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diff --git a/old/wit0810.txt b/old/wit0810.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f3ccf6c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/wit0810.txt @@ -0,0 +1,14689 @@ +Project Gutenberg EBook, Narrative and Legendary Poems, Complete +Volume I., The Works of Whittier: Narrative and Legendary Poems +#12 in our series by John Greenleaf Whittier + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + + +Title: Narrative and Legendary Poems, Complete + Volume I., The Works of Whittier + +Author: John Greenleaf Whittier + +Release Date: Dec, 2005 [EBook #9567] +[This file was first posted on October 2, 2003] +[Last updated on February 9, 2007] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NARRATIVE POEMS, COMPLETE *** + + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + + + + + + THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER + + + VOLUME I. + + NARRATIVE AND LEGENDARY + + POEMS + + BY + JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER + + + +PUBLISHERS' ADVERTISEMENT + +The Standard Library Edition of Mr. Whittier's writings comprises his +poetical and prose works as re-arranged and thoroughly revised by +himself or with his cooperation. Mr. Whittier has supplied such +additional information regarding the subject and occasion of certain +poems as may be stated in brief head-notes, and this edition has been +much enriched by the poet's personal comment. So far as practicable the +dates of publication of the various articles have been given, and since +these were originally published soon after composition, the dates of +their first appearance have been taken as determining the time at which +they were written. At the request of the Publishers, Mr. Whittier has +allowed his early poems, discarded from previous collections, to be +placed, in the general order of their appearance, in an appendix to the +final volume of poems. By this means the present edition is made so +complete and retrospective that students of the poet's career will +always find the most abundant material for their purpose. The Publishers +congratulate themselves and the public that the careful attention which +Mr. Whittier has been able to give to this revision of his works has +resulted in so comprehensive and well-adjusted a collection. + +The portraits prefixed to the several volumes have been chosen with a +view to illustrating successive periods in the poet's life. The +original sources and dates are indicated in each case. + + + + +NARRATIVE AND LEGENDARY POEMS. + + +CONTENTS: + +THE VAUDOIS TEACHER +THE FEMALE MARTYR +EXTRACT FROM "A NEW ENGLAND LEGEND" +THE DEMON OF THE STUDY +THE FOUNTAIN +PENTUCKET +THE NORSEMEN +FUNERAL TREE OF THE SOKOKIS +ST JOHN +THE CYPRESS-TREE OF CEYLON +THE EXILES +THE KNIGHT OF ST JOHN +CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK +THE NEW WIFE AND THE OLD + +THE BRIDAL OF PENNACOOK + I. THE MERRIMAC + II. THE BASHABA + III. THE DAUGHTER + IV. THE WEDDING + V. THE NEW HOME + VI. AT PENNACOOK + VII. THE DEPARTURE + VIII. SONG OF INDIAN WOMEN + +BARCLAY OF URY +THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA +THE LEGEND OF ST MARK +KATHLEEN +THE WELL OF LOCH MAREE +THE CHAPEL OF THE HERMITS +TAULER +THE HERMIT OF THE THEBAID +THE GARRISON OF CAPE ANN +THE GIFT OF TRITEMIUS +SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE +THE SYCAMORES +THE PIPES AT LUCKNOW +TELLING THE BEES +THE SWAN SONG OF PARSON AVERY +THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE OF NEWBURY + +MABEL MARTIN: A HARVEST IDYL + PROEM + I. THE RIVER VALLEY + II. THE HUSKING + III. THE WITCH'S DAUGHTER + IV. THE CHAMPION + V. IN THE SHADOW + VI. THE BETROTHAL + +THE PROPHECY OF SAMUEL SEWALL +THE RED RIVER VOYAGEUR +THE PREACHER +THE TRUCE OF PISCATAQUA +MY PLAYMATE +COBBLER KEEZAR'S VISION +AMY WENTWORTH +THE COUNTESS + +AMONG THE HILLS + PRELUDE + AMONG THE HILLS + +THE DOLE OF JARL THORKELL +THE TWO RABBINS +NOREMBEGA +MIRIAM +MAUD MULLER +MARY GARVIN +THE RANGER +NAUHAUGHT, THE DEACON +THE SISTERS +MARGUERITE +THE ROBIN + +THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM + INTRODUCTORY NOTE + PRELUDE + THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM + +KING VOLMER AND ELSIE +THE THREE BELLS +JOHN UNDERHILL +CONDUCTOR BRADLEY +THE WITCH OF WENHAM +KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS +IN THE "OLD SOUTH" +THE HENCHMAN +THE DEAD FEAST OF THE KOL-FOLK +THE KHAN'S DEVIL +THE KING'S MISSIVE +VALUATION +RABBI ISHMAEL +THE ROCK-TOMB OF BRADORE + +THE BAY OF SEVEN ISLANDS + To H P S + THE BAY OF SEVEN ISLANDS + +THE WISHING BRIDGE +HOW THE WOMEN WENT FROM DOVER +ST GREGORY'S GUEST +CONTENTS +BIRCHBROOK MILL +THE TWO ELIZABETHS +REQUITAL +THE HOMESTEAD +HOW THE ROBIN CAME +BANISHED FROM MASSACHUSETTS +THE BROWN DWARF OF RUGEN + + + + +NOTE.-The portrait prefixed to this volume was etched by +S. A. Schoff, in 1888, after a painting by Bass Otis, a pupil of +Gilbert Stuart, made in the winter of 1836-1837. + + + + +PROEM + +I LOVE the old melodious lays +Which softly melt the ages through, +The songs of Spenser's golden days, +Arcadian Sidney's silvery phrase, +Sprinkling our noon of time with freshest morning dew. + +Yet, vainly in my quiet hours +To breathe their marvellous notes I try; +I feel them, as the leaves and flowers +In silence feel the dewy showers, +And drink with glad, still lips the blessing of the sky. + +The rigor of a frozen clime, +The harshness of an untaught ear, +The jarring words of one whose rhyme +Beat often Labor's hurried time, +Or Duty's rugged march through storm and strife, are here. + +Of mystic beauty, dreamy grace, +No rounded art the lack supplies; +Unskilled the subtle lines to trace, +Or softer shades of Nature's face, +I view her common forms with unanointed eyes. + +Nor mine the seer-like power to show +The secrets of the heart and mind; +To drop the plummet-line below +Our common world of joy and woe, +A more intense despair or brighter hope to find. + +Yet here at least an earnest sense +Of human right and weal is shown; +A hate of tyranny intense, +And hearty in its vehemence, +As if my brother's pain and sorrow were my own. + +O Freedom! if to me belong +Nor mighty Milton's gift divine, +Nor Marvell's wit and graceful song, +Still with a love as deep and strong +As theirs, I lay, like them, my best gifts on thy shrine. + +AMESBURY, 11th mo., 1847. + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The edition of my poems published in 1857 contained the following note +by way of preface:-- + +"In these volumes, for the first time, a complete collection of my +poetical writings has been made. While it is satisfactory to know that +these scattered children of my brain have found a home, I cannot but +regret that I have been unable, by reason of illness, to give that +attention to their revision and arrangement, which respect for the +opinions of others and my own afterthought and experience demand. + +"That there are pieces in this collection which I would 'willingly let +die,' I am free to confess. But it is now too late to disown them, and I +must submit to the inevitable penalty of poetical as well as other sins. +There are others, intimately connected with the author's life and times, +which owe their tenacity of vitality to the circumstances under which +they were written, and the events by which they were suggested. + +"The long poem of Mogg Megone was in a great measure composed in early +life; and it is scarcely necessary to say that its subject is not such +as the writer would have chosen at any subsequent period." + +After a lapse of thirty years since the above was written, I have been +requested by my publishers to make some preparation for a new and +revised edition of my poems. I cannot flatter myself that I have added +much to the interest of the work beyond the correction of my own errors +and those of the press, with the addition of a few heretofore +unpublished pieces, and occasional notes of explanation which seemed +necessary. I have made an attempt to classify the poems under a few +general heads, and have transferred the long poem of Mogg Megone to the +Appendix, with other specimens of my earlier writings. I have endeavored +to affix the dates of composition or publication as far as possible. + +In looking over these poems I have not been unmindful of occasional +prosaic lines and verbal infelicities, but at this late day I have +neither strength nor patience to undertake their correction. + +Perhaps a word of explanation may be needed in regard to a class of +poems written between the years 1832 and 1865. Of their defects from an +artistic point of view it is not necessary to speak. They were the +earnest and often vehement expression of the writer's thought and +feeling at critical periods in the great conflict between Freedom and +Slavery. They were written with no expectation that they would survive +the occasions which called them forth: they were protests, alarm +signals, trumpet-calls to action, words wrung from the writer's heart, +forged at white heat, and of course lacking the finish and careful +word-selection which reflection and patient brooding over them might +have given. Such as they are, they belong to the history of the +Anti-Slavery movement, and may serve as way-marks of its progress. If +their language at times seems severe and harsh, the monstrous wrong of +Slavery which provoked it must be its excuse, if any is needed. In +attacking it, we did not measure our words. "It is," said Garrison, +"a waste of politeness to be courteous to the devil." But in truth the +contest was, in a great measure, an impersonal one,--hatred of slavery +and not of slave-masters. + + "No common wrong provoked our zeal, + The silken gauntlet which is thrown + In such a quarrel rings like steel." + +Even Thomas Jefferson, in his terrible denunciation of Slavery in the +Notes on Virginia, says "It is impossible to be temperate and pursue the +subject of Slavery." After the great contest was over, no class of the +American people were more ready, with kind words and deprecation of +harsh retaliation, to welcome back the revolted States than the +Abolitionists; and none have since more heartily rejoiced at the fast +increasing prosperity of the South. + +Grateful for the measure of favor which has been accorded to my +writings, I leave this edition with the public. It contains all that I +care to re-publish, and some things which, had the matter of choice been +left solely to myself, I should have omitted. + J. G. W. + + + + + +NARRATIVE AND LEGENDARY POEMS + +THE VAUDOIS TEACHER. + +This poem was suggested by the account given of the manner which the +Waldenses disseminated their principles among the Catholic gentry. They +gained access to the house through their occupation as peddlers of +silks, jewels, and trinkets. "Having disposed of some of their goods," +it is said by a writer who quotes the inquisitor Rainerus Sacco, "they +cautiously intimated that they had commodities far more valuable than +these, inestimable jewels, which they would show if they could be +protected from the clergy. They would then give their purchasers a Bible +or Testament; and thereby many were deluded into heresy." The poem, +under the title Le Colporteur Vaudois, was translated into French by +Professor G. de Felice, of Montauban, and further naturalized by +Professor Alexandre Rodolphe Vinet, who quoted it in his lectures on +French literature, afterwards published. It became familiar in this form +to the Waldenses, who adopted it as a household poem. An American +clergyman, J. C. Fletcher, frequently heard it when he was a student, +about the year 1850, in the theological seminary at Geneva, Switzerland, +but the authorship of the poem was unknown to those who used it. +Twenty-five years later, Mr. Fletcher, learning the name of the author, +wrote to the moderator of the Waldensian synod at La Tour, giving the +information. At the banquet which closed the meeting of the synod, the +moderator announced the fact, and was instructed in the name of the +Waldensian church to write to me a letter of thanks. My letter, written +in reply, was translated into Italian and printed throughout Italy. + +"O LADY fair, these silks of mine + are beautiful and rare,-- +The richest web of the Indian loom, which beauty's + queen might wear; +And my pearls are pure as thy own fair neck, with whose + radiant light they vie; +I have brought them with me a weary way,--will my + gentle lady buy?" + +The lady smiled on the worn old man through the + dark and clustering curls +Which veiled her brow, as she bent to view his + silks and glittering pearls; +And she placed their price in the old man's hand + and lightly turned away, +But she paused at the wanderer's earnest call,-- + "My gentle lady, stay! + +"O lady fair, I have yet a gem which a purer + lustre flings, +Than the diamond flash of the jewelled crown on + the lofty brow of kings; +A wonderful pearl of exceeding price, whose virtue + shall not decay, +Whose light shall be as a spell to thee and a + blessing on thy way!" + +The lady glanced at the mirroring steel where her + form of grace was seen, +Where her eye shone clear, and her dark locks + waved their clasping pearls between; +"Bring forth thy pearl of exceeding worth, thou + traveller gray and old, +And name the price of thy precious gem, and my + page shall count thy gold." + +The cloud went off from the pilgrim's brow, as a + small and meagre book, +Unchased with gold or gem of cost, from his + folding robe he took! +"Here, lady fair, is the pearl of price, may it prove + as such to thee +Nay, keep thy gold--I ask it not, for the word of + God is free!" + +The hoary traveller went his way, but the gift he + left behind +Hath had its pure and perfect work on that high- + born maiden's mind, +And she hath turned from the pride of sin to the + lowliness of truth, +And given her human heart to God in its beautiful + hour of youth + +And she hath left the gray old halls, where an evil + faith had power, +The courtly knights of her father's train, and the + maidens of her bower; +And she hath gone to the Vaudois vales by lordly + feet untrod, +Where the poor and needy of earth are rich in the + perfect love of God! +1830. + + + + +THE FEMALE MARTYR. + +Mary G-----, aged eighteen, a "Sister of Charity," died in one of our +Atlantic cities, during the prevalence of the Indian cholera, while +in voluntary attendance upon the sick. + + +"BRING out your dead!" The midnight street +Heard and gave back the hoarse, low call; +Harsh fell the tread of hasty feet, +Glanced through the dark the coarse white sheet, +Her coffin and her pall. +"What--only one!" the brutal hack-man said, +As, with an oath, he spurned away the dead. + +How sunk the inmost hearts of all, +As rolled that dead-cart slowly by, +With creaking wheel and harsh hoof-fall! +The dying turned him to the wall, +To hear it and to die! +Onward it rolled; while oft its driver stayed, +And hoarsely clamored, "Ho! bring out your dead." + +It paused beside the burial-place; +"Toss in your load!" and it was done. +With quick hand and averted face, +Hastily to the grave's embrace +They cast them, one by one, +Stranger and friend, the evil and the just, +Together trodden in the churchyard dust. + +And thou, young martyr! thou wast there; +No white-robed sisters round thee trod, +Nor holy hymn, nor funeral prayer +Rose through the damp and noisome air, +Giving thee to thy God; +Nor flower, nor cross, nor hallowed taper gave +Grace to the dead, and beauty to the grave! + +Yet, gentle sufferer! there shall be, +In every heart of kindly feeling, +A rite as holy paid to thee +As if beneath the convent-tree +Thy sisterhood were kneeling, +At vesper hours, like sorrowing angels, keeping +Their tearful watch around thy place of sleeping. + +For thou wast one in whom the light +Of Heaven's own love was kindled well; +Enduring with a martyr's might, +Through weary day and wakeful night, +Far more than words may tell +Gentle, and meek, and lowly, and unknown, +Thy mercies measured by thy God alone! + +Where manly hearts were failing, where +The throngful street grew foul with death, +O high-souled martyr! thou wast there, +Inhaling, from the loathsome air, +Poison with every breath. +Yet shrinking not from offices of dread +For the wrung dying, and the unconscious dead. + +And, where the sickly taper shed +Its light through vapors, damp, confined, +Hushed as a seraph's fell thy tread, +A new Electra by the bed +Of suffering human-kind! +Pointing the spirit, in its dark dismay, +To that pure hope which fadeth not away. + +Innocent teacher of the high +And holy mysteries of Heaven! +How turned to thee each glazing eye, +In mute and awful sympathy, +As thy low prayers were given; +And the o'er-hovering Spoiler wore, the while, +An angel's features, a deliverer's smile! + +A blessed task! and worthy one +Who, turning from the world, as thou, +Before life's pathway had begun +To leave its spring-time flower and sun, +Had sealed her early vow; +Giving to God her beauty and her youth, +Her pure affections and her guileless truth. + +Earth may not claim thee. Nothing here +Could be for thee a meet reward; +Thine is a treasure far more dear +Eye hath not seen it, nor the ear +Of living mortal heard +The joys prepared, the promised bliss above, +The holy presence of Eternal Love! + +Sleep on in peace. The earth has not +A nobler name than thine shall be. +The deeds by martial manhood wrought, +The lofty energies of thought, +The fire of poesy, +These have but frail and fading honors; thine +Shall Time unto Eternity consign. + +Yea, and when thrones shall crumble down, +And human pride and grandeur fall, +The herald's line of long renown, +The mitre and the kingly crown,-- +Perishing glories all! +The pure devotion of thy generous heart +Shall live in Heaven, of which it was a part. +1833. + + + + +EXTRACT FROM "A NEW ENGLAND LEGEND." +(Originally a part of the author's Moll Pitcher.) + +How has New England's romance fled, +Even as a vision of the morning! +Its rites foredone, its guardians dead, +Its priestesses, bereft of dread, +Waking the veriest urchin's scorning! +Gone like the Indian wizard's yell +And fire-dance round the magic rock, +Forgotten like the Druid's spell +At moonrise by his holy oak! +No more along the shadowy glen +Glide the dim ghosts of murdered men; +No more the unquiet churchyard dead +Glimpse upward from their turfy bed, +Startling the traveller, late and lone; +As, on some night of starless weather, +They silently commune together, +Each sitting on his own head-stone +The roofless house, decayed, deserted, +Its living tenants all departed, +No longer rings with midnight revel +Of witch, or ghost, or goblin evil; +No pale blue flame sends out its flashes +Through creviced roof and shattered sashes! +The witch-grass round the hazel spring +May sharply to the night-air sing, +But there no more shall withered hags +Refresh at ease their broomstick nags, +Or taste those hazel-shadowed waters +As beverage meet for Satan's daughters; +No more their mimic tones be heard, +The mew of cat, the chirp of bird, +Shrill blending with the hoarser laughter +Of the fell demon following after! +The cautious goodman nails no more +A horseshoe on his outer door, +Lest some unseemly hag should fit +To his own mouth her bridle-bit; +The goodwife's churn no more refuses +Its wonted culinary uses +Until, with heated needle burned, +The witch has to her place returned! +Our witches are no longer old +And wrinkled beldames, Satan-sold, +But young and gay and laughing creatures, +With the heart's sunshine on their features; +Their sorcery--the light which dances +Where the raised lid unveils its glances; +Or that low-breathed and gentle tone, +The music of Love's twilight hours, +Soft, dream-like, as a fairy's moan +Above her nightly closing flowers, +Sweeter than that which sighed of yore +Along the charmed Ausonian shore! +Even she, our own weird heroine, +Sole Pythoness of ancient Lynn,' +Sleeps calmly where the living laid her; +And the wide realm of sorcery, +Left by its latest mistress free, +Hath found no gray and skilled invader. +So--perished Albion's "glammarye," +With him in Melrose Abbey sleeping, +His charmed torch beside his knee, +That even the dead himself might see +The magic scroll within his keeping. +And now our modern Yankee sees +Nor omens, spells, nor mysteries; +And naught above, below, around, +Of life or death, of sight or sound, +Whate'er its nature, form, or look, +Excites his terror or surprise, +All seeming to his knowing eyes +Familiar as his "catechise," +Or "Webster's Spelling-Book." +1833. + + + + +THE DEMON OF THE STUDY. + +THE Brownie sits in the Scotchman's room, +And eats his meat and drinks his ale, +And beats the maid with her unused broom, +And the lazy lout with his idle flail; +But he sweeps the floor and threshes the corn, +And hies him away ere the break of dawn. + +The shade of Denmark fled from the sun, +And the Cocklane ghost from the barn-loft cheer, +The fiend of Faust was a faithful one, +Agrippa's demon wrought in fear, +And the devil of Martin Luther sat +By the stout monk's side in social chat. + +The Old Man of the Sea, on the neck of him +Who seven times crossed the deep, +Twined closely each lean and withered limb, +Like the nightmare in one's sleep. +But he drank of the wine, and Sindbad cast +The evil weight from his back at last. + +But the demon that cometh day by day +To my quiet room and fireside nook, +Where the casement light falls dim and gray +On faded painting and ancient book, +Is a sorrier one than any whose names +Are chronicled well by good King James. + +No bearer of burdens like Caliban, +No runner of errands like Ariel, +He comes in the shape of a fat old man, +Without rap of knuckle or pull of bell; +And whence he comes, or whither he goes, +I know as I do of the wind which blows. + +A stout old man with a greasy hat +Slouched heavily down to his dark, red nose, +And two gray eyes enveloped in fat, +Looking through glasses with iron bows. +Read ye, and heed ye, and ye who can, +Guard well your doors from that old man! + +He comes with a careless "How d' ye do?" +And seats himself in my elbow-chair; +And my morning paper and pamphlet new +Fall forthwith under his special care, +And he wipes his glasses and clears his throat, +And, button by button, unfolds his coat. + +And then he reads from paper and book, +In a low and husky asthmatic tone, +With the stolid sameness of posture and look +Of one who reads to himself alone; +And hour after hour on my senses come +That husky wheeze and that dolorous hum. + +The price of stocks, the auction sales, +The poet's song and the lover's glee, +The horrible murders, the seaboard gales, +The marriage list, and the jeu d'esprit, +All reach my ear in the self-same tone,-- +I shudder at each, but the fiend reads on! + +Oh, sweet as the lapse of water at noon +O'er the mossy roots of some forest tree, +The sigh of the wind in the woods of June, +Or sound of flutes o'er a moonlight sea, +Or the low soft music, perchance, which seems +To float through the slumbering singer's dreams, + +So sweet, so dear is the silvery tone, +Of her in whose features I sometimes look, +As I sit at eve by her side alone, +And we read by turns, from the self-same book, +Some tale perhaps of the olden time, +Some lover's romance or quaint old rhyme. + +Then when the story is one of woe,-- +Some prisoner's plaint through his dungeon-bar, +Her blue eye glistens with tears, and low +Her voice sinks down like a moan afar; +And I seem to hear that prisoner's wail, +And his face looks on me worn and pale. + +And when she reads some merrier song, +Her voice is glad as an April bird's, +And when the tale is of war and wrong, +A trumpet's summons is in her words, +And the rush of the hosts I seem to hear, +And see the tossing of plume and spear! + +Oh, pity me then, when, day by day, +The stout fiend darkens my parlor door; +And reads me perchance the self-same lay +Which melted in music, the night before, +From lips as the lips of Hylas sweet, +And moved like twin roses which zephyrs meet! + +I cross my floor with a nervous tread, +I whistle and laugh and sing and shout, +I flourish my cane above his head, +And stir up the fire to roast him out; +I topple the chairs, and drum on the pane, +And press my hands on my ears, in vain! + +I've studied Glanville and James the wise, +And wizard black-letter tomes which treat +Of demons of every name and size +Which a Christian man is presumed to meet, +But never a hint and never a line +Can I find of a reading fiend like mine. + +I've crossed the Psalter with Brady and Tate, +And laid the Primer above them all, +I've nailed a horseshoe over the grate, +And hung a wig to my parlor wall +Once worn by a learned Judge, they say, +At Salem court in the witchcraft day! + +"Conjuro te, sceleratissime, +Abire ad tuum locum!"--still +Like a visible nightmare he sits by me,-- +The exorcism has lost its skill; +And I hear again in my haunted room +The husky wheeze and the dolorous hum! + +Ah! commend me to Mary Magdalen +With her sevenfold plagues, to the wandering Jew, +To the terrors which haunted Orestes when +The furies his midnight curtains drew, +But charm him off, ye who charm him can, +That reading demon, that fat old man! +1835. + + + + +THE FOUNTAIN. + +On the declivity of a hill in Salisbury, Essex County, is a fountain of +clear water, gushing from the very roots of a venerable oak. It is about +two miles from the junction of the Powow River with the Merrimac. + +TRAVELLER! on thy journey toiling +By the swift Powow, +With the summer sunshine falling +On thy heated brow, +Listen, while all else is still, +To the brooklet from the hill. + +Wild and sweet the flowers are blowing +By that streamlet's side, +And a greener verdure showing +Where its waters glide, +Down the hill-slope murmuring on, +Over root and mossy stone. + +Where yon oak his broad arms flingeth +O'er the sloping hill, +Beautiful and freshly springeth +That soft-flowing rill, +Through its dark roots wreathed and bare, +Gushing up to sun and air. + +Brighter waters sparkled never +In that magic well, +Of whose gift of life forever +Ancient legends tell, +In the lonely desert wasted, +And by mortal lip untasted. + +Waters which the proud Castilian +Sought with longing eyes, +Underneath the bright pavilion +Of the Indian skies, +Where his forest pathway lay +Through the blooms of Florida. + +Years ago a lonely stranger, +With the dusky brow +Of the outcast forest-ranger, +Crossed the swift Powow, +And betook him to the rill +And the oak upon the hill. + +O'er his face of moody sadness +For an instant shone +Something like a gleam of gladness, +As he stooped him down +To the fountain's grassy side, +And his eager thirst supplied. + +With the oak its shadow throwing +O'er his mossy seat, +And the cool, sweet waters flowing +Softly at his feet, +Closely by the fountain's rim +That lone Indian seated him. + +Autumn's earliest frost had given +To the woods below +Hues of beauty, such as heaven +Lendeth to its bow; +And the soft breeze from the west +Scarcely broke their dreamy rest. + +Far behind was Ocean striving +With his chains of sand; +Southward, sunny glimpses giving, +'Twixt the swells of land, +Of its calm and silvery track, +Rolled the tranquil Merrimac. + +Over village, wood, and meadow +Gazed that stranger man, +Sadly, till the twilight shadow +Over all things ran, +Save where spire and westward pane +Flashed the sunset back again. + +Gazing thus upon the dwelling +Of his warrior sires, +Where no lingering trace was telling +Of their wigwam fires, +Who the gloomy thoughts might know +Of that wandering child of woe? + +Naked lay, in sunshine glowing, +Hills that once had stood +Down their sides the shadows throwing +Of a mighty wood, +Where the deer his covert kept, +And the eagle's pinion swept! + +Where the birch canoe had glided +Down the swift Powow, +Dark and gloomy bridges strided +Those clear waters now; +And where once the beaver swam, +Jarred the wheel and frowned the dam. + +For the wood-bird's merry singing, +And the hunter's cheer, +Iron clang and hammer's ringing +Smote upon his ear; +And the thick and sullen smoke +From the blackened forges broke. + +Could it be his fathers ever +Loved to linger here? +These bare hills, this conquered river,-- +Could they hold them dear, +With their native loveliness +Tamed and tortured into this? + +Sadly, as the shades of even +Gathered o'er the hill, +While the western half of heaven +Blushed with sunset still, +From the fountain's mossy seat +Turned the Indian's weary feet. + +Year on year hath flown forever, +But he came no more +To the hillside on the river +Where he came before. +But the villager can tell +Of that strange man's visit well. + +And the merry children, laden +With their fruits or flowers, +Roving boy and laughing maiden, +In their school-day hours, +Love the simple tale to tell +Of the Indian and his well. +1837 + + + + +PENTUCKET. + +The village of Haverhill, on the Merrimac, called by the Indians +Pentucket, was for nearly seventeen years a frontier town, and during +thirty years endured all the horrors of savage warfare. In the year +1708, a combined body of French and Indians, under the command of De +Chaillons, and Hertel de Rouville, the famous and bloody sacker of +Deerfield, made an attack upon the village, which at that time contained +only thirty houses. Sixteen of the villagers were massacred, and a still +larger number made prisoners. About thirty of the enemy also fell, among +them Hertel de Rouville. The minister of the place, Benjamin Rolfe, was +killed by a shot through his own door. In a paper entitled The Border +War of 1708, published in my collection of Recreations and Miscellanies, +I have given a prose narrative of the surprise of Haverhill. + + +How sweetly on the wood-girt town +The mellow light of sunset shone! +Each small, bright lake, whose waters still +Mirror the forest and the hill, +Reflected from its waveless breast +The beauty of a cloudless west, +Glorious as if a glimpse were given +Within the western gates of heaven, +Left, by the spirit of the star +Of sunset's holy hour, ajar! + +Beside the river's tranquil flood +The dark and low-walled dwellings stood, +Where many a rood of open land +Stretched up and down on either hand, +With corn-leaves waving freshly green +The thick and blackened stumps between. +Behind, unbroken, deep and dread, +The wild, untravelled forest spread, +Back to those mountains, white and cold, +Of which the Indian trapper told, +Upon whose summits never yet +Was mortal foot in safety set. + +Quiet and calm without a fear, +Of danger darkly lurking near, +The weary laborer left his plough, +The milkmaid carolled by her cow; +From cottage door and household hearth +Rose songs of praise, or tones of mirth. + +At length the murmur died away, +And silence on that village lay. +--So slept Pompeii, tower and hall, +Ere the quick earthquake swallowed all, +Undreaming of the fiery fate +Which made its dwellings desolate. + +Hours passed away. By moonlight sped +The Merrimac along his bed. +Bathed in the pallid lustre, stood +Dark cottage-wall and rock and wood, +Silent, beneath that tranquil beam, +As the hushed grouping of a dream. +Yet on the still air crept a sound, +No bark of fox, nor rabbit's bound, +Nor stir of wings, nor waters flowing, +Nor leaves in midnight breezes blowing. + +Was that the tread of many feet, +Which downward from the hillside beat? +What forms were those which darkly stood +Just on the margin of the wood?-- +Charred tree-stumps in the moonlight dim, +Or paling rude, or leafless limb? +No,--through the trees fierce eyeballs glowed, +Dark human forms in moonshine showed, +Wild from their native wilderness, +With painted limbs and battle-dress. + +A yell the dead might wake to hear +Swelled on the night air, far and clear; +Then smote the Indian tomahawk +On crashing door and shattering lock; + +Then rang the rifle-shot, and then +The shrill death-scream of stricken men,-- +Sank the red axe in woman's brain, +And childhood's cry arose in vain. +Bursting through roof and window came, +Red, fast, and fierce, the kindled flame, +And blended fire and moonlight glared +On still dead men and scalp-knives bared. + +The morning sun looked brightly through +The river willows, wet with dew. +No sound of combat filled the air, +No shout was heard, nor gunshot there; +Yet still the thick and sullen smoke +From smouldering ruins slowly broke; +And on the greensward many a stain, +And, here and there, the mangled slain, +Told how that midnight bolt had sped +Pentucket, on thy fated head. + +Even now the villager can tell +Where Rolfe beside his hearthstone fell, +Still show the door of wasting oak, +Through which the fatal death-shot broke, +And point the curious stranger where +De Rouville's corse lay grim and bare; +Whose hideous head, in death still feared, +Bore not a trace of hair or beard; +And still, within the churchyard ground, +Heaves darkly up the ancient mound, +Whose grass-grown surface overlies +The victims of that sacrifice. +1838. + + + + +THE NORSEMEN. + +In the early part of the present century, a fragment of a statue, rudely +chiselled from dark gray stone, was found in the town of Bradford, on +the Merrimac. Its origin must be left entirely to conjecture. The fact +that the ancient Northmen visited the north-east coast of North America +and probably New England, some centuries before the discovery of the +western world by Columbus, is very generally admitted. + +GIFT from the cold and silent Past! +A relic to the present cast, +Left on the ever-changing strand +Of shifting and unstable sand, +Which wastes beneath the steady chime +And beating of the waves of Time! +Who from its bed of primal rock +First wrenched thy dark, unshapely block? +Whose hand, of curious skill untaught, +Thy rude and savage outline wrought? + +The waters of my native stream +Are glancing in the sun's warm beam; +From sail-urged keel and flashing oar +The circles widen to its shore; +And cultured field and peopled town +Slope to its willowed margin down. +Yet, while this morning breeze is bringing +The home-life sound of school-bells ringing, +And rolling wheel, and rapid jar +Of the fire-winged and steedless car, +And voices from the wayside near +Come quick and blended on my ear,-- +A spell is in this old gray stone, +My thoughts are with the Past alone! + +A change!--The steepled town no more +Stretches along the sail-thronged shore; +Like palace-domes in sunset's cloud, +Fade sun-gilt spire and mansion proud +Spectrally rising where they stood, +I see the old, primeval wood; +Dark, shadow-like, on either hand +I see its solemn waste expand; +It climbs the green and cultured hill, +It arches o'er the valley's rill, +And leans from cliff and crag to throw +Its wild arms o'er the stream below. +Unchanged, alone, the same bright river +Flows on, as it will flow forever +I listen, and I hear the low +Soft ripple where its waters go; +I hear behind the panther's cry, +The wild-bird's scream goes thrilling by, +And shyly on the river's brink +The deer is stooping down to drink. + +But hark!--from wood and rock flung back, +What sound comes up the Merrimac? +What sea-worn barks are those which throw +The light spray from each rushing prow? +Have they not in the North Sea's blast +Bowed to the waves the straining mast? +Their frozen sails the low, pale sun +Of Thule's night has shone upon; +Flapped by the sea-wind's gusty sweep +Round icy drift, and headland steep. +Wild Jutland's wives and Lochlin's daughters +Have watched them fading o'er the waters, +Lessening through driving mist and spray, +Like white-winged sea-birds on their way! + +Onward they glide,--and now I view +Their iron-armed and stalwart crew; +Joy glistens in each wild blue eye, +Turned to green earth and summer sky. +Each broad, seamed breast has cast aside +Its cumbering vest of shaggy hide; +Bared to the sun and soft warm air, +Streams back the Norsemen's yellow hair. +I see the gleam of axe and spear, +The sound of smitten shields I hear, +Keeping a harsh and fitting time +To Saga's chant, and Runic rhyme; +Such lays as Zetland's Scald has sung, +His gray and naked isles among; +Or muttered low at midnight hour +Round Odin's mossy stone of power. +The wolf beneath the Arctic moon +Has answered to that startling rune; +The Gael has heard its stormy swell, +The light Frank knows its summons well; +Iona's sable-stoled Culdee +Has heard it sounding o'er the sea, +And swept, with hoary beard and hair, +His altar's foot in trembling prayer. + +'T is past,--the 'wildering vision dies +In darkness on my dreaming eyes +The forest vanishes in air, +Hill-slope and vale lie starkly bare; +I hear the common tread of men, +And hum of work-day life again; + +The mystic relic seems alone +A broken mass of common stone; +And if it be the chiselled limb +Of Berserker or idol grim, +A fragment of Valhalla's Thor, +The stormy Viking's god of War, +Or Praga of the Runic lay, +Or love-awakening Siona, +I know not,--for no graven line, +Nor Druid mark, nor Runic sign, +Is left me here, by which to trace +Its name, or origin, or place. +Yet, for this vision of the Past, +This glance upon its darkness cast, +My spirit bows in gratitude +Before the Giver of all good, +Who fashioned so the human mind, +That, from the waste of Time behind, +A simple stone, or mound of earth, +Can summon the departed forth; +Quicken the Past to life again, +The Present lose in what hath been, +And in their primal freshness show +The buried forms of long ago. +As if a portion of that Thought +By which the Eternal will is wrought, +Whose impulse fills anew with breath +The frozen solitude of Death, +To mortal mind were sometimes lent, +To mortal musings sometimes sent, +To whisper-even when it seems +But Memory's fantasy of dreams-- +Through the mind's waste of woe and sin, +Of an immortal origin! +1841. + + + + +FUNERAL TREE OF THE SOKOKIS. + +Polan, chief of the Sokokis Indians of the country between Agamenticus +and Casco Bay, was killed at Windham on Sebago Lake in the spring of +1756. After the whites had retired, the surviving Indians "swayed" or +bent down a young tree until its roots were upturned, placed the body of +their chief beneath it, then released the tree, which, in springing back +to its old position, covered the grave. The Sokokis were early converts +to the Catholic faith. Most of them, prior to the year 1756, had removed +to the French settlements on the St. Francois. + +AROUND Sebago's lonely lake +There lingers not a breeze to break +The mirror which its waters make. + +The solemn pines along its shore, +The firs which hang its gray rocks o'er, +Are painted on its glassy floor. + +The sun looks o'er, with hazy eye, +The snowy mountain-tops which lie +Piled coldly up against the sky. + +Dazzling and white! save where the bleak, +Wild winds have bared some splintering peak, +Or snow-slide left its dusky streak. + +Yet green are Saco's banks below, +And belts of spruce and cedar show, +Dark fringing round those cones of snow. + +The earth hath felt the breath of spring, +Though yet on her deliverer's wing +The lingering frosts of winter cling. + +Fresh grasses fringe the meadow-brooks, +And mildly from its sunny nooks +The blue eye of the violet looks. + +And odors from the springing grass, +The sweet birch and the sassafras, +Upon the scarce-felt breezes pass. + +Her tokens of renewing care +Hath Nature scattered everywhere, +In bud and flower, and warmer air. + +But in their hour of bitterness, +What reek the broken Sokokis, +Beside their slaughtered chief, of this? + +The turf's red stain is yet undried, +Scarce have the death-shot echoes died +Along Sebago's wooded side; + +And silent now the hunters stand, +Grouped darkly, where a swell of land +Slopes upward from the lake's white sand. + +Fire and the axe have swept it bare, +Save one lone beech, unclosing there +Its light leaves in the vernal air. + +With grave, cold looks, all sternly mute, +They break the damp turf at its foot, +And bare its coiled and twisted root. + +They heave the stubborn trunk aside, +The firm roots from the earth divide,-- +The rent beneath yawns dark and wide. + +And there the fallen chief is laid, +In tasselled garb of skins arrayed, +And girded with his wampum-braid. + +The silver cross he loved is pressed +Beneath the heavy arms, which rest +Upon his scarred and naked breast. + +'T is done: the roots are backward sent, +The beechen-tree stands up unbent, +The Indian's fitting monument! + +When of that sleeper's broken race +Their green and pleasant dwelling-place, +Which knew them once, retains no trace; + +Oh, long may sunset's light be shed +As now upon that beech's head, +A green memorial of the dead! + +There shall his fitting requiem be, +In northern winds, that, cold and free, +Howl nightly in that funeral tree. + +To their wild wail the waves which break +Forever round that lonely lake +A solemn undertone shall make! + +And who shall deem the spot unblest, +Where Nature's younger children rest, +Lulled on their sorrowing mother's breast? + +Deem ye that mother loveth less +These bronzed forms of the wilderness +She foldeth in her long caress? + +As sweet o'er them her wild-flowers blow, +As if with fairer hair and brow +The blue-eyed Saxon slept below. + +What though the places of their rest +No priestly knee hath ever pressed,-- +No funeral rite nor prayer hath blessed? + +What though the bigot's ban be there, +And thoughts of wailing and despair, +And cursing in the place of prayer. + +Yet Heaven hath angels watching round +The Indian's lowliest forest-mound,-- +And they have made it holy ground. + +There ceases man's frail judgment; all +His powerless bolts of cursing fall +Unheeded on that grassy pall. + +O peeled and hunted and reviled, +Sleep on, dark tenant of the wild! +Great Nature owns her simple child! + +And Nature's God, to whom alone +The secret of the heart is known,-- +The hidden language traced thereon; + +Who from its many cumberings +Of form and creed, and outward things, +To light the naked spirit brings; + +Not with our partial eye shall scan, +Not with our pride and scorn shall ban, +The spirit of our brother man! +1841. + + + + +ST. JOHN. + +The fierce rivalry between Charles de La Tour, a Protestant, and +D'Aulnay Charnasy, a Catholic, for the possession of Acadia, forms one +of the most romantic passages in the history of the New World. La Tour +received aid in several instances from the Puritan colony of +Massachusetts. During one of his voyages for the purpose of obtaining +arms and provisions for his establishment at St. John, his castle was +attacked by D'Aulnay, and successfully defended by its high-spirited +mistress. A second attack however followed in the fourth month, 1647, +when D'Aulnay was successful, and the garrison was put to the sword. +Lady La Tour languished a few days in the hands of her enemy, and then +died of grief. + +"To the winds give our banner! +Bear homeward again!" +Cried the Lord of Acadia, +Cried Charles of Estienne; +From the prow of his shallop +He gazed, as the sun, +From its bed in the ocean, +Streamed up the St. John. + +O'er the blue western waters +That shallop had passed, +Where the mists of Penobscot +Clung damp on her mast. +St. Saviour had looked +On the heretic sail, +As the songs of the Huguenot +Rose on the gale. + +The pale, ghostly fathers +Remembered her well, +And had cursed her while passing, +With taper and bell; +But the men of Monhegan, +Of Papists abhorred, +Had welcomed and feasted +The heretic Lord. + +They had loaded his shallop +With dun-fish and ball, +With stores for his larder, +And steel for his wall. +Pemaquid, from her bastions +And turrets of stone, +Had welcomed his coming +With banner and gun. + +And the prayers of the elders +Had followed his way, +As homeward he glided, +Down Pentecost Bay. +Oh, well sped La Tour +For, in peril and pain, +His lady kept watch, +For his coming again. + +O'er the Isle of the Pheasant +The morning sun shone, +On the plane-trees which shaded +The shores of St. John. +"Now, why from yon battlements +Speaks not my love! +Why waves there no banner +My fortress above?" + +Dark and wild, from his deck +St. Estienne gazed about, +On fire-wasted dwellings, +And silent redoubt; +From the low, shattered walls +Which the flame had o'errun, +There floated no banner, +There thundered no gun! + +But beneath the low arch +Of its doorway there stood +A pale priest of Rome, +In his cloak and his hood. +With the bound of a lion, +La Tour sprang to land, +On the throat of the Papist +He fastened his hand. + +"Speak, son of the Woman +Of scarlet and sin! +What wolf has been prowling +My castle within?" +From the grasp of the soldier +The Jesuit broke, +Half in scorn, half in sorrow, +He smiled as he spoke: + +"No wolf, Lord of Estienne, +Has ravaged thy hall, +But thy red-handed rival, +With fire, steel, and ball! +On an errand of mercy +I hitherward came, +While the walls of thy castle +Yet spouted with flame. + +"Pentagoet's dark vessels +Were moored in the bay, +Grim sea-lions, roaring +Aloud for their prey." +"But what of my lady?" +Cried Charles of Estienne. +"On the shot-crumbled turret +Thy lady was seen: + +"Half-veiled in the smoke-cloud, +Her hand grasped thy pennon, +While her dark tresses swayed +In the hot breath of cannon! +But woe to the heretic, +Evermore woe! +When the son of the church +And the cross is his foe! + +"In the track of the shell, +In the path of the ball, +Pentagoet swept over +The breach of the wall! +Steel to steel, gun to gun, +One moment,--and then +Alone stood the victor, +Alone with his men! + +"Of its sturdy defenders, +Thy lady alone +Saw the cross-blazoned banner +Float over St. John." +"Let the dastard look to it!" +Cried fiery Estienne, +"Were D'Aulnay King Louis, +I'd free her again!" + +"Alas for thy lady! +No service from thee +Is needed by her +Whom the Lord hath set free; +Nine days, in stern silence, +Her thraldom she bore, +But the tenth morning came, +And Death opened her door!" + +As if suddenly smitten +La Tour staggered back; +His hand grasped his sword-hilt, +His forehead grew black. +He sprang on the deck +Of his shallop again. +"We cruise now for vengeance! +Give way!" cried Estienne. + +"Massachusetts shall hear +Of the Huguenot's wrong, +And from island and creekside +Her fishers shall throng! +Pentagoet shall rue +What his Papists have done, +When his palisades echo +The Puritan's gun!" + +Oh, the loveliest of heavens +Hung tenderly o'er him, +There were waves in the sunshine, +And green isles before him: +But a pale hand was beckoning +The Huguenot on; +And in blackness and ashes +Behind was St. John! +1841 + + + + +THE CYPRESS-TREE OF CEYLON. + +Ibn Batuta, the celebrated Mussulman traveller of the fourteenth +century, speaks of a cypress-tree in Ceylon, universally held sacred by +the natives, the leaves of which were said to fall only at certain +intervals, and he who had the happiness to find and eat one of them was +restored, at once, to youth and vigor. The traveller saw several +venerable Jogees, or saints, sitting silent and motionless under the +tree, patiently awaiting the falling of a leaf. + +THEY sat in silent watchfulness +The sacred cypress-tree about, +And, from beneath old wrinkled brows, +Their failing eyes looked out. + +Gray Age and Sickness waiting there +Through weary night and lingering day,-- +Grim as the idols at their side, +And motionless as they. + +Unheeded in the boughs above +The song of Ceylon's birds was sweet; +Unseen of them the island flowers +Bloomed brightly at their feet. + +O'er them the tropic night-storm swept, +The thunder crashed on rock and hill; +The cloud-fire on their eyeballs blazed, +Yet there they waited still! + +What was the world without to them? +The Moslem's sunset-call, the dance +Of Ceylon's maids, the passing gleam +Of battle-flag and lance? + +They waited for that falling leaf +Of which the wandering Jogees sing: +Which lends once more to wintry age +The greenness of its spring. + +Oh, if these poor and blinded ones +In trustful patience wait to feel +O'er torpid pulse and failing limb +A youthful freshness steal; + +Shall we, who sit beneath that Tree +Whose healing leaves of life are shed, +In answer to the breath of prayer, +Upon the waiting head; + +Not to restore our failing forms, +And build the spirit's broken shrine, +But on the fainting soul to shed +A light and life divine-- + +Shall we grow weary in our watch, +And murmur at the long delay? +Impatient of our Father's time +And His appointed way? + +Or shall the stir of outward things +Allure and claim the Christian's eye, +When on the heathen watcher's ear +Their powerless murmurs die? + +Alas! a deeper test of faith +Than prison cell or martyr's stake, +The self-abasing watchfulness +Of silent prayer may make. + +We gird us bravely to rebuke +Our erring brother in the wrong,-- +And in the ear of Pride and Power +Our warning voice is strong. + +Easier to smite with Peter's sword +Than "watch one hour" in humbling prayer. +Life's "great things," like the Syrian lord, +Our hearts can do and dare. + +But oh! we shrink from Jordan's side, +From waters which alone can save; + +And murmur for Abana's banks +And Pharpar's brighter wave. + +O Thou, who in the garden's shade +Didst wake Thy weary ones again, +Who slumbered at that fearful hour +Forgetful of Thy pain; + +Bend o'er us now, as over them, +And set our sleep-bound spirits free, +Nor leave us slumbering in the watch +Our souls should keep with Thee! +1841 + + + + +THE EXILES. + +The incidents upon which the following ballad has its foundation +about the year 1660. Thomas Macy was one of the first, if not the first +white settler of Nantucket. The career of Macy is briefly but carefully +outlined in James S. Pike's The New Puritan. + +THE goodman sat beside his door +One sultry afternoon, +With his young wife singing at his side +An old and goodly tune. + +A glimmer of heat was in the air,-- +The dark green woods were still; +And the skirts of a heavy thunder-cloud +Hung over the western hill. + +Black, thick, and vast arose that cloud +Above the wilderness, + +As some dark world from upper air +Were stooping over this. + +At times the solemn thunder pealed, +And all was still again, +Save a low murmur in the air +Of coming wind and rain. + +Just as the first big rain-drop fell, +A weary stranger came, +And stood before the farmer's door, +With travel soiled and lame. + +Sad seemed he, yet sustaining hope +Was in his quiet glance, +And peace, like autumn's moonlight, clothed +His tranquil countenance,-- + +A look, like that his Master wore +In Pilate's council-hall: +It told of wrongs, but of a love +Meekly forgiving all. + +"Friend! wilt thou give me shelter here?" +The stranger meekly said; +And, leaning on his oaken staff, +The goodman's features read. + +"My life is hunted,--evil men +Are following in my track; +The traces of the torturer's whip +Are on my aged back; + +"And much, I fear, 't will peril thee +Within thy doors to take +A hunted seeker of the Truth, +Oppressed for conscience' sake." + +Oh, kindly spoke the goodman's wife, +"Come in, old man!" quoth she, +"We will not leave thee to the storm, +Whoever thou mayst be." + +Then came the aged wanderer in, +And silent sat him down; +While all within grew dark as night +Beneath the storm-cloud's frown. + +But while the sudden lightning's blaze +Filled every cottage nook, +And with the jarring thunder-roll +The loosened casements shook, + +A heavy tramp of horses' feet +Came sounding up the lane, +And half a score of horse, or more, +Came plunging through the rain. + +"Now, Goodman Macy, ope thy door,-- +We would not be house-breakers; +A rueful deed thou'st done this day, +In harboring banished Quakers." + +Out looked the cautious goodman then, +With much of fear and awe, +For there, with broad wig drenched with rain +The parish priest he saw. + +Open thy door, thou wicked man, +And let thy pastor in, +And give God thanks, if forty stripes +Repay thy deadly sin." + +"What seek ye?" quoth the goodman; +"The stranger is my guest; +He is worn with toil and grievous wrong,-- +Pray let the old man rest." + +"Now, out upon thee, canting knave!" +And strong hands shook the door. +"Believe me, Macy," quoth the priest, +"Thou 'lt rue thy conduct sore." + +Then kindled Macy's eye of fire +"No priest who walks the earth, +Shall pluck away the stranger-guest +Made welcome to my hearth." + +Down from his cottage wall he caught +The matchlock, hotly tried +At Preston-pans and Marston-moor, +By fiery Ireton's side; + +Where Puritan, and Cavalier, +With shout and psalm contended; +And Rupert's oath, and Cromwell's prayer, +With battle-thunder blended. + +Up rose the ancient stranger then +"My spirit is not free +To bring the wrath and violence +Of evil men on thee; + +"And for thyself, I pray forbear, +Bethink thee of thy Lord, +Who healed again the smitten ear, +And sheathed His follower's sword. + +"I go, as to the slaughter led. +Friends of the poor, farewell!" +Beneath his hand the oaken door +Back on its hinges fell. + +"Come forth, old graybeard, yea and nay," +The reckless scoffers cried, +As to a horseman's saddle-bow +The old man's arms were tied. + +And of his bondage hard and long +In Boston's crowded jail, +Where suffering woman's prayer was heard, +With sickening childhood's wail, + +It suits not with our tale to tell; +Those scenes have passed away; +Let the dim shadows of the past +Brood o'er that evil day. + +"Ho, sheriff!" quoth the ardent priest, +"Take Goodman Macy too; +The sin of this day's heresy +His back or purse shall rue." + +"Now, goodwife, haste thee!" Macy cried. +She caught his manly arm; +Behind, the parson urged pursuit, +With outcry and alarm. + +Ho! speed the Macys, neck or naught,-- +The river-course was near; +The plashing on its pebbled shore +Was music to their ear. + +A gray rock, tasselled o'er with birch, +Above the waters hung, +And at its base, with every wave, +A small light wherry swung. + +A leap--they gain the boat--and there +The goodman wields his oar; +"Ill luck betide them all," he cried, +"The laggards on the shore." + +Down through the crashing underwood, +The burly sheriff came:-- +"Stand, Goodman Macy, yield thyself; +Yield in the King's own name." + +"Now out upon thy hangman's face!" +Bold Macy answered then,-- +"Whip women, on the village green, +But meddle not with men." + +The priest came panting to the shore, +His grave cocked hat was gone; +Behind him, like some owl's nest, hung +His wig upon a thorn. + +"Come back,--come back!" the parson cried, +"The church's curse beware." +"Curse, an' thou wilt," said Macy, "but +Thy blessing prithee spare." + +"Vile scoffer!" cried the baffled priest, +"Thou 'lt yet the gallows see." +"Who's born to be hanged will not be drowned," +Quoth Macy, merrily; + +"And so, sir sheriff and priest, good-by!" +He bent him to his oar, +And the small boat glided quietly +From the twain upon the shore. + +Now in the west, the heavy clouds +Scattered and fell asunder, +While feebler came the rush of rain, +And fainter growled the thunder. + +And through the broken clouds, the sun +Looked out serene and warm, +Painting its holy symbol-light +Upon the passing storm. + +Oh, beautiful! that rainbow span, +O'er dim Crane-neck was bended; +One bright foot touched the eastern hills, +And one with ocean blended. + +By green Pentucket's southern'slope +The small boat glided fast; +The watchers of the Block-house saw +The strangers as they passed. + +That night a stalwart garrison +Sat shaking in their shoes, +To hear the dip of Indian oars, +The glide of birch canoes. + +The fisher-wives of Salisbury-- +The men were all away-- +Looked out to see the stranger oar +Upon their waters play. + +Deer-Island's rocks and fir-trees threw +Their sunset-shadows o'er them, +And Newbury's spire and weathercock +Peered o'er the pines before them. + +Around the Black Rocks, on their left, +The marsh lay broad and green; +And on their right, with dwarf shrubs crowned, +Plum Island's hills were seen. + +With skilful hand and wary eye +The harbor-bar was crossed; +A plaything of the restless wave, +The boat on ocean tossed. + +The glory of the sunset heaven +On land and water lay; +On the steep hills of Agawam, +On cape, and bluff, and bay. + +They passed the gray rocks of Cape Ann, +And Gloucester's harbor-bar; +The watch-fire of the garrison +Shone like a setting star. + +How brightly broke the morning +On Massachusetts Bay! +Blue wave, and bright green island, +Rejoicing in the day. + +On passed the bark in safety +Round isle and headland steep; +No tempest broke above them, +No fog-cloud veiled the deep. + +Far round the bleak and stormy Cape +The venturous Macy passed, +And on Nantucket's naked isle +Drew up his boat at last. + +And how, in log-built cabin, +They braved the rough sea-weather; +And there, in peace and quietness, +Went down life's vale together; + +How others drew around them, +And how their fishing sped, +Until to every wind of heaven +Nantucket's sails were spread; + +How pale Want alternated +With Plenty's golden smile; +Behold, is it not written +In the annals of the isle? + +And yet that isle remaineth +A refuge of the free, +As when true-hearted Macy +Beheld it from the sea. + +Free as the winds that winnow +Her shrubless hills of sand, +Free as the waves that batter +Along her yielding land. + +Than hers, at duty's summons, +No loftier spirit stirs, +Nor falls o'er human suffering +A readier tear then hers. + +God bless the sea-beat island! +And grant forevermore, +That charity and freedom dwell +As now upon her shore! +1841. + + + + +THE KNIGHT OF ST. JOHN. + +ERE down yon blue Carpathian hills +The sun shall sink again, +Farewell to life and all its ills, +Farewell to cell and chain! + +These prison shades are dark and cold, +But, darker far than they, +The shadow of a sorrow old +Is on my heart alway. + +For since the day when Warkworth wood +Closed o'er my steed, and I, +An alien from my name and blood, +A weed cast out to die,-- + +When, looking back in sunset light, +I saw her turret gleam, +And from its casement, far and white, +Her sign of farewell stream, + +Like one who, from some desert shore, +Doth home's green isles descry, +And, vainly longing, gazes o'er +The waste of wave and sky; + +So from the desert of my fate +I gaze across the past; +Forever on life's dial-plate +The shade is backward cast! + +I've wandered wide from shore to shore, +I've knelt at many a shrine; +And bowed me to the rocky floor +Where Bethlehem's tapers shine; + +And by the Holy Sepulchre +I've pledged my knightly sword +To Christ, His blessed Church, and her, +The Mother of our Lord. + +Oh, vain the vow, and vain the strife! +How vain do all things seem! +My soul is in the past, and life +To-day is but a dream. + +In vain the penance strange and long, +And hard for flesh to bear; +The prayer, the fasting, and the thong, +And sackcloth shirt of hair. + +The eyes of memory will not sleep, +Its ears are open still; +And vigils with the past they keep +Against my feeble will. + +And still the loves and joys of old +Do evermore uprise; +I see the flow of locks of gold, +The shine of loving eyes! + +Ah me! upon another's breast +Those golden locks recline; +I see upon another rest +The glance that once was mine. + +"O faithless priest! O perjured knight!" +I hear the Master cry; +"Shut out the vision from thy sight, +Let Earth and Nature die. + +"The Church of God is now thy spouse, +And thou the bridegroom art; +Then let the burden of thy vows +Crush down thy human heart!" + +In vain! This heart its grief must know, +Till life itself hath ceased, +And falls beneath the self-same blow +The lover and the priest! + +O pitying Mother! souls of light, +And saints and martyrs old! +Pray for a weak and sinful knight, +A suffering man uphold. + +Then let the Paynim work his will, +And death unbind my chain, +Ere down yon blue Carpathian hill +The sun shall fall again. +1843 + + + +CASSANDRA SOUTHWICK. +In 1658 two young persons, son and daughter of Lawrence Smithwick of +Salem, who had himself been imprisoned and deprived of nearly all his +property for having entertained Quakers at his house, were fined for +non-attendance at church. They being unable to pay the fine, the General +Court issued an order empowering "the Treasurer of the County to sell +the said persons to any of the English nation of Virginia or Barbadoes, +to answer said fines." An attempt was made to carry this order into +execution, but no shipmaster was found willing to convey them to the +West Indies. + +To the God of all sure mercies let my blessing rise +to-day, +From the scoffer and the cruel He hath plucked +the spoil away; +Yea, He who cooled the furnace around the faithful +three, +And tamed the Chaldean lions, hath set His hand- +maid free! +Last night I saw the sunset melt through my prison +bars, +Last night across my damp earth-floor fell the pale +gleam of stars; +In the coldness and the darkness all through the +long night-time, +My grated casement whitened with autumn's early +rime. +Alone, in that dark sorrow, hour after hour crept +by; +Star after star looked palely in and sank adown +the sky; +No sound amid night's stillness, save that which +seemed to be +The dull and heavy beating of the pulses of the sea; + +All night I sat unsleeping, for I knew that on the +morrow +The ruler and the cruel priest would mock me in +my sorrow, +Dragged to their place of market, and bargained +for and sold, +Like a lamb before the shambles, like a heifer +from the fold! + +Oh, the weakness of the flesh was there, the +shrinking and the shame; +And the low voice of the Tempter like whispers to +me came: +"Why sit'st thou thus forlornly," the wicked +murmur said, +"Damp walls thy bower of beauty, cold earth thy +maiden bed? + +"Where be the smiling faces, and voices soft and +sweet, +Seen in thy father's dwelling, heard in the pleasant +street? +Where be the youths whose glances, the summer +Sabbath through, +Turned tenderly and timidly unto thy father's pew? + + +"Why sit'st thou here, Cassandra?-Bethink +thee with what mirth +Thy happy schoolmates gather around the warm +bright hearth; +How the crimson shadows tremble on foreheads +white and fair, +On eyes of merry girlhood, half hid in golden hair. + +"Not for thee the hearth-fire brightens, not for +thee kind words are spoken, +Not for thee the nuts of Wenham woods by laughing +boys are broken; +No first-fruits of the orchard within thy lap are +laid, +For thee no flowers of autumn the youthful hunters +braid. + +"O weak, deluded maiden!--by crazy fancies +led, +With wild and raving railers an evil path to tread; +To leave a wholesome worship, and teaching pure +and sound, +And mate with maniac women, loose-haired and +sackcloth bound,-- + +"Mad scoffers of the priesthood; who mock at +things divine, +Who rail against the pulpit, and holy bread and +wine; +Sore from their cart-tail scourgings, and from the +pillory lame, +Rejoicing in their wretchedness, and glorying in +their shame. + +"And what a fate awaits thee!--a sadly toiling +slave, +Dragging the slowly lengthening chain of bondage +to the grave! +Think of thy woman's nature, subdued in hopeless +thrall, +The easy prey of any, the scoff and scorn of all!" + +Oh, ever as the Tempter spoke, and feeble Nature's +fears +Wrung drop by drop the scalding flow of unavailing +tears, +I wrestled down the evil thoughts, and strove in +silent prayer, +To feel, O Helper of the weak! that Thou indeed +wert there! + +I thought of Paul and Silas, within Philippi's cell, +And how from Peter's sleeping limbs the prison +shackles fell, +Till I seemed to hear the trailing of an angel's +robe of white, +And to feel a blessed presence invisible to sight. + +Bless the Lord for all his mercies!--for the peace +and love I felt, +Like dew of Hermon's holy hill, upon my spirit +melt; +When "Get behind me, Satan!" was the language +of my heart, +And I felt the Evil Tempter with all his doubts +depart. + +Slow broke the gray cold morning; again the sunshine +fell, +Flecked with the shade of bar and grate within +my lonely cell; +The hoar-frost melted on the wall, and upward +from the street +Came careless laugh and idle word, and tread of +passing feet. + +At length the heavy bolts fell back, my door was +open cast, +And slowly at the sheriff's side, up the long street +I passed; +I heard the murmur round me, and felt, but dared +not see, +How, from every door and window, the people +gazed on me. + +And doubt and fear fell on me, shame burned upon +my cheek, +Swam earth and sky around me, my trembling +limbs grew weak: +"O Lord! support thy handmaid; and from her +soul cast out +The fear of man, which brings a snare, the weakness +and the doubt." + +Then the dreary shadows scattered, like a cloud in +morning's breeze, +And a low deep voice within me seemed whispering +words like these: +"Though thy earth be as the iron, and thy heaven +a brazen wall, +Trust still His loving-kindness whose power is over +all." + +We paused at length, where at my feet the sunlit +waters broke +On glaring reach of shining beach, and shingly +wall of rock; +The merchant-ships lay idly there, in hard clear +lines on high, +Tracing with rope and slender spar their network +on the sky. + +And there were ancient citizens, cloak-wrapped +and grave and cold, +And grim and stout sea-captains with faces bronzed +and old, +And on his horse, with Rawson, his cruel clerk at +hand, +Sat dark and haughty Endicott, the ruler of the +land. + +And poisoning with his evil words the ruler's ready +ear, +The priest leaned o'er his saddle, with laugh and +scoff and jeer; +It stirred my soul, and from my lips the seal of +silence broke, +As if through woman's weakness a warning spirit +spoke. + +I cried, "The Lord rebuke thee, thou smiter of the +meek, +Thou robber of the righteous, thou trampler of +the weak! +Go light the dark, cold hearth-stones,--go turn +the prison lock +Of the poor hearts thou hast hunted, thou wolf +amid the flock!" + +Dark lowered the brows of Endicott, and with a +deeper red +O'er Rawson's wine-empurpled cheek the flush of +anger spread; +"Good people," quoth the white-lipped priest, +"heed not her words so wild, +Her Master speaks within her,--the Devil owns +his child!" + +But gray heads shook, and young brows knit, the +while the sheriff read +That law the wicked rulers against the poor have +made, +Who to their house of Rimmon and idol priesthood +bring +No bended knee of worship, nor gainful offering. + +Then to the stout sea-captains the sheriff, turning, +said,-- +"Which of ye, worthy seamen, will take this +Quaker maid? +In the Isle of fair Barbadoes, or on Virginia's +shore, +You may hold her at a higher price than Indian +girl or Moor." + +Grim and silent stood the captains; and when +again he cried, +"Speak out, my worthy seamen!"--no voice, no +sign replied; +But I felt a hard hand press my own, and kind +words met my ear,-- +"God bless thee, and preserve thee, my gentle girl +and dear!" + +A weight seemed lifted from my heart, a pitying +friend was nigh,-- +I felt it in his hard, rough hand, and saw it in his +eye; +And when again the sheriff spoke, that voice, so +kind to me, +Growled back its stormy answer like the roaring +of the sea,-- + +"Pile my ship with bars of silver, pack with coins +of Spanish gold, +From keel-piece up to deck-plank, the roomage of +her hold, +By the living God who made me!--I would sooner +in your bay +Sink ship and crew and cargo, than bear this child +away!" + +"Well answered, worthy captain, shame on their +cruel laws!" +Ran through the crowd in murmurs loud the people's +just applause. +"Like the herdsman of Tekoa, in Israel of old, +Shall we see the poor and righteous again for +silver sold?" + +I looked on haughty Endicott; with weapon half- +way drawn, +Swept round the throng his lion glare of bitter hate +and scorn; +Fiercely he drew his bridle-rein, and turned in +silence back, +And sneering priest and baffled clerk rode +murmuring in his track. + +Hard after them the sheriff looked, in bitterness of +soul; +Thrice smote his staff upon the ground, and +crushed his parchment roll. +"Good friends," he said, "since both have fled, +the ruler and the priest, +Judge ye, if from their further work I be not well +released." + +Loud was the cheer which, full and clear, swept +round the silent bay, +As, with kind words and kinder looks, he bade me +go my way; +For He who turns the courses of the streamlet of +the glen, +And the river of great waters, had turned the +hearts of men. + +Oh, at that hour the very earth seemed changed +beneath my eye, +A holier wonder round me rose the blue walls of +the sky, +A lovelier light on rock and hill and stream and +woodland lay, +And softer lapsed on sunnier sands the waters of +the bay. + +Thanksgiving to the Lord of life! to Him all +praises be, +Who from the hands of evil men hath set his hand- +maid free; +All praise to Him before whose power the mighty +are afraid, +Who takes the crafty in the snare which for the +poor is laid! + +Sing, O my soul, rejoicingly, on evening's twilight +calm +Uplift the loud thanksgiving, pour forth the grateful +psalm; +Let all dear hearts with me rejoice, as did the +saints of old, +When of the Lord's good angel the rescued Peter +told. + +And weep and howl, ye evil priests and mighty +men of wrong, +The Lord shall smite the proud, and lay His hand +upon the strong. +Woe to the wicked rulers in His avenging hour! +Woe to the wolves who seek the flocks to raven +and devour! + +But let the humble ones arise, the poor in heart +be glad, +And let the mourning ones again with robes of +praise be clad. +For He who cooled the furnace, and smoothed the +stormy wave, +And tamed the Chaldean lions, is mighty still to +save! +1843. + + + + +THE NEW WIFE AND THE OLD. + +The following ballad is founded upon one of the marvellous legends +connected with the famous General ----, of Hampton, New Hampshire, +who was regarded by his neighbors as a Yankee Faust, in league with +the adversary. I give the story, as I heard it when a child, from a +venerable family visitant. + + +DARK the halls, and cold the feast, +Gone the bridemaids, gone the priest. +All is over, all is done, +Twain of yesterday are one! +Blooming girl and manhood gray, +Autumn in the arms of May! + +Hushed within and hushed without, +Dancing feet and wrestlers' shout; +Dies the bonfire on the hill; +All is dark and all is still, +Save the starlight, save the breeze +Moaning through the graveyard trees, +And the great sea-waves below, +Pulse of the midnight beating slow. + +From the brief dream of a bride +She hath wakened, at his side. +With half-uttered shriek and start,-- +Feels she not his beating heart? +And the pressure of his arm, +And his breathing near and warm? + +Lightly from the bridal bed +Springs that fair dishevelled head, +And a feeling, new, intense, +Half of shame, half innocence, +Maiden fear and wonder speaks +Through her lips and changing cheeks. + +From the oaken mantel glowing, +Faintest light the lamp is throwing +On the mirror's antique mould, +High-backed chair, and wainscot old, +And, through faded curtains stealing, +His dark sleeping face revealing. + +Listless lies the strong man there, +Silver-streaked his careless hair; +Lips of love have left no trace +On that hard and haughty face; +And that forehead's knitted thought +Love's soft hand hath not unwrought. + +"Yet," she sighs, "he loves me well, +More than these calm lips will tell. +Stooping to my lowly state, +He hath made me rich and great, +And I bless him, though he be +Hard and stern to all save me!" + +While she speaketh, falls the light +O'er her fingers small and white; +Gold and gem, and costly ring +Back the timid lustre fling,-- +Love's selectest gifts, and rare, +His proud hand had fastened there. + +Gratefully she marks the glow +From those tapering lines of snow; +Fondly o'er the sleeper bending +His black hair with golden blending, +In her soft and light caress, +Cheek and lip together press. + +Ha!--that start of horror! why +That wild stare and wilder cry, +Full of terror, full of pain? +Is there madness in her brain? +Hark! that gasping, hoarse and low, +"Spare me,--spare me,--let me go!" + +God have mercy!--icy cold +Spectral hands her own enfold, +Drawing silently from them +Love's fair gifts of gold and gem. +"Waken! save me!" still as death +At her side he slumbereth. + +Ring and bracelet all are gone, +And that ice-cold hand withdrawn; +But she hears a murmur low, +Full of sweetness, full of woe, +Half a sigh and half a moan +"Fear not! give the dead her own!" + +Ah!--the dead wife's voice she knows! +That cold hand whose pressure froze, +Once in warmest life had borne +Gem and band her own hath worn. +"Wake thee! wake thee!" Lo, his eyes +Open with a dull surprise. + +In his arms the strong man folds her, +Closer to his breast he holds her; +Trembling limbs his own are meeting, +And he feels her heart's quick beating +"Nay, my dearest, why this fear?" +"Hush!" she saith, "the dead is here!" + +"Nay, a dream,--an idle dream." +But before the lamp's pale gleam +Tremblingly her hand she raises. +There no more the diamond blazes, +Clasp of pearl, or ring of gold,-- +"Ah!" she sighs, "her hand was cold!" + +Broken words of cheer he saith, +But his dark lip quivereth, +And as o'er the past he thinketh, +From his young wife's arms he shrinketh; +Can those soft arms round him lie, +Underneath his dead wife's eye? + +She her fair young head can rest +Soothed and childlike on his breast, +And in trustful innocence +Draw new strength and courage thence; +He, the proud man, feels within +But the cowardice of sin! + +She can murmur in her thought +Simple prayers her mother taught, +And His blessed angels call, +Whose great love is over all; +He, alone, in prayerless pride, +Meets the dark Past at her side! + +One, who living shrank with dread +From his look, or word, or tread, +Unto whom her early grave +Was as freedom to the slave, +Moves him at this midnight hour, +With the dead's unconscious power! + +Ah, the dead, the unforgot! +From their solemn homes of thought, +Where the cypress shadows blend +Darkly over foe and friend, +Or in love or sad rebuke, +Back upon the living look. + +And the tenderest ones and weakest, +Who their wrongs have borne the meekest, +Lifting from those dark, still places, +Sweet and sad-remembered faces, +O'er the guilty hearts behind +An unwitting triumph find. +1843 + + + + +THE BRIDAL OF PENNACOOK. + + +Winnepurkit, otherwise called George, Sachem of Saugus, married a +daughter of Passaconaway, the great Pennacook chieftain, in 1662. The +wedding took place at Pennacook (now Concord, N. H.), and the ceremonies +closed with a great feast. According to the usages of the chiefs, +Passaconaway ordered a select number of his men to accompany the +newly-married couple to the dwelling of the husband, where in turn there +was another great feast. Some time after, the wife of Winnepurkit +expressing a desire to visit her father's house was permitted to go, +accompanied by a brave escort of her husband's chief men. But when she +wished to return, her father sent a messenger to Saugus, informing her +husband, and asking him to come and take her away. He returned for +answer that he had escorted his wife to her father's house in a style +that became a chief, and that now if she wished to return, her father +must send her back, in the same way. This Passaconaway refused to do, +and it is said that here terminated the connection of his daughter with +the Saugus chief.--Vide MORTON'S New Canaan. + + +WE had been wandering for many days +Through the rough northern country. We had seen +The sunset, with its bars of purple cloud, +Like a new heaven, shine upward from the lake +Of Winnepiseogee; and had felt +The sunrise breezes, midst the leafy isles +Which stoop their summer beauty to the lips +Of the bright waters. We had checked our steeds, +Silent with wonder, where the mountain wall +Is piled to heaven; and, through the narrow rift +Of the vast rocks, against whose rugged feet +Beats the mad torrent with perpetual roar, +Where noonday is as twilight, and the wind +Comes burdened with the everlasting moan +Of forests and of far-off waterfalls, +We had looked upward where the summer sky, +Tasselled with clouds light-woven by the sun, +Sprung its blue arch above the abutting crags +O'er-roofing the vast portal of the land +Beyond the wall of mountains. We had passed +The high source of the Saco; and bewildered +In the dwarf spruce-belts of the Crystal Hills, +Had heard above us, like a voice in the cloud, +The horn of Fabyan sounding; and atop +Of old Agioochook had seen the mountains' +Piled to the northward, shagged with wood, and thick +As meadow mole-hills,--the far sea of Casco, +A white gleam on the horizon of the east; +Fair lakes, embosomed in the woods and hills; +Moosehillock's mountain range, and Kearsarge +Lifting his granite forehead to the sun! + +And we had rested underneath the oaks +Shadowing the bank, whose grassy spires are shaken +By the perpetual beating of the falls +Of the wild Ammonoosuc. We had tracked +The winding Pemigewasset, overhung +By beechen shadows, whitening down its rocks, +Or lazily gliding through its intervals, +From waving rye-fields sending up the gleam +Of sunlit waters. We had seen the moon +Rising behind Umbagog's eastern pines, +Like a great Indian camp-fire; and its beams +At midnight spanning with a bridge of silver +The Merrimac by Uncanoonuc's falls. + +There were five souls of us whom travel's chance +Had thrown together in these wild north hills +A city lawyer, for a month escaping +From his dull office, where the weary eye +Saw only hot brick walls and close thronged streets; +Briefless as yet, but with an eye to see +Life's sunniest side, and with a heart to take +Its chances all as godsends; and his brother, +Pale from long pulpit studies, yet retaining +The warmth and freshness of a genial heart, +Whose mirror of the beautiful and true, +In Man and Nature, was as yet undimmed +By dust of theologic strife, or breath +Of sect, or cobwebs of scholastic lore; +Like a clear crystal calm of water, taking +The hue and image of o'erleaning flowers, +Sweet human faces, white clouds of the noon, +Slant starlight glimpses through the dewy leaves, +And tenderest moonrise. 'T was, in truth, a study, +To mark his spirit, alternating between +A decent and professional gravity +And an irreverent mirthfulness, which often +Laughed in the face of his divinity, +Plucked off the sacred ephod, quite unshrined +The oracle, and for the pattern priest +Left us the man. A shrewd, sagacious merchant, +To whom the soiled sheet found in Crawford's inn, +Giving the latest news of city stocks +And sales of cotton, had a deeper meaning +Than the great presence of the awful mountains +Glorified by the sunset; and his daughter, +A delicate flower on whom had blown too long +Those evil winds, which, sweeping from the ice +And winnowing the fogs of Labrador, +Shed their cold blight round Massachusetts Bay, +With the same breath which stirs Spring's opening leaves +And lifts her half-formed flower-bell on its stem, +Poisoning our seaside atmosphere. + +It chanced that as we turned upon our homeward way, +A drear northeastern storm came howling up +The valley of the Saco; and that girl +Who had stood with us upon Mount Washington, +Her brown locks ruffled by the wind which whirled +In gusts around its sharp, cold pinnacle, +Who had joined our gay trout-fishing in the streams +Which lave that giant's feet; whose laugh was heard +Like a bird's carol on the sunrise breeze +Which swelled our sail amidst the lake's green islands, +Shrank from its harsh, chill breath, and visibly drooped +Like a flower in the frost. So, in that quiet inn +Which looks from Conway on the mountains piled +Heavily against the horizon of the north, +Like summer thunder-clouds, we made our home +And while the mist hung over dripping hills, +And the cold wind-driven rain-drops all day long +Beat their sad music upon roof and pane, +We strove to cheer our gentle invalid. + +The lawyer in the pauses of the storm +Went angling down the Saco, and, returning, +Recounted his adventures and mishaps; +Gave us the history of his scaly clients, +Mingling with ludicrous yet apt citations +Of barbarous law Latin, passages +From Izaak Walton's Angler, sweet and fresh +As the flower-skirted streams of Staffordshire, +Where, under aged trees, the southwest wind +Of soft June mornings fanned the thin, white hair +Of the sage fisher. And, if truth be told, +Our youthful candidate forsook his sermons, +His commentaries, articles and creeds, +For the fair page of human loveliness, +The missal of young hearts, whose sacred text +Is music, its illumining, sweet smiles. +He sang the songs she loved; and in his low, +Deep, earnest voice, recited many a page +Of poetry, the holiest, tenderest lines +Of the sad bard of Olney, the sweet songs, +Simple and beautiful as Truth and Nature, +Of him whose whitened locks on Rydal Mount +Are lifted yet by morning breezes blowing +From the green hills, immortal in his lays. +And for myself, obedient to her wish, +I searched our landlord's proffered library,-- +A well-thumbed Bunyan, with its nice wood pictures +Of scaly fiends and angels not unlike them; +Watts' unmelodious psalms; Astrology's +Last home, a musty pile of almanacs, +And an old chronicle of border wars +And Indian history. And, as I read +A story of the marriage of the Chief +Of Saugus to the dusky Weetamoo, +Daughter of Passaconaway, who dwelt +In the old time upon the Merrimac, +Our fair one, in the playful exercise +Of her prerogative,--the right divine +Of youth and beauty,--bade us versify +The legend, and with ready pencil sketched +Its plan and outlines, laughingly assigning +To each his part, and barring our excuses +With absolute will. So, like the cavaliers +Whose voices still are heard in the Romance +Of silver-tongued Boccaccio, on the banks +Of Arno, with soft tales of love beguiling +The ear of languid beauty, plague-exiled +From stately Florence, we rehearsed our rhymes +To their fair auditor, and shared by turns +Her kind approval and her playful censure. + +It may be that these fragments owe alone +To the fair setting of their circumstances,-- +The associations of time, scene, and audience,-- +Their place amid the pictures which fill up +The chambers of my memory. Yet I trust +That some, who sigh, while wandering in thought, +Pilgrims of Romance o'er the olden world, +That our broad land,--our sea-like lakes and mountains +Piled to the clouds, our rivers overhung +By forests which have known no other change +For ages than the budding and the fall +Of leaves, our valleys lovelier than those +Which the old poets sang of,--should but figure +On the apocryphal chart of speculation +As pastures, wood-lots, mill-sites, with the privileges, +Rights, and appurtenances, which make up +A Yankee Paradise, unsung, unknown, +To beautiful tradition; even their names, +Whose melody yet lingers like the last +Vibration of the red man's requiem, +Exchanged for syllables significant, +Of cotton-mill and rail-car, will look kindly +Upon this effort to call up the ghost +Of our dim Past, and listen with pleased ear +To the responses of the questioned Shade. + +I. THE MERRIMAC. +O child of that white-crested mountain whose +springs +Gush forth in the shade of the cliff-eagle's +wings, +Down whose slopes to the lowlands thy wild waters +shine, +Leaping gray walls of rock, flashing through the +dwarf pine; +From that cloud-curtained cradle so cold and so +lone, +From the arms of that wintry-locked mother of +stone, +By hills hung with forests, through vales wide and +free, +Thy mountain-born brightness glanced down to the +sea. + +No bridge arched thy waters save that where the +trees +Stretched their long arms above thee and kissed in +the breeze: +No sound save the lapse of the waves on thy +shores, +The plunging of otters, the light dip of oars. + +Green-tufted, oak-shaded, by Amoskeag's fall +Thy twin Uncanoonucs rose stately and tall, +Thy Nashua meadows lay green and unshorn, +And the hills of Pentucket were tasselled with +corn. +But thy Pennacook valley was fairer than these, +And greener its grasses and taller its trees, +Ere the sound of an axe in the forest had rung, +Or the mower his scythe in the meadows had +swung. + +In their sheltered repose looking out from the +wood +The bark-builded wigwams of Pennacook stood; +There glided the corn-dance, the council-fire shone, +And against the red war-post the hatchet was +thrown. + +There the old smoked in silence their pipes, and +the young +To the pike and the white-perch their baited lines +flung; +There the boy shaped his arrows, and there the +shy maid +Wove her many-hued baskets and bright wampum +braid. + +O Stream of the Mountains! if answer of thine +Could rise from thy waters to question of mine, +Methinks through the din of thy thronged banks +a moan +Of sorrow would swell for the days which have +gone. + +Not for thee the dull jar of the loom and the wheel, +The gliding of shuttles, the ringing of steel; +But that old voice of waters, of bird and of breeze, +The dip of the wild-fowl, the rustling of trees. + + +II. THE BASHABA. +Lift we the twilight curtains of the Past, +And, turning from familiar sight and sound, +Sadly and full of reverence let us cast +A glance upon Tradition's shadowy ground, +Led by the few pale lights which, glimmering round +That dim, strange land of Eld, seem dying fast; +And that which history gives not to the eye, +The faded coloring of Time's tapestry, +Let Fancy, with her dream-dipped brush, supply. + +Roof of bark and walls of pine, +Through whose chinks the sunbeams shine, +Tracing many a golden line +On the ample floor within; +Where, upon that earth-floor stark, +Lay the gaudy mats of bark, +With the bear's hide, rough and dark, +And the red-deer's skin. + +Window-tracery, small and slight, +Woven of the willow white, +Lent a dimly checkered light; +And the night-stars glimmered down, +Where the lodge-fire's heavy smoke, +Slowly through an opening broke, +In the low roof, ribbed with oak, +Sheathed with hemlock brown. + +Gloomed behind the changeless shade +By the solemn pine-wood made; +Through the rugged palisade, +In the open foreground planted, +Glimpses came of rowers rowing, +Stir of leaves and wild-flowers blowing, +Steel-like gleams of water flowing, +In the sunlight slanted. + +Here the mighty Bashaba +Held his long-unquestioned sway, +From the White Hills, far away, +To the great sea's sounding shore; +Chief of chiefs, his regal word +All the river Sachems heard, +At his call the war-dance stirred, +Or was still once more. + +There his spoils of chase and war, +Jaw of wolf and black bear's paw, +Panther's skin and eagle's claw, +Lay beside his axe and bow; +And, adown the roof-pole hung, +Loosely on a snake-skin strung, +In the smoke his scalp-locks swung +Grimly to and fro. + +Nightly down the river going, +Swifter was the hunter's rowing, +When he saw that lodge-fire, glowing +O'er the waters still and red; +And the squaw's dark eye burned brighter, +And she drew her blanket tighter, +As, with quicker step and lighter, +From that door she fled. + +For that chief had magic skill, +And a Panisee's dark will, +Over powers of good and ill, +Powers which bless and powers which ban; +Wizard lord of Pennacook, +Chiefs upon their war-path shook, +When they met the steady look +Of that wise dark man. + +Tales of him the gray squaw told, +When the winter night-wind cold +Pierced her blanket's thickest fold, +And her fire burned low and small, +Till the very child abed, +Drew its bear-skin over bead, +Shrinking from the pale lights shed +On the trembling wall. + +All the subtle spirits hiding +Under earth or wave, abiding +In the caverned rock, or riding +Misty clouds or morning breeze; +Every dark intelligence, +Secret soul, and influence +Of all things which outward sense +Feels, or bears, or sees,-- + +These the wizard's skill confessed, +At his bidding banned or blessed, +Stormful woke or lulled to rest +Wind and cloud, and fire and flood; +Burned for him the drifted snow, +Bade through ice fresh lilies blow, +And the leaves of summer grow +Over winter's wood! + +Not untrue that tale of old! +Now, as then, the wise and bold +All the powers of Nature hold +Subject to their kingly will; +From the wondering crowds ashore, +Treading life's wild waters o'er, +As upon a marble floor, +Moves the strong man still. + +Still, to such, life's elements +With their sterner laws dispense, +And the chain of consequence +Broken in their pathway lies; +Time and change their vassals making, +Flowers from icy pillows waking, +Tresses of the sunrise shaking +Over midnight skies. +Still, to th' earnest soul, the sun +Rests on towered Gibeon, +And the moon of Ajalon +Lights the battle-grounds of life; +To his aid the strong reverses +Hidden powers and giant forces, +And the high stars, in their courses, +Mingle in his strife! + + +III. THE DAUGHTER. +The soot-black brows of men, the yell +Of women thronging round the bed, +The tinkling charm of ring and shell, +The Powah whispering o'er the dead! + +All these the Sachem's home had known, +When, on her journey long and wild +To the dim World of Souls, alone, +In her young beauty passed the mother of his child. + +Three bow-shots from the Sachem's dwelling +They laid her in the walnut shade, +Where a green hillock gently swelling +Her fitting mound of burial made. +There trailed the vine in summer hours, +The tree-perched squirrel dropped his shell,-- +On velvet moss and pale-hued flowers, +Woven with leaf and spray, the softened sunshine fell! + +The Indian's heart is hard and cold, +It closes darkly o'er its care, +And formed in Nature's sternest mould, +Is slow to feel, and strong to bear. +The war-paint on the Sachem's face, +Unwet with tears, shone fierce and red, +And still, in battle or in chase, +Dry leaf and snow-rime crisped beneath his +foremost tread. + +Yet when her name was heard no more, +And when the robe her mother gave, +And small, light moccasin she wore, +Had slowly wasted on her grave, +Unmarked of him the dark maids sped +Their sunset dance and moonlit play; +No other shared his lonely bed, +No other fair young head upon his bosom lay. + +A lone, stern man. Yet, as sometimes +The tempest-smitten tree receives +From one small root the sap which climbs +Its topmost spray and crowning leaves, +So from his child the Sachem drew +A life of Love and Hope, and felt +His cold and rugged nature through +The softness and the warmth of her young +being melt. + +A laugh which in the woodland rang +Bemocking April's gladdest bird,-- +A light and graceful form which sprang +To meet him when his step was heard,-- +Eyes by his lodge-fire flashing dark, +Small fingers stringing bead and shell +Or weaving mats of bright-hued bark,-- +With these the household-god [3] had graced +his wigwam well. + +Child of the forest! strong and free, +Slight-robed, with loosely flowing hair, +She swam the lake or climbed the tree, +Or struck the flying bird in air. +O'er the heaped drifts of winter's moon +Her snow-shoes tracked the hunter's way; +And dazzling in the summer noon +The blade of her light oar threw off its shower +of spray! + +Unknown to her the rigid rule, +The dull restraint, the chiding frown, +The weary torture of the school, +The taming of wild nature down. +Her only lore, the legends told +Around the hunter's fire at night; +Stars rose and set, and seasons rolled, +Flowers bloomed and snow-flakes fell, unquestioned +in her sight. + +Unknown to her the subtle skill +With which the artist-eye can trace +In rock and tree and lake and hill +The outlines of divinest grace; +Unknown the fine soul's keen unrest, +Which sees, admires, yet yearns alway; +Too closely on her mother's breast +To note her smiles of love the child of Nature lay! + +It is enough for such to be +Of common, natural things a part, +To feel, with bird and stream and tree, +The pulses of the same great heart; +But we, from Nature long exiled, +In our cold homes of Art and Thought +Grieve like the stranger-tended child, +Which seeks its mother's arms, and sees but feels +them not. + +The garden rose may richly bloom +In cultured soil and genial air, +To cloud the light of Fashion's room +Or droop in Beauty's midnight hair; +In lonelier grace, to sun and dew +The sweetbrier on the hillside shows +Its single leaf and fainter hue, +Untrained and wildly free, yet still a sister rose! + +Thus o'er the heart of Weetamoo +Their mingling shades of joy and ill +The instincts of her nature threw; +The savage was a woman still. +Midst outlines dim of maiden schemes, +Heart-colored prophecies of life, +Rose on the ground of her young dreams +The light of a new home, the lover and the wife. + + +IV. THE WEDDING. +Cool and dark fell the autumn night, +But the Bashaba's wigwam glowed with light, +For down from its roof, by green withes hung, +Flaring and smoking the pine-knots swung. + +And along the river great wood-fires +Shot into the night their long, red spires, +Showing behind the tall, dark wood, +Flashing before on the sweeping flood. + +In the changeful wind, with shimmer and shade, +Now high, now low, that firelight played, +On tree-leaves wet with evening dews, +On gliding water and still canoes. + +The trapper that night on Turee's brook, +And the weary fisher on Contoocook, +Saw over the marshes, and through the pine, +And down on the river, the dance-lights shine. +For the Saugus Sachem had come to woo +The Bashaba's daughter Weetamoo, +And laid at her father's feet that night +His softest furs and wampum white. + +From the Crystal Hills to the far southeast +The river Sagamores came to the feast; +And chiefs whose homes the sea-winds shook +Sat down on the mats of Pennacook. + +They came from Sunapee's shore of rock, +From the snowy sources of Snooganock, +And from rough Coos whose thick woods shake +Their pine-cones in Umbagog Lake. + +From Ammonoosuc's mountain pass, +Wild as his home, came Chepewass; +And the Keenomps of the bills which throw +Their shade on the Smile of Manito. + +With pipes of peace and bows unstrung, +Glowing with paint came old and young, +In wampum and furs and feathers arrayed, +To the dance and feast the Bashaba made. + +Bird of the air and beast of the field, +All which the woods and the waters yield, +On dishes of birch and hemlock piled, +Garnished and graced that banquet wild. + +Steaks of the brown bear fat and large +From the rocky slopes of the Kearsarge; +Delicate trout from Babboosuck brook, +And salmon speared in the Contoocook; + +Squirrels which fed where nuts fell thick +in the gravelly bed of the Otternic; +And small wild-hens in reed-snares caught +from the banks of Sondagardee brought; + +Pike and perch from the Suncook taken, +Nuts from the trees of the Black Hills shaken, +Cranberries picked in the Squamscot bog, +And grapes from the vines of Piscataquog: + +And, drawn from that great stone vase which stands +In the river scooped by a spirit's hands,[4] +Garnished with spoons of shell and horn, +Stood the birchen dishes of smoking corn. + +Thus bird of the air and beast of the field, +All which the woods and the waters yield, +Furnished in that olden day +The bridal feast of the Bashaba. + +And merrily when that feast was done +On the fire-lit green the dance begun, +With squaws' shrill stave, and deeper hum +Of old men beating the Indian drum. + +Painted and plumed, with scalp-locks flowing, +And red arms tossing and black eyes glowing, +Now in the light and now in the shade +Around the fires the dancers played. + +The step was quicker, the song more shrill, +And the beat of the small drums louder still +Whenever within the circle drew +The Saugus Sachem and Weetamoo. + +The moons of forty winters had shed +Their snow upon that chieftain's head, +And toil and care and battle's chance +Had seamed his hard, dark countenance. + +A fawn beside the bison grim,-- +Why turns the bride's fond eye on him, +In whose cold look is naught beside +The triumph of a sullen pride? + +Ask why the graceful grape entwines +The rough oak with her arm of vines; +And why the gray rock's rugged cheek +The soft lips of the mosses seek. + +Why, with wise instinct, Nature seems +To harmonize her wide extremes, +Linking the stronger with the weak, +The haughty with the soft and meek! + + +V. THE NEW HOME. +A wild and broken landscape, spiked with firs, +Roughening the bleak horizon's northern edge; +Steep, cavernous hillsides, where black hemlock +spurs +And sharp, gray splinters of the wind-swept +ledge +Pierced the thin-glazed ice, or bristling rose, +Where the cold rim of the sky sunk down upon +the snows. + +And eastward cold, wide marshes stretched away, +Dull, dreary flats without a bush or tree, +O'er-crossed by icy creeks, where twice a day +Gurgled the waters of the moon-struck sea; +And faint with distance came the stifled roar, +The melancholy lapse of waves on that low shore. + +No cheerful village with its mingling smokes, +No laugh of children wrestling in the snow, +No camp-fire blazing through the hillside oaks, +No fishers kneeling on the ice below; +Yet midst all desolate things of sound and view, +Through the long winter moons smiled dark-eyed +Weetamoo. + +Her heart had found a home; and freshly all +Its beautiful affections overgrew +Their rugged prop. As o'er some granite wall +Soft vine-leaves open to the moistening dew +And warm bright sun, the love of that young wife +Found on a hard cold breast the dew and warmth +of life. + +The steep, bleak hills, the melancholy shore, +The long, dead level of the marsh between, +A coloring of unreal beauty wore +Through the soft golden mist of young love seen. +For o'er those hills and from that dreary plain, +Nightly she welcomed home her hunter chief again. + +No warmth of heart, no passionate burst of feeling, +Repaid her welcoming smile and parting kiss, +No fond and playful dalliance half concealing, +Under the guise of mirth, its tenderness; + +But, in their stead, the warrior's settled pride, +And vanity's pleased smile with homage satisfied. + +Enough for Weetamoo, that she alone +Sat on his mat and slumbered at his side; +That he whose fame to her young ear had flown +Now looked upon her proudly as his bride; +That he whose name the Mohawk trembling heard +Vouchsafed to her at times a kindly look or word. + +For she had learned the maxims of her race, +Which teach the woman to become a slave, +And feel herself the pardonless disgrace +Of love's fond weakness in the wise and brave,-- +The scandal and the shame which they incur, +Who give to woman all which man requires of her. + +So passed the winter moons. The sun at last +Broke link by link the frost chain of the rills, +And the warm breathings of the southwest passed +Over the hoar rime of the Saugus hills; +The gray and desolate marsh grew green once more, +And the birch-tree's tremulous shade fell round the +Sachem's door. + +Then from far Pennacook swift runners came, +With gift and greeting for the Saugus chief; +Beseeching him in the great Sachem's name, +That, with the coming of the flower and leaf, +The song of birds, the warm breeze and the rain, +Young Weetamoo might greet her lonely sire again. + +And Winnepurkit called his chiefs together, +And a grave council in his wigwam met, +Solemn and brief in words, considering whether +The rigid rules of forest etiquette +Permitted Weetamoo once more to look +Upon her father's face and green-banked +Pennacook. + +With interludes of pipe-smoke and strong water, +The forest sages pondered, and at length, +Concluded in a body to escort her +Up to her father's home of pride and strength, +Impressing thus on Pennacook a sense +Of Winnepurkit's power and regal consequence. + +So through old woods which Aukeetamit's[5] hand, +A soft and many-shaded greenness lent, +Over high breezy hills, and meadow land +Yellow with flowers, the wild procession went, +Till, rolling down its wooded banks between, +A broad, clear, mountain stream, the Merrimac +was seen. + +The hunter leaning on his bow undrawn, +The fisher lounging on the pebbled shores, +Squaws in the clearing dropping the seed-corn, +Young children peering through the wigwam doors, +Saw with delight, surrounded by her train +Of painted Saugus braves, their Weetamoo again. + + +VI. AT PENNACOOK. +The hills are dearest which our childish feet +Have climbed the earliest; and the streams most sweet +Are ever those at which our young lips drank, +Stooped to their waters o'er the grassy bank. + +Midst the cold dreary sea-watch, Home's hearth-light +Shines round the helmsman plunging through the night; +And still, with inward eye, the traveller sees +In close, dark, stranger streets his native trees. + +The home-sick dreamer's brow is nightly fanned +By breezes whispering of his native land, +And on the stranger's dim and dying eye +The soft, sweet pictures of his childhood lie. + +Joy then for Weetamoo, to sit once more +A child upon her father's wigwam floor! +Once more with her old fondness to beguile +From his cold eye the strange light of a smile. + +The long, bright days of summer swiftly passed, +The dry leaves whirled in autumn's rising blast, +And evening cloud and whitening sunrise rime +Told of the coming of the winter-time. + +But vainly looked, the while, young Weetamoo, +Down the dark river for her chief's canoe; +No dusky messenger from Saugus brought +The grateful tidings which the young wife sought. + +At length a runner from her father sent, +To Winnepurkit's sea-cooled wigwam went +"Eagle of Saugus,--in the woods the dove +Mourns for the shelter of thy wings of love." + +But the dark chief of Saugus turned aside +In the grim anger of hard-hearted pride; +"I bore her as became a chieftain's daughter, +Up to her home beside the gliding water. + +If now no more a mat for her is found +Of all which line her father's wigwam round, +Let Pennacook call out his warrior train, +And send her back with wampum gifts again." + +The baffled runner turned upon his track, +Bearing the words of Winnepurkit back. +"Dog of the Marsh," cried Pennacook, "no more +Shall child of mine sit on his wigwam floor. + +"Go, let him seek some meaner squaw to spread +The stolen bear-skin of his beggar's bed; +Son of a fish-hawk! let him dig his clams +For some vile daughter of the Agawams, + +"Or coward Nipmucks! may his scalp dry black +In Mohawk smoke, before I send her back." +He shook his clenched hand towards the ocean wave, +While hoarse assent his listening council gave. + +Alas poor bride! can thy grim sire impart +His iron hardness to thy woman's heart? +Or cold self-torturing pride like his atone +For love denied and life's warm beauty flown? + +On Autumn's gray and mournful grave the snow +Hung its white wreaths; with stifled voice and low +The river crept, by one vast bridge o'er-crossed, +Built by the boar-locked artisan of Frost. + +And many a moon in beauty newly born +Pierced the red sunset with her silver horn, +Or, from the east, across her azure field +Rolled the wide brightness of her full-orbed shield. + +Yet Winnepurkit came not,--on the mat +Of the scorned wife her dusky rival sat; +And he, the while, in Western woods afar, +Urged the long chase, or trod the path of war. + +Dry up thy tears, young daughter of a chief! +Waste not on him the sacredness of grief; +Be the fierce spirit of thy sire thine own, +His lips of scorning, and his heart of stone. + +What heeds the warrior of a hundred fights, +The storm-worn watcher through long hunting nights, +Cold, crafty, proud of woman's weak distress, +Her home-bound grief and pining loneliness? + + +VII. THE DEPARTURE. +The wild March rains had fallen fast and long +The snowy mountains of the North among, +Making each vale a watercourse, each hill +Bright with the cascade of some new-made rill. + +Gnawed by the sunbeams, softened by the rain, +Heaved underneath by the swollen current's strain, +The ice-bridge yielded, and the Merrimac +Bore the huge ruin crashing down its track. + +On that strong turbid water, a small boat +Guided by one weak hand was seen to float; +Evil the fate which loosed it from the shore, +Too early voyager with too frail an oar! + +Down the vexed centre of that rushing tide, +The thick huge ice-blocks threatening either side, +The foam-white rocks of Amoskeag in view, +With arrowy swiftness sped that light canoe. + +The trapper, moistening his moose's meat +On the wet bank by Uncanoonuc's feet, +Saw the swift boat flash down the troubled stream; +Slept he, or waked he? was it truth or dream? + +The straining eye bent fearfully before, +The small hand clenching on the useless oar, +The bead-wrought blanket trailing o'er the water-- +He knew them all--woe for the Sachem's daughter! + +Sick and aweary of her lonely life, +Heedless of peril, the still faithful wife +Had left her mother's grave, her father's door, +To seek the wigwam of her chief once more. + +Down the white rapids like a sear leaf whirled, +On the sharp rocks and piled-up ices hurled, +Empty and broken, circled the canoe +In the vexed pool below--but where was Weetamoo. + + +VIII. SONG OF INDIAN WOMEN. +The Dark eye has left us, +The Spring-bird has flown; +On the pathway of spirits +She wanders alone. +The song of the wood-dove has died on our shore +Mat wonck kunna-monee![6] We hear it no more! + +O dark water Spirit +We cast on thy wave +These furs which may never +Hang over her grave; +Bear down to the lost one the robes that she wore +Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more! + +Of the strange land she walks in +No Powah has told: +It may burn with the sunshine, +Or freeze with the cold. +Let us give to our lost one the robes that she wore: +Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more! + +The path she is treading +Shall soon be our own; +Each gliding in shadow +Unseen and alone! +In vain shall we call on the souls gone before: +Mat wonck kunna-monee! They hear us no more! + +O mighty Sowanna![7] +Thy gateways unfold, +From thy wigwam of sunset +Lift curtains of gold! + +Take home the poor Spirit whose journey is o'er +Mat wonck kunna-monee! We see her no more! + +So sang the Children of the Leaves beside +The broad, dark river's coldly flowing tide; +Now low, now harsh, with sob-like pause and swell, +On the high wind their voices rose and fell. +Nature's wild music,--sounds of wind-swept trees, +The scream of birds, the wailing of the breeze, +The roar of waters, steady, deep, and strong,-- +Mingled and murmured in that farewell song. +1844. + + + + +BARCLAY OF URY. + +Among the earliest converts to the doctrines of Friends in Scotland was +Barclay of Ury, an old and distinguished soldier, who had fought under +Gustavus Adolphus, in Germany. As a Quaker, he became the object of +persecution and abuse at the hands of the magistrates and the populace. +None bore the indignities of the mob with greater patience and nobleness +of soul than this once proud gentleman and soldier. One of his friends, +on an occasion of uncommon rudeness, lamented that he should be treated +so harshly in his old age who had been so honored before. "I find more +satisfaction," said Barclay, "as well as honor, in being thus insulted +for my religious principles, than when, a few years ago, it was usual +for the magistrates, as I passed the city of Aberdeen, to meet me on the +road and conduct me to public entertainment in their hall, and then +escort me out again, to gain my favor." + +Up the streets of Aberdeen, +By the kirk and college green, +Rode the Laird of Ury; +Close behind him, close beside, +Foul of mouth and evil-eyed, +Pressed the mob in fury. + +Flouted him the drunken churl, +Jeered at him the serving-girl, +Prompt to please her master; +And the begging carlin, late +Fed and clothed at Ury's gate, +Cursed him as he passed her. + +Yet, with calm and stately mien, +Up the streets of Aberdeen +Came he slowly riding; +And, to all he saw and heard, +Answering not with bitter word, +Turning not for chiding. + +Came a troop with broadswords swinging, +Bits and bridles sharply ringing, +Loose and free and froward; +Quoth the foremost, "Ride him down! +Push him! prick him! through the town +Drive the Quaker coward!" + +But from out the thickening crowd +Cried a sudden voice and loud +"Barclay! Ho! a Barclay!" +And the old man at his side +Saw a comrade, battle tried, +Scarred and sunburned darkly; + +Who with ready weapon bare, +Fronting to the troopers there, +Cried aloud: "God save us, +Call ye coward him who stood +Ankle deep in Lutzen's blood, +With the brave Gustavus?" + +"Nay, I do not need thy sword, +Comrade mine," said Ury's lord; +"Put it up, I pray thee +Passive to His holy will, +Trust I in my Master still, +Even though He slay me. + +"Pledges of thy love and faith, +Proved on many a field of death, +Not by me are needed." +Marvelled much that henchman bold, +That his laird, so stout of old, +Now so meekly pleaded. + +"Woe's the day!" he sadly said, +With a slowly shaking head, +And a look of pity; +"Ury's honest lord reviled, +Mock of knave and sport of child, +In his own good city. + +"Speak the word, and, master mine, +As we charged on Tilly's[8] line, +And his Walloon lancers, +Smiting through their midst we'll teach +Civil look and decent speech +To these boyish prancers!" + +"Marvel not, mine ancient friend, +Like beginning, like the end:" +Quoth the Laird of Ury; +"Is the sinful servant more +Than his gracious Lord who bore +Bonds and stripes in Jewry? + +"Give me joy that in His name +I can bear, with patient frame, +All these vain ones offer; +While for them He suffereth long, +Shall I answer wrong with wrong, +Scoffing with the scoffer? + +"Happier I, with loss of all, +Hunted, outlawed, held in thrall, +With few friends to greet me, +Than when reeve and squire were seen, +Riding out from Aberdeen, +With bared heads to meet me. + +"When each goodwife, o'er and o'er, +Blessed me as I passed her door; +And the snooded daughter, +Through her casement glancing down, +Smiled on him who bore renown +From red fields of slaughter. + +"Hard to feel the stranger's scoff, +Hard the old friend's falling off, +Hard to learn forgiving; +But the Lord His own rewards, +And His love with theirs accords, +Warm and fresh and living. + +"Through this dark and stormy night +Faith beholds a feeble light +Up the blackness streaking; +Knowing God's own time is best, +In a patient hope I rest +For the full day-breaking!" + +So the Laird of Ury said, +Turning slow his horse's head +Towards the Tolbooth prison, +Where, through iron gates, he heard +Poor disciples of the Word +Preach of Christ arisen! + +Not in vain, Confessor old, +Unto us the tale is told +Of thy day of trial; +Every age on him who strays +From its broad and beaten ways +Pours its seven-fold vial. + +Happy he whose inward ear +Angel comfortings can hear, +O'er the rabble's laughter; +And while Hatred's fagots burn, +Glimpses through the smoke discern +Of the good hereafter. + +Knowing this, that never yet +Share of Truth was vainly set +In the world's wide fallow; +After hands shall sow the seed, +After hands from hill and mead +Reap the harvests yellow. + +Thus, with somewhat of the Seer, +Must the moral pioneer +From the Future borrow; +Clothe the waste with dreams of grain, +And, on midnight's sky of rain, +Paint the golden morrow! + + + + +THE ANGELS OF BUENA VISTA. + +A letter-writer from Mexico during the Mexican war, when detailing some +of the incidents at the terrible fight of Buena Vista, mentioned that +Mexican women were seen hovering near the field of death, for the +purpose of giving aid and succor to the wounded. One poor woman was +found surrounded by the maimed and suffering of both armies, ministering +to the wants of Americans as well as Mexicans, with impartial +tenderness. + +SPEAK and tell us, our Ximena, looking northward +far away, +O'er the camp of the invaders, o'er the Mexican +array, +Who is losing? who is winning? are they far or +come they near? +Look abroad, and tell us, sister, whither rolls the +storm we hear. +Down the hills of Angostura still the storm of +battle rolls; +Blood is flowing, men are dying; God have mercy +on their souls! +"Who is losing? who is winning?" Over hill +and over plain, +I see but smoke of cannon clouding through the +mountain rain. + +Holy Mother! keep our brothers! Look, Ximena, +look once more. +"Still I see the fearful whirlwind rolling darkly +as before, +Bearing on, in strange confusion, friend and foeman, +foot and horse, +Like some wild and troubled torrent sweeping +down its mountain course." + +Look forth once more, Ximena! "Ah! the smoke +has rolled away; +And I see the Northern rifles gleaming down the +ranks of gray. +Hark! that sudden blast of bugles! there the troop +of Minon wheels; +There the Northern horses thunder, with the cannon +at their heels. + +"Jesu, pity I how it thickens I now retreat and +now advance! +Bight against the blazing cannon shivers Puebla's +charging lance! +Down they go, the brave young riders; horse and +foot together fall; +Like a ploughshare in the fallow, through them +ploughs the Northern ball." + +Nearer came the storm and nearer, rolling fast and +frightful on! +Speak, Ximena, speak and tell us, who has lost, +and who has won? +Alas! alas! I know not; friend and foe together +fall, +O'er the dying rush the living: pray, my sisters, +for them all! + +"Lo! the wind the smoke is lifting. Blessed +Mother, save my brain! +I can see the wounded crawling slowly out from +heaps of slain. +Now they stagger, blind and bleeding; now they +fall, and strive to rise; +Hasten, sisters, haste and save them, lest they die +before our eyes! + +"O my hearts love! O my dear one! lay thy +poor head on my knee; +Dost thou know the lips that kiss thee? Canst +thou hear me? canst thou see? +O my husband, brave and gentle! O my Bernal, +look once more +On the blessed cross before thee! Mercy! +all is o'er!" + +Dry thy tears, my poor Ximena; lay thy dear one +down to rest; +Let his hands be meekly folded, lay the cross upon +his breast; +Let his dirge be sung hereafter, and his funeral +masses said; +To-day, thou poor bereaved one, the living ask thy +aid. + +Close beside her, faintly moaning, fair and young, +a soldier lay, +Torn with shot and pierced with lances, bleeding +slow his life away; +But, as tenderly before him the lorn Ximena knelt, +She saw the Northern eagle shining on his pistol- +belt. + +With a stifled cry of horror straight she turned +away her head; +With a sad and bitter feeling looked she back upon +her dead; +But she heard the youth's low moaning, and his +struggling breath of pain, +And she raised the cooling water to his parching +lips again. + +Whispered low the dying soldier, pressed her hand +and faintly smiled; +Was that pitying face his mother's? did she watch +beside her child? +All his stranger words with meaning her woman's +heart supplied; +With her kiss upon his forehead, "Mother!" +murmured he, and died! + +"A bitter curse upon them, poor boy, who led thee +forth, +From some gentle, sad-eyed mother, weeping, lonely, +in the North!" +Spake the mournful Mexic woman, as she laid him +with her dead, +And turned to soothe the living, and bind the +wounds which bled. + +"Look forth once more, Ximena!" Like a cloud +before the wind +Rolls the battle down the mountains, leaving blood +and death behind; +Ah! they plead in vain for mercy; in the dust the +wounded strive; +"Hide your faces, holy angels! O thou Christ of +God, forgive!" + +Sink, O Night, among thy mountains! let the cool, +gray shadows fall; +Dying brothers, fighting demons, drop thy curtain +over all! +Through the thickening winter twilight, wide apart +the battle rolled, +In its sheath the sabre rested, and the cannon's +lips grew cold. + +But the noble Mexic women still their holy task +pursued, +Through that long, dark night of sorrow, worn and +faint and lacking food. +Over weak and suffering brothers, with a tender +care they hung, +And the dying foeman blessed them in a strange +and Northern tongue. + +Not wholly lost, O Father! is this evil world of +ours; +Upward, through its blood and ashes, spring afresh +the Eden flowers; +From its smoking hell of battle, Love and Pity +send their prayer, +And still thy white-winged angels hover dimly in +our air! +1847. + + + + +THE LEGEND OF ST. MARK. + +"This legend [to which my attention was called by my friend Charles +Sumner], is the subject of a celebrated picture by Tintoretto, of which +Mr. Rogers possesses the original sketch. The slave lies on the ground, +amid a crowd of spectators, who look on, animated by all the various +emotions of sympathy, rage, terror; a woman, in front, with a child in +her arms, has always been admired for the lifelike vivacity of her +attitude and expression. The executioner holds up the broken implements; +St. Mark, with a headlong movement, seems to rush down from heaven in +haste to save his worshipper. The dramatic grouping in this picture is +wonderful; the coloring, in its gorgeous depth and harmony, is, in Mr. +Rogers's sketch, finer than in the picture."--MRS. JAMESON'S Sacred and +Legendary Art, I. 154. + +THE day is closing dark and cold, +With roaring blast and sleety showers; +And through the dusk the lilacs wear +The bloom of snow, instead of flowers. + +I turn me from the gloom without, +To ponder o'er a tale of old; +A legend of the age of Faith, +By dreaming monk or abbess told. + +On Tintoretto's canvas lives +That fancy of a loving heart, +In graceful lines and shapes of power, +And hues immortal as his art. + +In Provence (so the story runs) +There lived a lord, to whom, as slave, +A peasant-boy of tender years +The chance of trade or conquest gave. + +Forth-looking from the castle tower, +Beyond the hills with almonds dark, +The straining eye could scarce discern +The chapel of the good St. Mark. + +And there, when bitter word or fare +The service of the youth repaid, +By stealth, before that holy shrine, +For grace to bear his wrong, he prayed. + +The steed stamped at the castle gate, +The boar-hunt sounded on the hill; +Why stayed the Baron from the chase, +With looks so stern, and words so ill? + +"Go, bind yon slave! and let him learn, +By scath of fire and strain of cord, +How ill they speed who give dead saints +The homage due their living lord!" + +They bound him on the fearful rack, +When, through the dungeon's vaulted dark, +He saw the light of shining robes, +And knew the face of good St. Mark. + +Then sank the iron rack apart, +The cords released their cruel clasp, +The pincers, with their teeth of fire, +Fell broken from the torturer's grasp. + +And lo! before the Youth and Saint, +Barred door and wall of stone gave way; +And up from bondage and the night +They passed to freedom and the day! + +O dreaming monk! thy tale is true; +O painter! true thy pencil's art; +in tones of hope and prophecy, +Ye whisper to my listening heart! + +Unheard no burdened heart's appeal +Moans up to God's inclining ear; +Unheeded by his tender eye, +Falls to the earth no sufferer's tear. + +For still the Lord alone is God +The pomp and power of tyrant man +Are scattered at his lightest breath, +Like chaff before the winnower's fan. + +Not always shall the slave uplift +His heavy hands to Heaven in vain. +God's angel, like the good St. Mark, +Comes shining down to break his chain! + +O weary ones! ye may not see +Your helpers in their downward flight; +Nor hear the sound of silver wings +Slow beating through the hush of night! + +But not the less gray Dothan shone, +With sunbright watchers bending low, +That Fear's dim eye beheld alone +The spear-heads of the Syrian foe. + +There are, who, like the Seer of old, +Can see the helpers God has sent, +And how life's rugged mountain-side +Is white with many an angel tent! + +They hear the heralds whom our Lord +Sends down his pathway to prepare; +And light, from others hidden, shines +On their high place of faith and prayer. + +Let such, for earth's despairing ones, +Hopeless, yet longing to be free, +Breathe once again the Prophet's prayer +"Lord, ope their eyes, that they may see!" +1849. + + + + +KATHLEEN. + +This ballad was originally published in my prose work, Leaves from +Margaret Smith's Journal, as the song of a wandering Milesian +schoolmaster. In the seventeenth century, slavery in the New World was +by no means confined to the natives of Africa. Political offenders and +criminals were transported by the British government to the plantations +of Barbadoes and Virginia, where they were sold like cattle in the +market. Kidnapping of free and innocent white persons was practised to a +considerable extent in the seaports of the United Kingdom. + +O NORAH, lay your basket down, +And rest your weary hand, +And come and hear me sing a song +Of our old Ireland. + +There was a lord of Galaway, +A mighty lord was he; +And he did wed a second wife, +A maid of low degree. + +But he was old, and she was young, +And so, in evil spite, +She baked the black bread for his kin, +And fed her own with white. + +She whipped the maids and starved the kern, +And drove away the poor; +"Ah, woe is me!" the old lord said, +"I rue my bargain sore!" + +This lord he had a daughter fair, +Beloved of old and young, +And nightly round the shealing-fires +Of her the gleeman sung. + +"As sweet and good is young Kathleen +As Eve before her fall;" +So sang the harper at the fair, +So harped he in the hall. + +"Oh, come to me, my daughter dear! +Come sit upon my knee, +For looking in your face, Kathleen, +Your mother's own I see!" + +He smoothed and smoothed her hair away, +He kissed her forehead fair; +"It is my darling Mary's brow, +It is my darling's hair!" + +Oh, then spake up the angry dame, +"Get up, get up," quoth she, +"I'll sell ye over Ireland, +I'll sell ye o'er the sea!" + +She clipped her glossy hair away, +That none her rank might know; +She took away her gown of silk, +And gave her one of tow, + +And sent her down to Limerick town +And to a seaman sold +This daughter of an Irish lord +For ten good pounds in gold. + +The lord he smote upon his breast, +And tore his beard so gray; +But he was old, and she was young, +And so she had her way. + +Sure that same night the Banshee howled +To fright the evil dame, +And fairy folks, who loved Kathleen, +With funeral torches came. + +She watched them glancing through the trees, +And glimmering down the hill; +They crept before the dead-vault door, +And there they all stood still! + +"Get up, old man! the wake-lights shine!" +"Ye murthering witch," quoth he, +"So I'm rid of your tongue, I little care +If they shine for you or me." + +"Oh, whoso brings my daughter back, +My gold and land shall have!" +Oh, then spake up his handsome page, +"No gold nor land I crave! + +"But give to me your daughter dear, +Give sweet Kathleen to me, +Be she on sea or be she on land, +I'll bring her back to thee." + +"My daughter is a lady born, +And you of low degree, +But she shall be your bride the day +You bring her back to me." + +He sailed east, he sailed west, +And far and long sailed he, +Until he came to Boston town, +Across the great salt sea. + +"Oh, have ye seen the young Kathleen, +The flower of Ireland? +Ye'll know her by her eyes so blue, +And by her snow-white hand!" + +Out spake an ancient man, "I know +The maiden whom ye mean; +I bought her of a Limerick man, +And she is called Kathleen. + +"No skill hath she in household work, +Her hands are soft and white, +Yet well by loving looks and ways +She doth her cost requite." + +So up they walked through Boston town, +And met a maiden fair, +A little basket on her arm +So snowy-white and bare. + +"Come hither, child, and say hast thou +This young man ever seen?" +They wept within each other's arms, +The page and young Kathleen. + +"Oh give to me this darling child, +And take my purse of gold." +"Nay, not by me," her master said, +"Shall sweet Kathleen be sold. + +"We loved her in the place of one +The Lord hath early ta'en; +But, since her heart's in Ireland, +We give her back again!" + +Oh, for that same the saints in heaven +For his poor soul shall pray, +And Mary Mother wash with tears +His heresies away. + +Sure now they dwell in Ireland; +As you go up Claremore +Ye'll see their castle looking down +The pleasant Galway shore. + +And the old lord's wife is dead and gone, +And a happy man is he, +For he sits beside his own Kathleen, +With her darling on his knee. +1849. + + + + +THE WELL OF LOCH MAREE + +Pennant, in his Voyage to the Hebrides, describes the holy well of Loch +Maree, the waters of which were supposed to effect a miraculous cure of +melancholy, trouble, and insanity. + +CALM on the breast of Loch Maree +A little isle reposes; +A shadow woven of the oak +And willow o'er it closes. + +Within, a Druid's mound is seen, +Set round with stony warders; +A fountain, gushing through the turf, +Flows o'er its grassy borders. + +And whoso bathes therein his brow, +With care or madness burning, +Feels once again his healthful thought +And sense of peace returning. + +O restless heart and fevered brain, +Unquiet and unstable, +That holy well of Loch Maree +Is more than idle fable! + +Life's changes vex, its discords stun, +Its glaring sunshine blindeth, +And blest is he who on his way +That fount of healing findeth! + +The shadows of a humbled will +And contrite heart are o'er it; +Go read its legend, "TRUST IN GOD," +On Faith's white stones before it. +1850. + + + + +THE CHAPEL OF THE HERMITS. + +The incident upon which this poem is based is related in a note to +Bernardin Henri Saint Pierre's Etudes de la Nature. "We arrived at the +habitation of the Hermits a little before they sat down to their table, +and while they were still at church. J. J. Rousseau proposed to me to +offer up our devotions. The hermits were reciting the Litanies of +Providence, which are remarkably beautiful. After we had addressed our +prayers to God, and the hermits were proceeding to the refectory, +Rousseau said to me, with his heart overflowing, 'At this moment I +experience what is said in the gospel: Where two or three are gathered +together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. There is here a +feeling of peace and happiness which penetrates the soul.' I said, 'If +Finelon had lived, you would have been a Catholic.' He exclaimed, with +tears in his eyes, 'Oh, if Finelon were alive, I would struggle to get +into his service, even as a lackey!'" In my sketch of Saint Pierre, it +will be seen that I have somewhat antedated the period of his old age. +At that time he was not probably more than fifty. In describing him, I +have by no means exaggerated his own history of his mental condition at +the period of the story. In the fragmentary Sequel to his Studies of +Nature, he thus speaks of himself: "The ingratitude of those of whom I +had deserved kindness, unexpected family misfortunes, the total loss of +my small patrimony through enterprises solely undertaken for the benefit +of my country, the debts under which I lay oppressed, the blasting of +all my hopes,--these combined calamities made dreadful inroads upon my +health and reason. . . . I found it impossible to continue in a room +where there was company, especially if the doors were shut. I could not +even cross an alley in a public garden, if several persons had got +together in it. When alone, my malady subsided. I felt myself likewise +at ease in places where I saw children only. At the sight of any one +walking up to the place where I was, I felt my whole frame agitated, and +retired. I often said to myself, 'My sole study has been to merit well +of mankind; why do I fear them?'" + +He attributes his improved health of mind and body to the counsels of +his friend, J. J. Rousseau. "I renounced," says he, "my books. I threw +my eyes upon the works of nature, which spake to all my senses a +language which neither time nor nations have it in their power to alter. +Thenceforth my histories and my journals were the herbage of the fields +and meadows. My thoughts did not go forth painfully after them, as in +the case of human systems; but their thoughts, under a thousand engaging +forms, quietly sought me. In these I studied, without effort, the laws +of that Universal Wisdom which had surrounded me from the cradle, but on +which heretofore I had bestowed little attention." + +Speaking of Rousseau, he says: "I derived inexpressible satisfaction +from his society. What I prized still more than his genius was his +probity. He was one of the few literary characters, tried in the furnace +of affliction, to whom you could, with perfect security, confide your +most secret thoughts. . . . Even when he deviated, and became the victim +of himself or of others, he could forget his own misery in devotion to +the welfare of mankind. He was uniformly the advocate of the miserable. +There might be inscribed on his tomb these affecting words from that +Book of which he carried always about him some select passages, during +the last years of his life: 'His sins, which are many, are forgiven, for +he loved much.'" + +"I DO believe, and yet, in grief, +I pray for help to unbelief; +For needful strength aside to lay +The daily cumberings of my way. + +"I 'm sick at heart of craft and cant, +Sick of the crazed enthusiast's rant, +Profession's smooth hypocrisies, +And creeds of iron, and lives of ease. + +"I ponder o'er the sacred word, +I read the record of our Lord; +And, weak and troubled, envy them +Who touched His seamless garment's hem; + +"Who saw the tears of love He wept +Above the grave where Lazarus slept; +And heard, amidst the shadows dim +Of Olivet, His evening hymn. + +"How blessed the swineherd's low estate, +The beggar crouching at the gate, +The leper loathly and abhorred, +Whose eyes of flesh beheld the Lord! + +"O sacred soil His sandals pressed! +Sweet fountains of His noonday rest! +O light and air of Palestine, +Impregnate with His life divine! + +"Oh, bear me thither! Let me look +On Siloa's pool, and Kedron's brook; +Kneel at Gethsemane, and by +Gennesaret walk, before I die! + +"Methinks this cold and northern night +Would melt before that Orient light; +And, wet by Hermon's dew and rain, +My childhood's faith revive again!" + +So spake my friend, one autumn day, +Where the still river slid away +Beneath us, and above the brown +Red curtains of the woods shut down. + +Then said I,--for I could not brook +The mute appealing of his look,-- +"I, too, am weak, and faith is small, +And blindness happeneth unto all. + +"Yet, sometimes glimpses on my sight, +Through present wrong, the eternal right; +And, step by step, since time began, +I see the steady gain of man; + +"That all of good the past hath had +Remains to make our own time glad, +Our common daily life divine, +And every land a Palestine. + +"Thou weariest of thy present state; +What gain to thee time's holiest date? +The doubter now perchance had been +As High Priest or as Pilate then! + +"What thought Chorazin's scribes? What faith +In Him had Nain and Nazareth? +Of the few followers whom He led +One sold Him,--all forsook and fled. + +"O friend! we need nor rock nor sand, +Nor storied stream of Morning-Land; +The heavens are glassed in Merrimac,-- +What more could Jordan render back? + +"We lack but open eye and ear +To find the Orient's marvels here; +The still small voice in autumn's hush, +Yon maple wood the burning bush. + +"For still the new transcends the old, +In signs and tokens manifold; +Slaves rise up men; the olive waves, +With roots deep set in battle graves! + +"Through the harsh noises of our day +A low, sweet prelude finds its way; +Through clouds of doubt, and creeds of fear, +A light is breaking, calm and clear. + +"That song of Love, now low and far, +Erelong shall swell from star to star! +That light, the breaking day, which tips +The golden-spired Apocalypse!" + +Then, when my good friend shook his head, +And, sighing, sadly smiled, I said: +"Thou mind'st me of a story told +In rare Bernardin's leaves of gold." + +And while the slanted sunbeams wove +The shadows of the frost-stained grove, +And, picturing all, the river ran +O'er cloud and wood, I thus began:-- + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +In Mount Valerien's chestnut wood +The Chapel of the Hermits stood; +And thither, at the close of day, +Came two old pilgrims, worn and gray. + +One, whose impetuous youth defied +The storms of Baikal's wintry side, +And mused and dreamed where tropic day +Flamed o'er his lost Virginia's bay. + +His simple tale of love and woe +All hearts had melted, high or low;-- +A blissful pain, a sweet distress, +Immortal in its tenderness. + +Yet, while above his charmed page +Beat quick the young heart of his age, +He walked amidst the crowd unknown, +A sorrowing old man, strange and lone. + +A homeless, troubled age,--the gray +Pale setting of a weary day; +Too dull his ear for voice of praise, +Too sadly worn his brow for bays. + +Pride, lust of power and glory, slept; +Yet still his heart its young dream kept, +And, wandering like the deluge-dove, +Still sought the resting-place of love. + +And, mateless, childless, envied more +The peasant's welcome from his door +By smiling eyes at eventide, +Than kingly gifts or lettered pride. + +Until, in place of wife and child, +All-pitying Nature on him smiled, +And gave to him the golden keys +To all her inmost sanctities. + +Mild Druid of her wood-paths dim! +She laid her great heart bare to him, +Its loves and sweet accords;--he saw +The beauty of her perfect law. + +The language of her signs lie knew, +What notes her cloudy clarion blew; +The rhythm of autumn's forest dyes, +The hymn of sunset's painted skies. + +And thus he seemed to hear the song +Which swept, of old, the stars along; +And to his eyes the earth once more +Its fresh and primal beauty wore. + +Who sought with him, from summer air, +And field and wood, a balm for care; +And bathed in light of sunset skies +His tortured nerves and weary eyes? + +His fame on all the winds had flown; +His words had shaken crypt and throne; +Like fire, on camp and court and cell +They dropped, and kindled as they fell. + +Beneath the pomps of state, below +The mitred juggler's masque and show, +A prophecy, a vague hope, ran +His burning thought from man to man. + +For peace or rest too well he saw +The fraud of priests, the wrong of law, +And felt how hard, between the two, +Their breath of pain the millions drew. + +A prophet-utterance, strong and wild, +The weakness of an unweaned child, +A sun-bright hope for human-kind, +And self-despair, in him combined. + +He loathed the false, yet lived not true +To half the glorious truths he knew; +The doubt, the discord, and the sin, +He mourned without, he felt within. + +Untrod by him the path he showed, +Sweet pictures on his easel glowed +Of simple faith, and loves of home, +And virtue's golden days to come. + +But weakness, shame, and folly made +The foil to all his pen portrayed; +Still, where his dreamy splendors shone, +The shadow of himself was thrown. + +Lord, what is man, whose thought, at times, +Up to Thy sevenfold brightness climbs, +While still his grosser instinct clings +To earth, like other creeping things! + +So rich in words, in acts so mean; +So high, so low; chance-swung between +The foulness of the penal pit +And Truth's clear sky, millennium-lit! + +Vain, pride of star-lent genius!--vain, +Quick fancy and creative brain, +Unblest by prayerful sacrifice, +Absurdly great, or weakly wise! + +Midst yearnings for a truer life, +Without were fears, within was strife; +And still his wayward act denied +The perfect good for which he sighed. + +The love he sent forth void returned; +The fame that crowned him scorched and burned, +Burning, yet cold and drear and lone,-- +A fire-mount in a frozen zone! + +Like that the gray-haired sea-king passed,[9] +Seen southward from his sleety mast, +About whose brows of changeless frost +A wreath of flame the wild winds tossed. + +Far round the mournful beauty played +Of lambent light and purple shade, +Lost on the fixed and dumb despair +Of frozen earth and sea and air! + +A man apart, unknown, unloved +By those whose wrongs his soul had moved, +He bore the ban of Church and State, +The good man's fear, the bigot's hate! + +Forth from the city's noise and throng, +Its pomp and shame, its sin and wrong, +The twain that summer day had strayed +To Mount Valerien's chestnut shade. + +To them the green fields and the wood +Lent something of their quietude, +And golden-tinted sunset seemed +Prophetical of all they dreamed. + +The hermits from their simple cares +The bell was calling home to prayers, +And, listening to its sound, the twain +Seemed lapped in childhood's trust again. + +Wide open stood the chapel door; +A sweet old music, swelling o'er +Low prayerful murmurs, issued thence,-- +The Litanies of Providence! + +Then Rousseau spake: "Where two or three +In His name meet, He there will be!" +And then, in silence, on their knees +They sank beneath the chestnut-trees. + +As to the blind returning light, +As daybreak to the Arctic night, +Old faith revived; the doubts of years +Dissolved in reverential tears. + +That gush of feeling overpast, +"Ah me!" Bernardin sighed at last, +I would thy bitterest foes could see +Thy heart as it is seen of me! + +"No church of God hast thou denied; +Thou hast but spurned in scorn aside +A bare and hollow counterfeit, +Profaning the pure name of it! + +"With dry dead moss and marish weeds +His fire the western herdsman feeds, +And greener from the ashen plain +The sweet spring grasses rise again. + +"Nor thunder-peal nor mighty wind +Disturb the solid sky behind; +And through the cloud the red bolt rends +The calm, still smile of Heaven descends. + +"Thus through the world, like bolt and blast, +And scourging fire, thy words have passed. +Clouds break,--the steadfast heavens remain; +Weeds burn,--the ashes feed the grain! + +"But whoso strives with wrong may find +Its touch pollute, its darkness blind; +And learn, as latent fraud is shown +In others' faith, to doubt his own. + +"With dream and falsehood, simple trust +And pious hope we tread in dust; +Lost the calm faith in goodness,--lost +The baptism of the Pentecost! + +"Alas!--the blows for error meant +Too oft on truth itself are spent, +As through the false and vile and base +Looks forth her sad, rebuking face. + +"Not ours the Theban's charmed life; +We come not scathless from the strife! +The Python's coil about us clings, +The trampled Hydra bites and stings! + +"Meanwhile, the sport of seeming chance, +The plastic shapes of circumstance, +What might have been we fondly guess, +If earlier born, or tempted less. + +"And thou, in these wild, troubled days, +Misjudged alike in blame and praise, +Unsought and undeserved the same +The skeptic's praise, the bigot's blame;-- + +"I cannot doubt, if thou hadst been +Among the highly favored men +Who walked on earth with Fenelon, +He would have owned thee as his son; + +"And, bright with wings of cherubim +Visibly waving over him, +Seen through his life, the Church had seemed +All that its old confessors dreamed." + +"I would have been," Jean Jaques replied, +"The humblest servant at his side, +Obscure, unknown, content to see +How beautiful man's life may be! + +"Oh, more than thrice-blest relic, more +Than solemn rite or sacred lore, +The holy life of one who trod +The foot-marks of the Christ of God! + +"Amidst a blinded world he saw +The oneness of the Dual law; +That Heaven's sweet peace on Earth began, +And God was loved through love of man. + +"He lived the Truth which reconciled +The strong man Reason, Faith the child; +In him belief and act were one, +The homilies of duty done!" + +So speaking, through the twilight gray +The two old pilgrims went their way. +What seeds of life that day were sown, +The heavenly watchers knew alone. + +Time passed, and Autumn came to fold +Green Summer in her brown and gold; +Time passed, and Winter's tears of snow +Dropped on the grave-mound of Rousseau. + +"The tree remaineth where it fell, +The pained on earth is pained in hell!" +So priestcraft from its altars cursed +The mournful doubts its falsehood nursed. + +Ah! well of old the Psalmist prayed, +"Thy hand, not man's, on me be laid!" +Earth frowns below, Heaven weeps above, +And man is hate, but God is love! + +No Hermits now the wanderer sees, +Nor chapel with its chestnut-trees; +A morning dream, a tale that's told, +The wave of change o'er all has rolled. + +Yet lives the lesson of that day; +And from its twilight cool and gray +Comes up a low, sad whisper, "Make +The truth thine own, for truth's own sake. + +"Why wait to see in thy brief span +Its perfect flower and fruit in man? +No saintly touch can save; no balm +Of healing hath the martyr's palm. + +"Midst soulless forms, and false pretence +Of spiritual pride and pampered sense, +A voice saith, 'What is that to thee? +Be true thyself, and follow Me! + +"In days when throne and altar heard +The wanton's wish, the bigot's word, +And pomp of state and ritual show +Scarce hid the loathsome death below,-- + +"Midst fawning priests and courtiers foul, +The losel swarm of crown and cowl, +White-robed walked Francois Fenelon, +Stainless as Uriel in the sun! + +"Yet in his time the stake blazed red, +The poor were eaten up like bread +Men knew him not; his garment's hem +No healing virtue had for them. + +"Alas! no present saint we find; +The white cymar gleams far behind, +Revealed in outline vague, sublime, +Through telescopic mists of time! + +"Trust not in man with passing breath, +But in the Lord, old Scripture saith; +The truth which saves thou mayst not blend +With false professor, faithless friend. + +"Search thine own heart. What paineth thee +In others in thyself may be; +All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; +Be thou the true man thou dost seek! + +"Where now with pain thou treadest, trod +The whitest of the saints of God! +To show thee where their feet were set, +the light which led them shineth yet. + +"The footprints of the life divine, +Which marked their path, remain in thine; +And that great Life, transfused in theirs, +Awaits thy faith, thy love, thy prayers!" + +A lesson which I well may heed, +A word of fitness to my need; +So from that twilight cool and gray +Still saith a voice, or seems to say. + +We rose, and slowly homeward turned, +While down the west the sunset burned; +And, in its light, hill, wood, and tide, +And human forms seemed glorified. + +The village homes transfigured stood, +And purple bluffs, whose belting wood +Across the waters leaned to hold +The yellow leaves like lamps of hold. + +Then spake my friend: "Thy words are true; +Forever old, forever new, +These home-seen splendors are the same +Which over Eden's sunsets came. + +"To these bowed heavens let wood and hill +Lift voiceless praise and anthem still; +Fall, warm with blessing, over them, +Light of the New Jerusalem! + +"Flow on, sweet river, like the stream +Of John's Apocalyptic dream +This mapled ridge shall Horeb be, +Yon green-banked lake our Galilee! + +"Henceforth my heart shall sigh no more +For olden time and holier shore; +God's love and blessing, then and there, +Are now and here and everywhere." +1851. + + + + +TAULER. + +TAULER, the preacher, walked, one autumn day, +Without the walls of Strasburg, by the Rhine, +Pondering the solemn Miracle of Life; +As one who, wandering in a starless night, +Feels momently the jar of unseen waves, +And hears the thunder of an unknown sea, +Breaking along an unimagined shore. + +And as he walked he prayed. Even the same +Old prayer with which, for half a score of years, +Morning, and noon, and evening, lip and heart +Had groaned: "Have pity upon me, Lord! +Thou seest, while teaching others, I am blind. +Send me a man who can direct my steps!" + +Then, as he mused, he heard along his path +A sound as of an old man's staff among +The dry, dead linden-leaves; and, looking up, +He saw a stranger, weak, and poor, and old. + +"Peace be unto thee, father!" Tauler said, +"God give thee a good day!" The old man raised +Slowly his calm blue eyes. "I thank thee, son; +But all my days are good, and none are ill." + +Wondering thereat, the preacher spake again, +"God give thee happy life." The old man smiled, +"I never am unhappy." + + Tauler laid +His hand upon the stranger's coarse gray sleeve +"Tell me, O father, what thy strange words mean. +Surely man's days are evil, and his life +Sad as the grave it leads to." "Nay, my son, +Our times are in God's hands, and all our days +Are as our needs; for shadow as for sun, +For cold as heat, for want as wealth, alike +Our thanks are due, since that is best which is; +And that which is not, sharing not His life, +Is evil only as devoid of good. +And for the happiness of which I spake, +I find it in submission to his will, +And calm trust in the holy Trinity +Of Knowledge, Goodness, and Almighty Power." + +Silently wondering, for a little space, +Stood the great preacher; then he spake as one +Who, suddenly grappling with a haunting thought +Which long has followed, whispering through the dark +Strange terrors, drags it, shrieking, into light +"What if God's will consign thee hence to Hell?" + +"Then," said the stranger, cheerily, "be it so. +What Hell may be I know not; this I know,-- +I cannot lose the presence of the Lord. +One arm, Humility, takes hold upon +His dear Humanity; the other, Love, +Clasps his Divinity. So where I go +He goes; and better fire-walled Hell with Him +Than golden-gated Paradise without." + +Tears sprang in Tauler's eyes. A sudden light, +Like the first ray which fell on chaos, clove +Apart the shadow wherein he had walked +Darkly at noon. And, as the strange old man +Went his slow way, until his silver hair +Set like the white moon where the hills of vine +Slope to the Rhine, he bowed his head and said +"My prayer is answered. God hath sent the man +Long sought, to teach me, by his simple trust, +Wisdom the weary schoolmen never knew." + +So, entering with a changed and cheerful step +The city gates, he saw, far down the street, +A mighty shadow break the light of noon, +Which tracing backward till its airy lines +Hardened to stony plinths, he raised his eyes +O'er broad facade and lofty pediment, +O'er architrave and frieze and sainted niche, +Up the stone lace-work chiselled by the wise +Erwin of Steinbach, dizzily up to where +In the noon-brightness the great Minster's tower, +Jewelled with sunbeams on its mural crown, +Rose like a visible prayer. "Behold!" he said, +"The stranger's faith made plain before mine eyes. +As yonder tower outstretches to the earth +The dark triangle of its shade alone +When the clear day is shining on its top, +So, darkness in the pathway of Man's life +Is but the shadow of God's providence, +By the great Sun of Wisdom cast thereon; +And what is dark below is light in Heaven." +1853. + + + + +THE HERMIT OF THE THEBAID. + +O STRONG, upwelling prayers of faith, +From inmost founts of life ye start,-- +The spirit's pulse, the vital breath +Of soul and heart! + +From pastoral toil, from traffic's din, +Alone, in crowds, at home, abroad, +Unheard of man, ye enter in +The ear of God. + +Ye brook no forced and measured tasks, +Nor weary rote, nor formal chains; +The simple heart, that freely asks +In love, obtains. + +For man the living temple is +The mercy-seat and cherubim, +And all the holy mysteries, +He bears with him. + +And most avails the prayer of love, +Which, wordless, shapes itself in needs, +And wearies Heaven for naught above +Our common needs. + +Which brings to God's all-perfect will +That trust of His undoubting child +Whereby all seeming good and ill +Are reconciled. + +And, seeking not for special signs +Of favor, is content to fall +Within the providence which shines +And rains on all. + +Alone, the Thebaid hermit leaned +At noontime o'er the sacred word. +Was it an angel or a fiend +Whose voice be heard? + +It broke the desert's hush of awe, +A human utterance, sweet and mild; +And, looking up, the hermit saw +A little child. + +A child, with wonder-widened eyes, +O'erawed and troubled by the sight +Of hot, red sands, and brazen skies, +And anchorite. + +"'What dost thou here, poor man? No shade +Of cool, green palms, nor grass, nor well, +Nor corn, nor vines." The hermit said +"With God I dwell. + +"Alone with Him in this great calm, +I live not by the outward sense; +My Nile his love, my sheltering palm +His providence." + +The child gazed round him. "Does God live +Here only?--where the desert's rim +Is green with corn, at morn and eve, +We pray to Him. + +"My brother tills beside the Nile +His little field; beneath the leaves +My sisters sit and spin, the while +My mother weaves. + +"And when the millet's ripe heads fall, +And all the bean-field hangs in pod, +My mother smiles, and, says that all +Are gifts from God." + +Adown the hermit's wasted cheeks +Glistened the flow of human tears; +"Dear Lord!" he said, "Thy angel speaks, +Thy servant hears." + +Within his arms the child he took, +And thought of home and life with men; +And all his pilgrim feet forsook +Returned again. + +The palmy shadows cool and long, +The eyes that smiled through lavish locks, +Home's cradle-hymn and harvest-song, +And bleat of flocks. + +"O child!" he said, "thou teachest me +There is no place where God is not; +That love will make, where'er it be, +A holy spot." + +He rose from off the desert sand, +And, leaning on his staff of thorn, +Went with the young child hand in hand, +Like night with morn. + +They crossed the desert's burning line, +And heard the palm-tree's rustling fan, +The Nile-bird's cry, the low of kine, +And voice of man. + +Unquestioning, his childish guide +He followed, as the small hand led +To where a woman, gentle-eyed, +Her distaff fed. + +She rose, she clasped her truant boy, +She thanked the stranger with her eyes; +The hermit gazed in doubt and joy +And dumb surprise. + +And to!--with sudden warmth and light +A tender memory thrilled his frame; +New-born, the world-lost anchorite +A man became. + +"O sister of El Zara's race, +Behold me!--had we not one mother?" +She gazed into the stranger's face +"Thou art my brother!" + +"And when to share our evening meal, +She calls the stranger at the door, +She says God fills the hands that deal +Food to the poor." + +"O kin of blood! Thy life of use +And patient trust is more than mine; +And wiser than the gray recluse +This child of thine. + +"For, taught of him whom God hath sent, +That toil is praise, and love is prayer, +I come, life's cares and pains content +With thee to share." + +Even as his foot the threshold crossed, +The hermit's better life began; +Its holiest saint the Thebaid lost, +And found a man! +1854. + + + + +MAUD MULLER. + +The recollection of some descendants of a Hessian deserter in the +Revolutionary war bearing the name of Muller doubtless suggested the +somewhat infelicitous title of a New England idyl. The poem had no real +foundation in fact, though a hint of it may have been found in recalling +an incident, trivial in itself, of a journey on the picturesque Maine +seaboard with my sister some years before it was written. We had stopped +to rest our tired horse under the shade of an apple-tree, and refresh +him with water from a little brook which rippled through the stone wall +across the road. A very beautiful young girl in scantest summer attire +was at work in the hay-field, and as we talked with her we noticed that +she strove to hide her bare feet by raking hay over them, blushing as +she did so, through the tan of her cheek and neck. + +MAUD MULLER on a summer's day, +Raked the meadow sweet with hay. + +Beneath her torn hat glowed the wealth +Of simple beauty and rustic-health. + +Singing, she wrought, and her merry glee +The mock-bird echoed from his tree. + +But when she glanced to the far-off town, +White from its hill-slope looking down, + +The sweet song died, and a vague unrest +And a nameless longing filled her breast,-- + +A wish, that she hardly dared to own, +For something better than she had known. + +The Judge rode slowly down the lane, +Smoothing his horse's chestnut mane. + +He drew his bridle in the shade +Of the apple-trees, to greet the maid, + +And asked a draught from the spring that flowed +Through the meadow across the road. + +She stooped where the cool spring bubbled up, +And filled for him her small tin cup, + +And blushed as she gave it, looking down +On her feet so bare, and her tattered gown. + +"Thanks!" said the Judge; "a sweeter draught +From a fairer hand was never quaffed." + +He spoke of the grass and flowers and trees, +Of the singing birds and the humming bees; + +Then talked of the haying, and wondered whether +The cloud in the west would bring foul weather. + +And Maud forgot her brier-torn gown, +And her graceful ankles bare and brown; + +And listened, while a pleased surprise +Looked from her long-lashed hazel eyes. + +At last, like one who for delay +Seeks a vain excuse, he rode away. + +Maud Muller looked and sighed: "Ah me! +That I the Judge's bride might be! + +"He would dress me up in silks so fine, +And praise and toast me at his wine. + +"My father should wear a broadcloth coat; +My brother should sail a painted boat. + +"I'd dress my mother so grand and gay, +And the baby should have a new toy each day. + +"And I 'd feed the hungry and clothe the poor, +And all should bless me who left our door." + +The Judge looked back as he climbed the hill, +And saw Maud Muller standing still. + +A form more fair, a face more sweet, +Ne'er hath it been my lot to meet. + +"And her modest answer and graceful air +Show her wise and good as she is fair. + +"Would she were mine, and I to-day, +Like her, a harvester of hay; + +"No doubtful balance of rights and wrongs, +Nor weary lawyers with endless tongues, + +"But low of cattle and song of birds, +And health and quiet and loving words." + +But he thought of his sisters, proud and cold, +And his mother, vain of her rank and gold. + +So, closing his heart, the Judge rode on, +And Maud was left in the field alone. + +But the lawyers smiled that afternoon, +When he hummed in court an old love-tune; + +And the young girl mused beside the well +Till the rain on the unraked clover fell. + +He wedded a wife of richest dower, +Who lived for fashion, as he for power. + +Yet oft, in his marble hearth's bright glow, +He watched a picture come and go; + +And sweet Maud Muller's hazel eyes +Looked out in their innocent surprise. + +Oft, when the wine in his glass was red, +He longed for the wayside well instead; + +And closed his eyes on his garnished rooms +To dream of meadows and clover-blooms. + +And the proud man sighed, with a secret pain, +"Ah, that I were free again! + +"Free as when I rode that day, +Where the barefoot maiden raked her hay." + +She wedded a man unlearned and poor, +And many children played round her door. + +But care and sorrow, and childbirth pain, +Left their traces on heart and brain. + +And oft, when the summer sun shone hot +On the new-mown hay in the meadow lot, + +And she heard the little spring brook fall +Over the roadside, through the wall, + +In the shade of the apple-tree again +She saw a rider draw his rein. + +And, gazing down with timid grace, +She felt his pleased eyes read her face. + +Sometimes her narrow kitchen walls +Stretched away into stately halls; + +The weary wheel to a spinnet turned, +The tallow candle an astral burned, + +And for him who sat by the chimney lug, +Dozing and grumbling o'er pipe and mug, + +A manly form at her side she saw, +And joy was duty and love was law. + +Then she took up her burden of life again, +Saying only, "It might have been." + +Alas for maiden, alas for Judge, +For rich repiner and household drudge! + +God pity them both! and pity us all, +Who vainly the dreams of youth recall. + +For of all sad words of tongue or pen, +The saddest are these: "It might have been!" + +Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies +Deeply buried from human eyes; + +And, in the hereafter, angels may +Roll the stone from its grave away! +1854. + + + + +MARY GARVIN. +FROM the heart of Waumbek Methna, from the +lake that never fails, +Falls the Saco in the green lap of Conway's +intervales; +There, in wild and virgin freshness, its waters +foam and flow, +As when Darby Field first saw them, two hundred +years ago. + +But, vexed in all its seaward course with bridges, +dams, and mills, +How changed is Saco's stream, how lost its freedom +of the hills, +Since travelled Jocelyn, factor Vines, and stately +Champernoon +Heard on its banks the gray wolf's howl, the trumpet +of the loon! + +With smoking axle hot with speed, with steeds of +fire and steam, +Wide-waked To-day leaves Yesterday behind him +like a dream. +Still, from the hurrying train of Life, fly backward +far and fast +The milestones of the fathers, the landmarks of +the past. + +But human hearts remain unchanged: the sorrow +and the sin, +The loves and hopes and fears of old, are to our +own akin; + +And if, in tales our fathers told, the songs our +mothers sung, +Tradition wears a snowy beard, Romance is always +young. + +O sharp-lined man of traffic, on Saco's banks today! +O mill-girl watching late and long the shuttle's +restless play! +Let, for the once, a listening ear the working hand +beguile, +And lend my old Provincial tale, as suits, a tear or +smile! + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +The evening gun had sounded from gray Fort +Mary's walls; +Through the forest, like a wild beast, roared and +plunged the Saco's' falls. + +And westward on the sea-wind, that damp and +gusty grew, +Over cedars darkening inland the smokes of Spurwink +blew. + +On the hearth of Farmer Garvin, blazed the crackling +walnut log; +Right and left sat dame and goodman, and between +them lay the dog, + +Head on paws, and tail slow wagging, and beside +him on her mat, +Sitting drowsy in the firelight, winked and purred +the mottled cat. + +"Twenty years!" said Goodman Garvin, speaking +sadly, under breath, +And his gray head slowly shaking, as one who +speaks of death. + +The goodwife dropped her needles: "It is twenty +years to-day, +Since the Indians fell on Saco, and stole our child +away." + +Then they sank into the silence, for each knew +the other's thought, +Of a great and common sorrow, and words were, +needed not. + +"Who knocks?" cried Goodman Garvin. The +door was open thrown; +On two strangers, man and maiden, cloaked and +furred, the fire-light shone. + +One with courteous gesture lifted the bear-skin +from his head; +"Lives here Elkanah Garvin?" "I am he," the +goodman said. + +"Sit ye down, and dry and warm ye, for the night +is chill with rain." +And the goodwife drew the settle, and stirred the +fire amain. + +The maid unclasped her cloak-hood, the firelight +glistened fair +In her large, moist eyes, and over soft folds of +dark brown hair. + +Dame Garvin looked upon her: "It is Mary's self +I see!" +"Dear heart!" she cried, "now tell me, has my +child come back to me?" + +"My name indeed is Mary," said the stranger sobbing +wild; +"Will you be to me a mother? I am Mary Garvin's child!" + +"She sleeps by wooded Simcoe, but on her dying +day +She bade my father take me to her kinsfolk far +away. + +"And when the priest besought her to do me no +such wrong, +She said, 'May God forgive me! I have closed +my heart too long.' + +"'When I hid me from my father, and shut out +my mother's call, +I sinned against those dear ones, and the Father +of us all. + +"'Christ's love rebukes no home-love, breaks no +tie of kin apart; +Better heresy in doctrine, than heresy of heart. + +"'Tell me not the Church must censure: she who +wept the Cross beside +Never made her own flesh strangers, nor the claims +of blood denied; + +"'And if she who wronged her parents, with her +child atones to them, +Earthly daughter, Heavenly Mother! thou at least +wilt not condemn!' + +"So, upon her death-bed lying, my blessed mother +spake; +As we come to do her bidding, So receive us for her +sake." + +"God be praised!" said Goodwife Garvin, "He taketh, +and He gives; +He woundeth, but He healeth; in her child our +daughter lives!" + +"Amen!" the old man answered, as he brushed a +tear away, +And, kneeling by his hearthstone, said, with reverence, +"Let us pray." + +All its Oriental symbols, and its Hebrew pararphrase, +Warm with earnest life and feeling, rose his prayer +of love and praise. + +But he started at beholding, as he rose from off +his knee, +The stranger cross his forehead with the sign of +Papistrie. + +"What is this?" cried Farmer Garvin. "Is an English +Christian's home +A chapel or a mass-house, that you make the sign +of Rome?" + +Then the young girl knelt beside him, kissed his +trembling hand, and cried: +Oh, forbear to chide my father; in that faith my +mother died! + +"On her wooden cross at Simcoe the dews and +sunshine fall, +As they fall on Spurwink's graveyard; and the +dear God watches all!" + +The old man stroked the fair head that rested on +his knee; +"Your words, dear child," he answered, "are God's +rebuke to me. + +"Creed and rite perchance may differ, yet our +faith and hope be one. +Let me be your father's father, let him be to me +a son." + +When the horn, on Sabbath morning, through the +still and frosty air, +From Spurwink, Pool, and Black Point, called to +sermon and to prayer, + +To the goodly house of worship, where, in order +due and fit, +As by public vote directed, classed and ranked the +people sit; + +Mistress first and goodwife after, clerkly squire +before the clown, +"From the brave coat, lace-embroidered, to the gray +frock, shading down;" + +From the pulpit read the preacher, "Goodman +Garvin and his wife +Fain would thank the Lord, whose kindness has +followed them through life, + +"For the great and crowning mercy, that their +daughter, from the wild, +Where she rests (they hope in God's peace), has +sent to them her child; + +"And the prayers of all God's people they ask, +that they may prove +Not unworthy, through their weakness, of such +special proof of love." + +As the preacher prayed, uprising, the aged couple +stood, +And the fair Canadian also, in her modest maiden- +hood. + +Thought the elders, grave and doubting, "She is +Papist born and bred;" +Thought the young men, "'T is an angel in Mary +Garvin's stead!" + + + + +THE RANGER. + +Originally published as Martha Mason; a Song of the Old +French War. + +ROBERT RAWLIN!--Frosts were falling +When the ranger's horn was calling +Through the woods to Canada. + +Gone the winter's sleet and snowing, +Gone the spring-time's bud and blowing, +Gone the summer's harvest mowing, +And again the fields are gray. +Yet away, he's away! +Faint and fainter hope is growing +In the hearts that mourn his stay. + +Where the lion, crouching high on +Abraham's rock with teeth of iron, +Glares o'er wood and wave away, +Faintly thence, as pines far sighing, +Or as thunder spent and dying, +Come the challenge and replying, +Come the sounds of flight and fray. +Well-a-day! Hope and pray! +Some are living, some are lying +In their red graves far away. + +Straggling rangers, worn with dangers, +Homeward faring, weary strangers +Pass the farm-gate on their way; +Tidings of the dead and living, +Forest march and ambush, giving, +Till the maidens leave their weaving, +And the lads forget their play. +"Still away, still away!" +Sighs a sad one, sick with grieving, +"Why does Robert still delay!" + +Nowhere fairer, sweeter, rarer, +Does the golden-locked fruit bearer +Through his painted woodlands stray, +Than where hillside oaks and beeches +Overlook the long, blue reaches, +Silver coves and pebbled beaches, +And green isles of Casco Bay; +Nowhere day, for delay, +With a tenderer look beseeches, +"Let me with my charmed earth stay." + +On the grain-lands of the mainlands +Stands the serried corn like train-bands, +Plume and pennon rustling gay; +Out at sea, the islands wooded, +Silver birches, golden-hooded, +Set with maples, crimson-blooded, +White sea-foam and sand-hills gray, +Stretch away, far away. +Dim and dreamy, over-brooded +By the hazy autumn day. + +Gayly chattering to the clattering +Of the brown nuts downward pattering, +Leap the squirrels, red and gray. +On the grass-land, on the fallow, +Drop the apples, red and yellow; +Drop the russet pears and mellow, +Drop the red leaves all the day. +And away, swift away, +Sun and cloud, o'er hill and hollow +Chasing, weave their web of play. + +"Martha Mason, Martha Mason, +Prithee tell us of the reason +Why you mope at home to-day +Surely smiling is not sinning; +Leave, your quilling, leave your spinning; +What is all your store of linen, +If your heart is never gay? +Come away, come away! +Never yet did sad beginning +Make the task of life a play." + +Overbending, till she's blending +With the flaxen skein she's tending +Pale brown tresses smoothed away +From her face of patient sorrow, +Sits she, seeking but to borrow, +From the trembling hope of morrow, +Solace for the weary day. +"Go your way, laugh and play; +Unto Him who heeds the sparrow +And the lily, let me pray." + +"With our rally, rings the valley,-- +Join us!" cried the blue-eyed Nelly; +"Join us!" cried the laughing May, +"To the beach we all are going, +And, to save the task of rowing, +West by north the wind is blowing, +Blowing briskly down the bay +Come away, come away! +Time and tide are swiftly flowing, +Let us take them while we may! + +"Never tell us that you'll fail us, +Where the purple beach-plum mellows +On the bluffs so wild and gray. +Hasten, for the oars are falling; +Hark, our merry mates are calling; +Time it is that we were all in, +Singing tideward down the bay!" +"Nay, nay, let me stay; +Sore and sad for Robert Rawlin +Is my heart," she said, "to-day." + +"Vain your calling for Rob Rawlin +Some red squaw his moose-meat's broiling, +Or some French lass, singing gay; +Just forget as he's forgetting; +What avails a life of fretting? +If some stars must needs be setting, +Others rise as good as they." +"Cease, I pray; go your way!" +Martha cries, her eyelids wetting; +"Foul and false the words you say!" + +"Martha Mason, hear to reason!-- +Prithee, put a kinder face on!" +"Cease to vex me," did she say; +"Better at his side be lying, +With the mournful pine-trees sighing, +And the wild birds o'er us crying, +Than to doubt like mine a prey; +While away, far away, +Turns my heart, forever trying +Some new hope for each new day. + +"When the shadows veil the meadows, +And the sunset's golden ladders +Sink from twilight's walls of gray,-- +From the window of my dreaming, +I can see his sickle gleaming, +Cheery-voiced, can hear him teaming +Down the locust-shaded way; +But away, swift away, +Fades the fond, delusive seeming, +And I kneel again to pray. + +"When the growing dawn is showing, +And the barn-yard cock is crowing, +And the horned moon pales away +From a dream of him awaking, +Every sound my heart is making +Seems a footstep of his taking; +Then I hush the thought, and say, +'Nay, nay, he's away!' +Ah! my heart, my heart is breaking +For the dear one far away." + +Look up, Martha! worn and swarthy, +Glows a face of manhood worthy +"Robert!" "Martha!" all they say. +O'er went wheel and reel together, +Little cared the owner whither; +Heart of lead is heart of feather, +Noon of night is noon of day! +Come away, come away! +When such lovers meet each other, +Why should prying idlers stay? + +Quench the timber's fallen embers, +Quench the recd leaves in December's +Hoary rime and chilly spray. + +But the hearth shall kindle clearer, +Household welcomes sound sincerer, +Heart to loving heart draw nearer, +When the bridal bells shall say: +"Hope and pray, trust alway; +Life is sweeter, love is dearer, +For the trial and delay!" +1856. + + + + +THE GARRISON OF CAPE ANN. + +FROM the hills of home forth looking, far beneath +the tent-like span +Of the sky, I see the white gleam of the headland +of Cape Ann. +Well I know its coves and beaches to the ebb-tide +glimmering down, +And the white-walled hamlet children of its ancient +fishing town. + +Long has passed the summer morning, and its +memory waxes old, +When along yon breezy headlands with a pleasant +friend I strolled. +Ah! the autumn sun is shining, and the ocean +wind blows cool, +And the golden-rod and aster bloom around thy +grave, Rantoul! + +With the memory of that morning by the summer +sea I blend +A wild and wondrous story, by the younger Mather +penned, +In that quaint Magnalia Christi, with all strange +and marvellous things, +Heaped up huge and undigested, like the chaos +Ovid sings. + +Dear to me these far, faint glimpses of the dual +life of old, +Inward, grand with awe and reverence; outward, +mean and coarse and cold; +Gleams of mystic beauty playing over dull and +vulgar clay, +Golden-threaded fancies weaving in a web of +hodden gray. + +The great eventful Present hides the Past; but +through the din +Of its loud life hints and echoes from the life +behind steal in; +And the lore of homeland fireside, and the legendary +rhyme, +Make the task of duty lighter which the true man +owes his time. + +So, with something of the feeling which the Covenanter +knew, +When with pious chisel wandering Scotland's +moorland graveyards through, +From the graves of old traditions I part the black- +berry-vines, +Wipe the moss from off the headstones, and retouch +the faded lines. + +Where the sea-waves back and forward, hoarse +with rolling pebbles, ran, +The garrison-house stood watching on the gray +rocks of Cape Ann; +On its windy site uplifting gabled roof and palisade, +And rough walls of unhewn timber with the moonlight +overlaid. + +On his slow round walked the sentry, south and +eastward looking forth +O'er a rude and broken coast-line, white with +breakers stretching north,-- +Wood and rock and gleaming sand-drift, jagged +capes, with bush and tree, +Leaning inland from the smiting of the wild and +gusty sea. + +Before the deep-mouthed chimney, dimly lit by +dying brands, +Twenty soldiers sat and waited, with their muskets +in their hands; +On the rough-hewn oaken table the venison haunch +was shared, +And the pewter tankard circled slowly round from +beard to beard. + +Long they sat and talked together,--talked of +wizards Satan-sold; +Of all ghostly sights and noises,--signs and wonders +manifold; +Of the spectre-ship of Salem, with the dead men +in her shrouds, +Sailing sheer above the water, in the loom of morning +clouds; + +Of the marvellous valley hidden in the depths of +Gloucester woods, +Full of plants that love the summer,--blooms of +warmer latitudes; +Where the Arctic birch is braided by the tropic's +flowery vines, +And the white magnolia-blossoms star the twilight +of the pines! + +But their voices sank yet lower, sank to husky +tones of fear, +As they spake of present tokens of the powers of +evil near; +Of a spectral host, defying stroke of steel and aim +of gun; +Never yet was ball to slay them in the mould of +mortals run. + +Thrice, with plumes and flowing scalp-locks, from +the midnight wood they came,-- +Thrice around the block-house marching, met, unharmed, +its volleyed flame; +Then, with mocking laugh and gesture, sunk in +earth or lost in air, +All the ghostly wonder vanished, and the moonlit +sands lay bare. + +Midnight came; from out the forest moved a +dusky mass that soon +Grew to warriors, plumed and painted, grimly +marching in the moon. +"Ghosts or witches," said the captain, "thus I foil +the Evil One!" +And he rammed a silver button, from his doublet, +down his gun. + +Once again the spectral horror moved the guarded +wall about; +Once again the levelled muskets through the palisades +flashed out, +With that deadly aim the squirrel on his tree-top +might not shun, +Nor the beach-bird seaward flying with his slant +wing to the sun. + +Like the idle rain of summer sped the harmless +shower of lead. +With a laugh of fierce derision, once again the +phantoms fled; +Once again, without a shadow on the sands the +moonlight lay, +And the white smoke curling through it drifted +slowly down the bay! + +"God preserve us!" said the captain; "never +mortal foes were there; +They have vanished with their leader, Prince and +Power of the air! +Lay aside your useless weapons; skill and prowess +naught avail; +They who do the Devil's service wear their master's +coat of mail!" + +So the night grew near to cock-crow, when again +a warning call +Roused the score of weary soldiers watching round +the dusky hall +And they looked to flint and priming, and they +longed for break of day; +But the captain closed his Bible: "Let us cease +from man, and pray!" + +To the men who went before us, all the unseen +powers seemed near, +And their steadfast strength of courage struck its +roots in holy fear. +Every hand forsook the musket, every head was +bowed and bare, +Every stout knee pressed the flag-stones, as the +captain led in prayer. + +Ceased thereat the mystic marching of the spectres +round the wall, +But a sound abhorred, unearthly, smote the ears +and hearts of all,-- +Howls of rage and shrieks of anguish! Never +after mortal man +Saw the ghostly leaguers marching round the +block-house of Cape Ann. + +So to us who walk in summer through the cool and +sea-blown town, +From the childhood of its people comes the solemn +legend down. +Not in vain the ancient fiction, in whose moral +lives the youth +And the fitness and the freshness of an undecaying +truth. + +Soon or late to all our dwellings come the spectres +of the mind, +Doubts and fears and dread forebodings, in the +darkness undefined; +Round us throng the grim projections of the heart +and of the brain, +And our pride of strength is weakness, and the +cunning hand is vain. + +In the dark we cry like children; and no answer +from on high +Breaks the crystal spheres of silence, and no white +wings downward fly; +But the heavenly help we pray for comes to faith, +and not to sight, +And our prayers themselves drive backward all the +spirits of the night! +1857. + + + + +THE GIFT OF TRITEMIUS. + +TRITEMIUS of Herbipolis, one day, +While kneeling at the altar's foot to pray, +Alone with God, as was his pious choice, +Heard from without a miserable voice, +A sound which seemed of all sad things to tell, +As of a lost soul crying out of hell. + +Thereat the Abbot paused; the chain whereby +His thoughts went upward broken by that cry; +And, looking from the casement, saw below +A wretched woman, with gray hair a-flow, +And withered hands held up to him, who cried +For alms as one who might not be denied. + +She cried, "For the dear love of Him who gave +His life for ours, my child from bondage save,-- +My beautiful, brave first-born, chained with slaves +In the Moor's galley, where the sun-smit waves +Lap the white walls of Tunis!"--"What I can +I give," Tritemius said, "my prayers."--"O man +Of God!" she cried, for grief had made her bold, +"Mock me not thus; I ask not prayers, but gold. +Words will not serve me, alms alone suffice; +Even while I speak perchance my first-born dies." + +"Woman!" Tritemius answered, "from our door +None go unfed, hence are we always poor; +A single soldo is our only store. +Thou hast our prayers;--what can we give thee +more?" + +"Give me," she said, "the silver candlesticks +On either side of the great crucifix. +God well may spare them on His errands sped, +Or He can give you golden ones instead." + +Then spake Tritemius, "Even as thy word, +Woman, so be it! (Our most gracious Lord, +Who loveth mercy more than sacrifice, +Pardon me if a human soul I prize +Above the gifts upon his altar piled! +Take what thou askest, and redeem thy child." + +But his hand trembled as the holy alms +He placed within the beggar's eager palms; +And as she vanished down the linden shade, +He bowed his head and for forgiveness prayed. +So the day passed, and when the twilight came +He woke to find the chapel all aflame, +And, dumb with grateful wonder, to behold +Upon the altar candlesticks of gold! +1857. + + + + +SKIPPER IRESON'S RIDE. + +In the valuable and carefully prepared History of Marblehead, published +in 1879 by Samuel Roads, Jr., it is stated that the crew of Captain +Ireson, rather than himself, were responsible for the abandonment of the +disabled vessel. To screen themselves they charged their captain with +the crime. In view of this the writer of the ballad addressed the +following letter to the historian:-- + +OAK KNOLL, DANVERS, 5 mo. 18, 1880. +MY DEAR FRIEND: I heartily thank thee for a copy of thy History of +Marblehead. I have read it with great interest and think good use has +been made of the abundant material. No town in Essex County has a record +more honorable than Marblehead; no one has done more to develop the +industrial interests of our New England seaboard, and certainly none +have given such evidence of self-sacrificing patriotism. I am glad the +story of it has been at last told, and told so well. I have now no doubt +that thy version of Skipper Ireson's ride is the correct one. My verse +was founded solely on a fragment of rhyme which I heard from one of my +early schoolmates, a native of Marblehead. I supposed the story to which +it referred dated back at least a century. I knew nothing of the +participators, and the narrative of the ballad was pure fancy. I am glad +for the sake of truth and justice that the real facts are given in thy +book. I certainly would not knowingly do injustice to any one, dead or +living. + +I am very truly thy friend, +JOHN G. WHITTIER. + + +OF all the rides since, the birth of time, +Told in story or sung in rhyme,-- +On Apuleius's Golden Ass, +Or one-eyed Calendar's horse of brass; +Witch astride of a human back, +Islam's prophet on Al-Borak,-- +The strangest ride that ever was sped +Was Ireson's, out from Marblehead! +Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, +Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart +By the women of Marblehead! +Body of turkey, head of owl, +Wings a-droop like a rained-on fowl, +Feathered and ruffled in every part, +Skipper Ireson stood in the cart. +Scores of women, old and young, +Strong of muscle, and glib of tongue, +Pushed and pulled up the rocky lane, +Shouting and singing the shrill refrain +"Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, +Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt +By the women o' Morble'ead!" + +Wrinkled scolds with hands on hips, +Girls in bloom of cheek and lips, +Wild-eyed, free-limbed, such as chase +Bacchus round some antique vase, +Brief of skirt, with ankles bare, +Loose of kerchief and loose of hair, +With conch-shells blowing and fish-horns' twang, +Over and over the Manads sang +"Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, +Torr'd an' futherr'd an dorr'd in a corrt +By the women o' Morble'ead!" + +Small pity for him!--He sailed away +From a leaking ship, in Chaleur Bay,-- +Sailed away from a sinking wreck, +With his own town's-people on her deck! +"Lay by! lay by!" they called to him. +Back he answered, "Sink or swim! +Brag of your catch of fish again!" +And off he sailed through the fog and rain! +Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, +Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart +By the women of Marblehead! + +Fathoms deep in dark Chaleur +That wreck shall lie forevermore. +Mother and sister, wife and maid, +Looked from the rocks of Marblehead +Over the moaning and rainy sea,-- +Looked for the coming that might not be! +What did the winds and the sea-birds say +Of the cruel captain who sailed away?-- +Old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, +Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart +By the women of Marblehead! + +Through the street, on either side, +Up flew windows, doors swung wide; +Sharp-tongued spinsters, old wives gray, +Treble lent the fish-horn's bray. +Sea-worn grandsires, cripple-bound, +Hulks of old sailors run aground, +Shook head, and fist, and hat, and cane, +And cracked with curses the hoarse refrain +"Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, +Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt +By the women o''Morble'ead!" + +Sweetly along the Salem road +Bloom of orchard and lilac showed. +Little the wicked skipper knew +Of the fields so green and the sky so blue. +Riding there in his sorry trim, +Like to Indian idol glum and grim, +Scarcely he seemed the sound to hear +Of voices shouting, far and near +"Here's Flud Oirson, fur his horrd horrt, +Torr'd an' futherr'd an' corr'd in a corrt +By the women o' Morble'ead!" + +"Hear me, neighbors!" at last he cried,-- +"What to me is this noisy ride? +What is the shame that clothes the skin +To the nameless horror that lives within? +Waking or sleeping, I see a wreck, +And hear a cry from a reeling deck! +Hate me and curse me,--I only dread +The hand of God and the face of the dead!" +Said old Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, +Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart +By the women of Marblehead! + +Then the wife of the skipper lost at sea +Said, "God has touched him! why should we?" +Said an old wife mourning her only son, +"Cut the rogue's tether and let him run!" +So with soft relentings and rude excuse, +Half scorn, half pity, they cut him loose, +And gave him a cloak to hide him in, +And left him alone with his shame and sin. +Poor Floyd Ireson, for his hard heart, +Tarred and feathered and carried in a cart +By the women of Marblehead! +1857. + + + + +THE SYCAMORES. + +Hugh Tallant was the first Irish resident of Haverhill, Mass. He planted +the button-wood trees on the bank of the river below the village in the +early part of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately this noble avenue +is now nearly destroyed. + +IN the outskirts of the village, +On the river's winding shores, +Stand the Occidental plane-trees, +Stand the ancient sycamores. + +One long century hath been numbered, +And another half-way told, +Since the rustic Irish gleeman +Broke for them the virgin mould. + +Deftly set to Celtic music, +At his violin's sound they grew, +Through the moonlit eves of summer, +Making Amphion's fable true. + +Rise again, then poor Hugh Tallant +Pass in jerkin green along, +With thy eyes brimful of laughter, +And thy mouth as full of song. + +Pioneer of Erin's outcasts, +With his fiddle and his pack; +Little dreamed the village Saxons +Of the myriads at his back. + +How he wrought with spade and fiddle, +Delved by day and sang by night, +With a hand that never wearied, +And a heart forever light,-- + +Still the gay tradition mingles +With a record grave and drear, +Like the rollic air of Cluny, +With the solemn march of Mear. + +When the box-tree, white with blossoms, +Made the sweet May woodlands glad, +And the Aronia by the river +Lighted up the swarming shad, + +And the bulging nets swept shoreward, +With their silver-sided haul, +Midst the shouts of dripping fishers, +He was merriest of them all. + +When, among the jovial huskers, +Love stole in at Labor's side, +With the lusty airs of England, +Soft his Celtic measures vied. + +Songs of love and wailing lyke--wake, +And the merry fair's carouse; +Of the wild Red Fox of Erin +And the Woman of Three Cows, + +By the blazing hearths of winter, +Pleasant seemed his simple tales, +Midst the grimmer Yorkshire legends +And the mountain myths of Wales. + +How the souls in Purgatory +Scrambled up from fate forlorn, +On St. Eleven's sackcloth ladder, +Slyly hitched to Satan's horn. + +Of the fiddler who at Tara +Played all night to ghosts of kings; +Of the brown dwarfs, and the fairies +Dancing in their moorland rings. + +Jolliest of our birds of singing, +Best he loved the Bob-o-link. +"Hush!" he 'd say, "the tipsy fairies +Hear the little folks in drink!" + +Merry-faced, with spade and fiddle, +Singing through the ancient town, +Only this, of poor Hugh Tallant, +Hath Tradition handed down. + +Not a stone his grave discloses; +But if yet his spirit walks, +'T is beneath the trees he planted, +And when Bob-o-Lincoln talks; + +Green memorials of the gleeman I +Linking still the river-shores, +With their shadows cast by sunset, +Stand Hugh Tallant's sycamores! + +When the Father of his Country +Through the north-land riding came, +And the roofs were starred with banners, +And the steeples rang acclaim,-- + +When each war-scarred Continental, +Leaving smithy, mill, and farm, +Waved his rusted sword in welcome, +And shot off his old king's arm,-- + +Slowly passed that August Presence +Down the thronged and shouting street; +Village girls as white as angels, +Scattering flowers around his feet. + +Midway, where the plane-tree's shadow +Deepest fell, his rein he drew +On his stately head, uncovered, +Cool and soft the west-wind blew. + +And he stood up in his stirrups, +Looking up and looking down +On the hills of Gold and Silver +Rimming round the little town,-- + +On the river, full of sunshine, +To the lap of greenest vales +Winding down from wooded headlands, +Willow-skirted, white with sails. + +And he said, the landscape sweeping +Slowly with his ungloved hand, +"I have seen no prospect fairer +In this goodly Eastern land." + +Then the bugles of his escort +Stirred to life the cavalcade +And that head, so bare and stately, +Vanished down the depths of shade. + +Ever since, in town and farm-house, +Life has had its ebb and flow; +Thrice hath passed the human harvest +To its garner green and low. + +But the trees the gleeman planted, +Through the changes, changeless stand; +As the marble calm of Tadmor +Mocks the desert's shifting sand. + +Still the level moon at rising +Silvers o'er each stately shaft; +Still beneath them, half in shadow, +Singing, glides the pleasure craft; + +Still beneath them, arm-enfolded, +Love and Youth together stray; +While, as heart to heart beats faster, +More and more their feet delay. + +Where the ancient cobbler, Keezar, +On the open hillside wrought, +Singing, as he drew his stitches, +Songs his German masters taught, + +Singing, with his gray hair floating +Round his rosy ample face,-- +Now a thousand Saxon craftsmen +Stitch and hammer in his place. + +All the pastoral lanes so grassy +Now are Traffic's dusty streets; +From the village, grown a city, +Fast the rural grace retreats. + +But, still green, and tall, and stately, +On the river's winding shores, +Stand the Occidental plane-trees, +Stand, Hugh Taliant's sycamores. +1857. + + + + +THE PIPES AT LUCKNOW. + +An incident of the Sepoy mutiny. + +PIPES of the misty moorlands, +Voice of the glens and hills; +The droning of the torrents, +The treble of the rills! +Not the braes of broom and heather, +Nor the mountains dark with rain, +Nor maiden bower, nor border tower, +Have heard your sweetest strain! + +Dear to the Lowland reaper, +And plaided mountaineer,-- +To the cottage and the castle +The Scottish pipes are dear;-- +Sweet sounds the ancient pibroch +O'er mountain, loch, and glade; +But the sweetest of all music +The pipes at Lucknow played. + +Day by day the Indian tiger +Louder yelled, and nearer crept; +Round and round the jungle-serpent +Near and nearer circles swept. +"Pray for rescue, wives and mothers,-- +Pray to-day!" the soldier said; +"To-morrow, death's between us +And the wrong and shame we dread." + +Oh, they listened, looked, and waited, +Till their hope became despair; +And the sobs of low bewailing +Filled the pauses of their prayer. +Then up spake a Scottish maiden, +With her ear unto the ground +"Dinna ye hear it?--dinna ye hear it? +The pipes o' Havelock sound!" + +Hushed the wounded man his groaning; +Hushed the wife her little ones; +Alone they heard the drum-roll +And the roar of Sepoy guns. +But to sounds of home and childhood +The Highland ear was true;-- +As her mother's cradle-crooning +The mountain pipes she knew. + +Like the march of soundless music +Through the vision of the seer, +More of feeling than of hearing, +Of the heart than of the ear, +She knew the droning pibroch, +She knew the Campbell's call +"Hark! hear ye no' MacGregor's, +The grandest o' them all!" + +Oh, they listened, dumb and breathless, +And they caught the sound at last; +Faint and far beyond the Goomtee +Rose and fell the piper's blast +Then a burst of wild thanksgiving +Mingled woman's voice and man's; +"God be praised!--the march of Havelock! +The piping of the clans!" + +Louder, nearer, fierce as vengeance, +Sharp and shrill as swords at strife, +Came the wild MacGregor's clan-call, +Stinging all the air to life. +But when the far-off dust-cloud +To plaided legions grew, +Full tenderly and blithesomely +The pipes of rescue blew! + +Round the silver domes of Lucknow, +Moslem mosque and Pagan shrine, +Breathed the air to Britons dearest, +The air of Auld Lang Syne. +O'er the cruel roll of war-drums +Rose that sweet and homelike strain; +And the tartan clove the turban, +As the Goomtee cleaves the plain. + +Dear to the corn-land reaper +And plaided mountaineer,-- +To the cottage and the castle +The piper's song is dear. +Sweet sounds the Gaelic pibroch +O'er mountain, glen, and glade; +But the sweetest of all music +The Pipes at Lucknow played! +1858. + + + + +TELLING THE BEES. + +A remarkable custom, brought from the Old Country, formerly prevailed +in the rural districts of New England. On the death of a member of the +family, the bees were at once informed of the event, and their hives +dressed in mourning. This ceremonial was supposed to be necessary to +prevent the swarms from leaving their hives and seeking a new home. + +HERE is the place; right over the hill +Runs the path I took; +You can see the gap in the old wall still, +And the stepping-stones in the shallow brook. + +There is the house, with the gate red-barred, +And the poplars tall; +And the barn's brown length, and the cattle-yard, +And the white horns tossing above the wall. + +There are the beehives ranged in the sun; +And down by the brink +Of the brook are her poor flowers, weed-o'errun, +Pansy and daffodil, rose and pink. + +A year has gone, as the tortoise goes, +Heavy and slow; +And the same rose blooms, and the same sun glows, +And the same brook sings of a year ago. + +There's the same sweet clover-smell in the breeze; +And the June sun warm +Tangles his wings of fire in the trees, +Setting, as then, over Fernside farm. + +I mind me how with a lover's care +From my Sunday coat +I brushed off the burrs, and smoothed my hair, +And cooled at the brookside my brow and +throat. + +Since we parted, a month had passed,-- +To love, a year; +Down through the beeches I looked at last +On the little red gate and the well-sweep near. + +I can see it all now,--the slantwise rain +Of light through the leaves, +The sundown's blaze on her window-pane, +The bloom of her roses under the eaves. + +Just the same as a month before,-- +The house and the trees, +The barn's brown gable, the vine by the door,-- +Nothing changed but the hives of bees. + +Before them, under the garden wall, +Forward and back, +Went drearily singing the chore-girl small, +Draping each hive with a shred of black. + +Trembling, I listened: the summer sun +Had the chill of snow; +For I knew she was telling the bees of one +Gone on the journey we all must go. + +Then I said to myself, "My Mary weeps +For the dead to-day; +Haply her blind old grandsire sleeps +The fret and the pain of his age away." + +But her dog whined low; on the doorway sill, +With his cane to his chin, +The old man sat; and the chore-girl still +Sung to the bees stealing out and in. + +And the song she was singing ever since +In my ear sounds on:-- +"Stay at home, pretty bees, fly not hence! +Mistress Mary is dead and gone!" +1858. + + + + +THE SWAN SONG OF PARSON AVERY. + +In Young's Chronicles of Massachusetts Bay front 1623 to 1636 may be +found Anthony Thacher's Narrative of his Shipwreck. Thacher was Avery's +companion and survived to tell the tale. Mather's Magnalia, III. 2, +gives further Particulars of Parson Avery's End, and suggests the title +of the poem. + +WHEN the reaper's task was ended, and the +summer wearing late, +Parson Avery sailed from Newbury, with his wife +and children eight, +Dropping down the river-harbor in the shallop +"Watch and Wait." + +Pleasantly lay the clearings in the mellow summer- +morn, +With the newly planted orchards dropping their +fruits first-born, +And the home-roofs like brown islands amid a sea +of corn. + +Broad meadows reached out 'seaward the tided +creeks between, +And hills rolled wave-like inland, with oaks and +walnuts green;-- +A fairer home, a--goodlier land, his eyes had never +seen. + +Yet away sailed Parson Avery, away where duty led, +And the voice of God seemed calling, to break the +living bread +To the souls of fishers starving on the rocks of +Marblehead. + +All day they sailed: at nightfall the pleasant land- +breeze died, +The blackening sky, at midnight, its starry lights +denied, +And far and low the thunder of tempest prophesied. + +Blotted out were all the coast-lines, gone were rock, +and wood, and sand; +Grimly anxious stood the skipper with the rudder +in his hand, +And questioned of the darkness what was sea and +what was land. + +And the preacher heard his dear ones, nestled +round him, weeping sore, +"Never heed, my little children! Christ is walking +on before; +To the pleasant land of heaven, where the sea shall +be no more." + +All at once the great cloud parted, like a curtain +drawn aside, +To let down the torch of lightning on the terror +far and wide; +And the thunder and the whirlwind together smote +the tide. + +There was wailing in the shallop, woman's wail +and man's despair, +A crash of breaking timbers on the rocks so sharp +and bare, +And, through it all, the murmur of Father Avery's +prayer. + +From his struggle in the darkness with the wild +waves and the blast, +On a rock, where every billow broke above him as +it passed, +Alone, of all his household, the man of God was +cast. + +There a comrade heard him praying, in the pause +of wave and wind +"All my own have gone before me, and I linger +just behind; +Not for life I ask, but only for the rest Thy +ransomed find! + +"In this night of death I challenge the promise of +Thy word!-- +Let me see the great salvation of which mine ears +have heard!-- +Let me pass from hence forgiven, through the +grace of Christ, our Lord! + +"In the baptism of these waters wash white my +every sin, +And let me follow up to Thee my household and +my kin! +Open the sea-gate of Thy heaven, and let me enter +in!" + +When the Christian sings his death-song, all the +listening heavens draw near, +And the angels, leaning over the walls of crystal, +hear +How the notes so faint and broken swell to music +in God's ear. + +The ear of God was open to His servant's last +request; +As the strong wave swept him downward the sweet +hymn upward pressed, +And the soul of Father Avery went, singing, to its +rest. + +There was wailing on the mainland, from the rocks +of Marblehead; +In the stricken church of Newbury the notes of +prayer were read; +And long, by board and hearthstone, the living +mourned the dead. + +And still the fishers outbound, or scudding from +the squall, +With grave and reverent faces, the ancient tale +recall, +When they see the white waves breaking on the +Rock of Avery's Fall! +1808. + + + + +THE DOUBLE-HEADED SNAKE OF NEWBURY. + +"Concerning ye Amphisbaena, as soon as I received your commands, I made +diligent inquiry: . . . he assures me yt it had really two heads, one +at each end; two mouths, two stings or tongues."--REV. CHRISTOPHER +TOPPAN to COTTON MATHER. + +FAR away in the twilight time +Of every people, in every clime, +Dragons and griffins and monsters dire, +Born of water, and air, and fire, +Or nursed, like the Python, in the mud +And ooze of the old Deucalion flood, +Crawl and wriggle and foam with rage, +Through dusk tradition and ballad age. +So from the childhood of Newbury town +And its time of fable the tale comes down +Of a terror which haunted bush and brake, +The Amphisbaena, the Double Snake! + +Thou who makest the tale thy mirth, +Consider that strip of Christian earth +On the desolate shore of a sailless sea, +Full of terror and mystery, +Half redeemed from the evil hold +Of the wood so dreary, and dark, and old, +Which drank with its lips of leaves the dew +When Time was young, and the world was new, +And wove its shadows with sun and moon, +Ere the stones of Cheops were squared and hewn. +Think of the sea's dread monotone, +Of the mournful wail from the pine-wood blown, +Of the strange, vast splendors that lit the North, +Of the troubled throes of the quaking earth, +And the dismal tales the Indian told, +Till the settler's heart at his hearth grew cold, +And he shrank from the tawny wizard boasts, +And the hovering shadows seemed full of ghosts, +And above, below, and on every side, +The fear of his creed seemed verified;-- +And think, if his lot were now thine own, +To grope with terrors nor named nor known, +How laxer muscle and weaker nerve +And a feebler faith thy need might serve; +And own to thyself the wonder more +That the snake had two heads, and not a score! + +Whether he lurked in the Oldtown fen +Or the gray earth-flax of the Devil's Den, +Or swam in the wooded Artichoke, +Or coiled by the Northman's Written Rock, +Nothing on record is left to show; +Only the fact that he lived, we know, +And left the cast of a double head +In the scaly mask which he yearly shed. +For he carried a head where his tail should be, +And the two, of course, could never agree, +But wriggled about with main and might, +Now to the left and now to the right; +Pulling and twisting this way and that, +Neither knew what the other was at. + +A snake with two beads, lurking so near! +Judge of the wonder, guess at the fear! +Think what ancient gossips might say, +Shaking their heads in their dreary way, +Between the meetings on Sabbath-day! +How urchins, searching at day's decline +The Common Pasture for sheep or kine, +The terrible double-ganger heard +In leafy rustle or whir of bird! +Think what a zest it gave to the sport, +In berry-time, of the younger sort, +As over pastures blackberry-twined, +Reuben and Dorothy lagged behind, +And closer and closer, for fear of harm, +The maiden clung to her lover's arm; +And how the spark, who was forced to stay, +By his sweetheart's fears, till the break of day, +Thanked the snake for the fond delay. + +Far and wide the tale was told, +Like a snowball growing while it rolled. +The nurse hushed with it the baby's cry; +And it served, in the worthy minister's eye, +To paint the primitive serpent by. +Cotton Mather came galloping down +All the way to Newbury town, +With his eyes agog and his ears set wide, +And his marvellous inkhorn at his side; +Stirring the while in the shallow pool +Of his brains for the lore he learned at school, +To garnish the story, with here a streak +Of Latin, and there another of Greek +And the tales he heard and the notes he took, +Behold! are they not in his Wonder-Book? + +Stories, like dragons, are hard to kill. +If the snake does not, the tale runs still +In Byfield Meadows, on Pipestave Hill. +And still, whenever husband and wife +Publish the shame of their daily strife, +And, with mad cross-purpose, tug and strain +At either end of the marriage-chain, +The gossips say, with a knowing shake +Of their gray heads, "Look at the Double Snake +One in body and two in will, +The Amphisbaena is living still!" +1859. + + + + +MABEL MARTIN. + +A HARVEST IDYL. + +Susanna Martin, an aged woman of Amesbury, Mass., was tried and executed +for the alleged crime of witchcraft. Her home was in what is now known +as Pleasant Valley on the Merrimac, a little above the old Ferry way, +where, tradition says, an attempt was made to assassinate Sir Edmund +Andros on his way to Falmouth (afterward Portland) and Pemaquid, which +was frustrated by a warning timely given. Goody Martin was the only +woman hanged on the north side of the Merrimac during the dreadful +delusion. The aged wife of Judge Bradbury who lived on the other side of +the Powow River was imprisoned and would have been put to death but for +the collapse of the hideous persecution. + +The substance of the poem which follows was published under the name of +The Witch's Daughter, in The National Era in 1857. In 1875 my publishers +desired to issue it with illustrations, and I then enlarged it and +otherwise altered it to its present form. The principal addition was in +the verses which constitute Part I. + + +PROEM. +I CALL the old time back: I bring my lay +in tender memory of the summer day +When, where our native river lapsed away, + +We dreamed it over, while the thrushes made +Songs of their own, and the great pine-trees laid +On warm noonlights the masses of their shade. + +And she was with us, living o'er again +Her life in ours, despite of years and pain,-- +The Autumn's brightness after latter rain. + +Beautiful in her holy peace as one +Who stands, at evening, when the work is done, +Glorified in the setting of the sun! + +Her memory makes our common landscape seem +Fairer than any of which painters dream; +Lights the brown hills and sings in every stream; + +For she whose speech was always truth's pure gold +Heard, not unpleased, its simple legends told, +And loved with us the beautiful and old. + + +I. THE RIVER VALLEY. +Across the level tableland, +A grassy, rarely trodden way, +With thinnest skirt of birchen spray + +And stunted growth of cedar, leads +To where you see the dull plain fall +Sheer off, steep-slanted, ploughed by all + +The seasons' rainfalls. On its brink +The over-leaning harebells swing, +With roots half bare the pine-trees cling; + +And, through the shadow looking west, +You see the wavering river flow +Along a vale, that far below + +Holds to the sun, the sheltering hills +And glimmering water-line between, +Broad fields of corn and meadows green, + +And fruit-bent orchards grouped around +The low brown roofs and painted eaves, +And chimney-tops half hid in leaves. + +No warmer valley hides behind +Yon wind-scourged sand-dunes, cold and bleak; +No fairer river comes to seek + +The wave-sung welcome of the sea, +Or mark the northmost border line +Of sun-loved growths of nut and vine. + +Here, ground-fast in their native fields, +Untempted by the city's gain, +The quiet farmer folk remain + +Who bear the pleasant name of Friends, +And keep their fathers' gentle ways +And simple speech of Bible days; + +In whose neat homesteads woman holds +With modest ease her equal place, +And wears upon her tranquil face + +The look of one who, merging not +Her self-hood in another's will, +Is love's and duty's handmaid still. + +Pass with me down the path that winds +Through birches to the open land, +Where, close upon the river strand + +You mark a cellar, vine o'errun, +Above whose wall of loosened stones +The sumach lifts its reddening cones, + +And the black nightshade's berries shine, +And broad, unsightly burdocks fold +The household ruin, century-old. + +Here, in the dim colonial time +Of sterner lives and gloomier faith, +A woman lived, tradition saith, + +Who wrought her neighbors foul annoy, +And witched and plagued the country-side, +Till at the hangman's hand she died. + +Sit with me while the westering day +Falls slantwise down the quiet vale, +And, haply ere yon loitering sail, + +That rounds the upper headland, falls +Below Deer Island's pines, or sees +Behind it Hawkswood's belt of trees + +Rise black against the sinking sun, +My idyl of its days of old, +The valley's legend, shall be told. + + +II. THE HUSKING. +It was the pleasant harvest-time, +When cellar-bins are closely stowed, +And garrets bend beneath their load, + +And the old swallow-haunted barns,-- +Brown-gabled, long, and full of seams +Through which the rooted sunlight streams, + +And winds blow freshly in, to shake +The red plumes of the roosted cocks, +And the loose hay-mow's scented locks, + +Are filled with summer's ripened stores, +Its odorous grass and barley sheaves, +From their low scaffolds to their eaves. + +On Esek Harden's oaken floor, +With many an autumn threshing worn, +Lay the heaped ears of unhusked corn. + +And thither came young men and maids, +Beneath a moon that, large and low, +Lit that sweet eve of long ago. + +They took their places; some by chance, +And others by a merry voice +Or sweet smile guided to their choice. + +How pleasantly the rising moon, +Between the shadow of the mows, +Looked on them through the great elm-boughs! + +On sturdy boyhood, sun-embrowned, +On girlhood with its solid curves +Of healthful strength and painless nerves! + +And jests went round, and laughs that made +The house-dog answer with his howl, +And kept astir the barn-yard fowl; + +And quaint old songs their fathers sung +In Derby dales and Yorkshire moors, +Ere Norman William trod their shores; + +And tales, whose merry license shook +The fat sides of the Saxon thane, +Forgetful of the hovering Dane,-- + +Rude plays to Celt and Cimbri known, +The charms and riddles that beguiled +On Oxus' banks the young world's child,-- + +That primal picture-speech wherein +Have youth and maid the story told, +So new in each, so dateless old, + +Recalling pastoral Ruth in her +Who waited, blushing and demure, +The red-ear's kiss of forfeiture. + +But still the sweetest voice was mute +That river-valley ever heard +From lips of maid or throat of bird; + +For Mabel Martin sat apart, +And let the hay-mow's shadow fall +Upon the loveliest face of all. + +She sat apart, as one forbid, +Who knew that none would condescend +To own the Witch-wife's child a friend. + +The seasons scarce had gone their round, +Since curious thousands thronged to see +Her mother at the gallows-tree; + +And mocked the prison-palsied limbs +That faltered on the fatal stairs, +And wan lip trembling with its prayers! + +Few questioned of the sorrowing child, +Or, when they saw the mother die; +Dreamed of the daughter's agony. + +They went up to their homes that day, +As men and Christians justified +God willed it, and the wretch had died! + +Dear God and Father of us all, +Forgive our faith in cruel lies,-- +Forgive the blindness that denies! + +Forgive thy creature when he takes, +For the all-perfect love Thou art, +Some grim creation of his heart. + +Cast down our idols, overturn +Our bloody altars; let us see +Thyself in Thy humanity! + +Young Mabel from her mother's grave +Crept to her desolate hearth-stone, +And wrestled with her fate alone; + +With love, and anger, and despair, +The phantoms of disordered sense, +The awful doubts of Providence! + +Oh, dreary broke the winter days, +And dreary fell the winter nights +When, one by one, the neighboring lights + +Went out, and human sounds grew still, +And all the phantom-peopled dark +Closed round her hearth-fire's dying spark. + +And summer days were sad and long, +And sad the uncompanioned eyes, +And sadder sunset-tinted leaves, + +And Indian Summer's airs of balm; +She scarcely felt the soft caress, +The beauty died of loneliness! + +The school-boys jeered her as they passed, +And, when she sought the house of prayer, +Her mother's curse pursued her there. + +And still o'er many a neighboring door +She saw the horseshoe's curved charm, +To guard against her mother's harm! + +That mother, poor and sick and lame, +Who daily, by the old arm-chair, +Folded her withered hands in prayer;-- + +Who turned, in Salem's dreary jail, +Her worn old Bible o'er and o'er, +When her dim eyes could read no more! + +Sore tried and pained, the poor girl kept +Her faith, and trusted that her way, +So dark, would somewhere meet the day. + +And still her weary wheel went round +Day after day, with no relief +Small leisure have the poor for grief. + + +IV. THE CHAMPION. +So in the shadow Mabel sits; +Untouched by mirth she sees and hears, +Her smile is sadder than her tears. + +But cruel eyes have found her out, +And cruel lips repeat her name, +And taunt her with her mother's shame. + +She answered not with railing words, +But drew her apron o'er her face, +And, sobbing, glided from the place. + +And only pausing at the door, +Her sad eyes met the troubled gaze +Of one who, in her better days, + +Had been her warm and steady friend, +Ere yet her mother's doom had made +Even Esek Harden half afraid. + +He felt that mute appeal of tears, +And, starting, with an angry frown, +Hushed all the wicked murmurs down. + +"Good neighbors mine," he sternly said, +"This passes harmless mirth or jest; +I brook no insult to my guest. + +"She is indeed her mother's child; +But God's sweet pity ministers +Unto no whiter soul than hers. + +"Let Goody Martin rest in peace; +I never knew her harm a fly, +And witch or not, God knows--not I. + +"I know who swore her life away; +And as God lives, I'd not condemn +An Indian dog on word of them." + +The broadest lands in all the town, +The skill to guide, the power to awe, +Were Harden's; and his word was law. + +None dared withstand him to his face, +But one sly maiden spake aside +"The little witch is evil-eyed! + +"Her mother only killed a cow, +Or witched a churn or dairy-pan; +But she, forsooth, must charm a man!" + + +V. IN THE SHADOW. +Poor Mabel, homeward turning, passed +The nameless terrors of the wood, +And saw, as if a ghost pursued, + +Her shadow gliding in the moon; +The soft breath of the west-wind gave +A chill as from her mother's grave. + +How dreary seemed the silent house! +Wide in the moonbeams' ghastly glare +Its windows had a dead man's stare! + +And, like a gaunt and spectral hand, +The tremulous shadow of a birch +Reached out and touched the door's low porch, + +As if to lift its latch; hard by, +A sudden warning call she beard, +The night-cry of a boding bird. + +She leaned against the door; her face, +So fair, so young, so full of pain, +White in the moonlight's silver rain. + +The river, on its pebbled rim, +Made music such as childhood knew; +The door-yard tree was whispered through + +By voices such as childhood's ear +Had heard in moonlights long ago; +And through the willow-boughs below. + +She saw the rippled waters shine; +Beyond, in waves of shade and light, +The hills rolled off into the night. + +She saw and heard, but over all +A sense of some transforming spell, +The shadow of her sick heart fell. + +And still across the wooded space +The harvest lights of Harden shone, +And song and jest and laugh went on. + +And he, so gentle, true, and strong, +Of men the bravest and the best, +Had he, too, scorned her with the rest? + +She strove to drown her sense of wrong, +And, in her old and simple way, +To teach her bitter heart to pray. + +Poor child! the prayer, begun in faith, +Grew to a low, despairing cry +Of utter misery: "Let me die! + +"Oh! take me from the scornful eyes, +And hide me where the cruel speech +And mocking finger may not reach! + +"I dare not breathe my mother's name +A daughter's right I dare not crave +To weep above her unblest grave! + +"Let me not live until my heart, +With few to pity, and with none +To love me, hardens into stone. + +"O God! have mercy on Thy child, +Whose faith in Thee grows weak and small, +And take me ere I lose it all!" + +A shadow on the moonlight fell, +And murmuring wind and wave became +A voice whose burden was her name. + + +VI. THE BETROTHAL. +Had then God heard her? Had He sent +His angel down? In flesh and blood, +Before her Esek Harden stood! + +He laid his hand upon her arm +"Dear Mabel, this no more shall be; +Who scoffs at you must scoff at me. + +"You know rough Esek Harden well; +And if he seems no suitor gay, +And if his hair is touched with gray, + +"The maiden grown shall never find +His heart less warm than when she smiled, +Upon his knees, a little child!" + +Her tears of grief were tears of joy, +As, folded in his strong embrace, +She looked in Esek Harden's face. + +"O truest friend of all'" she said, +"God bless you for your kindly thought, +And make me worthy of my lot!" + +He led her forth, and, blent in one, +Beside their happy pathway ran +The shadows of the maid and man. + +He led her through his dewy fields, +To where the swinging lanterns glowed, +And through the doors the huskers showed. + +"Good friends and neighbors!" Esek said, +"I'm weary of this lonely life; +In Mabel see my chosen wife! + +"She greets you kindly, one and all; +The past is past, and all offence +Falls harmless from her innocence. + +"Henceforth she stands no more alone; +You know what Esek Harden is;-- +He brooks no wrong to him or his. + +"Now let the merriest tales be told, +And let the sweetest songs be sung +That ever made the old heart young! + +"For now the lost has found a home; +And a lone hearth shall brighter burn, +As all the household joys return!" + +Oh, pleasantly the harvest-moon, +Between the shadow of the mows, +Looked on them through the great elm--boughs! + +On Mabel's curls of golden hair, +On Esek's shaggy strength it fell; +And the wind whispered, "It is well!" + + + + +THE PROPHECY OF SAMUEL SEWALL. + +The prose version of this prophecy is to be found in Sewall's The New +Heaven upon the New Earth, 1697, quoted in Joshua Coffin's History of +Newbury. Judge Sewall's father, Henry Sewall, was one of the pioneers +of Newbury. + +UP and down the village streets +Strange are the forms my fancy meets, +For the thoughts and things of to-day are hid, +And through the veil of a closed lid +The ancient worthies I see again +I hear the tap of the elder's cane, +And his awful periwig I see, +And the silver buckles of shoe and knee. +Stately and slow, with thoughtful air, +His black cap hiding his whitened hair, +Walks the Judge of the great Assize, +Samuel Sewall the good and wise. +His face with lines of firmness wrought, +He wears the look of a man unbought, +Who swears to his hurt and changes not; +Yet, touched and softened nevertheless +With the grace of Christian gentleness, +The face that a child would climb to kiss! +True and tender and brave and just, +That man might honor and woman trust. + +Touching and sad, a tale is told, +Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old, +Of the fast which the good man lifelong kept to +With a haunting sorrow that never slept, +As the circling year brought round the time +Of an error that left the sting of crime, +When he sat on the bench of the witchcraft courts, +With the laws of Moses and Hale's Reports, +And spake, in the name of both, the word +That gave the witch's neck to the cord, +And piled the oaken planks that pressed +The feeble life from the warlock's breast! +All the day long, from dawn to dawn, +His door was bolted, his curtain drawn; +No foot on his silent threshold trod, +No eye looked on him save that of God, +As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charms +Of penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms, +And, with precious proofs from the sacred word +Of the boundless pity and love of the Lord, +His faith confirmed and his trust renewed +That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued, +Might be washed away in the mingled flood +Of his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood! + +Green forever the memory be +Of the Judge of the old Theocracy, +Whom even his errors glorified, +Like a far-seen, sunlit mountain-side +By the cloudy shadows which o'er it glide I +Honor and praise to the Puritan +Who the halting step of his age outran, +And, seeing the infinite worth of man +In the priceless gift the Father gave, +In the infinite love that stooped to save, +Dared not brand his brother a slave +"Who doth such wrong," he was wont to say, +In his own quaint, picture-loving way, +"Flings up to Heaven a hand-grenade +Which God shall cast down upon his head!" + +Widely as heaven and hell, contrast +That brave old jurist of the past +And the cunning trickster and knave of courts +Who the holy features of Truth distorts, +Ruling as right the will of the strong, +Poverty, crime, and weakness wrong; +Wide-eared to power, to the wronged and weak +Deaf as Egypt's gods of leek; +Scoffing aside at party's nod +Order of nature and law of God; +For whose dabbled ermine respect were waste, +Reverence folly, and awe misplaced; +Justice of whom 't were vain to seek +As from Koordish robber or Syrian Sheik! +Oh, leave the wretch to his bribes and sins; +Let him rot in the web of lies he spins! +To the saintly soul of the early day, +To the Christian judge, let us turn and say +"Praise and thanks for an honest man!-- +Glory to God for the Puritan!" + +I see, far southward, this quiet day, +The hills of Newbury rolling away, +With the many tints of the season gay, +Dreamily blending in autumn mist +Crimson, and gold, and amethyst. +Long and low, with dwarf trees crowned, +Plum Island lies, like a whale aground, +A stone's toss over the narrow sound. +Inland, as far as the eye can go, +The hills curve round like a bended bow; +A silver arrow from out them sprung, +I see the shine of the Quasycung; +And, round and round, over valley and hill, +Old roads winding, as old roads will, +Here to a ferry, and there to a mill; +And glimpses of chimneys and gabled eaves, +Through green elm arches and maple leaves,-- +Old homesteads sacred to all that can +Gladden or sadden the heart of man, +Over whose thresholds of oak and stone +Life and Death have come and gone +There pictured tiles in the fireplace show, +Great beams sag from the ceiling low, +The dresser glitters with polished wares, +The long clock ticks on the foot-worn stairs, +And the low, broad chimney shows the crack +By the earthquake made a century back. +Up from their midst springs the village spire +With the crest of its cock in the sun afire; +Beyond are orchards and planting lands, +And great salt marshes and glimmering sands, +And, where north and south the coast-lines run, +The blink of the sea in breeze and sun! + +I see it all like a chart unrolled, +But my thoughts are full of the past and old, +I hear the tales of my boyhood told; +And the shadows and shapes of early days +Flit dimly by in the veiling haze, +With measured movement and rhythmic chime +Weaving like shuttles my web of rhyme. +I think of the old man wise and good +Who once on yon misty hillsides stood, +(A poet who never measured rhyme, +A seer unknown to his dull-eared time,) +And, propped on his staff of age, looked down, +With his boyhood's love, on his native town, +Where, written, as if on its hills and plains, +His burden of prophecy yet remains, +For the voices of wood, and wave, and wind +To read in the ear of the musing mind:-- + +"As long as Plum Island, to guard the coast +As God appointed, shall keep its post; +As long as a salmon shall haunt the deep +Of Merrimac River, or sturgeon leap; +As long as pickerel swift and slim, +Or red-backed perch, in Crane Pond swim; +As long as the annual sea-fowl know +Their time to come and their time to go; +As long as cattle shall roam at will +The green, grass meadows by Turkey Hill; +As long as sheep shall look from the side +Of Oldtown Hill on marishes wide, +And Parker River, and salt-sea tide; +As long as a wandering pigeon shall search +The fields below from his white-oak perch, +When the barley-harvest is ripe and shorn, +And the dry husks fall from the standing corn; +As long as Nature shall not grow old, +Nor drop her work from her doting hold, +And her care for the Indian corn forget, +And the yellow rows in pairs to set;-- +So long shall Christians here be born, +Grow up and ripen as God's sweet corn!-- +By the beak of bird, by the breath of frost, +Shall never a holy ear be lost, +But, husked by Death in the Planter's sight, +Be sown again in the fields of light!" + +The Island still is purple with plums, +Up the river the salmon comes, +The sturgeon leaps, and the wild-fowl feeds +On hillside berries and marish seeds,-- +All the beautiful signs remain, +From spring-time sowing to autumn rain +The good man's vision returns again! +And let us hope, as well we can, +That the Silent Angel who garners man +May find some grain as of old lie found +In the human cornfield ripe and sound, +And the Lord of the Harvest deign to own +The precious seed by the fathers sown! +1859. + + + + +THE RED RIPER VOYAGEUR. + +OUT and in the river is winding +The links of its long, red chain, +Through belts of dusky pine-land +And gusty leagues of plain. + +Only, at times, a smoke-wreath +With the drifting cloud-rack joins,-- +The smoke of the hunting-lodges +Of the wild Assiniboins. + +Drearily blows the north-wind +From the land of ice and snow; +The eyes that look are weary, +And heavy the hands that row. + +And with one foot on the water, +And one upon the shore, +The Angel of Shadow gives warning +That day shall be no more. + +Is it the clang of wild-geese? +Is it the Indian's yell, +That lends to the voice of the north-wind +The tones of a far-off bell? + +The voyageur smiles as he listens +To the sound that grows apace; +Well he knows the vesper ringing +Of the bells of St. Boniface. + +The bells of the Roman Mission, +That call from their turrets twain, +To the boatman on the river, +To the hunter on the plain! + +Even so in our mortal journey +The bitter north-winds blow, +And thus upon life's Red River +Our hearts, as oarsmen, row. + +And when the Angel of Shadow +Rests his feet on wave and shore, +And our eyes grow dim with watching +And our hearts faint at the oar, + +Happy is he who heareth +The signal of his release +In the bells of the Holy City, +The chimes of eternal peace! +1859 + + + + +THE PREACHER. + +George Whitefield, the celebrated preacher, died at Newburyport in 1770, +and was buried under the church which has since borne his name. + +ITS windows flashing to the sky, +Beneath a thousand roofs of brown, +Far down the vale, my friend and I +Beheld the old and quiet town; +The ghostly sails that out at sea +Flapped their white wings of mystery; +The beaches glimmering in the sun, +And the low wooded capes that run +Into the sea-mist north and south; +The sand-bluffs at the river's mouth; +The swinging chain-bridge, and, afar, +The foam-line of the harbor-bar. + +Over the woods and meadow-lands +A crimson-tinted shadow lay, +Of clouds through which the setting day +Flung a slant glory far away. +It glittered on the wet sea-sands, +It flamed upon the city's panes, +Smote the white sails of ships that wore +Outward or in, and glided o'er +The steeples with their veering vanes! + +Awhile my friend with rapid search +O'erran the landscape. "Yonder spire +Over gray roofs, a shaft of fire; +What is it, pray?"--"The Whitefield Church! +Walled about by its basement stones, +There rest the marvellous prophet's bones." +Then as our homeward way we walked, +Of the great preacher's life we talked; +And through the mystery of our theme +The outward glory seemed to stream, +And Nature's self interpreted +The doubtful record of the dead; +And every level beam that smote +The sails upon the dark afloat +A symbol of the light became, +Which touched the shadows of our blame, +With tongues of Pentecostal flame. + +Over the roofs of the pioneers +Gathers the moss of a hundred years; +On man and his works has passed the change +Which needs must be in a century's range. +The land lies open and warm in the sun, +Anvils clamor and mill-wheels run,-- +Flocks on the hillsides, herds on the plain, +The wilderness gladdened with fruit and grain! +But the living faith of the settlers old +A dead profession their children hold; +To the lust of office and greed of trade +A stepping-stone is the altar made. + +The church, to place and power the door, +Rebukes the sin of the world no more, +Nor sees its Lord in the homeless poor. +Everywhere is the grasping hand, +And eager adding of land to land; +And earth, which seemed to the fathers meant +But as a pilgrim's wayside tent,-- +A nightly shelter to fold away +When the Lord should call at the break of day,-- +Solid and steadfast seems to be, +And Time has forgotten Eternity! + +But fresh and green from the rotting roots +Of primal forests the young growth shoots; +From the death of the old the new proceeds, +And the life of truth from the rot of creeds +On the ladder of God, which upward leads, +The steps of progress are human needs. +For His judgments still are a mighty deep, +And the eyes of His providence never sleep +When the night is darkest He gives the morn; +When the famine is sorest, the wine and corn! + +In the church of the wilderness Edwards wrought, +Shaping his creed at the forge of thought; +And with Thor's own hammer welded and bent +The iron links of his argument, +Which strove to grasp in its mighty span +The purpose of God and the fate of man +Yet faithful still, in his daily round +To the weak, and the poor, and sin-sick found, +The schoolman's lore and the casuist's art +Drew warmth and life from his fervent heart. + +Had he not seen in the solitudes +Of his deep and dark Northampton woods +A vision of love about him fall? +Not the blinding splendor which fell on Saul, +But the tenderer glory that rests on them +Who walk in the New Jerusalem, +Where never the sun nor moon are known, +But the Lord and His love are the light alone +And watching the sweet, still countenance +Of the wife of his bosom rapt in trance, +Had he not treasured each broken word +Of the mystical wonder seen and heard; +And loved the beautiful dreamer more +That thus to the desert of earth she bore +Clusters of Eshcol from Canaan's shore? + +As the barley-winnower, holding with pain +Aloft in waiting his chaff and grain, +Joyfully welcomes the far-off breeze +Sounding the pine-tree's slender keys, +So he who had waited long to hear +The sound of the Spirit drawing near, +Like that which the son of Iddo heard +When the feet of angels the myrtles stirred, +Felt the answer of prayer, at last, +As over his church the afflatus passed, +Breaking its sleep as breezes break +To sun-bright ripples a stagnant lake. + +At first a tremor of silent fear, +The creep of the flesh at danger near, +A vague foreboding and discontent, +Over the hearts of the people went. +All nature warned in sounds and signs +The wind in the tops of the forest pines +In the name of the Highest called to prayer, +As the muezzin calls from the minaret stair. +Through ceiled chambers of secret sin +Sudden and strong the light shone in; +A guilty sense of his neighbor's needs +Startled the man of title-deeds; +The trembling hand of the worldling shook +The dust of years from the Holy Book; +And the psalms of David, forgotten long, +Took the place of the scoffer's song. + +The impulse spread like the outward course +Of waters moved by a central force; +The tide of spiritual life rolled down +From inland mountains to seaboard town. + +Prepared and ready the altar stands +Waiting the prophet's outstretched hands +And prayer availing, to downward call +The fiery answer in view of all. +Hearts are like wax in the furnace; who +Shall mould, and shape, and cast them anew? +Lo! by the Merrimac Whitefield stands +In the temple that never was made by hands,-- +Curtains of azure, and crystal wall, +And dome of the sunshine over all-- +A homeless pilgrim, with dubious name +Blown about on the winds of fame; +Now as an angel of blessing classed, +And now as a mad enthusiast. +Called in his youth to sound and gauge +The moral lapse of his race and age, +And, sharp as truth, the contrast draw +Of human frailty and perfect law; +Possessed by the one dread thought that lent +Its goad to his fiery temperament, +Up and down the world he went, +A John the Baptist crying, Repent! + +No perfect whole can our nature make; +Here or there the circle will break; +The orb of life as it takes the light +On one side leaves the other in night. +Never was saint so good and great +As to give no chance at St. Peter's gate +For the plea of the Devil's advocate. +So, incomplete by his being's law, +The marvellous preacher had his flaw; +With step unequal, and lame with faults, +His shade on the path of History halts. + +Wisely and well said the Eastern bard +Fear is easy, but love is hard,-- +Easy to glow with the Santon's rage, +And walk on the Meccan pilgrimage; +But he is greatest and best who can +Worship Allah by loving man. +Thus he,--to whom, in the painful stress +Of zeal on fire from its own excess, +Heaven seemed so vast and earth so small +That man was nothing, since God was all,-- +Forgot, as the best at times have done, +That the love of the Lord and of man are one. +Little to him whose feet unshod +The thorny path of the desert trod, +Careless of pain, so it led to God, +Seemed the hunger-pang and the poor man's wrong, +The weak ones trodden beneath the strong. +Should the worm be chooser?--the clay withstand +The shaping will of the potter's hand? + +In the Indian fable Arjoon hears +The scorn of a god rebuke his fears +"Spare thy pity!" Krishna saith; +"Not in thy sword is the power of death! +All is illusion,--loss but seems; +Pleasure and pain are only dreams; +Who deems he slayeth doth not kill; +Who counts as slain is living still. +Strike, nor fear thy blow is crime; +Nothing dies but the cheats of time; +Slain or slayer, small the odds +To each, immortal as Indra's gods!" + +So by Savannah's banks of shade, +The stones of his mission the preacher laid +On the heart of the negro crushed and rent, +And made of his blood the wall's cement; +Bade the slave-ship speed from coast to coast, +Fanned by the wings of the Holy Ghost; +And begged, for the love of Christ, the gold +Coined from the hearts in its groaning hold. +What could it matter, more or less +Of stripes, and hunger, and weariness? +Living or dying, bond or free, +What was time to eternity? + +Alas for the preacher's cherished schemes! +Mission and church are now but dreams; +Nor prayer nor fasting availed the plan +To honor God through the wrong of man. +Of all his labors no trace remains +Save the bondman lifting his hands in chains. +The woof he wove in the righteous warp +Of freedom-loving Oglethorpe, +Clothes with curses the goodly land, +Changes its greenness and bloom to sand; +And a century's lapse reveals once more +The slave-ship stealing to Georgia's shore. +Father of Light! how blind is he +Who sprinkles the altar he rears to Thee +With the blood and tears of humanity! + +He erred: shall we count His gifts as naught? +Was the work of God in him unwrought? +The servant may through his deafness err, +And blind may be God's messenger; +But the Errand is sure they go upon,-- +The word is spoken, the deed is done. +Was the Hebrew temple less fair and good +That Solomon bowed to gods of wood? +For his tempted heart and wandering feet, +Were the songs of David less pure and sweet? +So in light and shadow the preacher went, +God's erring and human instrument; +And the hearts of the people where he passed +Swayed as the reeds sway in the blast, +Under the spell of a voice which took +In its compass the flow of Siloa's brook, +And the mystical chime of the bells of gold +On the ephod's hem of the priest of old,-- +Now the roll of thunder, and now the awe +Of the trumpet heard in the Mount of Law. + +A solemn fear on the listening crowd +Fell like the shadow of a cloud. +The sailor reeling from out the ships +Whose masts stood thick in the river-slips +Felt the jest and the curse die on his lips. +Listened the fisherman rude and hard, +The calker rough from the builder's yard; +The man of the market left his load, +The teamster leaned on his bending goad, +The maiden, and youth beside her, felt +Their hearts in a closer union melt, +And saw the flowers of their love in bloom +Down the endless vistas of life to come. +Old age sat feebly brushing away +From his ears the scanty locks of gray; +And careless boyhood, living the free +Unconscious life of bird and tree, +Suddenly wakened to a sense +Of sin and its guilty consequence. +It was as if an angel's voice +Called the listeners up for their final choice; +As if a strong hand rent apart +The veils of sense from soul and heart, +Showing in light ineffable +The joys of heaven and woes of hell +All about in the misty air +The hills seemed kneeling in silent prayer; +The rustle of leaves, the moaning sedge, +The water's lap on its gravelled edge, +The wailing pines, and, far and faint, +The wood-dove's note of sad complaint,-- +To the solemn voice of the preacher lent +An undertone as of low lament; +And the note of the sea from its sand coast, +On the easterly wind, now heard, now lost, +Seemed the murmurous sound of the judgment host. + +Yet wise men doubted, and good men wept, +As that storm of passion above them swept, +And, comet-like, adding flame to flame, +The priests of the new Evangel came,-- +Davenport, flashing upon the crowd, +Charged like summer's electric cloud, +Now holding the listener still as death +With terrible warnings under breath, +Now shouting for joy, as if he viewed +The vision of Heaven's beatitude! +And Celtic Tennant, his long coat bound +Like a monk's with leathern girdle round, +Wild with the toss of unshorn hair, +And wringing of hands, and, eyes aglare, +Groaning under the world's despair! +Grave pastors, grieving their flocks to lose, +Prophesied to the empty pews +That gourds would wither, and mushrooms die, +And noisiest fountains run soonest dry, +Like the spring that gushed in Newbury Street, +Under the tramp of the earthquake's feet, +A silver shaft in the air and light, +For a single day, then lost in night, +Leaving only, its place to tell, +Sandy fissure and sulphurous smell. +With zeal wing-clipped and white-heat cool, +Moved by the spirit in grooves of rule, +No longer harried, and cropped, and fleeced, +Flogged by sheriff and cursed by priest, +But by wiser counsels left at ease +To settle quietly on his lees, +And, self-concentred, to count as done +The work which his fathers well begun, +In silent protest of letting alone, +The Quaker kept the way of his own,-- +A non-conductor among the wires, +With coat of asbestos proof to fires. +And quite unable to mend his pace +To catch the falling manna of grace, +He hugged the closer his little store +Of faith, and silently prayed for more. +And vague of creed and barren of rite, +But holding, as in his Master's sight, +Act and thought to the inner light, +The round of his simple duties walked, +And strove to live what the others talked. + +And who shall marvel if evil went +Step by step with the good intent, +And with love and meekness, side by side, +Lust of the flesh and spiritual pride?-- +That passionate longings and fancies vain +Set the heart on fire and crazed the brain? +That over the holy oracles +Folly sported with cap and bells? +That goodly women and learned men +Marvelling told with tongue and pen +How unweaned children chirped like birds +Texts of Scripture and solemn words, +Like the infant seers of the rocky glens +In the Puy de Dome of wild Cevennes +Or baby Lamas who pray and preach +From Tartir cradles in Buddha's speech? + +In the war which Truth or Freedom wages +With impious fraud and the wrong of ages, +Hate and malice and self-love mar +The notes of triumph with painful jar, +And the helping angels turn aside +Their sorrowing faces the shame to bide. +Never on custom's oiled grooves +The world to a higher level moves, +But grates and grinds with friction hard +On granite boulder and flinty shard. +The heart must bleed before it feels, +The pool be troubled before it heals; +Ever by losses the right must gain, +Every good have its birth of pain; +The active Virtues blush to find +The Vices wearing their badge behind, +And Graces and Charities feel the fire +Wherein the sins of the age expire; +The fiend still rends as of old he rent +The tortured body from which he went. + +But Time tests all. In the over-drift +And flow of the Nile, with its annual gift, +Who cares for the Hadji's relics sunk? +Who thinks of the drowned-out Coptic monk? +The tide that loosens the temple's stones, +And scatters the sacred ibis-bones, +Drives away from the valley-land +That Arab robber, the wandering sand, +Moistens the fields that know no rain, +Fringes the desert with belts of grain, +And bread to the sower brings again. +So the flood of emotion deep and strong +Troubled the land as it swept along, +But left a result of holier lives, +Tenderer-mothers and worthier wives. +The husband and father whose children fled +And sad wife wept when his drunken tread +Frightened peace from his roof-tree's shade, +And a rock of offence his hearthstone made, +In a strength that was not his own began +To rise from the brute's to the plane of man. +Old friends embraced, long held apart +By evil counsel and pride of heart; +And penitence saw through misty tears, +In the bow of hope on its cloud of fears, +The promise of Heaven's eternal years,-- +The peace of God for the world's annoy,-- +Beauty for ashes, and oil of joy +Under the church of Federal Street, +Under the tread of its Sabbath feet, +Walled about by its basement stones, +Lie the marvellous preacher's bones. +No saintly honors to them are shown, +No sign nor miracle have they known; +But he who passes the ancient church +Stops in the shade of its belfry-porch, +And ponders the wonderful life of him +Who lies at rest in that charnel dim. +Long shall the traveller strain his eye +From the railroad car, as it plunges by, +And the vanishing town behind him search +For the slender spire of the Whitefield Church; +And feel for one moment the ghosts of trade, +And fashion, and folly, and pleasure laid, +By the thought of that life of pure intent, +That voice of warning yet eloquent, +Of one on the errands of angels sent. +And if where he labored the flood of sin +Like a tide from the harbor-bar sets in, +And over a life of tune and sense +The church-spires lift their vain defence, +As if to scatter the bolts of God +With the points of Calvin's thunder-rod,-- +Still, as the gem of its civic crown, +Precious beyond the world's renown, +His memory hallows the ancient town! +1859. + + + + +THE TRUCE OF PISCATAQUA. + +In the winter of 1675-76, the Eastern Indians, who had been making war +upon the New Hampshire settlements, were so reduced in numbers by +fighting and famine that they agreed to a peace with Major Waldron at +Dover, but the peace was broken in the fall of 1676. The famous chief, +Squando, was the principal negotiator on the part of the savages. He had +taken up the hatchet to revenge the brutal treatment of his child by +drunken white sailors, which caused its death. + +It not unfrequently happened during the Border wars that young white +children were adopted by their Indian captors, and so kindly treated +that they were unwilling to leave the free, wild life of the woods; and +in some instances they utterly refused to go back with their parents to +their old homes and civilization. + +RAZE these long blocks of brick and stone, +These huge mill-monsters overgrown; +Blot out the humbler piles as well, +Where, moved like living shuttles, dwell +The weaving genii of the bell; +Tear from the wild Cocheco's track +The dams that hold its torrents back; +And let the loud-rejoicing fall +Plunge, roaring, down its rocky wall; +And let the Indian's paddle play +On the unbridged Piscataqua! +Wide over hill and valley spread +Once more the forest, dusk and dread, +With here and there a clearing cut +From the walled shadows round it shut; +Each with its farm-house builded rude, +By English yeoman squared and hewed, +And the grim, flankered block-house bound +With bristling palisades around. +So, haply shall before thine eyes +The dusty veil of centuries rise, +The old, strange scenery overlay +The tamer pictures of to-day, +While, like the actors in a play, +Pass in their ancient guise along +The figures of my border song +What time beside Cocheco's flood +The white man and the red man stood, +With words of peace and brotherhood; +When passed the sacred calumet +From lip to lip with fire-draught wet, +And, puffed in scorn, the peace-pipe's smoke +Through the gray beard of Waldron broke, +And Squando's voice, in suppliant plea +For mercy, struck the haughty key +Of one who held, in any fate, +His native pride inviolate! + +"Let your ears be opened wide! +He who speaks has never lied. +Waldron of Piscataqua, +Hear what Squando has to say! + +"Squando shuts his eyes and sees, +Far off, Saco's hemlock-trees. +In his wigwam, still as stone, +Sits a woman all alone, + +"Wampum beads and birchen strands +Dropping from her careless hands, +Listening ever for the fleet +Patter of a dead child's feet! + +"When the moon a year ago +Told the flowers the time to blow, +In that lonely wigwam smiled +Menewee, our little child. + +"Ere that moon grew thin and old, +He was lying still and cold; +Sent before us, weak and small, +When the Master did not call! + +"On his little grave I lay; +Three times went and came the day, +Thrice above me blazed the noon, +Thrice upon me wept the moon. + +"In the third night-watch I heard, +Far and low, a spirit-bird; +Very mournful, very wild, +Sang the totem of my child. + +"'Menewee, poor Menewee, +Walks a path he cannot see +Let the white man's wigwam light +With its blaze his steps aright. + +"'All-uncalled, he dares not show +Empty hands to Manito +Better gifts he cannot bear +Than the scalps his slayers wear.' + +"All the while the totem sang, +Lightning blazed and thunder rang; +And a black cloud, reaching high, +Pulled the white moon from the sky. + +"I, the medicine-man, whose ear +All that spirits bear can hear,-- +I, whose eyes are wide to see +All the things that are to be,-- + +"Well I knew the dreadful signs +In the whispers of the pines, +In the river roaring loud, +In the mutter of the cloud. + +"At the breaking of the day, +From the grave I passed away; +Flowers bloomed round me, birds sang glad, +But my heart was hot and mad. + +"There is rust on Squando's knife, +From the warm, red springs of life; +On the funeral hemlock-trees +Many a scalp the totem sees. + +"Blood for blood! But evermore +Squando's heart is sad and sore; +And his poor squaw waits at home +For the feet that never come! + +"Waldron of Cocheco, hear! +Squando speaks, who laughs at fear; +Take the captives he has ta'en; +Let the land have peace again!" + +As the words died on his tongue, +Wide apart his warriors swung; +Parted, at the sign he gave, +Right and left, like Egypt's wave. + +And, like Israel passing free +Through the prophet-charmed sea, +Captive mother, wife, and child +Through the dusky terror filed. + +One alone, a little maid, +Middleway her steps delayed, +Glancing, with quick, troubled sight, +Round about from red to white. + +Then his hand the Indian laid +On the little maiden's head, +Lightly from her forehead fair +Smoothing back her yellow hair. + +"Gift or favor ask I none; +What I have is all my own +Never yet the birds have sung, +Squando hath a beggar's tongue.' + +"Yet for her who waits at home, +For the dead who cannot come, +Let the little Gold-hair be +In the place of Menewee! + +"Mishanock, my little star! +Come to Saco's pines afar; +Where the sad one waits at home, +Wequashim, my moonlight, come!" + +"What!" quoth Waldron, "leave a child +Christian-born to heathens wild? +As God lives, from Satan's hand +I will pluck her as a brand!" + +"Hear me, white man!" Squando cried; +"Let the little one decide. +Wequashim, my moonlight, say, +Wilt thou go with me, or stay?" + +Slowly, sadly, half afraid, +Half regretfully, the maid +Owned the ties of blood and race,-- +Turned from Squando's pleading face. + +Not a word the Indian spoke, +But his wampum chain he broke, +And the beaded wonder hung +On that neck so fair and young. + +Silence-shod, as phantoms seem +In the marches of a dream, +Single-filed, the grim array +Through the pine-trees wound away. + +Doubting, trembling, sore amazed, +Through her tears the young child gazed. +"God preserve her!" Waldron said; +"Satan hath bewitched the maid!" + +Years went and came. At close of day +Singing came a child from play, +Tossing from her loose-locked head +Gold in sunshine, brown in shade. + +Pride was in the mother's look, +But her head she gravely shook, +And with lips that fondly smiled +Feigned to chide her truant child. + +Unabashed, the maid began +"Up and down the brook I ran, +Where, beneath the bank so steep, +Lie the spotted trout asleep. + +"'Chip!' went squirrel on the wall, +After me I heard him call, +And the cat-bird on the tree +Tried his best to mimic me. + +"Where the hemlocks grew so dark +That I stopped to look and hark, +On a log, with feather-hat, +By the path, an Indian sat. + +"Then I cried, and ran away; +But he called, and bade me stay; +And his voice was good and mild +As my mother's to her child. + +"And he took my wampum chain, +Looked and looked it o'er again; +Gave me berries, and, beside, +On my neck a plaything tied." + +Straight the mother stooped to see +What the Indian's gift might be. +On the braid of wampum hung, +Lo! a cross of silver swung. + +Well she knew its graven sign, +Squando's bird and totem pine; +And, a mirage of the brain, +Flowed her childhood back again. + +Flashed the roof the sunshine through, +Into space the walls outgrew; +On the Indian's wigwam-mat, +Blossom-crowned, again she sat. + +Cool she felt the west-wind blow, +In her ear the pines sang low, +And, like links from out a chain, +Dropped the years of care and pain. +From the outward toil and din, +From the griefs that gnaw within, +To the freedom of the woods +Called the birds, and winds, and floods. + +Well, O painful minister! +Watch thy flock, but blame not her, +If her ear grew sharp to hear +All their voices whispering near. + +Blame her not, as to her soul +All the desert's glamour stole, +That a tear for childhood's loss +Dropped upon the Indian's cross. + +When, that night, the Book was read, +And she bowed her widowed head, +And a prayer for each loved name +Rose like incense from a flame, + +With a hope the creeds forbid +In her pitying bosom hid, +To the listening ear of Heaven +Lo! the Indian's name was given. +1860. + + + + +MY PLAYMATE. + +THE pines were dark on Ramoth hill, +Their song was soft and low; +The blossoms in the sweet May wind +Were falling like the snow. + +The blossoms drifted at our feet, +The orchard birds sang clear; +The sweetest and the saddest day +It seemed of all the year. + +For, more to me than birds or flowers, +My playmate left her home, +And took with her the laughing spring, +The music and the bloom. + +She kissed the lips of kith and kin, +She laid her hand in mine +What more could ask the bashful boy +Who fed her father's kine? + +She left us in the bloom of May +The constant years told o'er +Their seasons with as sweet May morns, +But she came back no more. + +I walk, with noiseless feet, the round +Of uneventful years; +Still o'er and o'er I sow the spring +And reap the autumn ears. + +She lives where all the golden year +Her summer roses blow; +The dusky children of the sun +Before her come and go. + +There haply with her jewelled hands +She smooths her silken gown,-- +No more the homespun lap wherein +I shook the walnuts down. + +The wild grapes wait us by the brook, +The brown nuts on the hill, +And still the May-day flowers make sweet +The woods of Follymill. + +The lilies blossom in the pond, +The bird builds in the tree, +The dark pines sing on Ramoth hill +The slow song of the sea. + +I wonder if she thinks of them, +And how the old time seems,-- +If ever the pines of Ramoth wood +Are sounding in her dreams. + +I see her face, I hear her voice; +Does she remember mine? +And what to her is now the boy +Who fed her father's kine? + +What cares she that the orioles build +For other eyes than ours,-- +That other hands with nuts are filled, +And other laps with flowers? + +O playmate in the golden time! +Our mossy seat is green, +Its fringing violets blossom yet, +The old trees o'er it lean. + +The winds so sweet with birch and fern +A sweeter memory blow; +And there in spring the veeries sing +The song of long ago. + +And still the pines of Ramoth wood +Are moaning like the sea,-- + +The moaning of the sea of change +Between myself and thee! +1860. + + + + +COBBLER KEEZAR'S VISION. + +This ballad was written on the occasion of a Horticultural Festival. +Cobbler Keezar was a noted character among the first settlers in the +valley of the Merrimac. + +THE beaver cut his timber +With patient teeth that day, +The minks were fish-wards, and the crows +Surveyors of highway,-- + +When Keezar sat on the hillside +Upon his cobbler's form, +With a pan of coals on either hand +To keep his waxed-ends warm. + +And there, in the golden weather, +He stitched and hammered and sung; +In the brook he moistened his leather, +In the pewter mug his tongue. + +Well knew the tough old Teuton +Who brewed the stoutest ale, +And he paid the goodwife's reckoning +In the coin of song and tale. + +The songs they still are singing +Who dress the hills of vine, +The tales that haunt the Brocken +And whisper down the Rhine. + +Woodsy and wild and lonesome, +The swift stream wound away, +Through birches and scarlet maples +Flashing in foam and spray,-- + +Down on the sharp-horned ledges +Plunging in steep cascade, +Tossing its white-maned waters +Against the hemlock's shade. + +Woodsy and wild and lonesome, +East and west and north and south; +Only the village of fishers +Down at the river's mouth; + +Only here and there a clearing, +With its farm-house rude and new, +And tree-stumps, swart as Indians, +Where the scanty harvest grew. + +No shout of home-bound reapers, +No vintage-song he heard, +And on the green no dancing feet +The merry violin stirred. + +"Why should folk be glum," said Keezar, +"When Nature herself is glad, +And the painted woods are laughing +At the faces so sour and sad?" + +Small heed had the careless cobbler +What sorrow of heart was theirs +Who travailed in pain with the births of God, +And planted a state with prayers,-- + +Hunting of witches and warlocks, +Smiting the heathen horde,-- +One hand on the mason's trowel, +And one on the soldier's sword. + +But give him his ale and cider, +Give him his pipe and song, +Little he cared for Church or State, +Or the balance of right and wrong. + +"T is work, work, work," he muttered,-- +"And for rest a snuffle of psalms!" +He smote on his leathern apron +With his brown and waxen palms. + +"Oh for the purple harvests +Of the days when I was young +For the merry grape-stained maidens, +And the pleasant songs they sung! + +"Oh for the breath of vineyards, +Of apples and nuts and wine +For an oar to row and a breeze to blow +Down the grand old river Rhine!" + +A tear in his blue eye glistened, +And dropped on his beard so gray. +"Old, old am I," said Keezar, +"And the Rhine flows far away!" + +But a cunning man was the cobbler; +He could call the birds from the trees, +Charm the black snake out of the ledges, +And bring back the swarming bees. + +All the virtues of herbs and metals, +All the lore of the woods, he knew, +And the arts of the Old World mingle +With the marvels of the New. + +Well he knew the tricks of magic, +And the lapstone on his knee +Had the gift of the Mormon's goggles +Or the stone of Doctor Dee.[11] + +For the mighty master Agrippa +Wrought it with spell and rhyme +From a fragment of mystic moonstone +In the tower of Nettesheim. + +To a cobbler Minnesinger +The marvellous stone gave he,-- +And he gave it, in turn, to Keezar, +Who brought it over the sea. + +He held up that mystic lapstone, +He held it up like a lens, +And he counted the long years coming +Ey twenties and by tens. + +"One hundred years," quoth Keezar, +"And fifty have I told +Now open the new before me, +And shut me out the old!" + +Like a cloud of mist, the blackness +Rolled from the magic stone, +And a marvellous picture mingled +The unknown and the known. + +Still ran the stream to the river, +And river and ocean joined; +And there were the bluffs and the blue sea-line, +And cold north hills behind. + +But--the mighty forest was broken +By many a steepled town, +By many a white-walled farm-house, +And many a garner brown. + +Turning a score of mill-wheels, +The stream no more ran free; +White sails on the winding river, +White sails on the far-off sea. + +Below in the noisy village +The flags were floating gay, +And shone on a thousand faces +The light of a holiday. + +Swiftly the rival ploughmen +Turned the brown earth from their shares; +Here were the farmer's treasures, +There were the craftsman's wares. + +Golden the goodwife's butter, +Ruby her currant-wine; +Grand were the strutting turkeys, +Fat were the beeves and swine. + +Yellow and red were the apples, +And the ripe pears russet-brown, +And the peaches had stolen blushes +From the girls who shook them down. + +And with blooms of hill and wildwood, +That shame the toil of art, +Mingled the gorgeous blossoms +Of the garden's tropic heart. + +"What is it I see?" said Keezar +"Am I here, or ant I there? +Is it a fete at Bingen? +Do I look on Frankfort fair? + +"But where are the clowns and puppets, +And imps with horns and tail? +And where are the Rhenish flagons? +And where is the foaming ale? + +"Strange things, I know, will happen,-- +Strange things the Lord permits; +But that droughty folk should be jolly +Puzzles my poor old wits. + +"Here are smiling manly faces, +And the maiden's step is gay; +Nor sad by thinking, nor mad by drinking, +Nor mopes, nor fools, are they. + +"Here's pleasure without regretting, +And good without abuse, +The holiday and the bridal +Of beauty and of use. + +"Here's a priest and there is a Quaker, +Do the cat and dog agree? +Have they burned the stocks for ovenwood? +Have they cut down the gallows-tree? + +"Would the old folk know their children? +Would they own the graceless town, +With never a ranter to worry +And never a witch to drown?" + + +Loud laughed the cobbler Keezar, +Laughed like a school-boy gay; +Tossing his arms above him, +The lapstone rolled away. + +It rolled down the rugged hillside, +It spun like a wheel bewitched, +It plunged through the leaning willows, +And into the river pitched. + +There, in the deep, dark water, +The magic stone lies still, +Under the leaning willows +In the shadow of the hill. + +But oft the idle fisher +Sits on the shadowy bank, +And his dreams make marvellous pictures +Where the wizard's lapstone sank. + +And still, in the summer twilights, +When the river seems to run +Out from the inner glory, +Warm with the melted sun, + +The weary mill-girl lingers +Beside the charmed stream, +And the sky and the golden water +Shape and color her dream. + +Air wave the sunset gardens, +The rosy signals fly; +Her homestead beckons from the cloud, +And love goes sailing by. +1861. + + + + +AMY WENTWORTH + +TO WILLIAM BRADFORD. + +As they who watch by sick-beds find relief +Unwittingly from the great stress of grief +And anxious care, in fantasies outwrought +From the hearth's embers flickering low, or caught +From whispering wind, or tread of passing feet, +Or vagrant memory calling up some sweet +Snatch of old song or romance, whence or why +They scarcely know or ask,--so, thou and I, +Nursed in the faith that Truth alone is strong +In the endurance which outwearies Wrong, +With meek persistence baffling brutal force, +And trusting God against the universe,-- +We, doomed to watch a strife we may not share +With other weapons than the patriot's prayer, +Yet owning, with full hearts and moistened eyes, +The awful beauty of self-sacrifice, +And wrung by keenest sympathy for all +Who give their loved ones for the living wall +'Twixt law and treason,--in this evil day +May haply find, through automatic play +Of pen and pencil, solace to our pain, +And hearten others with the strength we gain. +I know it has been said our times require +No play of art, nor dalliance with the lyre, +No weak essay with Fancy's chloroform +To calm the hot, mad pulses of the storm, +But the stern war-blast rather, such as sets +The battle's teeth of serried bayonets, +And pictures grim as Vernet's. Yet with these +Some softer tints may blend, and milder keys +Relieve the storm-stunned ear. Let us keep sweet, +If so we may, our hearts, even while we eat +The bitter harvest of our own device +And half a century's moral cowardice. +As Nurnberg sang while Wittenberg defied, +And Kranach painted by his Luther's side, +And through the war-march of the Puritan +The silver stream of Marvell's music ran, +So let the household melodies be sung, +The pleasant pictures on the wall be hung-- +So let us hold against the hosts of night +And slavery all our vantage-ground of light. +Let Treason boast its savagery, and shake +From its flag-folds its symbol rattlesnake, +Nurse its fine arts, lay human skins in tan, +And carve its pipe-bowls from the bones of man, +And make the tale of Fijian banquets dull +By drinking whiskey from a loyal skull,-- +But let us guard, till this sad war shall cease, +(God grant it soon!) the graceful arts of peace +No foes are conquered who the victors teach +Their vandal manners and barbaric speech. + +And while, with hearts of thankfulness, we bear +Of the great common burden our full share, +Let none upbraid us that the waves entice +Thy sea-dipped pencil, or some quaint device, +Rhythmic, and sweet, beguiles my pen away +From the sharp strifes and sorrows of to-day. +Thus, while the east-wind keen from Labrador +Sings it the leafless elms, and from the shore +Of the great sea comes the monotonous roar +Of the long-breaking surf, and all the sky +Is gray with cloud, home-bound and dull, I try +To time a simple legend to the sounds +Of winds in the woods, and waves on pebbled bounds,-- +A song for oars to chime with, such as might +Be sung by tired sea-painters, who at night +Look from their hemlock camps, by quiet cove +Or beach, moon-lighted, on the waves they love. +(So hast thou looked, when level sunset lay +On the calm bosom of some Eastern bay, +And all the spray-moist rocks and waves that rolled +Up the white sand-slopes flashed with ruddy gold.) +Something it has--a flavor of the sea, +And the sea's freedom--which reminds of thee. +Its faded picture, dimly smiling down +From the blurred fresco of the ancient town, +I have not touched with warmer tints in vain, +If, in this dark, sad year, it steals one thought +from pain. + + . . . . . . . . . . . . + + +Her fingers shame the ivory keys +They dance so light along; +The bloom upon her parted lips +Is sweeter than the song. + +O perfumed suitor, spare thy smiles! +Her thoughts are not of thee; +She better loves the salted wind, +The voices of the sea. + +Her heart is like an outbound ship +That at its anchor swings; +The murmur of the stranded shell +Is in the song she sings. + +She sings, and, smiling, hears her praise, +But dreams the while of one +Who watches from his sea-blown deck +The icebergs in the sun. + +She questions all the winds that blow, +And every fog-wreath dim, +And bids the sea-birds flying north +Bear messages to him. + +She speeds them with the thanks of men +He perilled life to save, +And grateful prayers like holy oil +To smooth for him the wave. + +Brown Viking of the fishing-smack! +Fair toast of all the town!-- +The skipper's jerkin ill beseems +The lady's silken gown! + +But ne'er shall Amy Wentworth wear +For him the blush of shame +Who dares to set his manly gifts +Against her ancient name. + +The stream is brightest at its spring, +And blood is not like wine; +Nor honored less than he who heirs +Is he who founds a line. + +Full lightly shall the prize be won, +If love be Fortune's spur; +And never maiden stoops to him +Who lifts himself to her. + +Her home is brave in Jaffrey Street, +With stately stairways worn +By feet of old Colonial knights +And ladies gentle-born. + +Still green about its ample porch +The English ivy twines, +Trained back to show in English oak +The herald's carven signs. + +And on her, from the wainscot old, +Ancestral faces frown,-- +And this has worn the soldier's sword, +And that the judge's gown. + +But, strong of will and proud as they, +She walks the gallery floor +As if she trod her sailor's deck +By stormy Labrador. + +The sweetbrier blooms on Kittery-side, +And green are Elliot's bowers; +Her garden is the pebbled beach, +The mosses are her flowers. + +She looks across the harbor-bar +To see the white gulls fly; +His greeting from the Northern sea +Is in their clanging cry. + +She hums a song, and dreams that he, +As in its romance old, +Shall homeward ride with silken sails +And masts of beaten gold! + +Oh, rank is good, and gold is fair, +And high and low mate ill; +But love has never known a law +Beyond its own sweet will! +1862. + + + + +THE COUNTESS. +TO E. W. + +I inscribed this poem to Dr. Elias Weld of Haverhill, Massachusetts, +to whose kindness I was much indebted in my boyhood. He was the one +cultivated man in the neighborhood. His small but well-chosen library +was placed at my disposal. He is the "wise old doctor" of Snow-Bound. +Count Francois de Vipart with his cousin Joseph Rochemont de Poyen came +to the United States in the early part of the present century. They took +up their residence at Rocks Village on the Merrimac, where they both +married. The wife of Count Vipart was Mary Ingalls, who as my father +remembered her was a very lovely young girl. Her wedding dress, as +described by a lady still living, was "pink satin with an overdress of +white lace, and white satin slippers." She died in less than a year +after her marriage. Her husband returned to his native country. He lies +buried in the family tomb of the Viparts at Bordeaux. + +I KNOW not, Time and Space so intervene, +Whether, still waiting with a trust serene, +Thou bearest up thy fourscore years and ten, +Or, called at last, art now Heaven's citizen; +But, here or there, a pleasant thought of thee, +Like an old friend, all day has been with me. +The shy, still boy, for whom thy kindly hand +Smoothed his hard pathway to the wonder-land +Of thought and fancy, in gray manhood yet +Keeps green the memory of his early debt. +To-day, when truth and falsehood speak their words +Through hot-lipped cannon and the teeth of swords, +Listening with quickened heart and ear intent +To each sharp clause of that stern argument, +I still can hear at times a softer note +Of the old pastoral music round me float, +While through the hot gleam of our civil strife +Looms the green mirage of a simpler life. +As, at his alien post, the sentinel +Drops the old bucket in the homestead well, +And hears old voices in the winds that toss +Above his head the live-oak's beard of moss, +So, in our trial-time, and under skies +Shadowed by swords like Islam's paradise, +I wait and watch, and let my fancy stray +To milder scenes and youth's Arcadian day; +And howsoe'er the pencil dipped in dreams +Shades the brown woods or tints the sunset streams, +The country doctor in the foreground seems, +Whose ancient sulky down the village lanes +Dragged, like a war-car, captive ills and pains. +I could not paint the scenery of my song, +Mindless of one who looked thereon so long; +Who, night and day, on duty's lonely round, +Made friends o' the woods and rocks, and knew the sound +Of each small brook, and what the hillside trees +Said to the winds that touched their leafy keys; +Who saw so keenly and so well could paint +The village-folk, with all their humors quaint, +The parson ambling on his wall-eyed roan. +Grave and erect, with white hair backward blown; +The tough old boatman, half amphibious grown; +The muttering witch-wife of the gossip's tale, +And the loud straggler levying his blackmail,-- +Old customs, habits, superstitions, fears, +All that lies buried under fifty years. +To thee, as is most fit, I bring my lay, +And, grateful, own the debt I cannot pay. + + . . . . . . . . . . + +Over the wooded northern ridge, +Between its houses brown, +To the dark tunnel of the bridge +The street comes straggling down. + +You catch a glimpse, through birch and pine, +Of gable, roof, and porch, +The tavern with its swinging sign, +The sharp horn of the church. + +The river's steel-blue crescent curves +To meet, in ebb and flow, +The single broken wharf that serves +For sloop and gundelow. + +With salt sea-scents along its shores +The heavy hay-boats crawl, +The long antennae of their oars +In lazy rise and fall. + +Along the gray abutment's wall +The idle shad-net dries; +The toll-man in his cobbler's stall +Sits smoking with closed eyes. + +You hear the pier's low undertone +Of waves that chafe and gnaw; +You start,--a skipper's horn is blown +To raise the creaking draw. + +At times a blacksmith's anvil sounds +With slow and sluggard beat, +Or stage-coach on its dusty rounds +Fakes up the staring street. + +A place for idle eyes and ears, +A cobwebbed nook of dreams; +Left by the stream whose waves are years +The stranded village seems. + +And there, like other moss and rust, +The native dweller clings, +And keeps, in uninquiring trust, +The old, dull round of things. + +The fisher drops his patient lines, +The farmer sows his grain, +Content to hear the murmuring pines +Instead of railroad-train. + +Go where, along the tangled steep +That slopes against the west, +The hamlet's buried idlers sleep +In still profounder rest. + +Throw back the locust's flowery plume, +The birch's pale-green scarf, +And break the web of brier and bloom +From name and epitaph. + +A simple muster-roll of death, +Of pomp and romance shorn, +The dry, old names that common breath +Has cheapened and outworn. + +Yet pause by one low mound, and part +The wild vines o'er it laced, +And read the words by rustic art +Upon its headstone traced. + +Haply yon white-haired villager +Of fourscore years can say +What means the noble name of her +Who sleeps with common clay. + +An exile from the Gascon land +Found refuge here and rest, +And loved, of all the village band, +Its fairest and its best. + +He knelt with her on Sabbath morns, +He worshipped through her eyes, +And on the pride that doubts and scorns +Stole in her faith's surprise. + +Her simple daily life he saw +By homeliest duties tried, +In all things by an untaught law +Of fitness justified. + +For her his rank aside he laid; +He took the hue and tone +Of lowly life and toil, and made +Her simple ways his own. + +Yet still, in gay and careless ease, +To harvest-field or dance +He brought the gentle courtesies, +The nameless grace of France. + +And she who taught him love not less +From him she loved in turn +Caught in her sweet unconsciousness +What love is quick to learn. + +Each grew to each in pleased accord, +Nor knew the gazing town +If she looked upward to her lord +Or he to her looked down. + +How sweet, when summer's day was o'er, +His violin's mirth and wail, +The walk on pleasant Newbury's shore, +The river's moonlit sail! + +Ah! life is brief, though love be long; +The altar and the bier, +The burial hymn and bridal song, +Were both in one short year! + +Her rest is quiet on the hill, +Beneath the locust's bloom +Far off her lover sleeps as still +Within his scutcheoned tomb. + +The Gascon lord, the village maid, +In death still clasp their hands; +The love that levels rank and grade +Unites their severed lands. + +What matter whose the hillside grave, +Or whose the blazoned stone? +Forever to her western wave +Shall whisper blue Garonne! + +O Love!--so hallowing every soil +That gives thy sweet flower room, +Wherever, nursed by ease or toil, +The human heart takes bloom!-- + +Plant of lost Eden, from the sod +Of sinful earth unriven, +White blossom of the trees of God +Dropped down to us from heaven! + +This tangled waste of mound and stone +Is holy for thy sale; +A sweetness which is all thy own +Breathes out from fern and brake. + +And while ancestral pride shall twine +The Gascon's tomb with flowers, +Fall sweetly here, O song of mine, +With summer's bloom and showers! + +And let the lines that severed seem +Unite again in thee, +As western wave and Gallic stream +Are mingled in one sea! +1863. + + + + +AMONG THE HILLS + +This poem, when originally published, was dedicated to Annie Fields, +wife of the distinguished publisher, James T. Fields, of Boston, in +grateful acknowledgment of the strength and inspiration I have found in +her friendship and sympathy. The poem in its first form was entitled The +Wife: an Idyl of Bearcamp Water, and appeared in The Atlantic Monthly +for January, 1868. When I published the volume Among the Hills, in +December of the same year, I expanded the Prelude and filled out also +the outlines of the story. + + +PRELUDE. + +ALONG the roadside, like the flowers of gold +That tawny Incas for their gardens wrought, +Heavy with sunshine droops the golden-rod, +And the red pennons of the cardinal-flowers +Hang motionless upon their upright staves. +The sky is hot and hazy, and the wind, +Vying-weary with its long flight from the south, +Unfelt; yet, closely scanned, yon maple leaf +With faintest motion, as one stirs in dreams, +Confesses it. The locust by the wall +Stabs the noon-silence with his sharp alarm. +A single hay-cart down the dusty road +Creaks slowly, with its driver fast asleep +On the load's top. Against the neighboring hill, +Huddled along the stone wall's shady side, +The sheep show white, as if a snowdrift still +Defied the dog-star. Through the open door +A drowsy smell of flowers-gray heliotrope, +And white sweet clover, and shy mignonette-- +Comes faintly in, and silent chorus lends +To the pervading symphony of peace. +No time is this for hands long over-worn +To task their strength; and (unto Him be praise +Who giveth quietness!) the stress and strain +Of years that did the work of centuries +Have ceased, and we can draw our breath once more +Freely and full. So, as yon harvesters +Make glad their nooning underneath the elms +With tale and riddle and old snatch of song, +I lay aside grave themes, and idly turn +The leaves of memory's sketch-book, dreaming o'er +Old summer pictures of the quiet hills, +And human life, as quiet, at their feet. + +And yet not idly all. A farmer's son, +Proud of field-lore and harvest craft, and feeling +All their fine possibilities, how rich +And restful even poverty and toil +Become when beauty, harmony, and love +Sit at their humble hearth as angels sat +At evening in the patriarch's tent, when man +Makes labor noble, and his farmer's frock +The symbol of a Christian chivalry +Tender and just and generous to her +Who clothes with grace all duty; still, I know +Too well the picture has another side,-- +How wearily the grind of toil goes on +Where love is wanting, how the eye and ear +And heart are starved amidst the plenitude +Of nature, and how hard and colorless +Is life without an atmosphere. I look +Across the lapse of half a century, +And call to mind old homesteads, where no flower +Told that the spring had come, but evil weeds, +Nightshade and rough-leaved burdock in the place +Of the sweet doorway greeting of the rose +And honeysuckle, where the house walls seemed +Blistering in sun, without a tree or vine +To cast the tremulous shadow of its leaves +Across the curtainless windows, from whose panes +Fluttered the signal rags of shiftlessness. +Within, the cluttered kitchen-floor, unwashed +(Broom-clean I think they called it); the best room +Stifling with cellar damp, shut from the air +In hot midsummer, bookless, pictureless, +Save the inevitable sampler hung +Over the fireplace, or a mourning piece, +A green-haired woman, peony-cheeked, beneath +Impossible willows; the wide-throated hearth +Bristling with faded pine-boughs half concealing +The piled-up rubbish at the chimney's back; +And, in sad keeping with all things about them, +Shrill, querulous-women, sour and sullen men, +Untidy, loveless, old before their time, +With scarce a human interest save their own +Monotonous round of small economies, +Or the poor scandal of the neighborhood; +Blind to the beauty everywhere revealed, +Treading the May-flowers with regardless feet; +For them the song-sparrow and the bobolink +Sang not, nor winds made music in the leaves; +For them in vain October's holocaust +Burned, gold and crimson, over all the hills, +The sacramental mystery of the woods. +Church-goers, fearful of the unseen Powers, +But grumbling over pulpit-tax and pew-rent, +Saving, as shrewd economists, their souls +And winter pork with the least possible outlay +Of salt and sanctity; in daily life +Showing as little actual comprehension +Of Christian charity and love and duty, +As if the Sermon on the Mount had been +Outdated like a last year's almanac +Rich in broad woodlands and in half-tilled fields, +And yet so pinched and bare and comfortless, +The veriest straggler limping on his rounds, +The sun and air his sole inheritance, +Laughed at a poverty that paid its taxes, +And hugged his rags in self-complacency! + +Not such should be the homesteads of a land +Where whoso wisely wills and acts may dwell +As king and lawgiver, in broad-acred state, +With beauty, art, taste, culture, books, to make +His hour of leisure richer than a life +Of fourscore to the barons of old time, +Our yeoman should be equal to his home +Set in the fair, green valleys, purple walled, +A man to match his mountains, not to creep +Dwarfed and abased below them. I would fain +In this light way (of which I needs must own +With the knife-grinder of whom Canning sings, +"Story, God bless you! I have none to tell you!") +Invite the eye to see and heart to feel +The beauty and the joy within their reach,-- +Home, and home loves, and the beatitudes +Of nature free to all. Haply in years +That wait to take the places of our own, +Heard where some breezy balcony looks down +On happy homes, or where the lake in the moon +Sleeps dreaming of the mountains, fair as Ruth, +In the old Hebrew pastoral, at the feet +Of Boaz, even this simple lay of mine +May seem the burden of a prophecy, +Finding its late fulfilment in a change +Slow as the oak's growth, lifting manhood up +Through broader culture, finer manners, love, +And reverence, to the level of the hills. + +O Golden Age, whose light is of the dawn, +And not of sunset, forward, not behind, +Flood the new heavens and earth, and with thee bring +All the old virtues, whatsoever things +Are pure and honest and of good repute, +But add thereto whatever bard has sung +Or seer has told of when in trance and dream +They saw the Happy Isles of prophecy +Let Justice hold her scale, and Truth divide +Between the right and wrong; but give the heart +The freedom of its fair inheritance; +Let the poor prisoner, cramped and starved so long, +At Nature's table feast his ear and eye +With joy and wonder; let all harmonies +Of sound, form, color, motion, wait upon +The princely guest, whether in soft attire +Of leisure clad, or the coarse frock of toil, +And, lending life to the dead form of faith, +Give human nature reverence for the sake +Of One who bore it, making it divine +With the ineffable tenderness of God; +Let common need, the brotherhood of prayer, +The heirship of an unknown destiny, +The unsolved mystery round about us, make +A man more precious than the gold of Ophir. +Sacred, inviolate, unto whom all things +Should minister, as outward types and signs +Of the eternal beauty which fulfils +The one great purpose of creation, Love, +The sole necessity of Earth and Heaven! + + . . . . . . . . . . . + +For weeks the clouds had raked the hills +And vexed the vales with raining, +And all the woods were sad with mist, +And all the brooks complaining. + +At last, a sudden night-storm tore +The mountain veils asunder, +And swept the valleys clean before +The besom of the thunder. + +Through Sandwich notch the west-wind sang +Good morrow to the cotter; +And once again Chocorua's horn +Of shadow pierced the water. + +Above his broad lake Ossipee, +Once more the sunshine wearing, +Stooped, tracing on that silver shield +His grim armorial bearing. + +Clear drawn against the hard blue sky, +The peaks had winter's keenness; +And, close on autumn's frost, the vales +Had more than June's fresh greenness. + +Again the sodden forest floors +With golden lights were checkered, +Once more rejoicing leaves in wind +And sunshine danced and flickered. + +It was as if the summer's late +Atoning for it's sadness +Had borrowed every season's charm +To end its days in gladness. + +Rivers of gold-mist flowing down +From far celestial fountains,-- +The great sun flaming through the rifts +Beyond the wall of mountains. + +We paused at last where home-bound cows +Brought down the pasture's treasure, +And in the barn the rhythmic flails +Beat out a harvest measure. + +We heard the night-hawk's sullen plunge, +The crow his tree-mates calling +The shadows lengthening down the slopes +About our feet were falling. + +And through them smote the level sun +In broken lines of splendor, +Touched the gray rocks and made the green +Of the shorn grass more tender. + +The maples bending o'er the gate, +Their arch of leaves just tinted +With yellow warmth, the golden glow +Of coming autumn hinted. + +Keen white between the farm-house showed, +And smiled on porch and trellis, +The fair democracy of flowers +That equals cot and palace. + +And weaving garlands for her dog, +'Twixt chidings and caresses, +A human flower of childhood shook +The sunshine from her tresses. + +Clear drawn against the hard blue sky, +The peaks had winter's keenness; +And, close on autumn's frost, the vales +Had more than June's fresh greenness. + +Again the sodden forest floors +With golden lights were checkered, +Once more rejoicing leaves in wind +And sunshine danced and flickered. + +It was as if the summer's late +Atoning for it's sadness +Had borrowed every season's charm +To end its days in gladness. + +I call to mind those banded vales +Of shadow and of shining, +Through which, my hostess at my side, +I drove in day's declining. + +We held our sideling way above +The river's whitening shallows, +By homesteads old, with wide-flung barns +Swept through and through by swallows; + +By maple orchards, belts of pine +And larches climbing darkly +The mountain slopes, and, over all, +The great peaks rising starkly. + +You should have seen that long hill-range +With gaps of brightness riven,-- +How through each pass and hollow streamed +The purpling lights of heaven,-- + +On either hand we saw the signs +Of fancy and of shrewdness, +Where taste had wound its arms of vines +Round thrift's uncomely rudeness. + +The sun-brown farmer in his frock +Shook hands, and called to Mary +Bare-armed, as Juno might, she came, +White-aproned from her dairy. + +Her air, her smile, her motions, told +Of womanly completeness; +A music as of household songs +Was in her voice of sweetness. + +Not fair alone in curve and line, +But something more and better, +The secret charm eluding art, +Its spirit, not its letter;-- + +An inborn grace that nothing lacked +Of culture or appliance, +The warmth of genial courtesy, +The calm of self-reliance. + +Before her queenly womanhood +How dared our hostess utter +The paltry errand of her need +To buy her fresh-churned butter? + +She led the way with housewife pride, +Her goodly store disclosing, +Full tenderly the golden balls +With practised hands disposing. + +Then, while along the western hills +We watched the changeful glory +Of sunset, on our homeward way, +I heard her simple story. + +The early crickets sang; the stream +Plashed through my friend's narration +Her rustic patois of the hills +Lost in my free-translation. + +"More wise," she said, "than those who swarm +Our hills in middle summer, +She came, when June's first roses blow, +To greet the early comer. + +"From school and ball and rout she came, +The city's fair, pale daughter, +To drink the wine of mountain air +Beside the Bearcamp Water. + +"Her step grew firmer on the hills +That watch our homesteads over; +On cheek and lip, from summer fields, +She caught the bloom of clover. + +"For health comes sparkling in the streams +From cool Chocorua stealing +There's iron in our Northern winds; +Our pines are trees of healing. + +"She sat beneath the broad-armed elms +That skirt the mowing-meadow, +And watched the gentle west-wind weave +The grass with shine and shadow. + +"Beside her, from the summer heat +To share her grateful screening, +With forehead bared, the farmer stood, +Upon his pitchfork leaning. + +"Framed in its damp, dark locks, his face +Had nothing mean or common,-- +Strong, manly, true, the tenderness +And pride beloved of woman. + +"She looked up, glowing with the health +The country air had brought her, +And, laughing, said: 'You lack a wife, +Your mother lacks a daughter. + +"'To mend your frock and bake your bread +You do not need a lady +Be sure among these brown old homes +Is some one waiting ready,-- + +"'Some fair, sweet girl with skilful hand +And cheerful heart for treasure, +Who never played with ivory keys, +Or danced the polka's measure.' + +"He bent his black brows to a frown, +He set his white teeth tightly. +''T is well,' he said, 'for one like you +To choose for me so lightly. + +"You think, because my life is rude +I take no note of sweetness +I tell you love has naught to do +With meetness or unmeetness. + +"'Itself its best excuse, it asks +No leave of pride or fashion +When silken zone or homespun frock +It stirs with throbs of passion. + +"'You think me deaf and blind: you bring +Your winning graces hither +As free as if from cradle-time +We two had played together. + +"'You tempt me with your laughing eyes, +Your cheek of sundown's blushes, +A motion as of waving grain, +A music as of thrushes. + +"'The plaything of your summer sport, +The spells you weave around me +You cannot at your will undo, +Nor leave me as you found me. + +"'You go as lightly as you came, +Your life is well without me; +What care you that these hills will close +Like prison-walls about me? + +"'No mood is mine to seek a wife, +Or daughter for my mother +Who loves you loses in that love +All power to love another! + +"'I dare your pity or your scorn, +With pride your own exceeding; +I fling my heart into your lap +Without a word of pleading.' + +"She looked up in his face of pain +So archly, yet so tender +'And if I lend you mine,' she said, +'Will you forgive the lender? + +"'Nor frock nor tan can hide the man; +And see you not, my farmer, +How weak and fond a woman waits +Behind this silken armor? + +"'I love you: on that love alone, +And not my worth, presuming, +Will you not trust for summer fruit +The tree in May-day blooming?' + +"Alone the hangbird overhead, +His hair-swung cradle straining, +Looked down to see love's miracle,-- +The giving that is gaining. + +"And so the farmer found a wife, +His mother found a daughter +There looks no happier home than hers +On pleasant Bearcamp Water. + +"Flowers spring to blossom where she walks +The careful ways of duty; +Our hard, stiff lines of life with her +Are flowing curves of beauty. + +"Our homes are cheerier for her sake, +Our door-yards brighter blooming, +And all about the social air +Is sweeter for her coming. + +"Unspoken homilies of peace +Her daily life is preaching; +The still refreshment of the dew +Is her unconscious teaching. + +"And never tenderer hand than hers +Unknits the brow of ailing; +Her garments to the sick man's ear +Have music in their trailing. + +"And when, in pleasant harvest moons, +The youthful huskers gather, +Or sleigh-drives on the mountain ways +Defy the winter weather,-- + +"In sugar-camps, when south and warm +The winds of March are blowing, +And sweetly from its thawing veins +The maple's blood is flowing,-- + +"In summer, where some lilied pond +Its virgin zone is baring, +Or where the ruddy autumn fire +Lights up the apple-paring,-- + +"The coarseness of a ruder time +Her finer mirth displaces, +A subtler sense of pleasure fills +Each rustic sport she graces. + +"Her presence lends its warmth and health +To all who come before it. +If woman lost us Eden, such +As she alone restore it. + +"For larger life and wiser aims +The farmer is her debtor; +Who holds to his another's heart +Must needs be worse or better. + +"Through her his civic service shows +A purer-toned ambition; +No double consciousness divides +The man and politician. + +"In party's doubtful ways he trusts +Her instincts to determine; +At the loud polls, the thought of her +Recalls Christ's Mountain Sermon. + +"He owns her logic of the heart, +And wisdom of unreason, +Supplying, while he doubts and weighs, +The needed word in season. + +"He sees with pride her richer thought, +Her fancy's freer ranges; +And love thus deepened to respect +Is proof against all changes. + +"And if she walks at ease in ways +His feet are slow to travel, +And if she reads with cultured eyes +What his may scarce unravel, + +"Still clearer, for her keener sight +Of beauty and of wonder, +He learns the meaning of the hills +He dwelt from childhood under. + +"And higher, warmed with summer lights, +Or winter-crowned and hoary, +The ridged horizon lifts for him +Its inner veils of glory. + +"He has his own free, bookless lore, +The lessons nature taught him, +The wisdom which the woods and hills +And toiling men have brought him: + +"The steady force of will whereby +Her flexile grace seems sweeter; +The sturdy counterpoise which makes +Her woman's life completer. + +"A latent fire of soul which lacks +No breath of love to fan it; +And wit, that, like his native brooks, +Plays over solid granite. + +"How dwarfed against his manliness +She sees the poor pretension, +The wants, the aims, the follies, born +Of fashion and convention. + +"How life behind its accidents +Stands strong and self-sustaining, +The human fact transcending all +The losing and the gaining. + +"And so in grateful interchange +Of teacher and of hearer, +Their lives their true distinctness keep +While daily drawing nearer. + +"And if the husband or the wife +In home's strong light discovers +Such slight defaults as failed to meet +The blinded eyes of lovers, + +"Why need we care to ask?--who dreams +Without their thorns of roses, +Or wonders that the truest steel +The readiest spark discloses? + +"For still in mutual sufferance lies +The secret of true living; +Love scarce is love that never knows +The sweetness of forgiving. + +"We send the Squire to General Court, +He takes his young wife thither; +No prouder man election day +Rides through the sweet June weather. + +"He sees with eyes of manly trust +All hearts to her inclining; +Not less for him his household light +That others share its shining." + +Thus, while my hostess spake, there grew +Before me, warmer tinted +And outlined with a tenderer grace, +The picture that she hinted. + +The sunset smouldered as we drove +Beneath the deep hill-shadows. +Below us wreaths of white fog walked +Like ghosts the haunted meadows. + +Sounding the summer night, the stars +Dropped down their golden plummets; +The pale arc of the Northern lights +Rose o'er the mountain summits, + +Until, at last, beneath its bridge, +We heard the Bearcamp flowing, +And saw across the mapled lawn +The welcome home lights glowing. + +And, musing on the tale I heard, +'T were well, thought I, if often +To rugged farm-life came the gift +To harmonize and soften; + +If more and more we found the troth +Of fact and fancy plighted, +And culture's charm and labor's strength +In rural homes united,-- + +The simple life, the homely hearth, +With beauty's sphere surrounding, +And blessing toil where toil abounds +With graces more abounding. +1868. + + + + +THE DOLE OF JARL THORKELL. + +THE land was pale with famine +And racked with fever-pain; +The frozen fiords were fishless, +The earth withheld her grain. + +Men saw the boding Fylgja +Before them come and go, +And, through their dreams, the Urdarmoon +From west to east sailed slow. + +Jarl Thorkell of Thevera +At Yule-time made his vow; +On Rykdal's holy Doom-stone +He slew to Frey his cow. + +To bounteous Frey he slew her; +To Skuld, the younger Norn, +Who watches over birth and death, +He gave her calf unborn. + +And his little gold-haired daughter +Took up the sprinkling-rod, +And smeared with blood the temple +And the wide lips of the god. + +Hoarse below, the winter water +Ground its ice-blocks o'er and o'er; +Jets of foam, like ghosts of dead waves, +Rose and fell along the shore. + +The red torch of the Jokul, +Aloft in icy space, +Shone down on the bloody Horg-stones +And the statue's carven face. + +And closer round and grimmer +Beneath its baleful light +The Jotun shapes of mountains +Came crowding through the night. + +The gray-haired Hersir trembled +As a flame by wind is blown; +A weird power moved his white lips, +And their voice was not his own. + +"The AEsir thirst!" he muttered; +"The gods must have more blood +Before the tun shall blossom +Or fish shall fill the flood. + +"The AEsir thirst and hunger, +And hence our blight and ban; +The mouths of the strong gods water +For the flesh and blood of man! + +"Whom shall we give the strong ones? +Not warriors, sword on thigh; +But let the nursling infant +And bedrid old man die." + +"So be it!" cried the young men, +"There needs nor doubt nor parle." +But, knitting hard his red brows, +In silence stood the Jarl. + +A sound of woman's weeping +At the temple door was heard, +But the old men bowed their white heads, +And answered not a word. + +Then the Dream-wife of Thingvalla, +A Vala young and fair, +Sang softly, stirring with her breath +The veil of her loose hair. + +She sang: "The winds from Alfheim +Bring never sound of strife; +The gifts for Frey the meetest +Are not of death, but life. + +"He loves the grass-green meadows, +The grazing kine's sweet breath; +He loathes your bloody Horg-stones, +Your gifts that smell of death. + +"No wrong by wrong is righted, +No pain is cured by pain; +The blood that smokes from Doom-rings +Falls back in redder rain. + +"The gods are what you make them, +As earth shall Asgard prove; +And hate will come of hating, +And love will come of love. + +"Make dole of skyr and black bread +That old and young may live; +And look to Frey for favor +When first like Frey you give. + +"Even now o'er Njord's sea-meadows +The summer dawn begins +The tun shall have its harvest, +The fiord its glancing fins." + +Then up and swore Jarl Thorkell +"By Gimli and by Hel, +O Vala of Thingvalla, +Thou singest wise and well! + +"Too dear the AEsir's favors +Bought with our children's lives; +Better die than shame in living +Our mothers and our wives. + +"The full shall give his portion +To him who hath most need; +Of curdled skyr and black bread, +Be daily dole decreed." + +He broke from off his neck-chain +Three links of beaten gold; +And each man, at his bidding, +Brought gifts for young and old. + +Then mothers nursed their children, +And daughters fed their sires, +And Health sat down with Plenty +Before the next Yule fires. + +The Horg-stones stand in Rykdal; +The Doom-ring still remains; +But the snows of a thousand winters +Have washed away the stains. + +Christ ruleth now; the Asir +Have found their twilight dim; +And, wiser than she dreamed, of old +The Vala sang of Him +1868. + + + + +THE TWO RABBINS. + +THE Rabbi Nathan two-score years and ten +Walked blameless through the evil world, and then, +Just as the almond blossomed in his hair, +Met a temptation all too strong to bear, +And miserably sinned. So, adding not +Falsehood to guilt, he left his seat, and taught +No more among the elders, but went out +From the great congregation girt about +With sackcloth, and with ashes on his head, +Making his gray locks grayer. Long he prayed, +Smiting his breast; then, as the Book he laid +Open before him for the Bath-Col's choice, +Pausing to hear that Daughter of a Voice, +Behold the royal preacher's words: "A friend +Loveth at all times, yea, unto the end; +And for the evil day thy brother lives." +Marvelling, he said: "It is the Lord who gives +Counsel in need. At Ecbatana dwells +Rabbi Ben Isaac, who all men excels +In righteousness and wisdom, as the trees +Of Lebanon the small weeds that the bees +Bow with their weight. I will arise, and lay +My sins before him." + + And he went his way +Barefooted, fasting long, with many prayers; +But even as one who, followed unawares, +Suddenly in the darkness feels a hand +Thrill with its touch his own, and his cheek fanned +By odors subtly sweet, and whispers near +Of words he loathes, yet cannot choose but hear, +So, while the Rabbi journeyed, chanting low +The wail of David's penitential woe, +Before him still the old temptation came, +And mocked him with the motion and the shame +Of such desires that, shuddering, he abhorred +Himself; and, crying mightily to the Lord +To free his soul and cast the demon out, +Smote with his staff the blankness round about. + +At length, in the low light of a spent day, +The towers of Ecbatana far away +Rose on the desert's rim; and Nathan, faint +And footsore, pausing where for some dead saint +The faith of Islam reared a domed tomb, +Saw some one kneeling in the shadow, whom +He greeted kindly: "May the Holy One +Answer thy prayers, O stranger!" Whereupon +The shape stood up with a loud cry, and then, +Clasped in each other's arms, the two gray men +Wept, praising Him whose gracious providence +Made their paths one. But straightway, as the sense +Of his transgression smote him, Nathan tore +Himself away: "O friend beloved, no more +Worthy am I to touch thee, for I came, +Foul from my sins, to tell thee all my shame. +Haply thy prayers, since naught availeth mine, +May purge my soul, and make it white like thine. +Pity me, O Ben Isaac, I have sinned!" + +Awestruck Ben Isaac stood. The desert wind +Blew his long mantle backward, laying bare +The mournful secret of his shirt of hair. +"I too, O friend, if not in act," he said, +"In thought have verily sinned. Hast thou not read, +'Better the eye should see than that desire +Should wander?' Burning with a hidden fire +That tears and prayers quench not, I come to thee +For pity and for help, as thou to me. +Pray for me, O my friend!" But Nathan cried, +"Pray thou for me, Ben Isaac!" + + Side by side +In the low sunshine by the turban stone +They knelt; each made his brother's woe his own, +Forgetting, in the agony and stress +Of pitying love, his claim of selfishness; +Peace, for his friend besought, his own became; +His prayers were answered in another's name; +And, when at last they rose up to embrace, +Each saw God's pardon in his brother's face! + +Long after, when his headstone gathered moss, +Traced on the targum-marge of Onkelos +In Rabbi Nathan's hand these words were read: +"_Hope not the cure of sin till Self is dead; +Forget it in love's service, and the debt +Thou, canst not pay the angels shall forget; +Heaven's gate is shut to him who comes alone; +Save thou a soul, and it shall save thy own!_" +1868. + + + + +NOREMBEGA. + +Norembega, or Norimbegue, is the name given by early French fishermen +and explorers to a fabulous country south of Cape Breton, first +discovered by Verrazzani in 1524. It was supposed to have a magnificent +city of the same name on a great river, probably the Penobscot. The site +of this barbaric city is laid down on a map published at Antwerp in +1570. In 1604 Champlain sailed in search of the Northern Eldorado, +twenty-two leagues up the Penobscot from the Isle Haute. He supposed the +river to be that of Norembega, but wisely came to the conclusion that +those travellers who told of the great city had never seen it. He saw no +evidences of anything like civilization, but mentions the finding of a +cross, very old and mossy, in the woods. + +THE winding way the serpent takes +The mystic water took, +From where, to count its beaded lakes, +The forest sped its brook. + +A narrow space 'twixt shore and shore, +For sun or stars to fall, +While evermore, behind, before, +Closed in the forest wall. + +The dim wood hiding underneath +Wan flowers without a name; +Life tangled with decay and death, +League after league the same. + +Unbroken over swamp and hill +The rounding shadow lay, +Save where the river cut at will +A pathway to the day. + +Beside that track of air and light, +Weak as a child unweaned, +At shut of day a Christian knight +Upon his henchman leaned. + +The embers of the sunset's fires +Along the clouds burned down; +"I see," he said, "the domes and spires +Of Norembega town." + +"Alack! the domes, O master mine, +Are golden clouds on high; +Yon spire is but the branchless pine +That cuts the evening sky." + +"Oh, hush and hark! What sounds are these +But chants and holy hymns?" +"Thou hear'st the breeze that stirs the trees +Though all their leafy limbs." + +"Is it a chapel bell that fills +The air with its low tone?" +"Thou hear'st the tinkle of the rills, +The insect's vesper drone." + +"The Christ be praised!--He sets for me +A blessed cross in sight!" +"Now, nay, 't is but yon blasted tree +With two gaunt arms outright!" + +"Be it wind so sad or tree so stark, +It mattereth not, my knave; +Methinks to funeral hymns I hark, +The cross is for my grave! + +"My life is sped; I shall not see +My home-set sails again; +The sweetest eyes of Normandie +Shall watch for me in vain. + +"Yet onward still to ear and eye +The baffling marvel calls; +I fain would look before I die +On Norembega's walls. + +"So, haply, it shall be thy part +At Christian feet to lay +The mystery of the desert's heart +My dead hand plucked away. + +"Leave me an hour of rest; go thou +And look from yonder heights; +Perchance the valley even now +Is starred with city lights." + +The henchman climbed the nearest hill, +He saw nor tower nor town, +But, through the drear woods, lone and still, +The river rolling down. + +He heard the stealthy feet of things +Whose shapes he could not see, +A flutter as of evil wings, +The fall of a dead tree. + +The pines stood black against the moon, +A sword of fire beyond; +He heard the wolf howl, and the loon +Laugh from his reedy pond. + +He turned him back: "O master dear, +We are but men misled; +And thou hast sought a city here +To find a grave instead." + +"As God shall will! what matters where +A true man's cross may stand, +So Heaven be o'er it here as there +In pleasant Norman land? + +"These woods, perchance, no secret hide +Of lordly tower and hall; +Yon river in its wanderings wide +Has washed no city wall; + +"Yet mirrored in the sullen stream +The holy stars are given +Is Norembega, then, a dream +Whose waking is in Heaven? + +"No builded wonder of these lands +My weary eyes shall see; +A city never made with hands +Alone awaiteth me-- + +"'_Urbs Syon mystica_;' I see +Its mansions passing fair, +'_Condita caelo_;' let me be, +Dear Lord, a dweller there!" + +Above the dying exile hung +The vision of the bard, +As faltered on his failing tongue +The song of good Bernard. + +The henchman dug at dawn a grave +Beneath the hemlocks brown, +And to the desert's keeping gave +The lord of fief and town. + +Years after, when the Sieur Champlain +Sailed up the unknown stream, +And Norembega proved again +A shadow and a dream, + +He found the Norman's nameless grave +Within the hemlock's shade, +And, stretching wide its arms to save, +The sign that God had made, + +The cross-boughed tree that marked the spot +And made it holy ground +He needs the earthly city not +Who hath the heavenly found. +1869. + + + + +MIRIAM. + +TO FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD. + +THE years are many since, in youth and hope, +Under the Charter Oak, our horoscope +We drew thick-studded with all favoring stars. +Now, with gray beards, and faces seamed with scars +From life's hard battle, meeting once again, +We smile, half sadly, over dreams so vain; +Knowing, at last, that it is not in man +Who walketh to direct his steps, or plan +His permanent house of life. Alike we loved +The muses' haunts, and all our fancies moved +To measures of old song. How since that day +Our feet have parted from the path that lay +So fair before us! Rich, from lifelong search +Of truth, within thy Academic porch +Thou sittest now, lord of a realm of fact, +Thy servitors the sciences exact; +Still listening with thy hand on Nature's keys, +To hear the Samian's spheral harmonies +And rhythm of law. I called from dream and song, +Thank God! so early to a strife so long, +That, ere it closed, the black, abundant hair +Of boyhood rested silver-sown and spare +On manhood's temples, now at sunset-chime +Tread with fond feet the path of morning time. +And if perchance too late I linger where +The flowers have ceased to blow, and trees are bare, +Thou, wiser in thy choice, wilt scarcely blame +The friend who shields his folly with thy name. +AMESBURY, 10th mo., 1870. + + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . + +One Sabbath day my friend and I +After the meeting, quietly +Passed from the crowded village lanes, +White with dry dust for lack of rains, +And climbed the neighboring slope, with feet +Slackened and heavy from the heat, +Although the day was wellnigh done, +And the low angle of the sun +Along the naked hillside cast +Our shadows as of giants vast. +We reached, at length, the topmost swell, +Whence, either way, the green turf fell +In terraces of nature down +To fruit-hung orchards, and the town +With white, pretenceless houses, tall +Church-steeples, and, o'ershadowing all, +Huge mills whose windows had the look +Of eager eyes that ill could brook +The Sabbath rest. We traced the track +Of the sea-seeking river back, +Glistening for miles above its mouth, +Through the long valley to the south, +And, looking eastward, cool to view, +Stretched the illimitable blue +Of ocean, from its curved coast-line; +Sombred and still, the warm sunshine +Filled with pale gold-dust all the reach +Of slumberous woods from hill to beach,-- +Slanted on walls of thronged retreats +From city toil and dusty streets, +On grassy bluff, and dune of sand, +And rocky islands miles from land; +Touched the far-glancing sails, and showed +White lines of foam where long waves flowed +Dumb in the distance. In the north, +Dim through their misty hair, looked forth +The space-dwarfed mountains to the sea, +From mystery to mystery! + +So, sitting on that green hill-slope, +We talked of human life, its hope +And fear, and unsolved doubts, and what +It might have been, and yet was not. +And, when at last the evening air +Grew sweeter for the bells of prayer +Ringing in steeples far below, +We watched the people churchward go, +Each to his place, as if thereon +The true shekinah only shone; +And my friend queried how it came +To pass that they who owned the same +Great Master still could not agree +To worship Him in company. +Then, broadening in his thought, he ran +Over the whole vast field of man,-- +The varying forms of faith and creed +That somehow served the holders' need; +In which, unquestioned, undenied, +Uncounted millions lived and died; +The bibles of the ancient folk, +Through which the heart of nations spoke; +The old moralities which lent +To home its sweetness and content, +And rendered possible to bear +The life of peoples everywhere +And asked if we, who boast of light, +Claim not a too exclusive right +To truths which must for all be meant, +Like rain and sunshine freely sent. +In bondage to the letter still, +We give it power to cramp and kill,-- +To tax God's fulness with a scheme +Narrower than Peter's house-top dream, +His wisdom and his love with plans +Poor and inadequate as man's. +It must be that He witnesses +Somehow to all men that He is +That something of His saving grace +Reaches the lowest of the race, +Who, through strange creed and rite, may draw +The hints of a diviner law. +We walk in clearer light;--but then, +Is He not God?--are they not men? +Are His responsibilities +For us alone and not for these? + +And I made answer: "Truth is one; +And, in all lands beneath the sun, +Whoso hath eyes to see may see +The tokens of its unity. +No scroll of creed its fulness wraps, +We trace it not by school-boy maps, +Free as the sun and air it is +Of latitudes and boundaries. +In Vedic verse, in dull Koran, +Are messages of good to man; +The angels to our Aryan sires +Talked by the earliest household fires; +The prophets of the elder day, +The slant-eyed sages of Cathay, +Read not the riddle all amiss +Of higher life evolved from this. + +"Nor doth it lessen what He taught, +Or make the gospel Jesus brought +Less precious, that His lips retold +Some portion of that truth of old; +Denying not the proven seers, +The tested wisdom of the years; +Confirming with his own impress +The common law of righteousness. +We search the world for truth; we cull +The good, the pure, the beautiful, +From graven stone and written scroll, +From all old flower-fields of the soul; +And, weary seekers of the best, +We come back laden from our quest, +To find that all the sages said +Is in the Book our mothers read, +And all our treasure of old thought +In His harmonious fulness wrought +Who gathers in one sheaf complete +The scattered blades of God's sown wheat, +The common growth that maketh good +His all-embracing Fatherhood. + +"Wherever through the ages rise +The altars of self-sacrifice, +Where love its arms has opened wide, +Or man for man has calmly died, +I see the same white wings outspread +That hovered o'er the Master's head! +Up from undated time they come, +The martyr souls of heathendom, +And to His cross and passion bring +Their fellowship of suffering. +I trace His presence in the blind +Pathetic gropings of my kind,-- +In prayers from sin and sorrow wrung, +In cradle-hymns of life they sung, +Each, in its measure, but a part +Of the unmeasured Over-Heart; +And with a stronger faith confess +The greater that it owns the less. +Good cause it is for thankfulness +That the world-blessing of His life +With the long past is not at strife; +That the great marvel of His death +To the one order witnesseth, +No doubt of changeless goodness wakes, +No link of cause and sequence breaks, +But, one with nature, rooted is +In the eternal verities; +Whereby, while differing in degree +As finite from infinity, +The pain and loss for others borne, +Love's crown of suffering meekly worn, +The life man giveth for his friend +Become vicarious in the end; +Their healing place in nature take, +And make life sweeter for their sake. + +"So welcome I from every source +The tokens of that primal Force, +Older than heaven itself, yet new +As the young heart it reaches to, +Beneath whose steady impulse rolls +The tidal wave of human souls; +Guide, comforter, and inward word, +The eternal spirit of the Lord +Nor fear I aught that science brings +From searching through material things; +Content to let its glasses prove, +Not by the letter's oldness move, +The myriad worlds on worlds that course +The spaces of the universe; +Since everywhere the Spirit walks +The garden of the heart, and talks +With man, as under Eden's trees, +In all his varied languages. +Why mourn above some hopeless flaw +In the stone tables of the law, +When scripture every day afresh +Is traced on tablets of the flesh? +By inward sense, by outward signs, +God's presence still the heart divines; +Through deepest joy of Him we learn, +In sorest grief to Him we turn, +And reason stoops its pride to share +The child-like instinct of a prayer." + +And then, as is my wont, I told +A story of the days of old, +Not found in printed books,--in sooth, +A fancy, with slight hint of truth, +Showing how differing faiths agree +In one sweet law of charity. +Meanwhile the sky had golden grown, +Our faces in its glory shone; +But shadows down the valley swept, +And gray below the ocean slept, +As time and space I wandered o'er +To tread the Mogul's marble floor, +And see a fairer sunset fall +On Jumna's wave and Agra's wall. + +The good Shah Akbar (peace be his alway!) +Came forth from the Divan at close of day +Bowed with the burden of his many cares, +Worn with the hearing of unnumbered prayers,-- +Wild cries for justice, the importunate +Appeals of greed and jealousy and hate, +And all the strife of sect and creed and rite, +Santon and Gouroo waging holy fight +For the wise monarch, claiming not to be +Allah's avenger, left his people free, +With a faint hope, his Book scarce justified, +That all the paths of faith, though severed wide, +O'er which the feet of prayerful reverence passed, +Met at the gate of Paradise at last. + +He sought an alcove of his cool hareem, +Where, far beneath, he heard the Jumna's stream +Lapse soft and low along his palace wall, +And all about the cool sound of the fall +Of fountains, and of water circling free +Through marble ducts along the balcony; +The voice of women in the distance sweet, +And, sweeter still, of one who, at his feet, +Soothed his tired ear with songs of a far land +Where Tagus shatters on the salt sea-sand +The mirror of its cork-grown hills of drouth +And vales of vine, at Lisbon's harbor-mouth. + +The date-palms rustled not; the peepul laid +Its topmost boughs against the balustrade, +Motionless as the mimic leaves and vines +That, light and graceful as the shawl-designs +Of Delhi or Umritsir, twined in stone; +And the tired monarch, who aside had thrown +The day's hard burden, sat from care apart, +And let the quiet steal into his heart +From the still hour. Below him Agra slept, +By the long light of sunset overswept +The river flowing through a level land, +By mango-groves and banks of yellow sand, +Skirted with lime and orange, gay kiosks, +Fountains at play, tall minarets of mosques, +Fair pleasure-gardens, with their flowering trees +Relieved against the mournful cypresses; +And, air-poised lightly as the blown sea-foam, +The marble wonder of some holy dome +Hung a white moonrise over the still wood, +Glassing its beauty in a stiller flood. + +Silent the monarch gazed, until the night +Swift-falling hid the city from his sight; +Then to the woman at his feet he said +"Tell me, O Miriam, something thou hast read +In childhood of the Master of thy faith, +Whom Islam also owns. Our Prophet saith +'He was a true apostle, yea, a Word +And Spirit sent before me from the Lord.' +Thus the Book witnesseth; and well I know +By what thou art, O dearest, it is so. +As the lute's tone the maker's hand betrays, +The sweet disciple speaks her Master's praise." + +Then Miriam, glad of heart, (for in some sort +She cherished in the Moslem's liberal court +The sweet traditions of a Christian child; +And, through her life of sense, the undefiled +And chaste ideal of the sinless One +Gazed on her with an eye she might not shun,-- +The sad, reproachful look of pity, born +Of love that hath no part in wrath or scorn,) +Began, with low voice and moist eyes, to tell +Of the all-loving Christ, and what befell +When the fierce zealots, thirsting for her blood, +Dragged to his feet a shame of womanhood. +How, when his searching answer pierced within +Each heart, and touched the secret of its sin, +And her accusers fled his face before, +He bade the poor one go and sin no more. +And Akbar said, after a moment's thought, +"Wise is the lesson by thy prophet taught; +Woe unto him who judges and forgets +What hidden evil his own heart besets! +Something of this large charity I find +In all the sects that sever human kind; +I would to Allah that their lives agreed +More nearly with the lesson of their creed! +Those yellow Lamas who at Meerut pray +By wind and water power, and love to say +'He who forgiveth not shall, unforgiven, +Fail of the rest of Buddha,' and who even +Spare the black gnat that stings them, vex my ears +With the poor hates and jealousies and fears +Nursed in their human hives. That lean, fierce priest +Of thy own people, (be his heart increased +By Allah's love!) his black robes smelling yet +Of Goa's roasted Jews, have I not met +Meek-faced, barefooted, crying in the street +The saying of his prophet true and sweet,-- +'He who is merciful shall mercy meet!'" + +But, next day, so it chanced, as night began +To fall, a murmur through the hareem ran +That one, recalling in her dusky face +The full-lipped, mild-eyed beauty of a race +Known as the blameless Ethiops of Greek song, +Plotting to do her royal master wrong, +Watching, reproachful of the lingering light, +The evening shadows deepen for her flight, +Love-guided, to her home in a far land, +Now waited death at the great Shah's command. +Shapely as that dark princess for whose smile +A world was bartered, daughter of the Nile +Herself, and veiling in her large, soft eyes +The passion and the languor of her skies, +The Abyssinian knelt low at the feet +Of her stern lord: "O king, if it be meet, +And for thy honor's sake," she said, "that I, +Who am the humblest of thy slaves, should die, +I will not tax thy mercy to forgive. +Easier it is to die than to outlive +All that life gave me,--him whose wrong of thee +Was but the outcome of his love for me, +Cherished from childhood, when, beneath the shade +Of templed Axum, side by side we played. +Stolen from his arms, my lover followed me +Through weary seasons over land and sea; +And two days since, sitting disconsolate +Within the shadow of the hareem gate, +Suddenly, as if dropping from the sky, +Down from the lattice of the balcony +Fell the sweet song by Tigre's cowherds sung +In the old music of his native tongue. +He knew my voice, for love is quick of ear, +Answering in song. + + This night he waited near +To fly with me. The fault was mine alone +He knew thee not, he did but seek his own; +Who, in the very shadow of thy throne, +Sharing thy bounty, knowing all thou art, +Greatest and best of men, and in her heart +Grateful to tears for favor undeserved, +Turned ever homeward, nor one moment swerved +From her young love. He looked into my eyes, +He heard my voice, and could not otherwise +Than he hath done; yet, save one wild embrace +When first we stood together face to face, +And all that fate had done since last we met +Seemed but a dream that left us children yet, +He hath not wronged thee nor thy royal bed; +Spare him, O king! and slay me in his stead!" + +But over Akbar's brows the frown hung black, +And, turning to the eunuch at his back, +"Take them," he said, "and let the Jumna's waves +Hide both my shame and these accursed slaves!" +His loathly length the unsexed bondman bowed +"On my head be it!" + + Straightway from a cloud +Of dainty shawls and veils of woven mist +The Christian Miriam rose, and, stooping, kissed +The monarch's hand. Loose down her shoulders bare +Swept all the rippled darkness of her hair, +Veiling the bosom that, with high, quick swell +Of fear and pity, through it rose and fell. + +"Alas!" she cried, "hast thou forgotten quite +The words of Him we spake of yesternight? +Or thy own prophet's, 'Whoso doth endure +And pardon, of eternal life is sure'? +O great and good! be thy revenge alone +Felt in thy mercy to the erring shown; +Let thwarted love and youth their pardon plead, +Who sinned but in intent, and not in deed!" + +One moment the strong frame of Akbar shook +With the great storm of passion. Then his look +Softened to her uplifted face, that still +Pleaded more strongly than all words, until +Its pride and anger seemed like overblown, +Spent clouds of thunder left to tell alone +Of strife and overcoming. With bowed head, +And smiting on his bosom: "God," he said, +"Alone is great, and let His holy name +Be honored, even to His servant's shame! +Well spake thy prophet, Miriam,--he alone +Who hath not sinned is meet to cast a stone +At such as these, who here their doom await, +Held like myself in the strong grasp of fate. +They sinned through love, as I through love forgive; +Take them beyond my realm, but let them live!" + +And, like a chorus to the words of grace, +The ancient Fakir, sitting in his place, +Motionless as an idol and as grim, +In the pavilion Akbar built for him +Under the court-yard trees, (for he was wise, +Knew Menu's laws, and through his close-shut eyes +Saw things far off, and as an open book +Into the thoughts of other men could look,) +Began, half chant, half howling, to rehearse +The fragment of a holy Vedic verse; +And thus it ran: "He who all things forgives +Conquers himself and all things else, and lives +Above the reach of wrong or hate or fear, +Calm as the gods, to whom he is most dear." + +Two leagues from Agra still the traveller sees +The tomb of Akbar through its cypress-trees; +And, near at hand, the marble walls that hide +The Christian Begum sleeping at his side. +And o'er her vault of burial (who shall tell +If it be chance alone or miracle?) +The Mission press with tireless hand unrolls +The words of Jesus on its lettered scrolls,-- +Tells, in all tongues, the tale of mercy o'er, +And bids the guilty, "Go and sin no more!" + + . . . . . . . . . . . + +It now was dew-fall; very still +The night lay on the lonely hill, +Down which our homeward steps we bent, +And, silent, through great silence went, +Save that the tireless crickets played +Their long, monotonous serenade. +A young moon, at its narrowest, +Curved sharp against the darkening west; +And, momently, the beacon's star, +Slow wheeling o'er its rock afar, +From out the level darkness shot +One instant and again was not. +And then my friend spake quietly +The thought of both: "Yon crescent see! +Like Islam's symbol-moon it gives +Hints of the light whereby it lives +Somewhat of goodness, something true +From sun and spirit shining through +All faiths, all worlds, as through the dark +Of ocean shines the lighthouse spark, +Attests the presence everywhere +Of love and providential care. +The faith the old Norse heart confessed +In one dear name,--the hopefulest +And tenderest heard from mortal lips +In pangs of birth or death, from ships +Ice-bitten in the winter sea, +Or lisped beside a mother's knee,-- +The wiser world hath not outgrown, +And the All-Father is our own!" + + + + +NAUHAUGHT, THE DEACON. + +NAUHAUGHT, the Indian deacon, who of old +Dwelt, poor but blameless, where his narrowing Cape +Stretches its shrunk arm out to all the winds +And the relentless smiting of the waves, +Awoke one morning from a pleasant dream +Of a good angel dropping in his hand +A fair, broad gold-piece, in the name of God. + +He rose and went forth with the early day +Far inland, where the voices of the waves +Mellowed and Mingled with the whispering leaves, +As, through the tangle of the low, thick woods, +He searched his traps. Therein nor beast nor bird +He found; though meanwhile in the reedy pools +The otter plashed, and underneath the pines +The partridge drummed: and as his thoughts went back +To the sick wife and little child at home, +What marvel that the poor man felt his faith +Too weak to bear its burden,--like a rope +That, strand by strand uncoiling, breaks above +The hand that grasps it. "Even now, O Lord! +Send me," he prayed, "the angel of my dream! +Nauhaught is very poor; he cannot wait." + +Even as he spake he heard at his bare feet +A low, metallic clink, and, looking down, +He saw a dainty purse with disks of gold +Crowding its silken net. Awhile he held +The treasure up before his eyes, alone +With his great need, feeling the wondrous coins +Slide through his eager fingers, one by one. +So then the dream was true. The angel brought +One broad piece only; should he take all these? +Who would be wiser, in the blind, dumb woods? +The loser, doubtless rich, would scarcely miss +This dropped crumb from a table always full. +Still, while he mused, he seemed to hear the cry +Of a starved child; the sick face of his wife +Tempted him. Heart and flesh in fierce revolt +Urged the wild license of his savage youth +Against his later scruples. Bitter toil, +Prayer, fasting, dread of blame, and pitiless eyes +To watch his halting,--had he lost for these +The freedom of the woods;--the hunting-grounds +Of happy spirits for a walled-in heaven +Of everlasting psalms? One healed the sick +Very far off thousands of moons ago +Had he not prayed him night and day to come +And cure his bed-bound wife? Was there a hell? +Were all his fathers' people writhing there-- +Like the poor shell-fish set to boil alive-- +Forever, dying never? If he kept +This gold, so needed, would the dreadful God +Torment him like a Mohawk's captive stuck +With slow-consuming splinters? Would the saints +And the white angels dance and laugh to see him +Burn like a pitch-pine torch? His Christian garb +Seemed falling from him; with the fear and shame +Of Adam naked at the cool of day, +He gazed around. A black snake lay in coil +On the hot sand, a crow with sidelong eye +Watched from a dead bough. All his Indian lore +Of evil blending with a convert's faith +In the supernal terrors of the Book, +He saw the Tempter in the coiling snake +And ominous, black-winged bird; and all the while +The low rebuking of the distant waves +Stole in upon him like the voice of God +Among the trees of Eden. Girding up +His soul's loins with a resolute hand, he thrust +The base thought from him: "Nauhaught, be a man +Starve, if need be; but, while you live, look out +From honest eyes on all men, unashamed. +God help me! I am deacon of the church, +A baptized, praying Indian! Should I do +This secret meanness, even the barken knots +Of the old trees would turn to eyes to see it, +The birds would tell of it, and all the leaves +Whisper above me: 'Nauhaught is a thief!' +The sun would know it, and the stars that hide +Behind his light would watch me, and at night +Follow me with their sharp, accusing eyes. +Yea, thou, God, seest me!" Then Nauhaught drew +Closer his belt of leather, dulling thus +The pain of hunger, and walked bravely back +To the brown fishing-hamlet by the sea; +And, pausing at the inn-door, cheerily asked +"Who hath lost aught to-day?" +"I," said a voice; +"Ten golden pieces, in a silken purse, +My daughter's handiwork." He looked, and to +One stood before him in a coat of frieze, +And the glazed hat of a seafaring man, +Shrewd-faced, broad-shouldered, with no trace of wings. +Marvelling, he dropped within the stranger's hand +The silken web, and turned to go his way. +But the man said: "A tithe at least is yours; +Take it in God's name as an honest man." +And as the deacon's dusky fingers closed +Over the golden gift, "Yea, in God's name +I take it, with a poor man's thanks," he said. +So down the street that, like a river of sand, +Ran, white in sunshine, to the summer sea, +He sought his home singing and praising God; +And when his neighbors in their careless way +Spoke of the owner of the silken purse-- +A Wellfleet skipper, known in every port +That the Cape opens in its sandy wall-- +He answered, with a wise smile, to himself +"I saw the angel where they see a man." +1870. + + + +THE SISTERS. + +ANNIE and Rhoda, sisters twain, +Woke in the night to the sound of rain, + +The rush of wind, the ramp and roar +Of great waves climbing a rocky shore. + +Annie rose up in her bed-gown white, +And looked out into the storm and night. + +"Hush, and hearken!" she cried in fear, +"Hearest thou nothing, sister dear?" + +"I hear the sea, and the plash of rain, +And roar of the northeast hurricane. + +"Get thee back to the bed so warm, +No good comes of watching a storm. + +"What is it to thee, I fain would know, +That waves are roaring and wild winds blow? + +"No lover of thine's afloat to miss +The harbor-lights on a night like this." + +"But I heard a voice cry out my name, +Up from the sea on the wind it came. + +"Twice and thrice have I heard it call, +And the voice is the voice of Estwick Hall!" + +On her pillow the sister tossed her head. +"Hall of the Heron is safe," she said. + +"In the tautest schooner that ever swam +He rides at anchor in Anisquam. + +"And, if in peril from swamping sea +Or lee shore rocks, would he call on thee?" + +But the girl heard only the wind and tide, +And wringing her small white hands she cried, + +"O sister Rhoda, there's something wrong; +I hear it again, so loud and long. + +"'Annie! Annie!' I hear it call, +And the voice is the voice of Estwick Hall!" + +Up sprang the elder, with eyes aflame, +"Thou liest! He never would call thy name! + +"If he did, I would pray the wind and sea +To keep him forever from thee and me!" + +Then out of the sea blew a dreadful blast; +Like the cry of a dying man it passed. + +The young girl hushed on her lips a groan, +But through her tears a strange light shone,-- + +The solemn joy of her heart's release +To own and cherish its love in peace. + +"Dearest!" she whispered, under breath, +"Life was a lie, but true is death. + +"The love I hid from myself away +Shall crown me now in the light of day. + +"My ears shall never to wooer list, +Never by lover my lips be kissed. + +"Sacred to thee am I henceforth, +Thou in heaven and I on earth!" + +She came and stood by her sister's bed +"Hall of the Heron is dead!" she said. + +"The wind and the waves their work have done, +We shall see him no more beneath the sun. + +"Little will reek that heart of thine, +It loved him not with a love like mine. + +"I, for his sake, were he but here, +Could hem and 'broider thy bridal gear, + +"Though hands should tremble and eyes be wet, +And stitch for stitch in my heart be set. + +"But now my soul with his soul I wed; +Thine the living, and mine the dead!" +1871. + + + + +MARGUERITE. + +MASSACHUSETTS BAY, 1760. + +Upwards of one thousand of the Acadian peasants forcibly taken from +their homes on the Gaspereau and Basin of Minas were assigned to the +several towns of the Massachusetts colony, the children being bound by +the authorities to service or labor. + +THE robins sang in the orchard, the buds into +blossoms grew; +Little of human sorrow the buds and the robins +knew! +Sick, in an alien household, the poor French +neutral lay; +Into her lonesome garret fell the light of the April +day, +Through the dusty window, curtained by the spider's +warp and woof, +On the loose-laid floor of hemlock, on oaken ribs +of roof, +The bedquilt's faded patchwork, the teacups on the +stand, +The wheel with flaxen tangle, as it dropped from +her sick hand. + +What to her was the song of the robin, or warm +morning light, +As she lay in the trance of the dying, heedless of +sound or sight? + +Done was the work of her bands, she had eaten her +bitter bread; +The world of the alien people lay behind her dim +and dead. + +But her soul went back to its child-time; she saw +the sun o'erflow +With gold the Basin of Minas, and set over +Gaspereau; + +The low, bare flats at ebb-tide, the rush of the sea +at flood, +Through inlet and creek and river, from dike to +upland wood; + +The gulls in the red of morning, the fish-hawk's +rise and fall, +The drift of the fog in moonshine, over the dark +coast-wall. + +She saw the face of her mother, she heard the song +she sang; +And far off, faintly, slowly, the bell for vespers +rang. + +By her bed the hard-faced mistress sat, smoothing +the wrinkled sheet, +Peering into the face, so helpless, and feeling the +ice-cold feet. + +With a vague remorse atoning for her greed and +long abuse, +By care no longer heeded and pity too late for use. + +Up the stairs of the garret softly the son of the +mistress stepped, +Leaned over the head-board, covering his face with +his hands, and wept. + +Outspake the mother, who watched him sharply, +with brow a-frown +"What! love you the Papist, the beggar, the +charge of the town?" + +Be she Papist or beggar who lies here, I know +and God knows +I love her, and fain would go with her wherever +she goes! + +"O mother! that sweet face came pleading, for +love so athirst. +You saw but the town-charge; I knew her God's +angel at first." + +Shaking her gray head, the mistress hushed down +a bitter cry; +And awed by the silence and shadow of death +drawing nigh, + +She murmured a psalm of the Bible; but closer +the young girl pressed, +With the last of her life in her fingers, the cross +to her breast. + +"My son, come away," cried the mother, her voice +cruel grown. +"She is joined to her idols, like Ephraim; let her +alone!" + +But he knelt with his hand on her forehead, his +lips to her ear, +And he called back the soul that was passing +"Marguerite, do you hear?" + +She paused on the threshold of Heaven; love, pity, +surprise, +Wistful, tender, lit up for an instant the cloud of +her eyes. + +With his heart on his lips he kissed her, but never +her cheek grew red, +And the words the living long for he spake in the +ear of the dead. + +And the robins sang in the orchard, where buds to +blossoms grew; +Of the folded hands and the still face never the +robins knew! +1871. + + + + +THE ROBIN. +MY old Welsh neighbor over the way +Crept slowly out in the sun of spring, +Pushed from her ears the locks of gray, +And listened to hear the robin sing. + +Her grandson, playing at marbles, stopped, +And, cruel in sport as boys will be, +Tossed a stone at the bird, who hopped +From bough to bough in the apple-tree. + +"Nay!" said the grandmother; "have you not heard, +My poor, bad boy! of the fiery pit, +And how, drop by drop, this merciful bird +Carries the water that quenches it? + +"He brings cool dew in his little bill, +And lets it fall on the souls of sin +You can see the mark on his red breast still +Of fires that scorch as he drops it in. + +"My poor Bron rhuddyn! my breast-burned bird, +Singing so sweetly from limb to limb, +Very dear to the heart of Our Lord +Is he who pities the lost like Him!" + +"Amen!" I said to the beautiful myth; +"Sing, bird of God, in my heart as well: +Each good thought is a drop wherewith +To cool and lessen the fires of hell. + +"Prayers of love like rain-drops fall, +Tears of pity are cooling dew, +And dear to the heart of Our Lord are all +Who suffer like Him in the good they do!" +1871. + + + + +THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM. + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE. + +THE beginning of German emigration to America may be traced to the +personal influence of William Penn, who in 1677 visited the Continent, +and made the acquaintance of an intelligent and highly cultivated circle +of Pietists, or Mystics, who, reviving in the seventeenth century the +spiritual faith and worship of Tauler and the "Friends of God" in the +fourteenth, gathered about the pastor Spener, and the young and +beautiful Eleonora Johanna Von Merlau. In this circle originated the +Frankfort Land Company, which bought of William Penn, the Governor of +Pennsylvania, a tract of land near the new city of Philadelphia. The +company's agent in the New World was a rising young lawyer, Francis +Daniel Pastorius, son of Judge Pastorius, of Windsheim, who, at the age +of seventeen, entered the University of Altorf. He studied law at, +Strasburg, Basle, and Jena, and at Ratisbon, the seat of the Imperial +Government, obtained a practical knowledge of international polity. +Successful in all his examinations and disputations, he received the +degree of Doctor of Law at Nuremberg in 1676. In 1679 he was a +law-lecturer at Frankfort, where he became deeply interested in the +teachings of Dr. Spener. In 1680-81 he travelled in France, England, +Ireland, and Italy with his friend Herr Von Rodeck. "I was," he says, +"glad to enjoy again the company of my Christian friends, rather than be +with Von Rodeck feasting and dancing." In 1683, in company with a small +number of German Friends, he emigrated to America, settling upon the +Frankfort Company's tract between the Schuylkill and the Delaware +rivers. The township was divided into four hamlets, namely, Germantown, +Krisheim, Crefield, and Sommerhausen. Soon after his arrival he united +himself with the Society of Friends, and became one of its most able and +devoted members, as well as the recognized head and lawgiver of the +settlement. He married, two years after his arrival, Anneke (Anna), +daughter of Dr. Klosterman, of Muhlheim. In the year 1688 he drew up a +memorial against slaveholding, which was adopted by the Germantown +Friends and sent up to the Monthly Meeting, and thence to the Yearly +Meeting at Philadelphia. It is noteworthy as the first protest made by +a religious body against Negro Slavery. The original document was +discovered in 1844 by the Philadelphia antiquarian, Nathan Kite, and +published in The Friend (Vol. XVIII. No. 16). It is a bold and direct +appeal to the best instincts of the heart. "Have not," he asks, "these +negroes as much right to fight for their freedom as you have to keep +them slaves?" Under the wise direction of Pastorius, the German-town +settlement grew and prospered. The inhabitants planted orchards and +vineyards, and surrounded themselves with souvenirs of their old home. +A large number of them were linen-weavers, as well as small farmers. +The Quakers were the principal sect, but men of all religions were +tolerated, and lived together in harmony. In 1692 Richard Frame +published, in what he called verse, a Description of Pennsylvania, in +which he alludes to the settlement:-- + + "The German town of which I spoke before, + Which is at least in length one mile or more, + Where lives High German people and Low Dutch, + Whose trade in weaving linen cloth is much, + --There grows the flax, as also you may know + That from the same they do divide the tow. + Their trade suits well their habitation, + We find convenience for their occupation." + +Pastorius seems to have been on intimate terms with William Penn, Thomas +Lloyd, Chief Justice Logan, Thomas Story, and other leading men in the +Province belonging to his own religious society, as also with Kelpius, +the learned Mystic of the Wissahickon, with the pastor of the Swedes' +church, and the leaders of the Mennonites. He wrote a description of +Pennsylvania, which was published at Frankfort and Leipsic in 1700 and +1701. His Lives of the Saints, etc., written in German and dedicated to +Professor Schurmberg, his old teacher, was published in 1690. He left +behind him many unpublished manuscripts covering a very wide range of +subjects, most of which are now lost. One huge manuscript folio, +entitled Hive Beestock, Melliotropheum Alucar, or Rusca Apium, still +remains, containing one thousand pages with about one hundred lines to a +page. It is a medley of knowledge and fancy, history, philosophy, and +poetry, written in seven languages. A large portion of his poetry is +devoted to the pleasures of gardening, the description of flowers, and +the care of bees. The following specimen of his punning Latin is +addressed to an orchard-pilferer:-- + + "Quisquis in haec furtim reptas viridaria nostra + Tangere fallaci poma caveto mane, + Si non obsequeris faxit Deus omne quod opto, + Cum malis nostris ut mala cuncta feras." + +Professor Oswald Seidensticker, to whose papers in Der Deutsche Pioneer +and that able periodical the Penn Monthly, of Philadelphia, I am +indebted for many of the foregoing facts in regard to the German +pilgrims of the New World, thus closes his notice of Pastorius:-- +"No tombstone, not even a record of burial, indicates where his remains +have found their last resting-place, and the pardonable desire to +associate the homage due to this distinguished man with some visible +memento can not be gratified. There is no reason to suppose that he was +interred in any other place than the Friends' old burying-ground in +Germantown, though the fact is not attested by any definite source of +information. After all, this obliteration of the last trace of his +earthly existence is but typical of what has overtaken the times which +he represents; that Germantown which he founded, which saw him live and +move, is at present but a quaint idyl of the past, almost a myth, barely +remembered and little cared for by the keener race that has succeeded. +The Pilgrims of Plymouth have not lacked historian and poet. Justice has +been done to their faith, courage, and self-sacrifice, and to the mighty +influence of their endeavors to establish righteousness on the earth. +The Quaker pilgrims of Pennsylvania, seeking the same object by +different means, have not been equally fortunate. The power of their +testimony for truth and holiness, peace and freedom, enforced only by +what Milton calls "the unresistible might of meekness," has been felt +through two centuries in the amelioration of penal severities, the +abolition of slavery, the reform of the erring, the relief of the poor +and suffering,--felt, in brief, in every step of human progress. But of +the men themselves, with the single exception of William Penn, scarcely +anything is known. Contrasted, from the outset, with the stern, +aggressive Puritans of New England, they have come to be regarded as +"a feeble folk," with a personality as doubtful as their unrecorded +graves. They were not soldiers, like Miles Standish; they had no figure +so picturesque as Vane, no leader so rashly brave and haughty as +Endicott. No Cotton Mather wrote their Magnalia; they had no awful drama +of supernaturalism in which Satan and his angels were actors; and the +only witch mentioned in their simple annals was a poor old Swedish +woman, who, on complaint of her countrywomen, was tried and acquitted +of everything but imbecility and folly. Nothing but common-place offices +of civility came to pass between them and the Indians; indeed, their +enemies taunted them with the fact that the savages did not regard them +as Christians, but just such men as themselves. Yet it must be apparent +to every careful observer of the progress of American civilization that +its two principal currents had their sources in the entirely opposite +directions of the Puritan and Quaker colonies. To use the words of a +late writer: [1] "The historical forces, with which no others may be +compared in their influence on the people, have been those of the +Puritan and the Quaker. The strength of the one was in the confession of +an invisible Presence, a righteous, eternal Will, which would establish +righteousness on earth; and thence arose the conviction of a direct +personal responsibility, which could be tempted by no external splendor +and could be shaken by no internal agitation, and could not be evaded or +transferred. The strength of the other was the witness in the human +spirit to an eternal Word, an Inner Voice which spoke to each alone, +while yet it spoke to every man; a Light which each was to follow, and +which yet was the light of the world; and all other voices were silent +before this, and the solitary path whither it led was more sacred than +the worn ways of cathedral-aisles." It will be sufficiently apparent to +the reader that, in the poem which follows, I have attempted nothing +beyond a study of the life and times of the Pennsylvania colonist,--a +simple picture of a noteworthy man and his locality. The colors of my +sketch are all very sober, toned down to the quiet and dreamy atmosphere +through which its subject is visible. Whether, in the glare and tumult +of the present time, such a picture will find favor may well be +questioned. I only know that it has beguiled for me some hours of +weariness, and that, whatever may be its measure of public appreciation, +it has been to me its own reward." + J. G. W. +AMESBURY, 5th mo., 1872. + + +HAIL to posterity! +Hail, future men of Germanopolis! +Let the young generations yet to be +Look kindly upon this. +Think how your fathers left their native land,-- +Dear German-land! O sacred hearths and homes!-- + +And, where the wild beast roams, +In patience planned +New forest-homes beyond the mighty sea, +There undisturbed and free +To live as brothers of one family. +What pains and cares befell, +What trials and what fears, +Remember, and wherein we have done well +Follow our footsteps, men of coming years! +Where we have failed to do +Aright, or wisely live, +Be warned by us, the better way pursue, +And, knowing we were human, even as you, +Pity us and forgive! +Farewell, Posterity! +Farewell, dear Germany +Forevermore farewell! + +[From the Latin of Francis DANIEL PASTORIUS in +the Germantown Records. 1688.] + + + + +PRELUDE. +I SING the Pilgrim of a softer clime +And milder speech than those brave men's who brought +To the ice and iron of our winter time +A will as firm, a creed as stern, and wrought +With one mailed hand, and with the other fought. +Simply, as fits my theme, in homely rhyme +I sing the blue-eyed German Spener taught, +Through whose veiled, mystic faith the Inward Light, +Steady and still, an easy brightness, shone, +Transfiguring all things in its radiance white. +The garland which his meekness never sought +I bring him; over fields of harvest sown +With seeds of blessing, now to ripeness grown, +I bid the sower pass before the reapers' sight. + + . . . . . . . . . . + +Never in tenderer quiet lapsed the day +From Pennsylvania's vales of spring away, +Where, forest-walled, the scattered hamlets lay + +Along the wedded rivers. One long bar +Of purple cloud, on which the evening star +Shone like a jewel on a scimitar, + +Held the sky's golden gateway. Through the deep +Hush of the woods a murmur seemed to creep, +The Schuylkill whispering in a voice of sleep. + +All else was still. The oxen from their ploughs +Rested at last, and from their long day's browse +Came the dun files of Krisheim's home-bound cows. + +And the young city, round whose virgin zone +The rivers like two mighty arms were thrown, +Marked by the smoke of evening fires alone, + +Lay in the distance, lovely even then +With its fair women and its stately men +Gracing the forest court of William Penn, + +Urban yet sylvan; in its rough-hewn frames +Of oak and pine the dryads held their claims, +And lent its streets their pleasant woodland names. + +Anna Pastorius down the leafy lane +Looked city-ward, then stooped to prune again +Her vines and simples, with a sigh of pain. + +For fast the streaks of ruddy sunset paled +In the oak clearing, and, as daylight failed, +Slow, overhead, the dusky night-birds sailed. + +Again she looked: between green walls of shade, +With low-bent head as if with sorrow weighed, +Daniel Pastorius slowly came and said, + +"God's peace be with thee, Anna!" Then he stood +Silent before her, wrestling with the mood +Of one who sees the evil and not good. + +"What is it, my Pastorius?" As she spoke, +A slow, faint smile across his features broke, +Sadder than tears. "Dear heart," he said, "our folk + +"Are even as others. Yea, our goodliest Friends +Are frail; our elders have their selfish ends, +And few dare trust the Lord to make amends + +"For duty's loss. So even our feeble word +For the dumb slaves the startled meeting heard +As if a stone its quiet waters stirred; + +"And, as the clerk ceased reading, there began +A ripple of dissent which downward ran +In widening circles, as from man to man. + +"Somewhat was said of running before sent, +Of tender fear that some their guide outwent, +Troublers of Israel. I was scarce intent + +"On hearing, for behind the reverend row +Of gallery Friends, in dumb and piteous show, +I saw, methought, dark faces full of woe. + +"And, in the spirit, I was taken where +They toiled and suffered; I was made aware +Of shame and wrath and anguish and despair! + +"And while the meeting smothered our poor plea +With cautious phrase, a Voice there seemed to be, +As ye have done to these ye do to me!' + +"So it all passed; and the old tithe went on +Of anise, mint, and cumin, till the sun +Set, leaving still the weightier work undone. + +"Help, for the good man faileth! Who is strong, +If these be weak? Who shall rebuke the wrong, +If these consent? How long, O Lord! how long!" + +He ceased; and, bound in spirit with the bound, +With folded arms, and eyes that sought the ground, +Walked musingly his little garden round. + +About him, beaded with the falling dew, +Rare plants of power and herbs of healing grew, +Such as Van Helmont and Agrippa knew. + +For, by the lore of Gorlitz' gentle sage, +With the mild mystics of his dreamy age +He read the herbal signs of nature's page, + +As once he heard in sweet Von Merlau's' bowers +Fair as herself, in boyhood's happy hours, +The pious Spener read his creed in flowers. + +"The dear Lord give us patience!" said his wife, +Touching with finger-tip an aloe, rife +With leaves sharp-pointed like an Aztec knife + +Or Carib spear, a gift to William Penn +From the rare gardens of John Evelyn, +Brought from the Spanish Main by merchantmen. + +"See this strange plant its steady purpose hold, +And, year by year, its patient leaves unfold, +Till the young eyes that watched it first are old. + +"But some time, thou hast told me, there shall come +A sudden beauty, brightness, and perfume, +The century-moulded bud shall burst in bloom. + +"So may the seed which hath been sown to-day +Grow with the years, and, after long delay, +Break into bloom, and God's eternal Yea! + +"Answer at last the patient prayers of them +Who now, by faith alone, behold its stem +Crowned with the flowers of Freedom's diadem. + +"Meanwhile, to feel and suffer, work and wait, +Remains for us. The wrong indeed is great, +But love and patience conquer soon or late." + +"Well hast thou said, my Anna!" Tenderer +Than youth's caress upon the head of her +Pastorius laid his hand. "Shall we demur + +"Because the vision tarrieth? In an hour +We dream not of, the slow-grown bud may flower, +And what was sown in weakness rise in power!" + +Then through the vine-draped door whose legend read, +"Procul este profani!" Anna led +To where their child upon his little bed + +Looked up and smiled. "Dear heart," she said, "if we +Must bearers of a heavy burden be, +Our boy, God willing, yet the day shall see + +"When from the gallery to the farthest seat, +Slave and slave-owner shall no longer meet, +But all sit equal at the Master's feet." + +On the stone hearth the blazing walnut block +Set the low walls a-glimmer, showed the cock +Rebuking Peter on the Van Wyck clock, + +Shone on old tomes of law and physic, side +By side with Fox and Belimen, played at hide +And seek with Anna, midst her household pride + +Of flaxen webs, and on the table, bare +Of costly cloth or silver cup, but where, +Tasting the fat shads of the Delaware, + +The courtly Penn had praised the goodwife's cheer, +And quoted Horace o'er her home brewed beer, +Till even grave Pastorius smiled to hear. + +In such a home, beside the Schuylkill's wave, +He dwelt in peace with God and man, and gave +Food to the poor and shelter to the slave. + +For all too soon the New World's scandal shamed +The righteous code by Penn and Sidney framed, +And men withheld the human rights they claimed. + +And slowly wealth and station sanction lent, +And hardened avarice, on its gains intent, +Stifled the inward whisper of dissent. + +Yet all the while the burden rested sore +On tender hearts. At last Pastorius bore +Their warning message to the Church's door + +In God's name; and the leaven of the word +Wrought ever after in the souls who heard, +And a dead conscience in its grave-clothes stirred + +To troubled life, and urged the vain excuse +Of Hebrew custom, patriarchal use, +Good in itself if evil in abuse. + +Gravely Pastorius listened, not the less +Discerning through the decent fig-leaf dress +Of the poor plea its shame of selfishness. + +One Scripture rule, at least, was unforgot; +He hid the outcast, and betrayed him not; +And, when his prey the human hunter sought, + +He scrupled not, while Anna's wise delay +And proffered cheer prolonged the master's stay, +To speed the black guest safely on his way. + +Yet, who shall guess his bitter grief who lends +His life to some great cause, and finds his friends +Shame or betray it for their private ends? + +How felt the Master when his chosen strove +In childish folly for their seats above; +And that fond mother, blinded by her love, + +Besought him that her sons, beside his throne, +Might sit on either hand? Amidst his own +A stranger oft, companionless and lone, + +God's priest and prophet stands. The martyr's pain +Is not alone from scourge and cell and chain; +Sharper the pang when, shouting in his train, + +His weak disciples by their lives deny +The loud hosannas of their daily cry, +And make their echo of his truth a lie. + +His forest home no hermit's cell he found, +Guests, motley-minded, drew his hearth around, +And held armed truce upon its neutral ground. + +There Indian chiefs with battle-bows unstrung, +Strong, hero-limbed, like those whom Homer sung, +Pastorius fancied, when the world was young, + +Came with their tawny women, lithe and tall, +Like bronzes in his friend Von Rodeck's hall, +Comely, if black, and not unpleasing all. + +There hungry folk in homespun drab and gray +Drew round his board on Monthly Meeting day, +Genial, half merry in their friendly way. + +Or, haply, pilgrims from the Fatherland, +Weak, timid, homesick, slow to understand +The New World's promise, sought his helping hand. + +Or painful Kelpius [13] from his hermit den +By Wissahickon, maddest of good men, +Dreamed o'er the Chiliast dreams of Petersen. + +Deep in the woods, where the small river slid +Snake-like in shade, the Helmstadt Mystic hid, +Weird as a wizard, over arts forbid, + +Reading the books of Daniel and of John, +And Behmen's Morning-Redness, through the Stone +Of Wisdom, vouchsafed to his eyes alone, + +Whereby he read what man ne'er read before, +And saw the visions man shall see no more, +Till the great angel, striding sea and shore, + +Shall bid all flesh await, on land or ships, +The warning trump of the Apocalypse, +Shattering the heavens before the dread eclipse. + +Or meek-eyed Mennonist his bearded chin +Leaned o'er the gate; or Ranter, pure within, +Aired his perfection in a world of sin. + +Or, talking of old home scenes, Op der Graaf +Teased the low back-log with his shodden staff, +Till the red embers broke into a laugh + +And dance of flame, as if they fain would cheer +The rugged face, half tender, half austere, +Touched with the pathos of a homesick tear! + +Or Sluyter, [14] saintly familist, whose word +As law the Brethren of the Manor heard, +Announced the speedy terrors of the Lord, + +And turned, like Lot at Sodom, from his race, +Above a wrecked world with complacent face +Riding secure upon his plank of grace! + +Haply, from Finland's birchen groves exiled, +Manly in thought, in simple ways a child, +His white hair floating round his visage mild, + +The Swedish pastor sought the Quaker's door, +Pleased from his neighbor's lips to hear once more +His long-disused and half-forgotten lore. + +For both could baffle Babel's lingual curse, +And speak in Bion's Doric, and rehearse +Cleanthes' hymn or Virgil's sounding verse. + +And oft Pastorius and the meek old man +Argued as Quaker and as Lutheran, +Ending in Christian love, as they began. + +With lettered Lloyd on pleasant morns he strayed +Where Sommerhausen over vales of shade +Looked miles away, by every flower delayed, + +Or song of bird, happy and free with one +Who loved, like him, to let his memory run +Over old fields of learning, and to sun + +Himself in Plato's wise philosophies, +And dream with Philo over mysteries +Whereof the dreamer never finds the keys; + +To touch all themes of thought, nor weakly stop +For doubt of truth, but let the buckets drop +Deep down and bring the hidden waters up [15] + +For there was freedom in that wakening time +Of tender souls; to differ was not crime; +The varying bells made up the perfect chime. + +On lips unlike was laid the altar's coal, +The white, clear light, tradition-colored, stole +Through the stained oriel of each human soul. + +Gathered from many sects, the Quaker brought +His old beliefs, adjusting to the thought +That moved his soul the creed his fathers taught. + +One faith alone, so broad that all mankind +Within themselves its secret witness find, +The soul's communion with the Eternal Mind, + +The Spirit's law, the Inward Rule and Guide, +Scholar and peasant, lord and serf, allied, +The polished Penn and Cromwell's Ironside. + +As still in Hemskerck's Quaker Meeting, [16] face +By face in Flemish detail, we may trace +How loose-mouthed boor and fine ancestral grace + +Sat in close contrast,--the clipt-headed churl, +Broad market-dame, and simple serving-girl +By skirt of silk and periwig in curl + +For soul touched soul; the spiritual treasure-trove +Made all men equal, none could rise above +Nor sink below that level of God's love. + +So, with his rustic neighbors sitting down, +The homespun frock beside the scholar's gown, +Pastorius to the manners of the town + +Added the freedom of the woods, and sought +The bookless wisdom by experience taught, +And learned to love his new-found home, while not + +Forgetful of the old; the seasons went +Their rounds, and somewhat to his spirit lent +Of their own calm and measureless content. + +Glad even to tears, he heard the robin sing +His song of welcome to the Western spring, +And bluebird borrowing from the sky his wing. + +And when the miracle of autumn came, +And all the woods with many-colored flame +Of splendor, making summer's greenness tame, + +Burned, unconsumed, a voice without a sound +Spake to him from each kindled bush around, +And made the strange, new landscape holy ground + +And when the bitter north-wind, keen and swift, +Swept the white street and piled the dooryard drift, +He exercised, as Friends might say, his gift + +Of verse, Dutch, English, Latin, like the hash +Of corn and beans in Indian succotash; +Dull, doubtless, but with here and there a flash + +Of wit and fine conceit,--the good man's play +Of quiet fancies, meet to while away +The slow hours measuring off an idle day. + +At evening, while his wife put on her look +Of love's endurance, from its niche he took +The written pages of his ponderous book. + +And read, in half the languages of man, +His "Rusca Apium," which with bees began, +And through the gamut of creation ran. + +Or, now and then, the missive of some friend +In gray Altorf or storied Nurnberg penned +Dropped in upon him like a guest to spend + +The night beneath his roof-tree. Mystical +The fair Von Merlau spake as waters fall +And voices sound in dreams, and yet withal + +Human and sweet, as if each far, low tone, +Over the roses of her gardens blown +Brought the warm sense of beauty all her own. + +Wise Spener questioned what his friend could trace +Of spiritual influx or of saving grace +In the wild natures of the Indian race. + +And learned Schurmberg, fain, at times, to look +From Talmud, Koran, Veds, and Pentateuch, +Sought out his pupil in his far-off nook, + +To query with him of climatic change, +Of bird, beast, reptile, in his forest range, +Of flowers and fruits and simples new and strange. + +And thus the Old and New World reached their hands +Across the water, and the friendly lands +Talked with each other from their severed strands. + +Pastorius answered all: while seed and root +Sent from his new home grew to flower and fruit +Along the Rhine and at the Spessart's foot; + +And, in return, the flowers his boyhood knew +Smiled at his door, the same in form and hue, +And on his vines the Rhenish clusters grew. + +No idler he; whoever else might shirk, +He set his hand to every honest work,-- +Farmer and teacher, court and meeting clerk. + +Still on the town seal his device is found, +Grapes, flax, and thread-spool on a trefoil ground, +With "Vinum, Linum et Textrinum" wound. + +One house sufficed for gospel and for law, +Where Paul and Grotius, Scripture text and saw, +Assured the good, and held the rest in awe. + +Whatever legal maze he wandered through, +He kept the Sermon on the Mount in view, +And justice always into mercy grew. + +No whipping-post he needed, stocks, nor jail, +Nor ducking-stool; the orchard-thief grew pale +At his rebuke, the vixen ceased to rail, + +The usurer's grasp released the forfeit land; +The slanderer faltered at the witness-stand, +And all men took his counsel for command. + +Was it caressing air, the brooding love +Of tenderer skies than German land knew of, +Green calm below, blue quietness above, + +Still flow of water, deep repose of wood +That, with a sense of loving Fatherhood +And childlike trust in the Eternal Good, + +Softened all hearts, and dulled the edge of hate, +Hushed strife, and taught impatient zeal to wait +The slow assurance of the better state? + +Who knows what goadings in their sterner way +O'er jagged ice, relieved by granite gray, +Blew round the men of Massachusetts Bay? + +What hate of heresy the east-wind woke? +What hints of pitiless power and terror spoke +In waves that on their iron coast-line broke? + +Be it as it may: within the Land of Penn +The sectary yielded to the citizen, +And peaceful dwelt the many-creeded men. + +Peace brooded over all. No trumpet stung +The air to madness, and no steeple flung +Alarums down from bells at midnight rung. + +The land slept well. The Indian from his face +Washed all his war-paint off, and in the place +Of battle-marches sped the peaceful chase, + +Or wrought for wages at the white man's side,-- +Giving to kindness what his native pride +And lazy freedom to all else denied. + +And well the curious scholar loved the old +Traditions that his swarthy neighbors told +By wigwam-fires when nights were growing cold, + +Discerned the fact round which their fancy drew +Its dreams, and held their childish faith more true +To God and man than half the creeds he knew. + +The desert blossomed round him; wheat-fields rolled +Beneath the warm wind waves of green and gold; +The planted ear returned its hundred-fold. + +Great clusters ripened in a warmer sun +Than that which by the Rhine stream shines upon +The purpling hillsides with low vines o'errun. + +About each rustic porch the humming-bird +Tried with light bill, that scarce a petal stirred, +The Old World flowers to virgin soil transferred; + +And the first-fruits of pear and apple, bending +The young boughs down, their gold and russet blending, +Made glad his heart, familiar odors lending + +To the fresh fragrance of the birch and pine, +Life-everlasting, bay, and eglantine, +And all the subtle scents the woods combine. + +Fair First-Day mornings, steeped in summer calm, +Warm, tender, restful, sweet with woodland balm, +Came to him, like some mother-hallowed psalm + +To the tired grinder at the noisy wheel +Of labor, winding off from memory's reel +A golden thread of music. With no peal + +Of bells to call them to the house of praise, +The scattered settlers through green forest-ways +Walked meeting-ward. In reverent amaze + +The Indian trapper saw them, from the dim +Shade of the alders on the rivulet's rim, +Seek the Great Spirit's house to talk with Him. + +There, through the gathered stillness multiplied +And made intense by sympathy, outside +The sparrows sang, and the gold-robin cried, + +A-swing upon his elm. A faint perfume +Breathed through the open windows of the room +From locust-trees, heavy with clustered bloom. + +Thither, perchance, sore-tried confessors came, +Whose fervor jail nor pillory could tame, +Proud of the cropped ears meant to be their shame, + +Men who had eaten slavery's bitter bread +In Indian isles; pale women who had bled +Under the hangman's lash, and bravely said + +God's message through their prison's iron bars; +And gray old soldier-converts, seamed with scars +From every stricken field of England's wars. + +Lowly before the Unseen Presence knelt +Each waiting heart, till haply some one felt +On his moved lips the seal of silence melt. + +Or, without spoken words, low breathings stole +Of a diviner life from soul to soul, +Baptizing in one tender thought the whole. + +When shaken hands announced the meeting o'er, +The friendly group still lingered at the door, +Greeting, inquiring, sharing all the store + +Of weekly tidings. Meanwhile youth and maid +Down the green vistas of the woodland strayed, +Whispered and smiled and oft their feet delayed. + +Did the boy's whistle answer back the thrushes? +Did light girl laughter ripple through the bushes, +As brooks make merry over roots and rushes? + +Unvexed the sweet air seemed. Without a wound +The ear of silence heard, and every sound +Its place in nature's fine accordance found. + +And solemn meeting, summer sky and wood, +Old kindly faces, youth and maidenhood +Seemed, like God's new creation, very good! + +And, greeting all with quiet smile and word, +Pastorius went his way. The unscared bird +Sang at his side; scarcely the squirrel stirred + +At his hushed footstep on the mossy sod; +And, wheresoe'er the good man looked or trod, +He felt the peace of nature and of God. + +His social life wore no ascetic form, +He loved all beauty, without fear of harm, +And in his veins his Teuton blood ran warm. + +Strict to himself, of other men no spy, +He made his own no circuit-judge to try +The freer conscience of his neighbors by. + +With love rebuking, by his life alone, +Gracious and sweet, the better way was shown, +The joy of one, who, seeking not his own, + +And faithful to all scruples, finds at last +The thorns and shards of duty overpast, +And daily life, beyond his hope's forecast, + +Pleasant and beautiful with sight and sound, +And flowers upspringing in its narrow round, +And all his days with quiet gladness crowned. + +He sang not; but, if sometimes tempted strong, +He hummed what seemed like Altorf's Burschen-song; +His good wife smiled, and did not count it wrong. + +For well he loved his boyhood's brother band; +His Memory, while he trod the New World's strand, +A double-ganger walked the Fatherland + +If, when on frosty Christmas eves the light +Shone on his quiet hearth, he missed the sight +Of Yule-log, Tree, and Christ-child all in white; + +And closed his eyes, and listened to the sweet +Old wait-songs sounding down his native street, +And watched again the dancers' mingling feet; + +Yet not the less, when once the vision passed, +He held the plain and sober maxims fast +Of the dear Friends with whom his lot was cast. + +Still all attuned to nature's melodies, +He loved the bird's song in his dooryard trees, +And the low hum of home-returning bees; + +The blossomed flax, the tulip-trees in bloom +Down the long street, the beauty and perfume +Of apple-boughs, the mingling light and gloom + +Of Sommerhausen's woodlands, woven through +With sun--threads; and the music the wind drew, +Mournful and sweet, from leaves it overblew. + +And evermore, beneath this outward sense, +And through the common sequence of events, +He felt the guiding hand of Providence + +Reach out of space. A Voice spake in his ear, +And to all other voices far and near +Died at that whisper, full of meanings clear. + +The Light of Life shone round him; one by one +The wandering lights, that all-misleading run, +Went out like candles paling in the sun. + +That Light he followed, step by step, where'er +It led, as in the vision of the seer +The wheels moved as the spirit in the clear + +And terrible crystal moved, with all their eyes +Watching the living splendor sink or rise, +Its will their will, knowing no otherwise. + +Within himself he found the law of right, +He walked by faith and not the letter's sight, +And read his Bible by the Inward Light. + +And if sometimes the slaves of form and rule, +Frozen in their creeds like fish in winter's pool, +Tried the large tolerance of his liberal school, + +His door was free to men of every name, +He welcomed all the seeking souls who came, +And no man's faith he made a cause of blame. + +But best he loved in leisure hours to see +His own dear Friends sit by him knee to knee, +In social converse, genial, frank, and free. + +There sometimes silence (it were hard to tell +Who owned it first) upon the circle fell, +Hushed Anna's busy wheel, and laid its spell + +On the black boy who grimaced by the hearth, +To solemnize his shining face of mirth; +Only the old clock ticked amidst the dearth + +Of sound; nor eye was raised nor hand was stirred +In that soul-sabbath, till at last some word +Of tender counsel or low prayer was heard. + +Then guests, who lingered but farewell to say +And take love's message, went their homeward way; +So passed in peace the guileless Quaker's day. + +His was the Christian's unsung Age of Gold, +A truer idyl than the bards have told +Of Arno's banks or Arcady of old. + +Where still the Friends their place of burial keep, +And century-rooted mosses o'er it creep, +The Nurnberg scholar and his helpmeet sleep. + +And Anna's aloe? If it flowered at last +In Bartram's garden, did John Woolman cast +A glance upon it as he meekly passed? + +And did a secret sympathy possess +That tender soul, and for the slave's redress +Lend hope, strength, patience? It were vain to +guess. + +Nay, were the plant itself but mythical, +Set in the fresco of tradition's wall +Like Jotham's bramble, mattereth not at all. + +Enough to know that, through the winter's frost +And summer's heat, no seed of truth is lost, +And every duty pays at last its cost. + +For, ere Pastorius left the sun and air, +God sent the answer to his life-long prayer; +The child was born beside the Delaware, + +Who, in the power a holy purpose lends, +Guided his people unto nobler ends, +And left them worthier of the name of Friends. + +And to! the fulness of the time has come, +And over all the exile's Western home, +From sea to sea the flowers of freedom bloom! + +And joy-bells ring, and silver trumpets blow; +But not for thee, Pastorius! Even so +The world forgets, but the wise angels know. + + + + +KING VOLMER AND ELSIE. +AFTER THE DANISH OF CHRISTIAN WINTER. + +WHERE, over heathen doom-rings and gray stones +of the Horg, +In its little Christian city stands the church of +Vordingborg, +In merry mood King Volmer sat, forgetful of his +power, +As idle as the Goose of Gold that brooded on his +tower. + +Out spake the King to Henrik, his young and faithful +squire +"Dar'st trust thy little Elsie, the maid of thy +desire?" +"Of all the men in Denmark she loveth only me +As true to me is Elsie as thy Lily is to thee." + +Loud laughed the king: "To-morrow shall bring +another day, [18] +When I myself will test her; she will not say me +nay." +Thereat the lords and gallants, that round about +him stood, +Wagged all their heads in concert and smiled as +courtiers should. + +The gray lark sings o'er Vordingborg, and on the +ancient town +From the tall tower of Valdemar the Golden Goose +looks down; +The yellow grain is waving in the pleasant wind of +morn, +The wood resounds with cry of hounds and blare +of hunter's horn. + +In the garden of her father little Elsie sits and +spins, +And, singing with the early birds, her daily task, +begins. +Gay tulips bloom and sweet mint curls around her +garden-bower, +But she is sweeter than the mint and fairer than +the flower. + +About her form her kirtle blue clings lovingly, and, +white +As snow, her loose sleeves only leave her small, +round wrists in sight; +Below, the modest petticoat can only half conceal +The motion of the lightest foot that ever turned a +wheel. + +The cat sits purring at her side, bees hum in +sunshine warm; +But, look! she starts, she lifts her face, she shades +it with her arm. +And, hark! a train of horsemen, with sound of +dog and horn, +Come leaping o'er the ditches, come trampling +down the corn! + +Merrily rang the bridle-reins, and scarf and plume +streamed gay, +As fast beside her father's gate the riders held +their way; +And one was brave in scarlet cloak, with golden +spur on heel, +And, as he checked his foaming steed, the maiden +checked her wheel. + +"All hail among thy roses, the fairest rose to me! +For weary months in secret my heart has longed for +thee!" +What noble knight was this? What words for +modest maiden's ear? +She dropped a lowly courtesy of bashfulness and +fear. + +She lifted up her spinning-wheel; she fain would +seek the door, +Trembling in every limb, her cheek with blushes +crimsoned o'er. +"Nay, fear me not," the rider said, "I offer heart +and hand, +Bear witness these good Danish knights who round +about me stand. + +"I grant you time to think of this, to answer as +you may, +For to-morrow, little Elsie, shall bring another day." +He spake the old phrase slyly as, glancing round +his train, +He saw his merry followers seek to hide their +smiles in vain. + +"The snow of pearls I'll scatter in your curls of +golden hair, +I'll line with furs the velvet of the kirtle that you +wear; +All precious gems shall twine your neck; and in +a chariot gay +You shall ride, my little Elsie, behind four steeds +of gray. + +"And harps shall sound, and flutes shall play, and +brazen lamps shall glow; +On marble floors your feet shall weave the dances +to and fro. +At frosty eventide for us the blazing hearth shall +shine, +While, at our ease, we play at draughts, and drink +the blood-red wine." + +Then Elsie raised her head and met her wooer face +to face; +A roguish smile shone in her eye and on her lip +found place. +Back from her low white forehead the curls of +gold she threw, +And lifted up her eyes to his, steady and clear and +blue. + +"I am a lowly peasant, and you a gallant knight; +I will not trust a love that soon may cool and turn +to slight. +If you would wed me henceforth be a peasant, not +a lord; +I bid you hang upon the wall your tried and trusty +sword." + +"To please you, Elsie, I will lay keen Dynadel +away, +And in its place will swing the scythe and mow +your father's hay." +"Nay, but your gallant scarlet cloak my eyes can +never bear; +A Vadmal coat, so plain and gray, is all that you +must wear." + +"Well, Vadmal will I wear for you," the rider +gayly spoke, +"And on the Lord's high altar I'll lay my scarlet +cloak." +"But mark," she said, "no stately horse my peasant +love must ride, +A yoke of steers before the plough is all that he +must guide." + +The knight looked down upon his steed: "Well, +let him wander free +No other man must ride the horse that has been +backed by me. +Henceforth I'll tread the furrow and to my oxen +talk, +If only little Elsie beside my plough will walk." + +"You must take from out your cellar cask of wine +and flask and can; +The homely mead I brew you may serve a peasant. +man." +"Most willingly, fair Elsie, I'll drink that mead +of thine, +And leave my minstrel's thirsty throat to drain +my generous wine." + +"Now break your shield asunder, and shatter sign +and boss, +Unmeet for peasant-wedded arms, your knightly +knee across. +And pull me down your castle from top to basement +wall, +And let your plough trace furrows in the ruins of +your hall!" + +Then smiled he with a lofty pride; right well at +last he knew +The maiden of the spinning-wheel was to her troth. +plight true. +"Ah, roguish little Elsie! you act your part full +well +You know that I must bear my shield and in my +castle dwell! + +"The lions ramping on that shield between the +hearts aflame +Keep watch o'er Denmark's honor, and guard her +ancient name. + +"For know that I am Volmer; I dwell in yonder +towers, +Who ploughs them ploughs up Denmark, this +goodly home of ours'. + +"I tempt no more, fair Elsie! your heart I know +is true; +Would God that all our maidens were good and +pure as you! +Well have you pleased your monarch, and he shall +well repay; +God's peace! Farewell! To-morrow will bring +another day!" + +He lifted up his bridle hand, he spurred his good +steed then, +And like a whirl-blast swept away with all his +gallant men. +The steel hoofs beat the rocky path; again on +winds of morn +The wood resounds with cry of hounds and blare +of hunter's horn. + +"Thou true and ever faithful!" the listening +Henrik cried; +And, leaping o'er the green hedge, he stood by +Elsie's side. +None saw the fond embracing, save, shining from +afar, +The Golden Goose that watched them from the +tower of Valdemar. + +O darling girls of Denmark! of all the flowers +that throng +Her vales of spring the fairest, I sing for you my +song. +No praise as yours so bravely rewards the singer's +skill; +Thank God! of maids like Elsie the land has +plenty still! +1872. + + + + +THE THREE BELLS. + +BENEATH the low-hung night cloud +That raked her splintering mast +The good ship settled slowly, +The cruel leak gained fast. + +Over the awful ocean +Her signal guns pealed out. +Dear God! was that Thy answer +From the horror round about? + +A voice came down the wild wind, +"Ho! ship ahoy!" its cry +"Our stout Three Bells of Glasgow +Shall lay till daylight by!" + +Hour after hour crept slowly, +Yet on the heaving swells +Tossed up and down the ship-lights, +The lights of the Three Bells! + +And ship to ship made signals, +Man answered back to man, +While oft, to cheer and hearten, +The Three Bells nearer ran; + +And the captain from her taffrail +Sent down his hopeful cry +"Take heart! Hold on!" he shouted; +"The Three Bells shall lay by!" + +All night across the waters +The tossing lights shone clear; +All night from reeling taffrail +The Three Bells sent her cheer. + +And when the dreary watches +Of storm and darkness passed, +Just as the wreck lurched under, +All souls were saved at last. + +Sail on, Three Bells, forever, +In grateful memory sail! +Ring on, Three Bells of rescue, +Above the wave and gale! + +Type of the Love eternal, +Repeat the Master's cry, +As tossing through our darkness +The lights of God draw nigh! +1872. + + + + +JOHN UNDERHILL. + +A SCORE of years had come and gone +Since the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth stone, +When Captain Underhill, bearing scars +From Indian ambush and Flemish wars, +Left three-hilled Boston and wandered down, +East by north, to Cocheco town. + +With Vane the younger, in counsel sweet, +He had sat at Anna Hutchinson's feet, +And, when the bolt of banishment fell +On the head of his saintly oracle, +He had shared her ill as her good report, +And braved the wrath of the General Court. + +He shook from his feet as he rode away +The dust of the Massachusetts Bay. +The world might bless and the world might ban, +What did it matter the perfect man, +To whom the freedom of earth was given, +Proof against sin, and sure of heaven? + +He cheered his heart as he rode along +With screed of Scripture and holy song, +Or thought how he rode with his lances free +By the Lower Rhine and the Zuyder-Zee, +Till his wood-path grew to a trodden road, +And Hilton Point in the distance showed. + +He saw the church with the block-house nigh, +The two fair rivers, the flakes thereby, +And, tacking to windward, low and crank, +The little shallop from Strawberry Bank; +And he rose in his stirrups and looked abroad +Over land and water, and praised the Lord. + +Goodly and stately and grave to see, +Into the clearing's space rode he, +With the sun on the hilt of his sword in sheath, +And his silver buckles and spurs beneath, +And the settlers welcomed him, one and all, +From swift Quampeagan to Gonic Fall. + +And he said to the elders: "Lo, I come +As the way seemed open to seek a home. +Somewhat the Lord hath wrought by my hands +In the Narragansett and Netherlands, +And if here ye have work for a Christian man, +I will tarry, and serve ye as best I can. + +"I boast not of gifts, but fain would own +The wonderful favor God hath shown, +The special mercy vouchsafed one day +On the shore of Narragansett Bay, +As I sat, with my pipe, from the camp aside, +And mused like Isaac at eventide. + +"A sudden sweetness of peace I found, +A garment of gladness wrapped me round; +I felt from the law of works released, +The strife of the flesh and spirit ceased, +My faith to a full assurance grew, +And all I had hoped for myself I knew. + +"Now, as God appointeth, I keep my way, +I shall not stumble, I shall not stray; +He hath taken away my fig-leaf dress, +I wear the robe of His righteousness; +And the shafts of Satan no more avail +Than Pequot arrows on Christian mail." + +"Tarry with us," the settlers cried, +"Thou man of God, as our ruler and guide." +And Captain Underhill bowed his head. +"The will of the Lord be done!" he said. +And the morrow beheld him sitting down +In the ruler's seat in Cocheco town. + +And he judged therein as a just man should; +His words were wise and his rule was good; +He coveted not his neighbor's land, +From the holding of bribes he shook his hand; +And through the camps of the heathen ran +A wholesome fear of the valiant man. + +But the heart is deceitful, the good Book saith, +And life hath ever a savor of death. +Through hymns of triumph the tempter calls, +And whoso thinketh he standeth falls. +Alas! ere their round the seasons ran, +There was grief in the soul of the saintly man. + +The tempter's arrows that rarely fail +Had found the joints of his spiritual mail; +And men took note of his gloomy air, +The shame in his eye, the halt in his prayer, +The signs of a battle lost within, +The pain of a soul in the coils of sin. + +Then a whisper of scandal linked his name +With broken vows and a life of blame; +And the people looked askance on him +As he walked among them sullen and grim, +Ill at ease, and bitter of word, +And prompt of quarrel with hand or sword. + +None knew how, with prayer and fasting still, +He strove in the bonds of his evil will; +But he shook himself like Samson at length, +And girded anew his loins of strength, +And bade the crier go up and down +And call together the wondering town. + +Jeer and murmur and shaking of head +Ceased as he rose in his place and said +"Men, brethren, and fathers, well ye know +How I came among you a year ago, +Strong in the faith that my soul was freed +From sin of feeling, or thought, or deed. + +"I have sinned, I own it with grief and shame, +But not with a lie on my lips I came. +In my blindness I verily thought my heart +Swept and garnished in every part. +He chargeth His angels with folly; He sees +The heavens unclean. Was I more than these? + +"I urge no plea. At your feet I lay +The trust you gave me, and go my way. +Hate me or pity me, as you will, +The Lord will have mercy on sinners still; +And I, who am chiefest, say to all, +Watch and pray, lest ye also fall." + +No voice made answer: a sob so low +That only his quickened ear could know +Smote his heart with a bitter pain, +As into the forest he rode again, +And the veil of its oaken leaves shut down +On his latest glimpse of Cocheco town. + +Crystal-clear on the man of sin +The streams flashed up, and the sky shone in; +On his cheek of fever the cool wind blew, +The leaves dropped on him their tears of dew, +And angels of God, in the pure, sweet guise +Of flowers, looked on him with sad surprise. + +Was his ear at fault that brook and breeze +Sang in their saddest of minor keys? +What was it the mournful wood-thrush said? +What whispered the pine-trees overhead? +Did he hear the Voice on his lonely way +That Adam heard in the cool of day? + +Into the desert alone rode he, +Alone with the Infinite Purity; +And, bowing his soul to its tender rebuke, +As Peter did to the Master's look, +He measured his path with prayers of pain +For peace with God and nature again. + +And in after years to Cocheco came +The bruit of a once familiar name; +How among the Dutch of New Netherlands, +From wild Danskamer to Haarlem sands, +A penitent soldier preached the Word, +And smote the heathen with Gideon's sword! + +And the heart of Boston was glad to hear +How he harried the foe on the long frontier, +And heaped on the land against him barred +The coals of his generous watch and ward. +Frailest and bravest! the Bay State still +Counts with her worthies John Underhill. +1873. + + + + +CONDUCTOR BRADLEY. + +A railway conductor who lost his life in an accident on a Connecticut +railway, May 9, 1873. + + +CONDUCTOR BRADLEY, (always may his name +Be said with reverence!) as the swift doom came, +Smitten to death, a crushed and mangled frame, + +Sank, with the brake he grasped just where he stood +To do the utmost that a brave man could, +And die, if needful, as a true man should. + +Men stooped above him; women dropped their tears +On that poor wreck beyond all hopes or fears, +Lost in the strength and glory of his years. + +What heard they? Lo! the ghastly lips of pain, +Dead to all thought save duty's, moved again +"Put out the signals for the other train!" + +No nobler utterance since the world began +From lips of saint or martyr ever ran, +Electric, through the sympathies of man. + +Ah me! how poor and noteless seem to this +The sick-bed dramas of self-consciousness, +Our sensual fears of pain and hopes of bliss! + +Oh, grand, supreme endeavor! Not in vain +That last brave act of failing tongue and brain +Freighted with life the downward rushing train, + +Following the wrecked one, as wave follows wave, +Obeyed the warning which the dead lips gave. +Others he saved, himself he could not save. + +Nay, the lost life was saved. He is not dead +Who in his record still the earth shall tread +With God's clear aureole shining round his head. + +We bow as in the dust, with all our pride +Of virtue dwarfed the noble deed beside. +God give us grace to live as Bradley died! +1873. + + + + +THE WITCH OF WENHAM. + +The house is still standing in Danvers, Mass., where, it is said, a +suspected witch was confined overnight in the attic, which was bolted +fast. In the morning when the constable came to take her to Salem for +trial she was missing, although the door was still bolted. Her escape +was doubtless aided by her friends, but at the time it was attributed +to Satanic interference. + + +I. + +ALONG Crane River's sunny slopes +Blew warm the winds of May, +And over Naumkeag's ancient oaks +The green outgrew the gray. + +The grass was green on Rial-side, +The early birds at will +Waked up the violet in its dell, +The wind-flower on its hill. + +"Where go you, in your Sunday coat, +Son Andrew, tell me, pray." +For striped perch in Wenham Lake +I go to fish to-day." + +"Unharmed of thee in Wenham Lake +The mottled perch shall be +A blue-eyed witch sits on the bank +And weaves her net for thee. + +"She weaves her golden hair; she sings +Her spell-song low and faint; +The wickedest witch in Salem jail +Is to that girl a saint." + +"Nay, mother, hold thy cruel tongue; +God knows," the young man cried, +"He never made a whiter soul +Than hers by Wenham side. + +"She tends her mother sick and blind, +And every want supplies; +To her above the blessed Book +She lends her soft blue eyes. + +"Her voice is glad with holy songs, +Her lips are sweet with prayer; +Go where you will, in ten miles round +Is none more good and fair." + +"Son Andrew, for the love of God +And of thy mother, stay!" +She clasped her hands, she wept aloud, +But Andrew rode away. + +"O reverend sir, my Andrew's soul +The Wenham witch has caught; +She holds him with the curled gold +Whereof her snare is wrought. + +"She charms him with her great blue eyes, +She binds him with her hair; +Oh, break the spell with holy words, +Unbind him with a prayer!" + +"Take heart," the painful preacher said, +"This mischief shall not be; +The witch shall perish in her sins +And Andrew shall go free. + +"Our poor Ann Putnam testifies +She saw her weave a spell, +Bare-armed, loose-haired, at full of moon, +Around a dried-up well. + +"'Spring up, O well!' she softly sang +The Hebrew's old refrain +(For Satan uses Bible words), +Till water flowed a-main. + +"And many a goodwife heard her speak +By Wenham water words +That made the buttercups take wings +And turn to yellow birds. + +"They say that swarming wild bees seek +The hive at her command; +And fishes swim to take their food +From out her dainty hand. + +"Meek as she sits in meeting-time, +The godly minister +Notes well the spell that doth compel +The young men's eyes to her. + +"The mole upon her dimpled chin +Is Satan's seal and sign; +Her lips are red with evil bread +And stain of unblest wine. + +"For Tituba, my Indian, saith +At Quasycung she took +The Black Man's godless sacrament +And signed his dreadful book. + +"Last night my sore-afflicted child +Against the young witch cried. +To take her Marshal Herrick rides +Even now to Wenham side." + +The marshal in his saddle sat, +His daughter at his knee; +"I go to fetch that arrant witch, +Thy fair playmate," quoth he. + +"Her spectre walks the parsonage, +And haunts both hall and stair; +They know her by the great blue eyes +And floating gold of hair." + +"They lie, they lie, my father dear! +No foul old witch is she, +But sweet and good and crystal-pure +As Wenham waters be." + +"I tell thee, child, the Lord hath set +Before us good and ill, +And woe to all whose carnal loves +Oppose His righteous will. + +"Between Him and the powers of hell +Choose thou, my child, to-day +No sparing hand, no pitying eye, +When God commands to slay!" + +He went his way; the old wives shook +With fear as he drew nigh; +The children in the dooryards held +Their breath as he passed by. + +Too well they knew the gaunt gray horse +The grim witch-hunter rode +The pale Apocalyptic beast +By grisly Death bestrode. + + + +II. + +Oh, fair the face of Wenham Lake +Upon the young girl's shone, +Her tender mouth, her dreaming eyes, +Her yellow hair outblown. + +By happy youth and love attuned +To natural harmonies, +The singing birds, the whispering wind, +She sat beneath the trees. + +Sat shaping for her bridal dress +Her mother's wedding gown, +When lo! the marshal, writ in hand, +From Alford hill rode down. + +His face was hard with cruel fear, +He grasped the maiden's hands +"Come with me unto Salem town, +For so the law commands!" + +"Oh, let me to my mother say +Farewell before I go!" +He closer tied her little hands +Unto his saddle bow. + +"Unhand me," cried she piteously, +"For thy sweet daughter's sake." +"I'll keep my daughter safe," he said, +"From the witch of Wenham Lake." + +"Oh, leave me for my mother's sake, +She needs my eyes to see." +"Those eyes, young witch, the crows shall peck +From off the gallows-tree." + +He bore her to a farm-house old, +And up its stairway long, +And closed on her the garret-door +With iron bolted strong. + +The day died out, the night came down +Her evening prayer she said, +While, through the dark, strange faces seemed +To mock her as she prayed. + +The present horror deepened all +The fears her childhood knew; +The awe wherewith the air was filled +With every breath she drew. + +And could it be, she trembling asked, +Some secret thought or sin +Had shut good angels from her heart +And let the bad ones in? + +Had she in some forgotten dream +Let go her hold on Heaven, +And sold herself unwittingly +To spirits unforgiven? + +Oh, weird and still the dark hours passed; +No human sound she heard, +But up and down the chimney stack +The swallows moaned and stirred. + +And o'er her, with a dread surmise +Of evil sight and sound, +The blind bats on their leathern wings +Went wheeling round and round. + +Low hanging in the midnight sky +Looked in a half-faced moon. +Was it a dream, or did she hear +Her lover's whistled tune? + +She forced the oaken scuttle back; +A whisper reached her ear +"Slide down the roof to me," it said, +"So softly none may hear." + +She slid along the sloping roof +Till from its eaves she hung, +And felt the loosened shingles yield +To which her fingers clung. + +Below, her lover stretched his hands +And touched her feet so small; +"Drop down to me, dear heart," he said, +"My arms shall break the fall." + +He set her on his pillion soft, +Her arms about him twined; +And, noiseless as if velvet-shod, +They left the house behind. + +But when they reached the open way, +Full free the rein he cast; +Oh, never through the mirk midnight +Rode man and maid more fast. + +Along the wild wood-paths they sped, +The bridgeless streams they swam; +At set of moon they passed the Bass, +At sunrise Agawam. + +At high noon on the Merrimac +The ancient ferryman +Forgot, at times, his idle oars, +So fair a freight to scan. + +And when from off his grounded boat +He saw them mount and ride, +"God keep her from the evil eye, +And harm of witch!" he cried. + +The maiden laughed, as youth will laugh +At all its fears gone by; +"He does not know," she whispered low, +"A little witch am I." + +All day he urged his weary horse, +And, in the red sundown, +Drew rein before a friendly door +In distant Berwick town. + +A fellow-feeling for the wronged +The Quaker people felt; +And safe beside their kindly hearths +The hunted maiden dwelt, + +Until from off its breast the land +The haunting horror threw, +And hatred, born of ghastly dreams, +To shame and pity grew. + +Sad were the year's spring morns, and sad +Its golden summer day, +But blithe and glad its withered fields, +And skies of ashen gray; + +For spell and charm had power no more, +The spectres ceased to roam, +And scattered households knelt again +Around the hearths of home. + +And when once more by Beaver Dam +The meadow-lark outsang, +And once again on all the hills +The early violets sprang, + +And all the windy pasture slopes +Lay green within the arms +Of creeks that bore the salted sea +To pleasant inland farms, + +The smith filed off the chains he forged, +The jail-bolts backward fell; +And youth and hoary age came forth +Like souls escaped from hell. +1877 + + + + +KING SOLOMON AND THE ANTS + +OUT from Jerusalem +The king rode with his great +War chiefs and lords of state, +And Sheba's queen with them; + +Comely, but black withal, +To whom, perchance, belongs +That wondrous Song of songs, +Sensuous and mystical, + +Whereto devout souls turn +In fond, ecstatic dream, +And through its earth-born theme +The Love of loves discern. + +Proud in the Syrian sun, +In gold and purple sheen, +The dusky Ethiop queen +Smiled on King Solomon. + +Wisest of men, he knew +The languages of all +The creatures great or small +That trod the earth or flew. + +Across an ant-hill led +The king's path, and he heard +Its small folk, and their word +He thus interpreted: + +"Here comes the king men greet +As wise and good and just, +To crush us in the dust +Under his heedless feet." + +The great king bowed his head, +And saw the wide surprise +Of the Queen of Sheba's eyes +As he told her what they said. + +"O king!" she whispered sweet, +"Too happy fate have they +Who perish in thy way +Beneath thy gracious feet! + +"Thou of the God-lent crown, +Shall these vile creatures dare +Murmur against thee where +The knees of kings kneel down?" + +"Nay," Solomon replied, +"The wise and strong should seek +The welfare of the weak," +And turned his horse aside. + +His train, with quick alarm, +Curved with their leader round +The ant-hill's peopled mound, +And left it free from harm. + +The jewelled head bent low; +"O king!" she said, "henceforth +The secret of thy worth +And wisdom well I know. + +"Happy must be the State +Whose ruler heedeth more +The murmurs of the poor +Than flatteries of the great." +1877. + + + + + +IN THE "OLD SOUTH." + +On the 8th of July, 1677, Margaret Brewster with four other Friends +went into the South Church in time of meeting, "in sack-cloth, with +ashes upon her head, barefoot, and her face blackened," and delivered +"a warning from the great God of Heaven and Earth to the Rulers and +Magistrates of Boston." For the offence she was sentenced to be "whipped +at a cart's tail up and down the Town, with twenty lashes." + +SHE came and stood in the Old South Church, +A wonder and a sign, +With a look the old-time sibyls wore, +Half-crazed and half-divine. + +Save the mournful sackcloth about her wound, +Unclothed as the primal mother, +With limbs that trembled and eyes that blazed +With a fire she dare not smother. + +Loose on her shoulders fell her hair, +With sprinkled ashes gray; +She stood in the broad aisle strange and weird +As a soul at the judgment day. + +And the minister paused in his sermon's midst, +And the people held their breath, +For these were the words the maiden spoke +Through lips as the lips of death: + +"Thus saith the Lord, with equal feet +All men my courts shall tread, +And priest and ruler no more shall eat +My people up like bread! + +"Repent! repent! ere the Lord shall speak +In thunder and breaking seals +Let all souls worship Him in the way +His light within reveals." + +She shook the dust from her naked feet, +And her sackcloth closer drew, +And into the porch of the awe-hushed church +She passed like a ghost from view. + +They whipped her away at the tail o' the cart +Through half the streets of the town, +But the words she uttered that day nor fire +Could burn nor water drown. + +And now the aisles of the ancient church +By equal feet are trod, +And the bell that swings in its belfry rings +Freedom to worship God! + +And now whenever a wrong is done +It thrills the conscious walls; +The stone from the basement cries aloud +And the beam from the timber calls. + +There are steeple-houses on every hand, +And pulpits that bless and ban, +And the Lord will not grudge the single church +That is set apart for man. + +For in two commandments are all the law +And the prophets under the sun, +And the first is last and the last is first, +And the twain are verily one. + +So, long as Boston shall Boston be, +And her bay-tides rise and fall, +Shall freedom stand in the Old South Church +And plead for the rights of all! +1877. + + + + +THE HENCHMAN. + +MY lady walks her morning round, +My lady's page her fleet greyhound, +My lady's hair the fond winds stir, +And all the birds make songs for her. + +Her thrushes sing in Rathburn bowers, +And Rathburn side is gay with flowers; +But ne'er like hers, in flower or bird, +Was beauty seen or music heard. + +The distance of the stars is hers; +The least of all her worshippers, +The dust beneath her dainty heel, +She knows not that I see or feel. + +Oh, proud and calm!--she cannot know +Where'er she goes with her I go; +Oh, cold and fair!--she cannot guess +I kneel to share her hound's caress! + +Gay knights beside her hunt and hawk, +I rob their ears of her sweet talk; +Her suitors come from east and west, +I steal her smiles from every guest. + +Unheard of her, in loving words, +I greet her with the song of birds; +I reach her with her green-armed bowers, +I kiss her with the lips of flowers. + +The hound and I are on her trail, +The wind and I uplift her veil; +As if the calm, cold moon she were, +And I the tide, I follow her. + +As unrebuked as they, I share +The license of the sun and air, +And in a common homage hide +My worship from her scorn and pride. + +World-wide apart, and yet so near, +I breathe her charmed atmosphere, +Wherein to her my service brings +The reverence due to holy things. + +Her maiden pride, her haughty name, +My dumb devotion shall not shame; +The love that no return doth crave +To knightly levels lifts the slave, + +No lance have I, in joust or fight, +To splinter in my lady's sight +But, at her feet, how blest were I +For any need of hers to die! +1877. + + + + +THE DEAD FEAST OF THE KOL-FOLK. + +E. B. Tylor in his Primitive Culture, chapter xii., gives an account of +the reverence paid the dead by the Kol tribes of Chota Nagpur, Assam. +"When a Ho or Munda," he says, "has been burned on the funeral pile, +collected morsels of his bones are carried in procession with a solemn, +ghostly, sliding step, keeping time to the deep-sounding drum, and when +the old woman who carries the bones on her bamboo tray lowers it from +time to time, then girls who carry pitchers and brass vessels mournfully +reverse them to show that they are empty; thus the remains are taken to +visit every house in the village, and every dwelling of a friend or +relative for miles, and the inmates come out to mourn and praise the +goodness of the departed; the bones are carried to all the dead man's +favorite haunts, to the fields he cultivated, to the grove he planted, +to the threshing-floor where he worked, to the village dance-room where +he made merry. At last they are taken to the grave, and buried in an +earthen vase upon a store of food, covered with one of those huge stone +slabs which European visitors wonder at in the districts of the +aborigines of India." In the Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, +vol. ix., p. 795, is a Ho dirge. + + +WE have opened the door, +Once, twice, thrice! +We have swept the floor, +We have boiled the rice. +Come hither, come hither! +Come from the far lands, +Come from the star lands, +Come as before! +We lived long together, +We loved one another; +Come back to our life. +Come father, come mother, +Come sister and brother, +Child, husband, and wife, +For you we are sighing. +Come take your old places, +Come look in our faces, +The dead on the dying, +Come home! + +We have opened the door, +Once, twice, thrice! +We have kindled the coals, +And we boil the rice +For the feast of souls. +Come hither, come hither! +Think not we fear you, +Whose hearts are so near you. +Come tenderly thought on, +Come all unforgotten, +Come from the shadow-lands, +From the dim meadow-lands +Where the pale grasses bend +Low to our sighing. +Come father, come mother, +Come sister and brother, +Come husband and friend, +The dead to the dying, +Come home! + +We have opened the door +You entered so oft; +For the feast of souls +We have kindled the coals, +And we boil the rice soft. +Come you who are dearest +To us who are nearest, +Come hither, come hither, +From out the wild weather; +The storm clouds are flying, +The peepul is sighing; +Come in from the rain. +Come father, come mother, +Come sister and brother, +Come husband and lover, +Beneath our roof-cover. +Look on us again, +The dead on the dying, +Come home! + +We have opened the door! +For the feast of souls +We have kindled the coals +We may kindle no more! +Snake, fever, and famine, +The curse of the Brahmin, +The sun and the dew, +They burn us, they bite us, +They waste us and smite us; +Our days are but few +In strange lands far yonder +To wonder and wander +We hasten to you. +List then to our sighing, +While yet we are here +Nor seeing nor hearing, +We wait without fearing, +To feel you draw near. +O dead, to the dying +Come home! +1879. + + + + +THE KHAN'S DEVIL. +THE Khan came from Bokhara town +To Hamza, santon of renown. + +"My head is sick, my hands are weak; +Thy help, O holy man, I seek." + +In silence marking for a space +The Khan's red eyes and purple face, + +Thick voice, and loose, uncertain tread, +"Thou hast a devil!" Hamza said. + +"Allah forbid!" exclaimed the Khan. +Rid me of him at once, O man!" + +"Nay," Hamza said, "no spell of mine +Can slay that cursed thing of thine. + +"Leave feast and wine, go forth and drink +Water of healing on the brink + +"Where clear and cold from mountain snows, +The Nahr el Zeben downward flows. + +"Six moons remain, then come to me; +May Allah's pity go with thee!" + +Awestruck, from feast and wine the Khan +Went forth where Nahr el Zeben ran. + +Roots were his food, the desert dust +His bed, the water quenched his thirst; + +And when the sixth moon's scimetar +Curved sharp above the evening star, + +He sought again the santon's door, +Not weak and trembling as before, + +But strong of limb and clear of brain; +"Behold," he said, "the fiend is slain." + +"Nay," Hamza answered, "starved and drowned, +The curst one lies in death-like swound. + +"But evil breaks the strongest gyves, +And jins like him have charmed lives. + +"One beaker of the juice of grape +May call him up in living shape. + +"When the red wine of Badakshan +Sparkles for thee, beware, O Khan, + +"With water quench the fire within, +And drown each day thy devilkin!" + +Thenceforth the great Khan shunned the cup +As Shitan's own, though offered up, + +With laughing eyes and jewelled hands, +By Yarkand's maids and Samarcand's. + +And, in the lofty vestibule +Of the medress of Kaush Kodul, + +The students of the holy law +A golden-lettered tablet saw, + +With these words, by a cunning hand, +Graved on it at the Khan's command: + +"In Allah's name, to him who hath +A devil, Khan el Hamed saith, + +"Wisely our Prophet cursed the vine +The fiend that loves the breath of wine, + +"No prayer can slay, no marabout +Nor Meccan dervis can drive out. + +"I, Khan el Hamed, know the charm +That robs him of his power to harm. + +"Drown him, O Islam's child! the spell +To save thee lies in tank and well!" +1879. + + + + +THE KING'S MISSIVE. +1661. + +This ballad, originally written for The Memorial History of Boston, +describes, with pardonable poetic license, a memorable incident in the +annals of the city. The interview between Shattuck and the Governor took +place, I have since learned, in the residence of the latter, and not +in the Council Chamber. The publication of the ballad led to some +discussion as to the historical truthfulness of the picture, but I have +seen no reason to rub out any of the figures or alter the lines and +colors. + + +UNDER the great hill sloping bare +To cove and meadow and Common lot, +In his council chamber and oaken chair, +Sat the worshipful Governor Endicott. +A grave, strong man, who knew no peer +In the pilgrim land, where he ruled in fear +Of God, not man, and for good or ill +Held his trust with an iron will. + +He had shorn with his sword the cross from out +The flag, and cloven the May-pole down, +Harried the heathen round about, +And whipped the Quakers from town to town. +Earnest and honest, a man at need +To burn like a torch for his own harsh creed, +He kept with the flaming brand of his zeal +The gate of the holy common weal. + +His brow was clouded, his eye was stern, +With a look of mingled sorrow and wrath; +"Woe's me!" he murmured: "at every turn +The pestilent Quakers are in my path! +Some we have scourged, and banished some, +Some hanged, more doomed, and still they come, +Fast as the tide of yon bay sets in, +Sowing their heresy's seed of sin. + +"Did we count on this? Did we leave behind +The graves of our kin, the comfort and ease +Of our English hearths and homes, to find +Troublers of Israel such as these? +Shall I spare? Shall I pity them? God forbid! +I will do as the prophet to Agag did +They come to poison the wells of the Word, +I will hew them in pieces before the Lord!" + +The door swung open, and Rawson the clerk +Entered, and whispered under breath, +"There waits below for the hangman's work +A fellow banished on pain of death-- +Shattuck, of Salem, unhealed of the whip, +Brought over in Master Goldsmith's ship +At anchor here in a Christian port, +With freight of the devil and all his sort!" + +Twice and thrice on the chamber floor +Striding fiercely from wall to wall, +"The Lord do so to me and more," +The Governor cried, "if I hang not all! +Bring hither the Quaker." Calm, sedate, +With the look of a man at ease with fate, +Into that presence grim and dread +Came Samuel Shattuck, with hat on head. + +"Off with the knave's hat!" An angry hand +Smote down the offence; but the wearer said, +With a quiet smile, "By the king's command +I bear his message and stand in his stead." +In the Governor's hand a missive he laid +With the royal arms on its seal displayed, +And the proud man spake as he gazed thereat, +Uncovering, "Give Mr. Shattuck his hat." + +He turned to the Quaker, bowing low,-- +"The king commandeth your friends' release; +Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although +To his subjects' sorrow and sin's increase. +What he here enjoineth, John Endicott, +His loyal servant, questioneth not. +You are free! God grant the spirit you own +May take you from us to parts unknown." + +So the door of the jail was open cast, +And, like Daniel, out of the lion's den +Tender youth and girlhood passed, +With age-bowed women and gray-locked men. +And the voice of one appointed to die +Was lifted in praise and thanks on high, +And the little maid from New Netherlands +Kissed, in her joy, the doomed man's hands. + +And one, whose call was to minister +To the souls in prison, beside him went, +An ancient woman, bearing with her +The linen shroud for his burial meant. +For she, not counting her own life dear, +In the strength of a love that cast out fear, +Had watched and served where her brethren died, +Like those who waited the cross beside. + +One moment they paused on their way to look +On the martyr graves by the Common side, +And much scourged Wharton of Salem took +His burden of prophecy up and cried +"Rest, souls of the valiant! Not in vain +Have ye borne the Master's cross of pain; +Ye have fought the fight, ye are victors crowned, +With a fourfold chain ye have Satan bound!" + +The autumn haze lay soft and still +On wood and meadow and upland farms; +On the brow of Snow Hill the great windmill +Slowly and lazily swung its arms; +Broad in the sunshine stretched away, +With its capes and islands, the turquoise bay; +And over water and dusk of pines +Blue hills lifted their faint outlines. + +The topaz leaves of the walnut glowed, +The sumach added its crimson fleck, +And double in air and water showed +The tinted maples along the Neck; +Through frost flower clusters of pale star-mist, +And gentian fringes of amethyst, +And royal plumes of golden-rod, +The grazing cattle on Centry trod. + +But as they who see not, the Quakers saw +The world about them; they only thought +With deep thanksgiving and pious awe +On the great deliverance God had wrought. +Through lane and alley the gazing town +Noisily followed them up and down; +Some with scoffing and brutal jeer, +Some with pity and words of cheer. + +One brave voice rose above the din. +Upsall, gray with his length of days, +Cried from the door of his Red Lion Inn +"Men of Boston, give God the praise +No more shall innocent blood call down +The bolts of wrath on your guilty town. +The freedom of worship, dear to you, +Is dear to all, and to all is due. + +"I see the vision of days to come, +When your beautiful City of the Bay +Shall be Christian liberty's chosen home, +And none shall his neighbor's rights gainsay. +The varying notes of worship shall blend +And as one great prayer to God ascend, +And hands of mutual charity raise +Walls of salvation and gates of praise." + +So passed the Quakers through Boston town, +Whose painful ministers sighed to see +The walls of their sheep-fold falling down, +And wolves of heresy prowling free. +But the years went on, and brought no wrong; +With milder counsels the State grew strong, +As outward Letter and inward Light +Kept the balance of truth aright. + +The Puritan spirit perishing not, +To Concord's yeomen the signal sent, +And spake in the voice of the cannon-shot +That severed the chains of a continent. +With its gentler mission of peace and good-will +The thought of the Quaker is living still, +And the freedom of soul he prophesied +Is gospel and law where the martyrs died. +1880. + + + + +VALUATION. + +THE old Squire said, as he stood by his gate, +And his neighbor, the Deacon, went by, +"In spite of my bank stock and real estate, +You are better off, Deacon, than I. + +"We're both growing old, and the end's drawing near, +You have less of this world to resign, +But in Heaven's appraisal your assets, I fear, +Will reckon up greater than mine. + +"They say I am rich, but I'm feeling so poor, +I wish I could swap with you even +The pounds I have lived for and laid up in store +For the shillings and pence you have given." + +"Well, Squire," said the Deacon, with shrewd +common sense, +While his eye had a twinkle of fun, +"Let your pounds take the way of my shillings +and pence, +And the thing can be easily done!" +1880. + + + + +RABBI ISHMAEL. + +"Rabbi Ishmael Ben Elisha said, Once, I entered into the Holy of Holies +[as High Priest] to burn incense, when I saw Aktriel [the Divine Crown] +Jah, Lord of Hosts, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, who said +unto me, 'Ishmael, my son, bless me.' I answered, 'May it please Thee to +make Thy compassion prevail over Thine anger; may it be revealed above +Thy other attributes; mayest Thou deal with Thy children according to +it, and not according to the strict measure of judgment.' It seemed to +me that He bowed His head, as though to answer Amen to my blessing."-- +Talmud (Beraehoth, I. f. 6. b.) + + +THE Rabbi Ishmael, with the woe and sin +Of the world heavy upon him, entering in +The Holy of Holies, saw an awful Face +With terrible splendor filling all the place. +"O Ishmael Ben Elisha!" said a voice, +"What seekest thou? What blessing is thy choice?" +And, knowing that he stood before the Lord, +Within the shadow of the cherubim, +Wide-winged between the blinding light and him, +He bowed himself, and uttered not a word, +But in the silence of his soul was prayer +"O Thou Eternal! I am one of all, +And nothing ask that others may not share. +Thou art almighty; we are weak and small, +And yet Thy children: let Thy mercy spare!" +Trembling, he raised his eyes, and in the place +Of the insufferable glory, lo! a face +Of more than mortal tenderness, that bent +Graciously down in token of assent, +And, smiling, vanished! With strange joy elate, +The wondering Rabbi sought the temple's gate. +Radiant as Moses from the Mount, he stood +And cried aloud unto the multitude +"O Israel, hear! The Lord our God is good! +Mine eyes have seen his glory and his grace; +Beyond his judgments shall his love endure; +The mercy of the All Merciful is sure!" +1881. + + + + +THE ROCK-TOMB OF BRADORE. + +H. Y. Hind, in Explorations in the Interior of the Labrador Peninsula +(ii. 166) mentions the finding of a rock tomb near the little fishing +port of Bradore, with the inscription upon it which is given in the +poem. + +A DREAR and desolate shore! +Where no tree unfolds its leaves, +And never the spring wind weaves +Green grass for the hunter's tread; +A land forsaken and dead, +Where the ghostly icebergs go +And come with the ebb and flow +Of the waters of Bradore! + +A wanderer, from a land +By summer breezes fanned, +Looked round him, awed, subdued, +By the dreadful solitude, +Hearing alone the cry +Of sea-birds clanging by, +The crash and grind of the floe, +Wail of wind and wash of tide. +"O wretched land!" he cried, +"Land of all lands the worst, +God forsaken and curst! +Thy gates of rock should show +The words the Tuscan seer +Read in the Realm of Woe +Hope entereth not here!" + +Lo! at his feet there stood +A block of smooth larch wood, +Waif of some wandering wave, +Beside a rock-closed cave +By Nature fashioned for a grave; +Safe from the ravening bear +And fierce fowl of the air, +Wherein to rest was laid +A twenty summers' maid, +Whose blood had equal share +Of the lands of vine and snow, +Half French, half Eskimo. +In letters uneffaced, +Upon the block were traced +The grief and hope of man, +And thus the legend ran +"We loved her! +Words cannot tell how well! +We loved her! +God loved her! +And called her home to peace and rest. +We love her." + +The stranger paused and read. +"O winter land!" he said, +"Thy right to be I own; +God leaves thee not alone. +And if thy fierce winds blow +Over drear wastes of rock and snow, +And at thy iron gates +The ghostly iceberg waits, +Thy homes and hearts are dear. +Thy sorrow o'er thy sacred dust +Is sanctified by hope and trust; +God's love and man's are here. +And love where'er it goes +Makes its own atmosphere; +Its flowers of Paradise +Take root in the eternal ice, +And bloom through Polar snows!" +1881. + + + + +THE BAY OF SEVEN ISLANDS. + +The volume in which "The Bay of Seven Islands" was published was +dedicated to the late Edwin Percy Whipple, to whom more than to any +other person I was indebted for public recognition as one worthy of a +place in American literature, at a time when it required a great degree +of courage to urge such a claim for a pro-scribed abolitionist. Although +younger than I, he had gained the reputation of a brilliant essayist, +and was regarded as the highest American authority in criticism. His wit +and wisdom enlivened a small literary circle of young men including +Thomas Starr King, the eloquent preacher, and Daniel N. Haskell of the +Daily Transcript, who gathered about our common friend dames T. Fields +at the Old Corner Bookstore. The poem which gave title to the volume I +inscribed to my friend and neighbor Harriet Prescott Spofford, whose +poems have lent a new interest to our beautiful river-valley. + +FROM the green Amesbury hill which bears the name +Of that half mythic ancestor of mine +Who trod its slopes two hundred years ago, +Down the long valley of the Merrimac, +Midway between me and the river's mouth, +I see thy home, set like an eagle's nest +Among Deer Island's immemorial pines, +Crowning the crag on which the sunset breaks +Its last red arrow. Many a tale and song, +Which thou bast told or sung, I call to mind, +Softening with silvery mist the woods and hills, +The out-thrust headlands and inreaching bays +Of our northeastern coast-line, trending where +The Gulf, midsummer, feels the chill blockade +Of icebergs stranded at its northern gate. + +To thee the echoes of the Island Sound +Answer not vainly, nor in vain the moan +Of the South Breaker prophesying storm. +And thou hast listened, like myself, to men +Sea-periled oft where Anticosti lies +Like a fell spider in its web of fog, +Or where the Grand Bank shallows with the wrecks +Of sunken fishers, and to whom strange isles +And frost-rimmed bays and trading stations seem +Familiar as Great Neck and Kettle Cove, +Nubble and Boon, the common names of home. +So let me offer thee this lay of mine, +Simple and homely, lacking much thy play +Of color and of fancy. If its theme +And treatment seem to thee befitting youth +Rather than age, let this be my excuse +It has beguiled some heavy hours and called +Some pleasant memories up; and, better still, +Occasion lent me for a kindly word +To one who is my neighbor and my friend. +1883. + + . . . . . . . . . . + +The skipper sailed out of the harbor mouth, +Leaving the apple-bloom of the South +For the ice of the Eastern seas, +In his fishing schooner Breeze. + +Handsome and brave and young was he, +And the maids of Newbury sighed to see +His lessening white sail fall +Under the sea's blue wall. + +Through the Northern Gulf and the misty screen +Of the isles of Mingan and Madeleine, +St. Paul's and Blanc Sablon, +The little Breeze sailed on, + +Backward and forward, along the shore +Of lorn and desolate Labrador, +And found at last her way +To the Seven Islands Bay. + +The little hamlet, nestling below +Great hills white with lingering snow, +With its tin-roofed chapel stood +Half hid in the dwarf spruce wood; + +Green-turfed, flower-sown, the last outpost +Of summer upon the dreary coast, +With its gardens small and spare, +Sad in the frosty air. + +Hard by where the skipper's schooner lay, +A fisherman's cottage looked away +Over isle and bay, and behind +On mountains dim-defined. + +And there twin sisters, fair and young, +Laughed with their stranger guest, and sung +In their native tongue the lays +Of the old Provencal days. + +Alike were they, save the faint outline +Of a scar on Suzette's forehead fine; +And both, it so befell, +Loved the heretic stranger well. + +Both were pleasant to look upon, +But the heart of the skipper clave to one; +Though less by his eye than heart +He knew the twain apart. + +Despite of alien race and creed, +Well did his wooing of Marguerite speed; +And the mother's wrath was vain +As the sister's jealous pain. + +The shrill-tongued mistress her house forbade, +And solemn warning was sternly said +By the black-robed priest, whose word +As law the hamlet heard. + +But half by voice and half by signs +The skipper said, "A warm sun shines +On the green-banked Merrimac; +Wait, watch, till I come back. + +"And when you see, from my mast head, +The signal fly of a kerchief red, +My boat on the shore shall wait; +Come, when the night is late." + +Ah! weighed with childhood's haunts and friends, +And all that the home sky overbends, +Did ever young love fail +To turn the trembling scale? + +Under the night, on the wet sea sands, +Slowly unclasped their plighted hands +One to the cottage hearth, +And one to his sailor's berth. + +What was it the parting lovers heard? +Nor leaf, nor ripple, nor wing of bird, +But a listener's stealthy tread +On the rock-moss, crisp and dead. + +He weighed his anchor, and fished once more +By the black coast-line of Labrador; +And by love and the north wind driven, +Sailed back to the Islands Seven. + +In the sunset's glow the sisters twain +Saw the Breeze come sailing in again; +Said Suzette, "Mother dear, +The heretic's sail is here." + +"Go, Marguerite, to your room, and hide; +Your door shall be bolted!" the mother cried: +While Suzette, ill at ease, +Watched the red sign of the Breeze. + +At midnight, down to the waiting skiff +She stole in the shadow of the cliff; +And out of the Bay's mouth ran +The schooner with maid and man. + +And all night long, on a restless bed, +Her prayers to the Virgin Marguerite said +And thought of her lover's pain +Waiting for her in vain. + +Did he pace the sands? Did he pause to hear +The sound of her light step drawing near? +And, as the slow hours passed, +Would he doubt her faith at last? + +But when she saw through the misty pane, +The morning break on a sea of rain, +Could even her love avail +To follow his vanished sail? + +Meantime the Breeze, with favoring wind, +Left the rugged Moisic hills behind, +And heard from an unseen shore +The falls of Manitou roar. + +On the morrow's morn, in the thick, gray weather +They sat on the reeling deck together, +Lover and counterfeit, +Of hapless Marguerite. + +With a lover's hand, from her forehead fair +He smoothed away her jet-black hair. +What was it his fond eyes met? +The scar of the false Suzette! + +Fiercely he shouted: "Bear away +East by north for Seven Isles Bay!" +The maiden wept and prayed, +But the ship her helm obeyed. + +Once more the Bay of the Isles they found +They heard the bell of the chapel sound, +And the chant of the dying sung +In the harsh, wild Indian tongue. + +A feeling of mystery, change, and awe +Was in all they heard and all they saw +Spell-bound the hamlet lay +In the hush of its lonely bay. + +And when they came to the cottage door, +The mother rose up from her weeping sore, +And with angry gestures met +The scared look of Suzette. + +"Here is your daughter," the skipper said; +"Give me the one I love instead." +But the woman sternly spake; +"Go, see if the dead will wake!" + +He looked. Her sweet face still and white +And strange in the noonday taper light, +She lay on her little bed, +With the cross at her feet and head. + +In a passion of grief the strong man bent +Down to her face, and, kissing it, went +Back to the waiting Breeze, +Back to the mournful seas. + +Never again to the Merrimac +And Newbury's homes that bark came back. +Whether her fate she met +On the shores of Carraquette, + +Miscou, or Tracadie, who can say? +But even yet at Seven Isles Bay +Is told the ghostly tale +Of a weird, unspoken sail, + +In the pale, sad light of the Northern day +Seen by the blanketed Montagnais, +Or squaw, in her small kyack, +Crossing the spectre's track. + +On the deck a maiden wrings her hands; +Her likeness kneels on the gray coast sands; +One in her wild despair, +And one in the trance of prayer. + +She flits before no earthly blast, +The red sign fluttering from her mast, +Over the solemn seas, +The ghost of the schooner Breeze! +1882. + + + + +THE WISHING BRIDGE. + +AMONG the legends sung or said +Along our rocky shore, +The Wishing Bridge of Marblehead +May well be sung once more. + +An hundred years ago (so ran +The old-time story) all +Good wishes said above its span +Would, soon or late, befall. + +If pure and earnest, never failed +The prayers of man or maid +For him who on the deep sea sailed, +For her at home who stayed. + +Once thither came two girls from school, +And wished in childish glee +And one would be a queen and rule, +And one the world would see. + +Time passed; with change of hopes and fears, +And in the self-same place, +Two women, gray with middle years, +Stood, wondering, face to face. + +With wakened memories, as they met, +They queried what had been +"A poor man's wife am I, and yet," +Said one, "I am a queen. + +"My realm a little homestead is, +Where, lacking crown and throne, +I rule by loving services +And patient toil alone." + +The other said: "The great world lies +Beyond me as it lay; +O'er love's and duty's boundaries +My feet may never stray. + +"I see but common sights of home, +Its common sounds I hear, +My widowed mother's sick-bed room +Sufficeth for my sphere. + +"I read to her some pleasant page +Of travel far and wide, +And in a dreamy pilgrimage +We wander side by side. + +"And when, at last, she falls asleep, +My book becomes to me +A magic glass: my watch I keep, +But all the world I see. + +"A farm-wife queen your place you fill, +While fancy's privilege +Is mine to walk the earth at will, +Thanks to the Wishing Bridge." + +"Nay, leave the legend for the truth," +The other cried, "and say +God gives the wishes of our youth, +But in His own best way!" +1882. + + + + +HOW THE WOMEN WENT FROM DOVER. + +The following is a copy of the warrant issued by Major Waldron, of +Dover, in 1662. The Quakers, as was their wont, prophesied against him, +and saw, as they supposed, the fulfilment of their prophecy when, many +years after, he was killed by the Indians. + + To the constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, Newbury, Rowley, + Ipswich, Wenham, Lynn, Boston, Roxbury, Dedham, and until these + vagabond Quakers are carried out of this jurisdiction. You, and + every one of you, are required, in the King's Majesty's name, to + take these vagabond Quakers, Anne Colman, Mary Tomkins, and Alice + Ambrose, and make them fast to the cart's tail, and driving the + cart through your several towns, to whip them upon their naked + backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them, in each + town; and so to convey them from constable to constable till they + are out of this jurisdiction, as you will answer it at your peril; + and this shall be your warrant. + RICHARD WALDRON. + Dated at Dover, December 22, 1662. + +This warrant was executed only in Dover and Hampton. At Salisbury the +constable refused to obey it. He was sustained by the town's people, who +were under the influence of Major Robert Pike, the leading man in the +lower valley of the Merrimac, who stood far in advance of his time, as +an advocate of religious freedom, and an opponent of ecclesiastical +authority. He had the moral courage to address an able and manly letter +to the court at Salem, remonstrating against the witchcraft trials. + + +THE tossing spray of Cocheco's fall +Hardened to ice on its rocky wall, +As through Dover town in the chill, gray dawn, +Three women passed, at the cart-tail drawn! + +Bared to the waist, for the north wind's grip +And keener sting of the constable's whip, +The blood that followed each hissing blow +Froze as it sprinkled the winter snow. + +Priest and ruler, boy and maid +Followed the dismal cavalcade; +And from door and window, open thrown, +Looked and wondered gaffer and crone. + +"God is our witness," the victims cried, +We suffer for Him who for all men died; +The wrong ye do has been done before, +We bear the stripes that the Master bore! + +And thou, O Richard Waldron, for whom +We hear the feet of a coming doom, +On thy cruel heart and thy hand of wrong +Vengeance is sure, though it tarry long. + +"In the light of the Lord, a flame we see +Climb and kindle a proud roof-tree; +And beneath it an old man lying dead, +With stains of blood on his hoary head." + +"Smite, Goodman Hate-Evil!--harder still!" +The magistrate cried, "lay on with a will! +Drive out of their bodies the Father of Lies, +Who through them preaches and prophesies!" + +So into the forest they held their way, +By winding river and frost-rimmed bay, +Over wind-swept hills that felt the beat +Of the winter sea at their icy feet. + +The Indian hunter, searching his traps, +Peered stealthily through the forest gaps; +And the outlying settler shook his head,-- +"They're witches going to jail," he said. + +At last a meeting-house came in view; +A blast on his horn the constable blew; +And the boys of Hampton cried up and down, +"The Quakers have come!" to the wondering town. + +From barn and woodpile the goodman came; +The goodwife quitted her quilting frame, +With her child at her breast; and, hobbling slow, +The grandam followed to see the show. + +Once more the torturing whip was swung, +Once more keen lashes the bare flesh stung. +"Oh, spare! they are bleeding!"' a little maid cried, +And covered her face the sight to hide. + +A murmur ran round the crowd: "Good folks," +Quoth the constable, busy counting the strokes, +"No pity to wretches like these is due, +They have beaten the gospel black and blue!" + +Then a pallid woman, in wild-eyed fear, +With her wooden noggin of milk drew near. +"Drink, poor hearts!" a rude hand smote +Her draught away from a parching throat. + +"Take heed," one whispered, "they'll take your cow +For fines, as they took your horse and plough, +And the bed from under you." "Even so," +She said; "they are cruel as death, I know." + +Then on they passed, in the waning day, +Through Seabrook woods, a weariful way; +By great salt meadows and sand-hills bare, +And glimpses of blue sea here and there. + +By the meeting-house in Salisbury town, +The sufferers stood, in the red sundown, +Bare for the lash! O pitying Night, +Drop swift thy curtain and hide the sight. + +With shame in his eye and wrath on his lip +The Salisbury constable dropped his whip. +"This warrant means murder foul and red; +Cursed is he who serves it," he said. + +"Show me the order, and meanwhile strike +A blow at your peril!" said Justice Pike. +Of all the rulers the land possessed, +Wisest and boldest was he and best. + +He scoffed at witchcraft; the priest he met +As man meets man; his feet he set +Beyond his dark age, standing upright, +Soul-free, with his face to the morning light. + +He read the warrant: "These convey +From our precincts; at every town on the way +Give each ten lashes." "God judge the brute! +I tread his order under my foot! + +"Cut loose these poor ones and let them go; +Come what will of it, all men shall know +No warrant is good, though backed by the Crown, +For whipping women in Salisbury town!" + +The hearts of the villagers, half released +From creed of terror and rule of priest, +By a primal instinct owned the right +Of human pity in law's despite. + +For ruth and chivalry only slept, +His Saxon manhood the yeoman kept; +Quicker or slower, the same blood ran +In the Cavalier and the Puritan. + +The Quakers sank on their knees in praise +And thanks. A last, low sunset blaze +Flashed out from under a cloud, and shed +A golden glory on each bowed head. + +The tale is one of an evil time, +When souls were fettered and thought was crime, +And heresy's whisper above its breath +Meant shameful scourging and bonds and death! + +What marvel, that hunted and sorely tried, +Even woman rebuked and prophesied, +And soft words rarely answered back +The grim persuasion of whip and rack. + +If her cry from the whipping-post and jail +Pierced sharp as the Kenite's driven nail, +O woman, at ease in these happier days, +Forbear to judge of thy sister's ways! + +How much thy beautiful life may owe +To her faith and courage thou canst not know, +Nor how from the paths of thy calm retreat +She smoothed the thorns with her bleeding feet. +1883. + + + + +SAINT GREGORY'S GUEST. + +A TALE for Roman guides to tell +To careless, sight-worn travellers still, +Who pause beside the narrow cell +Of Gregory on the Caelian Hill. + +One day before the monk's door came +A beggar, stretching empty palms, +Fainting and fast-sick, in the name +Of the Most Holy asking alms. + +And the monk answered, "All I have +In this poor cell of mine I give, +The silver cup my mother gave; +In Christ's name take thou it, and live." + +Years passed; and, called at last to bear +The pastoral crook and keys of Rome, +The poor monk, in Saint Peter's chair, +Sat the crowned lord of Christendom. + +"Prepare a feast," Saint Gregory cried, +"And let twelve beggars sit thereat." +The beggars came, and one beside, +An unknown stranger, with them sat. + +"I asked thee not," the Pontiff spake, +"O stranger; but if need be thine, +I bid thee welcome, for the sake +Of Him who is thy Lord and mine." + +A grave, calm face the stranger raised, +Like His who on Gennesaret trod, +Or His on whom the Chaldeans gazed, +Whose form was as the Son of God. + +"Know'st thou," he said, "thy gift of old?" +And in the hand he lifted up +The Pontiff marvelled to behold +Once more his mother's silver cup. + +"Thy prayers and alms have risen, and bloom +Sweetly among the flowers of heaven. +I am The Wonderful, through whom +Whate'er thou askest shall be given." + +He spake and vanished. Gregory fell +With his twelve guests in mute accord +Prone on their faces, knowing well +Their eyes of flesh had seen the Lord. + +The old-time legend is not vain; +Nor vain thy art, Verona's Paul, +Telling it o'er and o'er again +On gray Vicenza's frescoed wall. + +Still wheresoever pity shares +Its bread with sorrow, want, and sin, +And love the beggar's feast prepares, +The uninvited Guest comes in. + +Unheard, because our ears are dull, +Unseen, because our eyes are dim, +He walks our earth, The Wonderful, +And all good deeds are done to Him. +1883. + + + + +BIRCHBROOK MILL. + +A NOTELESS stream, the Birchbrook runs +Beneath its leaning trees; +That low, soft ripple is its own, +That dull roar is the sea's. + +Of human signs it sees alone +The distant church spire's tip, +And, ghost-like, on a blank of gray, +The white sail of a ship. + +No more a toiler at the wheel, +It wanders at its will; +Nor dam nor pond is left to tell +Where once was Birchbrook mill. + +The timbers of that mill have fed +Long since a farmer's fires; +His doorsteps are the stones that ground +The harvest of his sires. + +Man trespassed here; but Nature lost +No right of her domain; +She waited, and she brought the old +Wild beauty back again. + +By day the sunlight through the leaves +Falls on its moist, green sod, +And wakes the violet bloom of spring +And autumn's golden-rod. + +Its birches whisper to the wind, +The swallow dips her wings +In the cool spray, and on its banks +The gray song-sparrow sings. + +But from it, when the dark night falls, +The school-girl shrinks with dread; +The farmer, home-bound from his fields, +Goes by with quickened tread. + +They dare not pause to hear the grind +Of shadowy stone on stone; +The plashing of a water-wheel +Where wheel there now is none. + +Has not a cry of pain been heard +Above the clattering mill? +The pawing of an unseen horse, +Who waits his mistress still? + +Yet never to the listener's eye +Has sight confirmed the sound; +A wavering birch line marks alone +The vacant pasture ground. + +No ghostly arms fling up to heaven +The agony of prayer; +No spectral steed impatient shakes +His white mane on the air. + +The meaning of that common dread +No tongue has fitly told; +The secret of the dark surmise +The brook and birches hold. + +What nameless horror of the past +Broods here forevermore? +What ghost his unforgiven sin +Is grinding o'er and o'er? + +Does, then, immortal memory play +The actor's tragic part, +Rehearsals of a mortal life +And unveiled human heart? + +God's pity spare a guilty soul +That drama of its ill, +And let the scenic curtain fall +On Birchbrook's haunted mill +1884. + + + + +THE TWO ELIZABETHS. +Read at the unveiling of the bust of Elizabeth Fry at the Friends' +School, Providence, R. I. + +A. D. 1209. + +AMIDST Thuringia's wooded hills she dwelt, +A high-born princess, servant of the poor, +Sweetening with gracious words the food she dealt +To starving throngs at Wartburg's blazoned door. + +A blinded zealot held her soul in chains, +Cramped the sweet nature that he could not kill, +Scarred her fair body with his penance-pains, +And gauged her conscience by his narrow will. + +God gave her gifts of beauty and of grace, +With fast and vigil she denied them all; +Unquestioning, with sad, pathetic face, +She followed meekly at her stern guide's call. + +So drooped and died her home-blown rose of bliss +In the chill rigor of a discipline +That turned her fond lips from her children's kiss, +And made her joy of motherhood a sin. + +To their sad level by compassion led, +One with the low and vile herself she made, +While thankless misery mocked the hand that fed, +And laughed to scorn her piteous masquerade. + +But still, with patience that outwearied hate, +She gave her all while yet she had to give; +And then her empty hands, importunate, +In prayer she lifted that the poor might live. + +Sore pressed by grief, and wrongs more hard to bear, +And dwarfed and stifled by a harsh control, +She kept life fragrant with good deeds and prayer, +And fresh and pure the white flower of her soul. + +Death found her busy at her task: one word +Alone she uttered as she paused to die, +"Silence!"--then listened even as one who heard +With song and wing the angels drawing nigh! + +Now Fra Angelico's roses fill her hands, +And, on Murillo's canvas, Want and Pain +Kneel at her feet. Her marble image stands +Worshipped and crowned in Marburg's holy fane. + +Yea, wheresoe'er her Church its cross uprears, +Wide as the world her story still is told; +In manhood's reverence, woman's prayers and tears, +She lives again whose grave is centuries old. + +And still, despite the weakness or the blame +Of blind submission to the blind, she hath +A tender place in hearts of every name, +And more than Rome owns Saint Elizabeth! + + + +A. D. 1780. + +Slow ages passed: and lo! another came, +An English matron, in whose simple faith +Nor priestly rule nor ritual had claim, +A plain, uncanonized Elizabeth. + +No sackcloth robe, nor ashen-sprinkled hair, +Nor wasting fast, nor scourge, nor vigil long, +Marred her calm presence. God had made her fair, +And she could do His goodly work no wrong. + +Their yoke is easy and their burden light +Whose sole confessor is the Christ of God; +Her quiet trust and faith transcending sight +Smoothed to her feet the difficult paths she trod. + +And there she walked, as duty bade her go, +Safe and unsullied as a cloistered nun, +Shamed with her plainness Fashion's gaudy show, +And overcame the world she did not shun. + +In Earlham's bowers, in Plashet's liberal hall, +In the great city's restless crowd and din, +Her ear was open to the Master's call, +And knew the summons of His voice within. + +Tender as mother, beautiful as wife, +Amidst the throngs of prisoned crime she stood +In modest raiment faultless as her life, +The type of England's worthiest womanhood. + +To melt the hearts that harshness turned to stone +The sweet persuasion of her lips sufficed, +And guilt, which only hate and fear had known, +Saw in her own the pitying love of Christ. + +So wheresoe'er the guiding Spirit went +She followed, finding every prison cell +It opened for her sacred as a tent +Pitched by Gennesaret or by Jacob's well. + +And Pride and Fashion felt her strong appeal, +And priest and ruler marvelled as they saw +How hand in hand went wisdom with her zeal, +And woman's pity kept the bounds of law. + +She rests in God's peace; but her memory stirs +The air of earth as with an angel's wings, +And warms and moves the hearts of men like hers, +The sainted daughter of Hungarian kings. + +United now, the Briton and the Hun, +Each, in her own time, faithful unto death, +Live sister souls! in name and spirit one, +Thuringia's saint and our Elizabeth! +1885. + + + + +REQUITAL. + +As Islam's Prophet, when his last day drew +Nigh to its close, besought all men to say +Whom he had wronged, to whom he then should pay +A debt forgotten, or for pardon sue, +And, through the silence of his weeping friends, +A strange voice cried: "Thou owest me a debt," +"Allah be praised!" he answered. "Even yet +He gives me power to make to thee amends. +O friend! I thank thee for thy timely word." +So runs the tale. Its lesson all may heed, +For all have sinned in thought, or word, or deed, +Or, like the Prophet, through neglect have erred. +All need forgiveness, all have debts to pay +Ere the night cometh, while it still is day. +1885. + + + + +THE HOMESTEAD. + +AGAINST the wooded hills it stands, +Ghost of a dead home, staring through +Its broken lights on wasted lands +Where old-time harvests grew. + +Unploughed, unsown, by scythe unshorn, +The poor, forsaken farm-fields lie, +Once rich and rife with golden corn +And pale green breadths of rye. + +Of healthful herb and flower bereft, +The garden plot no housewife keeps; +Through weeds and tangle only left, +The snake, its tenant, creeps. + +A lilac spray, still blossom-clad, +Sways slow before the empty rooms; +Beside the roofless porch a sad +Pathetic red rose blooms. + +His track, in mould and dust of drouth, +On floor and hearth the squirrel leaves, +And in the fireless chimney's mouth +His web the spider weaves. + +The leaning barn, about to fall, +Resounds no more on husking eves; +No cattle low in yard or stall, +No thresher beats his sheaves. + +So sad, so drear! It seems almost +Some haunting Presence makes its sign; +That down yon shadowy lane some ghost +Might drive his spectral kine! + +O home so desolate and lorn! +Did all thy memories die with thee? +Were any wed, were any born, +Beneath this low roof-tree? + +Whose axe the wall of forest broke, +And let the waiting sunshine through? +What goodwife sent the earliest smoke +Up the great chimney flue? + +Did rustic lovers hither come? +Did maidens, swaying back and forth +In rhythmic grace, at wheel and loom, +Make light their toil with mirth? + +Did child feet patter on the stair? +Did boyhood frolic in the snow? +Did gray age, in her elbow chair, +Knit, rocking to and fro? + +The murmuring brook, the sighing breeze, +The pine's slow whisper, cannot tell; +Low mounds beneath the hemlock-trees +Keep the home secrets well. + +Cease, mother-land, to fondly boast +Of sons far off who strive and thrive, +Forgetful that each swarming host +Must leave an emptier hive. + +O wanderers from ancestral soil, +Leave noisome mill and chaffering store: +Gird up your loins for sturdier toil, +And build the home once more! + +Come back to bayberry-scented slopes, +And fragrant fern, and ground-nut vine; +Breathe airs blown over holt and copse +Sweet with black birch and pine. + +What matter if the gains are small +That life's essential wants supply? +Your homestead's title gives you all +That idle wealth can buy. + +All that the many-dollared crave, +The brick-walled slaves of 'Change and mart, +Lawns, trees, fresh air, and flowers, you have, +More dear for lack of art. + +Your own sole masters, freedom-willed, +With none to bid you go or stay, +Till the old fields your fathers tilled, +As manly men as they! + +With skill that spares your toiling hands, +And chemic aid that science brings, +Reclaim the waste and outworn lands, +And reign thereon as kings +1886. + + + + +HOW THE ROBIN CAME. + +AN ALGONQUIN LEGEND. + +HAPPY young friends, sit by me, +Under May's blown apple-tree, +While these home-birds in and out +Through the blossoms flit about. +Hear a story, strange and old, +By the wild red Indians told, +How the robin came to be: + +Once a great chief left his son,-- +Well-beloved, his only one,-- +When the boy was well-nigh grown, +In the trial-lodge alone. +Left for tortures long and slow +Youths like him must undergo, +Who their pride of manhood test, +Lacking water, food, and rest. + +Seven days the fast he kept, +Seven nights he never slept. +Then the young boy, wrung with pain, +Weak from nature's overstrain, +Faltering, moaned a low complaint +"Spare me, father, for I faint!" +But the chieftain, haughty-eyed, +Hid his pity in his pride. +"You shall be a hunter good, +Knowing never lack of food; +You shall be a warrior great, +Wise as fox and strong as bear; +Many scalps your belt shall wear, +If with patient heart you wait +Bravely till your task is done. +Better you should starving die +Than that boy and squaw should cry +Shame upon your father's son!" + +When next morn the sun's first rays +Glistened on the hemlock sprays, +Straight that lodge the old chief sought, +And boiled sainp and moose meat brought. +"Rise and eat, my son!" he said. +Lo, he found the poor boy dead! + +As with grief his grave they made, +And his bow beside him laid, +Pipe, and knife, and wampum-braid, +On the lodge-top overhead, +Preening smooth its breast of red +And the brown coat that it wore, +Sat a bird, unknown before. +And as if with human tongue, +"Mourn me not," it said, or sung; +"I, a bird, am still your son, +Happier than if hunter fleet, +Or a brave, before your feet +Laying scalps in battle won. +Friend of man, my song shall cheer +Lodge and corn-land; hovering near, +To each wigwam I shall bring +Tidings of the corning spring; +Every child my voice shall know +In the moon of melting snow, +When the maple's red bud swells, +And the wind-flower lifts its bells. +As their fond companion +Men shall henceforth own your son, +And my song shall testify +That of human kin am I." + +Thus the Indian legend saith +How, at first, the robin came +With a sweeter life from death, +Bird for boy, and still the same. +If my young friends doubt that this +Is the robin's genesis, +Not in vain is still the myth +If a truth be found therewith +Unto gentleness belong +Gifts unknown to pride and wrong; +Happier far than hate is praise,-- +He who sings than he who slays. + + + + +BANISHED FROM MASSACHUSETTS. + +1660. + +On a painting by E. A. Abbey. The General Court of Massachusetts enacted +Oct. 19, 1658, that "any person or persons of the cursed sect of +Quakers" should, on conviction of the same, be banished, on pain +of death, from the jurisdiction of the common-wealth. + + +OVER the threshold of his pleasant home +Set in green clearings passed the exiled Friend, +In simple trust, misdoubting not the end. +"Dear heart of mine!" he said, "the time has come +To trust the Lord for shelter." One long gaze +The goodwife turned on each familiar thing,-- +The lowing kine, the orchard blossoming, +The open door that showed the hearth-fire's blaze,-- +And calmly answered, "Yes, He will provide." +Silent and slow they crossed the homestead's bound, +Lingering the longest by their child's grave-mound. +"Move on, or stay and hang!" the sheriff cried. +They left behind them more than home or land, +And set sad faces to an alien strand. + +Safer with winds and waves than human wrath, +With ravening wolves than those whose zeal for God +Was cruelty to man, the exiles trod +Drear leagues of forest without guide or path, +Or launching frail boats on the uncharted sea, +Round storm-vexed capes, whose teeth of granite ground +The waves to foam, their perilous way they wound, +Enduring all things so their souls were free. +Oh, true confessors, shaming them who did +Anew the wrong their Pilgrim Fathers bore +For you the Mayflower spread her sail once more, +Freighted with souls, to all that duty bid +Faithful as they who sought an unknown land, +O'er wintry seas, from Holland's Hook of Sand! + +So from his lost home to the darkening main, +Bodeful of storm, stout Macy held his way, +And, when the green shore blended with the gray, +His poor wife moaned: "Let us turn back again." +"Nay, woman, weak of faith, kneel down," said he, +And say thy prayers: the Lord himself will steer; +And led by Him, nor man nor devils I fear! +So the gray Southwicks, from a rainy sea, +Saw, far and faint, the loom of land, and gave +With feeble voices thanks for friendly ground +Whereon to rest their weary feet, and found +A peaceful death-bed and a quiet grave +Where, ocean-walled, and wiser than his age, +The lord of Shelter scorned the bigot's rage. +Aquidneck's isle, Nantucket's lonely shores, +And Indian-haunted Narragansett saw +The way-worn travellers round their camp-fire draw, +Or heard the plashing of their weary oars. +And every place whereon they rested grew +Happier for pure and gracious womanhood, +And men whose names for stainless honor stood, +Founders of States and rulers wise and true. +The Muse of history yet shall make amends +To those who freedom, peace, and justice taught, +Beyond their dark age led the van of thought, +And left unforfeited the name of Friends. +O mother State, how foiled was thy design +The gain was theirs, the loss alone was thine. + + + + +THE BROWN DWARF OF RUGEN. + +The hint of this ballad is found in Arndt's Miirchen, Berlin, 1816. The +ballad appeared first in St. Nicholas, whose young readers were advised, +while smiling at the absurd superstition, to remember that bad +companionship and evil habits, desires, and passions are more to be +dreaded now than the Elves and Trolls who frightened the children of +past ages. + + +THE pleasant isle of Rugen looks the Baltic water o'er, +To the silver-sanded beaches of the Pomeranian +shore; + +And in the town of Rambin a little boy and maid +Plucked the meadow-flowers together and in the +sea-surf played. + +Alike were they in beauty if not in their degree +He was the Amptman's first-born, the miller's +child was she. + +Now of old the isle of Rugen was full of Dwarfs +and Trolls, +The brown-faced little Earth-men, the people without +souls; + +And for every man and woman in Rugen's island +found +Walking in air and sunshine, a Troll was +underground. + +It chanced the little maiden, one morning, strolled +away +Among the haunted Nine Hills, where the elves +and goblins play. + +That day, in barley-fields below, the harvesters had +known +Of evil voices in the air, and heard the small horns +blown. + +She came not back; the search for her in field and +wood was vain +They cried her east, they cried her west, but she +came not again. + +"She's down among the Brown Dwarfs," said the +dream-wives wise and old, +And prayers were made, and masses said, and +Rambin's church bell tolled. + +Five years her father mourned her; and then John +Deitrich said +"I will find my little playmate, be she alive or +dead." + +He watched among the Nine Hills, he heard the +Brown Dwarfs sing, +And saw them dance by moonlight merrily in a +ring. + +And when their gay-robed leader tossed up his cap +of red, +Young Deitrich caught it as it fell, and thrust it +on his head. + +The Troll came crouching at his feet and wept for +lack of it. +"Oh, give me back my magic cap, for your great +head unfit!" + +"Nay," Deitrich said; "the Dwarf who throws his +charmed cap away, +Must serve its finder at his will, and for his folly +pay. + +"You stole my pretty Lisbeth, and hid her in the +earth; +And you shall ope the door of glass and let me +lead her forth." + +"She will not come; she's one of us; she's +mine!" the Brown Dwarf said; +The day is set, the cake is baked, to-morrow we +shall wed." + +"The fell fiend fetch thee!" Deitrich cried, "and +keep thy foul tongue still. +Quick! open, to thy evil world, the glass door of +the hill!" + +The Dwarf obeyed; and youth and Troll down, the +long stair-way passed, +And saw in dim and sunless light a country strange +and vast. + +Weird, rich, and wonderful, he saw the elfin +under-land,-- +Its palaces of precious stones, its streets of golden +sand. + +He came unto a banquet-hall with tables richly +spread, +Where a young maiden served to him the red wine +and the bread. + +How fair she seemed among the Trolls so ugly and +so wild! +Yet pale and very sorrowful, like one who never +smiled! + +Her low, sweet voice, her gold-brown hair, her tender +blue eyes seemed +Like something he had seen elsewhere or some. +thing he had dreamed. + +He looked; he clasped her in his arms; he knew +the long-lost one; +"O Lisbeth! See thy playmate--I am the +Amptman's son!" + +She leaned her fair head on his breast, and through +her sobs she spoke +"Oh, take me from this evil place, and from the +elfin folk, + +"And let me tread the grass-green fields and smell +the flowers again, +And feel the soft wind on my cheek and hear the +dropping rain! + +"And oh, to hear the singing bird, the rustling of +the tree, +The lowing cows, the bleat of sheep, the voices of +the sea; + +"And oh, upon my father's knee to sit beside the +door, +And hear the bell of vespers ring in Rambin +church once more!" + +He kissed her cheek, he kissed her lips; the Brown +Dwarf groaned to see, +And tore his tangled hair and ground his long +teeth angrily. + +But Deitrich said: "For five long years this tender +Christian maid +Has served you in your evil world and well must +she be paid! + +"Haste!--hither bring me precious gems, the +richest in your store; +Then when we pass the gate of glass, you'll take +your cap once more." + +No choice was left the baffled Troll, and, murmuring, +he obeyed, +And filled the pockets of the youth and apron of +the maid. + +They left the dreadful under-land and passed the +gate of glass; +They felt the sunshine's warm caress, they trod the +soft, green grass. + +And when, beneath, they saw the Dwarf stretch up +to them his brown +And crooked claw-like fingers, they tossed his red +cap down. + +Oh, never shone so bright a sun, was never sky so +blue, +As hand in hand they homeward walked the pleasant +meadows through! + +And never sang the birds so sweet in Rambin's +woods before, +And never washed the waves so soft along the Baltic +shore; + +And when beneath his door-yard trees the father +met his child, +The bells rung out their merriest peal, the folks +with joy ran wild. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, NARRATIVE POEMS, COMPLETE *** +By John Greenleaf Whittier + +******* This file should be named wit0810.txt or wit0810.zip ******** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, wit0811.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, wit0810a.txt + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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