That time and trouble had a stone roll’d up,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her sweet form sealing in their sepulchre.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet one breath of love could rouse the dead.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All day the subtle spirit haunts me now,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thrill’d through and through to sound her sweetness forth.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then let it sound!” he said. “Rare rest it were,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were all one’s recreation freshen’d thus;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And slumber serenaded by the Muse.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“One’s recreation! slumber!” I exclaim’d;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Is mind a deep that wells with most of thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When void the most? I tell you none can draw</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A truthful inspiration save from truth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The poet’s ken may people heaven like clouds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All phantom shaped, and splendid as their sun;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all his fairest forms were vapors first</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That heaven drew, mist-like, from the earth beneath.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thought decks itself in holiday attire,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turns fantasy,—to expend the inertia large</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of large reserves of philosophic force,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Forced into play, the night’s dream opening where</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The day’s work closes.”</div> - <div class="verse indent22">“Close work thus,” he said;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“And all the measures of your verse may show</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_128"></a>[128]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">How sweet can be the echoes waked anon</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By labor’s ringing anvil.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“Nay,” I sigh’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Such work would bring too much of sleep,—no dreams.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When born with souls like harps the Muse would play,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What better can men do than toil to keep</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Their thoughts and feelings close in tune with truth?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For this will tax them wholly. They, who try,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With those few strings that fate has given to them,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To play all parts of all the orchestra</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will help the play of no part. We are men;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And straight and narrow must our pathways be.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If, Adam-like, we would be gods, we fall.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not given to mortal is the life supreme,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In naught unbalanced, laden light in naught,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Existence evermore at equipoise,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Complete with that which on itself depends.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oft, who his worth would double, nothing does</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Except to break the back of worth that was,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While doubled burdens fall to doubled waste.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We men should humbler be, and pray to heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To have horizons hanging nearer us.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our views too broad unfit us for the earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet fit us not for loneliness divine,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wide chill chaos, back behind the stars.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_129"></a>[129]</span></p> - -<h4>LIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus would I talk, and trouble Elbert much,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For he would rouse me in his rattling way:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why, Norman, you are hedging all our hopes.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not you pity moods that dote on you?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If, man, your metaphysics be not yet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beyond all physics, pray you, cure yourself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Be more material; or material powers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will alienated grow, and so forget</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And count you out in all their reckonings;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you who are of earth, will earth own not;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And you who would be heaven’s, will heaven own not.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To own yourself and only own yourself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is worse than serfdom that has earn’d a smile,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though but from wrinkling cheeks of sham good-will.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, through my gloom exploring for its cause,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His thought would light on Edith. He was right;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Perhaps less right, grew garrulous of Grace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For deeming love’s return my only hope,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, seeking this, resolved, as well, to find it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My slightest flush could furnish him a glow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As bright to light his pathway as the day.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Of course I could deny it; say I held</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No key to spring the latch of love like hers.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_130"></a>[130]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Our lips, but parting e’en to speak of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Infringe on Cupid; and, before they shut,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some tingling arrow of that jealous god</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Will make them drop all soberness.</div> - <div class="verse indent34">He laugh’d:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Now say you never saw the sea, for waves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or stars, for twinkling; or the trees, for leaves;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But tell me not, you never saw the heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That bosom heaves; nor ever saw the play</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of faith and freak within that twinkling eye;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor ever saw the spirit when the smile</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That breaks in laughter shakes the form aside.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Come, friend, I know you better. Say you err;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, by my soul, I never read you yet.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And more,” said I; “she is not my ideal.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">He laugh’d again: “Most men who court ideals</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have first their idol; and, the false god fell’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hoard then the fringe that dangled on its train,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And spend their lives in hunting other trains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To match but forms and colors of the first.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It strikes me, friend, that all things truthful grow.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">E’en love outgrows the fashion of its youth:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world whirls on apace; and different hues</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Turn toward the noonday-sun. No dawn returns.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What form or color robes the infinite?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet aught to worship matches that alone.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_131"></a>[131]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">So look you less for worship, than for worth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You need a mate, friend; not a mystery.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“A mate,” I said, “but she for whims could waive</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The truth whereto was anchor’d all my soul.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Still Elbert parried me: “To hear you prate</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of truth—with women!—Why, you tried that once,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Edith, not so?—and she liked it, eh?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Herself had love for that same truth?—What then?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How very strange, when yesterday she pass’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She craved no more of it.”</div> - <div class="verse indent26">“She pass’d?” I cried.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ay, ay,” said he; “while you, so wrapp’d in Grace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Walk’d near, and noted nothing. How she turn’d!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then spoke of ‘haste, such haste, she could not stay’;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bade me ‘not to tell’ you.—Thus, you see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I keep my word; I promised nothing though.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">At this, I blush’d; it but encouraged him.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This flame of sympathy you deem’d so bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Extinguish’d was—you may have thought by me.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_132"></a>[132]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">If so, I tell you, friend, ’twas lightly done.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I but outblew you; and the moral is:—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True flames, these women flicker with the wind.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But use you breath enough, their natures yield.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet blow for their sakes, not for your ideals.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One seldom finds a sweetheart sweet enough</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To love her suitor’s pinings for mere whims.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, they alone our all-in-all would be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And so are jealous of our male ideals.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, too, they are creative less than we,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And cling more to the creature, love and serve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Embodied life that may be seen and felt.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You doubt me?—Test it.—Read that rhyme you wrote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Inspired by fancy.—Say so;—still they hint.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Ah, this was she, or she, whom once he loved.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It may be, Grace does waive your love of truth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If so, ’tis better; more you seem her own.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“More likely,” cried I, “I and all my truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seem like champagne,—a thing that pops and shocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet enlivens when the hour is dull.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“She likes the shocking,” said he. “Know you not</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Most maids love mastery? and the closest cling</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To those who show the strength to hold them fast?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Full many a suitor, when he wins his love,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_133"></a>[133]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Will treat her merely like some petted puss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Caress, then cuff her, till she yield at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Won solely through his wondrous wilfulness.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one defer to her, she pities him;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And names him friend, because she feels him frail.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her favorite cavalier seems less a friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first, than foe who stays the brunt in time</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To seem to save her when she seems to fall.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And should make him fall,” cried I. “’Tis not strange</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Such onsets numb her senses! Heaven preserve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world from women rear’d to feel but weak,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose whole experience, nurtur’d not to think,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Unfolds in passions pert of wishes dwarf’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Afraid of truth and dodging to deceit!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let loose from home, their thing that ought to think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is dry and hollow as a sounding-board</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Behind a tongue that, like a weather vane,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Creaks with the windy scandal of the town</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till endless malice make one’s ear-drum ache,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At one spot hammer’d sore, and o’er and o’er,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With humdrum gossip of surrounding naught.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Small gain are they, to crown our courtships grand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Prinked out with flowers and flattery! Wise man;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flowers draw the bee, and flattery the fool.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One stings; the other—Laugh not, Elbert, nay,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You know it well, what friendship craves; and these</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_134"></a>[134]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Light, simpering women, testing manhood’s woof</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By worthless nap that tickles their vanity,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O I shall wait some coming woman, I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who needs no suing since in soul we suit;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor ruling either.—Love shall rule us both.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“You true Pygmalion,” cried he, “make a maid!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But all maids grow to us, when wedded once;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For practical, they are, far more than men,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And bow to powers that be. Though caught, like fish,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through bait they crave not ere men tender it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They cleave to love once offer’d them; nor turn,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like male-friends, clinging—true as iron, forsooth—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To each new stronger magnet! Were they thus,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our homes might hardly hold our rivals there.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Accept the facts, friend; in this world of reals,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ideals must give way. So look to Grace,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Despite your protest, your true mate; and love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In maids like her is limitless when won.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You like her, too; now, now”—</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32">And so we talk’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I never thought it meant much; for we talk’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of all things, almost; and, in play, at times,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Would I indulge in hopes that he was right.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Once too, far up in clouds, my fancy feign’d</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_135"></a>[135]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To question if her friends, or she, would wish</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My calling to be hers. I scarce had dream’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of Elbert’s giving weight to whims like this.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet after that I mark’d him much with Grace;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But naught surmised until, one time, he said:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“All right, my Norman; I have talk’d with her;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All but to tell her why I talk’d with her;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And with her parents talk’d, and now they all</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Agree in praising plans of life like yours;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These latter actually sighing oft,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Would we but had a son for work like that!’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So, friend, your way is clear.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent32">But was it clear?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So sure was it, that I could pluck this fruit?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If sure, so sure the Eden open’d not</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To tempt, as well as bless me?—Could it be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That love could yet be mine?—The hope seem’d sweet;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet strange!—Why strange?—The change?—</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Seem’d all change so?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet marriage?—Why did mortals marry then?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For love, they said, for love. And what was love?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What more than liking well?—Whom liked I so;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all in all, and always?—Edith?—What?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And liked her calling?—If I liked not that,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_136"></a>[136]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">I liked not her, not wholly. If not her,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then liked I no one wholly; and my will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In love, as in all other earthly states,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A choice must make,—take one of different boons,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all imperfect. Why should not my love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Serve thus my judgment? Grace could stand this test,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And life with one like her so sweet could be!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I thought; but all my thinking stirr’d but thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until, one time, I mused of other days;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How once, and at the merest hint of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My younger blood, like some just conquering host</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That trembling hope bears on, would bound through veins</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That thrill’d and thrill’d while shook each trodden pulse;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How, hot as deserts parch’d by swift simoons,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And wild as forests fell’d by sudden blasts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My frame would glow and bend at every breath</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That tidings bore me of the soul I loved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love Grace did I?—How then had love been tamed!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mere self-control was it, that now, grown strong,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had broken in, at last, that bounding blood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And held the rein to joy?—Ah, self-control,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_137"></a>[137]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The rest rheumatic of a zest grown old,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It came with time; but mine had come from care.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Cold self-control, the curse of northern climes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The artful despot of the Arctic heart,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Before my summer scarce had warm’d me yet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was it to freeze me with its wintry clutch</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of colorless indifference? chill and check</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The springs of love till still’d in ice-like death?</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Woe me! I sigh’d; but then, with nobler cause,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More nobly moved, I mourn’d that older love.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It aye had come from regions far and pure,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From sacred heights of dream-land and desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And trailing light like Moses from the mount,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With one hand clasping mine, one pointing up</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To something earthly, yet more near the sky.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It aye had thrill’d the throbbing veins it near’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And made my brow flush proudly as the boor’s</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When king’s hands knight him, and he bears away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ennobled blood forever.—My mood though—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This lax-limb’d, loitering, sisterly regard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So cold, so calm, so cautious,—what was this?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To call it love my spirit could have swoon’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shrunk like some parent’s when he first has found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His fair babe’s brain to be a gibbering blank.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, down underneath my deep despair,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where heaved a sigh that loosen’d all my soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like some sweet kiss of sudden death that draws</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_138"></a>[138]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To sudden bliss, when men to heaven are snatch’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From all the roar and rage of war, there came</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One hope for Edith;—and my shaken powers</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lost hold of Grace forever!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent30">Still would doubt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Survive, and question if, when off my guard,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In fancy rampant, I had Grace deceived</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As I had Elbert? Could it be, indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That I, who wish’d it not, had won her love?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if so, what?—The problem wore me thin.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My very wits, indeed, seem’d whittled off</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To point and probe it.</div> - <div class="verse indent20">Strangely was it solved.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I dropp’d a vague surmise,—how two “should act,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In case one loved, and love were not return’d.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">She arch’d her answer with so rare a blush,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That all my doubts dissolved; and, catching truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From hers contagious, like a boy confused,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All fused in frankness bubbling o’er the brim,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I blurted out about my older love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To root it out would root out love itself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And not to do so, leave none else a place.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I love not you!” she cried, with look so changed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My weight of shame had sunk me through the floor.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_139"></a>[139]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But, driven to words, like one some startle shocks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I stammer’d “Elbert!”—and stood shock’d in truth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For had I wrench’d it from her bodily,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scarce redder had her flushing brow repell’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My wresting rudely such a secret thence.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At one bound then my honor had return’d.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A bandit had I been, to force the spring</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That lock’d her secret—but had spied her soul!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And back to right it brought me. “Pardon, Grace,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I breathed, then hush’d: With strange and holy power,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">New-welling love seem’d fountain’d in my heart,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And shower’d and stream’d through all my thrilling veins;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then I check’d it. She was not for me,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Alas, unworthy! She was Elbert’s—all!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Grace,” breathed I, “you are doubly now my friend,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And doubly dear, since Elbert’s dearest friend;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thank Heaven that you have loved so true a man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I go to him.”</div> - <div class="verse indent16">“Nay not to him,” she urged.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But I, though yielding to her, as it seem’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Made loose the letter for the sake of spirit;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor promised aught, unless he loved her not.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_140"></a>[140]</span></p> - -<h4>LXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">But Elbert, found, the whole sweet truth confess’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all his love for her so satisfied,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the sacrifice for me so clear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I honor’d God the more from this, the hour</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I found His honor so encased in man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Nay, thank me not,” he said. “You brought me her.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor did I dream I loved her, ere I sought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Your cause to plead; and, aim’d for what it wills,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My will is wilful. There, you know the whole.”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And soon, as if he fear’d our former strife</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were not yet still’d, “And you, perhaps, were right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With Edith, too,” he said; “at least, were safe.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hold still to truth. It yet may save us both.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">And then I learn’d—as many a friend has learn’d—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who with them strove my joy for them to share,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How much more joy was theirs, when theirs alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But this could scarcely turn my thought aside</div> - <div class="verse indent0">From self, left lonelier now than e’er before.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I strove to drown my grief in work. The work</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was but a worm’s that eats from day to day</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The morrow’s bed, at morning dragging on</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A soulless trunk, through troubles void of hope.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul to startled sighs was roused alone</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_141"></a>[141]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When Edith cross’d my vision. Then my mood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As gloom would gather round again, would grieve</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To think, in sorting souls, fate bungled so,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And let our traits be judged of by our trades,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The dusty imprint of the things we touch.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“As well,” cried I, “to judge of winds of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By bogs they brush, or fogs they bear away!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We two that so could trust each other’s hearts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why should we not join hearts, and leave to them</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The hands? If wiser than the world we were,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why should we act, forsooth, in worldly ways?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What need that all should don the uniform</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That fits men for the social march of fools?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What need?—Ah me,” I thought, “all need, indeed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one wish influence in the world or church.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or church!—Must it then crucify the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To save appearances? the body? form?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Christ gave up all these to save the soul.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis treason when His churches join the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And courting smiles from bigotry appeased,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And grinning hell that holds the whole its own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Preach up the crucifixion of the soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To save the body, save the outward form.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A church is His no more, whose rites or creeds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Keep souls untrue to truth within that shows</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s tempering there, the touch that makes man man.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_142"></a>[142]</span></p> - -<h4>LXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">I swore it should not be, it could not be;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No life could so be cleansed,—by wringing thence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The blood that warms the heart; no face made pure</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By turning pale the blush of beauty cast</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By shadows where sweet love goes in and out.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love, love should never be a slave, but free.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Come, Edith!”—Then I question’d, Would she come?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, not to my life. Mine must go to hers.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But this, mine could not,—could do nothing there;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And would not!—Whence then sprang my call to her?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If not from reason, from my wish, forsooth.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My wish for what?—for her?—as now she was?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not so; but rather might be.—Whence then sprang</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This ‘might be’?—whence, alas, but from myself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As I kept moulding it within my soul?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why rail’d I, then, against the church and world?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not these alone, but I would have her changed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">These all but echoed back my own soul’s voice;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet, augmented by the voice of all,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In heeding them, I heeded not myself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But something greater, grander than myself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For if a single man may image God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then many men who join their partial gifts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And parted wisdom,—till the whole become</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_143"></a>[143]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Not merely human but humanity’s,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">May watch our ways and keep them circumspect</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With eyes that often wellnigh stand for His</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who still more fully in mankind than man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rules over truth in each through truth in all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why term me slave, then, when I serve my kind?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through serving it, I best may serve, as well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My godlier self!—Let general thought take shape;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What better can incarnate sovereignty?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What stir to nobler dreams or grander deeds?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The soul in reverence may kneel to it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yield all to it.—So may my neighbors reign,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And I may be their slave, yet own myself;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And deify, while I defy my pride!</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">A new conversion, say you?—call it so.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The truth converts one oft, if he be true.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The true man loves his own, and fights for it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, since his own is little and God’s is large,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He often fights to fall. Yet ranks on high</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now throng with heroes, whose too slender blades</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were wielded but for slender causes once;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor sheathed, ere flying shatter’d from their grasp,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till truth they fought had proven too strong for them.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, when they knew themselves, and knew the truth,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_144"></a>[144]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">And knew its mercy too, they loved the truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And came to be its champions, evermore.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So now with me: rebellious though I was,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rebellion wrought my rescue. Truth triumphant</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Enlisted duty for a loyalty</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That made all life seem lordlike. Work began.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thank God, we all have heads above our hearts;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, if we let them reason with us well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They rule us for our best.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent26">What Elbert wish’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When first I cross’d the sea, was more than wrought.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I brought back not alone what books could give,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But in myself a sense of others’ wants,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For in my heart a wondrous wealth of love;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ay, wealth it was; though, like the ore in mines,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It only proved that that which lived had died.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What though my life, complete with her alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Seem’d always rent? a weight of broken quartz</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That only gleam’d where it had fractur’d been?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That weight was wealth that sparkled back to greet</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each glance of sunshine.</div> - <div class="verse indent26">Thus I found that love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At times may prove a treasure even dead,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If dead enough in spirits yet alive.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_145"></a>[145]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Mine, thwarted so, had made me more the man</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That Elbert wish’d,—a man for all mankind;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No special pleader for a special class</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whose grasping greed crowds out the general good;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But one who pleads for all fair rights for all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor would I bide content with utter’d words.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too often, these, when widest welcomed, wake</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But echoes brief as breath from which they spring.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I craved the mission less of roaring waves</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than of the rare wrought shells that, evermore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When storms are gone, suggest their living presence.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXVI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon it happen’d that through others’ hands</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My tales, pour’d forth to voice my loneliness</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In echoing talk and song, were framed in plays,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then were phrased in music; and, in time,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Arose like sighings of a human wind</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Above a human sea, while, all about,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There swept, like surgings of a rhythmic surf,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The shifting scenes and singers of the stage.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, chief of all the singers in those throngs,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who best of all could body forth the truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That most of all had seem’d to be inspired</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By Edith’s influence, while in all I thought</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her love had ever lured expression on,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was her own self.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_146"></a>[146]</span></p> - -<h4>LXVII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent22">But love outstrips my tale.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Erelong, from shores where surged that surf of song,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like gems the ocean casts upon its coast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">About me lay a growing store of wealth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then, with broaden’d means, led on to push</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Toward broaden’d purposes, I spoke and wrote;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And found, anon, while aiding here and there</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where aid was rare, wide opening to my view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A worthiest mission in this new reform</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That seeks to make the server and the served</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Walk hand in hand, while wage gives way to share,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, furthering all men to their furthest due,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thus lifts the low and lost.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXVIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent30">At last, one day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">There came a letter from our bureau’s head,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With it, another, sent him, so he wrote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“By some enthusiast, a character—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A woman, and a woman too of mind;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And yet, withal, who had been strangely led,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through doubtful ways, he thought, toward doubtful ends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till doubts had wrought reaction,—as when clouds</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That course on clouds, at last, bring lightnings forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That clear them off. And now her vision, clear’d,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_147"></a>[147]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Had found within her soul a wish to work,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In new ways truly for a cause like ours,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For us and with us. But I held her note,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She dwelt near by me: could I visit her?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And give my judgment then?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXIX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">This note, so sent,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was—would you guess it?—Edith’s. What she wrote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Weighs love against all liking to this hour.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All thrill’d with hope, yet trembling for my fate,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I spell’d out all her tale:—“Her sire—his aims—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And her fulfilment of them—her success—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth seem’d a kingdom prostrate at her feet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And she, a queen; alas, but, like a queen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Was doom’d to hold a throne where rivals came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To spy her weakness out, and wrest away</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A power that could be kept by power alone.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How sad for woman when her hopes were based</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On practice that must all her heart conceal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That must be conquering ever or be crush’d!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At first her love for art had kept her up,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And for success, and for a sister dear,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who shared her earnings, who, while cheer’d the crowds,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last, had died, and left her all alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, after that, her soul had loathed applause,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_148"></a>[148]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Had found her nature so belied, misjudged,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her life the embodiment of hollow sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all surroundings echoing back but sound,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Chill admiration in the place of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her friends but flatterers, and herself unknown.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“With this, her world had grown so hard, so parch’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without one source affording sympathy—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She took no credit to herself for aught;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The weakest sigh that could have heaved a breast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A dying breast, had crack’d so dry a crust—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">She rose, one morn, and swore to free her soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Let pent-up love in softening currents flow</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till something human, ay, and heavenly, too,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were nurtured by the wish from which it sprang.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“She could not work now for herself alone;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For she had learn’d that all life’s purposes</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are held like lenses that a soul may use</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To gather in heaven’s light and flash it round</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon its world illumin’d; or, not so,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If turn’d on self,—to but inflame and dim</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Its own self-centered vision. So she now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One only purpose knew,—to pledge her gifts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To those who most might need them; and she came,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With all she was or hoped she yet might be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Her gifts of nature and her skill in art,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_149"></a>[149]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">To work for us, whose aims were plann’d so well,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To further all men to their furthest goals,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lift the low and lost.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXX.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent30">And then I rode,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As fast as trains could take me; and I wrote,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like one intoxicated, from the inn:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“The bureau’s agent here abides your wish”;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, signing not my name, awaited thus</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The welcome sure to seem more sweet than life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It came. I went.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">“You?” Edith cried, “and whence?”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“From whence?” I said. “Each slightest spark of good</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Flies upward, and the heaven returns it where</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It fires the most?—and where were tinder found</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like my heart?”</div> - <div class="verse indent10">“Why is this?” I heard; “My note—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Did it miscarry?—Would you thwart me now—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, though my gifts could aid them, do they wish</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No help from me?—My heart was fix’d on it.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“On my cause,” breathed I. “Did you never think</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That work with them would make you work with me?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Why think of that?” she ask’d.—“Enough to know</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I sought my own work here.”</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_150"></a>[150]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent24">“Why, Edith, friend,”</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I answer’d—“Why could not your work be mine?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What parts us now? What though, like mine, your soul</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Had come to look down life’s long dreary vista,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And watch yourself alone. Why bide alone?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I, I, at least, through all these years have seen—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not you yourself, for that too dear had been!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But I have seen a vision, seeming you</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Within the far horizon of my hopes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sweet mirage before me. Now, at last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know those misty outlines veil’d the truth;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It must have meant that you would yet be found—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That we should meet. Heaven surely meant it so.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXXI.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Her mien had chang’d; and yet she ask’d again,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“But how with Grace? I thought”—</div> - <div class="verse indent34">“Alas,” I said,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“With your dear spirit thron’d above my love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What were I but a traitor, wedding Grace?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This heart was yours, your dwelling-place alone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, now I do not come to give it you:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It only opens to an owner old.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How sacredly I guarded it for you!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A holy place, though there, above the shrine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The niche was empty. Ah, has earth seem’d rude?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Some reason was there; surely some there was.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_151"></a>[151]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">We war with Providence, who war with life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We seek to mould our own existence out;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But life, best made, is mainly for us made.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each passing circumstance, a tool of heaven,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grates by to smooth some edge of character,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And model manhood into better shape.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Has nought been wrought with you? Ah, idol mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You living image of all hope, would God,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Love’s niche were fill’d, love’s altar stood complete!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXXII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Then Edith lean’d her face against her hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And slowly came the words that seem’d so dear:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“It may be, Norman, may—I know—I feel—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It must be earth, so roughly handling one,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should round experience for some wise design.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet this—it cannot be—how can it?—nay—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For me you come—and you? your voice I hear?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No echo void, oft, oft so sweet in dreams?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor now to wake me?—Nay I trust. You may—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twill stray no more—take back your wanderer.”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My wanderer!” I answer’d, when I could;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah Edith, you but wander’d as the lamb;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My spotless, worldling-mediator, you!—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It wander’d?—yes; it cross’d a threshold chill;</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_152"></a>[152]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">A proud cathedral enter’d; there found one</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Too pleased with what he had, to gaze outside.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To him those arches low seem’d high as heaven;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the sweet and sunny air without,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When strain’d through stain’d and smoke-wreathed window-panes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gleam’d lurid as were hell. This man spied you:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He saw you shun him—leave him. He pursued—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Out, past the doorway—and he found God’s world</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So much more broad than walls named after Him!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXXIII.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“And Norman,” said she, “think you, evermore,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Recalling you, the worldling could forget</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How walls exclusive could exclude not love?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or, love rejecting, gain from all the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though brimm’d with but applause, one draft so sweet?—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then earth held such promise yet, so lured;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could I know that merely sighs there were</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could thrill me more than all its thunders could?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ah, did I love you then, so loves he heaven</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who has not courage yet to leave the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I might have left it never; but, you know,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That sister mine—At last, life meant but this,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To envy that cold tomb, all night, all day,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That held her only.—Norman, pardon me:</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_153"></a>[153]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Such woe, such loneliness,—ah, strange was it</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That oft then I recall’d your form, your words?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And when I render’d forth upon the stage</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Scenes you had visioned, phrases you had fram’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That then I came to do as you would do,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And think as you would think?—or that my tongue</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should linger o’er your language, as o’er sweets</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Re-tasted still again?—or that, anon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Those accents ardent with your own dear aims,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should fire mine own to ardor?—or that then</div> - <div class="verse indent0">My soul should flash forth light that flamed within,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And tracing far the rays that sped from it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Should find here”—</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent10">“One to help you, friend?” I asked—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">“Then let us both thank heaven that made us weak.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So may a mortal pair bide, each to each,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both priest and partner; like the church, their home;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For what are churches here but chosen courts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of One pure Spirit, moving all to love?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, think you, writ or vestment, art or arch,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can image Him, or His domain unbound?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nay, trust my word, we worship Him the best,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When two or three together, loving truth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And one another, thus repeat, once more,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">An incarnation, imitating Christ”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_154"></a>[154]</span></p> - -<h4>LXXIV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I catch it, Norman,” cried she, “the ideal!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Henceforth our aim be this,—the art of life.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I saw it not before: the stage of spirit</div> - <div class="verse indent0">So much more broad is than the stage of sense!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Comes on the soul now, actor, all divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At play no longer; nay, but shadowing forth</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A love complete that personates a God!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And what love is complete that walks alone?”</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“None,” answer’d I. “In true love, hand in hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each leads his like. For this the whole world waits.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It waits for love,—why say not love like ours?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When souls touch souls, they touch the springs of life;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For them the veils of sense are drawn aside,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are burn’d away in radiance divine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The while their spirit’s contact starts afresh</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The electric flash that scores new glory here,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lights the lines of being back to God.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then, with their whole existences renew’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Far up these lines, the souls that thus commune,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Discern anon that sacred home on high,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where boundless rest is blest by boundless love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And dreams the dreams of bounty absolute.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They find that home, whence issue floods of light,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Which, flowing forth from white mysterious heights,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_155"></a>[155]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Flame down and flash and burst anon in sparks</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That star the dark through all life’s firmament;—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They find that home, whence whirl the cycles wide</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where all the wastes of nature fuse and form,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And all the things that thought can touch take shape,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until the restless wheels of matter, roll’d</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through roadways worn to waste by speeding years,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At last in fatal friction fire themselves,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And light returns to light from whence it sprang.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through all, where souls commune with central love,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They stay secure, awaiting birth or death;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Spring that starts the blossom blown to fall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or Fall that drops the seed that springs afresh.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They watch nor fear whatever change evolve,—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The splendor grand of epochs borne to waste,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The ruin wild of times that end in law,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The monarch mail’d whose lustre dims his folk,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The people’s guns whose echoes hush their king.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What though dark clouds loom up and storms descend?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">True faith would not bemoan the forms they wreck;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For forms if true are formulas of love</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That still is ardent to consume them all.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though lightnings thunder till they crack the sky,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_156"></a>[156]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">What unroofs rage leaves heaven to dome our peace.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more convulsion shakes and fire consumes,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The more of love and light may both set free;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The earlier may they end these earthly days</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That fret our lives with flickerings vague below</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of steadfast light in endless day above;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The earlier may the power of hate give way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And good awake, and every path be bright,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">While hope of glory gilds the gloom on high.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We too—come, Edith. Christ will go with us;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And by and by the glory so shall flame</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Heaven cannot hold the halo!—Edith, come;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We join the plans above.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h4>LXXV.</h4> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent28">But hold—I rave—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I know, I know—no matter, so would you.—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But find your soul’s ideal, and you would find,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If common-sense be reason, you would rave,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Till you forgot that common-sense could be—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though I forget it not. My tale is told.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why talk I more? I know one household now</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All radiant through its mistress! Where she dwells</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sweet content pervades the very air,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And genial sympathy smiles on to make</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each whole long year one summer of delight.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_157"></a>[157]</span></p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_158"></a>[158]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="PATRIOTIC">PATRIOTIC.</h2> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_159"></a>[159]</span></p> - -<h3 id="patriotic1">AMERICA, OUR HOME.</h3> - -<p>Sung, to music composed by the author, at the anniversary of the battle -of Concord, at Concord, Mass., 1898.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">This land of ours, we love it.</div> - <div class="verse indent2">’Tis Freedom’s own, where reign</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No tyrants throned above it</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er serfs that wear their chain;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where birth and wealth to worth give way,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And none in camp or court have sway,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Except as all ordain.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">O Land that leaves the true man free</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For all the soul would do or be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thank Heaven for life that gave us thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">America, our home!</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Kind homes are ours that wake us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To life whose morn is bright.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Free schools are ours that make us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Believe in truth and right.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our churches all are churches taught</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That conscience guides the wisest thought,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And love wins more than might.</div> - <div class="verse indent6"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: O Land that leaves, etc.</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_160"></a>[160]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We love the rule that trains us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">To duty, self-control’d,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And honor’d toil that gains us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">What order helps us hold;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where never, save for threaten’d right,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our starry flags, like stars at night,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">O’er war’s dark storms unfold.</div> - <div class="verse indent6"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: O Land that leaves, etc.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">We love the life that bears us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Toward all that seers can see,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And, led by hope, prepares us</div> - <div class="verse indent2">The whole world’s hope to be,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When, in the day that war shall cease,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Our <span class="smcap">Golden Rule</span> shall keep the peace,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And all mankind be free.</div> - <div class="verse indent6"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: O Land that leaves, etc.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="patriotic2">HAIL THE FLAG.</h3> - -<p>Sung, to the music of “Marching through Georgia,” at the anniversary -of the National Society of the Children of the American Revolution, held -in Columbia Theatre, Washington, D. C., Feb. 22, 1899.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Oh, how oft, to right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wrong that war alone could end, that flag has led the fight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Streaming on with fire and shot till, through the smoke, the light</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Burst on the victory of freedom!</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_161"></a>[161]</span> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse center"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>:</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hurrah! Hurrah! beneath the flag to be!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hurrah! Hurrah! its loyal wards are we!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where the <span class="smcap">Stars and Stripes</span> are flying over land or sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Under the flag there is freedom.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Peace is in each hue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Storms are signal’d not by stars, or skies red, white, or blue;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Peace is in it e’en in war, for, when the war is through,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">That which has won then is freedom.</div> - <div class="verse indent14"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail, all hail, the flag above us. In its blue more bright</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Shine the stars to guide our way than in the dome of night;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Higher aims the hope that sees them, for their spotless white</div> - <div class="verse indent8">Symbols the pure light of freedom.</div> - <div class="verse indent14"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Hail, all hail, the flag above us. Nature never knew,</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_162"></a>[162]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">In the dawn’s red ladder-bars where daylight climbs to view,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stripes that brought as fair a day as these anon shall do,</div> - <div class="verse indent8">When all the world turns to freedom.</div> - <div class="verse indent14"><span class="smcap">Chorus</span>: Hurrah! Hurrah! etc.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<h3 id="patriotic3">EXPANSION.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Not mountain chains, nor streams that cleave the plains,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor the wide ocean that around them rolls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can bound the realm of Freedom’s loyal souls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who serve the Spirit that above it reigns.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not the mean few who snatch for selfish gains</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Through pathways opening toward the noblest goals</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Can shake Heaven’s children’s faith that Heaven controls</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That life the most which Earth the least enchains.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O ye who see but lust for wealth or rule</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Where love would end one more wrong’d people’s thrall,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As your sires ended yours, how blind are ye!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Who says there is no God is no more fool</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Than he who hears not God’s voice in each call</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To loose man’s bonds and let the oppress’d go free.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_163"></a>[163]</span></p> - -<h3 id="patriotic4">A PRAYER FOR PEACE AND GOOD WILL.</h3> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Creative Spirit, Source of Life,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And Father whom we trust,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Keep us and keep our state from strife</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Through deeds to all men just.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Teach us that each, though poor or base,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Is yet a child of Thine,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And born, whate’er his rank or race,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Or wheresoe’er his dwelling-place,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To destiny divine.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Let not one nation’s pride of might</div> - <div class="verse indent4">On other nations prey</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With brute-like hosts that boast a right</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To plunder and to slay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If one land’s war-lord claim his own</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To be Thy Spirit’s call,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Teach men that no God so made known,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No God of but one land alone,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Was ever God of all.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">Grant all, oh Lord, through lives of love,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">A glory to attain</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As far as heaven’s could be above</div> - <div class="verse indent4">What earthly battles gain.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Grant all, wherever patriots view</div><span class="pagenum"><a id="Sketches_Page_164"></a>[164]</span> - <div class="verse indent4">Their country’s flag unfurled,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The right to think that service due</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God’s country calls for patriots too</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Whose country is the world.</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="titlepage">END</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<p class="center"><span class="u"><i>PUBLICATIONS OF G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS</i></span></p> - -<p class="titlepage larger">THE AZTEC GOD, AND -OTHER DRAMAS</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By GEORGE L. RAYMOND</span></p> - -<p class="center">16MO, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“It is not with the usual feeling of disappointment that one lays down -this little book. One reads ‘The Aztec God’ with pleasure.... -‘Cecil the Seer’ is a drama of the occult. In it the author attempts to -describe the conditions in the spiritual world exactly as they exist according -to coinciding testimony of Swedenborg, of the modern Spiritualist, and -of all supposed to have explored them in trance states. Indirectly, -perhaps, the whole is a much needed satire upon the social, political, and -religious conditions of our present materialistic life.... In ‘Columbus’ -one finds a work which it is difficult to avoid injuring with fulsome -praise. The character of the great discoverer is portrayed grandly and -greatly.... It is difficult to conceive how anyone who cares for that -which is best in literature ... could fail to be strengthened and -uplifted by this heroic treatment of one of the great stories of the world.”—<i>N. -Y. Press.</i></p> - -<p>“One must unreservedly commend the clear, vigorous statement, the -rhythmic facility, the copious vocabulary, and the unvarying elevated -tone of the three dramas.... The poetic quality reveals itself in -breadth of vision and picturesque imagery. One is, indeed, not seldom -in peril of forgetting plot and character-action in these dramas, because -of the glowing imagination.”—<i>Home Journal.</i></p> - -<p>“The time and place make the play an historic study of interest, aside -from its undoubted high poetic quality and elevation of thought.... -The metre of the dramas is Shakespearian, and that master’s influence is -constantly apparent. It is needless to say to those who know the author’s -remarkable abilities that the plays are substantial and reflect perfectly -the author’s mind.”—<i>Portland Transcript.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Modern Fishers of Men.</b> 12mo, cloth, gilt top <b>$1.00</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“This delightful novel is written with charming insight. The -rare gift of character delineation the author can claim in full.... -Shrewd comments upon life and character add spice to the pages.”—<i>Nashville -Tennessean.</i></p> - -<p>“Deals with love and religion in a small country town, and under -the facile pen and keen humor of the author, the various situations -... are made the most of ... true to the life.”—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> - -<p>“Such a spicy, racy, more-truth-than-fiction work has not been -placed in our hands for a long time.”—<i>Chicago Evening Journal.</i></p> - -<p>“Essentially humorous, with an undercurrent of satire ... also -subtle character delineation, which will appeal strongly to those -who have the perceptive faculties highly developed.”—<i>San Francisco -Bulletin.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage larger">A LIFE IN SONG</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By GEORGE L. RAYMOND</span></p> - -<p class="center">16mo, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“An age-worn poet dying amid strangers in a humble village home, -leaves the record of his life in a pile of manuscript poems. These are -claimed by a friend and comrade of the poet, but, at the request of the -cottagers, he reads them over before taking them away. The poet’s life -is divided into seven books or ‘notes,’ because seven notes seem to make -up the gamut of life.... This is the simple but unique plan, ... -which ... forms but the mere outline of a remarkably fine study of -the hopes, aspirations, and disappointments of life, ... an American -modern life.... The author sees poetry, and living poetry, where -the most of men see prose.... The objection, so often brought -against our young poets, that form outweighs the thought, cannot be -urged in this instance, for the poems of Prof. Raymond are full of keen -and searching comments upon life. Neither can the objection be urged -of the lack of the human element. ‘A Life in Song’ is not only dramatic -in tendency, but is singularly realistic and acute.... The -volume will appeal to a large class of readers by reason of its clear, musical, -flexible verse, its fine thought, and its intense human interest.”—<i>Boston -Transcript.</i></p> - -<p>“Professor Raymond is no dabbler in the problem of the human spirit, -and no tyro in the art of word painting, as those who know his prose -works can testify. These pages contain a mine of rich and disciplined -reflection, and abound in beautiful passages.”—<i>Hartford Theological -Seminary Record.</i></p> - -<p>“Here are lines which, if printed in letters of gold upon the front of -every pulpit, and practised by every one behind one, would transform the -face of the theological world.... In short, if you are in search of -ideas that are unconventional and up-to-date, get ‘A Life in Song,’ and -read it.”—<i>Unity.</i></p> - -<p>“Some day Dr. Raymond will be universally recognized as one of the -leaders in the new thought-movement.... He is a poet in the truest -sense. His ideals are ever of the highest, and his interpretation is of the -clearest and sweetest. He has richness of genius, intensity of human -feeling, and the refinement of culture. His lines are alive with action, -luminous with thought and passion, and melodious with music.”—<i>Cleveland -World.</i></p> - -<p>“The main impulse and incident of the life are furnished by the enlistment -of the hero in the anti-slavery cause. The story of his love is also -a leading factor, and is beautifully told. The poem displays a mastery -of poetic rhythm and construction, and, as a whole, is pervaded by the -imaginative quality which lifts ‘a life’ into the region of poetry,—the -peculiar quality which marks Wordsworth.”—<i>Christian Intelligencer.</i></p> - -<p>“It is a great work, and shows that America has a great poet.... -A century from now this poem will be known and quoted wherever fine -thought is appreciated, or brave deeds sung.”—<i>Western Rural.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage larger">BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS</p> - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By GEORGE L. RAYMOND</span></p> - -<p class="center">16mo, CLOTH EXTRA, $1.25</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“In the construction of the ballad, he has given some notable examples -of what may be wrought of native material by one who has a tasteful -ear and practised hand. If he does not come up to the standard of the -ancient ballad, which is the model, he has done as well as any of the -younger American authors who have attempted this kind of work, and -there is true enjoyment in all that he has written. Of his other poems, -the dramatic poem, ‘Haydn,’ is finished in form, and has literary value, -as well as literary power.”—<i>Boston Globe.</i></p> - -<p>“The author has achieved a very unusual success, a success to which -genuine poetic power has not more contributed than wide reading and -extensive preparation. The ballads overflow, not only with the general, -but the very particular, truths of history.”—<i>Cincinnati Times.</i></p> - -<p>“It may well find readers in abundance ... for the sake of the -many fine passages which it contains.... ‘Ideals made Real’ has -one point of very high excellence ... we have in the conception of -the character of Edith the work of a genuinely dramatic poet.... In -Edith we have a thoroughly masculine intellect in a thoroughly feminine -soul, not merely by the author’s assertion, but by actual exhibition. -Every word that Edith speaks, every act that she does, is in accord with -this conception.... It is sufficient, without doubt, to give life to a -less worthy performance, and it proves beyond doubt that Mr. Raymond -is the possessor of a poetic faculty which is worthy of the most careful -and conscientious cultivation.”—<i>N. Y. Evening Post.</i></p> - -<p>“A very thoughtful study of character ... great knowledge of -... aims and motives.... Such as read this poem will derive -from it a benefit more lasting than the mere pleasure of the moment.”—<i>London -Spectator.</i></p> - -<p>“Mr. Raymond is a poet emphatically, and not a scribbler in rhyme.”—<i>London -Literary Churchman.</i></p> - -<p>“His is no mere utterance of dreams and fancies. His poetry takes -hold on life; it enters the arena where its grandest and purest motives -are discussed, and by the vigor and beauty of the language it holds itself -on a level with the highest themes.... Every thoughtful reader ... -will wish that the poems had been longer or that there had been more of -them. It would be possible to quote passage after passage of rare -beauty.”—<i>Utica Herald.</i></p> - -<p>“... Rhythmical in its flow and deliciously choice in language -... indicating a deep acquaintance with human nature, while there -is throughout a tone that speaks plainly of a high realization of the divine -purpose in life.... Not the least charming characteristic is its richness -in pen-and-ink pictures marked by rare beauty and presenting irresistibly -that which the poet saw in his mind’s eye.... We confidently -promise that any one taking it up will enjoy the reading throughout, that -is, if there is any poetry in him.”—<i>Boston Evening Journal.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage larger"><span class="smcap">Books by Professor Raymond</span></p> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Dante and Collected Verse.</b> 16mo, cloth, gilt top <b>$1.25</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Epigram, philosophy, history—these are the predominant elements -... which masterly construction, pure diction, and lofty -sentiment unite in making a glowing piece of blank verse.”—<i>Chicago -Herald.</i></p> - -<p>“The poems will be read with keenest enjoyment by all who -appreciate literary genius, refined sentiment, and genuine culture. -The publication is a gem throughout.”—<i>New Haven Leader.</i></p> - -<p>“The poet and the reformer contend in Professor Raymond. -When the latter has the mastery, we respond to the justice, the high -ideals, the truth of all he says—and says with point and vigor—but -when the poet conquers, the imagination soars.... The mountain -poems are the work of one with equally high ideals of life and of -song.”—<i>Glasgow</i> (Scotland) <i>Herald</i>.</p> - -<p>“Brother Jonathan can not claim many great poets, but we think -he has ‘struck oil,’ in Professor Raymond.”—<i>Western</i> (England) -<i>Morning News</i>.</p> - -<p>“This brilliant composition ... gathers up and concentrates for the -reader more of the reality of the great Italian than is readily gleaned -from the author of the <i>Inferno</i> himself.”—<i>Oakland Enquirer.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Pictures in Verse.</b> With 20 illustrations by Maud Stumm. -Square 8vo, in ornamental cloth covers <b>$.75</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Little love poems of a light and airy character, describing pretty -rustic scenes, or domestic interiors.... As charming for its illustrations -as for its reading matter.”—<i>Detroit Free Press.</i></p> - -<p>“Simple songs of human every-day experience ... with a -twinkle of homely humor and a wholesome reflection of domestic -cheer. We like his optimistic sentiments, and unspoiled spirit of -boyishness when he strikes the chord of love. It is all very true and -good.”—<i>The Independent.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Mountains about Williamstown.</b> With an introduction -by M. M. Miller, and 35 full-page illustrations -from original photographs; oblong shape, cloth, gilt -edges. Net, postpaid <b>$2.00</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“The beauty of these photographs from so many points of vantage -would of itself suffice to show the fidelity and affection with which -Professor Raymond pursued the theme of his admirably constructed -poems. The introduction by his pupil, friend, and associate is an exhaustive -study. No better or more thorough review could be written -of the book, or more clearly point out the directness and power of -Professor Raymond’s work.... Among his many books none -justifies more brilliantly the correctness and charm of his rhetorical -instruction, or his facility in exemplifying what he commends.”—<i>Hartford</i> -(Conn.) <i>Courant</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Rhythm and Harmony in Poetry and Music.</b> 8º <b>$1.75</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“The reader must be, indeed, a person either of supernatural -stupidity or of marvellous erudition, who does not discover much -information in Prof. Raymond’s exhaustive and instructive treatise. -From page to page it is full of suggestion.”—<i>The Academy</i> (London).</p> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage larger"><span class="smcap">Professor Raymond’s Art-Books</span></p> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Art in Theory.</b> 8vo, cloth extra. <b>$1.75</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“A well grounded, thoroughly supported, and entirely artistic conception -of art as a whole, that will lead observers to apply its principles ... -and to distrust the charlatanism that imposes an idle and superficial -mannerism upon the public in place of true beauty and honest workmanship.”—<i>The -New York Times.</i></p> - -<p>“His style is good, and his logic sound, and ... of the greatest -possible service to the student of artistic theories.”—<i>Art Journal</i> -(London).</p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Representative Significance of Form.</b> -8vo, cloth extra. <b>$2.00</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Evidently the ripe fruit of years of patient and exhaustive study on -the part of a man singularly fitted for his task. It is profound in insight, -searching in analysis, broad in spirit, and thoroughly modern in method -and sympathy.”—<i>The Universalist Leader.</i></p> - -<p>“An original thinker and writer, the charm of his style and clearness -of expression make Mr. Raymond’s book possible to the general reader, -though worthy of the study of the student and scholar.”—<i>Hartford -Courant.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, as Representative -Arts.</b> With 225 illustrations, 8vo. <b>$2.50</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Expression by means of extension or size ... shape ... regularity -in outlines ... the human body ... posture, gesture, and -movement ... are all considered.... A specially interesting chapter -is the one on color.”—<i>Current Literature.</i></p> - -<p>“The whole book is the work of a man of exceptional thoughtfulness, -who says what he has to say in a remarkably lucid and direct manner.”—<i>The -Philadelphia Press.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Genesis of Art-Form.</b> Fully illustrated. 8vo. <b>$2.25</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“In a spirit at once scientific and that of the true artist, he pierces -through the manifestations of art to their sources, and shows the relations, -intimate and essential, between painting, sculpture, poetry, music, and -architecture. A book that possesses not only singular value, but singular -charm.”—<i>N. Y. Times.</i></p> - -<p>“A help and a delight. Every aspirant for culture in any of the -liberal arts, including music and poetry, will find something in this book -to aid him.”—<i>Boston Times.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Proportion and Harmony of Line and Color in Painting, -Sculpture, and Architecture.</b> -Fully illustrated. 8vo. <b>$2.50</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“No critical person can afford to ignore so valuable a contribution to -the art-thought of the day.”—<i>The Art-Interchange</i> (N. Y.).</p> - -<p>“One does not need to be a scholar to follow this scholar as he teaches -while seeming to entertain; for he does both.”—<i>Burlington Hawk-Eye.</i></p> - -<p>“The artist who wishes to penetrate the mysteries of color, the sculptor -who desires to cultivate his sense of proportion, or the architect whose -ambition is to reach to a high standard will find the work helpful and -inspiring.”—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="titlepage larger"><span class="smcap">Books by Professor Raymond</span></p> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Poetry as a Representative Art.</b> 8º <b>$1.75</b></p> - -<p>This book is an attempt, in accordance with modern methods, aided -by the results of modern investigation, to determine scientifically the -laws of poetic composition and criticism, by deriving and distinguishing -the methods and meanings of the various factors of poetic form -and thought from those of the elocution and rhetoric of ordinary -speech, of which poetry is an artistic development. The principles -unfolded are illustrated by quotations from the first English poets.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“I have read it with pleasure, and a sense of instruction on many -points.”—<i>Francis Turner Palgrave, Professor of Poetry, Oxford University.</i></p> - -<p>“Dieses ganz vortreffliche Werk.”—<i>Englische Studien, Universität -Breslau.</i></p> - -<p>“An acute, interesting, and brilliant piece of work.... As a -whole the essay deserves unqualified praise.”—<i>N. Y. Independent.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Essentials of Æsthetics.</b> Fully illustrated. 8º <b>$2.50</b></p> - -<p>A compendium of all the art-volumes, designed as a Text-Book.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“So lucid in expression and rich in illustration that every page contains -matter of deep interest even to the general reader.”—<i>Boston -Herald.</i></p> - -<p>“It can hardly fail to make talent more rational, genius more -conscious of the principles of art, and the critic and connoisseur -better equipped for impression, judgment, and appraisement.”—<i>New -York Times.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Orator’s Manual.</b> 12mo <b>$1.50</b></p> - -<p>A Practical and Philosophic Treatise on Vocal Culture, Emphasis, -and Gesture, together with Hints for the Composition of Orations -and Selections for Declamation and Reading, designed as a Text-book -for Schools and Colleges, and for Public Speakers and Readers -who are obliged to Study without an Instructor, fully revised with -important Additions after the Fifteenth Edition.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“It is undoubtedly the most complete and thorough treatise on -oratory for the practical student ever published.”—<i>The Educational -Weekly</i>, Chicago.</p> - -<p>“I consider it the best American book upon technical elocution. -It has also leanings toward a philosophy of expression that no other -book written by an American has presented.”—<i>Moses True Brown</i>, -Head of the Boston School of Oratory.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Writer</b> (with <span class="smcap">Post Wheeler</span>, Litt.D.) 12mo <b>$1.00</b></p> - -<p>A Concise, Complete, and Practical Text-book of Rhetoric, designed -to aid in the Appreciation, as well as Production of All Forms -of Literature, Explaining, for the first time, the Principles of Written -Discourse by correlating them to those of Oral Discourse.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“A book of unusual merit ... prepared by practical teachers, -and the end in view is evidently to teach rather than to give information.”—<i>The -Pacific Educational Journal.</i></p> - -<p>“The pupil will forget he is studying rhetoric, and will come to -express himself for the pure pleasure he has in this most beautiful -art.”—<i>Indiana School Journal.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Ethics and Natural Law.</b> 8vo. Net, <b>$2.25.</b></p> - -<p>A Reconstructive Review of Moral Philosophy, Applied to the -Rational Art of Living,—a Book that is in effect a Continuation -and Completion of the Author’s well-known Æsthetic Works, showing -the Relationship of the Principles underlying Art to the Culture -of Character.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“The student of ethics will considerably fortify his knowledge of -the history of ethical thought by reading the book, especially the -first twelve chapters. In these Mr. Raymond embodies, with -copious references, his extensive knowledge of what has been written -and thought by moral philosophers. On pp. 63-67, for instance, -will be found in footnotes a kind of classified anthology of all the -definitions given of conscience by modern writers. The various -ethical theories holding the field do not, he thinks, recognize as indispensable -the coöperation, in every slightest detail of thought -and feeling, of the two necessary factors of every desire; and he -claims that his own doctrine keeps to the purpose he avows in his -opening chapter,—to draw no inference, and to advance no theory, -not warranted by known facts as ascertainable in connection with -the operations of natural law.... Chapters XIII to XXIII -deal acutely and comprehensively with the various sides of American -life.”—<i>London</i> (England) <i>Times</i>.</p> - -<p>In an article entitled <i>A Desirable Acquaintance</i>, <i>Prof. A. S. Hobart</i>, -<i>D.D. of Crozer Theological Seminary</i>, after mentioning his twenty -years’ experience in teaching Ethics, says, “I find this book the only -one that has come within the range of my reading which has, for the -basis of its system, what I have found to be satisfactory. The -writer assumes that there is in the nature of things a law of ethical -conduct as continuous and self-evincing as is the law of physical -health.... The study of psychology has opened the mind to -inspection as we open the back of a watch-case and see the wheels -go round; and this study lays its crown of victorious explorations at -the feet of ethics.... His view is that conscience is the sense -of conflict between bodily and mental desires ... therefore not -a guide; it is only a sense of lostness in the woods, that wants a -guide. Good sense and good religion are the guides to be consulted. -By many illustrations and very clear reasoning he verifies his view. -Then, ... he takes up the task unusual in such books—of showing -how the leading moral qualities can and ought to be cultivated. -In view of my own careful reading of the book I venture to call -attention to it as a most fertile source of instruction and suggestion -for ethical teaching.”—<i>The Baptist.</i></p> - -<p>“The book is clear and comprehensive. His theory in regard to -conflict is reasonable, and the principles deduced from it have -philosophic foundation.”—<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p> - -<p>“Professor Raymond extracts a fundamental principle that largely -reconciles existing ethical theories ... makes distinctions that -have vitality, and will repay the necessary study and application.”—<i>Scientific -American.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>A Poet’s Cabinet</b> and <b>An Art Philosopher’s Cabinet</b>.</p> - -<p>Two books containing quotations, the one from the poems, and -the other from the æsthetic works of George Lansing Raymond, -selected by Marion Mills Miller, Litt.D., editor of <i>The Classics, -Greek, and Latin</i>. Each book 8vo. cloth-bound, gilt top. $2.00</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Dr. Raymond is one of the most just and pregnant critics, as -well as one of the most genuine poets, that America has produced.... -His verse generally, and his prose frequently, is a solid pack -of epigrams; and hundreds of the epigrams are vigorous, fresh, -telling, worth collecting and cataloguing.... Probably from no -other American but Emerson could a collection at all comparable be -made. Many of the phrases are profound paradox.... Others -are as hard-headed as La Rochefoucauld.... Some are plain -common sense, set in an audacious figure, or a vigorous turn of -phrase.... But few or none of them are trivial.... As an -æsthetic critic, Professor Raymond is, by training and temperament, -remarkably versatile and catholic. He is almost or quite equally -interested in architecture, painting, sculpture, music, poetry.... -Each is as definitely placed in his system as the several instruments -in a great orchestra.... If Dr. Raymond had been born in -France, England, or Germany, he would, no doubt, have enjoyed -a wider vogue. But it is just as well that he was none of these; -for the, as yet, æsthetically immature New World has sore need of -him.”—<i>Revue Internationale</i>, Paris.</p> - -<p>“We risk little in foretelling a day when all considerable libraries, -private as well as public, will be deemed quite incomplete if lacking -these twin volumes. Years after the thinker has paid the debt to -nature due, his thoughts will rouse action and emotion in the hearts -and minds of generations now unborn.”—<i>Worcester</i> (Mass.) <i>Gazette</i>.</p> - -<p>“This Poet’s Cabinet is the best thing of its class—that confined -to the works of one author—upon which our eyes have fallen, either -by chance or purpose. We can’t help wishing that we had a whole -book-shelf of such volumes in our own private library.”—<i>Columbus</i>, -(O.) <i>Journal</i>.</p> - -<p>“The number and variety of the subjects are almost overwhelming, -and the searcher for advanced or new thought as expressed by -this particular philosopher has no difficulty in coming almost immediately -upon something that may strike his fancy or aid him in -his perplexities. To the student of poetry and the higher forms of -literature ... the volume will be of distinct aid.”—<i>Utica</i> (N. Y.) -<i>Observer</i>.</p> - -<p>“Dr. Miller’s task in selecting representative extracts from Professor -Raymond’s works has not been a light one, for there has been -no chaff among the wheat, and there was an ever present temptation -to add bulk to the book through freedom in compilation. He -thought best, however, to eliminate all but the features which -revealed the rare rich soul and personality of the poet, and each -quotation is a gem.”—<i>Albany</i> (N. Y.) <i>Times-Union</i>.</p> - -<p>“To study the works of any one man so that we are completely -familiar with his ideas upon all important subjects—if the man have -within him any element of greatness—is a task which is likely to -repay the student’s work.... This fact makes the unique -quality of the present volume ... quotations which deal with -practically every subject to be found in more general anthologies.”—<i>Boston</i> -(Mass.) <i>Advertiser</i>.</p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>The Psychology of Inspiration</b>. 8vo, cloth. (New -Revised Edition). Net, <b>$2.00</b>; by mail, <b>$2.14</b></p> - -<p>The book founds its conclusions on a study of the action of the -human mind when obtaining and expressing truth, as this action -has been revealed through the most recent investigations of physiological, -psychological, and psychic research; and the freshness -and originality of the presentation is acknowledged and commended -by such authorities as Dr. J. Mark Baldwin, Professor of Psychology -in Johns Hopkins University, who says that its psychological position -is “new and valuable”; Dr. W. T. Harris, late United States -Commissioner of Education and the foremost metaphysician in the -country, who says it is sure “to prove helpful to many who find -themselves on the border line between the Christian and the non-Christian -beliefs”; and Dr. Edward Everett Hale, who says that -“no one has approached the subject from this point of view.”</p> - -<p>The first and, perhaps, the most important achievement of the -book is to show that the <i>fact</i> of <i>inspiration</i> can be <i>demonstrated -scientifically</i>; in other words, that the inner subconscious mind <i>can</i> -be influenced irrespective of influences exerted through the eyes -and the ears, <i>i.e.</i>, by what one sees or hears. In connection with -this fact it is also shown that, when the mind is thus inwardly or -inspirationally influenced, as, for example, in hypnotism, the influence -is <i>suggestive</i> and <i>not dictatorial</i>. Not only so, but such faith -as it is natural and right that a rational being should exercise can be -stimulated and developed in only the degree in which the text of a -sacred book is characterized by the very vagueness and variety of -meaning and statement which the higher criticism of the Bible has -brought to light. The book traces these to the operation and requirements -of the human mind through which inspiration is received -and to which it is imparted. Whatever inspires must appear to be, -in some way, beyond the grasp of him who communicates it, and -can make him who hears it <i>think</i> and <i>train him to think</i>, in the degree -only in which it is not comprehensive or complete; but merely, like -everything else in nature, illustrative of that portion of truth which -the mind needs to be made to find out for itself.</p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“The sane, fair, kindly attitude taken gives of itself a profitable -lesson. The author proves conclusively that his mind—and if his, -why not another’s?—can be at one and the same time sound, sanitary, -scientific, and essentially religious.”—<i>The Examiner</i>, Chicago.</p> - -<p>“The author writes with logic and a ‘sweet reasonableness’ that -will doubtless convince many halting minds. It is an inspiring -book.”—<i>Philadelphia Inquirer.</i></p> - -<p>“It is, we think, difficult to overestimate the value of this volume -at the present critical pass in the history of Christianity.”—<i>The -Arena</i>, Boston.</p> - -<p>“The author has taken up a task calling for heroic effort, and has -given us a volume worthy of careful study.... The conclusion -is certainly very reasonable.”—<i>Christian Intelligencer</i>, New York.</p> - -<p>“Interesting, suggestive, helpful.”—<i>Boston Congregationalist.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Fundamentals in Education, Art, and Civics: Essays and -Addresses.</b> 8vo, cloth. Net, <b>$1.40</b>; by mail, <b>$1.53</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Of fascinating interest to cultured readers, to the student, the -teacher, the poet, the artist, the musician, in a word to all lovers of -sweetness and light. The author has a lucid and vigorous style, -and is often strikingly original. What impresses one is the personality -of a profound thinker and a consummate teacher behind -every paragraph.”—<i>Dundee Courier</i>, Scotland</p> - -<p>“The articles cover a wide field and manifest a uniformly high -culture in every field covered. It is striking how this great educator -seems to have anticipated the educational tendencies of our times -some decades before they imprest the rest of us. He has been a -pathfinder for many younger men, and still points the way to higher -heights. The book is thoroughly up-to-date.”—<i>Service</i>, Philadelphia.</p> - -<p>“Clear, informing, and delightfully readable. Whether the subject -is art and morals, technique in expression, or character in a -republic, each page will be found interesting and the treatment -scholarly, but simple, sane, and satisfactory ... the story of -the Chicago fire is impressingly vivid.”—<i>Chicago Standard.</i></p> - -<p>“He is a philosopher, whose encouraging idealism is well grounded -in scientific study, and who illuminates points of psychology and -ethics as well as of art when they come up in the course of the discussion.”—<i>The -Scotsman</i>, Edinburgh, Scotland.</p> - -<p>“Agreeably popularizes much that is fundamental in theories of -life and thought. The American people owe much of their progress, -their optimism, and we may say their happiness to the absorption -of just such ideals as Professor Raymond stands for.”—<i>Minneapolis -Book Review Digest.</i></p> - -</div> - -<p class="hanging"><b>Suggestions for the Spiritual Life—College Chapel Talks.</b> -8vo, cloth. Net, <b>$1.50</b>; by mail, <b>$1.63</b></p> - -<div class="smaller"> - -<p>“Sermons of more than usual worth, full of thought of the right -kind, fresh, strong, direct, manly.... Not one seems to strain -to get a young man’s attention by mere popular allusions to a student -environment. They are spiritual, scriptural; of straight ethical -import, meeting difficulties, confirming cravings, amplifying tangled -processes of reasoning, and not forgetting the emotions.”—<i>Hartford -Theological Seminary Record</i> (Congregationalist).</p> - -<p>“The clergyman who desires to reach young men especially, and -the teacher of men’s Bible Classes may use this collection of addresses -to great advantage.... The subjects are those of every man’s -experience in character building ... such a widespread handling -of God’s word would have splendid results in the production of men.”—<i>The -Living Church</i> (Episcopalian).</p> - -<p>“Great themes, adequately considered.... Surely the young -men who listened to these sermons must have been stirred and -helped by them as we have been stirred and helped as we read them.”—<i>Northfield</i> -(Mass.) <i>Record of Christian Work</i> (Evangelical).</p> - -<p>“They cover a wide range. They are thoughtful, original, literary, -concise, condensed, pithy. 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