THE GLORY OF TOIL E^dna Dean Proctor Class _/_ci^^X-^ Copighti^' iq/^ CQPXRIGHT DEPOSm ^p ©Una £)ean proctar SONGS OF AMERICA. i2mo,$i.2S,ft£^. Postage extra. THE SONG OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLE. With Introduction and Notes by John Fiske, and Commentary. 8vo, leather, ^5.00, nei ; postpaid. A RUSSIAN JOURNEY. Illustrated. i6mo, $1.25. POEMS. i6mo, $1.25. THE MOUNTAIN MAID, AND OTHER POEMS OF NEW HAMPSHIRE. Illustrated. Square 8vo, $1.00. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY, Boston and New York. THE GLORY OF TOIL AND OTHER POEMS THE GLORY OF TOIL AND OTHER POEMS BY EDNA DEAN PROCTOR BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY (3tte mitaer^ibe ptt0 Camlinbge 1916 'V COPYRIGHT, I916, BY EDNA DEAN PROCTOR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Published October zqib OCT i8 1916 ©aA438935 '7<^ / . TO TOILERS EVERYWHERE CONTENTS THE GLORY OF TOIL I THE GOAL OF THE WORLD 5 THE WAR IN EUROPE 1915 7 A MECCAN PROPHECY II A SEA-BIRD 13 THE TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON 1 5 THE WAY TO WAKONDA 21 A WOMAN OF PARIS 22 PERSIA TO EUROPE 2^ CHARLES GEORGE GORDON 2J MOUNT TACOMA ^8 THE FIRE-MAIDEN AND THE SNOW-PEAKS 32 ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST 37 AN ANGEL 4O EBB AND FLOW 4I TO-MORROW 44 [vii] CONTENTS DANIEL WEBSTER 4^ CONCORD BY THE MERRIMACK 50 THE CAGED ROBIN 5^ BOLIVAR 54 A HERO OF CARACAS 55 DOUGLAS .5^ FORGIVENESS 59 THE KINGDOM OF GOD 6 1 NOTES 63 THE GLORY OF TOIL THE GLORY OF TOIL Whether they delve in the buried coal, or plough the upland soil. Or man the seas, or measure the suns, hail to the men who toil! It was stress and strain, in wood and cave, while the primal ages ran. That broadened the brow, and built the brain, and made of a brute a man ; And better the lot of the sunless mine, the fisher's perilous sea. Than the slothful ease of him who sleeps in the shade of his bread- fruit tree ; For sloth is death and stress is life in all God's realms that are. And the joy of the limitless heavens is the whirl of star with star ! THE GLORy OF TOIL Still reigns the ancient order — to sow, and reap, and spin ; But oh, the spur of the doing ! and oh, the goals to win. Where each, from the least to the great- est, must bravely bear his part — Make straight the furrows, or shape the laws, or dare the crowded mart ! And he who lays firm the foundations, though strong right arm may tire. Is worthy as he who curves the arch and dreams the airy spire; For both have reared the minster that shrines the sacred fire. Floods drown the fairest valleys ; fields droop in the August blaze ; Yet rain and sun are God's angels that give us the harvest days, [2] THE GLORY OF TOIL And toil is the world's salvation, though stern may be its ways : Far from the lair it has led us — far from the gloom of the cave — Till lo, we are lords of Nature instead of her crouching slave ! And slowly it brings us nearer to the ultimate soul of things : We are weighing the atoms, and wed- ding the seas, and cleaving the air with wings ; And draining the tropic marshes where death had lain in wait. And piercing the polar solitudes, for all their icy state ; And luring the subtle electric flame to set us free from the clod — O toiling Brothers, the earth around, we are working together with God ! With God, the infinite Toiler, who dwells with His humblest ones, [3 ] THE GLORY OF TOIL And tints the dawn and the lily, and flies with the flying suns. And forever, through love and service, though days may be drear and dim. Is guiding the whole creation up from the deeps to Him ! THE GOAL OF THE WORLD (Words for the central movement of Chopin's " Funeral March ") O the goal of the world is Joy — Joy divine that is born of love ! Sorrows are wings that safe convoy The soul to its nobler realms above. There are days that darken and die in gloom Till the heart is heavy with grief and wrong, Yet still in the shadow some rose will bloom, And still through the wail there runs a song; For loss and anguish are only the beat Of the wild March rains that bring the sheaves, [5] THE GOAL OF THE WORLD And a wind of heaven will woo our feet To the vales of peace in the harvest eves. Never a star too late or dim To hold its way with the central sun ; Nor a voice too faint to swell the hymn By the Father's throne when the years are done — The ages of God that are moulding fair Each life for the glory that is to be; Nor the woes of earth nor the powers' of air Can stay from the palms and the crys- tal sea ! For oh, the goal of the world is Joy — Joy divine that is born of love: Sorrows are wings that safe convoy The soul to its nobler realms above! THE WAR IN EUROPE — 1915' (Abdallah of Cairo speaks) By the Prophet ! If these be Christians, where shall we find the Heathen ? If this is their gospel of Love, where shall we look for Hate ? With the lilies of Peace their Jesus in temple and shrine is wreathen. But they raven like wolves in the fold when the moon is late. And for what? For the market ; for greed of gold and dominion; To rule to the uttermost sea and the shores no foot has trod ; Their impious fleets sail the sky, but never a pinion Bears the beleaguered spirit to regions above the clod. [7] THE WAR IN EUROPE A blast of the desert were we in our fervor, our valor. From Khalid to Amrou and Musa, lords of the Western world ! Alike in the flush of triumph, the death angeFs pallor. We were soldiers of God and our banners were only in Paradise furled ! These carry their Goddess with them — the Virgin they dare bedizen With jewels and robe of silver or fret of gold to her feet ; Blessed, thrice blessed be Allah ! the soul that to Him has risen Nor images needs, nor temples, the merciful Lord to greet! Pleasant the cool of the mosque, the fountain, the soaring column; [ 8] THE WAR IN EUROPE Dear the call of the muezzin to prayer at the day's decline; But the wind of the waste can summon in tones more tenderly solemn. For the East and the West are Allah's — the wilderness-ways a shrine. So, if this infidel host at the Moslem gates should thunder. We know that beneath the tumult will be Allah's eternal calm; Aye, if to prove our faith the walls should be rent asunder. He will build them again more grandly for the glory of Islam! By the Prophet ! If these be Christians, where shall we find the Heathen ? If this is their gospel of Love, where shall we look for Hate ? [ 9] THE WAR IN EUROPE With the lilies of Peace their Jesus in temple and shrine is wreathen. But they raven like wolves in the fold when the moon is late. Hark to the roar of battle ! the wail for the dead and the dying! Prating of light these Christians have shrouded the earth in gloom ; Each unto God or Goddess for conquest and gain is crying — I will repeat the Fatiha and leave them to their doom! A MECCAN PROPHECY* (1916) Not Roum, but Meccah! where the skies Lean just below God's Paradise, And where the azure dome was riven To let the Black Stone fall from heaven ; Where Abraham prayed and Ishmael An angel led to Zem Zem's well. And both upbuilt that House divine — The Kaabah, earth's most holy shrine; And where Our Lord Mohammed came To save us from the awful flame. Ah, when we heard that God is One, And merciful, and that we dwell. Beyond, in Paradise or Hell As we have kept His just decrees — [ " ] A MECCAN PROPHECY Praise be to Allah ! round the world To speed the truth our hosts were hurled ; Swift as the light we made it run From land to land till all the air Echoed the fervent praise or prayer Of suppliant nations on their knees. And half the earth, from pine to palm. Was won for Allah and Islam. Not Roum, but Meccah! Let the law Go forth where first the Prophet saw The way to God, and where he lies Entombed with all high sanctities Of earth and Heaven. The Turk's dark hour Must pass. The Arab's day of power Dawns newly, and the desert still Shall have the vision and the will To move the world! . . . A SEA-BIRD (OfF Peru) O TO be a sea-bird one celestial day. Sailing, sailing, sailing past the wind away! All the crested billows rolling bright below. All the boundless heaven balm and light and glow; Ah, what life, what rapture wide-winged thus to fly. In God's azure only sun and sea and I ! O to poise in ether, high o'er cloudy bars. Where the cross at midnight burns among the stars ! See, to eastward, Andes lift their snows in air, [ 13 ] A SEA-BIRD Westward bowery islands beckoning, Eden-fair ; Ah, what life, what rapture, wide-winged thus to fly. In God*s azure only sun and sea and I! O the primal freedom, O the glori- ous ease, Flashing down the breakers, floating with the breeze! Still in rosy morning, sunset's golden shine. Sailing, sailing, sailing blithe above the brine ! Ah, what life, what rapture, wide-winged thus to fly. In God's azure only sun and sea and I ! THE TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON' A REALM of dreams is that sublimest chasm Cleft by the gods in Arizona's plain. Where peak on peak, shrine, fortress, weird phantasm. Crowd the abyss and make our gran- deur vain ! Where, with the dawn, full many a dome and palace Fair as Aladdin's, fronts the terraced wall. And towering altar-pile and carven chalice Shine with the hues of heaven at evening's fall. [15] TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON Where, south, loom Karnaks on the wide horizon — Sphinx, temple, obelisk, to hail the sun ; North, slow cloud-shadows pass like herds of bison Trailing across the gorges, bold and dun; Where, in its awful bed, the Colo- rado, Curbless, triumphant, to the hot Gulf goes. And dreams, in quiet pools, of moun- tain meadow. And the far splendor of Wyoming snows. There when the sun sets and the glows are paling. And sorrowing winds make moan by fane and tree — [ i6 ] TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON Such sorrow as through Hades went bewailing The glory vanished with Perseph- one — When mid their crags the mountain sheep are folded. And the cliff eagles to their eyries flown. While all the mighty forms the gods have moulded. Wrap them in purple dusk and grieve alone ; When the fond moon has climbed the eastern mountains And silvered all her waiting peaks and pines Past Rio Grande's, Colorado's foun- tains, — The Ancient People throng their wonted shrines. [ ^7] TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON Silent as mists they steal by cliff and hollow ; With soundless feet they thread the woodland ways ; Only the wind, low-breathing, dares to follow Their flitting bands through pass and darkling maze. Hark ! you may almost hear the incan- tations. The rhythmic dance, the chant, the murmured prayer. And, from afar, the faint reverbera- tions Of cry and drum-beat thrilling through the air — The herald's call, perchance, when dan- ger hovers. And chiefs and clans for council he must rouse, [ i8] TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON The laugh of children, speech of happy lovers Soft as the sighing in the cedar boughs. But ere day brightens Coconino's dim- ness. Or proud Francisco's peaks have caught its rose. Or v^ith its flush the gray walls lose their grimness. Ah, whither? — and the night wind only knows — The night wind and the stars that watch forever Above the shrines where their brown children throng. And, swift beneath, the lone, triumph- ^ ant river That bears their secret seaward with its song ! • ••••• • [ 19] TRYST BY THE GRAND CANYON A realm of dreams is that sublimest chasm Cleft by the gods in Arizona's plain. Where peak on peak, shrine, fortress, weird phantasm. Crowd the abyss and make our grandeur vain ! Where festal sounds are heard if we but barken. And shy forms flit and meet till moonlight wanes. And the wind dies, and eerie shadows darken. For over peak and plain enchant- ment reigns. THE WAY TO WAKONDA^ (The Great Spirit of the Omaha Indians) Wakonda's way is the way of the wind That blows from star to star ; And he who would find Wakonda And the land where the Vanished are. Must follow, follow, follow The west wind in its flight. And lo ! he will reach Wakonda And the Land of all Delight ! So long is the trail to Wakonda, And the end thereof so sweet. To the feet of the dead their moccasins We tie to make them fleet ; And we know they will never wander With cloud or moon or star. But straight will speed to Wakonda And the Land where the Loved Ones are. [21 ] A WOMAN OF PARISH (September, 19 14) Retreating towards the Marne, his regiment Would pass at morn a neighboring suburb through; And thither walked his glad young wife, intent To see her soldier, strong and brave and true; And in her arms, or pattering with light feet Beside her steps, she held her baby boy — O the proud moment when his eyes should greet Their little Victor brimming o'er with joy ! • •••••• [22] A WOMAN OF PARIS Upon the curb she stood as past they filed. When something barred the way and, unawares, The march a moment stayed; then wife and child Saw, in the line, the father's friend and theirs — Christophe, the corporal, who quickly spied The eager wife he knew as girl and bride. And, springing from the ranks, he seized her arm : ''Courage, courage, Madame! Tour hus- band fell Yesterday, by my side, at MauxJ' . . . Ah, well . . . Ah, well . . . her eyelids closed, her heart stood still . . . What joy henceforth can wile, what grief can harm ! . . . [ 23 1 A WOMAN OF PARIS Then swift above her head, with deathless will She raised her boy, presenting him, and cried. For all her anguish, " Vive la France ! " A thrill Ran through the throng, and with the line's advance Cheers filled the morning sky for her and France As if no soldier in his place had died ! — For France, secure, invincible, im- mortal. While women such as she are at its portal ! PERSIA TO EUROPE^ (1911) You scorn us ? You dream we are ready to yield Our realm at the threat of your armies afield? YoUy race of wild rovers or forests your home When we towered resplendent ere Ath- ens or Rome ? — Our grandeurs of old we can never for- get. And the Mede and the Persian abide with us yet. From the gulfs of the south to Tehran and Tabriz' We are rousing from sleep and submis- sion and ease ; [25] PERSIA TO EUROPE Is it just to assail us, yet hardly awake. When we need all our valor and vigor to break The bonds that have kept us in weak- ness and wrong? — Away with your dirges and cheer us with song ! For by our Avesta, that gospel of God Leading upward the soul to His crystal abode ; By thy columns, Persepolis, crowning the plain Where age after age saw thy glorious reign ; By the snow of Elburz'; by the Sun in the sky ; By Ormuzd and Allah — our rule shall not die ! CHARLES GEORGE GORDON (Died at Khartoum, January 26, 1885) Not Kilimanjaro towering to the sun Could mate his grandeur as he stood, at morn — The last hope vanished, the last moment run — Facing his murderous foes with silent scorn Till his high soul was freed in Afric air! . . . Then from the sorrowing world there burst acclaim For him, abandoned, yet above despair. For him who boldest paths of service trod. Forever in the shadow or the flame ! And so he perished — he, a knight of God — Ah, deathless is the glory, is the shame ! [ 27 1 MOUNT TACOMA' (Washington) I AM Tacoma, Monarch of the Coast ! Uncounted ages heaped my shining snows ; The sun by day, by night the starry host. Crown me with splendor; every breeze that blows Wafts incense to my altars ; never wanes The glory my adoring children boast, For one with sun and sea Tacoma reigns ! Tacoma — the Great Snow Peak — mighty name My dusky tribes revered when time was young ! [28] MOUNT TACOMA Their god was I in avalanche and flame — In grove and mead and songs my rivers sung As blithe they ran to make the valleys fair — Their Shrine of Peace where no avenger came To vex Tacoma, lord of earth and air. Ah ! when at morn above the mists I tower And see my cities gleam by slope and strand. What joy have I in this transcendent dower — The strength and beauty of my sea- girt land That holds the future royally in fee! [ 29 ] MOUNT TACOMA And lest some danger, undescried, should lower. From my far height I watch o'er wave and lea. And cloudless eves when calm in heaven I rest. All rose-bloom with a glow of paradise. And through my firs the balm-wind of the west, Blown over ocean islands, softly sighs. While placid lakes my radiant image frame — And know my worshipers, in loving quest. Will mark my brow and fond lips breathe my name: Enraptured from my valleys to my snows, I charm my glow to crimson - — soothe to gray ; [30] MOUNT TACOMA And when the encircling shadow deeper grows. Poise, a lone cloud, beside the starry- way; Then, while my realm is hushed from steep to shore, I yield my grandeur to divine repose. And know Tacoma reigns forever- more ! THE FIRE-MAIDEN AND THE SNOW-PEAKS « (An Indian legend of the Columbia) LoowiT, the beautiful maiden * Who gave the Red men fire That the tents might bask in its rosy light And laugh at winter's ire — Lit their hearts with a fiercer flame Of love and wild desire. Fair was she as the morning star ; Lithe as a fawn at play ; And the fire she fed was the only fire In all the world that day. A hundred suitors thronged her feet From valley and wood and ridge. But she sat, unmoved, by her blazing brands On the tahmanawas bridge — [32] FIRE-MAIDEN AND SNOW-PEAKS The bridge that Saghalie, chief of the gods. Arched over the mighty river. That the tribes might come and go at vv^ill And brothers be forever. Unmoved she sat, in her maiden dreams. Above the river's flow Till bold from the north came Klicki- tat Challenging friend and foe. While mountain lion and grizzly fled From the shafts of his conquering bow; Till blithe from the west came Wiyeast, Valiant and tall was he — The eagle paused in its upward flight His goodly form to see ; And with them were their faithful braves Eager the maid to hold, [33] FIRE-MAIDEN AND SNOW-PEAKS And vowing she should wed their chief Ere the young moon was old. They wooed with gifts and honeyed words. They showed their prowess there In swiftest race and wondrous game And all that men may dare ; But she could not choose between the twain, Nor would she say them nay. And with bitter thoughts they saw the sun Turn westward, day by day. And the smoke of her hearth float darkly up Till all the sky was gray. Then madness seized them and they closed In battle's awful strife Till the stream ran red with the blood of the slain [34] FIRE-MAIDEN AND SNOW-PEAKS And death had more than life — Till the wind went by like a sea-bird's cry And the air with moans was rife. Saghalie heard and was wroth, and cried, " Behold now, who is stronger ! The cruel maid and the furious chiefs Shall live to war no longer ! " And he shook the earth till the great bridge reeled And plunged in the mighty river. And with lightning's flash and thunder's crash The three were gone forever ! Nor time nor tide, the roar of the wreck From the fallen dalles can sever ! "But they were mine," said Saghalie, "And they shall tower in snow. To greet the sun at his rise and set. And guard the river's flow." [ 35 ] FIRE-MAIDEN AND SNOW-PEAKS And Wiyeast soars in grand Mount Hood; In Adams Klickitat shines ; And beautiful Loowit lifts her head In rare Saint Helen's lines — Loowit, the maid of the glowing hearth. Who gave the Red men fire. That the tents might bask in its rosy light And laugh at winter's ire. The lovers gaze on her radiant brow But never may call her bride. And thus, while the ages pass, they tower Alone, but glorified. And the river, the mighty Oregon, Rolls proudly at their side. ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST (night) O THE gloom of the night with the wind and the rain Howling in, beating in from the deso- late main. And anon with a cry o'er the tempest prevailing Some wreck of the deep the wild ruin bewailing ! From the Shoals to Nantucket the lights are half hid The rush and the roar of the breakers amid; Ships turn from their moorings; the boats are adrift; Not a merciful star looking down through a rift; [37] ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST But blackness and fear with the wind and the rain Howling in, beating in from the deso- late main. (morning) Now the sun tips with fire every wave's tossing crest; The gulls are blown seaward, the wind's in the west ; And the wide-rolling deep and the kelp- laden shore See cloud and fog fleeing to gray Labrador. The ships, all a-thrill with the joy of the breeze. Sail port ward as light as the foam on the seas; Not a film in the sky — not a mote in the air — The blue seems the bright wall of heaven laid bare — [ 38 ] . ON THE MASSACHUSETTS COAST And the gloom of the night and its ghostly cry scorning. We are glad in the azure and splendor of morning ! AN ANGEL At my window there 's an angel Robed in flame — Orange, emerald, vermilion! Countless treasure — not a trillion ■ Though you heaped it to the sky. Of the gems of earth could buy Such magnificence of color. Such release from gray and dolor. All things tame. As this wondrous angel brings (O the ravishing evangel!) In the splendor of his wings — Orange, emerald, vermilion. Gold of sunset, rose of dawn — And his name? 'T is the maple on the lawn ! [40] EBB AND FLOW Said Earth in the darkness wailing As morningward she turned, "Alas for the golden summers Along my peaks that burned ! And alas for the beautiful maidens Who danced on the flowery leas. And my sons so bold in camp and mart And out on the stormy seas; Like the rose and the palm they faded And fell by a merciless doom — Alas for the beauty and valor. While I roll on, a tomb ! " No cliff of the loftiest mountains. No deepest cave of the sea, [41 ] EBB AND FLOW But is mingled of dust that once had life And has gone afar from me: The asons were brief to tell my grief. The wide sky has not room. My winds chant dirges evermore While I roll on, a tomb! Soon will the warm May twilights Be thrilling with lovers' words; I shall hear the laughter of children. The songs of nesting birds ; But I know the shadow will follow. And my heart is lost in gloom As I think of the infinite myriads dead. While I roll on, their tomb ! " m • • • • Morning floods the sky with splendor ; Lo! an angel in the sun Crying, " Ltye is lord forever ! Life and deaths O Earthy are one ! [42] EBB AND FLOW As the tides rejoice the ocean^ summers wake or still the sod^ So Life ebbs and < flows forever^ pulsing with the heart of God I " TO-MORROW ** To-morrow ! O the glorious To-mor- row ! '' The soul forever cries ; "Balm it will bring for every hurt and sorrow- In the fair land that lies Just yonder, hidden from our earthly vision, But waiting, waiting there With fullest compensations, joys elysian. Nor blight of dole or care. To-day on shore and sea the tempest rages. The wild winds never cease; [44] TO-MORROW To-morrow! — Ah! the thought of it assuages The storm till all is peace." • • • • • No idle dream, but prophecy eternal. This rapture of the soul — This grand outreaching for the life supernal Though whelming billows roll. It doth not yet appear what worlds benigner Within God's agons bide. But oh, forever, days will dawn diviner. And we be satisfied ! DANIEL WEBSTER9 (At his Birthplace) Honor the home that reared him! — the hills, the wood, the stream That heard his earliest accents, that shared his earliest dream ! A place it is for pilgrimage — for grati- tude to shrine A name and fame whose grandeur will never know decline; And with gladness and remembrance and reverent accord. For his greatness and his service we bless and praise the Lord. From his own Kearsarge and Katahdin to Shasta's dome of snow. From Superior's pines to the tropic Gulf where the palm and the orange grow, [46] DANIEL WEBSTER He loved his Land and in dreams beheld the splendor of its prime — A mighty nation nobly dowered for a destiny sublime; And he strove to weld the States in one with a strength no power could sever. For the cry of his heart was, " Liberty and Union, now and forever!" We think of him as a mountain peak that towers above the lea. Where sunshine falls and lightnings flash and all the winds blow free; And his voice comes back like the swell- ing chant, within some minster old. That floods the nave and thrills the aisles and dies in a strain of gold! [47 ] DANIEL WEBSTER So lofty his eloquence, high his mien, had he walked the Olympian plain The listening, wondering throngs had seen great Zeus come down to reign; For beneath the blue or in stately halls, he swayed the hearts of men. As the boughs are swayed by the rush- ing wind that sweeps o'er wood and glen — As the earth is swayed by the primal fires that burn beyond our ken. And when nor plea nor prayer availed war's awful strife to shun. His fervor glowed in the flag aloft and nerved each loyal gun. And above the roar of battle and the rage of mad endeavor. His cry still echoed, " Liberty and Union, now and forever! *' [48] DANIEL WEBSTER Honor the home that reared him ! — the hills, the wood, the stream That heard his earliest accents, that shared his earliest dream! Beyond earth's fret and censure how deep the joy to him That the Union lives, resplendent, not one star lost or dim; And while the skies enfold Kearsarge and the meadows Merrimack River, From sea to sea, shall our watchword be his patriot heart-cry, "Liberty and Union, now and forever ! " CONCORD BY THE MERRIMACK- Serene amid the meadows Her seasons come and go; To north her glorious mountains. Her ocean tides below. No Capital she envies Its peak or plain or river — Fair Concord by the Merrimack, Whose fame is ours forever! New Hampshire's treasured story- She guards within a shrine As rare as Rome or Athens built To those they held divine; For her sons come back to crown her — Their ties they cannot sever — Fair Concord by the Merrimack Whose fame is ours forever ! [ 50 ] CONCORD BY THE MERRIMACK Still may the years bring wisdom And honor to her halls; Still her proud sons be eager To serve when valor calls. And see their Capital for aye Of light and joy the giver — Fair Concord by the Merrimack Whose fame is ours forever! THE CAGED ROBIN ^^ At the Pantheon of Mexico, Through San Fernando's gate. In a dim and dusty corridor I chanced one morn to wait. When, from the wall above me, I heard a pleading note As if a song had turned to sighs Within a tiny throat. And lo, a northern robin. Far from his heritage. With drooping wings and half-shut eyes Locked in a narrow cage ! Morelos and Guerrero — Rare bronze and stone, were there. And Juarez, mourned of Mexico, Ah, never rest so fair ! And from the Alameda [52] THE CAGED ROBIN Wild music wafted down — But what cared he for heroes dead. Or all the Aztec town ? His mate was in the Northland Where she would build her nest By the apple blooms of the orchard. On the bough she loved the best. And O to be free and flying home Past mount and wood and bay — Home to the cool, green orchard. Beneath the sky of May ! And suddenly he spread his wings As if to take the air. But wearily sank back again To the quiet of despair. . Then, from the sombre gateway, I heard my comrades call. And gained the street, but my heart was left With the robin on the wall. BOLfVAR (At the Pantheon, Caracas) BoLfvAR ! Venezuela brings To thee her richest offerings ; But bounds are not for fame like thine — The continent is still thy shrine ; Yea, North and South through thee are one, Thou peer and heir of Washington ! And while La Guayra's vale is fair And Avila climbs proud in air, , While Maracaibo's mirror glows And Orinoco seaward flows. Thy name, thy glorious deeds shall stand. The bulwark of thy native land. [54] A HERO OF CARACAS" Caracas ! when I think of thee I hear the bells chime tunefully. The bells of Spain that mark the hour Within thy gray cathedral tower. And echo sweet and faint and far Where Avila's green summits bar. Beyond the vale, the northern sea — The shining, storied Caribee. Superb in bronze and porphyries I see, within the plaza trees. Victorious thy Bolivar ride ; And 'gainst the mountain's bosky side. Within the Pantheon where rest Thy noblest and thy mightiest. In stately pomp his urn enshrined, A pasan sung by every wind ! And lo, to south, our Washington [55] A HERO OF CARACAS Faces serene the tropic sun. Benignant, firm, thy hills before. As on his fair Potomac shore. And at his feet, in endless May, Thy merry, dark-browed children play : Honor is his, by every sea. Who won the world for Liberty ! But where is bronze or urn for him Whose fame should never lapse or dim While Caribee thy border laves ? Hast thou no grave, of all thy graves. To give the boldest of thy braves ? No pedestal whereon to set The chief nor peaks nor vales forget ? — Great Guaicaipu'ro, name to raise The dead with, and to crown with bays! Mould in metal or carve in stone This Indian hero ! Make him known [56] A HERO OF CARACAS With thy Bolivar as he stood. Despairing, fierce, that night of blood When country, freedom, life were lost As round him closed the invading host With thrust of sword and pall of flame And shouts that stayed the stars in shame ; And, dying, to his gods he cried For vengeance, and in crying, died ! . . . Set the statue where all may heed. And on its flawless marble read, (Perchance his curse were lighter thus — Lifted a shadow from thy strand — ) To Guatcaipu'ro valorous^ Defender of his native land. DOUGLAS There 's an old, old song with a sweet refrain — "Douglas, Douglas, tender and true'M It was sung of a man by Scotia's main — A man of a noble, knightly strain — But Douglas, my collie, 't was meant for you. With your regal air and ruff of snow. Your soft dark eyes for caress that sue. Your welcoming bark, now loud, now low. And your glad response to love, I know The old, sweet song was meant for you — " Douglas, Douglas, tender and true." [58] FORGIVENESS A MOTHER, with her darling Whose four years just had run. Bade him ask God's forgiveness For something he had done; Then left him alone by the garden. In the glow of the setting sun. A moment — and he came flying Back through the blooms of May : " O mother, I did ask Him, And quick I heard him say, *Yes, child, I do forgive you; Now you may go and play/ " Ah! with our many lapses. How blest could we hear Him say, [59] FORGIVENESS Yes, child, I do forgive you ; Now you may go and play." The peace that passeth knowledge Would be in our hearts that day ! THE KINGDOM OF GOD Through storm and sun the age draws on When Heaven and earth shall meet. For the Lord has said that glorious He will make the place of His feet ; And the grass may die on the summer hills. The flower fade by the river. But our God is the same through end- less years. And His word shall stand forever. And they shall meet in love that knows Nor race nor creed nor clime. For the world shall be one brotherhood In that celestial time ; And happiness shall be the air. And righteousness the sod, [6i ] THE KINGDOM OF GOD And earth go singing on her way About the throne of God ! « What of the night ? " O Watchman set To mark dawn's earliest ray : " The wind blows fair from the morn- ing star. Fair from the gates of day ; And over sorrow and sighing shines The Dream of Galilee — The Kingdom of God that shall fill the earth As the waters fill the sea." NOTES NOTES 1. The Fatiha, the opening chapter of the Koran, and the Lord's Prayer of the Mos- lems, runs thus : — " Praise be to God, the Lord of all crea- tures ; the most merciful, the king of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of those who go astray." 2. Roum, in Arabic literature, is the name for Rome — Constantinople. 3. The country about the Grand Canyon and its tributary gorges abounds in relics of the prehistoric people who once dwelt there. 4. " The ceremony of each village (gens) had a central subject, some form or force, [ 6s ] NOTES having its abode in the sky or on the earth, and represented by a symbol. . . . The sym- bol may be an animal, as the buffalo, or a force, as the wind, and the people be spoken of by the names of the symbol of their vil- lage ; as, the ' buffalo people,' or the ' wind people/ ... It was the duty of the 'wind people * to put moccasins on the feet of the dead, that they might enter the spirit land and there be recognized and able to rejoin their kindred." (Alice C. Fletcher, in "The Indian and Nature^ 5. This incident is told in Paris Reborn (p. 91), by Herbert Adams Gibbons. (The Century Co., 191 5.) 6. In 191 1, with the seizure of Persian ter- ritory by Russia, and the demands of Russia and England, the Constitutional and Pro- gressive Party felt constrained to take up arms in the country's defense. 7. "Tacoma" — the Great Snow Peak — is the beautiful, ancient, Indian name of Washington's highest mountain. " Rainier " [66] NOTES should be banished from speech and from the maps. 8. ^he Columbia River, by W. D. Lyman, Whitman College, Oregon ; The Guardians of the Columbia, by John H. Williams, Tacoma, Washington. 9. Read at the Daniel Webster Birthplace Celebration, at Franklin (Salisbury), New Hampshire, August 28, 19 13. 10. These lines, written for the 150th An- niversary Celebration of the Charter of Con- cord, New Hampshire, and taken by the City as its Song, are reprinted by request. The "shrine" therein referred to is the beautiful building of the New Hampshire Historical Society, given by Mr. Edward Tuck, of Exeter, N.H., and Paris, France. 11. "The recumbent figure of Juarez, the Indian president, rests beneath a Grecian temple of purest white marble. Half sup- porting the body is the figure of Mexico mourning for her dead." [67 ] NOTES 12. Guaicaipu'ro, a native Indian chief of the Caracas region, Venezuela, resisted des- perately the incoming of the Spaniards, and in 1658, attacked in his mountain retreat, per- ished by fire and sword, with his last breath invoking vengeance upon the invaders. CAMBRIDGE . MASSACHUSETTS U . S . A V