The Project Gutenberg eBook of Green Fields and Running Brooks, and Other Poems, by James Whitcomb Riley

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Title: Green Fields and Running Brooks, and Other Poems

Author: James Whitcomb Riley

Release Date: February 16, 2005 [EBook #15079]

Language: English

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ***

Produced by Al Haines

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS

JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY

INDIANAPOLIS

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS

COPYRIGHT 1893

BY JAMES W. RILEY

TO MY SISTERS

ELVA AND MARY

CONTENTS.

PROEM

Artemus of Michigan, The

As My Uncle Used to Say

At Utter Loaf

August

Autumn

Bedouin

Being His Mother

Blind

Blossoms on the Trees, The

By Any Other Name

By Her White Bed

Chant of the Cross-Bearing Child, The

Country Pathway, A

Cup of Tea, A

Curse of the Wandering Foot, The

Cyclone, The

Dan Paine

Dawn, Noon and Dewfall

Discouraging Model, A

Ditty of No Tone, A

Don Piatt of Mac-o-chee

Dot Leedle Boy

Dream of Autumn, A

Elizabeth

Envoy

Farmer Whipple—Bachelor

Full Harvest, A

Glimpse of Pan, A

Go, Winter

Her Beautiful Eyes

Hereafter, The

His Mother's Way

His Vigil

Home at Night

Home-Going, The

Hoodoo, The

Hoosier Folk-Child, The

How John Quit the Farm

Iron Horse, The

Iry and Billy and Jo

Jack the Giant-Killer

Jap Miller

John Alden and Percilly

John Brown

John McKeen

Judith

June at Woodruff

Just to Be Good

Last Night—And This

Let Us Forget

Little Fat Doctor, The

Longfellow

Lounger, A

Monument for the Soldiers, A

Mr. What's-His-Name

My Friend

Nessmuk

North and South

Old Retired Sea Captain, The

Old Winters on the Farm

Old Year and the New, The

On the Banks o' Deer Crick

Out of Nazareth

Passing of A Heart, The

Plaint Human, The

Quarrel, The

Quiet Lodger, The

Reach Your Hand to Me

Right Here at Home

Rival, The

Rivals, The; or the Showman's Ruse

Robert Burns Wilson

Rose, The

September Dark

Shoemaker, The

Singer, The

Sister Jones's Confession

Sleep

Some Scattering Remarks of Bub's

Song of Long Ago, A

Southern Singer, A

Suspense

Thanksgiving

Their Sweet Sorrow

Them Flowers

To an Importunate Ghost

To Hear Her Sing

Tom Van Arden

To the Serenader

Tugg Martin

Twins, The

Wandering Jew, The

Watches of the Night, The

Water Color, A

We to Sigh Instead of Sing

What Chris'mas Fetched the Wigginses

When Age Comes On

Where-Away

While the Musician Played

Wife-Blesséd, The

Wraith of Summertime, A

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS

Ho! green fields and running brooks!

Knotted strings and fishing-hooks

Of the truant, stealing down

Weedy backways of the town.

Where the sunshine overlooks,

By green fields and running brooks,

All intruding guests of chance

With a golden tolerance,

Cooing doves, or pensive pair

Of picnickers, straying there—

By green fields and running brooks,

Sylvan shades and mossy nooks!

And—O Dreamer of the Days,

Murmurer of roundelays

All unsung of words or books,

Sing green fields and running brooks!

A COUNTRY PATHWAY.

I come upon it suddenly, alone—

A little pathway winding in the weeds

That fringe the roadside; and with dreams my own,

I wander as it leads.

Full wistfully along the slender way,

Through summer tan of freckled shade and shine,

I take the path that leads me as it may—

Its every choice is mine.

A chipmunk, or a sudden-whirring quail,

Is startled by my step as on I fare—

A garter-snake across the dusty trail

Glances and—is not there.

Above the arching jimson-weeds flare twos

And twos of sallow-yellow butterflies,

Like blooms of lorn primroses blowing loose

When autumn winds arise.

The trail dips—dwindles—broadens then, and lifts

Itself astride a cross-road dubiously,

And, from the fennel marge beyond it, drifts

Still onward, beckoning me.

And though it needs must lure me mile on mile

Out of the public highway, still I go,

My thoughts, far in advance in Indian-file,

Allure me even so.

Why, I am as a long-lost boy that went

At dusk to bring the cattle to the bars,

And was not found again, though Heaven lent

His mother ail the stars

With which to seek him through that awful night.

O years of nights as vain!—Stars never rise

But well might miss their glitter in the light

Of tears in mother-eyes!

So—on, with quickened breaths, I follow still—

My avant-courier must be obeyed!

Thus am I led, and thus the path, at will,

Invites me to invade

A meadow's precincts, where my daring guide

Clambers the steps of an old-fashioned stile,

And stumbles down again, the other side,

To gambol there awhile

In pranks of hide-and-seek, as on ahead

I see it running, while the clover-stalks

Shake rosy fists at me, as though they said—

"You dog our country-walks

And mutilate us with your walking-stick!—

We will not suffer tamely what you do

And warn you at your peril,—for we'll sic

Our bumble-bees on you!"

But I smile back, in airy nonchalance,—

The more determined on my wayward quest,

As some bright memory a moment dawns

A morning in my breast—

Sending a thrill that hurries me along

In faulty similes of childish skips,

Enthused with lithe contortions of a song

Performing on my lips.

In wild meanderings o'er pasture wealth—

Erratic wanderings through dead'ning-lands,

Where sly old brambles, plucking me by stealth,

Put berries in my hands:

Or, the path climbs a boulder—wades a slough—

Or, rollicking through buttercups and flags,

Goes gaily dancing o'er a deep bayou

On old tree-trunks and snags:

Or, at the creek, leads o'er a limpid pool

Upon a bridge the stream itself has made,

With some Spring-freshet for the mighty tool

That its foundation laid.

I pause a moment here to bend and muse,

With dreamy eyes, on my reflection, where

A boat-backed bug drifts on a helpless cruise,

Or wildly oars the air,

As, dimly seen, the pirate of the brook—

The pike, whose jaunty hulk denotes his speed—

Swings pivoting about, with wary look

Of low and cunning greed.

Till, filled with other thought, I turn again

To where the pathway enters in a realm

Of lordly woodland, under sovereign reign

Of towering oak and elm.

A puritanic quiet here reviles

The almost whispered warble from the hedge,

And takes a locust's rasping voice and files

The silence to an edge.

In such a solitude my somber way

Strays like a misanthrope within a gloom

Of his own shadows—till the perfect day

Bursts into sudden bloom,

And crowns a long, declining stretch of space,

Where King Corn's armies lie with flags unfurled,

And where the valley's dint in Nature's face

Dimples a smiling world.

And lo! through mists that may not be dispelled,

I see an old farm homestead, as in dreams,

Where, like a gem in costly setting held,

The old log cabin gleams.

* * * * *

O darling Pathway! lead me bravely on

Adown your valley way, and run before

Among the roses crowding up the lawn

And thronging at the door,—

And carry up the echo there that shall

Arouse the drowsy dog, that he may bay

The household out to greet the prodigal

That wanders home to-day.

ON THE BANKS O' DEER CRICK.

On the banks o' Deer Crick! There's the place fer me!—

Worter slidin' past ye jes as clair as it kin be:—

See yer shadder in it, and the shadder o' the sky,

And the shadder o' the buzzard as he goes a-lazein' by;

Shadder o' the pizen-vines, and shadder o' the trees—

And I purt'-nigh said the shadder o' the sunshine and the breeze!

Well—I never seen the ocean ner I never seen the sea:

On the banks o' Deer Crick's grand enough fer me!

On the banks o' Deer Crick—mild er two from town—

'Long up where the mill-race comes a-loafin' down,—

Like to git up in there—'mongst the sycamores—

And watch the worter at the dam, a-frothin' as she pours:

Crawl out on some old log, with my hook and line,

Where the fish is jes so thick you kin see 'em shine

As they flicker round yer bait, coaxin' you to jerk,

Tel yer tired ketchin' of 'em, mighty nigh, as work!

On the banks o' Deer Crick!—Allus my delight

Jes to be around there—take it day er night!—

Watch the snipes and killdees foolin' half the day—

Er these-'ere little worter-bugs skootin' ever'way!—

Snakefeeders glancin' round, er dartin' out o' sight;

And dew-fall, and bullfrogs, and lightnin'-bugs at night—

Stars up through the tree-tops—er in the crick below,—

And smell o' mussrat through the dark clean from the old b'y-o!

Er take a tromp, some Sund'y, say, 'way up to "Johnson's Hole,"

And find where he's had a fire, and hid his fishin' pole;

Have yer "dog-leg," with ye and yer pipe and "cut-and-dry"—

Pocketful o' corn-bred, and slug er two o' rye,—

Soak yer hide in sunshine and waller in the shade—

Like the Good Book tells us—"where there're none to make afraid!"

Well!—I never seen the ocean ner I never seen the sea—

On the banks o' Deer Crick's grand enough fer me!

A DITTY OF NO TONE.

Piped to the Spirit of John Keats.

I.

Would that my lips might pour out in thy praise

A fitting melody—an air sublime,—

A song sun-washed and draped in dreamy haze—

The floss and velvet of luxurious rhyme:

A lay wrought of warm languors, and o'er-brimmed

With balminess, and fragrance of wild flowers

Such as the droning bee ne'er wearies of—

Such thoughts as might be hymned

To thee from this midsummer land of ours

Through shower and sunshine blent for very love.

II.

Deep silences in woody aisles wherethrough

Cool paths go loitering, and where the trill

Of best-remembered birds hath something new

In cadence for the hearing—lingering still

Through all the open day that lies beyond;

Reaches of pasture-lands, vine-wreathen oaks,

Majestic still in pathos of decay,—

The road—the wayside pond

Wherein the dragonfly an instant soaks

His filmy wing-tips ere he flits away.

III.

And I would pluck from out the dank, rich mould,

Thick-shaded from the sun of noon, the long

Lithe stalks of barley, topped with ruddy gold,

And braid them in the meshes of my song;

And with them I would tangle wheat and rye,

And wisps of greenest grass the katydid

Ere crept beneath the blades of, sulkily,

As harvest-hands went by;

And weave of all, as wildest fancy bid,

A crown of mingled song and bloom for thee.

A WATER-COLOR.

Low hidden in among the forest trees

An artist's tilted easel, ankle-deep

In tousled ferns and mosses, and in these

A fluffy water-spaniel, half asleep

Beside a sketch-book and a fallen hat—

A little wicker flask tossed into that.

A sense of utter carelessness and grace

Of pure abandon in the slumb'rous scene,—

As if the June, all hoydenish of face,

Had romped herself to sleep there on the green,

And brink and sagging bridge and sliding stream

Were just romantic parcels of her dream.

THE CYCLONE.

So lone I stood, the very trees seemed drawn

In conference with themselves.—Intense—intense

Seemed everything;—the summer splendor on

The sight,—magnificence!

A babe's life might not lighter fail and die

Than failed the sunlight—Though the hour was noon,

The palm of midnight might not lighter lie

Upon the brow of June.

With eyes upraised, I saw the underwings

Of swallows—gone the instant afterward—

While from the elms there came strange twitterings,

Stilled scarce ere they were heard.

The river seemed to shiver; and, far down

Its darkened length, I saw the sycamores

Lean inward closer, under the vast frown

That weighed above the shores.

Then was a roar, born of some awful burst!—

And one lay, shrieking, chattering, in my path—

Flung—he or I—out of some space accurst

As of Jehovah's wrath:

Nor barely had he wreaked his latest prayer,

Ere back the noon flashed o'er the ruin done,

And, o'er uprooted forests touseled there,

The birds sang in the sun.

WHERE-AWAY.

O the Lands of Where-Away!

Tell us—tell us—where are they?

Through the darkness and the dawn

We have journeyed on and on—

From the cradle to the cross—

From possession unto loss,—

Seeking still, from day to day,

For the lands of Where-Away.

When our baby-feet were first

Planted where the daisies burst,

And the greenest grasses grew

In the fields we wandered through,

On, with childish discontent,

Ever on and on we went,

Hoping still to pass, some day,

O'er the verge of Where-Away.

Roses laid their velvet lips

On our own, with fragrant sips;

But their kisses held us not,

All their sweetness we forgot;—

Though the brambles in our track

Plucked at us to hold us back—

"Just ahead," we used to say,

"Lie the Lands of Where-Away."

Children at the pasture-bars,

Through the dusk, like glimmering stars,

Waved their hands that we should bide

With them over eventide:

Down the dark their voices failed

Falteringly, as they hailed,

And died into yesterday—

Night ahead and—Where-Away?

Twining arms about us thrown—

Warm caresses, all our own,

Can but stay us for a spell—

Love hath little new to tell

To the soul in need supreme,

Aching ever with the dream

Of the endless bliss it may

Find in Lands of Where-Away!

THE HOME-GOING.

We must get home—for we have been away

So long it seems forever and a day!

And O so very homesick we have grown,

The laughter of the world is like a moan

In our tired hearing, and its songs as vain,—

We must get home—we must get home again!

We must get home: It hurts so, staying here,

Where fond hearts must be wept out tear by tear,

And where to wear wet lashes means, at best,

When most our lack, the least our hope of rest

When most our need of joy, the more our pain—

We must get home—we must get home again!

We must get home: All is so quiet there:

The touch of loving hands on brow and hair—

Dim rooms, wherein the sunshine is made mild—-

The lost love of the mother and the child

Restored in restful lullabies of rain.—

We must get home—we must get home again!

We must get home, where, as we nod and drowse,

Time humors us and tiptoes through the house,

And loves us best when sleeping baby-wise,

With dreams—not tear-drops—brimming our clenched eyes,—

Pure dreams that know nor taint nor earthly stain—

We must get home—we must get home again!

We must get home; and, unremembering there

All gain of all ambitions otherwhere,

Rest—from the feverish victory, and the crown

Of conquest whose waste glory weighs us down.—

Fame's fairest gifts we toss back with disdain—

We must get home—we must get home again!

HOW JOHN QUIT THE FARM.

Nobody on the old farm here but Mother, me and John,

Except, of course, the extry he'p when harvest-time come on—

And then, I want to say to you, we needed he'p about,

As you'd admit, ef you'd a-seen the way the crops turned out!

A better quarter-section, ner a richer soil warn't found

Than this-here old-home place o' ourn fer fifty miles around!—

The house was small—but plenty-big we found it from the day

That John—our only livin' son—packed up and went way.

You see, we tuck sich pride in John—his mother more 'n me—

That's natchurul; but both of us was proud as proud could be;

Fer the boy, from a little chap, was most oncommon bright,

And seemed in work as well as play to take the same delight.

He allus went a-whistlin' round the place, as glad at heart

As robins up at five o'clock to git an airly start;

And many a time 'fore daylight Mother's waked me up to say—

"Jest listen, David!—listen!—Johnny's beat the birds to-day!"

High-sperited from boyhood, with a most inquirin' turn,—

He wanted to learn ever'thing on earth they was to learn:

He'd ast more plaguey questions in a mortal-minute here

Than his grandpap in Paradise could answer in a year!

And read! w'y, his own mother learnt him how to read and spell;

And "The Childern of the Abbey"—w'y, he knowed that book as well

At fifteen as his parents!—and "The Pilgrim's Progress," too—

Jest knuckled down, the shaver did, and read 'em through and through!

At eighteen, Mother 'lowed the boy must have a better chance—

That we ort to educate him, under any circumstance;

And John he j'ined his mother, and they ding-donged and kep' on,

Tel I sent him off to school in town, half glad that he was gone.

But—I missed him—w'y of course I did!—The Fall and Winter through

I never built the kitchen-fire, er split a stick in two,

Er fed the stock, er butchered, er swung up a gambrel-pin,

But what I thought o' John, and wished that he was home agin.

He'd come, sometimes—on Sund'ys most—and stay the Sund'y out;

And on Thanksgivin'-Day he 'peared to like to be about:

But a change was workin' on him—he was stiller than before,

And did n't joke, ner laugh, ner sing and whistle any more.

And his talk was all so proper; and I noticed, with a sigh,

He was tryin' to raise side-whiskers, and had on a striped tie,

And a standin'-collar, ironed up as stiff and slick as bone;

And a breast-pin, and a watch and chain and plug-hat of his own.

But when Spring-weather opened out, and John was to come home

And he'p me through the season, I was glad to see him come;

But my happiness, that evening, with the settin' sun went down,

When he bragged of "a position" that was offered him in town.

"But," says I, "you'll not accept it?" "W'y, of course

I will," says he.—

"This drudgin' on a farm," he says, "is not the life fer me;

I've set my stakes up higher," he continued, light and gay,

"And town's the place fer me, and I'm a-goin' right away!"

And go he did!—his mother clingin' to him at the gate,

A-pleadin' and a-cryin'; but it hadn't any weight.

I was tranquiller, and told her 'twarn't no use to worry so,

And onclasped her arms from round his neck round mine—and let him go!

I felt a little bitter feelin' foolin' round about

The aidges of my conscience; but I didn't let it out;—

I simply retch out, trimbly-like, and tuck the boy's hand,

And though I did n't say a word, I knowed he'd understand.

And—well!—sence then the old home here was mighty lonesome, shore!

With me a-workin' in the field, and Mother at the door,

Her face ferever to'rds the town, and fadin' more and more—-

Her only son nine miles away, a-clerkin' in a store!

The weeks and months dragged by us; and sometimes the boy would write

A letter to his mother, savin' that his work was light,

And not to feel oneasy about his health a bit—

Though his business was confinin', he was gittin' used to it.

And sometimes he would write and ast how I was gittin' on,

And ef I had to pay out much fer he'p sence he was gone;

And how the hogs was doin', and the balance of the stock,

And talk on fer a page er two jest like he used to talk.

And he wrote, along 'fore harvest, that he guessed he would git home,

Fer business would, of course be dull in town.—But didn't come:—

We got a postal later, sayin' when they had no trade

They filled the time "invoicin' goods," and that was why he staid.

And then he quit a-writin' altogether: Not a word—

Exceptin' what the neighbors brung who'd been to town and heard

What store John was clerkin' in, and went round to inquire

If they could buy their goods there less and sell their produce higher.

And so the Summer faded out, and Autumn wore away,

And a keener Winter never fetched around Thanksgivin'-Day!

The night before that day of thanks I'll never quite fergit,

The wind a-howlin' round the house—it makes me creepy yit!

And there set me and Mother—me a-twistin' at the prongs

Of a green scrub-ellum forestick with a vicious pair of tongs,

And Mother sayin', "David! David!" in a' undertone,

As though she thought that I was thinkin' bad-words unbeknown.

"I've dressed the turkey, David, fer to-morrow," Mother said,

A-tryin' to wedge some pleasant subject in my stubborn head,—

"And the mince-meat I'm a-mixin' is perfection mighty nigh;

And the pound-cake is delicious-rich—" "Who'll eat 'em?" I-says-I.

"The cramberries is drippin-sweet," says Mother, runnin' on,

P'tendin' not to hear me;—"and somehow I thought of John

All the time they was a-jellin'—fer you know they allus was

His favour—he likes 'em so!" Says I, "Well, s'pose he does?"

"Oh, nothin' much!" says Mother, with a quiet sort o' smile—

"This gentleman behind my cheer may tell you after while!"

And as I turned and looked around, some one riz up and leant

And put his arms round Mother's neck, and laughed in low content.

"It's me," he says—"your fool-boy John, come back to shake your hand;

Set down with you, and talk with you, and make you understand

How dearer yit than all the world is this old home that we

Will spend Thanksgivin' in fer life—jest Mother, you and me!"

* * * * * *

Nobody on the old farm here but Mother, me and John,

Except of course the extry he'p, when harvest-time comes on;

And then, I want to say to you, we need sich he'p about,

As you'd admit, ef you could see the way the crops turns out!

NORTH AND SOUTH.

Of the North I wove a dream,

All bespangled with the gleam

Of the glancing wings of swallows

Dipping ripples in a stream,

That, like a tide of wine,

Wound through lands of shade and shine

Where purple grapes hung bursting on the vine.

And where orchard-boughs were bent

Till their tawny fruitage blent

With the golden wake that marked the

Way the happy reapers went;

Where the dawn died into noon

As the May-mists into June,

And the dusk fell like a sweet face in a swoon.

Of the South I dreamed: And there

Came a vision clear and fair

As the marvelous enchantments

Of the mirage of the air;

And I saw the bayou-trees,

With their lavish draperies,

Hang heavy o'er the moon-washed cypress-knees.

Peering from lush fens of rice,

I beheld the Negro's eyes,

Lit with that old superstition

Death itself can not disguise;

And I saw the palm tree nod

Like an oriental god,

And the cotton froth and bubble from the pod,

And I dreamed that North and South,

With a sigh of dew and drouth,

Blew each unto the other

The salute of lip and mouth;

And I wakened, awed and thrilled—

Every doubting murmur stilled

In the silence of the dream I found fulfilled.

THE IRON HORSE.

No song is mine of Arab steed—

My courser is of nobler blood,

And cleaner limb and fleeter speed,

And greater strength and hardihood

Than ever cantered wild and free

Across the plains of Araby.

Go search the level desert-land

From Sana on to Samarcand—

Wherever Persian prince has been

Or Dervish, Sheik or Bedouin,

And I defy you there to point

Me out a steed the half so fine—

From tip of ear to pastern-joint—

As this old iron horse of mine.

You do not know what beauty is—

You do not know what gentleness

His answer is to my caress!—

Why, look upon this gait of his,—

A touch upon his iron rein—

He moves with such a stately grace

The sunlight on his burnished mane

Is barely shaken in its place;

And at touch he changes pace,

And, gliding backward, stops again.

And talk of mettle—Ah! my friend,

Such passion smoulders in his breast

That when awakened it will send

A thrill of rapture wilder than

Ere palpitated heart of man

When flaming at its mightiest.

And there's a fierceness in his ire—

A maddened majesty that leaps

Along his veins in blood of fire,

Until the path his vision sweeps

Spins out behind him like a thread

Unraveled from the reel of time,

As, wheeling on his course sublime,

The earth revolves beneath his tread.

Then stretch away, my gallant steed!

Thy mission is a noble one:

You bear the father to the son,

And sweet relief to bitter need;

You bear the stranger to his friends;

You bear the pilgrim to the shrine,

And back again the prayer he sends

That God will prosper me and mine,—

The star that on thy forehead gleams

Has blossomed in our brightest dreams.

Then speed thee on thy glorious race!

The mother waits thy ringing pace;

The father leans an anxious ear

The thunder of thy hoofs to hear;

The lover listens, far away,

To catch thy keen exultant neigh;

And, where thy breathings roll and rise,

The husband strains his eager eyes,

And laugh of wife and baby-glee

Ring out to greet and welcome thee.

Then stretch away! and when at last

The master's hand shall gently check

Thy mighty speed, and hold thee fast,

The world will pat thee on the neck.

HIS MOTHER'S WAY

Tomps 'ud allus haf to say

Somepin' 'bout "his mother's way."—

He lived hard-like—never jined

Any church of any kind.—

"It was Mother's way," says he,

"To be good enough fer me

And her too,—and certinly

Lord has heerd her pray!"

Propped up on his dyin' bed,—

"Shore as Heaven's overhead,

I'm a-goin' there," he said—-

"It was Mother's way."

JAP MILLER.

Jap Miller down at Martinsville's the blamedest feller yit!

When he starts in a-talkin' other folks is apt to quit!—

'Pears like that mouth o' his'n wuz n't made fer nuthin' else

But jes' to argify 'em down and gether in their pelts:

He'll talk you down on tariff; er he'll talk you down on tax,

And prove the pore man pays 'em all—and them's about the fac's!—

Religen, law, er politics, prize-fightin', er base-ball—

Jes' tetch Jap up a little and he'll post you 'bout 'em all.

And the comicalist feller ever tilted back a cheer

And tuck a chaw tobacker kind o' like he did n't keer.—

There's where the feller's strength lays,—he's so

common-like and plain,—

They haint no dude about old Jap, you bet you—nary grain!

They 'lected him to Council and it never turned his head,

And did n't make no differunce what anybody said,—

He didn't dress no finer, ner rag out in fancy clothes;

But his voice in Council-meetin's is a turrer to his foes.

He's fer the pore man ever' time! And in the last campaign

He stumped old Morgan County, through the sunshine and the rain,

And helt the banner up'ards from a-trailin' in the dust,

And cut loose on monopolies and cuss'd and cuss'd and cuss'd!

He'd tell some funny story ever' now and then, you know,

Tel, blame it! it wuz better 'n a jack-o'-lantern show!

And I'd go furder, yit, to-day, to hear old Jap norate

Than any high-toned orator 'at ever stumped the State!

W'y, that-air blame Jap Miller, with his keen sircastic fun,

Has got more friends than ary candidate 'at ever run!

Do n't matter what his views is, when he states the same to you,

They allus coincide with your'n, the same as two and two:

You can't take issue with him—er, at least, they haint no sense

In startin' in to down him, so you better not commence.—

The best way's jes' to listen, like your humble servant does,

And jes' concede Jap Miller is the best man ever wuz!

A SOUTHERN SINGER.

Written In Madison Caweln's "Lyrics and Idyls."

Herein are blown from out the South

Songs blithe as those of Pan's pursed mouth—

As sweet in voice as, in perfume,

The night-breath of magnolia-bloom.

Such sumptuous languor lures the sense—

Such luxury of indolence—

The eyes blur as a nymph's might blur,

With water-lilies watching her.

You waken, thrilling at the trill

Of some wild bird that seems to spill

The silence full of winey drips

Of song that Fancy sips and sips.

Betimes, in brambled lanes wherethrough

The chipmunk stripes himself from view,

You pause to lop a creamy spray

Of elder-blossoms by the way.

Or where the morning dew is yet

Gray on the topmost rail, you set

A sudden palm and, vaulting, meet

Your vaulting shadow in the wheat.

On lordly swards, of suave incline,

Entessellate with shade and shine,

You shall misdoubt your lowly birth,

Clad on as one of princely worth:

The falcon on your wrist shall ride—

Your milk-white Arab side by side

With one of raven-black.—You fain

Would kiss the hand that holds the rein.

Nay, nay, Romancer! Poet! Seer!

Sing us back home—from there to here;

Grant your high grace and wit, but we

Most honor your simplicity.—

Herein are blown from out the South

Songs blithe as those of Pan's pursed mouth—

As sweet in voice as, in perfume,

The night-breath of magnolia-bloom.

A DREAM OF AUTUMN.

Mellow hazes, lowly trailing

Over wood and meadow, veiling

Somber skies, with wildfowl sailing

Sailor-like to foreign lands;

And the north-wind overleaping

Summer's brink, and floodlike sweeping

Wrecks of roses where the weeping

Willows wring their helpless hands.

Flared, like Titan torches flinging

Flakes of flame and embers, springing

From the vale the trees stand swinging

In the moaning atmosphere;

While in dead'ning-lands the lowing

Of the cattle, sadder growing,

Fills the sense to overflowing

With the sorrow of the year.

Sorrowfully, yet the sweeter

Sings the brook in rippled meter

Under boughs that lithely teeter

Lorn birds, answering from the shores

Through the viny, shady-shiny

Interspaces, shot with tiny

Flying motes that fleck the winy

Wave-engraven sycamores.

Fields of ragged stubble, wrangled

With rank weeds, and shocks of tangled

Corn, with crests like rent plumes dangled

Over Harvest's battle-piain;

And the sudden whir and whistle

Of the quail that, like a missile,

Whizzes over thorn and thistle,

And, a missile, drops again.

Muffled voices, hid in thickets

Where the redbird stops to stick its

Ruddy beak betwixt the pickets

Of the truant's rustic trap;

And the sound of laughter ringing

Where, within the wild-vine swinging,

Climb Bacchante's schoolmates, flinging

Purple clusters in her lap.

Rich as wine, the sunset flashes

Round the tilted world, and dashes

Up the sloping west and splashes

Red foam over sky and sea—

Till my dream of Autumn, paling

In the splendor all-prevailing,

Like a sallow leaf goes sailing

Down the silence solemnly.

TOM VAN ARDEN.

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

Our warm fellowship is one

Far too old to comprehend

Where its bond was first begun:

Mirage-like before my gaze

Gleams a land of other days,

Where two truant boys, astray,

Dream their lazy lives away.

There's a vision, in the guise

Of Midsummer, where the Past

Like a weary beggar lies

In the shadow Time has cast;

And as blends the bloom of trees

With the drowsy hum of bees,

Fragrant thoughts and murmurs blend,

Tom Van Arden, my old friend.

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

All the pleasures we have known

Thrill me now as I extend

This old hand and grasp your own—

Feeling, in the rude caress,

All affection's tenderness;

Feeling, though the touch be rough,

Our old souls are soft enough.

So we'll make a mellow hour:

Fill your pipe, and taste the wine—

Warp your face, if it be sour,

I can spare a smile from mine;

If it sharpen up your wit,

Let me feel the edge of it—

I have eager ears to lend,

Tom Van Arden, my old friend.

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

Are we "lucky dogs," indeed?

Are we all that we pretend

In the jolly life we lead?—

Bachelors, we must confess,

Boast of "single blessedness"

To the world, but not alone—

Man's best sorrow is his own!

And the saddest truth is this,—

Life to us has never proved

What we tasted in the kiss

Of the women we have loved:

Vainly we congratulate

Our escape from such a fate

As their lying lips could send,

Tom Van Arden, my old friend!

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

Hearts, like fruit upon the stem,

Ripen sweetest, I contend,

As the frost falls over them:

Your regard for me to-day

Makes November taste of May,

And through every vein of rhyme

Pours the blood of summertime.

When our souls are cramped with youth

Happiness seems far away

In the future, while, in truth,

We look back on it to-day

Through our tears, nor dare to boast,—

"Better to have loved and lost!"

Broken hearts are hard to mend,

Tom Van Arden, my old friend.

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

I grow prosy, and you tire;

Fill the glasses while I bend

To prod up the failing fire . . .

You are restless:—I presume

There's a dampness in the room.—

Much of warmth our nature begs,

With rheumatics in our legs! . . .

Humph! the legs we used to fling

Limber-jointed in the dance,

When we heard the fiddle ring

Up the curtain of Romance,

And in crowded public halls

Played with hearts like jugglers'-balls.—

Feats of mountebanks, depend!—

Tom Van Arden, my old friend.

Tom Van Arden, my old friend,

Pardon, then, this theme of mine:

While the fire-light leaps to lend

Higher color to the wine,—

I propose a health to those

Who have homes, and home's repose,

Wife- and child-love without end!

. . . Tom Van Arden, my old friend.

JUST TO BE GOOD.

Just to be good—

This is enough—enough!

O we who find sin's billows wild and rough,

Do we not feel how more than any gold

Would be the blameless life we led of old

While yet our lips knew but a mother's kiss?

Ah! though we miss

All else but this,

To be good is enough!

It is enough—

Enough—just to be good!

To lift our hearts where they are understood;

To let the thirst for worldly power and place

Go unappeased; to smile back in God's face

With the glad lips our mothers used to kiss.

Ah! though we miss

All else but this,

To be good is enough!

HOME AT NIGHT.

When chirping crickets fainter cry,

And pale stars blossom in the sky,

And twilight's gloom has dimmed the bloom

And blurred the butterfly:

When locust-blossoms fleck the walk,

And up the tiger-lily stalk

The glow-worm crawls and clings and falls

And glimmers down the garden-walls:

When buzzing things, with double wings

Of crisp and raspish flutterings,

Go whizzing by so very nigh

One thinks of fangs and stings:—

O then, within, is stilled the din

Of crib she rocks the baby in,

And heart and gate and latch's weight

Are lifted—and the lips of Kate.

THE HOOSIER FOLK-CHILD.

The Hoosier Folk-Child—all unsung—

Unlettered all of mind and tongue;

Unmastered, unmolested—made

Most wholly frank and unafraid:

Untaught of any school—unvexed

Of law or creed—all unperplexed—

Unsermoned, aye, and undefiled,

An all imperfect-perfect child—

A type which (Heaven forgive us!) you

And I do tardy honor to,

And so, profane the sanctities

Of our most sacred memories.

Who, growing thus from boy to man,

That dares not be American?

Go, Pride, with prudent underbuzz—

Go whistle! as the Folk-Child does.

The Hoosier Folk-Child's world is not

Much wider than the stable-lot

Between the house and highway fence

That bounds the home his father rents.

His playmates mostly are the ducks

And chickens, and the boy that "shucks

Corn by the shock," and talks of town,

And whether eggs are "up" or "down,"

And prophesies in boastful tone

Of "owning horses of his own,"

And "being his own man," and "when

He gets to be, what he'll do then."—

Takes out his jack-knife dreamily

And makes the Folk-Child two or three

Crude corn-stalk figures,—a wee span

Of horses and a little man.

The Hoosier Folk-Child's eyes are wise

And wide and round as Brownies' eyes:

The smile they wear is ever blent

With all-expectant wonderment,—

On homeliest things they bend a look

As rapt as o'er a picture-book,

And seem to ask, whate'er befall,

The happy reason of it all:—

Why grass is all so glad a green,

And leaves—and what their lispings mean;—

Why buds grow on the boughs, and why

They burst in blossom by and by—

As though the orchard in the breeze

Had shook and popped its popcorn-trees,

To lure and whet, as well they might,

Some seven-league giant's appetite!

The Hoosier Folk-Child's chubby face

Has scant refinement, caste or grace,—

From crown to chin, and cheek to cheek,

It bears the grimy water-streak

Of rinsings such as some long rain

Might drool across the window-pane

Wherethrough he peers, with troubled frown,

As some lorn team drives by for town.

His brow is elfed with wispish hair,

With tangles in it here and there,

As though the warlocks snarled it so

At midmirk when the moon sagged low,

And boughs did toss and skreek and shake,

And children moaned themselves awake,

With fingers clutched, and starting sight

Blind as the blackness of the night!

The Hoosier Folk-Child!—Rich is he

In all the wealth of poverty!

He owns nor title nor estate,

Nor speech but half articulate,—

He owns nor princely robe nor crown;—

Yet, draped in patched and faded brown,

He owns the bird-songs of the hills—

The laughter of the April rills;

And his are all the diamonds set.

In Morning's dewy coronet,—

And his the Dusk's first minted stars

That twinkle through the pasture-bars,

And litter all the skies at night

With glittering scraps of silver light;—

The rainbow's bar, from rim to rim,

In beaten gold, belongs to him.

JACK THE GIANT KILLER.

Bad Boy's Version.

Tell you a story—an' it's a fac':—

Wunst wuz a little boy, name wuz Jack,

An' he had sword an' buckle an' strap

Maked of gold, an' a "'visibul cap;"

An' he killed Gi'nts 'at et whole cows—

Th' horns an' all—an' pigs an' sows!

But Jack, his golding sword wuz, oh!

So awful sharp 'at he could go

An' cut th' ole Gi'nts clean in two

Fore 'ey knowed what he wuz goin' to do!

An' one ole Gi'nt, he had four

Heads, and name wuz "Bumblebore"—

An' he wuz feered o' Jack—'cause he,

Jack, he killed six—five—ten—three,

An' all o' th' uther ole Gi'nts but him:

An' thay wuz a place Jack haf to swim

'Fore he could git t' ole "Bumblebore"—

Nen thay was "griffuns" at the door:

But Jack, he thist plunged in an' swum

Clean acrost; an' when he come

To th' uther side, he thist put on

His "'visibul cap," an' nen, dog-gone!

You could n't see him at all!—An' so

He slewed the "griffuns"—boff, you know!

Nen wuz a horn hunged over his head

High on th' wall, an' words 'at read,—

"Whoever kin this trumput blow

Shall cause the Gi'nt's overth'ow!"

An' Jack, he thist reached up an' blowed

The stuffin' out of it! an' th'owed

Th' castul-gates wide open, an'

Nen tuck his gold sword in his han',

An' thist marched in t' ole "Bumblebore,"

An', 'fore he knowed, he put 'bout four

Heads on him—an' chopped 'em off, too!—

Wisht 'at I'd been Jack!—don't you?

WHILE THE MUSICIAN PLAYED.

O it was but a dream I had

While the musician played!—

And here the sky, and here the glad

Old ocean kissed the glade—

And here the laughing ripples ran,

And here the roses grew

That threw a kiss to every man

That voyaged with the crew.

Our silken sails in lazy folds

Drooped in the breathless breeze:

As o'er a field of marigolds

Our eyes swam o'er the seas;

While here the eddies lisped and purled

Around the island's rim,

And up from out the underworld

We saw the mermen swim.

And it was dawn and middle-day

And midnight—for the moon

On silver rounds across the bay

Had climbed the skies of June—

And there the glowing, glorious king

Of day ruled o'er his realm,

With stars of midnight glittering

About his diadem.

The seagull reeled on languid wing

In circles round the mast,

We heard the songs the sirens sing

As we went sailing past;

And up and down the golden sands

A thousand fairy throngs

Flung at us from their flashing hands

The echoes of their songs.

O it was but a dream I had

While the musician played—

For here the sky, and here the glad

Old ocean kissed the glade;

And here the laughing ripples ran,

And here the roses grew

That threw a kiss to every man

That voyaged with the crew.

AUGUST.

A day of torpor in the sullen heat

Of Summer's passion: In the sluggish stream

The panting cattle lave their lazy feet,

With drowsy eyes, and dream.

Long since the winds have died, and in the sky

There lives no cloud to hint of Nature's grief;

The sun glares ever like an evil eye,

And withers flower and leaf.

Upon the gleaming harvest-field remote

The thresher lies deserted, like some old

Dismantled galleon that hangs afloat

Upon a sea of gold.

The yearning cry of some bewildered bird

Above an empty nest, and truant boys

Along the river's shady margin heard—

A harmony of noise—

A melody of wrangling voices blent

With liquid laughter, and with rippling calls

Of piping lips and trilling echoes sent

To mimic waterfalls.

And through the hazy veil the atmosphere

Has draped about the gleaming face of Day,

The sifted glances of the sun appear

In splinterings of spray.

The dusty highway, like a cloud of dawn,

Trails o'er the hillside, and the passer-by,

A tired ghost in misty shroud, toils on

His journey to the sky.

And down across the valley's drooping sweep,

Withdrawn to farthest limit of the glade,

The forest stands in silence, drinking deep

Its purple wine of shade.

The gossamer floats up on phantom wing;

The sailor-vision voyages the skies

And carries into chaos everything

That freights the weary eyes:

Till, throbbing on and on, the pulse of heat

Increases—reaches—passes fever's height,

And Day sinks into slumber, cool and sweet,

Within the arms of Night.

TO HEAR HER SING.

To hear her sing—to hear her sing—

It is to hear the birds of Spring

In dewy groves on blooming sprays

Pour out their blithest roundelays.

It is to hear the robin trill

At morning, or the whip-poor-will

At dusk, when stars are blossoming—

To hear her sing—to hear her sing!

To hear her sing—it is to hear

The laugh of childhood ringing clear

In woody path or grassy lane

Our feet may never fare again.

Faint, far away as Memory dwells,

It is to hear the village bells

At twilight, as the truant hears

Them, hastening home, with smiles and tears.

Such joy it is to hear her sing,

We fall in love with everything—

The simple things of every day

Grow lovelier than words can say.

The idle brooks that purl across

The gleaming pebbles and the moss,

We love no less than classic streams—

The Rhines and Arnos of our dreams.

To hear her sing—with folded eyes,

It is, beneath Venetian skies,

To hear the gondoliers' refrain,

Or troubadours of sunny Spain.—

To hear the bulbul's voice that shook

The throat that trilled for Lalla Rookh:

What wonder we in homage bring

Our hearts to her—to hear her sing!

BEING HIS MOTHER.

Being his mother—when he goes away

I would not hold him overlong, and so

Sometimes my yielding sight of him grows O

So quick of tears, I joy he did not stay

To catch the faintest rumor of them! Nay,

Leave always his eyes clear and glad, although

Mine own, dear Lord, do fill to overflow;

Let his remembered features, as I pray,

Smile ever on me! Ah! what stress of love

Thou givest me to guard with Thee thiswise:

Its fullest speech ever to be denied

Mine own—being his mother! All thereof

Thou knowest only, looking from the skies

As when not Christ alone was crucified.

JUNE AT WOODRUFF.

Out at Woodruff Place—afar

From the city's glare and jar,

With the leafy trees, instead

Of the awnings, overhead;

With the shadows cool and sweet,

For the fever of the street;

With the silence, like a prayer,

Breathing round us everywhere.

Gracious anchorage, at last,

From the billows of the vast

Tide of life that comes and goes,

Whence and where nobody knows—

Moving, like a skeptic's thought,

Out of nowhere into naught.

Touch and tame us with thy grace,

Placid calm of Woodruff Place!

Weave a wreath of beechen leaves

For the brow that throbs and grieves

O'er the ledger, bloody-lined,

'Neath the sun-struck window-blind!

Send the breath of woodland bloom

Through the sick man's prison room,

Till his old farm-home shall swim

Sweet in mind to hearten him!

Out at Woodruff Place the Muse

Dips her sandal in the dews,

Sacredly as night and dawn

Baptize lilied grove and lawn:

Woody path, or paven way—

She doth haunt them night and day,—

Sun or moonlight through the trees,

To her eyes, are melodies.

Swinging lanterns, twinkling clear

Through night-scenes, are songs to her—

Tinted lilts and choiring hues,

Blent with children's glad halloos;

Then belated lays that fade

Into midnight's serenade—

Vine-like words and zithern-strings

Twined through ali her slumberings.

Blesséd be each hearthstone set

Neighboring the violet!

Blessed every rooftree prayed

Over by the beech's shadel

Blessed doorway, opening where

We may look on Nature—there

Hand to hand and face to face—

Storied realm, or Woodruff Place.

FARMER WHIPPLE.—BACHELOR.

It's a mystery to see me—a man o' fifty-four,

Who's lived a cross old bachelor fer thirty year' and more—

A-lookin' glad and smilin'! And they's none o' you can say

That you can guess the reason why I feel so good to-day!

I must tell you all about it! But I'll have to deviate

A little in beginning so's to set the matter straight

As to how it comes to happen that I never took a wife—

Kind o' "crawfish" from the Present to the Springtime of my life!

I was brought up in the country: Of a family of five—

Three brothers and a sister—I'm the only one alive,—

Fer they all died little babies; and 'twas one o' Mother's ways,

You know, to want a daughter; so she took a girl to raise.

The sweetest little thing she was, with rosy cheeks, and fat—

We was little chunks o' shavers then about as high as that!

But someway we sort o' suited-like! and Mother she'd declare

She never laid her eyes on a more lovin' pair

Than we was! So we growed up side by side fer thirteen year',

And every hour of it she growed to me more dear!—

W'y, even Father's dyin', as he did, I do believe

Warn't more affectin' to me than it was to see her grieve!

I was then a lad o' twenty; and I felt a flash o' pride

In thinkin' all depended on me now to pervide

Fer Mother and fer Mary; and I went about the place

With sleeves rolled up—and workin', with a mighty smilin' face.—

Fer sompin' else was workin'! but not a word I said

Of a certain sort o' notion that was runnin' through my head,—

"Someday I'd mayby marry, and a brother's love was one

Thing—a lover's was another!" was the way the notion run!

I remember onc't in harvest, when the "cradle-in'" was done—

When the harvest of my summers mounted up to twenty-one—

I was ridin' home with Mary at the closin' o' the day—

A-chawin' straws and thinkin', in a lover's lazy way!

And Mary's cheeks was burnin' like the sunset down the lane:

I noticed she was thinkin', too, and ast her to explain

Well—when she turned and kissed me, with her arm around me—law!

I'd a bigger load o' heaven than I had a load o' straw!

I don't p'tend to learnin', but I'll tell you what's a fac',

They's a mighty truthful sayin' somers in a almanack—

Er somers—'bout "puore happiness"—perhaps some folks'll laugh

At the idy—"only lastin' jest two seconds and a half."—

But its jest as true as preachin'!—fer that was a sister's kiss,

And a sister's lovin' confidence a-tellin' to me this:—

"She was happy, bein' promised to the son o' farmer Brown."—

And my feelin's struck a pardnership with sunset and went down!

I don't know how I acted—I don't know what I said,

Fer my heart seemed jest a-turnin' to an ice-cold lump o' lead;

And the hosses kind o' glimmered before me in the road,

And the lines fell from my fingers—and that was all I knowed—

Fer—well, I don't know how long—They's a dim rememberence

Of a sound o' snortin' bosses, and a stake-and-ridered fence

A-whizzin' past, and wheat-sheaves a-dancin' in the air,

And Mary screamin' "Murder!" and a-runnin' up to where

I was layin' by the roadside, and the wagon upside down

A-leanin' on the gate-post, with the wheels a whirlin' round!

And I tried to raise and meet her, but I couldn't, with a vague

Sort o' notion comin' to me that I had a broken leg.

Well, the women nussed me through it; but many a time I'd sigh

As I'd keep a-gittin' better instid o' goin' to die,

And wonder what was left me worth livin' fer below,

When the girl I loved was married to another, don't you know!

And my thoughts was as rebellious as the folks was good and kind

When Brown and Mary married—Railly must a-been my mind

Was kindo' out o' kilter!—fer I hated Brown, you see,

Worse'n pizen—and the feller whittled crutches out fer me—

And done a thousand little ac's o' kindness and respec'—

And me a-wishin' all the time that I could break his neck!

My relief was like a mourner's when the funeral is done

When they moved to Illinois in the Fall o' Forty-one.

Then I went to work in airnest—I had nothin' much in view

But to drownd out rickollections—and it kep' me busy, too!

But I slowly thrived and prospered, tel Mother used to say

She expected yit to see me a wealthy man some day.

Then I'd think how little money was, compared to happiness—

And who'd be left to use it when I died I couldn't guess!

But I've still kep' speculatin' and a-gainin' year by year,

Tel I'm payin' half the taxes in the county, mighty near!

Well!—A year ago er better, a letter comes to hand

Astin' how I 'd like to dicker fer some Illinois land—

"The feller that had owned it," it went ahead to state,

"Had jest deceased, insolvent, leavin' chance to speculate,"—

And then it closed by sayin' that I'd "better come and see."—

I'd never been West, anyhow—a most too wild fer me,

I'd allus had a notion; but a lawyer here in town

Said I'd find myself mistakend when I come to look around.

So I bids good-bye to Mother, and I jumps aboard the train,

A-thinkin' what I'd bring her when I come back home again—

And ef she'd had an idy what the present was to be,

I think it's more 'n likely she'd a-went along with me!

Cars is awful tejus ridin', fer all they go so fast!

But finally they called out my stopping-place at last:

And that night, at the tavern, I dreamp' I was a train

O' cars, and skeered at sumpin', runnin' down a country lane!

Well, in the mornin' airly—after huntin' up the man—

The lawyer who was wantin' to swap the piece o' land—

We started fer the country;' and I ast the history

Of the farm—its former owner—and so-forth, etcetery!

And—well—it was interestin'—I su'prised him, I suppose,

By the loud and frequent manner in which I blowed my nose!—

But his su'prise was greater, and it made him wonder more,

When I kissed and hugged the widder when she met us at the door!—

It was Mary: They's a feelin' a-hidin' down in here—

Of course I can't explain it, ner ever make it clear.—

It was with us in that meeting I don't want you to fergit!

And it makes me kind o' nervous when I think about it yit!

I bought that farm, and deeded it, afore I left the town,

With "title clear to mansions in the skies," to Mary Brown!

And fu'thermore, I took her and the childern—fer you see,

They'd never seed their Grandma—and I fetched 'em home with me.

So now you've got an idy why a man o' fifty-four,

Who's lived a cross old bachelor fer thirty year' and more,

Is a-lookin' glad and smilin'!—And I've jest come into town

To git a pair o' license fer to marry Mary Brown.

DAWN, NOON AND DEWFALL.

I.

Dawn, noon and dewfall! Bluebird and robin

Up and at it airly, and the orchard-blossoms bobbin'!

Peekin' from the winder, half-awake, and wishin'

I could go to sleep agin as well as go a-fishin'!

II.

On the apern o' the dam, legs a-danglin' over,

Drowsy-like with sound o' worter and the smell o' clover:

Fish all out a visitin'—'cept some dratted minnor!

Yes, and mill shet down at last and hands is gone to dinner.

III.

Trompin' home acrost the fields: Lightnin'-bugs a-blinkin'

In the wheat like sparks o' things feller keeps a-thinkin':—

Mother waitin' supper, and the childern there to cherr me!

And fiddle on the kitchen-wall a-jist a-eechin' fer me!

NESSMUK.

I hail thee, Nessmuk, for the lofty tone

Yet simple grace that marks thy poetry!

True forester thou art, and still to be,

Even in happier fields than thou hast known.

Thus, in glad visions, glimpses am I shown

Of groves delectable—"preserves" for thee—

Ranged but by friends of thine—I name thee three:—

First, Chaucer, with his bald old pate new-grown

With changeless laurel; next, in Lincoln-green,

Gold-belted, bowed and bugled, Robin Hood;

And next, Ike Walton, patient and serene:

These three, O Nessmuk, gathered hunter-wise,

Are camped on hither slopes of Paradise

To hail thee first and greet thee, as they should.

AS MY UNCLE USED TO SAY.

I've thought a power on men and things,

As my uncle ust to say,—

And ef folks don't work as they pray, i jings!

W'y, they ain't no use to pray!

Ef you want somepin', and jes dead-set

A-pleadin' fer it with both eyes wet,

And tears won't bring it, w'y, you try sweat,

As my uncle ust to say.

They's some don't know their A, B, Cs,

As my uncle ust to say,

And yit don't waste no candle-grease,

Ner whistle their lives away!

But ef they can't write no book, ner rhyme

No ringin' song fer to last all time,

They can blaze the way fer the march sublime,

As my uncle ust to say.

Whoever's Foreman of all things here,

As my uncle ust to say,

He knows each job 'at we 're best fit fer,

And our round-up, night and day:

And a-sizin' His work, east and west,

And north and south, and worst and best

I ain't got nothin' to suggest,

As my uncle ust to say.

THE SINGER.

While with Ambition's hectic flame

He wastes the midnight oil,

And dreams, high-throned on heights of fame,

To rest him from his toil,—

Death's Angel, like a vast eclipse,

Above him spreads her wings,

And fans the embers of his lips

To ashes as he sings.

A FULL HARVEST.

Seems like a feller'd ort 'o jes' to-day

Git down and roll and waller, don't you know,

In that-air stubble, and flop up and crow,

Seein' sich craps! I'll undertake to say

There're no wheat's ever turned out thataway

Afore this season!—Folks is keerless tho',

And too fergitful—'caze we'd ort 'o show

More thankfulness!—Jes' looky hyonder, hey?—

And watch that little reaper wadin' thue

That last old yaller hunk o' harvest-ground—

Jes' natchur'ly a-slicin' it in-two

Like honey-comb, and gaumin' it around

The field—like it had nothin' else to do

On'y jes' waste it all on me and you!

BLIND.

You think it is a sorry thing

That I am blind. Your pitying

Is welcome to me; yet indeed,

I think I have but little need

Of it. Though you may marvel much

That we, who see by sense of touch

And taste and hearing, see things you

May never look upon; and true

Is it that even in the scent

Of blossoms we find something meant

No eyes have in their faces read,

Or wept to see interpreted.

And you might think it strange if now

I told you you were smiling. How

Do I know that? I hold your hand—

Its language I can understand—

Give both to me, and I will show

You many other things I know.

Listen: We never met before

Till now?—Well, you are something lower

Than five-feet-eight in height; and you

Are slender; and your eyes are blue—

Your mother's eyes—your mother's hair—

Your mother's likeness everywhere

Save in your walk—and that is quite

Your father's; nervous.—Am I right?

I thought so. And you used to sing,

But have neglected everything

Of vocalism—though you may

Still thrum on the guitar, and play

A little on the violin,—

I know that by the callous in

The finger-tips of your left hand—

And, by-the-bye, though nature planned

You as most men, you are, I see,

"Left-handed," too,—the mystery

Is clear, though,—your right arm has been

Broken, to "break" the left one in.

And so, you see, though blind of sight,

I still have ways of seeing quite

Too well for you to sympathize

Excessively, with your good eyes.—

Though once, perhaps, to be sincere,

Within the whole asylum here,

From cupola to basement hall,

I was the blindest of them all!

Let us move further down the walk—

The man here waiting hears my talk,

And is disturbed; besides, he may

Not be quite friendly anyway.

In fact—(this will be far enough;

Sit down)—the man just spoken of

Was once a friend of mine. He came

For treatment here from Burlingame—

A rich though brilliant student there,

Who read his eyes out of repair,

And groped his way up here, where we

Became acquainted, and where he

Met one of our girl-teachers, and,

If you 'll believe me, asked her hand

In marriage, though the girl was blind

As I am—and the girl declined.

Odd, wasn't it? Look, you can see

Him waiting there. Fine, isn't he?

And handsome, eloquently wide

And high of brow, and dignified

With every outward grace, his sight

Restored to him, clear and bright

As day-dawn; waiting, waiting still

For the blind girl that never will

Be wife of his. How do I know?

You will recall a while ago

I told you he and I were friends.

In all that friendship comprehends,

I was his friend, I swear! why now,

Remembering his love, and how

His confidence was all my own,

I hear, in fancy, the low tone

Of his deep voice, so full of pride

And passion, yet so pacified

With his affliction, that it seems

An utterance sent out of dreams

Of saddest melody, withal

So sorrowfully musical

It was, and is, must ever be—

But I'm digressing, pardon me.

I knew not anything of love

In those days, but of that above

All worldly passion,—for my art—

Music,—and that, with all my heart

And soul, blent in a love too great

For words of mine to estimate.

And though among my pupils she

Whose love my friend sought came to me

I only knew her fingers' touch

Because they loitered overmuch

In simple scales, and needs must be

Untangled almost constantly.

But she was bright in other ways,

And quick of thought, with ready plays

Of wit, and with a voice as sweet

To listen to as one might meet

In any oratorio—

And once I gravely told her so,—

And, at my words, her limpid tone

Of laughter faltered to a moan,

And fell from that into a sigh

That quavered all so wearily,

That I, without the tear that crept

Between the keys, had known she wept;

And yet the hand I reached for then

She caught away, and laughed again.

And when that evening I strolled

With my old friend, I, smiling, told

Him I believed the girl and he

Were matched and mated perfectly:

He was so noble; she, so fair

Of speech, and womanly of air;

He, strong, ambitious; she, as mild

And artless even as a child;

And with a nature, I was sure,

As worshipful as it was pure

And sweet, and brimmed with tender things

Beyond his rarest fancyings.

He stopped me solemnly. He knew,

He said, how good, and just, and true

Was all I said of her; but as

For his own virtues, let them pass,

Since they were nothing to the one

That he had set his heart upon;

For but that morning she had turned

Forever from him. Then I learned

That for a month he had delayed

His going from us, with no aid

Of hope to hold him,—meeting still

Her ever firm denial, till

Not even in his new-found sight

He found one comfort or delight.

And as his voice broke there, I felt

The brother-heart within me melt

In warm compassion for his own

That throbbed so utterly alone.

And then a sudden fancy hit

Along my brain; and coupling it

With a belief that I, indeed,

Might help my friend in his great need,

I warmly said that I would go

Myself, if he decided so,

And see her for him—that I knew

My pleadings would be listened to

Most seriously, and that she

Should love him, listening to me.

Go; bless me! And that was the last—

The last time his warm hand shut fast

Within my own—so empty since,

That the remembered finger-prints

I 've kissed a thousand times, and wet

Them with the tears of all regret!

I know not how to rightly tell

How fared my quest, and what befell

Me, coming in the presence of

That blind girl, and her blinder love.

I know but little else than that

Above the chair in which she sat

I leant—reached for, and found her hand,

And held it for a moment, and

Took up the other—held them both—

As might a friend, I will take oath:

Spoke leisurely, as might a man

Praying for no thing other than

He thinks Heaven's justice;—She was blind,

I said, and yet a noble mind

Most truly loved her; one whose fond

Clear-sighted vision looked beyond

The bounds of her infirmity,

And saw the woman, perfectly

Modeled, and wrought out pure and true

And lovable. She quailed, and drew

Her hands away, but closer still

I caught them. "Rack me as you will!"

She cried out sharply—"Call me 'blind'—

Love ever is—I am resigned!

Blind is your friend; as blind as he

Am I—but blindest of the three—

Yea, blind as death—you will not see

My love for you is killing me!"

There is a memory that may

Not ever wholly fade away

From out my heart, so bright and fair

The light of it still glimmers there.

Why, it did seem as though my sight

Flamed back upon me, dazzling white

And godlike. Not one other word

Of hers I listened for or heard,

But I saw songs sung in her eyes

Till they did swoon up drowning-wise,

As my mad lips did strike her own

And we flashed one and one alone!

Ah! was it treachery for me

To kneel there, drinking eagerly

That torrent-flow of words that swept

Out laughingly the tears she wept?—

Sweet words! O sweeter far, maybe,

Than light of day to those that see,—

God knows, who did the rapture send

To me, and hold it from my friend.

And we were married half a year

Ago,—and he is—waiting here,

Heedless of that—or anything,

But just that he is lingering

To say good-bye to her, and bow—

As you may see him doing now,—

For there's her footstep in the hall;

God bless her!—help him!—save us all!

RIGHT HERE AT HOME.

Right here at home, boys, in old Hoosierdom,

Where strangers allus joke us when they come,

And brag o' their old States and interprize—

Yit settle here; and 'fore they realize,

They're "hoosier" as the rest of us, and live

Right here at home, boys, with their past fergive!

Right here at home, boys, is the place, I guess,

Fer me and you and plain old happiness:

We hear the World's lots grander—likely so,—

We'll take the World's word fer it and not go.—

We know its ways aint our ways—so we'll stay

Right here at home, boys, where we know the way.

Right here at home, boys, where a well-to-do

Man's plenty rich enough—and knows it, too,

And's got a' extry dollar, any time,

To boost a feller up 'at wants to climb

And 's got the git-up in him to go in

And git there, like he purt'-nigh allus kin!

Right here at home, boys, is the place fer us!—

Where folks' heart's bigger 'n their money-pu's';

And where a common feller's jes as good

As ary other in the neighborhood:

The World at large don't worry you and me

Right here at home, boys, where we ort to be!

Right here at home, boys—jes right where we air!—

Birds don't sing any sweeter anywhere:

Grass don't grow any greener'n she grows

Acrost the pastur' where the old path goes,—

All things in ear-shot's purty, er in sight,

Right here at home, boys, ef we size 'em right.

Right here at home, boys, where the old home-place

Is sacerd to us as our mother's face,

Jes as we rickollect her, last she smiled

And kissed us—dyin' so and rickonciled,

Seein' us all at home here—none astray—

Right here at home, boys, where she sleeps to-day.

THE LITTLE FAT DOCTOR.

He seemed so strange to me, every way—

In manner, and form, and size,

From the boy I knew but yesterday,—

I could hardly believe my eyes!

To hear his name called over there,

My memory thrilled with glee

And leaped to picture him young and fair

In youth, as he used to be.

But looking, only as glad eyes can,

For the boy I knew of yore,

I smiled on a portly little man

I had never seen before!—

Grave as a judge in courtliness—

Professor-like and bland—

A little fat doctor and nothing less,

With his hat in his kimboed hand.

But how we talked old times, and "chaffed"

Each other with "Minnie" and "Jim"—-

And how the little fat doctor laughed,

And how I laughed with him!

"And it's pleasant," I thought, "though I yearn to see

The face of the youth that was,

To know no boy could smile on me

As the little fat doctor does!"

THE SHOEMAKER.

Thou Poet, who, like any lark,

Dost whet thy beak and trill

From misty morn till murky dark,

Nor ever pipe thy fill:

Hast thou not, in thy cheery note,

One poor chirp to confer—

One verseful twitter to devote

Unto the Shoe-ma-ker?

At early dawn he doth peg in

His noble work and brave;

And eke from cark and wordly sin

He seeketh soles to save;

And all day long, with quip and song,

Thus stitcheth he the way

Our feet may know the right from wrong,

Nor ever go a stray.

Soak kip in mind the Shoe-ma-ker,

Nor slight his lasting fame:

Alway he waxeth tenderer

In warmth of our acclaim;—

Aye, more than any artisan

We glory in his art

Who ne'er, to help the under man,

Neglects the upper part.

But toe the mark for him, and heel

Respond to thee in kine—

Or kid—or calf, shouldst thou reveal

A taste so superfine:

Thus let him jest—join in his laugh—

Draw on his stock, and be

A shoer'd there's no rival half

Sole liberal as he.

Then, Poet, hail the Shoe-ma-ker

For all his goodly deeds,—

Yea, bless him free for booting thee—

The first of all thy needs!

And when at last his eyes grow dim,

And nerveless drops his clamp,

In golden shoon pray think of him

Upon his latest tramp.

THE OLD RETIRED SEA CAPTAIN.

The old sea captain has sailed the seas

So long, that the waves at mirth,

Or the waves gone wild, and the crests of these,

Were as near playmates from birth:

He has loved both the storm and the calm, because

They seemed as his brothers twain,—

The flapping sail was his soul's applause,

And his rapture, the roaring main.

But now—like a battered hulk seems he,

Cast high on a foreign strand,

Though he feels "in port," as it need must be,

And the stay of a daughter's hand—

Yet ever the round of the listless hours,—

His pipe, in the languid air—

The grass, the trees, and the garden flowers,

And the strange earth everywhere!

And so betimes he is restless here

In this little inland town,

With never a wing in the atmosphere

But the wind-mill's, up and down;

His daughter's home in this peaceful vale,

And his grandchild 'twixt his knees—

But never the hail of a passing sail,

Nor the surge of the angry seas!

He quits his pipe, and he snaps its neck—

Would speak, though he coughs instead,

Then paces the porch like a quarter-deck

With a reeling mast o'erhead!

Ho! the old sea captain's cheeks glow warm,

And his eyes gleam grim and weird,

As he mutters about, like a thunder-storm,

In the cloud of his beetling beard.

ROBERT BURNS WILSON.

What intuition named thee?—Through what thrill

Of the awed soul came the command divine

Into the mother-heart, foretelling thine

Should palpitate with his whose raptures will

Sing on while daisies bloom and lavrocks trill

Their undulating ways up through the fine

Fair mists of heavenly reaches? Thy pure line

Falls as the dew of anthems, quiring still

The sweeter since the Scottish singer raised

His voice therein, and, quit of every stress

Of earthly ache and longing and despair,

Knew certainly each simple thing he praised

Was no less worthy, for its lowliness,

Than any joy of all the glory There.

TO THE SERENADER.

Tinkle on, O sweet guitar,

Let the dancing fingers

Loiter where the low notes are

Blended with the singer's:

Let the midnight pour the moon's

Mellow wine of glory

Down upon him through the tune's

Old romantic story!

I am listening, my love,

Through the cautious lattice,

Wondering why the stars above

All are blinking at us;

Wondering if his eyes from there

Catch the moonbeam's shimmer

As it lights the robe I wear

With a ghostly glimmer.

Lilt thy song, and lute away

In the wildest fashion:—

Pour thy rippling roundelay

O'er the heights of passion!—

Flash it down the fretted strings

Till thy mad lips, missing

All but smothered whisperings,

Press this rose I'm kissing.

THE WIFE-BLESSÉD.

I.

In youth he wrought, with eyes ablur,

Lorn-faced and long of hair—

In youth—in youth he painted her

A sister of the air—

Could clasp her not, but felt the stir

Of pinions everywhere.

II.

She lured his gaze, in braver days,

And tranced him sirenwise;

And he did paint her, through a haze

Of sullen paradise,

With scars of kisses on her face

And embers in her eyes.

III.

And now—nor dream nor wild conceit—

Though faltering, as before—

Through tears he paints her, as is meet,

Tracing the dear face o'er

With lilied patience meek and sweet

As Mother Mary wore.

SISTER JONES'S CONFESSION.

I thought the deacon liked me, yit

I warn't adzackly shore of it—

Fer, mind ye, time and time agin,

When jiners 'ud be comin' in,

I'd seed him shakin' hands as free

With all the sistern as with me!

But jurin' last Revival, where

He called on me to lead in prayer,

An' kneeled there with me, side by side,

A-whisper'n' "he felt sanctified

Jes' tetchin of my gyarment's hem,"—

That settled things as fur as them-

Thare other wimmin was concerned!—

And—well!—I know I must a-turned

A dozen colors!—Flurried?—la!—

No mortal sinner never saw

A gladder widder than the one

A-kneelin' there and wonderun'

Who'd pray'—So glad, upon my word,

I railly could n't thank the Lord!

THE CURSE OF THE WANDERING FOOT.

All hope of rest withdrawn me?—

What dread command hath put

This awful curse upon me—

The curse of the wandering foot!

Forward and backward and thither,

And hither and yon again—

Wandering ever! And whither?

Answer them, God! Amen.

The blue skies are far o'er me—-

The bleak fields near below:

Where the mother that bore me?—

Where her grave in the snow?—

Glad in her trough of a coffin—

The sad eyes frozen shut

That wept so often, often,

The curse of the wandering foot!

Here in your marts I care not

Whatsoever ye think.

Good folk many who dare not

Give me to eat and drink:

Give me to sup of your pity—

Feast me on prayers!—O ye,

Met I your Christ in the city

He would fare forth with me—

Forward and onward and thither,

And hither again and yon,

With milk for our drink together

And honey to feed upon—

Nor hope of rest withdrawn us,

Since the one Father put

The blesséd curse upon us—

The curse of the wandering foot.

A MONUMENT FOR THE SOLDIERS.

A monument for the Soldiers!

And what will ye build it of?

Can ye build it of marble, or brass, or bronze,

Outlasting the Soldiers' love?

Can ye glorify it with legends

As grand as their blood hath writ

From the inmost shrine of this land of thine

To the outermost verge of it?

And the answer came: We would build it

Out of our hopes made sure,

And out of our purest prayers and tears,

And out of our faith secure:

We would build it out of the great white truths

Their death hath sanctified,

And the sculptured forms of the men in arms,

And their faces ere they died.

And what heroic figures

Can the sculptor carve in stone?

Can the marble breast be made to bleed,

And the marble lips to moan?

Can the marble brow be fevered?

And the marble eyes be graved

To look their last, as the flag floats past,

On the country they have saved?

And the answer came: The figures

Shall all be fair and brave,

And, as befitting, as pure and white

As the stars above their grave!

The marble lips, and breast and brow

Whereon the laurel lies,

Bequeath us right to guard the flight

Of the old flag in the skies!

A monument for the Soldiers!

Built of a people's love,

And blazoned and decked and panoplied

With the hearts ye build it oft

And see that ye build it stately,

In pillar and niche and gate,

And high in pose as the souls of those

It would commemorate!

THE RIVAL.

I so loved once, when Death came by I hid

Away my face,

And all my sweetheart's tresses she undid

To make my hiding-place.

The dread shade passed me thus unheeding; and

I turned me then

To calm my love—kiss down her shielding hand

And comfort her again.

And lo! she answered not: And she did sit

All fixedly,

With her fair face and the sweet smile of it,

In love with Death, not me.

IRY AND BILLY AND JO.

Iry an' Billy an' Jo!—

Iry an' Billy's the boys,

An' Jo's their dog, you know,—

Their pictures took all in a row.

Bet they kin kick up a noise—

Iry and Billy, the boys,

And that-air little dog Jo!

Iry's the one 'at stands

Up there a-lookin' so mild

An' meek—with his hat in his hands,

Like such a 'bediant child—

(Sakes-alive!)—An' Billy he sets

In the cheer an' holds onto Jo an' sweats

Hisse'f, a-lookin' so good! Ho-ho!

Iry an' Billy an' Jo!

Yit the way them boys, you know,

Usen to jes turn in

An' fight over that dog Jo

Wuz a burnin'-shame-an'-a-sin !—

Iry he'd argy 'at, by gee-whizz!

That-air little Jo-dog wuz his!—

An' Billy he'd claim it wuzn't so—

'Cause the dog wuz his'n!—An' at it they'd go,

Nip-an'-tugg, tooth-an'-toenail, you know—

Iry an' Billy an' Jo!

But their Pa—(He wuz the marshal then)

He 'tended-like 'at he jerked 'em up;

An' got a jury o' Brickyard men

An' helt a trial about the pup:

An' he says he jes like to a-died

When the rest o' us town-boys testified—

Regardin', you know,

Iry an' Billy an' Jo.—

'Cause we all knowed, when the Gypsies they

Camped down here by the crick last Fall,

They brung Jo with 'em, an' give him away

To Iry an' Billy fer nothin' at all!—

So the jury fetched in the verdick so

Jo he ain't neether o' theirn fer shore—

He's both their dog, an' jes no more!

An' so

They've quit quarrelin' long ago,

Iry an' Billy an' Jo.

A WRAITH OF SUMMERTIME.

In its color, shade and shine,

'T was a summer warm as wine,

With an effervescent flavoring of flowered bough and vine,

And a fragrance and a taste

Of ripe roses gone to waste,

And a dreamy sense of sun- and moon- and star-light interlaced.

'Twas a summer such as broods

O'er enchanted solitudes,

Where the hand of Fancy leads us through voluptuary moods,

And with lavish love out-pours

All the wealth of out-of-doors,

And woos our feet o'er velvet paths and honeysuckle floors.

'Twas a summertime long dead,—

And its roses, white and red,

And its reeds and water-lilies down along the river-bed,—

O they all are ghostly things—

For the ripple never sings,

And the rocking lily never even rustles as it rings!

HER BEAUTIFUL EYES.

O her beautiful eyes! they are as blue as the dew

On the violet's bloom when the morning is new,

And the light of their love is the gleam of the sun

O'er the meadows of Spring where the quick shadows run:

As the morn shirts the mists and the clouds from the skies—

So I stand in the dawn of her beautiful eyes.

And her beautiful eyes are as midday to me,

When the lily-bell bends with the weight of the bee,

And the throat of the thrush is a-pulse in the heat,

And the senses are drugged with the subtle and sweet

And delirious breaths of the air's lullabies—

So I swoon in the noon of her beautiful eyes.

O her beautiful eyes! they have smitten mine own

As a glory glanced down from the glare of The Throne;

And I reel, and I falter and fall, as afar

Fell the shepherds that looked on the mystical Star,

And yet dazed in the tidings that bade them arise—

So I grope through the night of her beautiful eyes.

DOT LEEDLE BOY.

Ot's a leedle Christmas story

Dot I told der leedle folks—

Und I vant you stop dot laughin'

Und grackin' funny jokes'—

So-help me Peter-Moses!

Ot's no time for monkeyshine',

Ober I vas told you somedings

Of dot leedle boy of mine!

Ot vas von cold Vinter vedder,

Ven der snow vas all about—

Dot you have to chop der hatchet

Eef you got der saur kraut!

Und der cheekens on der hind-leg

Vas standin' in der shine

Der sun shmile out dot morning

On dot leedle boy of mine.

He vas yoost a leedle baby

Not bigger as a doll

Dot time I got acquaintet—

Ach! you ought to heard 'im squall!—

I grackys! dot's der moosic

Ot make me feel so fine

Ven first I vas been marriet—

Oh, dot leedle boy of mine!

He look' yoost like his fader!—

So, ven der vimmen said

"Vot a purty leedle baby!"

Katrina shake der head.

I dink she must a-notice

Dot der baby vas a-gryin',

Und she cover up der blankets

Of dot leedle boy of mine.

Vel, ven he vas got bigger,

Dot he grawl und bump his nose,

Und make der table over,

Und molasses on his glothes—

Dot make 'im all der sveeter,—

So I say to my Katrine

"Better you vas quit a-shpankin'

Dot leedle boy of mine!"

I vish you could a-seen id—

Ven he glimb up on der chair

Und shmash der lookin' glasses

Ven he try to comb his hair

Mit a hammer!—Und Katrina

Say "Dot's an ugly sign!"

But I laugh und vink my fingers

At dot leedle boy of mine.

But vonce, dot Vinter morning,

He shlip out in der snow

Mitout no stockin's on 'im.—

He say he "vant to go

Und fly some mit der birdies!"

Und ve give 'im medi-cine

Ven he catch der "parrygoric"—

Dot leedle boy of mine!

Und so I set und nurse 'im,

Vile der Christmas vas come roun',

Und I told 'im 'bout "Kriss Kringle,"

How he come der chimbly down:

Und I ask 'im eef he love 'im

Eef he bring 'im someding fine?

"Nicht besser as mein fader,"

Say dot leedle boy of mine.—

Und he put his arms aroun' me

Und hug so close und tight,

I hear der gclock a-tickin'

All der balance of der night! . . .

Someding make me feel so funny

Ven I say to my Katrine

"Let us go und fill der stockin's

Of dot leedle boy of mine."

Veil.—Ve buyed a leedle horses

Dot you pull 'im mit a shtring,

Und a leedle fancy jay-bird—

Eef you vant to hear 'im sing

You took 'im by der top-knot

Und yoost blow in behine—

Und dot make much spectakel—

For dot leedle boy of mine!

Und gandles, nuts and raizens—

Unt I buy a leedle drum

Dot I vant to hear 'im rattle

Ven der Gristmas morning come!

Und a leedle shmall tin rooster

Dot vould crow so loud und fine

Ven he sqveeze 'im in der morning,

Dot leedle boy of mine!

Und—vile ve vas a-fixin'—

Dot leedle boy vake out!

I fought he been a-dreamin'

"Kriss Kringle" vas about,—

For he say—"Dot's him!—I see 'im

Mit der shtars dot make der shine!"

Und he yoost keep on a-gryin'—

Dot leedle boy of mine,—

Und gottin' vorse und vorser—

Und tumble on der bed!

So—ven der doctor seen id,

He kindo' shake his head,

Und feel his pulse—und visper

"Der boy is a-dyin'."

You dink I could believe id?—

Dot leedle boy of mine?

I told you, friends—dot's someding,

Der last time dot he speak

Und say "Goot-bye, Kriss Kringle!"

—Dot make me feel so veak

I yoost kneel down und drimble,

Und bur-sed out a-gryin'

"Mein Goit, mein Gott im Himmel!—

Dot leedle boy, of mine!"

* * * * *

Der sun don't shine dot Gristmas!

. . . Eef dot leedle boy vould liff'd—

No deefer-en'! for Heaven vas

His leedle Gristmas-gift! . . .

Und der rooster, und der gandy,

Und me—und my Katrine—

Und der jay-bird—is a-vaiting

For dot leedle boy of mine.

DONN PIATT OF MAC-O-CHEE.

Donn Piatt—of Mac-o-chee,—

Not the one of History,

Who, with flaming tongue and pen,

Scathes the vanities of men;

Not the one whose biting wit

Cuts pretense and etches it

On the brazen brow that dares

Filch the laurel that it wears:

Not the Donn Piatt whose praise

Echoes in the noisy ways

Of the faction, onward led

By the statesman!—But, instead,

Give the simple man to me,—

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

II.

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

Branches of the old oak tree,

Drape him royally in fine

Purple shade and golden shine!

Emerald plush of sloping lawn

Be the throne he sits upon!

And, O Summer sunset, thou

Be his crown, and gild a brow

Softly smoothed and soothed and calmed

By the breezes, mellow-palmed

As Erata's white hand agleam

On the forehead of a dream.—

So forever rule o'er me,

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

III.

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee:

Through a lilied memory

Plays the wayward little creek

Round thy home at hide-and-seek—

As I see and hear it, still

Romping round the wooded hill,

Till its laugh-and-babble blends

With the silence while it sends

Glances back to kiss the sight,

In its babyish delight,

Ere it strays amid the gloom

Of the glens that burst in bloom

Of the rarest rhyme for thee,

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

IV.

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

What a darling destiny

Has been mine—to meet him there—

Lolling in an easy chair

On the terrace, while he told

Reminiscences of old—

Letting my cigar die out,

Hearing poems talked about;

And entranced to hear him say

Gentle things of Thackeray,

Dickens, Hawthorne, and the rest,

Known to him as host and guest—

Known to him as he to me—

Donn Piatt of Mac-o-chee!

THEM FLOWERS.

Take a feller 'at's sick and laid up on the shelf,

All shaky, and ga'nted, and pore—

Jes all so knocked out he can't handle hisself

With a stiff upper-lip any more;

Shet him up all alone in the gloom of a room

As dark as the tomb, and as grim,

And then take and send him some roses in bloom,

And you can have fun out o' him!

You've ketched him 'fore now—when his liver was sound

And his appetite notched like a saw—

A-mockin' you, mayby, fer romancin' round

With a big posy-bunch in yer paw;

But you ketch him, say, when his health is away,

And he's flat on his back in distress,

And then you kin trot out yer little bokay

And not be insulted, I guess!

You see, it's like this, what his weaknesses is,—

Them flowers makes him think of the days

Of his innocent youth, and that mother o' his,

And the roses that she us't to raise:—

So here, all alone with the roses you send—

Bein' sick and all trimbly and faint,—

My eyes is—my eyes is—my eyes is—old friend—

Is a-leakin'—I'm blamed ef they ain't!

THE QUIET LODGER.

The man that rooms next door to me:

Two weeks ago, this very night,

He took possession quietly,

As any other lodger might—

But why the room next mine should so

Attract him I was vexed to know,—

Because his quietude, in fine,

Was far superior to mine.

"Now, I like quiet, truth to tell,

A tranquil life is sweet to me—

But this," I sneered, "suits me too well.—

He shuts his door so noiselessly,

And glides about so very mute,

In each mysterious pursuit,

His silence is oppressive, and

Too deep for me to understand."

Sometimes, forgetting book or pen,

I've found my head in breathless poise

Lifted, and dropped in shame again,

Hearing some alien ghost of noise—

Some smothered sound that seemed to be

A trunk-lid dropped unguardedly,

Or the crisp writhings of some quire

Of manuscript thrust in the fire.

Then I have climbed, and closed in vain

My transom, opening in the hall;

Or close against the window-pane

Have pressed my fevered face,—but all

The day or night without held not

A sight or sound or counter-thought

To set my mind one instant free

Of this man's silent mastery.

And often I have paced the floor

With muttering anger, far at night,

Hearing, and cursing, o'er and o'er,

The muffled noises, and the light

And tireless movements of this guest

Whose silence raged above my rest

Hoarser than howling storms at sea—

The man that rooms next door to me.

But twice or thrice, upon the stair,

I've seen his face—most strangely wan,—

Each time upon me unaware

He came—smooth'd past me, and was gone.

So like a whisper he went by,

I listened after, ear and eye,

Nor could my chafing fancy tell

The meaning of one syllable.

Last night I caught him, face to face,—

He entering his room, and I

Glaring from mine: He paused a space

And met my scowl all shrinkingly,

But with full gentleness: The key

Turned in his door—and I could see

It tremblingly withdrawn and put

Inside, and then—the door was shut.

Then silence. Silence!—why, last night

The silence was tumultuous,

And thundered on till broad daylight;—

O never has it stunned me thus!—

It rolls, and moans, and mumbles yet.—

Ah, God! how loud may silence get

When man mocks at a brother man

Who answers but as silence can!

The silence grew, and grew, and grew,

Till at high noon to-day 'twas heard

Throughout the house; and men flocked through

The echoing halls, with faces blurred

With pallor, gloom, and fear, and awe,

And shuddering at what they saw—

The quiet lodger, as he lay

Stark of the life he cast away.

* * * * *

So strange to-night—those voices there,

Where all so quiet was before;

They say the face has not a care

Nor sorrow in it any more—

His latest scrawl:—"Forgive me—You

Who prayed, 'they know not what they do!'"

My tears wilt never let me see

This man that rooms next door to me!

THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT.

O the waiting in the watches of the night!

In the darkness, desolation, and contrition and affright;

The awful hush that holds us shut away from all delight:

The ever weary memory that ever weary goes

Recounting ever over every aching loss it knows—

The ever weary eyelids gasping ever for repose—

In the dreary, weary watches of the night!

Dark—stifling dark—the watches of the night!

With tingling nerves at tension, how the blackness flashes white

With spectral visitations smitten past the inner sight!—

What shuddering sense of wrongs we've wrought

that may not be redressed—

Of tears we did not brush away—of lips we left unpressed,

And hands that we let fall, with all their loyalty unguessed!

Ah! the empty, empty watches of the night!

What solace in the watches of the night?—

What frailest staff of hope to stay—what faintest shaft of light?

Do we dream and dare believe it, that by never weight of right

Of our own poor weak deservings, we shall win the dawn at last—

Our famished souls find freedom from this penance for the past,

In a faith that leaps and lightens from the gloom

that flees aghast—

Shall we survive the watches of the night?

One leads us through the watches of the night—

By the ceaseless intercession of our loved ones lost to sight

He is with us through all trials, in His mercy and His might;—

With our mothers there about Him, all our sorrow disappears,

Till the silence of our sobbing is the prayer the Master hears,

And His hand is laid upon us with the tenderness of tears

In the waning of the watches of the night.

HIS VIGIL.

Close the book and dim the light,

I shall read no more to-night.

No—I am not sleepy, dear—

Do not go: sit by me here

In the darkness and the deep

Silence of the watch I keep.

Something in your presence so

Soothes me—as in long ago

I first felt your hand—as now—

In the darkness touch my brow;

I've no other wish than you

Thus should fold mine eyelids to,

Saying nought of sigh or tear—

Just as God were sitting here.

THE PLAINT HUMAN

Season of snows, and season of flowers,

Seasons of loss and gain!—

Since grief and joy must alike be ours,

Why do we still complain?

Ever our failing, from sun to sun,

O my intolerent brother:—

We want just a little too little of one,

And much too much of the other.

BY ANY OTHER NAME.

First the teacher called the roll,

Clos't to the beginnin',

"Addeliney Bowersox!"

Set the school a-grinnin'.

Wintertime, and stingin'-cold

When the session took up—

Cold as we all looked at her,

Though she couldn't look up!

Total stranger to us, too—

Country-folks ain't allus

Nigh so shameful unpolite

As some people call us!—

But the honest facts is, then,

Addeliney Bower-

Sox's feelin's was so hurt

She cried half an hour!

My dest was acrost from her 'n:

Set and watched her tryin'

To p'tend she didn't keer,

And a kind o' dryin'

Up her tears with smiles—-tel I

Thought, "Well, 'Addeliney

Bowersox' is plain, but she's

Purty as a piney!"

It's be'n many of a year

Sence that most oncommon

Cur'ous name o' Bowersox

Struck me so abomin-

Nubble and outlandish-like!—

I changed it to Adde-

Liney Daubenspeck—and that

Nearly killed her Daddy!

TO AN IMPORTUNATE GHOST.

Get gone, thou most uncomfortable ghost!

Thou really dost annoy me with thy thin

Impalpable transparency of grin;

And the vague, shadowy shape of thee almost

Hath vext me beyond boundary and coast

Of my broad patience. Stay thy chattering chin,

And reel the tauntings of thy vain tongue in,

Nor tempt me further with thy vaporish boast

That I am helpless to combat thee! Well,

Have at thee, then! Yet if a doom most dire

Thou wouldst escape, flee whilst thou canst!—Revile

Me not, Miasmic Mist!—Rank Air! retire!

One instant longer an thou haunt'st me, I'll

Inhale thee, O thou wraith despicable!

THE QUARREL.

They faced each other: Topaz-brown

And lambent burnt her eyes and shot

Sharp flame at his of amethyst.—

"I hate you! Go, and be forgot

As death forgets!" their glitter hissed

(So seemed it) in their hatred. Ho!

Dared any mortal front her so?—

Tempestuous eyebrows knitted down—

Tense nostril, mouth—no muscle slack,—

And black—the suffocating black—

The stifling blackness of her frown!

Ah! but the lifted face of her!

And the twitched lip and tilted head!

Yet he did neither wince nor stir,—

Only—his hands clenched; and, instead

Of words, he answered with a stare

That stammered not in aught it said,

As might his voice if trusted there.

And what—what spake his steady gaze?—

Was there a look that harshly fell

To scoff her?—or a syllable

Of anger?—or the bitter phrase

That myrrhs the honey of love's lips,

Or curdles blood as poison drips?

What made their breasts to heave and swell

As billows under bows of ships

In broken seas on stormy days?

We may not know—nor they indeed—

What mercy found them in their need.

A sudden sunlight smote the gloom;

And round about them swept a breeze,

With faint breaths as of clover-bloom;

A bird was heard, through drone of bees,—

Then, far and clear and eerily,

A child's voice from an orchard-tree—

Then laughter, sweet as the perfume

Of lilacs, could the hearing see.

And he—O Love! he fed thy name

On bruiséd kisses, while her dim

Deep eyes, with all their inner flame,

Like drowning gems were turned on him.

THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.

I.

As one in sorrow looks upon

The dead face of a loyal friend,

By the dim light of New Year's dawn

I saw the Old Year end.

Upon the pallid features lay

The dear old smile—so warm and bright

Ere thus its cheer had died away

In ashes of delight.

The hands that I had learned to love

With strength of passion half divine,

Were folded now, all heedless of

The emptiness of mine.

The eyes that once had shed their bright

Sweet looks like sunshine, now were dull,

And ever lidded from the light

That made them beautiful.

II.

The chimes of bells were in the air,

And sounds of mirth in hall and street,

With pealing laughter everywhere

And throb of dancing feet:

The mirth and the convivial din

Of revelers in wanton glee,

With tunes of harp and violin

In tangled harmony.

But with a sense of nameless dread,

I turned me, from the merry face

Of this newcomer, to my dead;

And, kneeling there a space,

I sobbed aloud, all tearfully:—

By this dear face so fixed and cold,

O Lord, let not this New Year be

As happy as the old!

THE HEREAFTER.

Hereafter! O we need not waste

Our smiles or tears, whatever befall:

No happiness but holds a taste

Of something sweeter, after all;—

No depth of agony but feels

Some fragment of abiding trust,—

Whatever death unlocks or seals,

The mute beyond is just.

JOHN BROWN.

Writ in between the lines of his life-deed

We trace the sacred service of a heart

Answering the Divine command, in every part

Bearing on human weal: His love did feed

The loveless; and his gentle hands did lead

The blind, and lift the weak, and balm the smart

Of other wounds than rankled at the dart

In his own breast, that gloried thus to bleed.

He served the lowliest first—nay, them alone—

The most despised that e'er wreaked vain breath

In cries of suppliance in the reign whereat

Red Guilt sate squat upon her spattered throne.—

For these doomed there it was he went to death.

God! how the merest man loves one like that!

A CUP OF TEA.

I have sipped, with drooping lashes,

Dreamy draughts of Verzenay;

I have flourished brandy-smashes

In the wildest sort of way;

I have joked with "Tom and Jerry"

Till wee hours ayont the twal'—

But I've found my tea the very

Safest tipple of them all!

'Tis a mystical potation

That exceeds in warmth of glow

And divine exhilaration

All the drugs of long ago—

All of old magicians' potions—

Of Medea's filtered spells—

Or of fabled isles and oceans

Where the Lotos-eater dwells!

Though I've reveled o'er late lunches

With blasé dramatic stars,

And absorbed their wit and punches

And the fumes of their cigars—

Drank in the latest story,

With a cock-tail either end,—

I have drained a deeper glory

In a cup of tea, my friend.

Green, Black, Moyune, Formosa,

Congou, Amboy, Pingsuey—

No odds the name it knows—ah!

Fill a cup of it for me!

And, as I clink my china

Against your goblet's brim,

My tea in steam shall twine a

Fragrant laurel round its rim.

JUDITH.

O her eyes are amber-fine—

Dark and deep as wells of wine,

While her smile is like the noon

Splendor of a day of June.

If she sorrow—lo! her face

It is like a flowery space

In bright meadows, overlaid

With light clouds and lulled with shade

If she laugh—it is the trill

Of the wayward whippoorwill

Over upland pastures, heard

Echoed by the mocking-bird

In dim thickets dense with bloom

And blurred cloyings of perfume.

If she sigh—a zephyr swells

Over odorous asphodels

And wan lilies in lush plots

Of moon-drown'd forget-me-nots.

Then, the soft touch of her hand—

Takes all breath to understand

What to liken it thereto!—

Never roseleaf rinsed with dew

Might slip soother-suave than slips

Her slow palm, the while her lips

Swoon through mine, with kiss on kiss

Sweet as heated honey is.

THE ARTEMUS OF MICHIGAN.

Grand Haven is in Michigan, and in possession, too,

Of as many rare attractions as our party ever knew:—

The fine hotel, the landlord, and the lordly bill of fare,

And the dainty-neat completeness of the pretty waiters there;

The touch on the piano in the parlor, and the trill

Of the exquisite soprano, in our fancy singing still;

Our cozy room, its comfort, and our thousand grateful tho'ts,

And at our door the gentle face

Of

H.

Y.

Potts!

His artless observations, and his drollery of style,

Bewildered with that sorrowful serenity of smile—

The eye's elusive twinkle, and the twitching of the lid,

Like he didn't go to say it and was sorry that he did.

O Artemus of Michigan! so worthy of the name,

Our manager indorses it, and Bill Nye does the same—

You tickled our affection in so many tender spots

That even Recollection laughs

At

H.

Y.

Potts!

And hark ye! O Grand Haven! count your rare attractions o'er—

The commerce of your ships at sea, and ships along the shore;

Your railroads, and your industries, and interests untold,

Your Opera House—our lecture, and the gate-receipts in gold!—

Ay, Banner Town of Michigan! count all your treasures through—

Your crowds of summer tourists, and your Sanitarium, too;

Your lake, your beach, your drives, your breezy groves

and grassy plots,

But head the list of all of these

With

H.

Y.

Potts!

THE HOODOO.

Owned a pair o' skates onc't.—Traded

Fer 'em,—stropped 'em on and waded

Up and down the crick, a-waitin'

Tel she'd freeze up fit fer skatin'.

Mildest winter I remember—

More like Spring- than Winter-weather!—

Did n't frost tel bout December-

Git up airly ketch a' feather

Of it, mayby, 'crost the winder—

Sunshine swinge it like a cinder!

Well—I waited—and kep' waitin'!

Couldn't see my money's w'oth in

Them-air skates and was no skatin',

Ner no hint o' ice ner nothin'!

So, one day—along in airly

Spring—I swopped 'em off—and barely

Closed the dicker, 'fore the weather

Natchurly jes slipped the ratchet,

And crick—tail-race—all together,

Froze so tight cat couldn't scratch it!

THE RIVALS; OR THE SHOWMAN'S RUSE

A TRAGI-COMEDY, IN ONE ACT.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

BILLY MILLER ) The Rivals

JOHNNY WILLIAMS )

TOMMY WELLS Conspirator

TIME—Noon: SCENE—Country Town—Rear-view of the Miller Mansion, showing Barn, with practical loft-window opening on alley-way, with colored-crayon poster beneath, announcing:—"BILLY MILLER'S Big Show and Monstur Circus and Equareum! A shour-bath fer Each and All fer 20 pins. This Afternoon! Don't fer git the date!" Enter TOMMY WELLS and JOHNNY WILLIAMS, who gaze awhile at poster, TOMMY secretly smiling and winking at BILLY MILLER, concealed at loft-window above.

TOMMY (to JOHNNY).

Guess 'at Billy haint got back,—

Can't see nothin' through the crack—-

Can't hear nothin' neither—No!

. . . Thinks he's got the dandy show,

Don't he?

JOHNNY (scornfully)—

'Course' but what I care?—

He haint got no show in there!—

What's he got in there but that

Old hen, cooped up with a cat

An' a turkle, an' that thing

'At he calls his "circus-ring?"

"What a circus-ring!" I'd quit!

Bet mine's twic't as big as it!

TOMMY—

Yes, but you got no machine

Wat you bathe with, painted green,

With a string to work it, guess!

JOHNNY (contemptuously)—

Folks don't bathe in circuses!—

Ladies comes to mine, you bet!

I' got seats where girls can set;

An' a dressin'-room, an' all,

Fixed up in my pony's stall—

Yes, an' I' got carpet, too,

Fer the tumblers, and a blue

Center-pole!

TOMMY—

Well, Billy, he's

Got a tight-rope an' trapeze,

An' a hoop 'at he jumps through

Head-first!

JOHNNY—

Well, what's that to do—

Lightin' on a pile o' hay?

Haint no actin' thataway!

TOMMY—

Don't care what you say, he draws

Bigger crowds than you do, 'cause

Sense he started up, I know

All the fellers says his show

Is the best-un!

JOHNNY—

Yes, an' he

Better not tell things on me!

His old circus haint no good!—

'Cause he's got the neighborhood

Down on me he thinks 'at I'm

Goin' to stand it all the time;

Thinks ist 'cause my Pa don't 'low

Me to fight, he's got me now.

An' can say I lie, an' call

Me ist anything at all!

Billy Miller thinks I am

'Feared to say 'at he says "dam"—

Yes, and worser ones! and I'm

Goin' to tell his folks sometime!—

An' ef he don't shet his head

I'll tell worse 'an that he said

When he fighted Willie King—

An' got licked like ever'thing!—

Billy Miller better shin

Down his Daddy's lane agin,

Like a cowardy-calf, an' climb

In fer home another time!

Better—

[Here BILLY leaps down from the loft upon his unsuspecting victim; and two minutes, later, JOHNNY, with the half of a straw hat, a bleeding nose, and a straight rent across one trouser-knee, makes his inglorious—exit.]

WHAT CHRIS'MAS FETCHED THE WIGGINSES.

Wintertime, er Summertime,

Of late years I notice I'm,

Kindo'-like, more subjec' to

What the weather is. Now, you

Folks 'at lives in town, I s'pose,

Thinks its bully when it snows;

But the chap 'at chops and hauls

Yer wood fer ye, and then stalls,

And snapps tuggs and swingletrees,

And then has to walk er freeze,

Haint so much "stuck on" the snow

As stuck in it—Bless ye, no!—

When its packed, and sleighin's good,

And church in the neighborhood,

Them 'at's got their girls, I guess,

Takes 'em, likely, more er less,

Tell the plain facts o' the case,

No men-folks about our place

On'y me and Pap—and he

'Lows 'at young folks' company

Allus made him sick! So I

Jes don't want, and jes don't try!

Chinkypin, the dad-burn town,

'S too fur off to loaf aroun'

Either day er night—and no

Law compellin' me to go!—

'Less 'n some Old-Settlers' Day,

Er big-doin's thataway—

Then, to tell the p'inted fac',

I've went more so's to come back

By old Guthrie's 'still-house, where

Minors has got licker there—

That's pervidin' we could show 'em

Old folks sent fer it from home!

Visit roun' the neighbors some,

When the boys wants me to come.—

Coon-hunt with 'em; er set traps

Fer mussrats; er jes, perhaps,

Lay in roun' the stove, you know,

And parch corn, and let her snow!

Mostly, nights like these, you'll be

(Ef you' got a writ fer me)

Ap' to skeer me up, I guess,

In about the Wigginses.

Nothin' roun' our place to keep

Me at home—with Pap asleep

'Fore it's dark; and Mother in

Mango pickles to her chin;

And the girls, all still as death,

Piecin' quilts.—Sence I drawed breath

Twenty year' ago, and heerd

Some girls whispern' so's it 'peared

Like they had a row o' pins

In their mouth—right there begins

My first rickollections, built

On that-air blame old piece-quilt!

Summertime, it's jes the same—

'Cause I've noticed,—and I claim,

As I said afore, I'm more

Subjec' to the weather, shore,

'Proachin' my majority,

Than I ever ust to be!

Callin' back last Summer, say,—

Don't seem hardly past away—

With night closin' in, and all

S' lonesome-like in the dew-fail:

Bats—ad-drat their ugly muggs!—

Flickern' by; and lightnin'-bugs

Huckstern' roun' the airly night

Little sickly gasps o' light;—

Whip-poor-wills, like all possessed,

Moanin' out their mournfullest;—

Frogs and katydids and things

Jes clubs in and sings and sings

Their ding-dangdest!—Stock's all fed,

And Pap's washed his feet fer bed;—

Mother and the girls all down

At the milk-shed, foolin' roun'—

No wunder 'at I git blue,

And lite out—and so would you!

I caint stay aroun' no place

Whur they haint no livin' face:—

'Crost the fields and thue the gaps

Of the hills they's friends, perhaps,

Waitin' somers, 'at kin be

Kindo' comfertin' to me!

Neighbors all 'is plenty good,

Scattered thue this neighberhood;

Yit, of all, I like to jes

Drap in on the Wigginses.—

Old man, and old lady too,

'Pear-like, makes so much o' you—,

Least, they've allus pampered me

Like one of the fambily.—

The boys, too, 's all thataway—

Want you jes to come and stay;—

Price, and Chape, and Mandaville,

Poke, Chasteen, and "Catfish Bill"—

Poke's the runt of all the rest,

But he's jes the beatinest

Little schemer, fer fourteen,

Anybody ever seen!—

"Like his namesake," old man claims,

"Jeems K. Poke, the first o' names!

Full o' tricks and jokes—and you

Never know what Poke's go' do!"

Genius, too, that-air boy is,

With them awk'ard hands o' his:

Gits this blame pokeberry-juice,

Er some stuff, fer ink—and goose-

Quill pen-p'ints: And then he'll draw

Dogdest pictures yevver saw!

Er make deers and eagles good

As a writin'-teacher could!

Then they's two twin boys they've riz

Of old Coonrod Wigginses

'At's deceast—and glad of it,

'Cause his widder's livin' yit!

Course the boys is mostly jes'

Why I go to Wigginses.—-

Though Melviney, sometimes, she

Gits her slate and algebry

And jes' sets there ciphern' thue

Sums old Ray hisse'f caint do!—

Jes' sets there, and tilts her chair

Forreds tel, 'pear-like, her hair

Jes' spills in her lap—and then

She jes' dips it up again

With her hands, as white, I swan,

As the apern she's got on!

Talk o' hospitality!—

Go to Wigginses with me—

Overhet, or froze plum thue,

You'll find welcome waitin' you:—

Th'ow out yer tobacker 'fore

You set foot acrost that floor,—

"Got to eat whatever's set—

Got to drink whatever's wet!"

Old man's sentimuns—them's his—-

And means jes the best they is!

Then he lights his pipe; and she,

The old lady, presen'ly

She lights her'n; and Chape and Poke.

I haint got none, ner don't smoke,—

(In the crick afore their door—

Sorto so's 'at I'd be shore—

Drownded mine one night and says

"I won't smoke at Wigginses!")

Price he's mostly talkin' 'bout

Politics, and "thieves turned out"—

What he's go' to be, ef he

Ever "gits there"—and "we'll see!"—

Poke he 'lows they's blame few men

Go' to hold their breath tel then!

Then Melviney smiles, as she

Goes on with her algebry,

And the clouds clear, and the room's

Sweeter 'n crabapple-blooms!

(That Melviney, she' got some

Most surprisin' ways, I gum!—

Don't 'pear like she ever says

Nothin', yit you'll listen jes

Like she was a-talkin', and

Half-way seem to understand,

But not quite,—Poke does, I know,

'Cause he good as told me so,—

Poke's her favo-rite; and he—

That is, confidentially—

He's my favo-rite—and I

Got my whurfore and my why!)

I haint never ben no hand

Much at talkin', understand,

But they's thoughts o' mine 'at's jes

Jealous o' them Wigginses!—

Gift o' talkin 's what they got,

Whether they want to er not—

F'r instunce, start the old man on

Huntin'-scrapes, 'fore game was gone,

'Way back in the Forties, when

Bears stold pigs right out the pen,

Er went waltzin' 'crost the farm

With a bee-hive on their arm!—

And—sir, ping! the old man's gun

Has plumped-over many a one,

Firin' at him from afore

That-air very cabin-door!

Yes—and painters, prowlin' 'bout,

Allus darkest nights.—Lay out

Clost yer cattle.—Great, big red

Eyes a-blazin' in their head,

Glittern' 'long the timber-line—

Shine out some, and then un-shine,

And shine back—Then, stiddy! whizz!

'N there yer Mr. Painter is

With a hole bored spang between

Them-air eyes! Er start Chasteen,

Say, on blooded racin'-stock,

Ef you want to hear him talk;

Er tobacker—how to raise,

Store, and k-yore it, so's she pays:

The old lady—and she'll cote

Scriptur' tel she'll git yer vote!

Prove to you 'at wrong is right,

Jes as plain as black is white:

Prove when you're asleep in bed

You're a-standin' on yer head,

And yer train 'at's goin' West,

'S goin' East its level best;

And when bees dies, it's their wings

Wears out—and a thousand things!

And the boys is "chips," you know;

"Off the old block"—So I go

To the Wigginses, 'cause—jes

'Cause I like the Wigginses—

Even ef Melviney she

Hardly 'pears to notice me!

Rid to Chinkypin this week—

Yisterd'y.—No snow to speak

Of, and didn't have no sleigh

Anyhow; so, as I say,

I rid in—and froze one ear

And both heels—and I don't keer!—

"Mother and the girls kin jes

Bother 'bout their Chris'mases

Next time fer theirse'vs, I jack!"

Thinks-says-I, a-startin' back,—

Whole durn meal-bag full of things

Wrapped in paper-sacks, and strings

Liable to snap their holt

Jes at any little jolt!

That in front o' me, and wind

With nicks in it, 'at jes skinned

Me alive!—I'm here to say

Nine mile' hossback thataway

Would a-walked my log! But, as

Somepin' allus comes to pass,

As I topped old Guthrie's hill.

Saw a buggy, front the 'Still,

P'inted home'ards, and a thin

Little chap jes climbin' in.

Six more minutes I were there

On the groun's'—And course it were—

It were little Poke—and he

Nearly fainted to see me!—

"You ben in to Chinky, too?"

"Yes; and go' ride back with you,"

I-says-I. He he'pped me find

Room fer my things in behind—

Stript my hoss's reins down, and

Put his mitt' on the right hand

So's to lead—"Pile in!" says he,

"But you 've struck pore company!"

Noticed he was pale—looked sick,

Kindo-like, and had a quick

Way o' flickin' them-air eyes

0' his roun' 'at didn't size

Up right with his usual style—

s' I, "You well?" He tried to smile,

But his chin shuck and tears come.—

"I've run 'Viney 'way from home!"

Don't know jes what all occurred

Next ten seconds—Nary word,

But my heart jes drapt, stobbed thue,

And whirlt over and come to.—

Wrenched a big quart bottle from

That fool-boy!—and cut my thumb

On his little fiste-teeth—helt

Him snug in one arm, and felt

That-air little heart o' his

Churn the blood o' Wigginses

Into that old bead 'at spun

Roun' her, spilt at Lexington!

His k'niptions, like enough,

He'pped us both,—though it was rough—

Rough on him, and rougher on

Me when last his nerve was gone,

And he laid there still, his face

Fishin' fer some hidin'-place

Jes a leetle lower down

In my breast than he 'd yit foun'!

Last I kindo' soothed him, so's

He could talk.—And what you s'pose

Them-air revelations of

Poke's was? . . . He'd ben writin' love-

Letters to Melviney, and

Givin her to understand

They was from "a young man who

Loved her," and—"the violet's blue

'N sugar's sweet"—and Lord knows what!

Tel, 'peared-like, Melviney got

S' interested in "the young

Man," Poke he says, 'at she brung

A' answer onc't fer him to take,

Statin' "she'd die fer his sake,"

And writ fifty xs "fer

Love-kisses fer him from her!"

I was standin' in the road

By the buggy, all I knowed

When Poke got that fer.—"That's why,"

Poke says, "I 'fessed up the lie—

Had to—'cause I see," says he,

"'Viney was in airnest—she

Cried, too, when I told her.—Then

She swore me, and smiled again,

And got Pap and Mother to

Let me hitch and drive her thue

Into Chinkypin, to be

At Aunt 'Rindy's Chris'mas-tree—

That's to-night." Says I, "Poke—durn

Your lyin' soul!—'s that beau o' hern—

That—she—loves—Does he live in

That hellhole o' Chinkypin?"

"No," says Poke, "er 'Viney would

Went some other neighborhood."

"Who is the blame whelp?" says I.

"Promised 'Viney, hope I'd die

Ef I ever told!" says Poke,

Pittiful and jes heart-broke—

"'Sides that's why she left the place,—

'She caint look him in the face

Now no more on earth!' she says.—"

And the child broke down and jes

Sobbed! Says I, "Poke, I p'tend

T' be your friend, and your Pap's friend,

And your Mother's friend, and all

The boys' friend, little, large and small—

The whole fambily's friend—and you

Know that means Melviney, too.—

Now—you hush yer troublin!'—I'm

Go' to he'p friends ever' time—

On'y in this case, you got

To he'p me—and, like as not

I kin he'p Melviney then,

And we'll have her home again.

And now, Poke, with your consent,

I'm go' go to that-air gent

She's in love with, and confer

With him on his views o' her.—

Blast him! give the man some show.—

Who is he?—I'm go' to know!"

Somepin' struck the little chap

Funny, 'peared-like.—Give a slap

On his leg—laughed thue the dew

In his eyes, and says: "It's you!"

Yes, and—'cordin' to the last

Love-letters of ours 'at passed

Thue his hands—we was to be

Married Chris'mas.—"Gee-mun-nee!

Poke," says I, "it's suddent—yit

We kin make it! You're to git

Up tomorry, say, 'bout three—

Tell your folks you're go' with me:—

We'll hitch up, and jes drive in

'N take the town o' Chinkypin!"

GO, WINTER!

Go, Winter! Go thy ways! We want again

The twitter of the bluebird and the wren;

Leaves ever greener growing, and the shine

Of Summer's sun—not thine.—

Thy sun, which mocks our need of warmth and love

And all the heartening fervencies thereof,

It scarce hath heat enow to warm our thin

Pathetic yearnings in.

So get thee from us! We are cold, God wot,

Even as thou art.—We remember not

How blithe we hailed thy coming.—That was O

Too long—too long ago!

Get from us utterly! Ho! Summer then

Shall spread her grasses where thy snows have been,

And thy last icy footprint melt and mold

In her first marigold.

ELIZABETH.

May 1, 1891.

I.

Elizabeth! Elizabeth!

The first May-morning whispereth

Thy gentle name in every breeze

That lispeth through the young-leaved trees,

New raimented in white and green

Of bloom and leaf to crown thee queen;—

And, as in odorous chorus, all

The orchard-blossoms sweetly call

Even as a singing voice that saith

Elizabeth! Elizabeth!

II.

Elizabeth! Lo, lily-fair,

In deep, cool shadows of thy hair,

Thy face maintaineth its repose.—

Is it, O sister of the rose,

So better, sweeter, blooming thus

Than in this briery world with us?—

Where frost o'ertaketh, and the breath

Of biting winter harrieth

With sleeted rains and blighting snows

All fairest blooms—Elizabeth!

III.

Nay, then!—So reign, Elizabeth,

Crowned, in thy May-day realm of death!

Put forth the scepter of thy love

In every star-tipped blossom of

The grassy dais of thy throne!

Sadder are we, thus left alone,

But gladder they that thrill to see

Thy mother's rapture, greeting thee.

Bereaved are we by life—not death—

Elizabeth! Elizabeth!

SLEEP.

Orphaned, I cry to thee:

Sweet sleep! O kneel and be

A mother unto me!

Calm thou my childish fears:

Fold—fold mine eyelids to, all tenderly,

And dry my tears.

Come, Sleep, all drowsy-eyed

And faint with languor,—slide

Thy dim face down beside

Mine own, and let me rest

And nestle in thy heart, and there abide,

A favored guest.

Good night to every care,

And shadow of despair!

Good night to all things where

Within is no delight!—

Sleep opens her dark arms, and, swooning there,

I sob: Good night—good night!

DAN PAINE.

Old friend of mine, whose chiming name

Has been the burthen of a rhyme

Within my heart since first I came

To know thee in thy mellow prime;

With warm emotions in my breast

That can but coldly be expressed,

And hopes and wishes wild and vain,

I reach my hand to thee, Dan Paine.

In fancy, as I sit alone

In gloomy fellowship with care,

I hear again thy cheery tone,

And wheel for thee an easy chair;

And from my hand the pencil falls—

My book upon the carpet sprawls,

As eager soul and heart and brain,

Leap up to welcome thee, Dan Paine.

A something gentle in thy mein,

A something tender in thy voice,

Has made my trouble so serene,

I can but weep, from very choice.

And even then my tears, I guess,

Hold more of sweet than bitterness,

And more of gleaming shine than rain,

Because of thy bright smile, Dan Paine.

The wrinkles that the years have spun

And tangled round thy tawny face,

Are kinked with laughter, every one,

And fashioned in a mirthful grace.

And though the twinkle of thine eyes

Is keen as frost when Summer dies,

It can not long as frost remain

While thy warm soul shines out, Dan Paine.

And so I drain a health to thee;—

May merry Joy and jolly Mirth

Like children clamber on thy knee,

And ride thee round the happy earth!

And when, at last, the hand of Fate

Shall lift the latch of Canaan's gate,

And usher me in thy domain,

Smile on me just as now, Dan Paine.

OLD WINTERS ON THE FARM

I have jest about decided

It 'ud keep a town-boy hoppin'

Fer to work all winter, choppin'

Fer a' old fire-place, like I did!

Lawz! them old times wuz contrairy!—

Blame backbone o' winter, 'peared-like,

Wouldn't break!—and I wuz skeerd-like

Clean on into Febuary!

Nothin' ever made we madder

Than fer Pap to stomp in, layin'

On a' extra fore-stick, sayin'

"Groun'hog's out and seed his shadder!"

AT UTTER LOAF.

I.

An afternoon as ripe with heat

As might the golden pippin be

With mellowness if at my feet

It dropped now from the apple-tree

My hammock swings in lazily.

II.

The boughs about me spread a shade

That shields me from the sun, but weaves

With breezy shuttles through the leaves

Blue rifts of skies, to gleam and fade

Upon the eyes that only see

Just of themselves, all drowsily.

III.

Above me drifts the fallen skein

Of some tired spider, looped and blown,

As fragile as a strand of rain,

Across the air, and upward thrown

By breaths of hayfields newly mown—

So glimmering it is and fine,

I doubt these drowsy eyes of mine.

IV.

Far-off and faint as voices pent

In mines, and heard from underground,

Come murmurs as of discontent,

And clamorings of sullen sound

The city sends me, as, I guess,

To vex me, though they do but bless

Me in my drowsy fastnesses.

V.

I have no care. I only know

My hammock hides and holds me here

In lands of shade a prisoner:

While lazily the breezes blow

Light leaves of sunshine over me,

And back and forth and to and fro

I swing, enwrapped in some hushed glee,

Smiling at all things drowsily.

A LOUNGER.

He leant against a lamp-post, lost

In some mysterious reverie:

His head was bowed; his arms were crossed;

He yawned, and glanced evasively:

Uncrossed his arms, and slowly put

Them back again, and scratched his side—

Shifted his weight from foot to foot,

And gazed out no-ward, idle-eyed.

Grotesque of form and face and dress,

And picturesque in every way—

A figure that from day to day

Drooped with a limper laziness;

A figure such as artists lean,

In pictures where distress is seen,

Against low hovels where we guess

No happiness has ever been.

A SONG OF LONG AGO.

A song of Long Ago:

Sing it lightly—sing it low—

Sing it softly—like the lisping of the lips we used to know

When our baby-laughter spilled

From the glad hearts ever filled

With music blithe as robin ever trilled!

Let the fragrant summer-breeze,

And the leaves of locust-trees,

And the apple-buds and blossoms, and the wings of honey-bees,

All palpitate with glee,

Till the happy harmony

Brings back each childish joy to you and me.

Let the eyes of fancy turn

Where the tumbled pippins burn

Like embers in the orchard's lap of tangled grass and fern,—

There let the old path wind

In and out and on behind

The cider-press that chuckles as we grind.

Blend in the song the moan

Of the dove that grieves alone,

And the wild whir of the locust, and the bumble's drowsy drone;

And the low of cows that call

Through the pasture-bars when all

The landscape fades away at evenfall.

Then, far away and clear,

Through the dusky atmosphere,

Let the wailing of the kildee be the only sound we hear:

O sad and sweet and low

As the memory may know

Is the glad-pathetic song of Long Ago!

THE CHANT OF THE CROSS-BEARING CHILD.

I bear dis cross dis many a mile.

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

I bear dis cross 'long many a road

Wha' de pink ain't bloom' an' de grass done mowed.

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

Hits on my conscience all dese days

Fo' ter bear de cross ut de good Lord lays

On my po' soul, an' ter lif my praise.

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

I 's nigh-'bout weak ez I mos' kin be,

Yit de Marstah call an' He say,—"You 's free

Fo' ter 'cept dis cross, an' ter cringe yo' knee

To no n'er man in de worl' but me!"

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

Says you guess wrong, ef I let you guess—

Says you 'spec' mo', an'-a you git less:—

Says you go eas', says you go wes',

An' whense you fine de road ut you like bes'

You betteh take ch'ice er any er de res'!

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

He build my feet, an' He fix de signs

Dat de shoe hit pinch an' de shoe hit bines

Ef I on'y w'ah eights an-a wanter w'ah nines;

I hone fo' de rain, an' de sun hit shines,

An' whilse I hunt de sun, hits de rain I fines.—

O-a trim my lamp, an-a gyrd my lines!

O de cross-bearin' chile—

De cross-bearin' chile!

I wade de wet, an' I walk de dry:

I done tromp long, an' I done clim high;

An' I pilgrim on ter de jasper sky,

An' I taken de resk fo' ter cas' my eye

Wha' de Gate swing wide an' de Lord draw nigh,

An' de Trump hit blow, an' I hear de cry,—

"You lay dat cross down by an' by!—

O de Cross-bearin' Chile—

Do Cross-bearin' Chile!"

THANKSGIVING.

Let us be thankful—not only because

Since last our universal thanks were told

We have grown greater in the world's applause,

And fortune's newer smiles surpass the old—

But thankful for all things that come as alms

From out the open hand of Providence:—

The winter clouds and storms—-the summer calms—

The sleepless dread—the drowse of indolence.

Let us be thankful—thankful for the prayers

Whose gracious answers were long, long delayed,

That they might fall upon us unawares,

And bless us, as in greater need, we prayed.

Let us be thankful for the loyal hand

That love held out in welcome to our own,

When love and only love could understand

The need of touches we had never known.

Let us be thankful for the longing eyes

That gave their secret to us as they wept,

Yet in return found, with a sweet surprise,

Love's touch upon their lids, and, smiling, slept.

And let us, too, be thankful that the tears

Of sorrow have not all been drained away,

That through them still, for all the coming years,

We may look on the dead face of To-day.

AUTUMN.

As a harvester, at dusk,

Faring down some woody trail

Leading homeward through the musk

Of may-apple and pawpaw,

Hazel-bush, and spice and haw,—

So comes Autumn, swart and hale,

Drooped of frame and slow of stride.

But withal an air of pride

Looming up in stature far

Higher than his shoulders are;

Weary both in arm and limb,

Yet the wholesome heart of him

Sheer at rest and satisfied.

Greet him as with glee of drums

And glad cymbals, as he comes!

Robe him fair, O Rain and Shine.

He the Emperor—the King—

Royal lord of everything

Sagging Plenty's granary floors

And out-bulging all her doors;

He the god of corn and wine,

Honey, milk, and fruit and oil—

Lord of feast, as lord of toil—

Jocund host of yours and mine!

Ho! the revel of his laugh!—

Half is sound of winds, and half

Roar of ruddy blazes drawn

Up the throats of chimneys wide,

Circling which, from side to side,

Faces—lit as by the Dawn,

With her highest tintings on

Tip of nose, and cheek, and chin—

Smile at some old fairy-tale

Of enchanted lovers, in

Silken gown and coat of mail,

With a retinue of elves

Merry as their very selves,

Trooping ever, hand in hand,

Down the dales of Wonderland.

Then the glory of his song!—

Lifting up his dreamy eyes—

Singing haze across the skies;

Singing clouds that trail along

Towering tops of trees that seize

Tufts of them to stanch the breeze;

Singing slanted strands of rain

In between the sky and earth,

For the lyre to mate the mirth

And the might of his refrain:

Singing southward-flying birds

Down to us, and afterwards

Singing them to flight again;

Singing blushes to the cheeks

Of the leaves upon the trees—

Singing on and changing these

Into pallor, slowly wrought,

Till the little, moaning creeks

Bear them to their last farewell,

As Elaine, the lovable,

Was borne down to Lancelot.—

Singing drip of tears, and then

Drying them with smiles again.

Singing apple, peach and grape,

Into roundest, plumpest shape,

Rosy ripeness to the face

Of the pippin; and the grace

Of the dainty stamin-tip

To the huge bulk of the pear,

Pendant in the green caress

Of the leaves, and glowing through

With the tawny laziness

Of the gold that Ophir knew,—

Haply, too, within its rind

Such a cleft as bees may find,

Bungling on it half aware.

And wherein to see them sip

Fancy lifts an oozy lip,

And the singer's falter there.

Sweet as swallows swimming through

Eddyings of dusk and dew,

Singing happy scenes of home

Back to sight of eager eyes

That have longed for them to come,

Till their coming is surprise

Uttered only by the rush

Of quick tears and prayerful hush;

Singing on, in clearer key,

Hearty palms of you and me

Into grasps that tingle still

Rapturous, and ever will!

Singing twank and twang of strings—

Trill of flute and clarinet

In a melody that rings

Like the tunes we used to play,

And our dreams are playing yet!

Singing lovers, long astray,

Each to each, and, sweeter things—

Singing in their marriage-day,

And a banquet holding all

These delights for festival.

THE TWINS.

One 's the pictur' of his Pa,

And the other of her Ma—

Jes the bossest pair o' babies 'at a mortal ever saw!

And we love 'em as the bees

Loves the blossoms of the trees,

A-ridin' and a-rompin' in the breeze!

One's got her Mammy's eyes—

Soft and blue as Apurl-skies—

With the same sort of a smile, like—Yes,

and mouth about her size,—

Dimples, too, in cheek and chin,

'At my lips jes wallers in,

A-goin' to work, er gittin' home agin.

And the other—Well, they say

That he's got his Daddy's way

O' bein' ruther soberfied, er ruther extry gay,—

That he either cries his best,

Er he laughs his howlin'est—

Like all he lacked was buttons and a vest!

Look at her!—and look at him!—

Talk about yer "Cheru-bim!"

Roll 'em up in dreams together, rosy arm and chubby limb!

O we love 'em as the bees

Loves the blossoms of the trees,

A-ridin' and a-rompin' in the breeze!

BEDOUIN.

O love is like an untamed steed!—

So hot of heart and wild of speed,

And with fierce freedom so in love,

The desert is not vast enough,

With all its leagues of glimmering sands,

To pasture it! Ah, that my hands

Were more than human in their strength,

That my deft lariat at length

Might safely noose this splendid thing

That so defies all conquering!

Ho! but to see it whirl and reel—

The sands spurt forward—and to feel

The quivering tension of the thong

That throned me high, with shriek and song!

To grapple tufts of tossing mane—

To spurn it to its feet again,

And then, sans saddle, rein or bit,

To lash the mad life out of it!

TUGG MARTIN.

I.

Tugg Martin's tough.—No doubt o' that!

And down there at

The town he come from word's bin sent

Advisin' this-here Settle-ment

To kindo' humor Tugg, and not

To git him hot—

Jest pass his imperfections by,

And he's as good as pie!

II.

They claim he's wanted back there.—Yit

The officers they mostly quit

Insistin' when

They notice Tugg's so back'ard, and

Sorto' gives 'em to understand

He druther not!—A Deputy

(The slickest one you ever see!)

Tackled him last—"disguisin' then,"

As Tugg says, "as a gentlemen!"—

You 'd ort o' hear Tugg tell it!—My!

I thought I'd die!

III.

The way it wuz;—Tugg and the rest

The boys wuz jest

A-kindo' gittin' thawed out, down

At "Guss's Place," fur-end o' town,

One night, when, first we knowed,

Some feller rode

Up in a buggy at the door,

And hollered fer some one to come

And fetch him some

Red-licker out—And whirped and swore

That colt he drove wuz "Thompson's" shore!

IV.

Guss went out, and come in agin

And filled a pint and tuck it out—

Stayed quite a spell—then peeked back in,

Half-hid-like where the light wuz dim,

And jieuked his head

At Tugg and said,—

"Come out a minute—here's a gent

Wants you to take a drink with him."

V.

Well—Tugg laid down his cards and went—

In fact, we all

Got up, you know,

Startin' to go—

When in reels Guss aginst the wall,

As white as snow,

Gaspin',—"He's tuck Tugg!—wher's my gun?"

And-sir, outside we heerd

The hoss snort and kick up his heels

Like he wuz skeerd,

And then the buggy-wheels

Scrape—and then Tugg's voice hollerun',—

"I'm bested!—Good-bye, fellers!" . . . 'Peared

S' all-fired suddent,

Nobody couldn't

Jest git it fixed,—tel hoss and man,

Buggy and Tugg, off through the dark

Went like the devil beatin' tan-

Bark!

VI.

What could we do? . . . We filed back to

The bar: And Guss jest looked at us,

And we looked back "The same as you,"

Still sayin' nothin'—And the sap

It stood in every eye,

And every hat and cap

Went off, as we teched glasses solemnly,

And Guss says-he:

"Ef it's 'good-bye' with Tugg, fer shore,—I say

God bless him!—Er ef they

Aint railly no need to pray,

I'm not reniggin!—board's the play,

And here's God bless him, anyway!"

VII.

It must a-bin an hour er so

We all set there,

Talkin o' pore

Old Tugg, you know,

'At never, wuz ketched up before—

When—all slow-like—the door-

Knob turned—and Tugg come shamblin' in,

Hand-cuffed'—'at's what he wuz, I swear!—

Yit smilin,' like he hadn't bin

Away at all! And when we ast him where

The Deputy wuz at,—"I don't know where," Tugg said,—

"All I know is—he's dead."

LET US FORGET.

Let us forget. What matters it that we

Once reigned o'er happy realms of long-ago,

And talked of love, and let our voices low,

And ruled for some brief sessions royally?

What if we sung, or laughed, or wept maybe?

It has availed not anything, and so

Let it go by that we may better know

How poor a thing is lost to you and me.

But yesterday I kissed your lips, and yet

Did thrill you not enough to shake the dew

From your drenched lids—and missed, with no regret,

Your kiss shot back, with sharp breaths failing you;

And so, to-day, while our worn eyes are wet

With all this waste of tears, let us forget!

JOHN ALDEN AND PERCILLY.

We got up a Christmas-doin's

Last Christmas Eve—

Kindo' dimonstration

'At I railly believe

Give more satisfaction—

Take it up and down—

Than ary intertainment

Ever come to town!

Railly was a theater—

That's what it was,—

But, bein' in the church, you know,

We had a "Santy Clause"—

So 's to git the old folks

To patternize, you see,

And back the institootion up

Kindo' morally.

Schoolteacher writ the thing—

(Was a friend o' mine),

Got it out o' Longfeller's

Pome "Evangeline"—

Er some'rs—'bout the Purituns—.

Anyway, the part

"John Alden" fell to me—

And learnt it all by heart!

Claircy was "Percilly"—

(Schoolteacher 'lowed

Me and her could act them two

Best of all the crowd)—

Then—blame ef he didn't

Git her Pap, i jing!—

To take the part o' "Santy Clause,"

To wind up the thing.

Law! the fun o' practisun!—

Was a week er two

Me and Claircy didn't have

Nothin' else to do!—

Kep' us jes a-meetin' round,

Kindo' here and there,

Ever' night rehearsin'-like,

And gaddin' ever'where!

Game was wo'th the candle, though!—

Christmas Eve at last

Rolled around.—And 'tendance jes

Couldn't been surpassed!—

Neighbors from the country

Come from Clay and Rush—

Yes, and 'crost the county-line

Clean from Puckerbrush!

Meetin'-house jes trimbled

As "Old Santy" went

Round amongst the childern,

With their pepperment

And sassafrac and wintergreen

Candy, and "a ball

O' popcorn," the preacher 'nounced,

"Free fer each and all!"

Schoolteacher suddently

Whispered in my ear,—

"Guess I got you:—Christmas-gift!—

Christmas is here!"

I give him a gold pen,

And case to hold the thing,—

And Claircy whispered "Christmas-gift!"

And I give her a ring.

"And now," says I, "jes watch me—

Christmas-gift," says I,

"I'm a-goin' to git one—

'Santy's' comin' by!"—

Then I rech and grabbed him:

And, as you'll infer,

'Course I got the old man's,

And he gimme her!

REACH YOUR HAND TO ME.

Reach your hand to me, my friend,

With its heartiest caress—

Sometime there will come an end

To its present faithfulness—

Sometime I may ask in vain

For the touch of it again,

When between us land or sea

Holds it ever back from me.

Sometime I may need it so,

Groping somewhere in the night,

It will seem to me as though

Just a touch, however light,

Would make all the darkness day,

And along some sunny way

Lead me through an April-shower

Of my tears to this fair hour.

O the present is too sweet

To go on forever thus!

Round the corner of the street

Who can say what waits for us?—

Meeting—greeting, night and day,

Faring each the self-same way—

Still somewhere the path must end.—

Reach your hand to me, my friend!

THE ROSE.

It tossed its head at the wooing breeze;

And the sun, like a bashful swain,

Beamed on it through the waving frees

With a passion all in vain,—

For my rose laughed in a crimson glee,

And hid in the leaves in wait for me.

The honey-bee came there to sing

His love through the languid hours,

And vaunt of his hives, as a proud old king

Might boast of his palace-towers:

But my rose bowed in a mockery,

And hid in the leaves in wait for me.

The humming-bird, like a courtier gay,

Dipped down with a dalliant song,

And twanged his wings through the roundelay

Of love the whole day long:

Yet my rose turned from his minstrelsy

And hid in the leaves in wait for me.

The firefly came in the twilight dim

My red, red rose to woo—

Till quenched was the flame of love in him,

And the light of his lantern too,

As my rose wept with dew-drops three

And hid in the leaves in wait for me.

And I said: I will cult my own sweet rose—

Some day I will claim as mine

The priceless worth of the flower that knows

No change, but a bloom divine—

The bloom of a fadeless constancy

That hides in the leaves in wait for me!

But time passed by in a strange disguise,

And I marked it not, but lay

In a lazy dream, with drowsy eyes,

Till the summer slipped away,

And a chill wind sang in a minor key:

"Where is the rose that waits for thee?"

* * * * *

I dream to-day, o'er a purple stain

Of bloom on a withered stalk,

Pelted down by the autumn rain

In the dust of the garden-walk,

That an Angel-rose in the world to be

Will hide in the leaves in wait for me.

MY FRIEND.

"He is my friend," I said,—

"Be patient!" Overhead

The skies were drear and dim;

And lo! the thought of him

Smited on my heart—and then

The sun shone out again!

"He is my friend!" The words

Brought summer and the birds;

And all my winter-time

Thawed into running rhyme

And rippled into song,

Warm, tender, brave, and strong.

And so it sings to-day.—

So may it sing alway!

Though waving grasses grow

Between, and lilies blow

Their trills of perfume clear

As laughter to the ear,

Let each mute measure end

With "Still he is thy friend."

SUSPENSE.

A woman's figure, on a ground of night

Inlaid with sallow stars that dimly stare

Down in the lonesome eyes, uplifted there

As in vague hope some alien lance of light

Might pierce their woe. The tears that blind her sight—

The salt and bitter blood of her despair—

Her hands toss back through torrents of her hair

And grip toward God with anguish infinite.

And O the carven mouth, with all its great

Intensity of longing frozen fast

In such a smile as well may designate

The slowly-murdered heart, that, to the last,

Conceals each newer wound, and back at Fate

Throbs Love's eternal lie—"Lo, I can wait!"

THE PASSING OF A HEART.

O touch me with your hands—

For pity's sake!

My brow throbs ever on with such an ache

As only your cool touch may take away;

And so, I pray

You, touch me with your hands!

Touch—touch me with your hands.—

Smooth back the hair

You once caressed, and kissed, and called so fair

That I did dream its gold would wear alway,

And lo, to-day—

O touch me with your hands!

Just touch me with your hands,

And let them press

My weary eyelids with the old caress,

And lull me till I sleep. Then go your way,

That Death may say:

He touched her with his hands.

BY HER WHITE BED.

By her white bed I muse a little space:

She fell asleep—not very long ago,—

And yet the grass was here and not the snow—

The leaf, the bud, the blossom, and—her face!—

Midsummer's heaven above us, and the grace

Of Lovers own day, from dawn to afterglow;

The fireflies' glimmering, and the sweet and low

Plaint of the whip-poor-wills, and every place

In thicker twilight for the roses' scent.

Then night.—She slept—in such tranquility,

I walk atiptoe still, nor dare to weep,

Feeling, in all this hush, she rests content—

That though God stood to wake her for me, she

Would mutely plead: "Nay, Lord! Let him so sleep."

WE TO SIGH INSTEAD OF SING.

"Rain and rain! and rain and rain!"

Yesterday we muttered

Grimly as the grim refrain

That the thunders uttered:

All the heavens under cloud—

All the sunshine sleeping;

All the grasses limply bowed

With their weight of weeping.

Sigh and sigh! and sigh and sigh!

Never end of sighing;

Rain and rain for our reply—

Hopes half-drowned and dying;

Peering through the window-pane,

Naught but endless raining—

Endless sighing, and, as vain,

Endlessly complaining.

Shine and shine! and shine and shine!

Ah! to-day the splendor!—

All this glory yours and mine—

God! but God is tender!

We to sigh instead of sing,

Yesterday, in sorrow,

While the Lord was fashioning

This for our To-morrow!

THE BLOSSOMS ON THE TREES.

Blossoms crimson, white, or blue,

Purple, pink, and every hue,

From sunny skies, to tintings drowned

In dusky drops of dew,

I praise you all, wherever found,

And love you through and through;—

But, Blossoms On The Trees,

With your breath upon the breeze,

There's nothing all the world around

As half as sweet as you!

Could the rhymer only wring

All the sweetness to the lees

Of all the kisses clustering

In juicy Used-to-bes,

To dip his rhymes therein and sing

The blossoms on the trees,—

"O Blossoms on the Trees,"

He would twitter, trill and coo,

"However sweet, such songs as these

Are not as sweet as you:—

For you are blooming melodies

The eyes may listen to!"

A DISCOURAGING MODEL.

Just the airiest, fairiest slip of a thing,

With a Gainsborough hat, like a butterfly's wing,

Tilted up at one side with the jauntiest air,

And a knot of red roses sown in under there

Where the shadows are lost in her hair.

Then a cameo face, carven in on a ground

Of that shadowy hair where the roses are wound;

And the gleam of a smile O as fair and as faint

And as sweet as the masters of old used to paint

Round the lips of their favorite saint!

And that lace at her throat—and the fluttering hands

Snowing there, with a grace that no art understands,

The flakes of their touches—first fluttering at

The bow—then the roses—the hair—and then that

Little tilt of the Gainsborough hat.

O what artist on earth with a model like this,

Holding not on his palette the tint of a kiss,

Nor a pigment to hint of the hue of her hair,

Nor the gold of her smile—O what artist could dare

To expect a result half so fair?

LAST NIGHT—AND THIS.

Last night—how deep the darkness was!

And well I knew its depths, because

I waded it from shore to shore,

Thinking to reach the light no more.

She would not even touch my hand.—

The winds rose and the cedars fanned

The moon out, and the stars fled back

In heaven and hid—and all was black!

But ah! To-night a summons came,

Signed with a teardrop for a name,—

For as I wondering kissed it, lo,

A line beneath it told me so.

And now—the moon hangs over me

A disk of dazzling brilliancy,

And every star-tip stabs my sight

With splintered glitterings of light!

SEPTEMBER DARK.

I.

The air falls chill;

The whip-poor-will

Pipes lonesomely behind the hill:

The dusk grows dense,

The silence tense;

And lo, the katydids commence.

II.

Through shadowy rifts

Of woodland, lifts

The low, slow moon, and upward drifts,

While left and right

The fireflies' light

Swirls eddying in the skirts of Night.

III.

O Cloudland, gray

And level, lay

Thy mists across the face of Day!

At foot and head,

Above the dead,

O Dews, weep on uncomforted!

A GLIMPSE OF PAN.

I caught but a glimpse of him. Summer was here,

And I strayed from the town and its dust and heat

And walked in a wood, while the noon was near,

Where the shadows were cool, and the atmosphere

Was misty with fragrances stirred by my feet

From surges of blossoms that billowed sheer

O'er the grasses, green and sweet.

And I peered through a vista of leaning trees,

Tressed with long tangles of vines that swept

To the face of a river, that answered these

With vines in the wave like the vines in the breeze,

Till the yearning lips of the ripples crept

And kissed them, with quavering ecstacies,

And gurgled and laughed and wept.

And there, like a dream in a swoon, I swear

I saw Pan lying,—his limbs in the dew

And the shade, and his face in the dazzle and glare

Of the glad sunshine; while everywhere,

Over, across, and around him blew

Filmy dragonflies hither and there,

And little white butterflies, two and two,

In eddies of odorous air.

OUT OF NAZARETH.

"He shall sleep unscathed of thieves

Who loves Allah and believes."

Thus heard one who shared the tent,

In the far-off Orient,

Of the Bedouin ben Ahrzz—

Nobler never loved the stars

Through the palm-leaves nigh the dim

Dawn his courser neighed to him!

He said: "Let the sands be swarmed

With such thieves as I, and thou

Shalt at morning rise, unharmed,

Light as eyelash to the brow

Of thy camel, amber-eyed,

Ever munching either side,

Striding still, with nestled knees,

Through the midnight's oases.

"Who can rob thee an thou hast

More than this that thou hast cast

At my feet—this dust of gold?

Simply this and that, all told!

Hast thou not a treasure of

Such a thing as men call love?

"Can the dusky band I lead

Rob thee of thy daily need

Of a whiter soul, or steal

What thy lordly prayers reveal?

Who could be enriched of thee

By such hoard of poverty

As thy niggard hand pretends

To dole me—thy worst of friends?

Therefore shouldst thou pause to bless

One indeed who blesses thee;

Robbing thee, I dispossess

But myself.—Pray thou for me!"

He shall sleep unscathed of thieves

Who loves Allah and believes.

THE WANDERING JEW.

The stars are failing, and the sky

Is like a field of faded flowers;

The winds on weary wings go by;

The moon hides, and the temptest lowers;

And still through every clime and age

I wander on a pilgrimage

That all men know an idle quest,

For that the goal I seek is—REST!

I hear the voice of summer streams,

And, following, I find the brink

Of cooling springs, with childish dreams

Returning as I bend to drink—

But suddenly, with startled eyes,

My face looks on its grim disguise

Of long gray beard; and so, distressed,

I hasten on, nor taste of rest.

I come upon a merry group

Of children in the dusky wood,

Who answer back the owlet's whoop,

That laughs as it had understood;

And I would pause a little space,

But that each happy blossom-face

Is like to one His hands have blessed

Who sent me forth in search of rest.

Sometimes I fain would stay my feet

In shady lanes, where huddled kine

Couch in the grasses cool and sweet,

And lift their patient eyes to mine;

But I, for thoughts that ever then

Go back to Bethlehem again,

Must needs fare on my weary quest,

And weep for very need of rest.

Is there no end? I plead in vain:

Lost worlds nor living answer me.

Since Pontius Pilate's awful reign

Have I not passed eternity?

Have I not drank the fetid breath

Of every fevered phase of death,

And come unscathed through every pest

And scourge and plague that promised rest?

Have I not seen the stars go out

That shed their light o'er Galilee,

And mighty kingdoms tossed about

And crumbled clod-like in the sea?

Dead ashes of dead ages blow

And cover me like drifting snow,

And time laughs on as 'twere a jest

That I have any need of rest.

LONGFELLOW.

The winds have talked with him confidingly;

The trees have whispered to him; and the night

Hath held him gently as a mother might,

And taught him all sad tones of melody:

The mountains have bowed to him; and the sea,

In clamorous waves, and murmurs exquisite,

Hath told him all her sorrow and delight—

Her legends fair—her darkest mystery.

His verse blooms like a flower, night and day;

Bees cluster round his rhymes; and twitterings

Of lark and swallow, in an endless May,

Are mingling with the tender songs he sings.—

Nor shall he cease to sing—in every lay

Of Nature's voice he sings—and will alway.

JOHN MCKEEN.

John McKeen, in his rusty dress,

His loosened collar, and swarthy throat;

His face unshaven, and none the less,

His hearty laugh and his wholesomeness,

And the wealth of a workman's vote!

Bring him, O Memory, here once more,

And tilt him back in his Windsor chair

By the kitchen-stove, when the day is o'er

And the light of the hearth is across the floor,

And the crickets everywhere!

And let their voices be gladly blent

With a watery jingle of pans and spoons,

And a motherly chirrup of sweet content,

And neighborly gossip and merriment,

And old-time fiddle-tunes!

Tick the clock with a wooden sound,

And fill the hearing with childish glee

Of rhyming riddle, or story found

In the Robinson Crusoe, leather-bound

Old book of the Used-to-be!

John McKeen of the Past! Ah, John,

To have grown ambitious in worldly ways!—

To have rolled your shirt-sleeves down, to don

A broadcloth suit, and, forgetful, gone

Out on election days!

John, ah, John! did it prove your worth

To yield you the office you still maintain?

To fill your pockets, but leave the dearth

Of all the happier things on earth

To the hunger of heart and brain?

Under the dusk of your villa trees,

Edging the drives where your blooded span

Paw the pebbles and wait your ease,—

Where are the children about your knees,

And the mirth, and the happy man?

The blinds of your mansion are battened to;

Your faded wife is a close recluse;

And your "finished" daughters will doubtless do

Dutifully all that is willed of you,

And marry as you shall choose!—

But O for the old-home voices, blent

With the watery jingle of pans and spoons,

And the motherly chirrup of glad content

And neighborly gossip and merriment,

And the old-time fiddle-tunes!

THEIR SWEET SORROW.

They meet to say farewell: Their way

Of saying this is hard to say.—

He holds her hand an instant, wholly

Distressed—and she unclasps it slowly.

He bends his gaze evasively

Over the printed page that she

Recurs to, with a new-moon shoulder

Glimpsed from the lace-mists that enfold her.

The clock, beneath its crystal cup,

Discreetly clicks—"Quick! Act! Speak up!"

A tension circles both her slender

Wrists—and her raised eyes flash in splendor,

Even as he feels his dazzled own.—

Then, blindingly, round either thrown,

They feel a stress of arms that ever

Strain tremblingly—and "Never! Never!"

Is whispered brokenly, with half

A sob, like a belated laugh,—

While cloyingly their blurred kiss closes,

Sweet as the dew's lip to the rose's.

SOME SCATTERING REMARKS OF BUB'S.

Wunst I looked our pepper-box lid

An' cut little pie-dough biscuits, I did,

And cooked 'em on our stove one day

When our hired girl she said I may.

Honey's the goodest thing—Oo-ooh!

And blackberry-pies is goodest, too!

But wite hot biscuits, ist soakin'-wet

Wiv tree-mullasus, is goodest yet!

Miss Maimie she's my Ma's friend,—an'

She's purtiest girl in all the lan'!—

An' sweetest smile an' voice an' face—

An' eyes ist looks like p'serves tas'e'!

I ruther go to the Circus-show;

But, 'cause my parunts told me so,

I ruther go to the Sund'y School,

'Cause there I learn the goldun rule.

Say, Pa,—what is the goldun rule

'At's allus at the Sund'y School?

MR. WHAT'S-HIS-NAME.

They called him Mr. What's-his-name:

From where he was, or why he came,

Or when, or what he found to do,

Nobody in the city knew.

He lived, it seemed, shut up alone

In a low hovel of his own;

There cooked his meals and made his bed,

Careless of all his neighbors said.

His neighbors, too, said many things

Expressive of grave wonderings,

Since none of them had ever been

Within his doors, or peered therein.

In fact, grown watchful, they became

Assured that Mr. What's-his-name

Was up to something wrong—indeed,

Small doubt of it, we all agreed.

At night were heard strange noises there,

When honest people everywhere

Had long retired; and his light

Was often seen to burn all night.

He left his house but seldom—then

Would always hurry back again,

As though he feared some stranger's knock,

Finding him gone, might burst the lock.

Beside, he carried, every day,

At the one hour he went away,

A basket, with the contents hid

Beneath its woven willow lid.

And so we grew to greatly blame

This wary Mr. What's-his-name,

And look on him with such distrust

His actions seemed to sanction just.

But when he died—he died one day—

Dropped in the street while on his way

To that old wretched hut of his—

You'll think it strange—perhaps it is—

But when we lifted him, and past

The threshold of his home at last,

No man of all the crowd but stepped

With reverence,—Aye, quailed and wept!

What was it? Just a shriek of pain

I pray to never hear again—

A withered woman, old and bowed,

That fell and crawled and cried aloud—

And kissed the dead man's matted hair—

Lifted his face and kissed him there—

Called to him, as she clutched his hand,

In words no one could understand.

Insane? Yes.—Well, we, searching, found

An unsigned letter, in a round

Free hand, within the dead man's breast:

"Look to my mother—I'm at rest.

You'll find my money safely hid

Under the lining of the lid

Of my work-basket. It is hers,

And God will bless her ministers!"

And some day—though he died unknown—

If through the City by the Throne

I walk, all cleansed of earthly shame,

I'll ask for Mr. What's-his-name.

WHEN AGE COMES ON.

When Age comes on!—

"The deepening dusk is where the dawn

Once glittered splendid, and the dew

In honey-drips, from red rose-lips

Was kissed away by me and you.—

And now across the frosty lawn

Black foot-prints trail, and Age comes on—

And Age comes on!

And biting wild-winds whistle through

Our tattered hopes—and Age comes on!

When Age comes on!—

O tide of raptures, long withdrawn,

Flow back in summer-floods, and fling

Here at our feet our childhood sweet,

And all the songs we used to sing! . . .

Old loves, old friends—all dead and gone—

Our old faith lost—and Age comes on—

And Age comes on!

Poor hearts! have we not anything

But longings left when Age comes on?

ENVOY.

Just as of old! The world rolls on and on;

The day dies into night—night into dawn—

Dawn into dusk—through centuries untold.—

Just as of old.

Time loiters not. The river ever flows,

Its brink or white with blossoms or with snows;

Its tide or warm with Spring or Winter cold:

Just as of old.

Lo! where is the beginning, where the end

Of living, loving, longing? Listen, friend!—

God answers with a silence of pure gold—

Just as of old.

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Table of Contents

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY INDIANAPOLIS

COPYRIGHT 1893

TO MY SISTERS

CONTENTS.

GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS GREEN FIELDS AND RUNNING BROOKS

A COUNTRY PATHWAY.

ON THE BANKS O' DEER CRICK.

A DITTY OF NO TONE.

II.

III.

A WATER-COLOR.

THE CYCLONE.

WHERE-AWAY.

THE HOME-GOING.

HOW JOHN QUIT THE FARM.

NORTH AND SOUTH.

THE IRON HORSE.

HIS MOTHER'S WAY

JAP MILLER.

A SOUTHERN SINGER.

A DREAM OF AUTUMN.

TOM VAN ARDEN.

JUST TO BE GOOD.

HOME AT NIGHT.

THE HOOSIER FOLK-CHILD.

JACK THE GIANT KILLER.

WHILE THE MUSICIAN PLAYED.

AUGUST.

TO HEAR HER SING.

BEING HIS MOTHER.

JUNE AT WOODRUFF.

FARMER WHIPPLE.—BACHELOR.

DAWN, NOON AND DEWFALL.

II.

III.

NESSMUK.

AS MY UNCLE USED TO SAY.

THE SINGER.

A FULL HARVEST.

BLIND.

RIGHT HERE AT HOME.

THE LITTLE FAT DOCTOR.

THE SHOEMAKER.

THE OLD RETIRED SEA CAPTAIN.

ROBERT BURNS WILSON.

TO THE SERENADER.

THE WIFE-BLESSÉD.

II.

III.

SISTER JONES'S CONFESSION.

THE CURSE OF THE WANDERING FOOT.

A MONUMENT FOR THE SOLDIERS.

THE RIVAL.

IRY AND BILLY AND JO.

A WRAITH OF SUMMERTIME.

HER BEAUTIFUL EYES.

DOT LEEDLE BOY.

DONN PIATT OF MAC-O-CHEE.

II.

III.

IV.

THEM FLOWERS.

THE QUIET LODGER.

THE WATCHES OF THE NIGHT.

HIS VIGIL.

THE PLAINT HUMAN

TO AN IMPORTUNATE GHOST.

THE QUARREL.

THE OLD YEAR AND THE NEW.

II.

THE HEREAFTER.

JOHN BROWN.

A CUP OF TEA.

JUDITH.

THE ARTEMUS OF MICHIGAN.

THE HOODOO.

THE RIVALS; OR THE SHOWMAN'S RUSE

WHAT CHRIS'MAS FETCHED THE WIGGINSES.

GO, WINTER!

ELIZABETH.

SLEEP.

DAN PAINE.

OLD WINTERS ON THE FARM

AT UTTER LOAF.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

A LOUNGER.

A SONG OF LONG AGO.

THE CHANT OF THE CROSS-BEARING CHILD.

THANKSGIVING.

AUTUMN.

THE TWINS.

BEDOUIN.

TUGG MARTIN.

II.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

LET US FORGET.

JOHN ALDEN AND PERCILLY.

REACH YOUR HAND TO ME.

THE ROSE.

MY FRIEND.

SUSPENSE.

THE PASSING OF A HEART.

WE TO SIGH INSTEAD OF SING.

THE BLOSSOMS ON THE TREES.

A DISCOURAGING MODEL.

LAST NIGHT—AND THIS.

SEPTEMBER DARK.

II.

III.

A GLIMPSE OF PAN.

OUT OF NAZARETH.

THE WANDERING JEW.

LONGFELLOW.

JOHN MCKEEN.

THEIR SWEET SORROW.

SOME SCATTERING REMARKS OF BUB'S.

MR. WHAT'S-HIS-NAME.

WHEN AGE COMES ON.

ENVOY.

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE