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+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76279 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JULIA CARTER ALDRICH,
+
+(PETRESIA PETERS.)]
+
+
+
+
+                              HAZEL BLOOM,
+
+                                   BY
+                          JULIA CARTER ALDRICH.
+                           (PETRESIA PETERS.)
+
+        _Mother! O, holy music in the sound_
+        _Of that dear word—Mother! O, visions sweet_
+        _That crowd the mind and thickly cluster round,_
+        _To drive out tempting wiles, and leave replete_
+        _The soul’s most lofty plans, and purest thought!_
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+        _Could man have known the part divine, repressed_
+        _Through youthful life, for noblest womanhood,_
+        _When she should pass to dear maternity—_
+        _Had he the Christ, in Mother, rightly known,_
+        _Kind Heaven had spared the pains of Calvary._
+        _Through her the first of Heavenly love is shown—_
+        _Through her, first glimpses caught of Christ, of God._
+
+                                              _B. F. Aldrich._
+
+                             [Illustration]
+
+                                BUFFALO:
+                         CHARLES WELLS MOULTON,
+                                  1899.
+
+                              COPYRIGHT BY
+                          JULIA CARTER ALDRICH.
+                                  1899.
+
+
+
+
+                     _In memory of that sainted one,
+                               My Mother,
+                     This volume is inscribed to the
+                                Mothers—
+                      The Home-makers of our land,
+                          By one who has known
+                          The breadth and depth
+                        Of maternal hope and joy—
+                    Whose soul has continually drank,
+                         Thro’ all the years of
+                               Motherhood,
+                        From that well-spring of
+                                Blessing—
+                       Unfailing, filial devotion._
+
+                                                              _J. C. A._
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+    The Weaver                         9
+
+    Mystery                           11
+
+    In Childhood’s Years              14
+
+    In the City of Suffering          15
+
+    Heliotrope                        18
+
+    Constancy                         20
+
+    Estranged                         22
+
+    My Inkstand                       25
+
+    History of One Life               26
+
+    Evening                           27
+
+    Rondeaux                          29
+
+    Solace of the Flowers             30
+
+    Regret                            32
+
+    Hazel Bloom                       35
+
+    Life’s Shuttle                    38
+
+    Springtime                        40
+
+    For Insomnia                      42
+
+    Mother                            45
+
+    Eoline’s Dream                    48
+
+    Our Own                           52
+
+    Wounded Faith                     55
+
+    Destiny                           57
+
+    Unclaimed                         60
+
+    Death                             61
+
+    Night-Blooming Cereus             64
+
+    My Muse                           66
+
+    We Never Know                     68
+
+    A June in Childhood               70
+
+    Goldenrod                         74
+
+    An Evening in June                75
+
+    Yosemite                          77
+
+    Blight or Blessing                80
+
+    O, For a Rainy Day                82
+
+    The Great Poet                    83
+
+    Love’s Riches                     88
+
+    Complainings                      90
+
+    Questionings                      92
+
+    Persecuted                        94
+
+    O, Kindly Speak                   96
+
+    He is Risen                       97
+
+    The Christ                        99
+
+    Feed My Lambs                    102
+
+    The Kingdom of Heaven            103
+
+    Supplication                     106
+
+    The Portrait                     107
+
+    Out in the Woods                 109
+
+    Unforgiven                       112
+
+    The Evening and the Morning      114
+
+    The Unseen                       116
+
+    Painting                         117
+
+    The Christian’s Armor            120
+
+    To My Friend                     121
+
+    Hill-Crest Home                  124
+
+    Lilies of the Valley             135
+
+    Pearly Shells                    138
+
+    Courage                          140
+
+    Trailing Arbutus                 141
+
+    Encouragement                    145
+
+    Faith                            147
+
+    Nirvana                          149
+
+    Heredity                         150
+
+    Pebbles                          152
+
+    Words                            157
+
+    Mother                           159
+
+    Hands                            161
+
+    Endymion                         163
+
+    Calypso—The Lover’s Pocket       167
+
+    What is Love                     171
+
+    Sleighing                        173
+
+    First Love                       175
+
+    Man                              176
+
+    Trust of Childhood               177
+
+    Alone                            180
+
+    Night                            183
+
+    Disappointment                   185
+
+    Love’s Ideal                     186
+
+    A Legend of the Lily             187
+
+    To James Newton Mathews          190
+
+    The Great Hereafter              191
+
+    Late October                     195
+
+    On the Beach                     198
+
+    Hidden                           200
+
+    My Robins are Gone               202
+
+    Winterbloom                      204
+
+    The Old Home                     206
+
+    Thought                          209
+
+    Columbus                         212
+
+
+
+
+HAZEL BLOOM
+
+
+
+
+The Weaver.
+
+
+  With warm desire to please the captious ones,
+  Whose fervency the finished fabric suns,
+  With ardent conjurations she besought
+  The thronging sprites, that feed the loom of thought,
+  To gather shining woof, from climes afar—
+  From lands where all things bright and wondrous are—
+  To seek the dame whose tireless hand doth hold
+  The distaff yielding threads of fine spun gold,
+  And bring the gathered treasures in to her,
+  All sweet with far-fetched frankincense and myrrh:
+  Instead of quest in distant lands for woof
+  From near they brought, and with it sharp reproof.
+
+  “The glow and flame of thy desire
+  Is lit by an unholy fire.
+  We bring thee shreds for needs of life
+  With which its ways are ever rife;
+  Weave these as we shall bring them in
+  (None leads with Lotus-charm to sin)
+  And when the web falls from thy care,
+  Who needs takes self-apportioned share.
+  If one is girt by it for storm,
+  Or one lone home, made glad and warm—
+  If one bruised heart finds through it balm,
+  One groping soul, up-lifting psalm,
+  Then, thank thy God that thou hast wrought
+  The humble shreds that we have brought.”
+
+
+
+
+Mystery.
+
+
+      All the earth’s history
+      Is mingled with mystery;
+  Thrid its long pathways thro’ Time’s gathered pages,
+      Struggle with theories,—delve as you will,
+      Wrapped in uncertainty, mystery still,
+  Baffling the lore of philosophy’s sages.
+
+      Wishes ungratified,
+      Longings unsatisfied;
+  Search is untiring and effort is eager,
+      Reaching for aye for the far, unattained,
+      Feeling the spirit to narrowness chained,—
+  All we may know, to the unknown is meager.
+
+      Yet, human pomposity,
+      Rich in verbosity,
+  Leads us afar, thro’ the limitless spaces,
+      Parting so boldly the cometal robes,
+      Shows us their bodies, as infantile globes,
+  Sportively seeking maturity’s places.
+
+      It measures Infinity,
+      Questions Divinity—Talks
+  of the universe at its inception;
+      Theory, feeling the pulse of the Earth,
+      Tells us how long since the planet had birth
+  And when we may look for its utter disruption.
+
+      Yet LIFE’S remote decimal—
+      The infinitesimal,
+  Puzzles the agnost for Nature’s great mother;
+      Never a blade without fertilized germ,—
+      Never a seed without blossoming term,—
+  Each is a subsequent unto the other.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+      Most wondrous, mysterious,
+      Throned and imperious,
+  Mind, in the beautiful temple of Being,
+      Rules o’er its realm with absolute sway
+      Till, broken and crumbling, the structure of clay,
+  Then swift on the wings of the silences fleeing.
+
+      Thought, strained to intensity,
+      Ranging immensity,
+  Asks for their home—for the spirit’s bright heaven;
+      A speck in the universe—our little earth,
+      ’Mong millions, all grander and greater of girth—
+  Will God’s central glory to _this_ one be given?
+
+      Ah! Safely He has hidden it,
+      From earth-gaze forbidden it:
+  Humbled and weary the bold Thought, returning,
+      Nestles down closer to God’s written word;
+      By grief’s parching thirst its sweet fountains are stirred;
+  Its pages yield balm that will soothe the heart’s yearning.
+
+      There, Heaven comes near to us,—
+      Those who were dear to us,
+  Safe in its mansions—we’ll question not where,—
+      Live in the light of an Infinite Love!
+      Faith sweetly whispers—“They beckon above,—
+  The loved ones, who’ve left us, are waiting us there.”
+
+      The hidden earth-histories—
+      The sought-after mysteries
+  Are veiled, but in blessing;—we seek for them ever;
+      Wisdom hath woven this mystical bond,
+      Binding the soul to God’s greater Beyond,
+  Enlarging, enriching, thro’ constant endeavor.
+
+
+
+
+In Childhood’s Years.
+
+
+  In childhood’s years, what dreamy days
+  In spring’s soft airs or autumn’s haze!
+      How golden bright the sunset skies
+      Where just beyond our heaven lies!
+  Each dawn the sun has merry plays
+  With Rosy-mist, who veils his rays
+  To shield us from his glory blaze,
+      While she paints morn such lovely dyes
+                      In Childhood’s years.
+
+  We tread but joy-lit, sunny ways,
+  Nor dream of dread, that is decay’s:—
+      No sorrow comes but quickly flies—
+      No love is known that cools and dies—
+  No crafty selfishness betrays
+                      In childhood’s years.
+
+
+
+
+In the City of Suffering.[1]
+
+
+  In the city of suffering souls grow large,
+    And money-greed languishing lies;
+  ’Neath the hurrying feet, of God’s messengers there,
+    That pompous, old Selfishness dies:
+  Ambition, so eagerly climbing to heights
+    Where glory, alone, is the prize,
+  Forgets his wild dreams at the shriek of distress
+    And goes where Humanity cries.
+
+  In the city of suffering, sympathies blend
+    As valley rills, blend in a stream;
+  The high, and the low, all forgetful of rank,
+    Are thrilled by calamity’s scream.
+  There Wealth’s jeweled hand and the toil-hardened palm,
+    Have neither a preference in claim,
+  But agony ardently stretching them forth,
+    Makes common appeal, in His name.
+
+  In the city of suffering hearts grow warm—
+    Aye, flame in the darkness of woe;
+  The spark God gave, from His infinite love,
+    Neath the hot breath of pain is aglow.
+  There, swift to the rescue, goes valorous strength,
+    Surprising the world with his deeds—
+  There, Courage will struggle with death for a life,
+    While yielding his own up, if needs.
+
+  In the city of Suffering, Avarice hides
+    In the gloomy old vault with his gold,
+  Nor dares to meet Charity’s love-lighted face,
+    His own is so pitiless and cold;
+  There, cowardice, envy—all drosses of soul
+    In the crucial test are consumed—
+  Dark altars, once glowing with brotherly love,
+    In the shadow of sorrow, relumed.
+
+  The city of Suffering is Heaven’s wide door
+    For victims its horrors enthrall;
+  E’en martyrs have sung when the fagots blazed high—
+    So ever He heareth our call;
+  And those who, with fellow-love prompting their deeds,
+    Fought there, with the mounting flame fiends,
+  Have wrought in the plan, for ennobling the world,
+    With God’s own, mysterious means.
+
+  In the city of Suffering souls break the bonds
+    That indolent selfishness forged in the womb,
+  And lives, that were dwarfed by their mammon-cut groove,
+    Find growth in Love’s labor, and sunshine in gloom.
+  When raven-winged Sorrow sweeps over the land,
+    An angel attends where its shadow may fall,
+  And, out from its darkness, brings heavenly light,
+    And faith, in the Wisdom, that’s over us all.
+
+[1] “There was a puff—a muffled roar, and the tower was literally rent by
+an explosion. A moment later the flames burst out thro’ every rent and
+fissure, and the men, away up there, in mid air, fighting the fire, were
+cut off from the world below, by an outpour of smoke and flame, soon to
+become a mighty conflagration.”
+
+
+
+
+Heliotrope.
+
+
+  There’s a charm in its fragrance bewitchingly sweet—
+    A something that binds with a magical spell;
+  E’en silence, thro’ this, to the heart can repeat
+    The message that’s sent in its purple fringed cell.
+
+  ’Tis an odorous breath, from the heavenly heights—
+    An angel hand, beckoning to the bloom scented fields,
+  Where the soul in its freedom may taste the delights
+    That the garden of Paradise yields.
+
+  Like childhood’s sweet dreams of the holy and true,
+    That float thro’ Life’s dusk in the ether of Thought,
+  Or morn’s rosy blush, melting into the blue,
+    With tint of the beryl and amethyst caught.
+
+  ’Tis an exquisite messenger, given the heart,
+    That winsomely speaks to the spirit, alone,
+  And whatever sentiment sent, will impart—
+    Will tell it so sweetly, in language its own.
+
+  When souls must needs pass thro’ Grief’s wordless abyss,
+    Then heart unto heart, through it, uttereth speech—
+  The sympathy, seeking expression through this,
+    Is told with a tenderness words never reach.
+
+  If you’ve aught that’s too sacred for words to express,
+    Too tender to breathe in a wish or a hope,
+  ’Twill be fittingly draped in the delicate dress,
+    And borne in the perfume of HELIOTROPE.
+
+
+
+
+Constancy.
+
+
+  The Fates have decreed thou canst never be mine,
+  Yet, constant, my soul turneth ever to thine
+    With love that outreaches Time’s cruel decree.
+  Too holy the passion with others to name—
+  Thoughts deepest and purest feed ever the flame,
+    That burns on the altar, kept sacred to thee.
+
+  As ocean in silence embosoms the light
+  That beams from the gems in the crown of the night,
+    Yet dimming its purity never,
+  So thou, in my bosom a presence shalt be,
+  As stars shining down in the depths of the sea—
+    Unsullied thy brightness forever.
+
+  Like a verdure-girt spring in the wide desert plains—
+  Like the stroke, bringing freedom, by the riving of chains,
+    Aye, Life’s every essence of pleasure
+  Had been love’s requital, that long ago morn;
+  Still ever I’ll count, (yet this rose has its thorn)
+    Having loved, though I lost, as a treasure.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Tho’ hopes were all blighted that haloed my youth,
+  And withered the flowers I deemed rooted in truth,—
+    Tho’ sunshine will brighten no morrow,
+  Yet never accusing’s deep bitterness stirs
+  The heart, that would only pour joy into her’s,
+    And the tenderest soothing for sorrow.
+
+  Her spirit dwelt ever in dreamy ideal,
+  While mine was so earthy and chained to the real,
+    With the heavens all brazen above me:—
+  All nature to hers echoed hymnings divine,
+  While doubts of a future, stirred ever in mine—
+    No marvel she never could love me.
+
+  But somehow, with Destiny’s mystical skein,
+  My love has entangled my infidel brain
+    And bound it with hope, to a heaven;
+  I dream of a sphere, we may find beyond this
+  Where—blessed fruition! life’s coveted bliss
+    To the purified soul will be given.
+
+
+
+
+Estranged.
+
+
+  O, to be near to you!—Oh, to be dear to you!—
+  To feel in my heart, that your heart is my own.
+  All days have been dreary—my soul is aweary,
+  And still, must I walk in this dark way alone?
+
+  O, fond was my dreaming, when hope’s star was beaming,
+  When fancy’s bright web like a mantle of gold,
+  Lay over life’s losses—its trials and crosses,
+  And hid them, in splendors, of fold upon fold.
+
+  I thought then to follow (Oh, heartless and hollow!)
+  Where Fashion’s throng led, and to kneel where it knelt—
+  Thought Love’s nectared chalice was found in a palace—
+  In princely halls only, true happiness dwelt.
+
+  But Fashion’s vile brew, is of wormwood and rue—
+  It prays where the virtues are trampled and dead—
+  The bane we thought gladness, has led to this madness;
+  Dissipation came in, and the Peace-angel fled.
+
+  No wandering emotion e’er sullied devotion,
+  But anger’s hot lava my reason o’erran;
+  In the coolness of pride, (that love’s fervor belied)
+  The sorrows and pangs of estrangement began.
+
+  Be rashness forgiven, bring back to us heaven—
+  Our Eden-like home, with its love-lighted skies;
+  Tho’ parted forever, affection dies never—
+  ’Tis knit into life with indissoluble ties.
+
+  The rills that have mingled, can never be singled—
+  They’ll flow on as one in their course to the sea;
+  By love, early plighted, our souls were united,
+  And ever—forever united must be.
+
+  Entwining each thought—with tenderness fraught—
+  Is loving, enduring remembrance of thee,
+  And, deep in your heart, in its holiest part,
+  I know there’s a hidden affection for me.
+
+  Shall life be all nighted—Love’s flame ne’er be lighted,
+  While I—by its altar with ashes o’er strewn—
+  Must ever remember thro’ constant December,
+  The balmy bright days and the roses of June?
+
+  O, desert, Sahara!—Oh, waters of Marah!
+  I tread the hot sands—press the fount with my lips—
+  In sorrow, go roaming, thro’ the shadowy gloaming
+  That falls, o’er a life, with love’s sun in eclipse.
+
+
+
+
+My Inkstand.
+
+
+  This new one is thought both convenient and nice—
+    The atmosphere forcing the ink to the brim;
+  I question the worth of this modern device,
+    For seldom great thoughts on the surface will swim,
+  But something like whales, when they find themselves sought,
+    Down, swiftly from sight, in the depths they will sink—
+  At the bottom, the angled for ideas are caught,
+    And only by multiplied thrusts in the ink.
+
+1855.
+
+
+
+
+History of One Life.
+
+
+  Its morning dawned thro’ penury’s narrow pane—
+  A noon of wealth, with glory’s laurel crown—
+  Human weakness—one mistake—a felon’s stain—
+  The evening gloomed with all his fellow’s frown.
+
+
+
+
+Evening.
+
+
+        Vermillion and gold
+        In beauty unfold
+  On the light, floating clouds of the West;
+        The low, crooning sound
+        Of all Nature around
+  Is lulling the world into rest.
+
+        Like a rover of Sin
+        The zephyr steals in
+  ’Mong roses and carnations rare—
+        In ecstatic bliss
+        Gives each one a kiss,
+  Then scatters their sweets on the air.
+
+        In the shadowy hush
+        The linnet and thrush
+  Have gone to their nests in the grove;
+        The blue pimpernell
+        To the lilly’s wee bell
+  Is whispering his story of love.
+
+        Blest hour of delight
+        That verges the night,
+  What beauties and glories are thine,
+        When the great car of day
+        With its din rolls away,
+  And silence seems Presence divine.
+
+        Now the sparkle of dew
+        And the rich violet hue
+  Of the fast purpling clouds of the West,
+        Hint of time’s rapid flight
+        And of life’s coming night
+  That shall lull into heavenly rest.
+
+
+
+
+Rondeaux.
+
+
+  A brilliant thought leaps out and glows,
+  Or scatters fragrance like the rose,
+  Nor needs an artizan’s design
+  To plan and shape to make it shine,—
+  Not all is brilliance in rondeaux.
+
+  The labored effort plainly shows
+  The mind has passed thro’ mighty throes
+  To give the world, with stamp divine,
+                      A brilliant thought.
+
+  The music wins which sweetly flows,
+  Not that which falls like stunning blows,
+    And ease and grace, with sense combine,
+    To clothe with elegance the line,
+  Where Genius gives, in verse or prose,
+                      A brilliant thought.
+
+
+
+
+Solace of the Flowers.
+
+
+  Oft a deep, unspoken anguish
+    In the secret soul is stirred,
+  And the wounded heart, though yearning
+    For a kindly, loving word,
+  Opens not its sacred portal,
+    For the arts of friendly healing—
+  Only God is told the sorrow,
+    Through a mute-lipped, sad appealing.
+
+  “I am with you”—seems responded,
+    From the hush of Nature’s bowers,
+  And the spirit feels God nearer
+    Where He’s strewn the earth with flowers;
+  Nature’s language, rich with blessing,
+    For its unobtrusive words,
+  Speaks through softly murm’ring streamlets,
+    And the low, sweet trill of birds.
+
+  E’en a tiny, bruised allyssum,
+    Or a trampled mignonette,
+  Teach the heart, by sweet example,
+    That ’tis better to forget.
+  Like the touch of seraph pinions,
+    Or a faintly whispered hope,
+  Is the charm of perfume floating
+    From a hidden heliotrope.
+
+  Ah! there’s soothing for the spirit
+    Where the humid coolness lingers,
+  Where the breezes touch us gently
+    With their dainty, fairy fingers,—
+  Where the woodland nymphs are gliding,
+    Noiseless, o’er the mosses bright,
+  Spreading Sylva’s vestal altar
+    With a cloth of violets white.
+
+  All these tiny, fragrant flowers
+    Speak to us in tender tone,
+  Gently winning us from sorrow
+    With a language all their own;
+  Little beauties, sent in blessing,—
+    In our pathway angels strew them,
+  That we hear, when joy is shrouded,
+    Loving voices whisper through them.
+
+
+
+
+Regret.
+
+          “—if only it never had been
+      All the world had been brighter and then—”
+
+
+  Will a hope never throb, but it comes back a sob,
+    From the echoing halls of the soul?
+  Do the joy-bells stirred, by a low thrilling word,
+    Forever resound with a funeral toll?
+
+  Will the roses we grasp, like the bite of an asp,
+    Give back to our sense but the stinging of pain?
+  Can there float a perfume, from the lillies’ white bloom,
+    That blends with enchantment Tofana’s slow bane?
+
+  Where but flowers were sown, has a thistle seed blown,
+    To root in their soil, a vile bramble to grow?
+  Doth each lovliest vine, ’round a hyssop entwine?
+    And out from sweet fountains must bitterness flow?
+
+  Does there lurk in each joy, a vile fiend to destroy
+    All the pleasure and blessing it brought,
+  With the stings of regret, as with thorns thickly set,
+    That will pierce, as it turns, every retrospect thought?
+
+  Ay, there’s never a spot, where this demon is not;
+    Like a serpent he creeps in this Eden of ours,
+  Where its pleasures are purest, its treasures securest,
+    And blights with his poison its loveliest flowers.
+
+  But we’ll act for the right, as God gives us the light,
+    Nor complain that the end from our vision is veiled;
+  ’Twas in blessing and love, that the Father above,
+    Secured us from loss that prevision entailed.
+
+  In mercy, dear Father, still veil from our sight,
+  The dawn of a joy, or a grief’s brooding night,
+  That we faint not, expecting the gathering gloom,
+  Nor cease in the strife that ennobles the life,—
+  That we cloud not our joys with a shadowy tomb,
+    Nor a heart ever miss the delectable bliss,
+    Of a sweet, unexpected delight.
+
+
+
+
+Hazel Bloom.
+
+
+  When paths that in summer were fringed with lush grass,
+  Are raspy with frost-whitened blades as you pass,
+  When the arbor’s denuded of clusters and leaves,
+  And the Ivy’s bare vines are entwining the eaves,
+  When the bright tinted sumach has changed to a brown
+  And the wind-shaken forest drops summer wealth down—
+  The autumn’s rich robings of crimson and gold
+  In the path of the years, to be trampled as mould—
+  When the beauty of purple-hued asters is shed,
+  And the glory of goldenrod faded and dead,
+  When the song-birds, we loved for their jubilant tune,
+  Have gone where they find a perennial June,
+  When clouds that were downy on the summer’s bright blue,
+  Have draped all the skies in a somberly hue,
+  When the orchard has yielded its riches of fruit,
+  And its life-feeding myst’ry is hid in the root—
+  The Aftermath gathered—the last sheaves of grain—
+  When Nature seems all in a funeral train,
+  Then Hazel buds burst thro’ their scales into bloom,
+  And glow like the stars that rob midnight of gloom.
+
+  When brooklets, unfettered, went leaping in glee,
+  O’er rocks and thro’ woodlands, adown to the sea—
+  When the bloom-time of Spring, in its glory, was here,
+  And earth all resounding with music and cheer,
+  When asphodels loaded with fragrance the air
+  And vied with the roses in loveliness rare,
+  Witch-Hazel, from Nature, seemed standing apart,
+  The wee, golden buds were asleep in its heart,
+  And sunshine and shower besought it, in vain,
+  To star, with its bloom, Flora’s garlanded fane.
+  Oh, marvel of beauty—bright blossoms of gold!
+  They show us the life leafless branches enfold.
+  ’Tis the flower of hope with this lesson of cheer—
+  ’Tis the season of rest, not “The death of the year,”
+  When, Nature, reposing in the bosom of God,
+  Feels the throb of His heart ’neath her snow-mantled sod—
+  At the soul of All-life with new life is imbued—
+  At the Fountain of Beauty, enriched and renewed.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Aye, symbol of Hope and the star gleam of Faith,
+    That give to Life’s autumn a glow—
+  A spirit revealed, while the seeming of Death
+    Lies palled in the brown leaves below.
+
+  A mission it has that was given of Him
+    Who gave it its blossoming time;
+  Thus blooming alone—desolation around,
+    Defying the glittering rime,
+  It speaks to the soul—’tis an oracle sweet,
+    His token, His promise and bond
+  That, tho’ passing thro’ change that leads down thro’ the tomb,
+    There’s a beautiful Springtime beyond.
+
+
+
+
+Life’s Shuttle.
+
+
+  The Shuttle went flying
+      With sympathy sighing,
+  While it shot all the gold weft with threadings of woe.
+      There was murmured complaining,
+      The Shuttle arraigning—
+  That grief, with the joy, was unwound in the throw.
+      A whispered regretting:—
+      “No blessing forgetting,
+  God knoweth thy needs—it is His to bestow:—
+      From LOVE I’m receiving
+      The woof I am weaving.”
+  The Shuttle’s reproof was subduing and low,
+      And, blent with Time’s beating,
+      I heard it repeating
+  The lesson it taught in love’s tenderest flow.
+
+  Aye, softly it chanted this simple refrain—
+  “’Tis wisdom that mingles the sorrow and pain.
+    The sunlight, that gilds, with its glory the earth,
+  Would blight with its blaze, but for clouds and the rain,
+    And lives would be arid and smitten with dearth
+    If beamed on forever with joy and mirth—
+  _In blessing I weave in the sorrow and pain_.”
+
+
+
+
+Springtime.
+
+
+  When meadows are strewn with the buttercup’s gold,
+  There’s gladness for childhood that song never told;
+  The laugh of a child, bubbling up from the heart,
+  Is linked with the spring, a most beautiful part.
+
+  A bevy of children—sweet far away dream!—
+  They trip o’er the sward, lit with dandelion gleam—
+  We’ll join in their sports with a heartiness true;
+  Our own vanished springtime, with them, we’ll renew.
+
+  The woods, (that are reached by a romp thro’ the lane
+  Where the grass is made velvet by sunshine and rain)
+  Have infinite beauty, in blossom outspread—
+  Delights for the gods in the fragrance they shed.
+
+  Come, drink in the perfume of blossoming trees—
+  Take lessons of patience from murmuring bees,
+  And listen to brooklets—they’ll sing you a song
+  As, wild in their glee, they go leaping along.
+
+  Come, watch the wild birds as they cheerily dart—
+  Their music, with sunshine, take into your heart—
+  Let the gladness of childhood thrill you, and be gay,
+  Thus keeping your soul in perpetual May.
+
+  When Nature is robing her forests anew,
+  And heaven spreads over her loveliest blue—
+  When earth is aglow with spring’s ravishing bloom,
+  Ingratitude only sits shrouded in gloom.
+
+
+
+
+For Insomnia.
+
+
+  When Somnus is giddy and flies from my pillow,
+    And care’s elfin throngs come to vex me—
+  When mem’ry, perverse, all the sweet things forgetting,
+    Will mention but those that perplex me,
+  I ask that monotony’s rigid insistence
+    Shall drive out the gibberous crew;
+  They flee from his presence—will hie back to elfland,
+    Where their Night shade and astrofell grew—
+
+  Ask thought for a theme that’s subduing in power—
+    The sea, with its billows all hushed to a calm—
+  Not mantled with darkness, but lit with the sunset,
+    When Day, unto Evening, is chanting her psalm.
+  All life’s petty griefs in the grandeur evanish,
+    The spirit is freed from its thrall,
+  And unto the faint heart a trustfulnesss whispers,
+    “Be brave—there’s a God over all.”
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  In fancy I launch on the shimmering sea
+  That’s lighting with glory its waters for me;
+  Like a sprite of the ocean the boat seems to glide,
+  As lightly the oars dip the opaline tide,
+  Till out in expanses, afar from the shore,
+  Away from life’s din and tumultuous roar
+  Where, gently I’m rocked on the breast of the deep,
+  While symphonic waves woo the Lethe of Sleep.
+  A broad, shining pathway is westward unrolled—
+  I watch the bright wavelets, with tresses of gold,
+  Run out in wild play to the visual rim
+  Where the sky bends to kiss them in distance so dim,
+  Till thought is enchanted—anxiety flees,
+  And weariness slips into somnolent ease;
+  The silences seem to have rhythmical beat—
+  ’Tis footfalls of wakefulness, now in retreat.
+  Forgetfulness softly creeps into the mind,
+  Suspecting no trace of resistance to find,
+  But wakefulness turns back, commands and forbids—
+  Yet, Slumber steals past her and touches the lids;
+  Then Morpheus bears me away in his arms
+  To his realm that’s swept of all fears and alarms
+  Where, lulled with his stupors, of poppy and rose,
+  I dreamily, dreamily sink to repose.
+
+
+
+
+Mother.
+
+
+  When evening falls softly, with far away dreaming,
+  Oft steals o’er my spirit a rapturous seeming—
+    I feel the light touch of her hand as of old,
+  When bending above me with good night caresses,
+  She lovingly pushed back the long heavy tresses,
+    And smoothed out the tangles of gold.
+
+  Touch memory’s harp in the silence of even,
+  And loved ones will leave e’en the raptures of heaven,
+    And come to us then when the gates are ajar:
+  With mother’s face, ever most central and tender,
+  They light all the Past with a rosy-hued splendor
+    And the soul’s secret chamber’s unbar.
+
+  From hidden recesses they bring out its treasures—
+  Among them are shining youth’s dream-lighted pleasures,
+    When mother-love blent with, and hallowed them all;
+  The haunts that the years with their sunsets have gilded,
+  The castles of beauty that child-fancy builded,
+    All come in the gloaming at memory’s call.
+
+  ’Twas down by the river, where bluebells were sweetest
+  And swift-footed hours forever ran fleetest,
+    Enthralled by the charm, that I loved most to roam—
+  To watch where the sunshine and ripple wove wimples,
+  Like smiles, on a rosy face, dancing with dimples,
+    Forgetful of duty till mother called home.
+
+  Right-angled with the river-bank’s water-worn ledges
+  The forest and farm knit their raveled-out edges,
+    In a brambled rail-fence. From the pasture’s green field,
+  Thro’ the edge of the woodland, a path, fringed with mosses
+  And bushy green tangles with clematis flosses,
+    Half the charms of the deep wood revealed.
+
+  When sunset was tinting each shadowy hollow
+  ’Twas gladness, the kine, from the pasture, to follow
+    And dream, as I wandered, of fairy and gnome—
+  To loiter ’mong ferns, with great trees spreading over,
+  And breathe the perfume of wild roses and clover
+    Enrapt, until mother called home.
+
+  I’m lingering now on the banks of the River—
+  The sunset of Time on its ripples a-quiver—
+    How peaceful the flowing—no turmoil or foam—
+  A luminous mist o’er the landscape is falling—
+  The evening has come, I hear a voice calling,—
+    ’Tis mother’s voice calling me home.
+
+
+
+
+Eoline’s Dream.
+
+
+  One long day of toil was ending,
+    And my head was hot with pain
+  When a thought, akin to envy,
+    Racing thro’ my throbbing brain,
+  Muttered to my fevered fancy
+    “Only wealth has power to please—
+  Rocking in the lap of riches
+    Life were fair as summer seas.”
+
+  Wealth for me would bridge the ocean,
+    Open Europe’s storied lore,
+  Rome and Greece, with art and beauty,
+    Each would open wide her door;
+  These my hungering soul had longed for—
+    Oft they seemed within my clasp,
+  But like gold beneath the rainbow
+    They escaped my eager grasp.
+
+  How I spurned the homely hangings
+    That in poverty were wrought,
+  E’en the couch, whose dingy plushings
+    Now in weariness I sought.
+  “Common things,” I said, repining,
+    “Ne’er for me can blessing hold”;
+  But the Sun, just then declining,
+    Flooded all with molten gold.
+
+  And a benison, descending
+    On the wings of closing day,
+  Soothed and hushed my wild complaining—
+    Drove the evil sprite away—
+  Brought before me _my_ possessions,
+    Richest in the long array,
+  Wealth of home, where all my dear ones
+    Make it bright with love, alway.
+
+  Lightly drooped the shining fringes
+    Of the evening’s twilight hour,
+  While the playful, roving zephyr
+    Gently kissed each folding flower;
+  Softly gliding into dreamland
+    On the sunset’s gilded car,
+  Soon for me, his golden splendor
+    Wrapped all objects, near and far.
+
+  In his grand effulgent shimmer
+    “Common things,” grew strangely bright;
+  And my home became a palace
+    All resplendent in the light;
+  E’en the russet garb of labor,
+    If unstained by deed of shame,
+  There outshone imperial purple,
+    With its throne and titled name.
+
+  Sweeter than the grand exotics,
+    Were my lillies, pure and white—
+  All was beauty—all about me
+    Whispered to me—“Life is bright,”
+  And its sweetest flowers are blooming
+    In the toil-worn paths of earth,
+  And its purest gems will sparkle
+    On the brow of honest worth.
+
+  Diamonds, oft, are but the tear-drops
+    Avarice wrings from orphaned trust,
+  And his gorgeous, gilded trappings
+    Steal their hues from hearts he’s crushed.
+  More I saw in raptured dreaming—
+    Seraphs holding crowns of gold,
+  Beckoning up the shining pathway
+    Where the gates of Rest unfold.
+
+  Some whose wealth did bow them earthward
+    Sought for this to enter in,
+  Others, wearing robes of priesthood,
+    Thought that these absolved from sin;
+  But no easier passed the portal,
+    Those in purple, cowl, or gown;—
+  He who bore life’s burden’s bravely,
+    Won the race and wore the crown.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Then a touch of dimpled fingers
+    Woke my heart with mother-joy—
+  Golden head upon my bosom—
+    Tired, sleepy, baby boy
+  Poured a wealth of love and kisses
+    On the lips that had complained.
+  He (sweet angel!—God had sent him)
+    Quick the demon, Envy, chained.
+
+
+
+
+Our Own.
+
+
+  Not all we name as friends, the soul receives as such,
+    Nor ever those whose lip-born love weaves smoothest claim;
+  Those only who, to ours, give genial spirit touch
+    Can light that hidden shrine with friendship’s holy flame.
+  ’Tis by this sign the friends God made for us are known;
+    Dear ones! We count their names as precious gems which lie
+  Within the hearts most sacred place—its very own—
+    A circlet bright that’s bound by sympathy’s silken tie.
+
+  There’s still another bond for which no word is found—
+    A gift of His, so high the minds extremest reach
+  Doth fail to find it name, or ontologic bound,
+    Tho’ undefined—beyond the subtlest grasp of speech,
+  This wondrous, unseen realm, to spirit sense, remains,
+    And o’er its lines the soul, to kindred soul, conveys
+  Joy’s glad, exultant flash, or sorrow’s woeful pains,
+    Which, thro’ this gift divine, love’s tenderness allays.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  ’Tis sweet in twilight’s hush, when noisy day has fled
+    And evening’s azure glows with beauty’s single star—
+  When roses, gemmed with dew, their richest fragrance shed,
+    To feel the silence thrill with signals from afar
+  Feel the thought-lines warmly pulsing with a message from OUR OWN—
+    To know the call of dear ones, as we know the breath of flowers,
+  And catch love’s fond impulsion, thro’ this mystic Psychephone,
+    Trembling on the stillness of the dreamy, evening hours.
+  Thro’ distance, o’er these subtile, sentient threads of mind,
+    We feel, by finest sense, our answering heart-beats throb
+  Till every fluttering, white-winged joy doth find
+    Response, and every grief a sympathetic sob.
+  O, blessed bond! It links us to the Life Divine!
+    Thro’ this our prayers may reach the holy Fount of Love—
+  The league of kinship which these spirit cords entwine,
+    By fervent sway of soul, is felt in realms above.
+
+
+
+
+Wounded Faith.
+
+
+  Mine open enemy hath no power to wound—
+  His poison shafts fall hurtless to the ground;
+  He may wreak a treach’rous lynx-like deed
+  And yet will never cause my heart to bleed.
+  If he should glare on me in hottest hate,
+  With tiger fierceness, plan the direst fate,
+  With claws distended, lusting for the roon,
+  I’d smile and do him kindness over soon,
+  Or, give a sure nepenthe for his wrath
+  By silent, strewing favors in his path.
+
+  But when those to whom my heart is bound in trust,
+  With aim concealed, make unexpected thrust,—
+  When those I’d counted friends, as friends had served,
+  Whose joy and weal my strongest effort nerved—
+  If THEY shall stab and gaze with hungry eyes
+  To catch my wince of pain, ’neath friendship’s guise,
+  Then, a wound is made, that all the quivering senses feel—
+  A wound, that only trusted friends could deal;
+  And, saddest hurt of all, the heart will find,
+  The same stab struck its faith in human kind.
+
+
+
+
+“Destiny.”
+
+
+  She freighted a thistle-down once with a wish,
+    And gave to the breeze with her breath;
+  The Fates were to hold its invisible leash
+    And, if to be granted ere death,
+  Bring back, at her will, to her out-reaching hand
+    This wealth-laden embassy sent.
+  Unheeding her will and its pleading command,
+    Up, up toward the zenith it went,
+  Till will, it would seem, at the last had controlled,
+    When, earthward it came, like a fairy rigged sail—
+  Came straight toward the hand that was eager to hold
+    The zephyr-tossed feather, whose course should unveil
+  What Destiny held, in the Future concealed—
+    Life’s weightiest questions decide.
+  Almost within grasp and it wavered and reeled,
+    Then, mounting again the etherial tide,
+  It floated—was lost in the depths of the blue.
+    That thistle down, swayed by a pulse of the air,
+  Had wrecked her heart’s hopes on the rocks of despair,
+    As billows of ocean rich argosies strew.
+
+  Now listless and faithless she sits on the shore
+    Where Time’s restless surge casts its wrack at her feet;
+  She sees not the sunshine—hears only the roar
+    Of dark, sullen waves as they ceaselessly beat.
+  In Fate-ridden weakness she shrinks from all strife—
+    Lets Destiny’s elves to her fancy repeat
+  The early “decrees” that have shadowed her life—
+    No effort essays that might wreak a defeat—
+  Just waits for the stroke of pale Atropos’ knife.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  A faith in the hidden controllings of FATE,
+    Enchains, with its might, even Reason and Will:
+  In wreakless inaction her devotees wait
+    For the slow-turning grind of her mill—Let
+  circumstance bind them with torturing gyves,
+    Pass doors that would open to Industry’s keys
+  And when, with his braided pangs, Poverty drives,
+    Receive all his lashings as “Fortune’s decrees.”
+
+  E’en tho’ Opportunity’s latch-string is out,
+    They, shelterless, wait for events to compel,
+  And deem themselves goaded by Destiny’s knout
+    While held in the toils of her mystical spell.
+  Credulity, Sloth and their following throngs
+  Forever are weaving entangling snares—
+  ’Tis not till a victim is bound with their thongs,
+    To thwart his endeavor that Destiny dares.
+
+  Bring WILL to the front—strike Destiny down,
+    And throttle the Fate that would hinder success—
+  You’ll find that dame Fortune will put off her frown
+    And yield, for past sufferings, an ampleredress.
+
+
+
+
+Unclaimed.
+
+
+  Just beyond the reach of thought,
+    Just beyond the grasp of mind
+  Is a sense of Presence—fraught
+    With blessing—felt, yet undefined.
+
+  At times it seems a wondrous power—
+    A strength, awaiting _Faith’s_ command—
+  For trusting soul, a proffered dower,
+    That’s held by Love’s omniscient hand.
+
+  Is it the gift, reserved of God
+    For those whom Faith brings nearest Him?—
+  The power that smote the rock?—the rod
+    That rives the fountain’s brim,
+  That all His thirsty souls may drink?
+    “O, ye of little faith,” He cries—
+  So many faithless Peters sink,
+    _And the proffered power dies_.
+
+
+
+
+Death.
+
+
+  When thou, O Death, art come to be the old man’s guest
+  Who, bowed beneath the heavy weight of toil and years,
+      So longeth for thy rest,
+  Or to the weary mother, looking through her tears,
+      To the bright celestial shore
+      Where her loved have gone before,
+      Then, truly, thou art blest.
+
+  To them the ties that bound are broken, all,
+  And they will stretch glad hands of welcome unto thee
+      Who comes to break their thrall—
+  To slip the leash of weary life and set them free;
+      They, impatient, wait release
+      To pass the golden gates of Peace
+      And gladly list thy call.
+
+  But, in Love’s young home, where Life is one bright, pulsing sea
+  Of joy and hope, thy summons hath heart-breaking sound,
+      Like cruel Fate’s decree;
+  As tho’ alone, by stealth, she had thy gyves unbound,
+      When thou hadst to this Eden crept
+      And wrought, while guardian angels slept,
+      What Envy’s dream might be.
+
+  We feel the surging depth of Sorrow’s stifled cry,
+  Yet in thy presence, helpless, dumb with grief, we stand
+      And silent question—Why?—
+  Why budding life is frozen by thine icy hand,
+      Why yielded to thy devastating claim
+      Are all the loveliest of earth,—
+      E’en God’s sweetest, dearest gift of birth—
+          A mother-love,
+  Which is for life’s most holy joys, the precious name.
+
+  While cloud-depths veil in gloom the steely form of truth,
+      The heart, athrob with grief, still questions why:—
+      Ah, why Love’s brightly burning flame
+      Is ever smothered by thy breath,—
+  Its altar, dark and cold, whereon dead ashes lie;—
+      Oh! why are love, and hope, and youth,
+      All left within thy grasp, O, Death?
+
+
+
+
+Night-Blooming Cereus.
+
+
+  Birth of darkness! bloom of night!
+  Bringing me such rare delight;
+    Floating charm, thy rich perfume
+  Stirs the lagging, weary brain,
+    Hushes all the thoughts of gloom,
+  Soothes or dulls the pangs of pain.
+
+  This floral wonder, glistening white,
+  Scorning Day’s broad, glaring light,
+    In the sacred stillness now
+  Beams in beauty on my sight,
+    As the star on evening’s brow
+  Beams upon a moonless night.
+
+  Like a rainbow on the skies,
+  Looked for, yet a glad surprise—
+    Like a meteor’s flash and gleam
+  Crossing midnight’s sullen gloom,
+    Like the fairy forms of dream
+  Is this wondrous, starry bloom.
+
+  Tell me lovely, mystic flower,
+  Why you gem this gruesome hour?
+    Were the jasper gates ajar?
+  Did the Night, from angel’s crown,
+    Pluck for us its brightest star,
+  And cast the gleaming jewel down?
+
+  O, thou, pearly, radiant flower!
+  Why give Night such wealth of dower?
+    Why with anthers, dipped in gold,
+  ’Round a carpel, rosy red,
+    Wait in darkness to unfold,
+  And thy queenly beauty spread?
+
+  Now a sentient presence seeming—
+  Ah! it whispers, or I’m dreaming:
+    “An evangel I’m to thee,
+  With this message from the Past;
+    How e’er full life’s joys may be,
+  Like my bloom they may not last.
+
+  Throngs are gone—the voices stilled
+  That once these halls with gladness filled;
+  Here, with thee, I stand alone
+  Where, before Night’s ebon throne,
+    Silence holy, waits to bear
+  From thy heart its inmost cry,
+    Wrought into such fervent prayer
+  As doth bring God’s presence nigh.”
+
+
+
+
+My Muse.
+
+
+  She wanders on, at her sweet will,
+    Thro’ gloomy vales or paths of pleasure,
+  Nor asks the world if grave, or gay,
+    Shall be her theme and measure.
+
+  She scorns the stilty, stiff Rondeau
+    That artizans must fashion,
+  But loves the brooklets romping flow
+    And Nature’s gush of passion.
+
+  Tho’ common use has smoothly worn
+    The Sonnet’s polished fetter,
+  She wonders how its chains are borne
+    When freedom’s range is better.
+
+  The triolet she never tries—
+    She’d lose in such endeavor
+  The glory of the sunset skies,
+    The music of the river.
+
+  My muse is not a Hellenese
+    With bright, Olympian halo,
+  But that strong, helpful one, that feels
+    The heart-throbs of her fellow.
+
+  She lifts me from the slough, Despond—
+    Bids Nature hush my sighing
+  By crooning for me sweetest song,
+    While in her bosom lying.
+
+  The violets, the Spring first kissed,
+    To us, are sweet as heather—
+  We climb the hills, thro’ shining mist,
+    In Autumn’s golden weather.
+
+  When, Lotus-drugged, Ambition sleeps,
+    She whispers—“Come up higher”—
+  Thro’ starry fields of azure deeps
+    I’m led and feasted by her.
+
+  She breaks the locks which golden keys
+    Could only open to me,
+  And kindly joins her gift, with Art’s,
+    Earth’s grandest views to show me.
+
+  While those who sing for fame and crown
+    Must bide the Poet’s tether,
+  Dear Muse and I will wander down
+    Thro’ Freedom’s vale, together.
+
+  ’Tis sweet to us, the path we tread—
+    All Nature’s song is ours,
+  Her wildest scenes, the stars o’erhead
+    And all her fragrant flowers.
+
+
+
+
+We Never Know.
+
+
+      Ah, me! we never know
+      What cold, wild winds may blow
+  Across the springtime’s balmy promise, sweet—
+      By what untimely frost
+      The fruit germs may be lost,
+  And rosy petals beaten down with sleet.
+
+      The eyes that glow tonight
+      With childhood’s loving light,
+  To-morrow may, with pallid lids be veiled—
+      The bounding pulse be stilled,
+      Life’s crimson current chilled,
+  And rich, red lips with Death’s cold kisses paled.
+
+      We never know the fate
+      So near, until too late;
+  Tho’ oft the black-winged demon’s shadow falls
+      In heavy gloom upon the heart—
+      A thousand dreads upstart,
+  Yet onward, all, until the shock appalls.
+
+      Warm love anticipates,
+      With open arms awaits,
+  ’Till hissing wires the stunning message brings.
+      Oh, God! the wild despair
+      That hushes e’en the voice of prayer,
+  And makes the soul forget all offerings.
+
+      Such sudden, crushing grief!
+      Hope, rising, scouts belief,
+  But falls down, prone, before the sorrow-flashing wires.
+      Hear Sympathy’s whispered tone,
+      Oh, ye, who sit alone,
+  With but the light of memory’s altar fires.
+
+
+
+
+A June in Childhood.
+
+
+  I stood in the flush of an evening in June
+  When leafage and blossom and fragrance triune,
+    Crown this, of the months, the most queenly and fair;
+    The clover and roses had poured on the air
+    A nectar I drank with enjoyment rare;
+  Baptized in this flood of ecstatic delight
+  My child eyes were blessed with miraculous sight.
+
+  O, gladly I’d yield up the wisdom of years,
+  If gazing out now, thro’ the mist of my tears,
+    I could think as I tho’t in that beautiful dream,
+    That the gates were ajar, and the shimmer and gleam
+    Of golden-paved streets on that silvery stream,
+  “The River of Life”—shining thro’ in the west,
+  Gave us a bright glimpse of the home of the blest.
+
+  I saw, as I gazed with my dream-lighted eyes,
+  A broad, gilded stairway let down from the skies,
+    And angels came out with their robings of white,
+    All ’broidered and shining with flosses of light,
+    And bound on each brow with a coronet bright,
+  Was a veil of soft gossamer, fold upon fold,
+  With amethyst border, and flutings of gold.
+
+  And spread on the sky, to my glorified view,
+  Was a foam crested ocean, pavillioned with blue;
+    Bright islands of azure thro’ cloud-rifts were seen,
+    Then sunk, like Atlantis, in billowy sheen:
+    While ships, that I fancied from shores evergreen,
+  Afloat on its bosom, at anchor would ride,
+  Or cut with their prows thro’ the rose-tinted tide.
+
+  Some angels sailed far, where the cloud-waves grew dark,
+  In boats that were graceful as gondolier’s barque,
+    And those I tho’t sailing far over the seas
+    To watch over missions and little Burmese;
+    Then others swept down, where the glory-crowned trees
+  Hid them on the stairs, but I knew from that band
+  Some went to each household, all over the land,
+
+  Where children would whisper “I lay me to sleep,
+  Send angels dear Father, my spirit to keep
+    Thro’ midnight and darkness, to guard me from harm,
+    To give me sweet dreams, and to shield from alarm—
+    To watch me till morning dawns, rosy and warm,
+  Or, dying before, let them bear me above
+  To the bosom of Jesus, on pinions of love.”
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  These memories float in on the fragrance to night,
+  While sunset is veiling in glory the light,
+    And seasons, repeating in cyclical rune,
+    Bring forward in beauty, rose-garlanded June;
+    All earth seems an altar with flowers o’erstrewn—
+    ’Tis Nature’s thank offering—my heart is in tune
+  With her grand _De Profundis_, now rolling in praise;
+  Send angels, dear Father, a grown-up child prays,
+  And a rose-wreathed June for my sunset of days.
+
+
+
+
+Goldenrod.
+
+
+  O, Goldenrod, bright goldenrod!
+    It fringes all the wayside hedges,
+  And makes the forest mantle rich
+    With lovely tasseled edges.
+  It lights with sunshine of its own
+    Each dark, neglected dingle,
+  And links itself with memories of
+    The cheery, old-time ingle.
+
+  Despite the summer’s burning drought,
+    It blooms profuse and bright as ever,
+  And where spring fountains rippled forth
+    With laughter to the river,
+  It kisses now their parching lips
+    To woo their music mellow,
+  And wreaths our dying flowers with
+    An aureole of yellow.
+
+  It gaily lifts its nodding plumes
+    Above decay’s inceptive traces,
+  And hides beneath its cloth-of-gold
+    The season’s fading graces.
+  Bright goldenrod! ’tis autumn’s crown
+    And summer’s sunset glory—
+  Each blooming-time is new with joy
+    As Love’s old charming story.
+
+
+
+
+An Evening in June.
+
+
+  Glory won ’gainst beauty’s brush in painting sunset skies,
+  But paling now, upon the hills in rosy languor lies:
+  All breathing life, with her, seems panting for a cooling breeze,
+  For winds have stopped ’mid ocean isles, to toss the gleaming spray
+  And spicy odors rich, along the golden path of day;
+  And motionless, awaiting Beauty’s Star, stand all the trees,
+  While Erse, from her stores, besprinkles earth with gems,
+  From mantling robes of green, to flower-broidered hems.
+
+  But mortals, restless aye, will burden all life’s golden hours
+  With low complainings, forgetting bounty’s blessing showers,
+  Impatient, beg the _one_ withheld for other days and needs,
+  Nor see the plan inwoven, that the world’s wide hunger feeds;
+  Nor ken the flashes on the sultry air, above the plain,
+  Are the wings of ripening angels, sweeping o’er the grain.
+
+
+
+
+Yosemite.
+
+
+  With humbled heart, subdued and awed I look on thee,
+  Thou time-defying granite pile; with senses rapt
+  Behold thee, grand and world-renowned—YOSEMITE—
+      Thy spray-enwreathing stream—
+  Thy rock-walled vale and sunset clouds, all glory capped
+      With evanescent gleam.
+
+  Aye, gaze and wondering gaze, until the centuries swing
+  Their massive doors ajar, and glimpses give when Earth was young;
+  But farthest grasp of human thought but weakling reasons bring
+      To solve thy problem vast;
+  In vain the Present asks the voiceless silences that hung
+      Their mysteries o’er the Past—
+
+  The far, dim Past, that wrapped our sphere in shoreless sea—
+  The mantling gloom, that swathed its infancy in mist,
+  While yet our central orb did wait Omnipotent decree
+      To bless the world with Light—
+  Ere Day’s first, smiling morn with rosy beams had kissed
+      Away the brooding night.
+
+  What engine wrought in Nature’s great completing plan
+  To ope for thee thy chasm’s broad, abysmal deeps?
+  Was it the glacier’s ponderous plow, that smoothed for man
+      The verdant, fertile plain,
+  Or, rolling waters that thro’ circling eons, wore thy steeps
+      With solemn, sad refrain?—
+
+  Or from Earth’s central fires, did fierce, volcanic throes
+  Expel, in molten mass, the elemental rock,
+  That o’er the wilds to mountain majesty arose,
+      And while yet warm with throbbing strain,
+  Did earthquake rend with pole-disturbing shock,
+      Thy mighty walls amain?
+
+  O, puny mind! be still and catch the chant sublime,
+  Of Nature’s psalm, that here is poured in never ending praise;
+  Accept the truth that God, by His right hand, did raise
+  These templed rocks, to stand thro’ an eternity of time,
+      An altar place of worship, where
+  All nations come, and every heart an offering lays
+      Of mingled praise and prayer.
+
+
+
+
+Blight, or Blessing.
+
+      “But saddest is the tho’t of joys
+      That never yet were tasted.”—John Hay.
+
+
+  And yet the heart will never turn,
+    Tho’ all its wealth beside were wasted—
+  ’Twill never cease to plead and yearn
+    For joys it covets, yet untasted:
+  And at its secret altar kneeling,
+    Whereon the life an offering lies,
+  The soul will lift its one appealing
+    For joy that Wisdom still denies.
+
+  It watches for the longed-for beaming
+    With hidden, cherished, fond delight,
+  As tho’ the hoping, wishing, dreaming
+    Could make the shadowed pathway bright;
+  As tho’ from out some shining mist,
+  By radiant bow of promise kissed,
+  That joy might come, to bless it yet
+  And soothe the pain of long regret.
+
+  Tho’ at our feet fall blessing showers,
+    All worthless in our grasp they seem,
+  De-gloried, as are withered flowers,
+    If still denied the soul’s fond dream.
+  For lack of it—that single joy,—
+  The life is robbed of sweet employ;
+  Each cup seems blent with Upas drips,
+  Each day seems gloomed with cold eclipse.
+
+  Sweet sleep will sometimes give the boon,—
+    Possession’s own supreme delight,—
+  Oh, sad that Day dissolves so soon
+    The bright, warm vision—gift of Night!
+  Brief joy! The rapturous dream diffused,
+    Swims round the soul like golden mist,
+  And life a moment seems suffused
+    With dawn’s own rose and amethyst.
+
+  And shall it be,—this sorest need—
+    To us, eternal, haunting loss?
+  Or will this spirit-hunger lead
+    Up, from this life-enduring cross,
+  With sentience large, evolved by this,
+    (When change the mortal veil shall rift,)
+  To take our own supremest bliss
+    From God’s infinitudes of gift?
+
+
+
+
+O, For a Rainy Day.
+
+BY REQUEST.
+
+
+  These days are hot, and dry, and dreary;
+  The burning sun seems never weary
+    The vine lies limp on the thirsty earth—
+    The grass grows sere in the long, long dearth—
+  The days are dusty, hot and dreary.
+
+  The sky is cloudless, brassy, dreary,
+  The wind seems ever languid, weary
+    But hope still clings to the gifts of the Past—
+    We trust that the rain will come at last
+  And the days be damp and cheery.
+
+  O, clouds sweep o’er, veil the sun’s hot shining!
+  With copious rains, come, hush all repining,
+    Swell the shrunken grains of the sun-burnt lands,
+    With new, green grass clothe the arid sands,
+      Then the days will be bright and cheery.
+
+August, 1895.
+
+
+
+
+The Great Poet.
+
+
+  Upon Parnassian heights he walked and gazed below;—
+    From wing of Jove’s high soaring bird he plucked his pen;
+  Attuned to poet soul, his lofty numbers flow—
+    His stately verse ne’er stoops to common needs of men.
+
+  The earth-born, toiling throng, he saw, but from afar;
+    No interlinking brotherhood bound him to them;
+  For them no warmth his glory shed—a cold, bright star,
+    On which they gazed as on a costly, dazzling gem.
+
+  To those who nearest reach his altitude of thought
+    He bends himself to speak, but yet, with lofty mien;
+  Of these, but few, familiar comradship, have sought;
+  They stand, his far, dim height and earth’s green vales, between,
+    To take his gift, which often falls like vivid lightning flashes,
+  And crystalize, and link for comprehension’s reach—
+  They trace his subtle thread, entangled with the shining meshes
+    Of universal lore, and weave in wefts of wondrous speech.
+
+  Sometimes, it seems, an idea vast, his measure strains,
+    When he doth crush the whole, as quartz is crushed for gold,
+  And then, reject and cleanse, until there’s naught remains
+    Of quartz or dross. The massive idea we behold
+  Upon his page, aglow in shining, golden grains.
+
+    Then alchemistic souls, in study’s crucial heat,
+  Must fuse and integrate—must clothe, and warm,
+  And breathe into it soul, when lo, with life replete,
+    The world will praise for breadth and depth, embracing form.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  In this bright world of ours God placed some humble ones
+    With loving hearts, o’erwelling with sweet tenderness;
+  They soothe the wounds of war, they cheer earth’s toiling sons
+    And where grief broods these faithful ones are there to bless;
+  And e’en when fiends come forth with pestilential breath
+    To pour their reeking poisons on the stagnant air,
+  Forgetting self, they wrestle long with Death,
+    And, with devotion’s strength, the black-winged demon, dare.
+
+  Tho’ humble these, their elder Brother sits enthroned
+    At God’s right hand; His golden words, impressive, deep,
+  Still speak to us in sweet monition, gentle toned,
+    “_If ye love me feed my lambs,—aye feed my sheep_.”
+
+  O, many sheep have need of thee. Go feed them “In His Name,”
+    Or seek that shelterless, that lone one that has strayed,
+  Nor deem thy labor lost because, unknown to fame,
+    For whoso lifts the cup, by which there’s _one_ soul’s thirst allayed,
+  The same shall eat of hidden manna. He is blest of God.
+    Tho’, but faintly we can echo the loving Shepherd’s call,
+  We’ll find in Duty’s obscure ways, His sweetest blessings fall—
+    In these same, lowly paths, earth’s sainted ones have trod.
+
+  It may be grand to tread Olympian heights and breathe
+    Ambrosial airs,—to win high praise ’mong those whose souls
+  Are lit with Heaven’s fire; but sweeter far to wreathe
+    A simple worded song, whose swelling music rolls
+  A tidal wave of feeling, thrilling into life
+    A long chained serfdom. Greater mastery of the art
+  Is his, who lifts to light, from savagery and strife,
+    Earth’s darkened isles—whose pen can touch the world’s great heart
+  With philanthropic fire,—whose verse has, throbbing thro’ the whole,
+    In sympathy with man, a loving, human soul.
+
+
+
+
+Love’s Riches.
+
+
+  Rich blessings are scattered around us—
+    Why heedlessly trample them down
+  And ask for the millionaire’s coffers,
+    Or sigh for a kingdom and crown?
+  We’ve ever the sunshine of loving,
+    Unmixed with the drosses of gold—
+  Its pleasures are not in wealth’s giving
+    Or e’en in its power to withhold.
+
+  The jewels, whose splendors we covet,
+    Gain much of their sparkle and glow
+  From the flutter and tumult of bosoms
+    Where heart-aches are throbbing below;
+  In palaces, often, is hidden
+    A skeleton presence of dread,
+  That quenches the flame on Love’s altar
+    While hope in the darkness lies dead.
+
+  A queen may be rich in dominions,
+    Have crown and a scepter and throne,
+  Yet all of the riches of loving
+    To her be forever unknown;
+  Far greater the kingdom for woman
+    Where love is the power—her throne
+  In a heart of unswerving devotion,
+    Its measureless realms her own.
+
+  Thro’ the tapestried halls of the mansion
+    The ghost of dead honor may glide—
+  A sense of life’s holiest joys departed
+    In the lordliest castle abide.
+  Tho’ the chalice wealth drains should be golden,
+    No sweeter to him is the draught
+  Than the cup with the sparkle of water,
+    That humble contentment has quaffed.
+
+  Earth’s mines, and her jewel-strewn caverns,
+    With the station that title confers,
+  All poured at her feet, would not purchase
+    The treasure a mother counts hers.
+  Ay, hid in your home you will find them—
+    Love’s riches—vast treasures untold;
+  More precious than worldly possessions,
+    Though counted, by millions, in gold.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Then let not the demon of envy
+    E’er enter the soul to enthrall;
+  The Father is tenderly watching—
+    Is keeping a record of all.
+  Rewards we have missed in our earth-life
+    We’ll find in that mansion above,
+  All decked with the beauties of Heaven
+    And lighted with Infinite Love.
+
+
+
+
+Complainings.
+
+
+  Never a dove came to nestle by me,
+  But green-eyed Envy was there to see—
+  Soiling its plumage of spotless white,
+  Making it vile as a raven of night.
+  Never a rose in my garden was born,
+  But was surrounded by many a thorn.
+
+  Never a sweet but was mingled with gall—
+  And freedom, forever, is shadowed by thrall;—
+  Fruit, that looked luscious while hanging in view,
+  Is blighted ere ripe, by a blistering dew;
+  Gold, that we gather and count as a joy,
+  Has little of pleasure and much of alloy;
+  Jealously burns, in her caustical fire,
+  My tenderest hope, with malevolent ire—
+  Ashes, of all, she has strewn in my path,
+  And mocks at my pain with demoniac laugh.
+
+  But hush thy complaining, my heart, and be still—
+  If Heaven, our measure, with blessings should fill,
+  How soon would the soul with satiety cloy,
+  And life would be robbed of delightsome employ,—
+  Incentive would sleep, and all motive would die,
+  If needs of our nature should utter no cry;
+  But lacking the goal our ambition would gain
+  Arouses our powers—gives strength to attain.
+
+  Our grandest achievements have birth in the throes
+  Of Penury’s labor; and multiplied woes
+  But nerve us to action—resist and endure,
+  And highest endeavor gives aid to secure
+  Success to the valiant in the struggle for right—
+  Though failure may sometimes descend like a blight—
+  Oft failure is blessing, that’s sent in disguise
+  To turn us from groveling to gaze on the skies.
+  Then learn through each trial, my soul, to rejoice,
+  And e’en from the cloud will Compassion’s own voice
+  Be heard thro’ the gloom, in response to your cry,
+  “Fear not the tempest, my child, it is I.”
+
+
+
+
+Questionings.
+
+
+  When the pallid lids have fallen
+    O’er the eyes in dreamless sleep—
+  Eyes that wake no more with watching
+    Nor in loneliness will weep,
+  Will a touch of pity soften—
+    Warm that unimpassioned gaze?
+  For a moment will affection
+    Hallow all their clouded days?
+
+  When the heart, no longer beating,
+    All its painful throbbings o’er—
+  When it stirs life’s crimson current
+    With its hopes and fears no more,
+  Will another heart feel sorrow
+    For the stillness resting there?
+  Will it for a whole tomorrow
+    Wear a saddened shade of care?
+
+  When the weary hands are folded
+    For that long unbroken rest,
+  And the spirit wings in freedom
+    To its home among the blest,
+  Will one tender feeling waken
+    In that heart a fond regret,
+  That will last thro’ summer’s blooming—
+    That will never quite forget?
+
+  When the lips are cold and silent—
+    Hushed for aye their gentle speech,
+  With love’s whispers dying on them,
+    Will their mute appealing reach
+  To the rock-girt fount of feeling?
+    Will Remorse with stinging rod,
+  Smite and bring the welling tear-drops
+    To bedew the new-laid sod?
+
+
+
+
+Persecuted.
+
+
+  Alone, alone I tread the shore
+  Where surges beat forevermore
+      With deaf’ning, hollow wail;
+  The sky, o’ercast with angry frown,
+  Doth drop the loaded clouds, low down,
+      To beat me with their hail.
+
+  And, helpless here upon the strand
+  With no out-reaching friendly hand,
+      I face the roaring sea.
+  With reverent love my soul is stirred,
+  And seeking TRUTH within Thy word
+      I come, dear Lord, to Thee.
+
+  Aye, take my hand in thine Oh, God!
+  And lead me, where Thine own have trod,
+      By waters, pure and sweet.
+  O, send thy Comforter to calm
+  The aching heart with holy balm,
+      And keep me at thy feet!
+
+  Nature’s gift had been more kind
+  If a pulpy, plastic mind,
+      To fit, with ease, their mold;
+  Then self-assumed, “straight orthodox”
+  Had gathered me, with petted flocks,
+      Within the church’s fold.
+
+  O, loving Christ! Am I not thine?
+  And Thy disciples, truly mine,
+      Each my sister or my brother,
+  By the heritage of heaven—
+  By the new commandment given,
+      That we all love one another?
+
+  O, help me Lord with thee to pray!—
+  “Forgive them Father,” Thou didst say,
+      “They know not what they do.”
+  May sheltering love, dear Lord, be mine—
+  O, keep my life thine, only thine,
+      My soul to conscience true!
+
+
+
+
+O, Kindly Speak.
+
+
+  The chiding word that chills the flow
+    Of warm child-feeling, ere it gush
+  In sparkling jets, to catch the glow
+    And tinge of Life’s bright morning flush,
+  Is the human thunder-bolt—its path
+  Is marked by dwarfed and shrunken minds,
+    Souls scarred, as trees by lightning scath,
+  Which show, like them, the spoiler’s lines.
+
+
+
+
+He Is Risen.
+
+
+  Crown of all our joys supernal
+  Is the hope of life eternal;
+    Burst in bloom ye lillies white!
+  Wreathe the altar and the cross,—
+    Dawn is born of brooding night,
+  Heaven’s joy of earthly loss,—
+                          He is Risen!
+
+  In the starry fields of Heaven
+  Mansions bright, to us, are given:
+    Triumph o’er the grave He won
+  In the resurrection morn—
+    Life eternal is begun,
+  Hope to all the world is born,
+                          He is Risen!
+
+  He hath passed thro’ Heaven’s portal,
+  We, thro’ Him have life immortal—
+    Death is met with faith and trust—
+  The tomb is lighted by His love;
+    Earth may claim the crumbling dust—
+  Souls will dwell with Christ above.
+                          He is Risen!
+
+  Think not thou art left forsaken
+  Tho’ by sorrow’s tempest shaken;
+    From His son, God veiled his face—
+  Heaven’s light was e’en withdrawn,
+    But the cruel cross made place
+  For the glorious Easter dawn—
+                          He is Risen!
+
+
+
+
+The Christ.
+
+
+  In olive-crowned Gethsemane,
+    Alone the Savior sought the power
+  That wrought through him at Galilee,
+    To stay the tide of that dark hour.
+  With grief bowed soul he prayed, but grace
+    Was His, to say: “Thy will be done.”
+  From Christ the Father veiled his face
+    And gave the world His only Son.
+
+  Tho’ His displeasure hid the day,
+    Spread brooding terror o’er the land,
+  Tho’ yielding hate its earth-born sway,
+    O’er-ruling Love in wisdom planned;
+  While human might did glut its greed
+    With nod of law to sanction crime,
+  A good, by higher law decreed,
+    Went forth, encircling earth and time.
+
+  Far-reaching, ’twas to win the world—
+    Their cruel deeds of blinded rage—
+  Their mocking taunts like hell-brands hurled,
+    Still echo from the sacred page;
+  That bitter cup—the crown of thorn
+    Upon His suffering, sinless brow—
+  That wail, adown the ages borne—
+    Are loving worship winning now.
+
+  O! blot the hard, blasphemous creed,
+    “A sacrifice for wrath of God;”
+  And teach the world ’twas human deed
+    That stained with blood Golgotha’s sod.
+  The reeling earth and darkened sun
+    Proclaimed aloud Jehovah’s frown;
+  Yet taught us that His holy one
+    Had by life’s cross won Heaven’s crown.
+
+  That tho’ he passed thro’ death—the tomb
+    To calm a world in maddened strife,
+  From out its broken bars of gloom
+    A joy would beam to beacon life,
+  And bless for us that morning light
+    That points the glory path he trod
+  From persecution, death and night,
+    Through Resurrection, up to God.
+
+  ’Tis through His bearing mortal woes
+    We feel the throb of Love Divine!
+  Though wrung with agonizing throes,
+    His words with God-like mercy shine;
+  They wake the world to faith and hope—
+    E’en from old Memnon’s music trill,
+  They turn the dusky Ethiope
+    To catch their soul-impassioned thrill.
+
+  “Forgive—they know not what they do!”—
+    O, holy prayer! In every tongue
+  Its tender pleading pulses thro’,
+    As when from Calvary’s cross it rung!—
+  O, arms of Love’s infinitude!
+    They still reach down to earth from Heaven
+  To bind in one great brotherhood,
+    Through Him, the rescued world—forgiven.
+
+
+
+
+Feed My Lambs.
+
+
+  Jesus said, with tender pleading,
+    “If ye love me, feed my lambs”;
+  Thro’ His word He’s interceding—
+    Feed my lambs, my precious lambs;
+
+      (Chorus)—If ye love me, feed my lambs,
+               Feed my lambs, my precious lambs—
+               If ye love me feed my lambs.
+
+  From the hedges and the highways,
+    Bring the lambs all safely in;
+  Seek the wanderers in the byways,
+    Save them from the blight of sin.
+                    If ye love me, etc.
+
+  Find each little son and daughter,
+    Bring them in with tender care;
+  Lead them to the crystal water,
+    In the pastures green and fair:—
+                    If ye love me, etc.
+
+
+
+
+The Kingdom of Heaven.
+
+      “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth as in Heaven.”
+
+
+  O, the kingdom of Heaven will come!—
+          When His will shall be done
+          Upon earth, as above,
+            And victory won
+            Through a union of love,
+  Then, the kingdom of Heaven will come.
+
+      Our Christian Endeavor
+      Has linked, and forever,
+        The lands of all climes
+        Where the Savior is known.
+      O, bright is the morning
+      That brings us the dawning
+        Of the day that’s to band,
+        In one army, HIS OWN!
+  O, the kingdom of heaven will come!
+
+      When Christians, uniting,
+      The common foe fighting
+        Forget every difference
+        Of doctrine and creed,
+      And, hushing their pleading
+      For selfish succeeding,
+        Beg Heaven’s best gift
+        For humanity’s need,
+  Then the kingdom of Heaven will come.
+
+      When fervent in action
+      They trample on faction,
+        Intolerance, arrogance,
+        Tread them all down,
+      And put forth endeavor,
+      Through loving work ever,
+        For the saving of souls
+        With no thought of the crown,
+  Then, the kingdom of Heaven will come.
+
+      When earnest endeavor—
+      Most powerful lever—
+        Is thrust under sin
+        By all Christendom’s might,
+      Its walls will soon crumble—
+      The structure must tumble
+        When hotly assailed
+        By the legions of Right,
+  Aye, the kingdom of heaven will come.
+
+      When Christians are one,
+      Like the Father and Son,
+        And sects of all names
+        At one altar can kneel,
+      In God’s love believing,
+      For heaven achieving,
+        This creed and this purpose
+        Inspiring their zeal,
+  Then the kingdom of heaven will come.
+
+
+
+
+Supplication.
+
+
+  O, thou Savior, Brother, mine,
+    God’s own love and tenderness,
+  Sent of Him with power divine—
+    Sent to soothe, sustain and bless:—
+  Light of Life! Oh blessed Word,
+    Be my help! Dear Savior come!
+  Hear my spirit’s pleading, Lord—
+    Pleading tho’ my lips are dumb.
+
+  Groping now in sorrow’s night
+    Guide, oh, guide me, Lord, I pray,
+  Quicken Thou my spirit’s sight
+    That I walk in wisdom’s way—
+  Be Thou, Lord, a presence nigh—
+    Thou canst still the angry sea,
+    Thou hast known Gethsemane—
+  O, Compassion, hear my cry!
+
+  Deep in agony of soul
+    Mother-love cries up to Thee—
+  Fiends have bound him to the bowl—
+  O, break his chains and set him free!
+
+
+
+
+The Portrait.
+
+
+  O, arms of protection, now folded so still!—
+  Alone in the world, so wide and so chill!
+  O, eyes that would glow in a worshipful gaze!—
+  They’ll bless me no more with their love-beaming rays!
+  O, heart of devotion! thy warm throbbings o’er
+  Can give me asylum from sorrow no more.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  O, veil it!—this lifeless creation of art—
+  The perfect is sacredly shrined in my heart!
+  Not silent, compassionless, framed in with gold,
+  Nor mantled with shadows of coffin and mould,
+  But youthful and strong and warm with the fire
+  That glows in a soul lit with noble desire.
+
+  Ay, thought gropeth not thro’ the darkness and gloom
+  Where the mortal is held in the bonds of the tomb.
+  PROGRESSION is stamped by the hand of God’s love;
+  The life coming after to this is _above_!
+  Our faith reaches up to the realms of bliss,
+  The sphere He has fashioned—the Home beyond this.
+
+  The deeds that gave blessing in the pathways of earth
+  Give impress and form to the Heavenly birth.
+  That face, beaming ever with the glorified light
+  Won here, in defending convictions of Right,
+  My soul, in its holy of holies, where free
+  From earth’s thronging distractions in spirit I see.
+
+  This portrait I gaze on—the glorified one—
+  And that is, to this, as a star, to the sun.
+
+
+
+
+Out in the Woods.
+
+
+  Glad haunts of the summer!—the dim forest aisles,
+  Where Sylva receives us with welcoming smiles—
+  Gives couch of soft mosses, embowered with vines,
+  And smoothes from the forehead, care’s deep written lines.
+  Refreshing, she brings, for the world-weary brain
+  And soothes, with her silence, its fever and pain!—
+  Bids Somnus pour sweets from which restfulness flows,
+  And, hushing her realm into holiest calm,
+  She lulls the sick soul into gentle repose,
+  While winds, with the leafage, are chanting a psalm
+  That charms with its rythm. Rev’ry’s doorways unclose—
+  We slip to forgetfulness—sleep that is balm.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The musical tinkle of the murmuring stream
+  Gave warp, for the web, of a beautiful dream,
+  And woof for the weaving, the slumber-god chose
+  From fragrance of violets, and queenly wild-rose.
+  The sunshine that sifted thro’ the crowns of the trees,
+  Made threadings of gold with the shadows of these!
+  The breeze, touching lightly, with cool finger tips
+  Was the kiss of an angel on the tired spirit’s lips.
+  O, the eider-down couches of slumberous ease,
+  And the tapestried halls that the millionaires please,
+  Can never, such rest, on the weary bestow,
+  As we find in this palace, where the luxuries grow.
+
+  Majestical forest!—Asylum of REST,
+  Where the crowd-jostled soul is ineffably blest—
+  Where primeval old trees, in their grandeur and might,
+  Guard Solitude’s shrine, from the vandal-world’s sight;
+  Where spice-bearing shrubs, and the sweet-scented ferns
+  Float odors as rich as when frankincense burns,
+  And the praise-breathing song of the thrush, from the boughs,
+  Wakes worship unknown thro’ the low-muttered vows.
+  “First temples of God!”—and still nearest His throne,
+  Where the spirit may drink, at the fountain, alone,
+  Receiving His blessing through the still, small voice,
+  While Nature’s true Acolytes whisper—rejoice.
+
+
+
+
+Unforgiven.
+
+
+  Ah! that “Past”—that bitter parting,
+    Long ago, yet vivid seems—
+  Oft in midnight’s black arms folded
+    I have lived it o’er in dreams;
+  As a presence it has shadowed
+    Every path of life I’ve tried—
+  If I joined the festive circle
+    It was stalking by my side.
+
+  If I sat at hush of even
+    With a sense of love and trust,
+  It would come and stand before me,
+    Hissing out the word—unjust;
+  It has stretched its ghostly fingers
+    For all blessings to destroy,
+  And has poured its gall and wormwood
+    In each lifted cup of joy.
+
+  Had you winged a sweet forgiveness,
+    Sent it o’er the “silent line,”
+  It had proved a benediction
+    Falling on your life and mine.
+  Through the years that phantom presence,
+    Like a black bird o’er my door,
+  Seemed to say, by silent glowering,
+    “I will leave thee nevermore.”
+
+  _You_ can drive this haunting demon,
+    Send in place a snowy dove—
+  Only breathe the longed for blessing,
+    Not youth’s fervent tale of love,
+  And on friendship’s sacred altar
+    Light a pure and holy flame,
+  That may burn before the angels
+    Without blanch or blush of shame.
+
+
+
+
+The Evening and the Morning.
+
+      “At Evening time it shall be light.”—Bible.
+
+      “The evening twilight of this life meets the morning twilight
+      of the next and they kiss each other.”—L. H. F.
+
+
+  When Life’s evening twilight gathers
+    Darkling shadows from the tomb,
+  Then a bright celestial morning
+    Kisses back the gathering gloom;
+  Robed in beauty’s bright adorning
+    This aurora—dawning glory,
+    Kisses back the gathering gloom.
+
+  When the crimson tide is throbbing
+    With the hopes that wildly mount,
+  And the sensuous soul is drinking
+    From enjoyment’s sparkling fount,
+  Then the thoughts will turn with shrinking
+  From the coming of life’s gloaming—
+    Death seems then a Stygian fount.
+
+  But when life’s weary day is closing—
+    When the lengthening shadows fall,
+  Sweetly singing angel voices
+    Come with blessing in their call!
+  The departing soul rejoices
+    With prevision, of Elysian,
+    Gladly welcoming the call.
+
+  As the spirit fetters loosen
+    And the soul gains greater height,
+  It will see the evening shadows
+    Meet and kiss the dawning light;
+  And, dispelling all the shadows,
+    This supernal life eternal,
+    Opens into morning light.
+
+  Aye, the golden gates swing open!
+    To reveal the splendors bright;
+  From His throne the glory streaming
+    Haloes Death with holy light;
+  Angels voicing their rejoicing—
+  Heaven’s mansions brightly gleaming,
+    Flood Life’s evening time with light.
+
+
+
+
+The Unseen.
+
+
+  Do you feel my spirit with you—
+    Feel my kiss upon your lips?
+  Doth your heart throb with the message
+    That the messenger outstrips?
+
+  Ay, I know your thought, responding,
+    Know this soul-touch is of thine,
+  That you send me tender soothing
+    O’er love’s subtile, unseen line.
+
+  Soul to soul can tell its sorrow,
+    Sympathy response impart—
+  Joy can flash o’er lines of distance,
+    Touch and thrill a kindred heart.
+
+  Loneliness! I scarcely know it;
+    Loved ones in my spirit’s reach
+  Know my call and give me answer—
+    Silence pulses with their speech.
+
+  We have glimpse of joys, thro’ this one,
+    That await the soul above,
+  Where unbroken, sweet communion
+    Flows thro’ sympathy and love.
+
+
+
+
+Painting.
+
+
+  O, beauteous Art! with heart o’erfilled with joy I stand
+  And offer up to God its silent, grateful praise
+  That He, in blessing, hath endowed a human hand
+    With gifts so near divine;
+  Thro’ these creations, warmed to life in Genius’ blaze,
+    Doth inspiration shine.
+
+  Here, oriental scenes are brought within my reach;
+  The beauty of the castled Rhine, in softened hues,
+  With fine, bewitching charm o’er-mastering speech,
+    My raptured gaze enchains;
+  I roam in dream the land whose purple vintage strews
+    With wealth its hills and plains.
+
+  And thus I dream and drink the blest enchantment in,
+  That flows from art, with full, ineffable delight;
+  Forgetting earth is cursed with sorrow, death and sin,
+    I taste supernal bliss,
+  And, in this ecstacy of joy, a world of light,
+    It seems, hath dropped to this.
+
+  Yet not with those I’d join who throng Art’s crowded hall,
+  Whose motive is to prove themselves profound in art
+  By use of bulky words, but which, in strident fall,
+    Each hearer doth impress
+  With lack of gift to grasp what colors may impart,
+    Or canvass may express.
+
+  Nor go with her whose hand, with long and tedious drill
+  Has learned to daub with paint—whose tongue, with flippant ease,
+  Can toss artistic nomenclature round at will,
+    Yet nothing knows of art—
+  Of art’s true self, whose secret power to hold and please
+    Is soul, in every part.
+  I’d put the shoes from off my feet, and then, alone
+  Before the work, would feel I stood on holy ground—
+  That there a spirit with its God had talked, and by His own
+    Had been informed, inspired—
+  Aye, minds should be, before they range this sacred bound,
+    In thoughtfullness attired.
+
+  And thus prepared, Perception’s polished plates receive
+  The artist’s dream, that seems with pulsing life aglow,
+  And o’er it Fancy’s magic fingers silent weave
+    Her draperies so real—
+  We seethe dimpling lake—we hear the streamlets liquid flow,
+    And shadowed coolness feel.
+
+
+
+
+The Christian’s Armor.
+
+_For the Band of Hope._
+
+
+  Firmly stand, unyielding wrestle,
+    All ye noble, earnest, youth,—
+  You are soldiers—God is calling,
+    Gird yourselves about with truth.
+
+  Wear the helmet of Salvation—
+    Let your feet with peace be shod,
+  Turn the fiery darts of evil
+    With the shield of “Faith in God.”
+
+  Arm you with the Spirit’s weapon,
+    ’Tis God’s blessed, holy word,—
+  With the breast-plate of the righteous
+    You shall conquer Satan’s horde.
+
+  Then with earnest supplication
+    Hold the way to Heaven’s throne;
+  By the spirit’s true devotion
+    God will know and bless his own.
+
+
+
+
+To My Friend,
+
+MRS. ANNA PRICHARD.
+
+
+  And is time old? How swift he runs!
+    His months like birds of passage fly.
+  How slow he rolled a year of suns
+    When we were children, you and I,
+  How far away the spring time seemed
+    When winter wore his angry frown—
+  An age, when apple blossoms gleamed
+    Ere they would drop their fruitage down.
+
+  Then childhood’s eager heart was waiting
+    For expectations to unfold,
+  And churlish time seemed years belating
+    The wished-for blessings to withhold;
+  Then Fancy’s fingers held the brush
+    And painted all the future bright;
+  Its clouds but showed the rosy flush
+    Each dawn had woven with its light.
+
+  Impatient then, our youthful feet
+    To climb the distant sun clad hills
+  Where Pleasure, from her vintage sweet,
+    For each, a golden chalice fills—To
+  stand beneath the shining arch,
+    By rainbow-tinted promise spanned:—
+  What fine advance, in Life’s grand march,
+    Our strong, young courage planned.
+
+  But ah! in life’s late afternoon,
+    No worldly wealth, no laurels won—
+  I grieve that time has fled so soon
+    With so much planned, left all undone;
+  The barren years, like surf-worn sand,
+    With glints of sun and shadow flecked,
+  Are strewn with fragments as the strand
+    And show where Hope’s rich cargoes wrecked.
+
+  No mould of sloth lies o’er the years—
+    No waste of dissipation’s fire
+  Is smoldering in regrets and tears,
+    Yet youth’s fond dream—intense desire
+  A cruel fate has still denied;
+    Or, was it Heaven’s kind decree
+  That set that cherished wish aside
+    To bring a richer gift to me?
+
+  There’s naught in God’s infinitude
+    Of gifts for us, like home and wife,
+  And happy, blessed motherhood,
+    The crowning gift of woman’s life.
+  These gifts transmute to dear delight
+    Each humble task, all toil and care,
+  And keep home’s sacred altar bright
+    With love’s sweet offerings there.
+
+  All these, and one more gift is mine
+    That stirs with joy my brooding thought—
+  A friendship rare and true as thine,
+    A chain—all precious links—inwrought
+  With sacred trust. Oh hush, my heart,
+    No more in bitterness complain:
+  Thou wouldst not with thy treasures part
+    Youth’s wildest dream of power to gain.
+
+
+
+
+Hill-Crest Home.
+
+TO MRS. A. FOSKETT POTTER.
+
+
+  The picture, you rave over there on the wall,
+  Is weak by the one hung in memory’s hall.
+  While that one is held by the fetters of art
+  To rules of perspective—can only give part,
+  The other has range over hill-top and dell,
+  From the vaulted blue sky to the depths of the well—
+  Can even give sense of refreshing from this—
+  Show stars gleaming thro’ from its seeming abyss.
+
+  It has other delights, never reached with a brush,
+  The ravishment held in the notes of a thrush
+  (The sweetest voiced bird of the singing-bird throng)
+  Reverberant groves all a-thrill with its song.
+
+  Then the river, that knit a bright edge on the farm,
+  Enmantled with vapor—etherial charm!
+  As if dawn and the dew, meeting, playfully kissed
+  When the sun peeping over dissolved them in mist;
+  Like a gauzy, white chrisom cloth lightly it lies
+  O’er the rosy-faced morning, new-born of the skies.
+  Now, mellow and sweet as the music of dream,
+  Or a softly touched lute, comes the song of the stream;
+  Enchanted I listen, ay, listen and gaze
+  Till sound seems enwreathed with this luminous haze
+  That’s woven for nymphs, of the sunshine and spray;
+  And veiled in these light robes they mingle in play
+  Till on bloom scented breezes they’re floated away.
+
+  I promised to tell of my humble old home,
+  But my pen wanders off where my feet used to roam,
+  So the home of my childhood I picture for you
+  Must cover the rambles “my infancy knew.”
+  Come, stand ’neath that maple with me, if you will:
+  The manse, looking south from the brow of the hill,
+  Has the River, the valley, “The Island” in view—
+  (O! if mem’ry’s bright search-light could give it to you,
+  And you, with my childhood’s own vision, could see
+  The love-lighted beauty, that glowed there for me!)
+  While eastward the valley-farms glint thro’ the trees,
+  Whose grandeur had saved them to the thither-most shore,
+  And hills, as a back ground of beauty for these,
+  A richly-robed forest in stateliness bore;
+  And this, to my child fancy, held up the skies
+  Where the dawn, stealing in thro’ their bright rosy dyes,
+  Peeped in at my window to waken me when
+  The sun-gleams, aflash in the dew-spangled glen,
+  Out rivaled Golconda in jewels and gold—
+  When lambkins went frolicking down from the fold
+  To nip the soft grass or to drink from the brook—Ah,
+  there was a spot, just beyond where they drank,
+  Where the brook cut the hill for its opposite bank,
+  And nestled above was a shadowy nook
+  With a rustic root-bench which a wind-warring tree
+  Had thrown out to anchor its hold on the hill:
+    There, glad as the laughter of innocent glee,
+  Came the musical tinkle and play of the rill,
+  A melody sweet, to that ærie of mine,
+  Where, safe from intrusion as cliff dweller, I
+  Heard, fresh from her lips, Nature’s message divine,
+  Told sweetly, thro’ beauties, of earth and the sky.
+
+  An old fallen tree made a foot-bridge across
+  That led to this hiding—this sanctum of mine.
+  Bright fern fringes bordered its soft rug of moss—
+  A wild grape had thatched with a clambering vine
+  That hid for my coming bright sparkles of dew.
+  O, bower of beauty, so temptingly cool!
+  ’Twas the home of the fairies and they only knew
+  The hours spent there that were stolen from school.
+    The brook-bordered fields of that moderate farm
+  Had each, for my heart, individual charm.—
+  The skies that bent over had glories unknown
+  To all other lands, even Italy’s own.
+  More golden its sunsets than any since seen:—
+  Its shadowy woodland, so rich in its green,
+  Had springs purling down in a dusky ravine:
+  There oft at the fount, where the waters distilled,
+  My leaf-fashioned cup I have held to be filled.
+    O, nectar twould be if again I could drink
+  Of the sparkles that fell there like pearls from its brink,
+  As it tinkled down sweetly from its rock-basined source
+  To join with its peers in their river-ward course.
+  In those shadowy depths, hid away from the world,
+  Most delicate forms of the fronds were uncurled:
+  Spring-beauties, anemonies, clematis white,
+  With violets, bluebells and maiden-hair fern,—
+  There were some of them ever to keep the spot bright,
+  To waft me good-bye and to greet my return.
+  Then the hillside, our play-ground—I never can tell
+  Its riches of beauty in bower and dell.
+  The sunrise would kiss with its first ruddy glow
+  Then slip to the river that murmured below
+  And lighting its ripples with flashes of gold
+  It made all the valley a joy to behold.
+  That River! It ever kept time with my heart,—
+  Grew into my soul, of my life was a part.
+  It echoed my laughter, was sad when I wept—
+  When drowsy it lulled me with song till I slept.—
+  ’Twas playmate and teacher, companion and friend,
+  From the “deep-hole” that mirrored the trees at “the bend”
+  To that spot of enchantment, where the willows bent low
+  To whisper their love. There the river went slow
+  As if hushing its wonted, wild, rollicking flow
+  To linger and listen—the story, so sweet,
+  ’Twould have all the zephyr-swayed branches repeat.
+
+  But the loveliest view from the home on the hill—
+  The one that could ever enrapture and thrill,
+  Was a calm summer eve with the stars beaming thro’
+  From the unclouded depths of the fathomless blue,—
+  “The city of God” filling vastness above,
+  Each mansion aglow with the light of His love.
+    Enhancing the beauty a broad, rising moon,
+  That followed a day with a languorous noon—
+  A day that in going left the sun-door ajar,
+  When a breeze, that was born of a rain-cloud afar,
+  Had stolen thro, softly, with the great evening star,
+  And whispered a vow to the languishing flowers
+  To bring them, ere morning, refreshing in showers.
+
+  Then the murmur of waters—the ripple in view,
+  The robings of Nature, aglitter with dew,
+  The sway of the trees, and the rose-petals strewn—
+  The kiss of the breeze, that has breath of the June.
+  Just sit in our group on the balcony there
+  And dream of this scene, inexpressibly fair
+  (Remember this gable looks square at the noon):
+  How the gateways of glory thrown wide by the moon
+  Could pour their white floods on the beautiful scene—
+  What charm in the mingling of shadow and sheen!
+
+  The river went north in its tortuous trend
+  And wound thro’ the valley with many a bend.
+  This lake-like expanse, deep and smoothe, as you see,
+  Lying right in the pathway, ’tween Luna and me,
+  On an evening like this seemed a great burnished glass.
+  The Island shore here, had a margin of grass—
+  The round little cove cutting into its edge
+  Grew ferns on its banks and was dotted with sedge.
+
+  In the far-reaching shadows of lofty old trees
+  This part of the Island was hid from the noon;
+  Its quiet invited to slumberous ease;
+  Here the River flowed gently as Afton or Doon.
+  Kind Nature had woven a pleachy thick screen
+  Of forest and vines that were standing between,
+  And made this remote from the town and its mills.
+  The zephyr-stirred leaves with their mystical chant—
+  That soft, lulling murmur, that muffles and stills—
+  Hushed the tumult and jar of the noisy “old plant”
+  And made this a spot ever calm and serene,
+  Fit temple for worship, embosomed in green.
+    Here, the river seemed charmed by some mythical lore—
+  It loitered along, seemed reluctant to pass,
+  While eddying wavelets crept up on the shore
+  And kissed, with their cool lips, the velvety grass.
+
+  On, slowly it flows until reaching a place
+  Where a glimpse may be caught of the swift running “Race;”
+  There it breaks into foam with a current so wild—
+  They rush to the meeting like mother and child.
+  With a plaint in its story that the mother-stream thrills,
+  Race babbles and tells how it toiled at the mills—Was
+  prisonned and held, by the strength of the flume—
+  Was power that wrought on the spindle and loom.
+    Received in her bosom with loving embrace
+  They mingle their songs, then, the River and Race,
+  Delighting us all with their musical tones,
+  While silver-capped ripples go dancing o’er stones.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Aye, “Hill-crest” had beauty beyond all compare,
+  But words can ne’er picture how wondrously fair
+  For one whose misfortune ’tis not to have seen
+  That river—that hillside—the trees in their green—
+  Heard the music of waters, o’er pebbles at play,
+  Or, lapping ’mong rocks and then swirling away—
+  The brook leaping down to be lost in the stream
+  As womanhood merges our girl-hood’s young dream—If
+  her childhood’s bare feet have ne’er pressed that cool sod
+  Where first I loved Nature, thro’ Nature her God.
+
+[Illustration: HILL-CREST HOME.]
+
+
+
+
+Lillies of the Valley.
+
+
+  O, pearly, waxen, lilly bells!
+    Glad the tale your coming tells—
+  Blithest time, of all the year,
+  Happy, blooming spring is here
+    With lillies-of-the-valley.
+
+  Shining like the precious gem,
+    Divers bring from ocean’s floor;
+  God in blessing scattered them
+    Blooming by the humblest door;
+  Springing in some sheltered nook,
+    Peeping by a mouldering wall,
+  Nodding by a babbling brook,
+    Purest, sweetest flowers of all,
+    Are lillies-of-the-valley.
+
+  Hidden from life’s cares and frets
+    Is the loved embowered spot
+  Sacred to our floral pets—
+    Lillies and forget-me-not;
+  Tho’ the poet’s fondest dream
+    Wreaths about the violet,
+  With the morning’s dew agleam,
+    Lovlier and sweeter yet
+      Are lillies-of-the-valley.
+
+  Roses fade and fall apart—
+    Lose their beauty with their bloom,
+  In the lillies perfect heart
+    Lingers long its sweet perfume;
+  Mem’ries dear we’ll ne’er forget,
+    With their tender thrills of bliss,
+  Hover round the mignonette,
+    Yet, a charm supreme to this,
+      Have lillies-of-the-valley.
+
+  Queens of color, tall and proud
+    Bloom among the asphodels,
+  But of all that lauded crowd
+    None so loved as lilly bells!
+  Pansy bright with dreamy eyes
+    Seems acquaint with mystic lore,
+  Whispers “hope” when sorrow sighs,
+    Yet, we love the lillies more,
+      Sweet lillies-of-the-valley.
+
+  They will breathe the tender thought
+    Sympathy would fain reveal,
+  But, with love’s fond message fraught,
+    Half their charm is to conceal.
+        Lillies of the Valley.
+  Rosebud boldly tells the tale
+    Cupid sent it to confess—
+  With the fragrance they exhale
+    Lillies whisper,—“You may guess.”
+
+
+
+
+Pearly Shells.
+
+
+  All the rainbow hues are hiding
+    In the pearly shells of white,
+  But their beauties are depending
+    On the mystic powers of light;—
+  Going, coming, like the blushes
+    On a modest maiden’s cheek,
+  As her heart-throb quick confesses
+    What her lips would never speak.
+
+  Husband, there’s a heart that’s loving
+    With devotion pure and deep;
+  If you’d know its fullest blessing,
+    If the treasure you would keep,
+  You must flash the light upon it,
+    Beaming out from loving eyes;
+  Then, as shell, reflecting sunlight,
+    It will glow with lovely dyes.
+
+  All within and all about it
+    Soon will catch the won’drous charm,
+  By reflection and absorption
+    Home will aye be bright and warm;
+  But if left alone in darkness,
+    Through a life of gloom and night,
+  Like the sea-shell, pure and pearly,
+    It will be but cold and white.
+
+
+
+
+Courage.
+
+
+  Now with zeal that will not falter
+    Rally once again for Right,
+  Trusting ever and believing
+    God is all supreme in might.
+
+  Let us work—give earnest effort,
+    Ere the day in darkness set,
+  Work with faith and love untiring—
+    He will crown our labors yet.
+
+  Though allies of rum are legion,
+    Fear no evil may betray,
+  For He’s given angels o’er us
+    Charge to keep us in the way.
+
+  We shall “tread upon the adder,”
+    If our faith be strong in God;
+  Aye, “the dragon we shall trample”
+    If with “Gospel Peace” we’re shod.
+
+
+
+
+Trailing Arbutus.
+
+_Emblematic Flower of Michigan W. C. T. U._
+
+
+  In Flora’s dominion no flower’s so fitting
+    To symbol our union of labor and love;
+  Not tender and petted, a hot-house exotic,
+    It lives when the tempest is raging above.
+  Sweet forest-born flower! ’Twas Michigan’s dower
+    When Nature apportioned her gifts that are rare—
+  So lovely, yet lowly! Affection, that’s holy,
+    Seems blent with its fragrance and breathing a prayer
+  That the loved may be borne in the arms of His care.
+
+  Its coming we hail as a promise of blessing—
+    That chains shall be riven, a glory be born;
+  Its delicate hue is a hint of our mission—
+    The soft, rosy blush that first tinges the morn,
+  When hope is awakening and gloom is receding—
+    A pressage of light that shall gladden the world,
+  When darkness has fled and the cloud-rack is lifted
+    And day’s golden banners on the hills are unfurled.
+
+  It needs not the florist, with art and punctilio
+    Nor asks for the smiles of the sun-lighted skies,
+  But richest and brightest, ’tis found in seclusion,
+    In depths of the woodland where dark shadow lies;
+  Far up on the highlands, or creeping on lowlands,
+    ’Mong towering oaks or ’neath whispering pines,
+  The shell-tinted bloom of our sweet, trailing laurel
+    The lowliest objects with beauty entwines.
+
+  ’Tis Purity’s emblem—Priscilla’s loved flower!
+    Oft springing in fenlands where dark, sodden mould
+  Grows vile-odored herbage, e’en poison-fed night-shade,
+    Yet, pure there, its waxen, sweet blossoms unfold.
+  Thus white-ribbon bands, thro’ the moral morasses,
+    Tho’ threading the paths which the vilest are in,
+  With purity throned in the soul of all action,
+    May labor ’mid evils, unsullied by sin.
+
+  Ah! truly, no flower in Flora’s dominion,
+    Can symbol the virtues and graces like this—
+  ’Tis faith and endurance in winter’s wild tempest,
+    While gentleness tenderly speaks in the kiss
+  That comes in its fragrance, on fairy winged zephyr
+    And hope, in the buds swelling under the snow,
+  Is whispering of joys when the full opened blossoms
+    Shall herald the summer, with roseate glow.
+
+  We’ll gather it in, from our own native woodlands,
+    And wreathe, with its beauty, our altar of prayer;
+  The holiest thought, with its ambient odor,
+    Is stirred, as with incense, afloat on the air.
+  We love it!—we love it! our sweet trailing laurel,
+    And make it our emblem in labor for God—
+  For home, with its blessings and love-lighted altar,
+    And land of our birth, with its trial-tracked sod.
+
+
+
+
+Encouragement.
+
+
+  What wealth of enjoyment a sentence may hold
+    That flows in a rill of encouraging words!
+  The heart’s weary wings with new strength will unfold,
+    While quick resolution all feebleness girds.
+  The sunset may brighten—outrival the dawning,
+    If sympathy’s warm touch the drooping life thrills;
+  Tho’ autumn has put out her gold-tassled awning
+    And mantled with haze all the woodlands and hills—
+  Tho’ the vintage hath yielded the first of its wines—
+  Tho’ shadows lie eastward in wavering lines,
+    And evening has whispered the low uttered warning—
+  “The glories of Day have all drifted afar”—
+    The spirit will rally encouraged by love.
+  E’en twilight may deepen, if only this star
+    Shall gleam with its vestal light brightly above,
+  We’ll work thro’ life’s gloaming, till angels unbar
+    The orient gates of Eternity’s morning.
+
+
+
+
+Faith.
+
+
+  O, by and by the sun will shine again—
+  Will throw glad light on hill, and field, and plain;
+  The earth will smile ’neath Plenty’s joyous reign,
+  And we shall know that “God remembers the world.”
+
+  Aye, by and by the clouds will roll away
+  And then a greater boon, a golden day
+  Will seem, because we’ve known a gloomy May
+  When Doubt, o’er brooding, shadowed all our world.
+
+  Let Hope’s bright sunshine gladden every hour,
+  E’en tho’ the skies with angry tempests lower;
+  Believe, beyond, above, a higher Power
+  Doth watch and guard, with loving, care the world.
+
+  Shrink not nor e’er, with dread, thy part delay;
+  With faith and courage meet each coming day—
+  Let duties well performed pave all thy way,
+  Thus make a royal pathway thro’ the world.
+
+  Tho’ sorrows should be thick along thy path,
+  Remember none are sent to thee in wrath;
+  Love fires the bolt that makes the lightning scath—
+  A law that gives a brighter, better world.
+
+  With frowning face Calamity may come,
+  Ay, strike a hemisphere with terror dumb,
+  But let no boding fear thy faith benumb,
+  For He who made, in wisdom rules the world.
+
+  Tho’ skies and seas their floods together roll—
+  Tho’ earth should pass, a shriveled scroll,
+  His care is over each immortal soul—
+  He’ll gather us to His eternal world.
+
+
+
+
+Nirvana.
+
+
+  Possession blest of that Celestial sphere
+  Beyond the reach of hope and fear;
+    Salvation’s port—Elysian shore
+    Where souls remain, forevermore,
+  In blissful calm, disturbed by naught
+  Evolved by ranging, restless Thought,
+    And where Eternal arms of Peace
+    Enfolding, give secure release
+  From chains that bind, to Death and Sin—
+  A severance from the What-has-been—
+    An end of seeming endless range;
+    No farther transmigrating change,
+  But REST of soul, that’s sweet, supreme,
+  Beyond, the touch of Life’s wild dream:
+    A draught that quenches all desire—
+    Extinguishes Ambition’s fire,
+  And leave, an essence, pure, divine,
+  That shall with Brama ever shine,
+    Quiescent in that blest repose
+    To which the wise Guatama rose.
+
+
+
+
+Heredity.
+
+
+  Thro’ your Eden creeps the Serpent
+    Luring to the paths of sin:
+  In your own, weak self-indulgence
+    Life accursing crimes begin:
+  Aye, you blight your own with evils
+    Yielding to the tempter’s sway,
+  Hushing conscience, Sin imputing
+    To Eve’s early, shadowed day.
+
+  Science swings her torch above you
+    From her lofty templed heights—
+  Paths, by which the Race climb upward,
+    By command of God she lights;
+  Can you, with His laws before you,
+    Violate your sacred trust?
+  Dare you taint the soul you’re moulding
+    For Eternity, with lust?
+
+  Holy is your mission, mother,
+    Lives confided to your care—
+  Shall they, of your dissipations
+    Foulest scars forever bear?
+  Hush the voice of self-indulgence—
+    Thrust the serpent from your heart,
+  That he lure not to partaking
+    Of the sins you may impart.
+
+  While the fires of Being kindle
+    At your own life’s flame and glow
+  And the mother love is springing
+    From this holy interflow—
+  While the crimson tide is pulsing
+    Thro’ but one heart, for the two,
+  Stain not thou, with sin, the fountain
+    That the new life passes through.
+
+
+
+
+Pebbles.
+
+
+  Pebbles, thrown upon the shore
+    By a storm-stirred wild commotion,
+  Tell of tumult, crash and roar,
+    When wild furies lashed the ocean.
+
+  Pebbles, gathered from the shore
+    When the waves were only sighing,
+  Tell of balmy evening strolls
+    When the sunset fires were dying.
+
+  Pebbles—some of brightest hue—
+    That were snatched by dimpled fingers
+  When the waves came rolling in—
+    Loving thought around them lingers.
+
+  Pebbles, in life’s pathway lie
+    That the careless roughly tread,
+  While another passing by
+    Finds them gems that lustre shed.
+
+  Pebbles—scan them—cast away
+    Wave-worn, rounded bits of stone,
+  But if one hath lighting ray,
+    Keep the treasure as thine own.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  When the heart is sorrow-laden
+    Seek the spirit’s shrine of prayer,
+  Jesus there will meet and bless you
+    And you’ll leave your burdens there.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  As the blessed, healing mentha
+  Holds for mortal pains nepentha,
+    So hath sympathy the art
+    To soothe the bruises of the heart.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  From each act, however small,
+  Some result must ever fall;
+      Drop a pebble in the wave
+      Distant shores its ripples lave.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Give gladness to childhood! ’twill brighten life’s years;
+  Pour hydromel for it, unmingled with tears,
+  So fondly, caressingly, memory clings
+  To youth’s every joy, forgetting its stings.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Experience teaches some lessons of worth—
+  That wealth is not always of lordliest birth,
+    That duty makes labor, tho’ humble, sublime—
+  That crucial trial gives strength to the soul:—
+  There’s no royal road to Life’s coveted goal,
+    Earth’s throngs must all pass the same doorway of Time.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  If Heaven’s light beam on your tears,
+    Hope’s bright bow will span the cloud,
+  While God’s own promise, calming fears,
+    Will lift the soul by sorrow bowed.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Mystery deep, thy doors unbar,
+    And let us look within!—
+  Thought goes ranging far—afar,
+    On webs our fancies spin.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The life I live is not my own—
+    ’Tis subterfuge and dross,
+  The yearning soul makes hidden moan,
+    With secret sense of loss.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  O, dear Savior, I am weary—
+    Let me rest my soul with Thee!
+  Mansions bright, Thou art preparing—
+    Wilt thou, Jesus, welcome me?
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  For the bright, warm joys, once cherished,
+    There’s a withered rose and a brown, sere leaf;
+  Ah! dear were the hopes that perished,
+    Yet there’s wealth of life, in the golden sheaf.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  When a gleam of the sun, thro’ a rift in the storm,
+    Throws a light on our path, that was shadowed before,
+  We look to the cloud, for the beautiful form
+    Of the bow, that is promise to us, evermore.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The rose is girt with thorns about,
+    The berries sweet, with briars—
+  Thus Fate doth ever hedge us from
+    Our heart’s supreme desires.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Tossing, rolling, restless sea,
+  Picture thou of Life to me—Shadow-clouds
+  now floating o’er,
+  Foam and drift-wood on the shore:—
+  Depths of dark and billowy waves,
+  Wrecking hopes and hollowing graves—
+  Breaking on the beach in moans,
+  Seem thy cavern’s echoed groans.
+
+  Prosperous winds, and thou wilt bear,
+  On thy heaving bosom fair,
+  Snowy sails, with treasures laden
+  From the distant, sun-kissed Aden,—
+  Costly fabrics—richest stores,
+  For their own, dear, home-lit shores,
+  Where Love’s altars brightly burn,
+  While she waits their glad return.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  In all this beauteous world of ours
+  What gift, of Love, so sweet as flowers!
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  O, sweet is the fountain of soothing
+    That ever is found in His Word—
+  Drink deeply when heart-wounds are bleeding
+    And the peace of the spirit is stirred.
+
+
+
+
+Words.
+
+
+  O, words may be loving and mellow in tone,
+    Sweet as the dew on the flowers of Hermon,
+  Gently imparting a blessing their own,
+    Precious with promise, as Olivet’s sermon.
+
+  Words may be careless, and cruel and coarse—
+    Be tauntingly hurled, or so bitterly spoken,
+  Resistless as lightning’s destroying force,
+    They scar with their scathing the heart they have broken.
+
+  Words may have edge that is keener than steel—
+    May pierce with their points like the swift-flying arrow;
+  They hurt with these stings while the victim will feel,
+    Then tear through the heart like a torturing harrow.
+
+  Words may be venomed with malice and spite,
+    May wither with scorn, with contempt and derision—
+  Be dreaded like adders when coiling to bite
+    Or hiss out their poison in whispered suspicion.
+
+  Aye, words may be vile as a basilisk’s breath—
+    A falsehood the germ—an ovum of evil,
+  Impregnate with calumny’s virus innate,
+    Then heated and hovered by envy and hate;
+  Thus “brooded by serpents,” like the monster medieval,
+    Come forth with his powers of blasting with death.
+
+  But words that are warmed in the sunlight of love
+    Will soothe with their feeling a brother’s affliction;
+  ’Tis the Spirit from heaven that comes like a dove,
+    So gently descending in sweet benediction.
+
+  ’Tis blessed receiving what kindness imparts,
+    How trifling so ever the token,
+  Thrice blessed, the giving of solace to hearts
+    That words of injustice have blighted and broken.
+  There’s comfort and balm for life’s various smarts
+    In words of true sympathy, tenderly spoken.
+
+
+
+
+Mother.
+
+
+  Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, come to me now,
+    With a touch of thy hand sweep the care from my brow;
+  Oh, come, on the wings of the silences come,
+    Dear mother, my own, as you reigned in our home.
+
+  Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, come now at eve.
+    I sit in the gloaming, in loneliness grieve;
+  The world is so selfish, so cold and unkind,
+    Sweet solace for pain in thy love I would find.
+
+  Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, hear me, I pray!
+    In the silence of night, blot the sorrows of day;
+  And point me away from the earth and its care.
+    To the beautiful dwelling—that mansion so fair,
+
+  Where mother, mine, mother mine, waiteth for me,
+    With loved ones who’re watching my barque on life’s sea—
+  Who’ll stretch out their welcoming hands from the shore,
+    When I reach the glad haven, all buffetings o’er.
+
+
+
+
+Hands.
+
+
+  There are hands we fondly cherish
+    Not alone for form and grace,
+  But the loving deeds that mold them,
+    Place them next a sainted face.
+
+  They can soothe as if with magic,
+    When the fever-furies rage;
+  Their caresses, unobstrusive,
+    E’en a heartache can assuage.
+
+  Hands can emphasize a welcome,
+    Far beyond the gifts of speech,
+  And their language, plain and truthful,
+    Doubt did never yet impeach.
+
+  Aye! there’s feeling warm and tender,
+    Ever pulsing in the palm,
+  In whose kindly, silent pressure
+    Sorrow finds a healing balm.
+
+  Love’s sweet mysteries course their fingers,
+    For their lightest touch of tips
+  Has the secret gift of thrilling,
+    Like affection’s clinging lips.
+
+  They can knit with mystic flosses
+    Such a net about the heart—
+  Earth has naught so near a heaven
+    As this thraldom doth impart.
+
+  Hands have heart-beats throbbing through them
+    And the lightning flash of thought;
+  ’Tis by such that grand impulsions
+    Into living deeds are wrought.
+
+  Hands may be a sculptor’s pattern,
+    Tipped with smooth, shell-tinted nails,
+  Yet convey a touch, repulsive
+    As of scaly serpent trails.
+
+  If the soul is gross and selfish,
+    There’s no art the trait conceals,
+  But the hand in mold or clasping,
+    To the sentient heart reveals.
+
+  Idle hands are limp and nerveless,
+    Lack expression, fervor, grasp—
+  They receive nor give sensation,
+    Simply lie within your clasp.
+
+  Hands may flash a wealth of jewels,
+    Yet display a pauper soul—
+  God inscribes these outspread tablets
+    From the spirit’s hidden scroll.
+
+
+
+
+Endymion.
+
+
+  When the noble son of Zeus
+    Asked the gift of youth immortal,
+  Little wot he of the ages
+    Stretching onward from life’s portal;
+  Tho’ he walked with gods, he wearied,
+    Wished for rest, intense and deep,—
+  Asked another gift of Zeus;
+    That of everlasting sleep.
+
+  And his thoughtless wish was granted;
+    Glad he hushed his soul’s repining
+  In the winged god’s misty vapors
+    And, on Latmos’ height reclining,
+  Laid down all earth’s cares and trials—
+    All its wearying heat and strife,
+  Yet within his dormant being,
+    Held the essences of life.
+
+  Fair Selene, robed in beauty,
+    Wandering forth in loneliness,
+  Bent above the youth admiring—
+    Touched him with a light caress;
+  And her gazing woke his spirit
+    To a dream’s ecstatic bliss,
+  As her lips, with tender fondness,
+    Snatched from his that holy kiss.
+
+  And her heart’s new, quickened pulsing
+    Thrilled along love’s unseen wires,—
+  Stirred in him responsive passion,—
+    Lit his soul’s electric fires.
+  Then the roused, enrapt Endymion,
+    Shaking off the slumbrous air,
+  Cried,—“Ye gods, take back your giving,
+    All life’s perils I will dare;
+  Wake my soul to keenest feeling,
+    Let its sense of pleasure reign,
+  Tho’ my path were paved with spear-points
+    I would count the waking gain.”
+
+  Glad he left the heights so longed for,
+    Sought the lowland’s balmy air,
+  Leading her, the loved Selene,
+    Thro’ the flowery valleys fair,
+  Where the paths all flash with diamonds
+    From the jewelled crown of Night,—
+  Where the lake upon his bosom
+    Rocks the sleeping lillies white,
+  And his lullaby in whispers
+    Floating thro’ the leafy dell,
+  Mingling with perfume and zephyr
+    Wove a sweet entrancing spell.
+
+  And ’twas there at Sylva’s altar,
+    With the gazing stars above,
+  Soul to soul, by mute impulsion,
+    That they pledged eternal love;
+  Ay, ’twas then the spheric paean,
+    Through the great expanses spread,
+  When in Beauty’s listening stillness,
+    Peace and Purity were wed.
+
+  And tonight I see them roaming
+    Thro’ the flowery paths of eld—
+  Thro’ the valley, by the lakelet,
+    Where their nuptial feast was held;
+  Where the moon-beams dance with shadows,
+    In the hushed, half-hidden glen,
+  Shunning Mammon’s crowded cities
+    And the busy walks of men.
+
+  But linger not too long, Selene,—
+    Hasten from thy lover’s side,
+  Or, in fleecy cloud-wrought vesture
+    From the gaze of Eos hide;
+  Else like darkly mantled Pleiad,
+    Wailing robes of forfeit glory,
+  Thou wilt find thy charms are stolen
+    By the jealous, fair Aurora.
+
+  Hasten, hasten, for she cometh,—
+    Venus bright doth herald now,
+  All Jove’s pageantry attends her,
+    Erse’s gems bedeck her brow,
+  And her royal robes are ’broidered
+    Rich with rose and amethyst;—
+  Hasten, but with thine Endymion
+    Keep the holy evening tryst.
+
+
+
+
+Calypso—The Lover’s Pocket.
+
+
+  Erastes saw with vain regret
+  A hedge of guards was thickly set
+    Around the fair one he would woo;
+  For Flora’s aid he quick applied—
+  “Be art of yours with Love’s allied
+    And Cupid’s throng shall kneel to you.”
+
+  Then Flora wrought that mystic flower
+  And graced with it Love’s Sylvan bower,
+    And there a wildling still it grows;
+  The hue she gave was pearly white,
+  But Love would add one more delight
+    And mingled in a blush of rose.
+
+  T’was given such an artless guise
+  That e’en suspicion’s prying eyes
+    Doth no intriguing plan suppose:
+  And there within, securely hid,
+  Beneath the blossom’s fringy lid
+    The lover’s missive finds repose.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  “Wilt thou, dear maid, thy wealth resign
+  And drink with me love’s ruby wine—
+    In weal or woe my fortune’s share?”
+  She wrote and hid—“I will be thine—
+  With love’s devotion ever mine
+    There’s naught but I could dare.”
+
+  A closely folded plan for flight
+  (That marked the nearest moonless night,)
+    The Orchid in its heart concealed.
+  While vigilance unconscious slept,
+  Two dusky steeds thro’ darkness swept
+    Across an unfrequented field
+  And brought the lovers quickly where
+  A waiting priest, with pledge and prayer,
+    The sacred bonds of wedlock sealed.
+
+  Paternal pride aroused, irate,
+  With bluster came, a moment late,—
+    The holy rite had joined their hands,
+  The vows were made, the pledges given
+  That bound the twain as one in heaven,
+    Despite his wrath and stern commands.
+
+  “How could you thus,” he cried in rage,
+  “Defy my will, disgrace my age!
+    I’ll disinherit and disown—And
+  you shall have eternal scorn
+  For wedding with that lowly born—
+    Aye, you shall reap as you have sown.”
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  “O, woman! thou art gall and wine—
+  Deceit’s worst name, to me, is thine!
+  I thought her will succumbed to mine,
+    So cheerful, happy, she had seemed.
+  I felt within a conscious pride
+  In power to hold, subdue and guide—
+    That she was conquered, fondly dreamed.”
+
+  “Along the wood she walked with me,
+  Among the wild flowers, gay and free,
+    (I guarded her with watchful eye,)
+  With eager hand she plucked and smiled
+  As guileless as a happy child—
+    No love-lorn look—no sob or sigh.”
+
+  “Aye, woman’s ways and woman’s wiles
+  Are knitted in with looks and smiles
+    By which man’s wisdom oft is foiled.
+  She’ll seem so gently yielding _will_
+  While scheming for her own way, still—
+  With sweet deceits will blind us, till
+    Our dearest hopes have been despoiled.”
+
+  “But, ’tis senseless nursing helpless wrath,—
+  Shall I strew thorns along her path
+    Whose only dower’s a father’s curse?—
+  Drive them out with want to roam?
+  I think I’ll take the couple home—
+    In truth, her parents did much worse.”
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Calypso, still with winning grace,
+  Adorns the ferny, sedgey place
+    By purling brook or shaded dell,
+  And only Cupid knows its art
+  Of hiding in its fragrant heart
+    The secret, sweet, that Love would tell.
+
+
+
+
+What Is Love?
+
+
+  Not the fierce-destroying power
+    Of the hot sirocco’s breath,
+  Withering every tender flower,
+    Strewing all its path with death
+      Or helpless, silent sorrow.
+
+  ’Tis a strength that holds each feeling
+    But a slave to do its will—
+  Every wish, abjectly kneeling,
+    Waits its mandate to fulfill
+      Or creeps, by stealth, in shadow.
+
+  ’Tis Life’s sacred, golden chalice,
+    From as rich a vintage filled
+  For the cottage, as the palace—
+    Sweetest draughts have been distilled
+      With want upon the lever.
+
+  ’Tis a tender, true devotion,
+    Never soiled by thoughts of pelf,
+  But with gladsome, sweet emotion
+    To its altar bringing _self_,
+      A sacrificial offering.—
+
+  Joy’s bell whose silver ringing
+    Down the ages has been borne
+  Ever since in Eden, singing,
+    Wedded love hailed rosy morn—
+      Still the tones fall sweet as ever.
+
+  ’Tis the Horeb of the spirit,
+    Where no coarse-shod thought may tread,
+  The part divine, which souls inherit
+    From love’s holy Fountain-Head,
+      Influent with our being.
+
+
+
+
+Sleighing.
+
+
+  Hear the bells, distant bells!
+  How the merry music swells,
+    As the steed, with noble speed,
+  Nearer, nearer, nearer comes,
+    Strength doth wing his flying feet;
+  Onward, onward, onward going,
+    With a strong and rythmic beat;
+  Youth, with health and beauty glowing,
+    Blends a rippling, laughter peal
+    With the ringing hoofs of steel—
+  How the mingling music hums!
+
+  Hear the bells, joyous bells!
+  Love’s sweet tale their music tells,
+    As they go o’er glistening snow;
+  Wildly, wildly, rushing by,
+    Fainter grow the hoof-beats now,
+  Fainter, fainter, fainter growing;
+    Venus shines on evening’s brow,
+  Moonlight floods o’er earth are flowing;
+    O, the reckless wild delights
+    Of a sparkling, winter night’s
+  Sleighing, ’neath a moonlit sky!
+
+  Ho, the bells, merry bells!
+  Rapture in their music dwells;
+    Raptures sweet, in bliss repeat,
+  Gliding, gliding, o’er the snow.
+    Every pulse with pleasure thrills;
+  To the heart new joys revealing.
+    As when springtime, bird-note trills
+  Stir the sweetest fount of feeling,
+    Welling with all tender thought,
+    From the dulcet music caught,
+  Blending all in joyous flow!
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Hark, the bells—homeward bells!
+  Something now their music quells,
+    For they go, tinkling—so—
+  Tinkle—tinkle—seem to wait;
+    Why that steed such lagging feet,
+  When returning, homeward going?
+    (’Mong the furs their faces meet)—
+  Ah! that nag is very knowing,
+    Stepping lightly o’er the snow—
+    Have their whispers, soft and low,
+  Changed his mood and changed his gait?
+
+
+
+
+First Love.
+
+
+  Tender and true as the starlight of heaven,
+    Sweet as the heart of a bud when it opes,
+  Swift as the flash of the cloud-leaping levin,
+    Rich as the springtime in promise and hopes,
+  Pure as the gleam of the dew on the flowers
+    Is love’s first awakening in youth’s dreamy hours.
+
+  It sings in the heart like a forest-hid rill—
+    Runs over its rim like a rock-basined spring;
+  Strong, it o’erpowers cold reason with will,
+    Impulsively binding two lives with a ring.
+  It goes where it listeth, unreined as the wind,
+    So reckless, ’tis said, that the love god is blind.
+
+  Joyful, yet trembling like a zephyr-kissed rose,
+    Flushing and paling like skies of the dawn,
+  Silent, lest speech shall the secret disclose,
+    Wayward and shy as a mountain-bred fawn,
+  Flying the bosom where yearning to rest,
+    Hushing the tenderness, thrilling the heart,
+  Palpitant tempests disturbing the breast;
+    Enjoying—enduring the sweet and the smart
+  That comes of the wounding with Cupid’s first dart.
+
+
+
+
+Man.
+
+
+  O, grand and worshipful that being MAN,
+  As fashioned by a maiden’s dream-lit mind!
+    To her, his soul has nobleness enshrined—
+  ’Tis pure—Love’s altar-place, where God began,
+  ’Neath Eden’s flow’ry groves, the household plan.
+    In rose-mist wreathed, by sweet enchantment blind,
+    How oft she’s worshiped, wedded, but to find
+  The real, no more her dream, than piping Pan.
+
+  Some “noble deeds” bear cold ambition’s stain,
+  And chaff is found among Love’s golden grain.
+    ’Tis well the rose-mist lifts and clearer beams
+  Show man’s real self, e’en tho’ it give her pain,
+    Else, so idolatrous, she might, it seems,
+    Forget her God, if he were all she dreams.
+
+
+
+
+Trust of Childhood.
+
+
+  An angel comes down from the realms of light,
+  To guard me in slumber, thro’ hours of the night;
+  Her presence is gentle, I feel she is there,
+  As soon as I’ve uttered my evening prayer;
+  So tenderly watching she stays in my room
+  Till darkness has folded his mantle of gloom.
+  I’ve felt on my forehead her soft finger tips
+  And the touch of her kiss, lightly pressed on my lips,
+  To waken me gently, ere leaving my bed,
+  When morning’s bright beauties o’er earth had been spread.
+
+  Forbearing to open my earth-gazing eyes
+  To look on the guardian sent from the skies,
+  I’ve listened and heard, e’en the rustle of wings;
+  And then at the casement, where mocking bird swings,
+  A sweeping of roses and jasmines I’ve heard,
+  And knew that their beauty and perfume were stirred
+  By her gossamer robes, as she hastened away,
+  To the rose-tinted gateway that opens to day;
+  (For Heaven, I know, is but little beyond,
+  Where glories of morn, in its borders have dawned);
+  And then by the holiness left in the room,
+  Afloat, like the fragrance from violet bloom,
+  I knew that a presence had surely been there,
+  Had left with me blessing, and wafted my prayer
+  To the throne of the Father for guidance and care.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  O, trust of my childhood! bright halo of youth!
+  Come, veil for tonight the stern visage of truth;
+  With faith that’s elysian, I’d drift down the stream
+  To imagery islands, with beauty agleam,
+  And hear, as I heard in the far away years,
+  (Ere fancy’s young dream had been melted in tears),
+  A strain from a harp, floating over to me,
+  From a cloud-bannered sky, bending down to the sea,
+  Where golden-crowned angels could plainly be seen
+  With robings of white, in the glimmering sheen.
+
+  Then Heaven was near, and the curtain of blue
+  So thin, that at sunset the glory shone through;
+  Those silken illusions, inflated with joy,
+  Phylosophy’s hand has been swift to destroy;
+  And reason’s keen steel, that’s so cruelly cold,
+  Has cut thro’ the shimmer of heavenly gold,
+  And left but the hard-featured science of light
+  That will not be veiled for a dream of tonight.
+
+
+
+
+Alone.
+
+      “Laugh and the world laughs with you;
+      Weep and you weep alone.”
+
+
+  In her soul’s secret temple she’s standing alone:
+    Her being’s real self, in the silence will bow;
+  O’er that altar, once glowing, cold ashes are strown—
+    Where sunshine once flooded, the shadows fall now.
+
+  Away from the world, and alone with her God,
+    She kneels in this consecrate place and may weep;
+  This temple, by coarse sandaled grossness, untrod,
+    Is never unbarred till the world is asleep.
+
+  She leaves there her grief, with its shadowy stole,
+    Concealing her anguish, with trembling and fear;—Must
+  laugh, tho’ it lines a black scath on her soul,
+    For the world will not _pay_ for the sigh and the tear.
+
+  Aye, leaves there her sackcloth and shuts to the door;
+    She puts on the mask for the frivolous world
+  Her frail barque is launched ’mid its tumult and roar—
+    Unhelmed, thro’ its mammon-cut channels ’tis hurled.
+
+  The laugh, the world echoes, grows empty and hard
+    When the jingle of gold is the mirth-stirring power;
+  The soul is, by Avarice, shrivelled and scarred
+    When it barters for pottage, a heavenly dower.
+
+  God fits us, thro’ suffering, for Sympathy’s needs;
+    ’Tis warring with wrong that will win for the Right;
+  Oft Sorrow’s lone path, to His ripe vineyard, leads—
+    Christ gave us, through Gethsame, heavenly light.
+
+  Go work in His vineyard wherever ’tis needed
+    And earnestly work for the sake of the need;
+  Be Fame’s fickle promise forever unheeded,
+    Unknown, in thy labor, the miser’s low greed.
+
+
+
+
+Night.
+
+
+  Thro’ azure paths fair Venus comes with golden bars
+    To close the gates of Day. The twilight’s dusky stole
+  Is lightly spangled o’er with heaven’s brightest stars;
+    Soon Night will bring her countless ones whose ceaseless roll
+  Thro’ boundless depths of space, repeat creation’s song.
+    Thus canopied by God’s omnipotence, outspread,
+  The earth doth lull and soothe her surging, restless throng
+    With brooding calm. Sleep’s poppied sweets for toil are shed.
+
+  When strife is hushed to rest, by Nature’s drowsy hum
+    And barter’s dins are stilled—its flaunting ensigns furled,
+  When, drugged with Somnus’ wines, earth’s noisy crowds are dumb
+    And stillness spreads her slumber-robe, so softly o’er the world,
+  ’Tis joy to watch Night’s queenly orb, climb up the eastern stair,
+    And pour her flood of silver light o’er hills and bowers,
+  That in the sacred silence gleam, so radiant and fair,
+    In glistening robes of green and dewy, fragrant flowers.
+
+  All hail, blest hour of cool repose, when Labor’s chains
+    That bind the mind, thro’ all the day, to weary tasks
+  Are loosed! Ay, now, the soul, in freedom from their pains,
+    May drink from founts of pure supernal joy. It basks
+  In glories which the night o’er earth and sky hath strown.
+    Compassion sweet, the dewy coolness doth impart
+  And dreamy perfumes, by the balmy breezes blown,
+    Are evening’s sweet acopic, when she folds us to her heart.
+
+
+
+
+Disappointment.
+
+
+  We plant sometimes a tender flower—
+  Watch and wait through sun and shower;
+    Mark its tiny leaflets, green,
+    Then, the upward shoot between,—
+  Springing, springing, tendrils clinging,
+  Hopes like cherubs round it winging
+    Whispering of the blooming time.
+
+  Watch the buds burst thro’ their sheathing,
+  Beauty’s promise, round them wreathing,
+    Dream of fragrance they enfold,
+    Lovely blooms, almost, behold,
+  Reach an eager hand for grasping—
+  Find the tendrils all unclasping—
+    Withered, ere the blooming time.
+
+
+
+
+Love’s Ideal.
+
+
+  Was there ever a love like the love of my dream?
+    Love, holy, unselfish, devoted and pure,
+  Unfailing and sweet as the flow of a stream
+    Whose source is a spring, that God made to endure.
+
+  A love that is LOVE, with no blending of dross;
+    Where soul, unto soul, giveth strength of its own—
+  A love that knows never of languor or loss,
+    Or silently grieves that its _spirit_ has flown.
+
+  A love with its possibles nobly fulfilled,
+    Where heart unto heart is e’er loyal and true,
+  Where blessing for each, is thro’ kindness distilled—
+    A rodomel never embittered with rue.
+
+  A love that the angels, rejoicing to see,
+    Would guard in life’s paths from the harpies that roam;
+  Peace, Happiness, Charity,—loveliest three—
+    Would make, for such lovers, a Heaven of Home.
+
+
+
+
+A Legend of the Lily.
+
+
+  Abroad, June moon was brightly beaming
+    In the depths of heaven’s blue,
+  While the asphodels were bending
+    With the clinging beads of dew,
+  When the silver rays in silence,
+    Glinting thro’ the swaying trees,
+  Saw a modest flower turning
+    To a roving, balmy breeze.—
+
+  Heard the zephyr softly whisper:
+    “Ah! my Lily, charming, sweet—
+  Sure the god of love has led us
+    In this bowery place to meet;
+  Richest odors I will bring you
+    From the islands of the sea;
+  Aye, your beauty has enchained me—
+    Will you give your heart to me?”
+
+  With a touch exquisite, subtile,
+    Then he turned to his, her face;
+  In her blush of deeper crimson,
+    That she faltered, he could trace.
+  “I have sought you—will you trust me?
+    Faithful as the stars I’ll be—
+  With your fragrant breathings, answer,
+    Will you give your love to me?”
+
+  Frail the flower, tranced enraptured
+    By the lover’s soft caress,
+  To his tender wooing answered,
+    With impulsive rashness,—“yes.”
+  Then, exultant, zephyr gloried
+    In the treasure he had won—
+  Deftly stole her sparkling jewels,
+    Sharing with the rising sun.
+
+  Brushed the spangles from her tresses
+    With his playful finger tips,
+  Bolder grew with his caresses—
+    Gathering sweetness from her lips;
+  Robbed her beauty of the freshness
+    That was hers in early morn—
+  Left her ’neath the sun of noonday,
+    Burning like the gaze of scorn.
+
+  Drooping as in heat of censure
+    Evening found her in the dust,
+  Lifted her with tearful pity
+    From the blight of trampled trust;
+  But the tender flush of loving
+    From her face was blanched and gone,
+  Yet a beauty, born of trial,
+    Met the radiant glow of dawn.
+
+  Now for her the moon is shining
+    With a calm and holy light;
+  Dew-like gems of rarest beauty
+    Sparkles on her brow at night;
+  With her white face turned toward heaven
+    In her vestal robe she stands,
+  As a priestess, at an altar,
+    Lifting consecrated hands.
+
+  Chastest forms of beauty round her—
+    Stars that gem the vaulted blue
+  Join with her in silent warning,—
+    “Let thy love be pure and true—
+  Trusting e’en the black-browed storm-cloud,
+    With its leaping lightning-blaze,
+  Rather than the rover’s whisper,
+    Neath the moon’s enchanting gaze.”
+
+
+
+
+To James Newton Mathews.[2]
+
+
+  Must write a sonnet!—ere the Poet’s rank,
+    With its devouring hopes, I dare to claim—
+    Ere I with them may seek a place or name—
+  Ere I may taste Castalia’s fount, where drank
+  The bards of eld, or find the flowery bank
+    Of clear Penneus, flashing back the flame
+  Of sunset fires. Thro’ moorlands, low and dank,
+    Alone, must grope, unlit by torch of fame.
+
+  Tho’ Poesy should stir my soul to song
+  That flowed like liquid tenderness along,
+    Or, wild and glad as leaping forest rills—
+    Tho’ Nature’s music thro’ my being thrills
+  And Imagery, with all her fairy throng,
+    My dreamy world of thought and vision fills,—
+  Alas! I’m doomed—this stanza is a line too long.
+
+[2] “You must write a Sonnet to gain a Poet’s diploma.”—J. N. M.
+
+
+
+
+The Great Hereafter.
+
+
+  Will the wrongs of life be righted,
+  Fruited there the hopes here blighted,
+          In the great hereafter?
+  Will the darkened lives be lighted
+  And dissevered souls united
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  Will this wearing, wild commotion
+  Sink to rest and sweet emotion
+          Calm all strife hereafter?
+  Will love’s slighted, fond devotion
+  Reach beyond life’s tossing ocean
+          To the great hereafter?
+
+  Will the vows here lightly broken
+  With repentant tears be spoken
+          In the great hereafter?
+  The wounded one accept the token
+  Of the heart’s remorse unspoken
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  Gladly from its idols turning
+  Will the soul forget its yearning
+          In the great hereafter?
+  Thro’ a quickened sense discerning
+  That the labors we’ve been spurning
+  Keep love’s holy incense burning
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  Shall we find that hopes deceiving
+  Helped us on to grand achieving
+          In the great hereafter?
+  And be blest with glad receiving
+  What is now but faith, believing
+          In the great hereafter?
+  Will the soul that’s drunk the vial
+  Of a bitter self-denial
+          Feel the loss hereafter?
+  Or, thro’ sacrifice and trial,
+  Will it triumph o’er Belial,
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  Will the bands by dogmas riven
+  Scathed and scarred by anger levin,
+  Make a peaceful, joyous Heaven
+          In the great hereafter?
+  For the good for which they’ve striven
+  Will their errors be forgiven
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  There, with pomp, his work resuming
+  Will the bigot, still presuming,
+  God’s prerogative assuming
+          In the great hereafter,
+  Sit as judge, his brother dooming,
+  And with creed-lit torch reluming
+  Fires of torture “unconsuming,”
+          Through the great hereafter?
+
+  Will the Wrong, the Right assailing,
+  Wring from suffering helpless wailing
+          In the great hereafter?—
+  Conquered Good, with banners trailing,
+  Seeking streams for Hope’s regaling,
+  Be mirage-lured, till faint and failing,
+  Faith becomes a phantom, sailing
+          Through the great hereafter?
+
+  Or, shall our spirit eyes beholding
+  God’s mysterious plans unfolding
+          In the great hereafter,
+  See His strength the Right upholding
+  And his love the weak enfolding
+          In the great hereafter?
+
+  Struggling here with opposition,
+  Gives, perchance, the strong volition
+  Some may need for angel mission,
+          In the great hereafter;
+  And the ills of life’s condition,
+  To the tried may bring fruition
+  Of a joyous, sweet elysian
+          In the great hereafter.
+
+  What has seemed Fate’s unfair dealing,
+  May unveil, a joy revealing
+          In the great hereafter:
+  Though denying our appealing,
+  Made in agony of feeling,
+  God may still, with love’s own healing,
+  _Higher destiny, be sealing_
+          For the Great Hereafter.
+
+
+
+
+Late October.
+
+
+  The night was black—the dismal rain
+    First dripped from sullen, inky clouds,
+  And then was dashed against the pane,
+    By winds that shrieked like demon crowds;
+  When, on the midnight’s ebon breast,
+  The storm, a moment, lulled to rest,
+    I heard this low, half stifled moan
+    With sorrow braided in the tone—
+      “Who cares for me? Who, who?”
+
+  The lurid lightning’s fitful glare
+    Lit all the far, horizon’s rim—
+  It showed the walnut, stripped and bare,
+    And clutching one great, leafless limb
+  Sat something weird, of dusky form;
+  Defenceless, in the pelting storm,
+    She faced alone that angry sky—
+    October’s voice seemed in the cry,
+      “Who cares for me? Who, Who?”
+
+  With rush and wrench an angered fiend
+    The loosened shutters clanged and swung,
+  His single stroke the grove had preened
+    And wide its deadened branches flung,
+  And from the wide, o’er-hanging eaves
+  He tore the crimson ivy leaves
+    And wildly whirled them on the blast—
+    The phantom murmured, as they passed,
+      “Who cares for me? Who, Who?”
+
+  The maples writhed as, tempest torn,
+    Their branches beat the gables high,
+  And, in the storm’s dark bosom borne,
+    Mad thunders bellowed thro’ the sky.
+  She spurned the spruce, with stately form,
+  Whose robes of green might shield and warm,
+    And yet, like sobbing on the gale,
+    Was monotoned that dismal wail,
+      “Who cares for me? Who, Who?”
+
+  Again the leaping lightnings glared,
+    The wind swept down the clinging vines,
+  In twisting gusts the trees were bared,
+    It rocked and tossed the rasping pines;
+  Unmoved, amid the tempest there,
+  And as the wraith of grim despair,
+    Still clutched the limb, that dusky form,
+    Repeating to the driving storm,
+      “Who cares for me? Who, who?”
+
+  The arbor gleamed with tangled vines,
+    Where, erstwhile, hung, ’mid emerald sheen,
+  The clustering wealth of unpressed wines;
+    And charms of scarlet, gold and green,
+  With opulence of fruit and grain,
+  Poured riches for October’s reign;
+    Now, conquered, robbed, usurped her throne,
+    Her sorrow welling in the moan,
+      “Who cares for me? Who, who?”
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The morning sun is mocking cold—
+    The vanquished queen stands, pale, forlorn,
+  Her gauzy veil of dream and gold,
+    And royal robes, all rent and torn,
+  With bannered glories, trampled down,
+  To bring her victor’s sparkling crown.
+    She feebly smiles and passes on
+    To join the old October’s, gone—
+      November wails—“Who cares.”
+
+
+
+
+On the Beach.
+
+
+  O, tell me, rolling, tossing billow,
+    Where thy place of rest may be!—
+  Who shall find, and who peruse them,
+    Were these lines consigned to thee!
+  Will the wild winds catch and carry,
+    ’Mid the waves tumultuous roar,
+  Leaving them where golden glory
+    Flames along the sunset shore?
+
+  Pillowed on thy throbbing bosom
+    _Where_ will this wee, waifling drift?
+  Will an eager hand stretch for it,
+    Thinking some strange tale to lift—
+  A record brief of direst peril
+    In a storm-wrecked sinking ship—
+  The moment when all hope had left them—
+    The tale ne’er told by human lip?
+
+  Or, will thy rolling, rocking cradle
+    Hold the casket unrevealed,
+  Till thy wrenching, prying fingers
+    Hath its secrets all unsealed?—
+  Dropping then the worthless trifle
+    Where wealth’s storm-wrecked treasures lie,
+  In thy mystic, wave-worn caverns,
+    Hidden aye, from mortal eye.
+
+
+
+
+Hidden.
+
+
+  Oft the heart is full of weeping
+    When no tears escape the lids;
+  Bravely will stands guard o’er feeling
+    And the tell-tale flow forbids,
+  And for love of those who love us
+    Every sign of sorrow hides,
+  Counterfeiting joy and gladness
+    Where in secret, grief abides.
+
+  Though we try to gild with sunshine
+    Thorny paths we needs must tread,
+  Hiding, ’neath a show of courage,
+    That we go with shrinking dread—
+  Tho’ we hush the sob of mourning
+    For the strong true love we knew,
+  Yet affection’s sacred altar
+    With forget-me-nots we strew.
+
+  Every sentient heart holds hidden,
+    From the gaze of prying eyes,
+  All its sorrows. E’en its raptures
+    From such sharing it denies.
+  Love of some and dread of others
+    Shut the heart with bolts and bars;
+  We shrink to wound our loving dear ones—
+    We dread the sympathy that jars.
+
+  But, when night is darkly brooding
+    Over earth with raven wings,
+  Feeling may, with unseen fingers,
+    Sweep the spirit’s trembling strings.
+  Then, within its secret chamber,
+    May the heart’s own words be said—
+  There alone, with Love’s one taper,
+    All its bitter tears may shed.
+
+
+
+
+My Robins Are Gone.
+
+
+  My robins are gone—
+    The last one has flown;
+    With a pang in my breast
+    I look into the nest
+  And know I’m forever alone.
+
+  The night will come in thro’ the crimsoning west,
+    Repeating that lesson of pain—
+  “The robin that once has flown out of the nest
+    Seeks never its shelter again.”
+              My robins are gone, etc.
+
+  O, glad was my heart with its fullness of love
+    When fondly I cared for them all,
+  But now I’m alone, in the shadowy grove,
+    And they are too far for recall.
+              My robins are gone, etc.
+
+  The world was so wide, and the skies were so blue,
+    They tempted my darlings away;
+  In the bright, dewy morning so buoyant they flew,
+    Nor dreamed of the noon-heat of day.
+              My robins are gone, etc.
+
+  I’ll stay by the lonely, embowered, old nest—
+    Some stars will beam down thro’ the night;
+  I’ll hush my heart’s cry with a “God knoweth best,”
+    And wait for the dawn of the light.
+        Tho’ my robins are gone,
+        Tho’ the last one has flown,
+          They’ll think of the tree
+          That is sheltering me,—
+        They’ll be to me ever my own.
+
+
+
+
+Winterbloom.
+
+
+  Oh! beautiful winterbloom, why did you tarry?
+    O, why in Spring’s glory of budding and bloom,
+  Were hidden your jewels, wee, golden and starry,
+    To open them now, in November’s chill gloom?
+
+  The crocuses first heard the warm breezes calling,
+    The dandelions glowed in their emerald sea
+  And lilies, sun-kissed, in the lakelets were lolling—
+    All Flora’s enchantments were beckoning thee.
+
+  When June, in soft airs, swung her rose-freighted censer,
+    And dew gems were set with the buttercup’s gold—The
+  annual bloom, growing brighter and denser—
+    Why still, from the summer, your beauty withhold?
+
+  “When Spring in her gladness poured beauty around you,
+    And joy bells rang with most musical tone,
+  When opulent Summer with riches had crowned you,
+    My coming had then been unheeded, unknown.
+
+  Now flowers of springtime and summer have left you,
+    The winter’s foreclosure has shadowed the home—
+  Of the last clinging leaves the cold winds have bereft you—
+    As a friend in Adversity, now I am come.”
+
+
+
+
+The Old Home.
+
+
+  The empty hammock, in the grove,
+    The playful breeze is swinging—
+  Wild birds, of varied note and plume,
+    In Babel jargon singing,
+  Come boldly near my silent door,
+    And e’en the woodland thrushes
+  Pour forth for me, their floods of song,
+    In sweet, melodious gushes.
+
+  And nearer still, the squirrels come,
+    Among the walnuts leaping,
+  And gather in their winter stores
+    Without the toil of reaping.—
+  The tennis plot is overgrown
+    With long, untrodden grasses—
+  Above it hangs, from unpruned boughs,
+    Their foliage wealth in masses.
+
+  The lichens lengthen on the trees—
+    They blotch, with gray, the fences
+  And prove decadence is of years,
+    Whatever our pretenses;
+  The storm-worn roof and gables all
+    Suggest inceptive mosses—
+  The ample house, with silent rooms,
+    Hope’s argosy and losses.
+
+  The shrubs that once bore stately bloom
+    Are now a bushy tangle,
+  Where tribes of beetles, thro’ the spring,
+    O’er blighted beauty wrangle;
+  And goldenrod, with kindly grace,
+    Hides, with her shining tassels,
+  Neglected spots, where once was built,
+    Young Fancy’s airy castles.
+
+  The bell, that called the dinner hour
+    With deep, revibrant clanging,
+  Is woven round with maple boughs,
+    Its stranded rope, down-hanging,
+  Has won a morning-glory bloom
+    To twine its frayed out fringes,
+  And trumpet vine creeps o’er the gate
+    To hide its broken hinges.
+
+  Now silence reigns where once was heard
+    The ring of childish laughter;—
+  They’ll come no more—“our little boys”—
+    In all the years hereafter;
+  Yet winds oft join with listless mood
+    To cheat me with the seeming—
+  A dimpled hand tugs at the latch—
+    But ah! ’twas only dreaming.
+
+  They’re out upon the field of Life
+    Where blades of strength are clashing,
+  Where true and false contend for aye
+    With thought’s bright spear-points flashing,
+  And we must hush love’s hunger-cry
+    And still the selfish yearning—
+  Must hide the heart’s fond worship, tho’
+    Its altar fires are burning.
+
+  But mother-love can make her strong
+    To check her own heart’s throbbing,
+  And bid them go with steady voice
+    While _self’s_ in secret, sobbing;
+  Then she will whisper broken words
+    Alone with God in prayer,
+  And find that heavenly blessing falls
+    For every cross we bear.
+
+
+
+
+Thought.
+
+
+  Backward, backward Thought has traveled,
+    Back into the dim unknown,
+  When the spheres in cosmic star-dust
+    Circled His eternal throne—
+  Back where cosmogonic darkness,
+    Wrought upon by Spirit light,
+  Yielded elemental centers
+    And protoplastic satellite.
+
+  Back, where first creative forces,
+    By impulsion from “The Cause,”
+  Start the universe in motion,
+    Guided by unerring laws—
+  Hurl the spheric fiery masses
+    Thro’ abysmal depths of space—
+  Meting out to each an orbit
+    With defined, unchanging place.
+
+  Thought, from thence, fares down the aeons
+    Thro’ the long chaotic night,
+  While His omnipresent agents
+    (Each a vast deific might)
+  Fashion to His will and purpose
+    Thro’ infinitude of spheres;
+  In our own group change evolving
+    Till Earth’s infant life appears—
+
+  Till creation felt Time’s fullness,
+    Surging thro’ unmeasured night,
+  That should rend the swathe of vapors
+    With command—“Let there be Light—”
+  Felt the rolling, tossing tumult
+    Of the fierce, internal sweep
+  When the thunder-toned volcanos
+    Lifted lands from shoreless deep.
+
+  Then, from formless void emerging,
+    Earth spread wide her fields and hills,
+  Woke the untrod glooms with music
+    Of her new-born leaping rills;—
+  Then the firmament, in grandeur,
+    Lit its unveiled depths of blue
+  With the moon in full-orbed beauty
+    And the young stars beaming through.
+
+  And the sunshine thrilled earth’s bosom,
+    Quickened germ-imprisoned life—
+  Soon the hillsides and the valleys
+    Were with floral beauty rife;—Forests
+  robed the mountain ranges,
+    Bound their sun-crooned brows with green,
+  While the mighty, sea-fed rivers
+    Rolled in majesty between.
+
+         *       *       *       *       *
+
+  Farther on in Life’s gradations
+    He who tuned the spheric roll,
+  Back in Nature’s barred Arcana,
+    Gave and clothed the human soul.
+  Hush, oh thought, nor dare to question
+    _How_ creative laws adjust!
+  Canst thou comprehend Jehovah
+    Or the elemental “dust?”
+
+  Here, oh spirit, rest with child-faith;
+    Covet not forbidden things.
+  LIFE, the vainly sought for secret,
+    Proof, to us, of Godhood brings—
+  Of the Infinite, beyond us—
+    Far beyond the grasp of mind;—
+  Kneeling, trusting, here we worship
+    God—Jehovah, Undefined.
+
+
+
+
+Columbus.
+
+
+  O’er the stormy, pathless seas,
+  Nobly proud, the Genoese
+  To a shadowed realm sailed;
+  With a will to brave and bear,
+  Sought he chance to do and dare,
+  ’Mid the perils he must share
+  That Earth’s grandeur be unveiled.
+
+  Pilgrims sailed to lighted shores,
+  Hope and Home with open doors,
+  But thro’ dusky deeps, unknown,
+  Boldly this explorer plowed,
+  Facing danger’s darkling crowd
+  And Fate’s looming, gestant cloud,
+  From the waste of waters blown.
+
+  Heaven gave to him a soul
+  Finely fashioned to control
+  With a wondrous spirit might—
+  That should sweep of doubt and fear,
+  Broad and bright, a pathway clear—
+  By it lift a hemisphere
+  Into Freedom’s joyous light.
+
+  Purpose, daring were sublime—
+  His the crowning deeds of Time;
+  Life, for others’ gain, was spent
+  Opening Earth’s great treasure-doors—
+  Half a world with Bounty’s stores—
+  Mountains, rich in precious ores—
+  Caves with sparkling gems besprent.
+
+  Justice gave unquestioned claim
+  To the highest niche of Fame,
+  But what recompense was Spain’s?
+  She, thro’ craven sons of lust,
+  Honor stabbed, with feigned distrust—
+  Trampled his great soul in dust,
+  Scorned and loaded him with chains.
+
+  Now she comes to steal his bones:
+  Earth revile! In thunder tones
+  Tell the tale of wrong and shame;
+  Write this edict out in flame—
+  In the hemisphere he gave,
+  (Which he begged might be his grave)
+  She, of Greed, the wasted slave,
+  Shall have nevermore a name.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s note
+
+
+Poem titles were originally printed in a stylized, “Gothic”-variety
+typeface (think New York Times masthead). Fonts which are a reasonable
+approximation of this, and which this ebook will display if you have
+them installed, include Old English Text MT, Chomsky, Cloister Black,
+Old London.
+
+The following probable printer errors were corrected.
+
+  Page  47, “i ngering” changed to “lingering” (I’m lingering now)
+  Page  89, “Indnite” changed to “Infinite” (lighted with Infinite love)
+  Page  98, “temptest” changed to “tempest” (by sorrow’s tempest shaken)
+  Page 104, “Chrstians” changed to “Christians” (When Christians are one)
+  Page 149, “Queiscent” changed to “Quiescent” (Quiescent in that blest
+              repose)
+  Page 178, “prsence” changed to “presence” (I knew that a presence had
+              surely been there)
+  Page 191, “herafter” changed to “hereafter” (beyond life’s tossing
+              ocean / To the great hereafter)
+  Page 197, “Wtih bannerd” changed to “With bannered” (With bannered
+              glories)
+  Page 198, “rollng” changed to “rolling” (thy rolling, rocking cradle)
+  Page 200, “shrniking” changed to “shrinking” (That we go with shrinking
+              dread)
+  Page 209, “satelite” changed to “satellite” (And protoplastic satellite)
+  Page 209, “unchangnig” changed to “unchanging” (With defined, unchanging
+              place.)
+  Page 210, “Lfited” changed to “Lifted” (Lifted lands from shoreless
+              deep.)
+  Page 211, “migthy” changed to “mighty” (mighty, sea-fed rivers)
+
+Punctuation, hyphenation, and word spacing errors were amended without
+further note.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76279 ***
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+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76279 ***</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp53" id="illus1" style="max-width: 31.25em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus1.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>JULIA CARTER ALDRICH,<br>(PETRESIA PETERS.)
+  </figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span></p>
+
+<p class="titlepage larger">HAZEL BLOOM,</p>
+
+<p class="titlepage"><span class="smaller">BY</span><br>
+JULIA CARTER ALDRICH.<br>
+<span class="smaller">(PETRESIA PETERS.)</span></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Mother! O, holy music in the sound</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Of that dear word—Mother! O, visions sweet</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>That crowd the mind and thickly cluster round,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>To drive out tempting wiles, and leave replete</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>The soul’s most lofty plans, and purest thought!</i></div>
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Could man have known the part divine, repressed</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Through youthful life, for noblest womanhood,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>When she should pass to dear maternity—</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Had he the Christ, in Mother, rightly known,</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Kind Heaven had spared the pains of Calvary.</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Through her the first of Heavenly love is shown—</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Through her, first glimpses caught of Christ, of God.</i></div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse right"><i>B. F. Aldrich.</i></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter titlepage illowp75" id="deco" style="max-width: 2.1875em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/deco.jpg" alt="">
+</figure>
+
+<p class="titlepage">BUFFALO:<br>
+<span class="smcap">Charles Wells Moulton</span>,<br>
+1899.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span></p>
+
+<p class="titlepage smaller"><span class="smcap">Copyright by<br>
+Julia Carter Aldrich.</span><br>
+1899.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>In memory of that sainted one,<br>
+My Mother,<br>
+This volume is inscribed to the<br>
+Mothers—<br>
+The Home-makers of our land,<br>
+By one who has known<br>
+The breadth and depth<br>
+Of maternal hope and joy—<br>
+Whose soul has continually drank,<br>
+Thro’ all the years of<br>
+Motherhood,<br>
+From that well-spring of<br>
+Blessing—<br>
+Unfailing, filial devotion.</i></p>
+
+<p class="right"><i>J. C. A.</i></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span></p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span></p>
+
+<h2 id="INDEX">INDEX.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<table>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Weaver</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Weaver">9</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mystery</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Mystery">11</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>In Childhood’s Years</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#In_Childhoods_Years">14</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>In the City of Suffering</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#In_the_City_of_Suffering">15</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Heliotrope</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Heliotrope">18</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Constancy</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Constancy">20</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Estranged</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Estranged">22</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>My Inkstand</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#My_Inkstand">25</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>History of One Life</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#History_of_One_Life">26</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Evening</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Evening">27</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Rondeaux</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Rondeaux">29</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Solace of the Flowers</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Solace_of_the_Flowers">30</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Regret</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Regret">32</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Hazel Bloom</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Hazel_Bloom">35</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Life’s Shuttle</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Lifes_Shuttle">38</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Springtime</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Springtime">40</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>For Insomnia</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#For_Insomnia">42</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mother</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Mother1">45</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Eoline’s Dream</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Eolines_Dream">48</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Our Own</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Our_Own">52</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Wounded Faith</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Wounded_Faith">55</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Destiny</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Destiny">57</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Unclaimed</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Unclaimed">60</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Death</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Death">61</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Night-Blooming Cereus</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Night-Blooming_Cereus">64</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>My Muse</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#My_Muse">66</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>We Never Know</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#We_Never_Know">68</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>A June in Childhood</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#A_June_in_Childhood">70</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Goldenrod</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Goldenrod">74</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>An Evening in June</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#An_Evening_in_June">75</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Yosemite</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Yosemite">77</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Blight or Blessing</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Blight_or_Blessing">80</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>O, For a Rainy Day</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#O_For_a_Rainy_Day">82</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Great Poet</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Great_Poet">83</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Love’s Riches</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Loves_Riches">88</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Complainings</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Complainings">90</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Questionings</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Questionings">92</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Persecuted</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Persecuted">94</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>O, Kindly Speak</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#O_Kindly_Speak">96</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>He is Risen</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#He_Is_Risen">97</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Christ</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Christ">99</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Feed My Lambs</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Feed_My_Lambs">102</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Kingdom of Heaven</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Kingdom_of_Heaven">103</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Supplication</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Supplication">106</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Portrait</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Portrait">107</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Out in the Woods</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Out_in_the_Woods">109</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Unforgiven</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Unforgiven">112</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Evening and the Morning</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Evening_and_the_Morning">114</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Unseen</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Unseen">116</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Painting</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Painting">117</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Christian’s Armor</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Christians_Armor">120</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>To My Friend</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#To_My_Friend">121</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Hill-Crest Home</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Hill-Crest_Home">124</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Lilies of the Valley</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Lillies_of_the_Valley">135</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Pearly Shells</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Pearly_Shells">138</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Courage</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Courage">140</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Trailing Arbutus</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Trailing_Arbutus">141</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Encouragement</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Encouragement">145</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Faith</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Faith">147</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Nirvana</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Nirvana">149</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Heredity</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Heredity">150</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Pebbles</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Pebbles">152</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Words</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Words">157</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Mother</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Mother2">159</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Hands</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Hands">161</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Endymion</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Endymion">163</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Calypso—The Lover’s Pocket</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Calypso-The_Lovers_Pocket">167</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>What is Love<!--baby don't hurt me--></td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#What_Is_Love">171</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Sleighing</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Sleighing">173</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>First Love</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#First_Love">175</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Man</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Man">176</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Trust of Childhood</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Trust_of_Childhood">177</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Alone</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Alone">180</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Night</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Night">183</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Disappointment</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Disappointment">185</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Love’s Ideal</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Loves_Ideal">186</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>A Legend of the Lily</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#A_Legend_of_the_Lily">187</a><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>To James Newton Mathews</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#To_James_Newton_Mathews">190</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Great Hereafter</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Great_Hereafter">191</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Late October</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Late_October">195</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>On the Beach</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#On_the_Beach">198</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Hidden</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Hidden">200</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>My Robins are Gone</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#My_Robins_Are_Gone">202</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Winterbloom</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Winterbloom">204</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>The Old Home</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#The_Old_Home">206</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Thought</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Thought">209</a></td>
+  </tr>
+  <tr>
+    <td>Columbus</td>
+    <td class="tdpg"><a href="#Columbus">212</a></td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p>
+
+<h1>HAZEL BLOOM</h1>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Weaver">The Weaver.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">With warm desire to please the captious ones,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose fervency the finished fabric suns,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With ardent conjurations she besought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The thronging sprites, that feed the loom of thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To gather shining woof, from climes afar—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From lands where all things bright and wondrous are—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To seek the dame whose tireless hand doth hold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The distaff yielding threads of fine spun gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And bring the gathered treasures in to her,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All sweet with far-fetched frankincense and myrrh:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Instead of quest in distant lands for woof</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From near they brought, and with it sharp reproof.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“The glow and flame of thy desire</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is lit by an unholy fire.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We bring thee shreds for needs of life</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With which its ways are ever rife;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Weave these as we shall bring them in</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(None leads with Lotus-charm to sin)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And when the web falls from thy care,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who needs takes self-apportioned share.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If one is girt by it for storm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or one lone home, made glad and warm—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If one bruised heart finds through it balm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">One groping soul, up-lifting psalm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, thank thy God that thou hast wrought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The humble shreds that we have brought.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Mystery">Mystery.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">All the earth’s history</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Is mingled with mystery;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thrid its long pathways thro’ Time’s gathered pages,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Struggle with theories,—delve as you will,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Wrapped in uncertainty, mystery still,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Baffling the lore of philosophy’s sages.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Wishes ungratified,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Longings unsatisfied;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Search is untiring and effort is eager,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Reaching for aye for the far, unattained,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Feeling the spirit to narrowness chained,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All we may know, to the unknown is meager.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Yet, human pomposity,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Rich in verbosity,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Leads us afar, thro’ the limitless spaces,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Parting so boldly the cometal robes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Shows us their bodies, as infantile globes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sportively seeking maturity’s places.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">It measures Infinity,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Questions Divinity—Talks</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">of the universe at its inception;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Theory, feeling the pulse of the Earth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Tells us how long since the planet had birth</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And when we may look for its utter disruption.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Yet <span class="smcap">Life’s</span> remote decimal—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The infinitesimal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Puzzles the agnost for Nature’s great mother;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Never a blade without fertilized germ,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Never a seed without blossoming term,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each is a subsequent unto the other.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Most wondrous, mysterious,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Throned and imperious,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mind, in the beautiful temple of Being,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Rules o’er its realm with absolute sway</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Till, broken and crumbling, the structure of clay,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then swift on the wings of the silences fleeing.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Thought, strained to intensity,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Ranging immensity,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Asks for their home—for the spirit’s bright heaven;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">A speck in the universe—our little earth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">’Mong millions, all grander and greater of girth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will God’s central glory to <i>this</i> one be given?</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Ah! Safely He has hidden it,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">From earth-gaze forbidden it:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Humbled and weary the bold Thought, returning,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Nestles down closer to God’s written word;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">By grief’s parching thirst its sweet fountains are stirred;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its pages yield balm that will soothe the heart’s yearning.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">There, Heaven comes near to us,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Those who were dear to us,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Safe in its mansions—we’ll question not where,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Live in the light of an Infinite Love!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Faith sweetly whispers—“They beckon above,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The loved ones, who’ve left us, are waiting us there.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">The hidden earth-histories—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The sought-after mysteries</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are veiled, but in blessing;—we seek for them ever;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Wisdom hath woven this mystical bond,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Binding the soul to God’s greater Beyond,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Enlarging, enriching, thro’ constant endeavor.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="In_Childhoods_Years">In Childhood’s Years.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">In childhood’s years, what dreamy days</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In spring’s soft airs or autumn’s haze!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">How golden bright the sunset skies</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Where just beyond our heaven lies!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each dawn the sun has merry plays</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With Rosy-mist, who veils his rays</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To shield us from his glory blaze,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">While she paints morn such lovely dyes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent20">In Childhood’s years.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We tread but joy-lit, sunny ways,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor dream of dread, that is decay’s:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">No sorrow comes but quickly flies—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">No love is known that cools and dies—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">No crafty selfishness betrays</div>
+    <div class="verse indent20">In childhood’s years.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="In_the_City_of_Suffering">In the City of Suffering.<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">In the city of suffering souls grow large,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And money-greed languishing lies;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Neath the hurrying feet, of God’s messengers there,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That pompous, old Selfishness dies:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ambition, so eagerly climbing to heights</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where glory, alone, is the prize,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forgets his wild dreams at the shriek of distress</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And goes where Humanity cries.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the city of suffering, sympathies blend</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As valley rills, blend in a stream;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The high, and the low, all forgetful of rank,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Are thrilled by calamity’s scream.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There Wealth’s jeweled hand and the toil-hardened palm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Have neither a preference in claim,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But agony ardently stretching them forth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Makes common appeal, in His name.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the city of suffering hearts grow warm—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Aye, flame in the darkness of woe;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The spark God gave, from His infinite love,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Neath the hot breath of pain is aglow.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There, swift to the rescue, goes valorous strength,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Surprising the world with his deeds—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There, Courage will struggle with death for a life,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While yielding his own up, if needs.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the city of Suffering, Avarice hides</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the gloomy old vault with his gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor dares to meet Charity’s love-lighted face,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">His own is so pitiless and cold;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There, cowardice, envy—all drosses of soul</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the crucial test are consumed—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dark altars, once glowing with brotherly love,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the shadow of sorrow, relumed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The city of Suffering is Heaven’s wide door</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For victims its horrors enthrall;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en martyrs have sung when the fagots blazed high—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">So ever He heareth our call;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And those who, with fellow-love prompting their deeds,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Fought there, with the mounting flame fiends,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have wrought in the plan, for ennobling the world,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With God’s own, mysterious means.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the city of Suffering souls break the bonds</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That indolent selfishness forged in the womb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And lives, that were dwarfed by their mammon-cut groove,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Find growth in Love’s labor, and sunshine in gloom.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When raven-winged Sorrow sweeps over the land,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">An angel attends where its shadow may fall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, out from its darkness, brings heavenly light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And faith, in the Wisdom, that’s over us all.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> “There was a puff—a muffled roar, and the tower was
+literally rent by an explosion. A moment later the flames
+burst out thro’ every rent and fissure, and the men, away
+up there, in mid air, fighting the fire, were cut off from the
+world below, by an outpour of smoke and flame, soon to
+become a mighty conflagration.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Heliotrope">Heliotrope.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">There’s a charm in its fragrance bewitchingly sweet—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A something that binds with a magical spell;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en silence, thro’ this, to the heart can repeat</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The message that’s sent in its purple fringed cell.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis an odorous breath, from the heavenly heights—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">An angel hand, beckoning to the bloom scented fields,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the soul in its freedom may taste the delights</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That the garden of Paradise yields.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like childhood’s sweet dreams of the holy and true,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That float thro’ Life’s dusk in the ether of Thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or morn’s rosy blush, melting into the blue,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With tint of the beryl and amethyst caught.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis an exquisite messenger, given the heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That winsomely speaks to the spirit, alone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And whatever sentiment sent, will impart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will tell it so sweetly, in language its own.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When souls must needs pass thro’ Grief’s wordless abyss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then heart unto heart, through it, uttereth speech—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sympathy, seeking expression through this,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is told with a tenderness words never reach.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">If you’ve aught that’s too sacred for words to express,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Too tender to breathe in a wish or a hope,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twill be fittingly draped in the delicate dress,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And borne in the perfume of <span class="smcap">Heliotrope</span>.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Constancy">Constancy.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The Fates have decreed thou canst never be mine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet, constant, my soul turneth ever to thine</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With love that outreaches Time’s cruel decree.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Too holy the passion with others to name—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thoughts deepest and purest feed ever the flame,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That burns on the altar, kept sacred to thee.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">As ocean in silence embosoms the light</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That beams from the gems in the crown of the night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet dimming its purity never,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So thou, in my bosom a presence shalt be,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As stars shining down in the depths of the sea—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Unsullied thy brightness forever.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like a verdure-girt spring in the wide desert plains—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like the stroke, bringing freedom, by the riving of chains,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Aye, Life’s every essence of pleasure</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had been love’s requital, that long ago morn;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Still ever I’ll count, (yet this rose has its thorn)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Having loved, though I lost, as a treasure.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ hopes were all blighted that haloed my youth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And withered the flowers I deemed rooted in truth,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ sunshine will brighten no morrow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet never accusing’s deep bitterness stirs</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The heart, that would only pour joy into her’s,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the tenderest soothing for sorrow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Her spirit dwelt ever in dreamy ideal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While mine was so earthy and chained to the real,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the heavens all brazen above me:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All nature to hers echoed hymnings divine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While doubts of a future, stirred ever in mine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No marvel she never could love me.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But somehow, with Destiny’s mystical skein,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My love has entangled my infidel brain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And bound it with hope, to a heaven;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I dream of a sphere, we may find beyond this</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where—blessed fruition! life’s coveted bliss</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To the purified soul will be given.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Estranged">Estranged.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, to be near to you!—Oh, to be dear to you!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To feel in my heart, that your heart is my own.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All days have been dreary—my soul is aweary,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And still, must I walk in this dark way alone?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, fond was my dreaming, when hope’s star was beaming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When fancy’s bright web like a mantle of gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lay over life’s losses—its trials and crosses,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And hid them, in splendors, of fold upon fold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I thought then to follow (Oh, heartless and hollow!)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where Fashion’s throng led, and to kneel where it knelt—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thought Love’s nectared chalice was found in a palace—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In princely halls only, true happiness dwelt.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But Fashion’s vile brew, is of wormwood and rue—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It prays where the virtues are trampled and dead—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The bane we thought gladness, has led to this madness;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dissipation came in, and the Peace-angel fled.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">No wandering emotion e’er sullied devotion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But anger’s hot lava my reason o’erran;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the coolness of pride, (that love’s fervor belied)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sorrows and pangs of estrangement began.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be rashness forgiven, bring back to us heaven—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Our Eden-like home, with its love-lighted skies;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ parted forever, affection dies never—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis knit into life with indissoluble ties.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The rills that have mingled, can never be singled—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They’ll flow on as one in their course to the sea;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By love, early plighted, our souls were united,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And ever—forever united must be.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Entwining each thought—with tenderness fraught—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is loving, enduring remembrance of thee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, deep in your heart, in its holiest part,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I know there’s a hidden affection for me.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shall life be all nighted—Love’s flame ne’er be lighted,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While I—by its altar with ashes o’er strewn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Must ever remember thro’ constant December,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The balmy bright days and the roses of June?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, desert, Sahara!—Oh, waters of Marah!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I tread the hot sands—press the fount with my lips—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In sorrow, go roaming, thro’ the shadowy gloaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That falls, o’er a life, with love’s sun in eclipse.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="My_Inkstand">My Inkstand.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">This new one is thought both convenient and nice—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The atmosphere forcing the ink to the brim;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I question the worth of this modern device,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For seldom great thoughts on the surface will swim,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But something like whales, when they find themselves sought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Down, swiftly from sight, in the depths they will sink—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">At the bottom, the angled for ideas are caught,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And only by multiplied thrusts in the ink.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">1855.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="History_of_One_Life">History of One Life.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Its morning dawned thro’ penury’s narrow pane—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A noon of wealth, with glory’s laurel crown—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Human weakness—one mistake—a felon’s stain—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The evening gloomed with all his fellow’s frown.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Evening">Evening.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-v.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Vermillion and gold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">In beauty unfold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On the light, floating clouds of the West;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">The low, crooning sound</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Of all Nature around</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is lulling the world into rest.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent6">Like a rover of Sin</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">The zephyr steals in</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Mong roses and carnations rare—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">In ecstatic bliss</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Gives each one a kiss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then scatters their sweets on the air.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent6">In the shadowy hush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">The linnet and thrush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have gone to their nests in the grove;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">The blue pimpernell</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">To the lilly’s wee bell</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is whispering his story of love.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent6">Blest hour of delight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">That verges the night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What beauties and glories are thine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">When the great car of day</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">With its din rolls away,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And silence seems Presence divine.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent6">Now the sparkle of dew</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">And the rich violet hue</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of the fast purpling clouds of the West,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Hint of time’s rapid flight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">And of life’s coming night</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That shall lull into heavenly rest.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Rondeaux">Rondeaux.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">A brilliant thought leaps out and glows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or scatters fragrance like the rose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor needs an artizan’s design</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To plan and shape to make it shine,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Not all is brilliance in rondeaux.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The labored effort plainly shows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The mind has passed thro’ mighty throes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To give the world, with stamp divine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent20">A brilliant thought.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The music wins which sweetly flows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Not that which falls like stunning blows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And ease and grace, with sense combine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To clothe with elegance the line,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where Genius gives, in verse or prose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent20">A brilliant thought.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Solace_of_the_Flowers">Solace of the Flowers.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Oft a deep, unspoken anguish</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the secret soul is stirred,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the wounded heart, though yearning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For a kindly, loving word,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Opens not its sacred portal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For the arts of friendly healing—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Only God is told the sorrow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Through a mute-lipped, sad appealing.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“I am with you”—seems responded,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the hush of Nature’s bowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the spirit feels God nearer</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where He’s strewn the earth with flowers;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nature’s language, rich with blessing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For its unobtrusive words,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Speaks through softly murm’ring streamlets,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the low, sweet trill of birds.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en a tiny, bruised allyssum,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or a trampled mignonette,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Teach the heart, by sweet example,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That ’tis better to forget.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like the touch of seraph pinions,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or a faintly whispered hope,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is the charm of perfume floating</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From a hidden heliotrope.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ah! there’s soothing for the spirit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where the humid coolness lingers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the breezes touch us gently</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With their dainty, fairy fingers,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the woodland nymphs are gliding,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Noiseless, o’er the mosses bright,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Spreading Sylva’s vestal altar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a cloth of violets white.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All these tiny, fragrant flowers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Speak to us in tender tone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gently winning us from sorrow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a language all their own;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Little beauties, sent in blessing,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In our pathway angels strew them,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That we hear, when joy is shrouded,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Loving voices whisper through them.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Regret">Regret.</h2>
+
+<div class="poetry-container smaller">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">“—if only it never had been</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All the world had been brighter and then—”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Will a hope never throb, but it comes back a sob,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the echoing halls of the soul?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Do the joy-bells stirred, by a low thrilling word,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Forever resound with a funeral toll?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the roses we grasp, like the bite of an asp,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Give back to our sense but the stinging of pain?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can there float a perfume, from the lillies’ white bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That blends with enchantment Tofana’s slow bane?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where but flowers were sown, has a thistle seed blown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To root in their soil, a vile bramble to grow?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth each lovliest vine, ’round a hyssop entwine?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And out from sweet fountains must bitterness flow?</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Does there lurk in each joy, a vile fiend to destroy</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All the pleasure and blessing it brought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With the stings of regret, as with thorns thickly set,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That will pierce, as it turns, every retrospect thought?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, there’s never a spot, where this demon is not;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Like a serpent he creeps in this Eden of ours,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where its pleasures are purest, its treasures securest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And blights with his poison its loveliest flowers.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But we’ll act for the right, as God gives us the light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor complain that the end from our vision is veiled;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twas in blessing and love, that the Father above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Secured us from loss that prevision entailed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In mercy, dear Father, still veil from our sight,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The dawn of a joy, or a grief’s brooding night,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That we faint not, expecting the gathering gloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor cease in the strife that ennobles the life,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That we cloud not our joys with a shadowy tomb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor a heart ever miss the delectable bliss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of a sweet, unexpected delight.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hazel_Bloom">Hazel Bloom.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When paths that in summer were fringed with lush grass,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are raspy with frost-whitened blades as you pass,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the arbor’s denuded of clusters and leaves,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the Ivy’s bare vines are entwining the eaves,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the bright tinted sumach has changed to a brown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the wind-shaken forest drops summer wealth down—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The autumn’s rich robings of crimson and gold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the path of the years, to be trampled as mould—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the beauty of purple-hued asters is shed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the glory of goldenrod faded and dead,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the song-birds, we loved for their jubilant tune,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have gone where they find a perennial June,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When clouds that were downy on the summer’s bright blue,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have draped all the skies in a somberly hue,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the orchard has yielded its riches of fruit,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And its life-feeding myst’ry is hid in the root—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The Aftermath gathered—the last sheaves of grain—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When Nature seems all in a funeral train,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Hazel buds burst thro’ their scales into bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And glow like the stars that rob midnight of gloom.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When brooklets, unfettered, went leaping in glee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O’er rocks and thro’ woodlands, adown to the sea—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the bloom-time of Spring, in its glory, was here,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And earth all resounding with music and cheer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When asphodels loaded with fragrance the air</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And vied with the roses in loveliness rare,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Witch-Hazel, from Nature, seemed standing apart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The wee, golden buds were asleep in its heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And sunshine and shower besought it, in vain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To star, with its bloom, Flora’s garlanded fane.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, marvel of beauty—bright blossoms of gold!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They show us the life leafless branches enfold.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the flower of hope with this lesson of cheer—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the season of rest, not “The death of the year,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When, Nature, reposing in the bosom of God,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Feels the throb of His heart ’neath her snow-mantled sod—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">At the soul of All-life with new life is imbued—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">At the Fountain of Beauty, enriched and renewed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, symbol of Hope and the star gleam of Faith,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That give to Life’s autumn a glow—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A spirit revealed, while the seeming of Death</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lies palled in the brown leaves below.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A mission it has that was given of Him</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Who gave it its blossoming time;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus blooming alone—desolation around,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Defying the glittering rime,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It speaks to the soul—’tis an oracle sweet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">His token, His promise and bond</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That, tho’ passing thro’ change that leads down thro’ the tomb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">There’s a beautiful Springtime beyond.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Lifes_Shuttle">Life’s Shuttle.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The Shuttle went flying</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With sympathy sighing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While it shot all the gold weft with threadings of woe.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">There was murmured complaining,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The Shuttle arraigning—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That grief, with the joy, was unwound in the throw.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">A whispered regretting:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“No blessing forgetting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God knoweth thy needs—it is His to bestow:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">From <span class="smcap">Love</span> I’m receiving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The woof I am weaving.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The Shuttle’s reproof was subduing and low,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And, blent with Time’s beating,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">I heard it repeating</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The lesson it taught in love’s tenderest flow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, softly it chanted this simple refrain—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“’Tis wisdom that mingles the sorrow and pain.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The sunlight, that gilds, with its glory the earth,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Would blight with its blaze, but for clouds and the rain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And lives would be arid and smitten with dearth</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If beamed on forever with joy and mirth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>In blessing I weave in the sorrow and pain</i>.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Springtime">Springtime.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When meadows are strewn with the buttercup’s gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There’s gladness for childhood that song never told;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The laugh of a child, bubbling up from the heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is linked with the spring, a most beautiful part.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A bevy of children—sweet far away dream!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They trip o’er the sward, lit with dandelion gleam—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We’ll join in their sports with a heartiness true;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Our own vanished springtime, with them, we’ll renew.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The woods, (that are reached by a romp thro’ the lane</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the grass is made velvet by sunshine and rain)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Have infinite beauty, in blossom outspread—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Delights for the gods in the fragrance they shed.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Come, drink in the perfume of blossoming trees—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Take lessons of patience from murmuring bees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And listen to brooklets—they’ll sing you a song</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As, wild in their glee, they go leaping along.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Come, watch the wild birds as they cheerily dart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Their music, with sunshine, take into your heart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Let the gladness of childhood thrill you, and be gay,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus keeping your soul in perpetual May.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When Nature is robing her forests anew,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And heaven spreads over her loveliest blue—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When earth is aglow with spring’s ravishing bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ingratitude only sits shrouded in gloom.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="For_Insomnia">For Insomnia.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When Somnus is giddy and flies from my pillow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And care’s elfin throngs come to vex me—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When mem’ry, perverse, all the sweet things forgetting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will mention but those that perplex me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I ask that monotony’s rigid insistence</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shall drive out the gibberous crew;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They flee from his presence—will hie back to elfland,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where their Night shade and astrofell grew—</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ask thought for a theme that’s subduing in power—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The sea, with its billows all hushed to a calm—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Not mantled with darkness, but lit with the sunset,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When Day, unto Evening, is chanting her psalm.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All life’s petty griefs in the grandeur evanish,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The spirit is freed from its thrall,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And unto the faint heart a trustfulnesss whispers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Be brave—there’s a God over all.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In fancy I launch on the shimmering sea</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That’s lighting with glory its waters for me;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like a sprite of the ocean the boat seems to glide,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As lightly the oars dip the opaline tide,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till out in expanses, afar from the shore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Away from life’s din and tumultuous roar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where, gently I’m rocked on the breast of the deep,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While symphonic waves woo the Lethe of Sleep.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A broad, shining pathway is westward unrolled—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I watch the bright wavelets, with tresses of gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Run out in wild play to the visual rim</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the sky bends to kiss them in distance so dim,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till thought is enchanted—anxiety flees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And weariness slips into somnolent ease;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The silences seem to have rhythmical beat—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis footfalls of wakefulness, now in retreat.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forgetfulness softly creeps into the mind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Suspecting no trace of resistance to find,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But wakefulness turns back, commands and forbids—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet, Slumber steals past her and touches the lids;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Morpheus bears me away in his arms</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To his realm that’s swept of all fears and alarms</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where, lulled with his stupors, of poppy and rose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I dreamily, dreamily sink to repose.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Mother1">Mother.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When evening falls softly, with far away dreaming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oft steals o’er my spirit a rapturous seeming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I feel the light touch of her hand as of old,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When bending above me with good night caresses,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She lovingly pushed back the long heavy tresses,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And smoothed out the tangles of gold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Touch memory’s harp in the silence of even,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And loved ones will leave e’en the raptures of heaven,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And come to us then when the gates are ajar:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With mother’s face, ever most central and tender,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They light all the Past with a rosy-hued splendor</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the soul’s secret chamber’s unbar.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">From hidden recesses they bring out its treasures—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Among them are shining youth’s dream-lighted pleasures,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When mother-love blent with, and hallowed them all;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The haunts that the years with their sunsets have gilded,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The castles of beauty that child-fancy builded,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All come in the gloaming at memory’s call.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twas down by the river, where bluebells were sweetest</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And swift-footed hours forever ran fleetest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enthralled by the charm, that I loved most to roam—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To watch where the sunshine and ripple wove wimples,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like smiles, on a rosy face, dancing with dimples,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Forgetful of duty till mother called home.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Right-angled with the river-bank’s water-worn ledges</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The forest and farm knit their raveled-out edges,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In a brambled rail-fence. From the pasture’s green field,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ the edge of the woodland, a path, fringed with mosses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And bushy green tangles with clematis flosses,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Half the charms of the deep wood revealed.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When sunset was tinting each shadowy hollow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twas gladness, the kine, from the pasture, to follow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And dream, as I wandered, of fairy and gnome—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To loiter ’mong ferns, with great trees spreading over,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And breathe the perfume of wild roses and clover</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enrapt, until mother called home.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’m lingering now on the banks of the River—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sunset of Time on its ripples a-quiver—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">How peaceful the flowing—no turmoil or foam—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A luminous mist o’er the landscape is falling—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The evening has come, I hear a voice calling,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis mother’s voice calling me home.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Eolines_Dream">Eoline’s Dream.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">One long day of toil was ending,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And my head was hot with pain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When a thought, akin to envy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Racing thro’ my throbbing brain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Muttered to my fevered fancy</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Only wealth has power to please—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rocking in the lap of riches</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Life were fair as summer seas.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wealth for me would bridge the ocean,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Open Europe’s storied lore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rome and Greece, with art and beauty,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Each would open wide her door;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">These my hungering soul had longed for—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Oft they seemed within my clasp,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But like gold beneath the rainbow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They escaped my eager grasp.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">How I spurned the homely hangings</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That in poverty were wrought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en the couch, whose dingy plushings</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Now in weariness I sought.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Common things,” I said, repining,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Ne’er for me can blessing hold”;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But the Sun, just then declining,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Flooded all with molten gold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a benison, descending</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On the wings of closing day,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soothed and hushed my wild complaining—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Drove the evil sprite away—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Brought before me <i>my</i> possessions,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Richest in the long array,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wealth of home, where all my dear ones</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Make it bright with love, alway.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lightly drooped the shining fringes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of the evening’s twilight hour,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While the playful, roving zephyr</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gently kissed each folding flower;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Softly gliding into dreamland</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On the sunset’s gilded car,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soon for me, his golden splendor</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wrapped all objects, near and far.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In his grand effulgent shimmer</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Common things,” grew strangely bright;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And my home became a palace</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All resplendent in the light;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en the russet garb of labor,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If unstained by deed of shame,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There outshone imperial purple,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With its throne and titled name.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sweeter than the grand exotics,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Were my lillies, pure and white—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All was beauty—all about me</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whispered to me—“Life is bright,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And its sweetest flowers are blooming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the toil-worn paths of earth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And its purest gems will sparkle</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On the brow of honest worth.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Diamonds, oft, are but the tear-drops</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Avarice wrings from orphaned trust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And his gorgeous, gilded trappings</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Steal their hues from hearts he’s crushed.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">More I saw in raptured dreaming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seraphs holding crowns of gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beckoning up the shining pathway</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where the gates of Rest unfold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some whose wealth did bow them earthward</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sought for this to enter in,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Others, wearing robes of priesthood,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thought that these absolved from sin;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But no easier passed the portal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Those in purple, cowl, or gown;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He who bore life’s burden’s bravely,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Won the race and wore the crown.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then a touch of dimpled fingers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Woke my heart with mother-joy—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Golden head upon my bosom—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tired, sleepy, baby boy</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Poured a wealth of love and kisses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On the lips that had complained.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He (sweet angel!—God had sent him)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Quick the demon, Envy, chained.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Our_Own">Our Own.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-n.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Not all we name as friends, the soul receives as such,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor ever those whose lip-born love weaves smoothest claim;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Those only who, to ours, give genial spirit touch</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Can light that hidden shrine with friendship’s holy flame.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis by this sign the friends God made for us are known;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dear ones! We count their names as precious gems which lie</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Within the hearts most sacred place—its very own—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A circlet bright that’s bound by sympathy’s silken tie.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">There’s still another bond for which no word is found—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A gift of His, so high the minds extremest reach</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth fail to find it name, or ontologic bound,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ undefined—beyond the subtlest grasp of speech,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">This wondrous, unseen realm, to spirit sense, remains,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And o’er its lines the soul, to kindred soul, conveys</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Joy’s glad, exultant flash, or sorrow’s woeful pains,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Which, thro’ this gift divine, love’s tenderness allays.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis sweet in twilight’s hush, when noisy day has fled</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And evening’s azure glows with beauty’s single star—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When roses, gemmed with dew, their richest fragrance shed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To feel the silence thrill with signals from afar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Feel the thought-lines warmly pulsing with a message from <span class="smcap">our own</span>—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To know the call of dear ones, as we know the breath of flowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And catch love’s fond impulsion, thro’ this mystic Psychephone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Trembling on the stillness of the dreamy, evening hours.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ distance, o’er these subtile, sentient threads of mind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">We feel, by finest sense, our answering heart-beats throb</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till every fluttering, white-winged joy doth find</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Response, and every grief a sympathetic sob.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, blessed bond! It links us to the Life Divine!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ this our prayers may reach the holy Fount of Love—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The league of kinship which these spirit cords entwine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By fervent sway of soul, is felt in realms above.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Wounded_Faith">Wounded Faith.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Mine open enemy hath no power to wound—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His poison shafts fall hurtless to the ground;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He may wreak a treach’rous lynx-like deed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And yet will never cause my heart to bleed.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If he should glare on me in hottest hate,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With tiger fierceness, plan the direst fate,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With claws distended, lusting for the roon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’d smile and do him kindness over soon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, give a sure nepenthe for his wrath</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By silent, strewing favors in his path.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But when those to whom my heart is bound in trust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With aim concealed, make unexpected thrust,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When those I’d counted friends, as friends had served,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose joy and weal my strongest effort nerved—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If <span class="smcap">they</span> shall stab and gaze with hungry eyes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To catch my wince of pain, ’neath friendship’s guise,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, a wound is made, that all the quivering senses feel—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A wound, that only trusted friends could deal;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, saddest hurt of all, the heart will find,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The same stab struck its faith in human kind.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Destiny">“Destiny.”</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-s.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">She freighted a thistle-down once with a wish,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And gave to the breeze with her breath;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The Fates were to hold its invisible leash</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And, if to be granted ere death,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bring back, at her will, to her out-reaching hand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">This wealth-laden embassy sent.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Unheeding her will and its pleading command,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Up, up toward the zenith it went,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till will, it would seem, at the last had controlled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When, earthward it came, like a fairy rigged sail—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Came straight toward the hand that was eager to hold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The zephyr-tossed feather, whose course should unveil</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What Destiny held, in the Future concealed—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Life’s weightiest questions decide.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Almost within grasp and it wavered and reeled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then, mounting again the etherial tide,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It floated—was lost in the depths of the blue.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That thistle down, swayed by a pulse of the air,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had wrecked her heart’s hopes on the rocks of despair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As billows of ocean rich argosies strew.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now listless and faithless she sits on the shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where Time’s restless surge casts its wrack at her feet;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She sees not the sunshine—hears only the roar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of dark, sullen waves as they ceaselessly beat.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In Fate-ridden weakness she shrinks from all strife—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lets Destiny’s elves to her fancy repeat</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The early “decrees” that have shadowed her life—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No effort essays that might wreak a defeat—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Just waits for the stroke of pale Atropos’ knife.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A faith in the hidden controllings of <span class="smcap">Fate</span>,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enchains, with its might, even Reason and Will:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In wreakless inaction her devotees wait</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For the slow-turning grind of her mill—Let</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">circumstance bind them with torturing gyves,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Pass doors that would open to Industry’s keys</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And when, with his braided pangs, Poverty drives,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Receive all his lashings as “Fortune’s decrees.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en tho’ Opportunity’s latch-string is out,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They, shelterless, wait for events to compel,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And deem themselves goaded by Destiny’s knout</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While held in the toils of her mystical spell.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Credulity, Sloth and their following throngs</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forever are weaving entangling snares—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis not till a victim is bound with their thongs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To thwart his endeavor that Destiny dares.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bring <span class="smcap">Will</span> to the front—strike Destiny down,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And throttle the Fate that would hinder success—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">You’ll find that dame Fortune will put off her frown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And yield, for past sufferings, an ampleredress.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Unclaimed">Unclaimed.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-j.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Just beyond the reach of thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Just beyond the grasp of mind</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is a sense of Presence—fraught</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With blessing—felt, yet undefined.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">At times it seems a wondrous power—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A strength, awaiting <i>Faith’s</i> command—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For trusting soul, a proffered dower,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That’s held by Love’s omniscient hand.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is it the gift, reserved of God</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For those whom Faith brings nearest Him?—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The power that smote the rock?—the rod</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That rives the fountain’s brim,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That all His thirsty souls may drink?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“O, ye of little faith,” He cries—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So many faithless Peters sink,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>And the proffered power dies</i>.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Death">Death.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When thou, O Death, art come to be the old man’s guest</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who, bowed beneath the heavy weight of toil and years,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">So longeth for thy rest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or to the weary mother, looking through her tears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To the bright celestial shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Where her loved have gone before,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Then, truly, thou art blest.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">To them the ties that bound are broken, all,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And they will stretch glad hands of welcome unto thee</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Who comes to break their thrall—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To slip the leash of weary life and set them free;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">They, impatient, wait release</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To pass the golden gates of Peace</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And gladly list thy call.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But, in Love’s young home, where Life is one bright, pulsing sea</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of joy and hope, thy summons hath heart-breaking sound,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Like cruel Fate’s decree;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As tho’ alone, by stealth, she had thy gyves unbound,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">When thou hadst to this Eden crept</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And wrought, while guardian angels slept,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">What Envy’s dream might be.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We feel the surging depth of Sorrow’s stifled cry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet in thy presence, helpless, dumb with grief, we stand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And silent question—Why?—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Why budding life is frozen by thine icy hand,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Why yielded to thy devastating claim</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Are all the loveliest of earth,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">E’en God’s sweetest, dearest gift of birth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">A mother-love,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Which is for life’s most holy joys, the precious name.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">While cloud-depths veil in gloom the steely form of truth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The heart, athrob with grief, still questions why:—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Ah, why Love’s brightly burning flame</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Is ever smothered by thy breath,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its altar, dark and cold, whereon dead ashes lie;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Oh! why are love, and hope, and youth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">All left within thy grasp, O, Death?</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Night-Blooming_Cereus">Night-Blooming Cereus.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-b.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Birth of darkness! bloom of night!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bringing me such rare delight;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Floating charm, thy rich perfume</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Stirs the lagging, weary brain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hushes all the thoughts of gloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soothes or dulls the pangs of pain.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">This floral wonder, glistening white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Scorning Day’s broad, glaring light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the sacred stillness now</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beams in beauty on my sight,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As the star on evening’s brow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beams upon a moonless night.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like a rainbow on the skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Looked for, yet a glad surprise—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Like a meteor’s flash and gleam</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Crossing midnight’s sullen gloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Like the fairy forms of dream</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is this wondrous, starry bloom.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tell me lovely, mystic flower,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Why you gem this gruesome hour?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Were the jasper gates ajar?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Did the Night, from angel’s crown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Pluck for us its brightest star,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And cast the gleaming jewel down?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, thou, pearly, radiant flower!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Why give Night such wealth of dower?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Why with anthers, dipped in gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Round a carpel, rosy red,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wait in darkness to unfold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And thy queenly beauty spread?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now a sentient presence seeming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ah! it whispers, or I’m dreaming:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“An evangel I’m to thee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With this message from the Past;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">How e’er full life’s joys may be,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like my bloom they may not last.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Throngs are gone—the voices stilled</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That once these halls with gladness filled;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Here, with thee, I stand alone</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where, before Night’s ebon throne,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Silence holy, waits to bear</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From thy heart its inmost cry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wrought into such fervent prayer</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As doth bring God’s presence nigh.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="My_Muse">My Muse.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-s.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">She wanders on, at her sweet will,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ gloomy vales or paths of pleasure,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor asks the world if grave, or gay,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shall be her theme and measure.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">She scorns the stilty, stiff Rondeau</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That artizans must fashion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But loves the brooklets romping flow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And Nature’s gush of passion.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ common use has smoothly worn</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The Sonnet’s polished fetter,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She wonders how its chains are borne</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When freedom’s range is better.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The triolet she never tries—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She’d lose in such endeavor</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The glory of the sunset skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The music of the river.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">My muse is not a Hellenese</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With bright, Olympian halo,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But that strong, helpful one, that feels</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The heart-throbs of her fellow.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">She lifts me from the slough, Despond—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bids Nature hush my sighing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By crooning for me sweetest song,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While in her bosom lying.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The violets, the Spring first kissed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To us, are sweet as heather—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We climb the hills, thro’ shining mist,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In Autumn’s golden weather.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When, Lotus-drugged, Ambition sleeps,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She whispers—“Come up higher”—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ starry fields of azure deeps</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I’m led and feasted by her.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">She breaks the locks which golden keys</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Could only open to me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And kindly joins her gift, with Art’s,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s grandest views to show me.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">While those who sing for fame and crown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Must bide the Poet’s tether,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dear Muse and I will wander down</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ Freedom’s vale, together.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis sweet to us, the path we tread—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All Nature’s song is ours,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Her wildest scenes, the stars o’erhead</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And all her fragrant flowers.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="We_Never_Know">We Never Know.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Ah, me! we never know</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">What cold, wild winds may blow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Across the springtime’s balmy promise, sweet—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">By what untimely frost</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The fruit germs may be lost,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And rosy petals beaten down with sleet.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">The eyes that glow tonight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With childhood’s loving light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To-morrow may, with pallid lids be veiled—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The bounding pulse be stilled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Life’s crimson current chilled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And rich, red lips with Death’s cold kisses paled.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">We never know the fate</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">So near, until too late;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ oft the black-winged demon’s shadow falls</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">In heavy gloom upon the heart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">A thousand dreads upstart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet onward, all, until the shock appalls.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Warm love anticipates,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With open arms awaits,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Till hissing wires the stunning message brings.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Oh, God! the wild despair</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">That hushes e’en the voice of prayer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And makes the soul forget all offerings.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Such sudden, crushing grief!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Hope, rising, scouts belief,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But falls down, prone, before the sorrow-flashing wires.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Hear Sympathy’s whispered tone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Oh, ye, who sit alone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With but the light of memory’s altar fires.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_June_in_Childhood">A June in Childhood.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">I stood in the flush of an evening in June</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When leafage and blossom and fragrance triune,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Crown this, of the months, the most queenly and fair;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The clover and roses had poured on the air</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A nectar I drank with enjoyment rare;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Baptized in this flood of ecstatic delight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My child eyes were blessed with miraculous sight.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, gladly I’d yield up the wisdom of years,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If gazing out now, thro’ the mist of my tears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I could think as I tho’t in that beautiful dream,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That the gates were ajar, and the shimmer and gleam</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of golden-paved streets on that silvery stream,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“The River of Life”—shining thro’ in the west,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gave us a bright glimpse of the home of the blest.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I saw, as I gazed with my dream-lighted eyes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A broad, gilded stairway let down from the skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And angels came out with their robings of white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All ’broidered and shining with flosses of light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And bound on each brow with a coronet bright,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was a veil of soft gossamer, fold upon fold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With amethyst border, and flutings of gold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And spread on the sky, to my glorified view,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was a foam crested ocean, pavillioned with blue;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bright islands of azure thro’ cloud-rifts were seen,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then sunk, like Atlantis, in billowy sheen:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While ships, that I fancied from shores evergreen,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Afloat on its bosom, at anchor would ride,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or cut with their prows thro’ the rose-tinted tide.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some angels sailed far, where the cloud-waves grew dark,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In boats that were graceful as gondolier’s barque,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And those I tho’t sailing far over the seas</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To watch over missions and little Burmese;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then others swept down, where the glory-crowned trees</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hid them on the stairs, but I knew from that band</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some went to each household, all over the land,</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where children would whisper “I lay me to sleep,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Send angels dear Father, my spirit to keep</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ midnight and darkness, to guard me from harm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To give me sweet dreams, and to shield from alarm—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To watch me till morning dawns, rosy and warm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, dying before, let them bear me above</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the bosom of Jesus, on pinions of love.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">These memories float in on the fragrance to night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While sunset is veiling in glory the light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And seasons, repeating in cyclical rune,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bring forward in beauty, rose-garlanded June;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All earth seems an altar with flowers o’erstrewn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis Nature’s thank offering—my heart is in tune</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With her grand <i>De Profundis</i>, now rolling in praise;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Send angels, dear Father, a grown-up child prays,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And a rose-wreathed June for my sunset of days.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Goldenrod">Goldenrod.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, Goldenrod, bright goldenrod!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It fringes all the wayside hedges,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And makes the forest mantle rich</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With lovely tasseled edges.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It lights with sunshine of its own</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Each dark, neglected dingle,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And links itself with memories of</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The cheery, old-time ingle.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Despite the summer’s burning drought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It blooms profuse and bright as ever,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And where spring fountains rippled forth</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With laughter to the river,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It kisses now their parching lips</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To woo their music mellow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And wreaths our dying flowers with</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">An aureole of yellow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It gaily lifts its nodding plumes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Above decay’s inceptive traces,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And hides beneath its cloth-of-gold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The season’s fading graces.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bright goldenrod! ’tis autumn’s crown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And summer’s sunset glory—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each blooming-time is new with joy</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As Love’s old charming story.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="An_Evening_in_June">An Evening in June.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-g.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Glory won ’gainst beauty’s brush in painting sunset skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But paling now, upon the hills in rosy languor lies:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All breathing life, with her, seems panting for a cooling breeze,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For winds have stopped ’mid ocean isles, to toss the gleaming spray</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And spicy odors rich, along the golden path of day;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And motionless, awaiting Beauty’s Star, stand all the trees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While Erse, from her stores, besprinkles earth with gems,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From mantling robes of green, to flower-broidered hems.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But mortals, restless aye, will burden all life’s golden hours</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With low complainings, forgetting bounty’s blessing showers,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Impatient, beg the <i>one</i> withheld for other days and needs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor see the plan inwoven, that the world’s wide hunger feeds;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor ken the flashes on the sultry air, above the plain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are the wings of ripening angels, sweeping o’er the grain.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Yosemite">Yosemite.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">With humbled heart, subdued and awed I look on thee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thou time-defying granite pile; with senses rapt</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Behold thee, grand and world-renowned—<span class="smcap">Yosemite</span>—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Thy spray-enwreathing stream—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thy rock-walled vale and sunset clouds, all glory capped</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With evanescent gleam.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, gaze and wondering gaze, until the centuries swing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Their massive doors ajar, and glimpses give when Earth was young;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But farthest grasp of human thought but weakling reasons bring</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To solve thy problem vast;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In vain the Present asks the voiceless silences that hung</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Their mysteries o’er the Past—</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The far, dim Past, that wrapped our sphere in shoreless sea—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The mantling gloom, that swathed its infancy in mist,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While yet our central orb did wait Omnipotent decree</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To bless the world with Light—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ere Day’s first, smiling morn with rosy beams had kissed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Away the brooding night.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">What engine wrought in Nature’s great completing plan</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To ope for thee thy chasm’s broad, abysmal deeps?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was it the glacier’s ponderous plow, that smoothed for man</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The verdant, fertile plain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, rolling waters that thro’ circling eons, wore thy steeps</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With solemn, sad refrain?—</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or from Earth’s central fires, did fierce, volcanic throes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Expel, in molten mass, the elemental rock,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That o’er the wilds to mountain majesty arose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And while yet warm with throbbing strain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Did earthquake rend with pole-disturbing shock,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Thy mighty walls amain?</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, puny mind! be still and catch the chant sublime,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of Nature’s psalm, that here is poured in never ending praise;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Accept the truth that God, by His right hand, did raise</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">These templed rocks, to stand thro’ an eternity of time,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">An altar place of worship, where</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All nations come, and every heart an offering lays</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Of mingled praise and prayer.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Blight_or_Blessing">Blight, or Blessing.</h2>
+
+<div class="poetry-container smaller">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“But saddest is the tho’t of joys</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That never yet were tasted.”—John Hay.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">And yet the heart will never turn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ all its wealth beside were wasted—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twill never cease to plead and yearn</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For joys it covets, yet untasted:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And at its secret altar kneeling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whereon the life an offering lies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The soul will lift its one appealing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For joy that Wisdom still denies.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It watches for the longed-for beaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With hidden, cherished, fond delight,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As tho’ the hoping, wishing, dreaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Could make the shadowed pathway bright;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As tho’ from out some shining mist,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By radiant bow of promise kissed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That joy might come, to bless it yet</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And soothe the pain of long regret.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ at our feet fall blessing showers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All worthless in our grasp they seem,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">De-gloried, as are withered flowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If still denied the soul’s fond dream.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For lack of it—that single joy,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The life is robbed of sweet employ;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each cup seems blent with Upas drips,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each day seems gloomed with cold eclipse.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sweet sleep will sometimes give the boon,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Possession’s own supreme delight,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, sad that Day dissolves so soon</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The bright, warm vision—gift of Night!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Brief joy! The rapturous dream diffused,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Swims round the soul like golden mist,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And life a moment seems suffused</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With dawn’s own rose and amethyst.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And shall it be,—this sorest need—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To us, eternal, haunting loss?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or will this spirit-hunger lead</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Up, from this life-enduring cross,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With sentience large, evolved by this,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">(When change the mortal veil shall rift,)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To take our own supremest bliss</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From God’s infinitudes of gift?</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="O_For_a_Rainy_Day">O, For a Rainy Day.</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">By Request.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">These days are hot, and dry, and dreary;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The burning sun seems never weary</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The vine lies limp on the thirsty earth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The grass grows sere in the long, long dearth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The days are dusty, hot and dreary.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sky is cloudless, brassy, dreary,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The wind seems ever languid, weary</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">But hope still clings to the gifts of the Past—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">We trust that the rain will come at last</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the days be damp and cheery.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, clouds sweep o’er, veil the sun’s hot shining!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With copious rains, come, hush all repining,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Swell the shrunken grains of the sun-burnt lands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With new, green grass clothe the arid sands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Then the days will be bright and cheery.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">August, 1895.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Great_Poet">The Great Poet.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-u.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Upon Parnassian heights he walked and gazed below;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From wing of Jove’s high soaring bird he plucked his pen;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Attuned to poet soul, his lofty numbers flow—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">His stately verse ne’er stoops to common needs of men.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The earth-born, toiling throng, he saw, but from afar;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No interlinking brotherhood bound him to them;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For them no warmth his glory shed—a cold, bright star,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On which they gazed as on a costly, dazzling gem.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">To those who nearest reach his altitude of thought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">He bends himself to speak, but yet, with lofty mien;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of these, but few, familiar comradship, have sought;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They stand, his far, dim height and earth’s green vales, between,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To take his gift, which often falls like vivid lightning flashes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And crystalize, and link for comprehension’s reach—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They trace his subtle thread, entangled with the shining meshes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of universal lore, and weave in wefts of wondrous speech.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sometimes, it seems, an idea vast, his measure strains,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When he doth crush the whole, as quartz is crushed for gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And then, reject and cleanse, until there’s naught remains</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of quartz or dross. The massive idea we behold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Upon his page, aglow in shining, golden grains.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then alchemistic souls, in study’s crucial heat,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Must fuse and integrate—must clothe, and warm,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And breathe into it soul, when lo, with life replete,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The world will praise for breadth and depth, embracing form.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In this bright world of ours God placed some humble ones</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With loving hearts, o’erwelling with sweet tenderness;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They soothe the wounds of war, they cheer earth’s toiling sons</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And where grief broods these faithful ones are there to bless;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And e’en when fiends come forth with pestilential breath</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To pour their reeking poisons on the stagnant air,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forgetting self, they wrestle long with Death,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And, with devotion’s strength, the black-winged demon, dare.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ humble these, their elder Brother sits enthroned</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">At God’s right hand; His golden words, impressive, deep,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Still speak to us in sweet monition, gentle toned,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“<i>If ye love me feed my lambs,—aye feed my sheep</i>.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, many sheep have need of thee. Go feed them “In His Name,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or seek that shelterless, that lone one that has strayed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor deem thy labor lost because, unknown to fame,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For whoso lifts the cup, by which there’s <i>one</i> soul’s thirst allayed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The same shall eat of hidden manna. He is blest of God.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’, but faintly we can echo the loving Shepherd’s call,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We’ll find in Duty’s obscure ways, His sweetest blessings fall—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In these same, lowly paths, earth’s sainted ones have trod.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It may be grand to tread Olympian heights and breathe</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Ambrosial airs,—to win high praise ’mong those whose souls</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are lit with Heaven’s fire; but sweeter far to wreathe</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A simple worded song, whose swelling music rolls</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A tidal wave of feeling, thrilling into life</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A long chained serfdom. Greater mastery of the art</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is his, who lifts to light, from savagery and strife,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s darkened isles—whose pen can touch the world’s great heart</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With philanthropic fire,—whose verse has, throbbing thro’ the whole,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In sympathy with man, a loving, human soul.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Loves_Riches">Love’s Riches.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-r.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Rich blessings are scattered around us—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Why heedlessly trample them down</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And ask for the millionaire’s coffers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or sigh for a kingdom and crown?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We’ve ever the sunshine of loving,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Unmixed with the drosses of gold—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its pleasures are not in wealth’s giving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or e’en in its power to withhold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The jewels, whose splendors we covet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gain much of their sparkle and glow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the flutter and tumult of bosoms</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where heart-aches are throbbing below;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In palaces, often, is hidden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A skeleton presence of dread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That quenches the flame on Love’s altar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While hope in the darkness lies dead.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A queen may be rich in dominions,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Have crown and a scepter and throne,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet all of the riches of loving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To her be forever unknown;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Far greater the kingdom for woman</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where love is the power—her throne</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In a heart of unswerving devotion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Its measureless realms her own.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ the tapestried halls of the mansion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The ghost of dead honor may glide—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A sense of life’s holiest joys departed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the lordliest castle abide.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ the chalice wealth drains should be golden,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No sweeter to him is the draught</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Than the cup with the sparkle of water,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That humble contentment has quaffed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Earth’s mines, and her jewel-strewn caverns,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the station that title confers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All poured at her feet, would not purchase</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The treasure a mother counts hers.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, hid in your home you will find them—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Love’s riches—vast treasures untold;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">More precious than worldly possessions,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Though counted, by millions, in gold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then let not the demon of envy</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">E’er enter the soul to enthrall;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The Father is tenderly watching—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is keeping a record of all.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rewards we have missed in our earth-life</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">We’ll find in that mansion above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All decked with the beauties of Heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And lighted with Infinite Love.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Complainings">Complainings.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-n.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Never a dove came to nestle by me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But green-eyed Envy was there to see—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soiling its plumage of spotless white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Making it vile as a raven of night.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Never a rose in my garden was born,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But was surrounded by many a thorn.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Never a sweet but was mingled with gall—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And freedom, forever, is shadowed by thrall;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fruit, that looked luscious while hanging in view,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is blighted ere ripe, by a blistering dew;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gold, that we gather and count as a joy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has little of pleasure and much of alloy;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Jealously burns, in her caustical fire,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My tenderest hope, with malevolent ire—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ashes, of all, she has strewn in my path,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And mocks at my pain with demoniac laugh.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But hush thy complaining, my heart, and be still—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If Heaven, our measure, with blessings should fill,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How soon would the soul with satiety cloy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And life would be robbed of delightsome employ,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Incentive would sleep, and all motive would die,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If needs of our nature should utter no cry;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But lacking the goal our ambition would gain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Arouses our powers—gives strength to attain.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Our grandest achievements have birth in the throes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of Penury’s labor; and multiplied woes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But nerve us to action—resist and endure,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And highest endeavor gives aid to secure</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Success to the valiant in the struggle for right—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though failure may sometimes descend like a blight—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oft failure is blessing, that’s sent in disguise</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To turn us from groveling to gaze on the skies.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then learn through each trial, my soul, to rejoice,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And e’en from the cloud will Compassion’s own voice</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be heard thro’ the gloom, in response to your cry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Fear not the tempest, my child, it is I.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Questionings">Questionings.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When the pallid lids have fallen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O’er the eyes in dreamless sleep—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Eyes that wake no more with watching</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor in loneliness will weep,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will a touch of pity soften—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Warm that unimpassioned gaze?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For a moment will affection</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hallow all their clouded days?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the heart, no longer beating,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All its painful throbbings o’er—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When it stirs life’s crimson current</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With its hopes and fears no more,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will another heart feel sorrow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For the stillness resting there?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will it for a whole tomorrow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wear a saddened shade of care?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the weary hands are folded</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For that long unbroken rest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the spirit wings in freedom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To its home among the blest,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will one tender feeling waken</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In that heart a fond regret,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That will last thro’ summer’s blooming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That will never quite forget?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the lips are cold and silent—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hushed for aye their gentle speech,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With love’s whispers dying on them,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will their mute appealing reach</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the rock-girt fount of feeling?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will Remorse with stinging rod,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Smite and bring the welling tear-drops</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To bedew the new-laid sod?</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Persecuted">Persecuted.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Alone, alone I tread the shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where surges beat forevermore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With deaf’ning, hollow wail;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sky, o’ercast with angry frown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth drop the loaded clouds, low down,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To beat me with their hail.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, helpless here upon the strand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With no out-reaching friendly hand,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">I face the roaring sea.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With reverent love my soul is stirred,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And seeking <span class="smcap">truth</span> within Thy word</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">I come, dear Lord, to Thee.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, take my hand in thine Oh, God!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And lead me, where Thine own have trod,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">By waters, pure and sweet.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, send thy Comforter to calm</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The aching heart with holy balm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And keep me at thy feet!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nature’s gift had been more kind</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If a pulpy, plastic mind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">To fit, with ease, their mold;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then self-assumed, “straight orthodox”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had gathered me, with petted flocks,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Within the church’s fold.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, loving Christ! Am I not thine?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And Thy disciples, truly mine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Each my sister or my brother,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By the heritage of heaven—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By the new commandment given,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">That we all love one another?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, help me Lord with thee to pray!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Forgive them Father,” Thou didst say,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“They know not what they do.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">May sheltering love, dear Lord, be mine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, keep my life thine, only thine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">My soul to conscience true!</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="O_Kindly_Speak">O, Kindly Speak.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The chiding word that chills the flow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of warm child-feeling, ere it gush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In sparkling jets, to catch the glow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And tinge of Life’s bright morning flush,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is the human thunder-bolt—its path</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is marked by dwarfed and shrunken minds,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Souls scarred, as trees by lightning scath,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Which show, like them, the spoiler’s lines.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="He_Is_Risen">He Is Risen.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-c.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Crown of all our joys supernal</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is the hope of life eternal;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Burst in bloom ye lillies white!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wreathe the altar and the cross,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dawn is born of brooding night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s joy of earthly loss,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent24">He is Risen!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the starry fields of Heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mansions bright, to us, are given:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Triumph o’er the grave He won</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the resurrection morn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Life eternal is begun,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hope to all the world is born,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent24">He is Risen!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">He hath passed thro’ Heaven’s portal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We, thro’ Him have life immortal—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Death is met with faith and trust—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The tomb is lighted by His love;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth may claim the crumbling dust—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Souls will dwell with Christ above.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent24">He is Risen!</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Think not thou art left forsaken</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ by sorrow’s tempest shaken;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From His son, God veiled his face—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s light was e’en withdrawn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">But the cruel cross made place</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the glorious Easter dawn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent24">He is Risen!</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Christ">The Christ.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">In olive-crowned Gethsemane,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Alone the Savior sought the power</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That wrought through him at Galilee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To stay the tide of that dark hour.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With grief bowed soul he prayed, but grace</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Was His, to say: “Thy will be done.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From Christ the Father veiled his face</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And gave the world His only Son.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ His displeasure hid the day,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Spread brooding terror o’er the land,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ yielding hate its earth-born sway,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O’er-ruling Love in wisdom planned;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While human might did glut its greed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With nod of law to sanction crime,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A good, by higher law decreed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Went forth, encircling earth and time.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Far-reaching, ’twas to win the world—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Their cruel deeds of blinded rage—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Their mocking taunts like hell-brands hurled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Still echo from the sacred page;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That bitter cup—the crown of thorn</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Upon His suffering, sinless brow—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That wail, adown the ages borne—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Are loving worship winning now.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O! blot the hard, blasphemous creed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“A sacrifice for wrath of God;”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And teach the world ’twas human deed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That stained with blood Golgotha’s sod.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The reeling earth and darkened sun</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Proclaimed aloud Jehovah’s frown;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet taught us that His holy one</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Had by life’s cross won Heaven’s crown.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">That tho’ he passed thro’ death—the tomb</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To calm a world in maddened strife,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From out its broken bars of gloom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A joy would beam to beacon life,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And bless for us that morning light</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That points the glory path he trod</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From persecution, death and night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Through Resurrection, up to God.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis through His bearing mortal woes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">We feel the throb of Love Divine!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though wrung with agonizing throes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">His words with God-like mercy shine;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They wake the world to faith and hope—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">E’en from old Memnon’s music trill,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They turn the dusky Ethiope</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To catch their soul-impassioned thrill.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Forgive—they know not what they do!”—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O, holy prayer! In every tongue</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its tender pleading pulses thro’,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As when from Calvary’s cross it rung!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, arms of Love’s infinitude!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They still reach down to earth from Heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To bind in one great brotherhood,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Through Him, the rescued world—forgiven.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Feed_My_Lambs">Feed My Lambs.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-j.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Jesus said, with tender pleading,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“If ye love me, feed my lambs”;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ His word He’s interceding—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Feed my lambs, my precious lambs;</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">(Chorus)—If ye love me, feed my lambs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">Feed my lambs, my precious lambs—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">If ye love me feed my lambs.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the hedges and the highways,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bring the lambs all safely in;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Seek the wanderers in the byways,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Save them from the blight of sin.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent18">If ye love me, etc.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Find each little son and daughter,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bring them in with tender care;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lead them to the crystal water,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the pastures green and fair:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent18">If ye love me, etc.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Kingdom_of_Heaven">The Kingdom of Heaven.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in earth
+as in Heaven.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, the kingdom of Heaven will come!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">When His will shall be done</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">Upon earth, as above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">And victory won</div>
+    <div class="verse indent10">Through a union of love,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, the kingdom of Heaven will come.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">Our Christian Endeavor</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Has linked, and forever,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">The lands of all climes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Where the Savior is known.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">O, bright is the morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">That brings us the dawning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Of the day that’s to band,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">In one army, <span class="smcap">His own</span>!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, the kingdom of heaven will come!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">When Christians, uniting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The common foe fighting</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Forget every difference</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Of doctrine and creed,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And, hushing their pleading</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">For selfish succeeding,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Beg Heaven’s best gift</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">For humanity’s need,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the kingdom of Heaven will come.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">When fervent in action</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">They trample on faction,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Intolerance, arrogance,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Tread them all down,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">And put forth endeavor,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Through loving work ever,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">For the saving of souls</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">With no thought of the crown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, the kingdom of Heaven will come.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">When earnest endeavor—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Most powerful lever—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Is thrust under sin</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">By all Christendom’s might,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Its walls will soon crumble—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">The structure must tumble</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">When hotly assailed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">By the legions of Right,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, the kingdom of heaven will come.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">When Christians are one,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Like the Father and Son,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent6">And sects of all names</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">At one altar can kneel,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">In God’s love believing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">For heaven achieving,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">This creed and this purpose</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Inspiring their zeal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the kingdom of heaven will come.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Supplication">Supplication.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, thou Savior, Brother, mine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">God’s own love and tenderness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sent of Him with power divine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sent to soothe, sustain and bless:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Light of Life! Oh blessed Word,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Be my help! Dear Savior come!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hear my spirit’s pleading, Lord—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Pleading tho’ my lips are dumb.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Groping now in sorrow’s night</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Guide, oh, guide me, Lord, I pray,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Quicken Thou my spirit’s sight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That I walk in wisdom’s way—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be Thou, Lord, a presence nigh—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thou canst still the angry sea,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thou hast known Gethsemane—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, Compassion, hear my cry!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Deep in agony of soul</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Mother-love cries up to Thee—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fiends have bound him to the bowl—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, break his chains and set him free!</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Portrait">The Portrait.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, arms of protection, now folded so still!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Alone in the world, so wide and so chill!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, eyes that would glow in a worshipful gaze!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They’ll bless me no more with their love-beaming rays!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, heart of devotion! thy warm throbbings o’er</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can give me asylum from sorrow no more.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, veil it!—this lifeless creation of art—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The perfect is sacredly shrined in my heart!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Not silent, compassionless, framed in with gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor mantled with shadows of coffin and mould,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But youthful and strong and warm with the fire</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That glows in a soul lit with noble desire.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, thought gropeth not thro’ the darkness and gloom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the mortal is held in the bonds of the tomb.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Progression</span> is stamped by the hand of God’s love;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The life coming after to this is <i>above</i>!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Our faith reaches up to the realms of bliss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sphere He has fashioned—the Home beyond this.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The deeds that gave blessing in the pathways of earth</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Give impress and form to the Heavenly birth.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That face, beaming ever with the glorified light</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Won here, in defending convictions of Right,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My soul, in its holy of holies, where free</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From earth’s thronging distractions in spirit I see.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">This portrait I gaze on—the glorified one—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And that is, to this, as a star, to the sun.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Out_in_the_Woods">Out in the Woods.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-g.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Glad haunts of the summer!—the dim forest aisles,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where Sylva receives us with welcoming smiles—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gives couch of soft mosses, embowered with vines,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And smoothes from the forehead, care’s deep written lines.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Refreshing, she brings, for the world-weary brain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And soothes, with her silence, its fever and pain!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bids Somnus pour sweets from which restfulness flows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, hushing her realm into holiest calm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She lulls the sick soul into gentle repose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While winds, with the leafage, are chanting a psalm</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That charms with its rythm. Rev’ry’s doorways unclose—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We slip to forgetfulness—sleep that is balm.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The musical tinkle of the murmuring stream</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gave warp, for the web, of a beautiful dream,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And woof for the weaving, the slumber-god chose</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From fragrance of violets, and queenly wild-rose.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sunshine that sifted thro’ the crowns of the trees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Made threadings of gold with the shadows of these!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The breeze, touching lightly, with cool finger tips</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was the kiss of an angel on the tired spirit’s lips.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, the eider-down couches of slumberous ease,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the tapestried halls that the millionaires please,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can never, such rest, on the weary bestow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As we find in this palace, where the luxuries grow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Majestical forest!—Asylum of <span class="smcap">Rest</span>,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the crowd-jostled soul is ineffably blest—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where primeval old trees, in their grandeur and might,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Guard Solitude’s shrine, from the vandal-world’s sight;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where spice-bearing shrubs, and the sweet-scented ferns</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Float odors as rich as when frankincense burns,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the praise-breathing song of the thrush, from the boughs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wakes worship unknown thro’ the low-muttered vows.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“First temples of God!”—and still nearest His throne,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the spirit may drink, at the fountain, alone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Receiving His blessing through the still, small voice,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While Nature’s true Acolytes whisper—rejoice.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Unforgiven">Unforgiven.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Ah! that “Past”—that bitter parting,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Long ago, yet vivid seems—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oft in midnight’s black arms folded</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I have lived it o’er in dreams;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As a presence it has shadowed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Every path of life I’ve tried—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If I joined the festive circle</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It was stalking by my side.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">If I sat at hush of even</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a sense of love and trust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It would come and stand before me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hissing out the word—unjust;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It has stretched its ghostly fingers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For all blessings to destroy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And has poured its gall and wormwood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In each lifted cup of joy.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had you winged a sweet forgiveness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sent it o’er the “silent line,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It had proved a benediction</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Falling on your life and mine.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Through the years that phantom presence,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Like a black bird o’er my door,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Seemed to say, by silent glowering,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“I will leave thee nevermore.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>You</i> can drive this haunting demon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Send in place a snowy dove—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Only breathe the longed for blessing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Not youth’s fervent tale of love,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And on friendship’s sacred altar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Light a pure and holy flame,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That may burn before the angels</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Without blanch or blush of shame.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Evening_and_the_Morning">The Evening and the Morning.</h2>
+
+<p class="center smaller">“At Evening time it shall be light.”—Bible.</p>
+
+<p class="center smaller">“The evening twilight of this life meets the morning
+twilight of the next and they kiss each other.”—L. H. F.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When Life’s evening twilight gathers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Darkling shadows from the tomb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then a bright celestial morning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Kisses back the gathering gloom;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Robed in beauty’s bright adorning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">This aurora—dawning glory,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Kisses back the gathering gloom.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the crimson tide is throbbing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the hopes that wildly mount,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the sensuous soul is drinking</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From enjoyment’s sparkling fount,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the thoughts will turn with shrinking</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the coming of life’s gloaming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Death seems then a Stygian fount.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But when life’s weary day is closing—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When the lengthening shadows fall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sweetly singing angel voices</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Come with blessing in their call!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The departing soul rejoices</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With prevision, of Elysian,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gladly welcoming the call.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">As the spirit fetters loosen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the soul gains greater height,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It will see the evening shadows</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Meet and kiss the dawning light;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, dispelling all the shadows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">This supernal life eternal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Opens into morning light.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, the golden gates swing open!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To reveal the splendors bright;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From His throne the glory streaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Haloes Death with holy light;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Angels voicing their rejoicing—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heaven’s mansions brightly gleaming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Flood Life’s evening time with light.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Unseen">The Unseen.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-d.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Do you feel my spirit with you—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Feel my kiss upon your lips?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth your heart throb with the message</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That the messenger outstrips?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, I know your thought, responding,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Know this soul-touch is of thine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That you send me tender soothing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O’er love’s subtile, unseen line.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soul to soul can tell its sorrow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sympathy response impart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Joy can flash o’er lines of distance,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Touch and thrill a kindred heart.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Loneliness! I scarcely know it;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Loved ones in my spirit’s reach</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Know my call and give me answer—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Silence pulses with their speech.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We have glimpse of joys, thro’ this one,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That await the soul above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where unbroken, sweet communion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Flows thro’ sympathy and love.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Painting">Painting.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, beauteous Art! with heart o’erfilled with joy I stand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And offer up to God its silent, grateful praise</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That He, in blessing, hath endowed a human hand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With gifts so near divine;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ these creations, warmed to life in Genius’ blaze,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Doth inspiration shine.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Here, oriental scenes are brought within my reach;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The beauty of the castled Rhine, in softened hues,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With fine, bewitching charm o’er-mastering speech,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">My raptured gaze enchains;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I roam in dream the land whose purple vintage strews</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With wealth its hills and plains.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And thus I dream and drink the blest enchantment in,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That flows from art, with full, ineffable delight;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forgetting earth is cursed with sorrow, death and sin,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I taste supernal bliss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, in this ecstacy of joy, a world of light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It seems, hath dropped to this.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet not with those I’d join who throng Art’s crowded hall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose motive is to prove themselves profound in art</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By use of bulky words, but which, in strident fall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Each hearer doth impress</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With lack of gift to grasp what colors may impart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or canvass may express.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nor go with her whose hand, with long and tedious drill</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has learned to daub with paint—whose tongue, with flippant ease,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can toss artistic nomenclature round at will,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet nothing knows of art—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of art’s true self, whose secret power to hold and please</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is soul, in every part.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’d put the shoes from off my feet, and then, alone</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Before the work, would feel I stood on holy ground—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That there a spirit with its God had talked, and by His own</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Had been informed, inspired—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, minds should be, before they range this sacred bound,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In thoughtfullness attired.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And thus prepared, Perception’s polished plates receive</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The artist’s dream, that seems with pulsing life aglow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And o’er it Fancy’s magic fingers silent weave</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Her draperies so real—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We seethe dimpling lake—we hear the streamlets liquid flow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And shadowed coolness feel.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Christians_Armor">The Christian’s Armor.</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>For the Band of Hope.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-f.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Firmly stand, unyielding wrestle,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All ye noble, earnest, youth,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">You are soldiers—God is calling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gird yourselves about with truth.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wear the helmet of Salvation—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Let your feet with peace be shod,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Turn the fiery darts of evil</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the shield of “Faith in God.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Arm you with the Spirit’s weapon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis God’s blessed, holy word,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With the breast-plate of the righteous</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">You shall conquer Satan’s horde.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then with earnest supplication</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hold the way to Heaven’s throne;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By the spirit’s true devotion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">God will know and bless his own.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="To_My_Friend">To My Friend,</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Anna Prichard</span>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">And is time old? How swift he runs!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">His months like birds of passage fly.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How slow he rolled a year of suns</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When we were children, you and I,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How far away the spring time seemed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When winter wore his angry frown—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">An age, when apple blossoms gleamed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Ere they would drop their fruitage down.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then childhood’s eager heart was waiting</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For expectations to unfold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And churlish time seemed years belating</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The wished-for blessings to withhold;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Fancy’s fingers held the brush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And painted all the future bright;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its clouds but showed the rosy flush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Each dawn had woven with its light.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Impatient then, our youthful feet</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To climb the distant sun clad hills</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where Pleasure, from her vintage sweet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For each, a golden chalice fills—To</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">stand beneath the shining arch,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By rainbow-tinted promise spanned:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What fine advance, in Life’s grand march,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Our strong, young courage planned.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But ah! in life’s late afternoon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No worldly wealth, no laurels won—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I grieve that time has fled so soon</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With so much planned, left all undone;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The barren years, like surf-worn sand,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With glints of sun and shadow flecked,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are strewn with fragments as the strand</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And show where Hope’s rich cargoes wrecked.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">No mould of sloth lies o’er the years—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No waste of dissipation’s fire</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is smoldering in regrets and tears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet youth’s fond dream—intense desire</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A cruel fate has still denied;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or, was it Heaven’s kind decree</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That set that cherished wish aside</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To bring a richer gift to me?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">There’s naught in God’s infinitude</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of gifts for us, like home and wife,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And happy, blessed motherhood,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The crowning gift of woman’s life.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">These gifts transmute to dear delight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Each humble task, all toil and care,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And keep home’s sacred altar bright</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With love’s sweet offerings there.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All these, and one more gift is mine</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That stirs with joy my brooding thought—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A friendship rare and true as thine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A chain—all precious links—inwrought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With sacred trust. Oh hush, my heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No more in bitterness complain:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thou wouldst not with thy treasures part</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Youth’s wildest dream of power to gain.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hill-Crest_Home">Hill-Crest Home.</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="smcap">To Mrs. A. Foskett Potter.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The picture, you rave over there on the wall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is weak by the one hung in memory’s hall.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While that one is held by the fetters of art</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To rules of perspective—can only give part,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The other has range over hill-top and dell,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the vaulted blue sky to the depths of the well—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can even give sense of refreshing from this—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Show stars gleaming thro’ from its seeming abyss.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It has other delights, never reached with a brush,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The ravishment held in the notes of a thrush</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(The sweetest voiced bird of the singing-bird throng)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Reverberant groves all a-thrill with its song.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the river, that knit a bright edge on the farm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Enmantled with vapor—etherial charm!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As if dawn and the dew, meeting, playfully kissed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the sun peeping over dissolved them in mist;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like a gauzy, white chrisom cloth lightly it lies</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O’er the rosy-faced morning, new-born of the skies.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now, mellow and sweet as the music of dream,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or a softly touched lute, comes the song of the stream;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Enchanted I listen, ay, listen and gaze</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till sound seems enwreathed with this luminous haze</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That’s woven for nymphs, of the sunshine and spray;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And veiled in these light robes they mingle in play</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till on bloom scented breezes they’re floated away.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I promised to tell of my humble old home,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But my pen wanders off where my feet used to roam,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So the home of my childhood I picture for you</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Must cover the rambles “my infancy knew.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Come, stand ’neath that maple with me, if you will:</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The manse, looking south from the brow of the hill,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has the River, the valley, “The Island” in view—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(O! if mem’ry’s bright search-light could give it to you,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And you, with my childhood’s own vision, could see</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The love-lighted beauty, that glowed there for me!)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While eastward the valley-farms glint thro’ the trees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose grandeur had saved them to the thither-most shore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And hills, as a back ground of beauty for these,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A richly-robed forest in stateliness bore;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And this, to my child fancy, held up the skies</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the dawn, stealing in thro’ their bright rosy dyes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Peeped in at my window to waken me when</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sun-gleams, aflash in the dew-spangled glen,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Out rivaled Golconda in jewels and gold—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When lambkins went frolicking down from the fold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To nip the soft grass or to drink from the brook—Ah,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">there was a spot, just beyond where they drank,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the brook cut the hill for its opposite bank,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And nestled above was a shadowy nook</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With a rustic root-bench which a wind-warring tree</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had thrown out to anchor its hold on the hill:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">There, glad as the laughter of innocent glee,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Came the musical tinkle and play of the rill,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A melody sweet, to that ærie of mine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where, safe from intrusion as cliff dweller, I</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heard, fresh from her lips, Nature’s message divine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Told sweetly, thro’ beauties, of earth and the sky.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">An old fallen tree made a foot-bridge across</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That led to this hiding—this sanctum of mine.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bright fern fringes bordered its soft rug of moss—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A wild grape had thatched with a clambering vine</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That hid for my coming bright sparkles of dew.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, bower of beauty, so temptingly cool!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twas the home of the fairies and they only knew</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The hours spent there that were stolen from school.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The brook-bordered fields of that moderate farm</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had each, for my heart, individual charm.—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The skies that bent over had glories unknown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To all other lands, even Italy’s own.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">More golden its sunsets than any since seen:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its shadowy woodland, so rich in its green,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had springs purling down in a dusky ravine:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There oft at the fount, where the waters distilled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">My leaf-fashioned cup I have held to be filled.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O, nectar twould be if again I could drink</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of the sparkles that fell there like pearls from its brink,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As it tinkled down sweetly from its rock-basined source</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To join with its peers in their river-ward course.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In those shadowy depths, hid away from the world,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Most delicate forms of the fronds were uncurled:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Spring-beauties, anemonies, clematis white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With violets, bluebells and maiden-hair fern,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There were some of them ever to keep the spot bright,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To waft me good-bye and to greet my return.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the hillside, our play-ground—I never can tell</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its riches of beauty in bower and dell.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sunrise would kiss with its first ruddy glow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then slip to the river that murmured below</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And lighting its ripples with flashes of gold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It made all the valley a joy to behold.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That River! It ever kept time with my heart,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Grew into my soul, of my life was a part.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It echoed my laughter, was sad when I wept—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When drowsy it lulled me with song till I slept.—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twas playmate and teacher, companion and friend,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the “deep-hole” that mirrored the trees at “the bend”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To that spot of enchantment, where the willows bent low</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To whisper their love. There the river went slow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As if hushing its wonted, wild, rollicking flow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To linger and listen—the story, so sweet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Twould have all the zephyr-swayed branches repeat.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But the loveliest view from the home on the hill—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The one that could ever enrapture and thrill,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was a calm summer eve with the stars beaming thro’</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the unclouded depths of the fathomless blue,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“The city of God” filling vastness above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Each mansion aglow with the light of His love.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enhancing the beauty a broad, rising moon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That followed a day with a languorous noon—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A day that in going left the sun-door ajar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When a breeze, that was born of a rain-cloud afar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had stolen thro, softly, with the great evening star,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And whispered a vow to the languishing flowers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To bring them, ere morning, refreshing in showers.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the murmur of waters—the ripple in view,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The robings of Nature, aglitter with dew,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sway of the trees, and the rose-petals strewn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The kiss of the breeze, that has breath of the June.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Just sit in our group on the balcony there</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And dream of this scene, inexpressibly fair</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(Remember this gable looks square at the noon):</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How the gateways of glory thrown wide by the moon</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Could pour their white floods on the beautiful scene—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What charm in the mingling of shadow and sheen!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The river went north in its tortuous trend</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And wound thro’ the valley with many a bend.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">This lake-like expanse, deep and smoothe, as you see,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lying right in the pathway, ’tween Luna and me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On an evening like this seemed a great burnished glass.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The Island shore here, had a margin of grass—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The round little cove cutting into its edge</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Grew ferns on its banks and was dotted with sedge.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the far-reaching shadows of lofty old trees</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">This part of the Island was hid from the noon;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its quiet invited to slumberous ease;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Here the River flowed gently as Afton or Doon.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Kind Nature had woven a pleachy thick screen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of forest and vines that were standing between,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And made this remote from the town and its mills.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The zephyr-stirred leaves with their mystical chant—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That soft, lulling murmur, that muffles and stills—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hushed the tumult and jar of the noisy “old plant”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And made this a spot ever calm and serene,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fit temple for worship, embosomed in green.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Here, the river seemed charmed by some mythical lore—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It loitered along, seemed reluctant to pass,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While eddying wavelets crept up on the shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And kissed, with their cool lips, the velvety grass.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">On, slowly it flows until reaching a place</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where a glimpse may be caught of the swift running “Race;”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There it breaks into foam with a current so wild—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They rush to the meeting like mother and child.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With a plaint in its story that the mother-stream thrills,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Race babbles and tells how it toiled at the mills—Was</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">prisonned and held, by the strength of the flume—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was power that wrought on the spindle and loom.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Received in her bosom with loving embrace</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They mingle their songs, then, the River and Race,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Delighting us all with their musical tones,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While silver-capped ripples go dancing o’er stones.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, “Hill-crest” had beauty beyond all compare,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But words can ne’er picture how wondrously fair</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For one whose misfortune ’tis not to have seen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That river—that hillside—the trees in their green—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heard the music of waters, o’er pebbles at play,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, lapping ’mong rocks and then swirling away—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The brook leaping down to be lost in the stream</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As womanhood merges our girl-hood’s young dream—If</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">her childhood’s bare feet have ne’er pressed that cool sod</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where first I loved Nature, thro’ Nature her God.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="illus2" style="max-width: 43.75em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/illus2.jpg" alt="">
+  <figcaption>HILL-CREST HOME.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Lillies_of_the_Valley">Lillies of the Valley.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, pearly, waxen, lilly bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Glad the tale your coming tells—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Blithest time, of all the year,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Happy, blooming spring is here</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With lillies-of-the-valley.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shining like the precious gem,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Divers bring from ocean’s floor;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God in blessing scattered them</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Blooming by the humblest door;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Springing in some sheltered nook,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Peeping by a mouldering wall,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nodding by a babbling brook,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Purest, sweetest flowers of all,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Are lillies-of-the-valley.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hidden from life’s cares and frets</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is the loved embowered spot</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sacred to our floral pets—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lillies and forget-me-not;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ the poet’s fondest dream</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wreaths about the violet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With the morning’s dew agleam,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lovlier and sweeter yet</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Are lillies-of-the-valley.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Roses fade and fall apart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lose their beauty with their bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the lillies perfect heart</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lingers long its sweet perfume;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mem’ries dear we’ll ne’er forget,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With their tender thrills of bliss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hover round the mignonette,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet, a charm supreme to this,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Have lillies-of-the-valley.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Queens of color, tall and proud</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bloom among the asphodels,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But of all that lauded crowd</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">None so loved as lilly bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pansy bright with dreamy eyes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seems acquaint with mystic lore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whispers “hope” when sorrow sighs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet, we love the lillies more,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Sweet lillies-of-the-valley.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">They will breathe the tender thought</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sympathy would fain reveal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But, with love’s fond message fraught,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Half their charm is to conceal.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Lillies of the Valley.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rosebud boldly tells the tale</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Cupid sent it to confess—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With the fragrance they exhale</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lillies whisper,—“You may guess.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Pearly_Shells">Pearly Shells.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">All the rainbow hues are hiding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the pearly shells of white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But their beauties are depending</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On the mystic powers of light;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Going, coming, like the blushes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On a modest maiden’s cheek,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As her heart-throb quick confesses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">What her lips would never speak.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Husband, there’s a heart that’s loving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With devotion pure and deep;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">If you’d know its fullest blessing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If the treasure you would keep,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">You must flash the light upon it,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Beaming out from loving eyes;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, as shell, reflecting sunlight,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It will glow with lovely dyes.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All within and all about it</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Soon will catch the won’drous charm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By reflection and absorption</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Home will aye be bright and warm;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But if left alone in darkness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Through a life of gloom and night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Like the sea-shell, pure and pearly,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It will be but cold and white.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Courage">Courage.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-n.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Now with zeal that will not falter</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Rally once again for Right,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Trusting ever and believing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">God is all supreme in might.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Let us work—give earnest effort,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Ere the day in darkness set,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Work with faith and love untiring—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">He will crown our labors yet.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though allies of rum are legion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Fear no evil may betray,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For He’s given angels o’er us</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Charge to keep us in the way.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We shall “tread upon the adder,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If our faith be strong in God;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, “the dragon we shall trample”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If with “Gospel Peace” we’re shod.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Trailing_Arbutus">Trailing Arbutus.</h2>
+
+<p class="center"><i>Emblematic Flower of Michigan W. C. T. U.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">In Flora’s dominion no flower’s so fitting</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To symbol our union of labor and love;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Not tender and petted, a hot-house exotic,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It lives when the tempest is raging above.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sweet forest-born flower! ’Twas Michigan’s dower</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When Nature apportioned her gifts that are rare—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So lovely, yet lowly! Affection, that’s holy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seems blent with its fragrance and breathing a prayer</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That the loved may be borne in the arms of His care.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its coming we hail as a promise of blessing—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That chains shall be riven, a glory be born;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Its delicate hue is a hint of our mission—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The soft, rosy blush that first tinges the morn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When hope is awakening and gloom is receding—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A pressage of light that shall gladden the world,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When darkness has fled and the cloud-rack is lifted</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And day’s golden banners on the hills are unfurled.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It needs not the florist, with art and punctilio</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor asks for the smiles of the sun-lighted skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But richest and brightest, ’tis found in seclusion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In depths of the woodland where dark shadow lies;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Far up on the highlands, or creeping on lowlands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Mong towering oaks or ’neath whispering pines,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The shell-tinted bloom of our sweet, trailing laurel</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The lowliest objects with beauty entwines.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis Purity’s emblem—Priscilla’s loved flower!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Oft springing in fenlands where dark, sodden mould</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Grows vile-odored herbage, e’en poison-fed night-shade,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet, pure there, its waxen, sweet blossoms unfold.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus white-ribbon bands, thro’ the moral morasses,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ threading the paths which the vilest are in,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With purity throned in the soul of all action,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">May labor ’mid evils, unsullied by sin.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ah! truly, no flower in Flora’s dominion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Can symbol the virtues and graces like this—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis faith and endurance in winter’s wild tempest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While gentleness tenderly speaks in the kiss</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That comes in its fragrance, on fairy winged zephyr</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And hope, in the buds swelling under the snow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is whispering of joys when the full opened blossoms</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shall herald the summer, with roseate glow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">We’ll gather it in, from our own native woodlands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And wreathe, with its beauty, our altar of prayer;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The holiest thought, with its ambient odor,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is stirred, as with incense, afloat on the air.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We love it!—we love it! our sweet trailing laurel,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And make it our emblem in labor for God—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For home, with its blessings and love-lighted altar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And land of our birth, with its trial-tracked sod.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Encouragement">Encouragement.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">What wealth of enjoyment a sentence may hold</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That flows in a rill of encouraging words!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The heart’s weary wings with new strength will unfold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While quick resolution all feebleness girds.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The sunset may brighten—outrival the dawning,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">If sympathy’s warm touch the drooping life thrills;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ autumn has put out her gold-tassled awning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And mantled with haze all the woodlands and hills—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ the vintage hath yielded the first of its wines—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ shadows lie eastward in wavering lines,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And evening has whispered the low uttered warning—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“The glories of Day have all drifted afar”—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The spirit will rally encouraged by love.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en twilight may deepen, if only this star</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shall gleam with its vestal light brightly above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We’ll work thro’ life’s gloaming, till angels unbar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The orient gates of Eternity’s morning.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Faith">Faith.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, by and by the sun will shine again—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will throw glad light on hill, and field, and plain;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The earth will smile ’neath Plenty’s joyous reign,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And we shall know that “God remembers the world.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, by and by the clouds will roll away</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And then a greater boon, a golden day</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will seem, because we’ve known a gloomy May</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When Doubt, o’er brooding, shadowed all our world.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Let Hope’s bright sunshine gladden every hour,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">E’en tho’ the skies with angry tempests lower;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Believe, beyond, above, a higher Power</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Doth watch and guard, with loving, care the world.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shrink not nor e’er, with dread, thy part delay;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With faith and courage meet each coming day—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Let duties well performed pave all thy way,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus make a royal pathway thro’ the world.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ sorrows should be thick along thy path,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Remember none are sent to thee in wrath;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Love fires the bolt that makes the lightning scath—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A law that gives a brighter, better world.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">With frowning face Calamity may come,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, strike a hemisphere with terror dumb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But let no boding fear thy faith benumb,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For He who made, in wisdom rules the world.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ skies and seas their floods together roll—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ earth should pass, a shriveled scroll,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His care is over each immortal soul—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He’ll gather us to His eternal world.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Nirvana">Nirvana.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-p.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Possession blest of that Celestial sphere</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beyond the reach of hope and fear;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Salvation’s port—Elysian shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where souls remain, forevermore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In blissful calm, disturbed by naught</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Evolved by ranging, restless Thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And where Eternal arms of Peace</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enfolding, give secure release</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From chains that bind, to Death and Sin—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A severance from the What-has-been—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">An end of seeming endless range;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No farther transmigrating change,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But <span class="smcap">Rest</span> of soul, that’s sweet, supreme,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beyond, the touch of Life’s wild dream:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A draught that quenches all desire—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Extinguishes Ambition’s fire,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And leave, an essence, pure, divine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That shall with Brama ever shine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Quiescent in that blest repose</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To which the wise Guatama rose.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Heredity">Heredity.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Thro’ your Eden creeps the Serpent</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Luring to the paths of sin:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In your own, weak self-indulgence</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Life accursing crimes begin:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, you blight your own with evils</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yielding to the tempter’s sway,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hushing conscience, Sin imputing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To Eve’s early, shadowed day.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Science swings her torch above you</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From her lofty templed heights—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Paths, by which the Race climb upward,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By command of God she lights;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Can you, with His laws before you,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Violate your sacred trust?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dare you taint the soul you’re moulding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For Eternity, with lust?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Holy is your mission, mother,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lives confided to your care—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shall they, of your dissipations</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Foulest scars forever bear?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hush the voice of self-indulgence—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thrust the serpent from your heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That he lure not to partaking</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of the sins you may impart.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">While the fires of Being kindle</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">At your own life’s flame and glow</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the mother love is springing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From this holy interflow—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While the crimson tide is pulsing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ but one heart, for the two,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Stain not thou, with sin, the fountain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That the new life passes through.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Pebbles">Pebbles.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-p.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Pebbles, thrown upon the shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By a storm-stirred wild commotion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tell of tumult, crash and roar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When wild furies lashed the ocean.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pebbles, gathered from the shore</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When the waves were only sighing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tell of balmy evening strolls</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When the sunset fires were dying.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pebbles—some of brightest hue—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That were snatched by dimpled fingers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the waves came rolling in—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Loving thought around them lingers.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pebbles, in life’s pathway lie</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That the careless roughly tread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While another passing by</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Finds them gems that lustre shed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pebbles—scan them—cast away</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wave-worn, rounded bits of stone,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But if one hath lighting ray,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Keep the treasure as thine own.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the heart is sorrow-laden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seek the spirit’s shrine of prayer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Jesus there will meet and bless you</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And you’ll leave your burdens there.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">As the blessed, healing mentha</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Holds for mortal pains nepentha,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">So hath sympathy the art</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To soothe the bruises of the heart.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">From each act, however small,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some result must ever fall;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Drop a pebble in the wave</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Distant shores its ripples lave.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Give gladness to childhood! ’twill brighten life’s years;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pour hydromel for it, unmingled with tears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So fondly, caressingly, memory clings</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To youth’s every joy, forgetting its stings.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Experience teaches some lessons of worth—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That wealth is not always of lordliest birth,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That duty makes labor, tho’ humble, sublime—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That crucial trial gives strength to the soul:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There’s no royal road to Life’s coveted goal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth’s throngs must all pass the same doorway of Time.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">If Heaven’s light beam on your tears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hope’s bright bow will span the cloud,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While God’s own promise, calming fears,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will lift the soul by sorrow bowed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mystery deep, thy doors unbar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And let us look within!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thought goes ranging far—afar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">On webs our fancies spin.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The life I live is not my own—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis subterfuge and dross,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The yearning soul makes hidden moan,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With secret sense of loss.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, dear Savior, I am weary—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Let me rest my soul with Thee!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mansions bright, Thou art preparing—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wilt thou, Jesus, welcome me?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the bright, warm joys, once cherished,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">There’s a withered rose and a brown, sere leaf;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ah! dear were the hopes that perished,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet there’s wealth of life, in the golden sheaf.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When a gleam of the sun, thro’ a rift in the storm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Throws a light on our path, that was shadowed before,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We look to the cloud, for the beautiful form</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of the bow, that is promise to us, evermore.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The rose is girt with thorns about,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The berries sweet, with briars—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus Fate doth ever hedge us from</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Our heart’s supreme desires.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tossing, rolling, restless sea,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Picture thou of Life to me—Shadow-clouds</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">now floating o’er,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Foam and drift-wood on the shore:—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Depths of dark and billowy waves,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wrecking hopes and hollowing graves—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Breaking on the beach in moans,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Seem thy cavern’s echoed groans.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Prosperous winds, and thou wilt bear,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">On thy heaving bosom fair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Snowy sails, with treasures laden</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the distant, sun-kissed Aden,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Costly fabrics—richest stores,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For their own, dear, home-lit shores,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where Love’s altars brightly burn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While she waits their glad return.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">In all this beauteous world of ours</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What gift, of Love, so sweet as flowers!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, sweet is the fountain of soothing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That ever is found in His Word—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Drink deeply when heart-wounds are bleeding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the peace of the spirit is stirred.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Words">Words.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, words may be loving and mellow in tone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sweet as the dew on the flowers of Hermon,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gently imparting a blessing their own,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Precious with promise, as Olivet’s sermon.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Words may be careless, and cruel and coarse—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Be tauntingly hurled, or so bitterly spoken,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Resistless as lightning’s destroying force,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They scar with their scathing the heart they have broken.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Words may have edge that is keener than steel—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">May pierce with their points like the swift-flying arrow;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They hurt with these stings while the victim will feel,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then tear through the heart like a torturing harrow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Words may be venomed with malice and spite,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">May wither with scorn, with contempt and derision—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span></p> dreaded like adders when coiling to bite</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or hiss out their poison in whispered suspicion.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, words may be vile as a basilisk’s breath—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A falsehood the germ—an ovum of evil,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Impregnate with calumny’s virus innate,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then heated and hovered by envy and hate;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thus “brooded by serpents,” like the monster medieval,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Come forth with his powers of blasting with death.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But words that are warmed in the sunlight of love</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will soothe with their feeling a brother’s affliction;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the Spirit from heaven that comes like a dove,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">So gently descending in sweet benediction.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis blessed receiving what kindness imparts,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">How trifling so ever the token,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thrice blessed, the giving of solace to hearts</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That words of injustice have blighted and broken.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There’s comfort and balm for life’s various smarts</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In words of true sympathy, tenderly spoken.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Mother2">Mother.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-2.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, come to me now,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a touch of thy hand sweep the care from my brow;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh, come, on the wings of the silences come,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dear mother, my own, as you reigned in our home.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, come now at eve.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I sit in the gloaming, in loneliness grieve;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The world is so selfish, so cold and unkind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sweet solace for pain in thy love I would find.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oh! mother, mine, mother, mine, hear me, I pray!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the silence of night, blot the sorrows of day;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And point me away from the earth and its care.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To the beautiful dwelling—that mansion so fair,</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where mother, mine, mother mine, waiteth for me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With loved ones who’re watching my barque on life’s sea—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who’ll stretch out their welcoming hands from the shore,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When I reach the glad haven, all buffetings o’er.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hands">Hands.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">There are hands we fondly cherish</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Not alone for form and grace,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But the loving deeds that mold them,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Place them next a sainted face.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">They can soothe as if with magic,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When the fever-furies rage;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Their caresses, unobstrusive,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">E’en a heartache can assuage.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hands can emphasize a welcome,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Far beyond the gifts of speech,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And their language, plain and truthful,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Doubt did never yet impeach.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye! there’s feeling warm and tender,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Ever pulsing in the palm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In whose kindly, silent pressure</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sorrow finds a healing balm.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Love’s sweet mysteries course their fingers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For their lightest touch of tips</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has the secret gift of thrilling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Like affection’s clinging lips.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">They can knit with mystic flosses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Such a net about the heart—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Earth has naught so near a heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As this thraldom doth impart.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hands have heart-beats throbbing through them</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the lightning flash of thought;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis by such that grand impulsions</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Into living deeds are wrought.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hands may be a sculptor’s pattern,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tipped with smooth, shell-tinted nails,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet convey a touch, repulsive</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As of scaly serpent trails.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">If the soul is gross and selfish,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">There’s no art the trait conceals,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But the hand in mold or clasping,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To the sentient heart reveals.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Idle hands are limp and nerveless,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lack expression, fervor, grasp—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They receive nor give sensation,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Simply lie within your clasp.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hands may flash a wealth of jewels,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Yet display a pauper soul—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God inscribes these outspread tablets</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the spirit’s hidden scroll.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Endymion">Endymion.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">When the noble son of Zeus</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Asked the gift of youth immortal,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Little wot he of the ages</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Stretching onward from life’s portal;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ he walked with gods, he wearied,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wished for rest, intense and deep,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Asked another gift of Zeus;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That of everlasting sleep.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And his thoughtless wish was granted;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Glad he hushed his soul’s repining</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the winged god’s misty vapors</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And, on Latmos’ height reclining,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Laid down all earth’s cares and trials—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All its wearying heat and strife,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet within his dormant being,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Held the essences of life.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fair Selene, robed in beauty,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wandering forth in loneliness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bent above the youth admiring—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Touched him with a light caress;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And her gazing woke his spirit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To a dream’s ecstatic bliss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As her lips, with tender fondness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Snatched from his that holy kiss.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And her heart’s new, quickened pulsing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thrilled along love’s unseen wires,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Stirred in him responsive passion,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lit his soul’s electric fires.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the roused, enrapt Endymion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shaking off the slumbrous air,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Cried,—“Ye gods, take back your giving,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All life’s perils I will dare;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wake my soul to keenest feeling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Let its sense of pleasure reign,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ my path were paved with spear-points</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I would count the waking gain.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Glad he left the heights so longed for,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sought the lowland’s balmy air,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Leading her, the loved Selene,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ the flowery valleys fair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the paths all flash with diamonds</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the jewelled crown of Night,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the lake upon his bosom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Rocks the sleeping lillies white,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And his lullaby in whispers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Floating thro’ the leafy dell,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mingling with perfume and zephyr</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wove a sweet entrancing spell.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And ’twas there at Sylva’s altar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the gazing stars above,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soul to soul, by mute impulsion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That they pledged eternal love;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ay, ’twas then the spheric paean,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Through the great expanses spread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When in Beauty’s listening stillness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Peace and Purity were wed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And tonight I see them roaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ the flowery paths of eld—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ the valley, by the lakelet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where their nuptial feast was held;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where the moon-beams dance with shadows,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the hushed, half-hidden glen,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shunning Mammon’s crowded cities</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the busy walks of men.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But linger not too long, Selene,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hasten from thy lover’s side,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, in fleecy cloud-wrought vesture</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the gaze of Eos hide;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Else like darkly mantled Pleiad,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wailing robes of forfeit glory,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thou wilt find thy charms are stolen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By the jealous, fair Aurora.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hasten, hasten, for she cometh,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Venus bright doth herald now,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All Jove’s pageantry attends her,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Erse’s gems bedeck her brow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And her royal robes are ’broidered</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Rich with rose and amethyst;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hasten, but with thine Endymion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Keep the holy evening tryst.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Calypso-The_Lovers_Pocket">Calypso—The Lover’s Pocket.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-e.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Erastes saw with vain regret</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A hedge of guards was thickly set</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Around the fair one he would woo;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For Flora’s aid he quick applied—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Be art of yours with Love’s allied</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And Cupid’s throng shall kneel to you.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Flora wrought that mystic flower</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And graced with it Love’s Sylvan bower,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And there a wildling still it grows;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The hue she gave was pearly white,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But Love would add one more delight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And mingled in a blush of rose.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">T’was given such an artless guise</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That e’en suspicion’s prying eyes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Doth no intriguing plan suppose:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And there within, securely hid,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beneath the blossom’s fringy lid</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The lover’s missive finds repose.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Wilt thou, dear maid, thy wealth resign</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And drink with me love’s ruby wine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In weal or woe my fortune’s share?”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She wrote and hid—“I will be thine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With love’s devotion ever mine</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">There’s naught but I could dare.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A closely folded plan for flight</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(That marked the nearest moonless night,)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The Orchid in its heart concealed.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While vigilance unconscious slept,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Two dusky steeds thro’ darkness swept</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Across an unfrequented field</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And brought the lovers quickly where</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A waiting priest, with pledge and prayer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The sacred bonds of wedlock sealed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Paternal pride aroused, irate,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With bluster came, a moment late,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The holy rite had joined their hands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The vows were made, the pledges given</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That bound the twain as one in heaven,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Despite his wrath and stern commands.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“How could you thus,” he cried in rage,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Defy my will, disgrace my age!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I’ll disinherit and disown—And</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">you shall have eternal scorn</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For wedding with that lowly born—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Aye, you shall reap as you have sown.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“O, woman! thou art gall and wine—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Deceit’s worst name, to me, is thine!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I thought her will succumbed to mine,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">So cheerful, happy, she had seemed.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I felt within a conscious pride</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In power to hold, subdue and guide—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That she was conquered, fondly dreamed.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Along the wood she walked with me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Among the wild flowers, gay and free,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">(I guarded her with watchful eye,)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With eager hand she plucked and smiled</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As guileless as a happy child—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">No love-lorn look—no sob or sigh.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Aye, woman’s ways and woman’s wiles</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are knitted in with looks and smiles</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By which man’s wisdom oft is foiled.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She’ll seem so gently yielding <i>will</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While scheming for her own way, still—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With sweet deceits will blind us, till</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Our dearest hopes have been despoiled.”</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“But, ’tis senseless nursing helpless wrath,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shall I strew thorns along her path</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whose only dower’s a father’s curse?—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Drive them out with want to roam?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I think I’ll take the couple home—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In truth, her parents did much worse.”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Calypso, still with winning grace,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Adorns the ferny, sedgey place</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By purling brook or shaded dell,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And only Cupid knows its art</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of hiding in its fragrant heart</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The secret, sweet, that Love would tell.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="What_Is_Love">What Is Love?</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-n.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Not the fierce-destroying power</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of the hot sirocco’s breath,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Withering every tender flower,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Strewing all its path with death</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Or helpless, silent sorrow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis a strength that holds each feeling</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">But a slave to do its will—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Every wish, abjectly kneeling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Waits its mandate to fulfill</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Or creeps, by stealth, in shadow.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis Life’s sacred, golden chalice,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From as rich a vintage filled</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the cottage, as the palace—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sweetest draughts have been distilled</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">With want upon the lever.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis a tender, true devotion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Never soiled by thoughts of pelf,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But with gladsome, sweet emotion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To its altar bringing <i>self</i>,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">A sacrificial offering.—</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Joy’s bell whose silver ringing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Down the ages has been borne</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ever since in Eden, singing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wedded love hailed rosy morn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Still the tones fall sweet as ever.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis the Horeb of the spirit,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where no coarse-shod thought may tread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The part divine, which souls inherit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From love’s holy Fountain-Head,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">Influent with our being.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Sleighing">Sleighing.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-h.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Hear the bells, distant bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How the merry music swells,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As the steed, with noble speed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nearer, nearer, nearer comes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Strength doth wing his flying feet;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Onward, onward, onward going,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a strong and rythmic beat;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Youth, with health and beauty glowing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Blends a rippling, laughter peal</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the ringing hoofs of steel—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">How the mingling music hums!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hear the bells, joyous bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Love’s sweet tale their music tells,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As they go o’er glistening snow;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wildly, wildly, rushing by,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Fainter grow the hoof-beats now,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fainter, fainter, fainter growing;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Venus shines on evening’s brow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Moonlight floods o’er earth are flowing;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O, the reckless wild delights</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of a sparkling, winter night’s</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sleighing, ’neath a moonlit sky!</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ho, the bells, merry bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rapture in their music dwells;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Raptures sweet, in bliss repeat,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gliding, gliding, o’er the snow.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Every pulse with pleasure thrills;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the heart new joys revealing.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As when springtime, bird-note trills</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Stir the sweetest fount of feeling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Welling with all tender thought,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the dulcet music caught,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Blending all in joyous flow!</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hark, the bells—homeward bells!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Something now their music quells,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For they go, tinkling—so—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tinkle—tinkle—seem to wait;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Why that steed such lagging feet,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When returning, homeward going?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">(’Mong the furs their faces meet)—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ah! that nag is very knowing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Stepping lightly o’er the snow—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Have their whispers, soft and low,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Changed his mood and changed his gait?</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="First_Love">First Love.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Tender and true as the starlight of heaven,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sweet as the heart of a bud when it opes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Swift as the flash of the cloud-leaping levin,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Rich as the springtime in promise and hopes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pure as the gleam of the dew on the flowers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is love’s first awakening in youth’s dreamy hours.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">It sings in the heart like a forest-hid rill—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Runs over its rim like a rock-basined spring;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Strong, it o’erpowers cold reason with will,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Impulsively binding two lives with a ring.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It goes where it listeth, unreined as the wind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">So reckless, ’tis said, that the love god is blind.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Joyful, yet trembling like a zephyr-kissed rose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Flushing and paling like skies of the dawn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Silent, lest speech shall the secret disclose,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wayward and shy as a mountain-bred fawn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Flying the bosom where yearning to rest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hushing the tenderness, thrilling the heart,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Palpitant tempests disturbing the breast;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Enjoying—enduring the sweet and the smart</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That comes of the wounding with Cupid’s first dart.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Man">Man.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, grand and worshipful that being <span class="smcap">man</span>,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As fashioned by a maiden’s dream-lit mind!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To her, his soul has nobleness enshrined—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis pure—Love’s altar-place, where God began,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Neath Eden’s flow’ry groves, the household plan.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In rose-mist wreathed, by sweet enchantment blind,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">How oft she’s worshiped, wedded, but to find</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The real, no more her dream, than piping Pan.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some “noble deeds” bear cold ambition’s stain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And chaff is found among Love’s golden grain.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis well the rose-mist lifts and clearer beams</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Show man’s real self, e’en tho’ it give her pain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Else, so idolatrous, she might, it seems,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Forget her God, if he were all she dreams.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Trust_of_Childhood">Trust of Childhood.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">An angel comes down from the realms of light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To guard me in slumber, thro’ hours of the night;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Her presence is gentle, I feel she is there,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As soon as I’ve uttered my evening prayer;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So tenderly watching she stays in my room</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till darkness has folded his mantle of gloom.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’ve felt on my forehead her soft finger tips</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the touch of her kiss, lightly pressed on my lips,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To waken me gently, ere leaving my bed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When morning’s bright beauties o’er earth had been spread.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Forbearing to open my earth-gazing eyes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To look on the guardian sent from the skies,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’ve listened and heard, e’en the rustle of wings;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And then at the casement, where mocking bird swings,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A sweeping of roses and jasmines I’ve heard,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And knew that their beauty and perfume were stirred</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By her gossamer robes, as she hastened away,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the rose-tinted gateway that opens to day;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(For Heaven, I know, is but little beyond,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where glories of morn, in its borders have dawned);</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And then by the holiness left in the room,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Afloat, like the fragrance from violet bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I knew that a presence had surely been there,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had left with me blessing, and wafted my prayer</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the throne of the Father for guidance and care.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, trust of my childhood! bright halo of youth!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Come, veil for tonight the stern visage of truth;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With faith that’s elysian, I’d drift down the stream</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To imagery islands, with beauty agleam,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And hear, as I heard in the far away years,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(Ere fancy’s young dream had been melted in tears),</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A strain from a harp, floating over to me,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From a cloud-bannered sky, bending down to the sea,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where golden-crowned angels could plainly be seen</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With robings of white, in the glimmering sheen.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then Heaven was near, and the curtain of blue</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So thin, that at sunset the glory shone through;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Those silken illusions, inflated with joy,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Phylosophy’s hand has been swift to destroy;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And reason’s keen steel, that’s so cruelly cold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has cut thro’ the shimmer of heavenly gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And left but the hard-featured science of light</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That will not be veiled for a dream of tonight.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Alone">Alone.</h2>
+
+<div class="poetry-container smaller">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Laugh and the world laughs with you;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Weep and you weep alone.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">In her soul’s secret temple she’s standing alone:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Her being’s real self, in the silence will bow;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">O’er that altar, once glowing, cold ashes are strown—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where sunshine once flooded, the shadows fall now.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Away from the world, and alone with her God,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She kneels in this consecrate place and may weep;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">This temple, by coarse sandaled grossness, untrod,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Is never unbarred till the world is asleep.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">She leaves there her grief, with its shadowy stole,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Concealing her anguish, with trembling and fear;—Must</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">laugh, tho’ it lines a black scath on her soul,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For the world will not <i>pay</i> for the sigh and the tear.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, leaves there her sackcloth and shuts to the door;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She puts on the mask for the frivolous world</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Her frail barque is launched ’mid its tumult and roar—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Unhelmed, thro’ its mammon-cut channels ’tis hurled.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The laugh, the world echoes, grows empty and hard</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When the jingle of gold is the mirth-stirring power;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The soul is, by Avarice, shrivelled and scarred</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When it barters for pottage, a heavenly dower.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">God fits us, thro’ suffering, for Sympathy’s needs;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Tis warring with wrong that will win for the Right;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Oft Sorrow’s lone path, to His ripe vineyard, leads—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Christ gave us, through Gethsame, heavenly light.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Go work in His vineyard wherever ’tis needed</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And earnestly work for the sake of the need;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be Fame’s fickle promise forever unheeded,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Unknown, in thy labor, the miser’s low greed.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Night">Night.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Thro’ azure paths fair Venus comes with golden bars</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To close the gates of Day. The twilight’s dusky stole</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is lightly spangled o’er with heaven’s brightest stars;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Soon Night will bring her countless ones whose ceaseless roll</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ boundless depths of space, repeat creation’s song.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thus canopied by God’s omnipotence, outspread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The earth doth lull and soothe her surging, restless throng</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With brooding calm. Sleep’s poppied sweets for toil are shed.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When strife is hushed to rest, by Nature’s drowsy hum</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And barter’s dins are stilled—its flaunting ensigns furled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When, drugged with Somnus’ wines, earth’s noisy crowds are dumb</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And stillness spreads her slumber-robe, so softly o’er the world,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Tis joy to watch Night’s queenly orb, climb up the eastern stair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And pour her flood of silver light o’er hills and bowers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That in the sacred silence gleam, so radiant and fair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In glistening robes of green and dewy, fragrant flowers.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">All hail, blest hour of cool repose, when Labor’s chains</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That bind the mind, thro’ all the day, to weary tasks</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Are loosed! Ay, now, the soul, in freedom from their pains,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">May drink from founts of pure supernal joy. It basks</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In glories which the night o’er earth and sky hath strown.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Compassion sweet, the dewy coolness doth impart</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And dreamy perfumes, by the balmy breezes blown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Are evening’s sweet acopic, when she folds us to her heart.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Disappointment">Disappointment.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">We plant sometimes a tender flower—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Watch and wait through sun and shower;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Mark its tiny leaflets, green,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then, the upward shoot between,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Springing, springing, tendrils clinging,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hopes like cherubs round it winging</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whispering of the blooming time.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Watch the buds burst thro’ their sheathing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Beauty’s promise, round them wreathing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Dream of fragrance they enfold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lovely blooms, almost, behold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Reach an eager hand for grasping—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Find the tendrils all unclasping—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Withered, ere the blooming time.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Loves_Ideal">Love’s Ideal.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Was there ever a love like the love of my dream?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Love, holy, unselfish, devoted and pure,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Unfailing and sweet as the flow of a stream</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whose source is a spring, that God made to endure.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A love that is <span class="smcap">love</span>, with no blending of dross;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where soul, unto soul, giveth strength of its own—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A love that knows never of languor or loss,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or silently grieves that its <i>spirit</i> has flown.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A love with its possibles nobly fulfilled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where heart unto heart is e’er loyal and true,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where blessing for each, is thro’ kindness distilled—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">A rodomel never embittered with rue.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">A love that the angels, rejoicing to see,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Would guard in life’s paths from the harpies that roam;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Peace, Happiness, Charity,—loveliest three—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Would make, for such lovers, a Heaven of Home.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="A_Legend_of_the_Lily">A Legend of the Lily.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Abroad, June moon was brightly beaming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the depths of heaven’s blue,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While the asphodels were bending</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With the clinging beads of dew,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the silver rays in silence,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Glinting thro’ the swaying trees,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Saw a modest flower turning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To a roving, balmy breeze.—</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heard the zephyr softly whisper:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Ah! my Lily, charming, sweet—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sure the god of love has led us</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In this bowery place to meet;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Richest odors I will bring you</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the islands of the sea;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Aye, your beauty has enchained me—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will you give your heart to me?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">With a touch exquisite, subtile,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Then he turned to his, her face;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In her blush of deeper crimson,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That she faltered, he could trace.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“I have sought you—will you trust me?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Faithful as the stars I’ll be—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With your fragrant breathings, answer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Will you give your love to me?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Frail the flower, tranced enraptured</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By the lover’s soft caress,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To his tender wooing answered,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With impulsive rashness,—“yes.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, exultant, zephyr gloried</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In the treasure he had won—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Deftly stole her sparkling jewels,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sharing with the rising sun.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Brushed the spangles from her tresses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With his playful finger tips,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bolder grew with his caresses—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gathering sweetness from her lips;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Robbed her beauty of the freshness</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That was hers in early morn—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Left her ’neath the sun of noonday,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Burning like the gaze of scorn.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Drooping as in heat of censure</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Evening found her in the dust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lifted her with tearful pity</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the blight of trampled trust;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But the tender flush of loving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From her face was blanched and gone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet a beauty, born of trial,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Met the radiant glow of dawn.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now for her the moon is shining</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a calm and holy light;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dew-like gems of rarest beauty</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sparkles on her brow at night;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With her white face turned toward heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In her vestal robe she stands,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">As a priestess, at an altar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lifting consecrated hands.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Chastest forms of beauty round her—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Stars that gem the vaulted blue</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Join with her in silent warning,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">“Let thy love be pure and true—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Trusting e’en the black-browed storm-cloud,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With its leaping lightning-blaze,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rather than the rover’s whisper,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Neath the moon’s enchanting gaze.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="To_James_Newton_Mathews">To James Newton Mathews.<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Must write a sonnet!—ere the Poet’s rank,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With its devouring hopes, I dare to claim—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Ere I with them may seek a place or name—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Ere I may taste Castalia’s fount, where drank</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The bards of eld, or find the flowery bank</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of clear Penneus, flashing back the flame</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of sunset fires. Thro’ moorlands, low and dank,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Alone, must grope, unlit by torch of fame.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ Poesy should stir my soul to song</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That flowed like liquid tenderness along,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or, wild and glad as leaping forest rills—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Tho’ Nature’s music thro’ my being thrills</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And Imagery, with all her fairy throng,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">My dreamy world of thought and vision fills,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Alas! I’m doomed—this stanza is a line too long.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnotes">
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> “You must write a Sonnet to gain a Poet’s diploma.”—J. N. M.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Great_Hereafter">The Great Hereafter.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Will the wrongs of life be righted,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fruited there the hopes here blighted,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the darkened lives be lighted</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And dissevered souls united</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will this wearing, wild commotion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sink to rest and sweet emotion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">Calm all strife hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will love’s slighted, fond devotion</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Reach beyond life’s tossing ocean</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">To the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the vows here lightly broken</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With repentant tears be spoken</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The wounded one accept the token</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of the heart’s remorse unspoken</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gladly from its idols turning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the soul forget its yearning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thro’ a quickened sense discerning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That the labors we’ve been spurning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Keep love’s holy incense burning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shall we find that hopes deceiving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Helped us on to grand achieving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And be blest with glad receiving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">What is now but faith, believing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the soul that’s drunk the vial</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of a bitter self-denial</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">Feel the loss hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, thro’ sacrifice and trial,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will it triumph o’er Belial,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the bands by dogmas riven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Scathed and scarred by anger levin,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Make a peaceful, joyous Heaven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">For the good for which they’ve striven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will their errors be forgiven</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">There, with pomp, his work resuming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the bigot, still presuming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God’s prerogative assuming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sit as judge, his brother dooming,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And with creed-lit torch reluming</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fires of torture “unconsuming,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">Through the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the Wrong, the Right assailing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wring from suffering helpless wailing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Conquered Good, with banners trailing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Seeking streams for Hope’s regaling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Be mirage-lured, till faint and failing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Faith becomes a phantom, sailing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">Through the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, shall our spirit eyes beholding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God’s mysterious plans unfolding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">See His strength the Right upholding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And his love the weak enfolding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter?</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Struggling here with opposition,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gives, perchance, the strong volition</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Some may need for angel mission,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the ills of life’s condition,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the tried may bring fruition</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of a joyous, sweet elysian</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">What has seemed Fate’s unfair dealing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">May unveil, a joy revealing</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">In the great hereafter:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though denying our appealing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Made in agony of feeling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">God may still, with love’s own healing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><i>Higher destiny, be sealing</i></div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">For the Great Hereafter.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Late_October">Late October.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The night was black—the dismal rain</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">First dripped from sullen, inky clouds,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And then was dashed against the pane,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By winds that shrieked like demon crowds;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When, on the midnight’s ebon breast,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The storm, a moment, lulled to rest,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I heard this low, half stifled moan</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With sorrow braided in the tone—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, who?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The lurid lightning’s fitful glare</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lit all the far, horizon’s rim—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">It showed the walnut, stripped and bare,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And clutching one great, leafless limb</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sat something weird, of dusky form;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Defenceless, in the pelting storm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She faced alone that angry sky—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">October’s voice seemed in the cry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, Who?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">With rush and wrench an angered fiend</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The loosened shutters clanged and swung,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His single stroke the grove had preened</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And wide its deadened branches flung,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And from the wide, o’er-hanging eaves</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He tore the crimson ivy leaves</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And wildly whirled them on the blast—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The phantom murmured, as they passed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, Who?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The maples writhed as, tempest torn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Their branches beat the gables high,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And, in the storm’s dark bosom borne,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Mad thunders bellowed thro’ the sky.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She spurned the spruce, with stately form,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Whose robes of green might shield and warm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And yet, like sobbing on the gale,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Was monotoned that dismal wail,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, Who?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Again the leaping lightnings glared,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The wind swept down the clinging vines,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In twisting gusts the trees were bared,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">It rocked and tossed the rasping pines;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Unmoved, amid the tempest there,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And as the wraith of grim despair,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Still clutched the limb, that dusky form,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Repeating to the driving storm,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, who?”</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The arbor gleamed with tangled vines,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where, erstwhile, hung, ’mid emerald sheen,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The clustering wealth of unpressed wines;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And charms of scarlet, gold and green,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With opulence of fruit and grain,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Poured riches for October’s reign;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Now, conquered, robbed, usurped her throne,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Her sorrow welling in the moan,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Who cares for me? Who, who?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The morning sun is mocking cold—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The vanquished queen stands, pale, forlorn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Her gauzy veil of dream and gold,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And royal robes, all rent and torn,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With bannered glories, trampled down,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To bring her victor’s sparkling crown.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">She feebly smiles and passes on</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To join the old October’s, gone—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent4">November wails—“Who cares.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="On_the_Beach">On the Beach.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-2.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O, tell me, rolling, tossing billow,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where thy place of rest may be!—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Who shall find, and who peruse them,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Were these lines consigned to thee!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will the wild winds catch and carry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">’Mid the waves tumultuous roar,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Leaving them where golden glory</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Flames along the sunset shore?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pillowed on thy throbbing bosom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>Where</i> will this wee, waifling drift?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Will an eager hand stretch for it,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thinking some strange tale to lift—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A record brief of direst peril</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In a storm-wrecked sinking ship—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The moment when all hope had left them—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The tale ne’er told by human lip?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Or, will thy rolling, rocking cradle</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hold the casket unrevealed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till thy wrenching, prying fingers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hath its secrets all unsealed?—</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Dropping then the worthless trifle</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where wealth’s storm-wrecked treasures lie,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In thy mystic, wave-worn caverns,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hidden aye, from mortal eye.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Hidden">Hidden.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Oft the heart is full of weeping</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When no tears escape the lids;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Bravely will stands guard o’er feeling</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the tell-tale flow forbids,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And for love of those who love us</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Every sign of sorrow hides,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Counterfeiting joy and gladness</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where in secret, grief abides.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Though we try to gild with sunshine</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thorny paths we needs must tread,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hiding, ’neath a show of courage,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">That we go with shrinking dread—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tho’ we hush the sob of mourning</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For the strong true love we knew,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet affection’s sacred altar</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With forget-me-nots we strew.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Every sentient heart holds hidden,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From the gaze of prying eyes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">All its sorrows. E’en its raptures</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">From such sharing it denies.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Love of some and dread of others</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Shut the heart with bolts and bars;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">We shrink to wound our loving dear ones—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">We dread the sympathy that jars.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But, when night is darkly brooding</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Over earth with raven wings,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Feeling may, with unseen fingers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Sweep the spirit’s trembling strings.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, within its secret chamber,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">May the heart’s own words be said—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">There alone, with Love’s one taper,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All its bitter tears may shed.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="My_Robins_Are_Gone">My Robins Are Gone.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">My robins are gone—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The last one has flown;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With a pang in my breast</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">I look into the nest</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And know I’m forever alone.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The night will come in thro’ the crimsoning west,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Repeating that lesson of pain—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">“The robin that once has flown out of the nest</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Seeks never its shelter again.”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent12">My robins are gone, etc.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">O, glad was my heart with its fullness of love</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">When fondly I cared for them all,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But now I’m alone, in the shadowy grove,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And they are too far for recall.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent12">My robins are gone, etc.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The world was so wide, and the skies were so blue,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They tempted my darlings away;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the bright, dewy morning so buoyant they flew,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Nor dreamed of the noon-heat of day.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent12">My robins are gone, etc.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’ll stay by the lonely, embowered, old nest—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Some stars will beam down thro’ the night;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">I’ll hush my heart’s cry with a “God knoweth best,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And wait for the dawn of the light.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Tho’ my robins are gone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">Tho’ the last one has flown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">They’ll think of the tree</div>
+    <div class="verse indent8">That is sheltering me,—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent6">They’ll be to me ever my own.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Winterbloom">Winterbloom.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Oh! beautiful winterbloom, why did you tarry?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O, why in Spring’s glory of budding and bloom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Were hidden your jewels, wee, golden and starry,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To open them now, in November’s chill gloom?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The crocuses first heard the warm breezes calling,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The dandelions glowed in their emerald sea</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And lilies, sun-kissed, in the lakelets were lolling—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">All Flora’s enchantments were beckoning thee.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">When June, in soft airs, swung her rose-freighted censer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And dew gems were set with the buttercup’s gold—The</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">annual bloom, growing brighter and denser—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Why still, from the summer, your beauty withhold?</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“When Spring in her gladness poured beauty around you,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And joy bells rang with most musical tone,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When opulent Summer with riches had crowned you,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">My coming had then been unheeded, unknown.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now flowers of springtime and summer have left you,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The winter’s foreclosure has shadowed the home—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of the last clinging leaves the cold winds have bereft you—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">As a friend in Adversity, now I am come.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="The_Old_Home">The Old Home.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">The empty hammock, in the grove,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The playful breeze is swinging—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Wild birds, of varied note and plume,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In Babel jargon singing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Come boldly near my silent door,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And e’en the woodland thrushes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pour forth for me, their floods of song,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In sweet, melodious gushes.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And nearer still, the squirrels come,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Among the walnuts leaping,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And gather in their winter stores</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Without the toil of reaping.—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The tennis plot is overgrown</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With long, untrodden grasses—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Above it hangs, from unpruned boughs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Their foliage wealth in masses.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The lichens lengthen on the trees—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">They blotch, with gray, the fences</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And prove decadence is of years,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Whatever our pretenses;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The storm-worn roof and gables all</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Suggest inceptive mosses—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The ample house, with silent rooms,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hope’s argosy and losses.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The shrubs that once bore stately bloom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Are now a bushy tangle,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where tribes of beetles, thro’ the spring,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">O’er blighted beauty wrangle;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And goldenrod, with kindly grace,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Hides, with her shining tassels,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Neglected spots, where once was built,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Young Fancy’s airy castles.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The bell, that called the dinner hour</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With deep, revibrant clanging,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Is woven round with maple boughs,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Its stranded rope, down-hanging,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Has won a morning-glory bloom</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To twine its frayed out fringes,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And trumpet vine creeps o’er the gate</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To hide its broken hinges.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now silence reigns where once was heard</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">The ring of childish laughter;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">They’ll come no more—“our little boys”—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">In all the years hereafter;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet winds oft join with listless mood</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To cheat me with the seeming—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A dimpled hand tugs at the latch—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">But ah! ’twas only dreaming.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">They’re out upon the field of Life</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Where blades of strength are clashing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Where true and false contend for aye</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With thought’s bright spear-points flashing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And we must hush love’s hunger-cry</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And still the selfish yearning—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Must hide the heart’s fond worship, tho’</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Its altar fires are burning.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">But mother-love can make her strong</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">To check her own heart’s throbbing,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And bid them go with steady voice</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">While <i>self’s</i> in secret, sobbing;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then she will whisper broken words</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Alone with God in prayer,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And find that heavenly blessing falls</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">For every cross we bear.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Thought">Thought.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-b.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">Backward, backward Thought has traveled,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Back into the dim unknown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the spheres in cosmic star-dust</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Circled His eternal throne—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Back where cosmogonic darkness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Wrought upon by Spirit light,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yielded elemental centers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And protoplastic satellite.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Back, where first creative forces,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">By impulsion from “The Cause,”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Start the universe in motion,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Guided by unerring laws—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hurl the spheric fiery masses</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ abysmal depths of space—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Meting out to each an orbit</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With defined, unchanging place.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Thought, from thence, fares down the aeons</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ the long chaotic night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While His omnipresent agents</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">(Each a vast deific might)</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Fashion to His will and purpose</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Thro’ infinitude of spheres;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In our own group change evolving</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Till Earth’s infant life appears—</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Till creation felt Time’s fullness,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Surging thro’ unmeasured night,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That should rend the swathe of vapors</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">With command—“Let there be Light—”</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Felt the rolling, tossing tumult</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of the fierce, internal sweep</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">When the thunder-toned volcanos</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lifted lands from shoreless deep.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then, from formless void emerging,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Earth spread wide her fields and hills,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Woke the untrod glooms with music</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Of her new-born leaping rills;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Then the firmament, in grandeur,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Lit its unveiled depths of blue</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With the moon in full-orbed beauty</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">And the young stars beaming through.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">And the sunshine thrilled earth’s bosom,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Quickened germ-imprisoned life—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Soon the hillsides and the valleys</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Were with floral beauty rife;—Forests</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">robed the mountain ranges,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Bound their sun-crooned brows with green,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">While the mighty, sea-fed rivers</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Rolled in majesty between.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+<div class="tb">* * * * *</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Farther on in Life’s gradations</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">He who tuned the spheric roll,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Back in Nature’s barred Arcana,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Gave and clothed the human soul.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hush, oh thought, nor dare to question</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2"><i>How</i> creative laws adjust!</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Canst thou comprehend Jehovah</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Or the elemental “dust?”</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Here, oh spirit, rest with child-faith;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Covet not forbidden things.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0"><span class="smcap">Life</span>, the vainly sought for secret,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Proof, to us, of Godhood brings—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of the Infinite, beyond us—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">Far beyond the grasp of mind;—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Kneeling, trusting, here we worship</div>
+    <div class="verse indent2">God—Jehovah, Undefined.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="Columbus">Columbus.</h2>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+  <div class="dropcap"><img class="dropcapimg" src="images/dropcap-o-1.jpg" alt=""></div>
+    <div class="verse indent0 dcap">O’er the stormy, pathless seas,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nobly proud, the Genoese</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To a shadowed realm sailed;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With a will to brave and bear,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Sought he chance to do and dare,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">’Mid the perils he must share</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That Earth’s grandeur be unveiled.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Pilgrims sailed to lighted shores,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Hope and Home with open doors,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But thro’ dusky deeps, unknown,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Boldly this explorer plowed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Facing danger’s darkling crowd</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">And Fate’s looming, gestant cloud,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">From the waste of waters blown.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Heaven gave to him a soul</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Finely fashioned to control</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With a wondrous spirit might—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That should sweep of doubt and fear,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Broad and bright, a pathway clear—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">By it lift a hemisphere</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Into Freedom’s joyous light.</div>
+  </div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Purpose, daring were sublime—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">His the crowning deeds of Time;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Life, for others’ gain, was spent</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Opening Earth’s great treasure-doors—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Half a world with Bounty’s stores—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mountains, rich in precious ores—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Caves with sparkling gems besprent.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Justice gave unquestioned claim</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To the highest niche of Fame,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">But what recompense was Spain’s?</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She, thro’ craven sons of lust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Honor stabbed, with feigned distrust—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Trampled his great soul in dust,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Scorned and loaded him with chains.</div>
+  </div>
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Now she comes to steal his bones:</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Earth revile! In thunder tones</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Tell the tale of wrong and shame;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Write this edict out in flame—</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">In the hemisphere he gave,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">(Which he begged might be his grave)</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">She, of Greed, the wasted slave,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Shall have nevermore a name.</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="transnote">
+
+<h2 id="Transcribers_note">Transcriber’s note</h2>
+
+<p>Poem titles were originally printed in a stylized, “Gothic”-variety
+typeface (think New York Times masthead). Fonts which are a
+reasonable approximation of this, and which this ebook will display
+if you have them installed, include Old English Text MT, Chomsky,
+Cloister Black, Old London.</p>
+
+<p>The following probable printer errors were corrected.</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#Page_47">Page 47</a>, “i ngering” changed to “lingering” (I’m lingering now)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_89">Page 89</a>, “Indnite” changed to “Infinite” (lighted with Infinite love)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_98">Page 98</a>, “temptest” changed to “tempest” (by sorrow’s tempest shaken)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_104">Page 104</a>, “Chrstians” changed to “Christians” (When Christians are one)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_149">Page 149</a>, “Queiscent” changed to “Quiescent” (Quiescent in that blest repose)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_178">Page 178</a>, “prsence” changed to “presence” (I knew that a presence had surely been there)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_191">Page 191</a>, “herafter” changed to “hereafter” (beyond life’s tossing ocean / To the great hereafter)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_197">Page 197</a>, “Wtih bannerd” changed to “With bannered” (With bannered glories)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_198">Page 198</a>, “rollng” changed to “rolling” (thy rolling, rocking cradle)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_200">Page 200</a>, “shrniking” changed to “shrinking” (That we go with shrinking dread)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_209">Page 209</a>, “satelite” changed to “satellite” (And protoplastic satellite)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_209">Page 209</a>, “unchangnig” changed to “unchanging” (With defined, unchanging place.)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_210">Page 210</a>, “Lfited” changed to “Lifted” (Lifted lands from shoreless deep.)</li>
+<li><a href="#Page_211">Page 211</a>, “migthy” changed to “mighty” (mighty, sea-fed rivers)</li>
+</ul>
+
+<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and word spacing errors were amended without
+further note.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76279 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
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+This book, 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
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+book #76279 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76279)