PS 2491 .fi4 Copy 1 No. 103 5» 5» ENGLISH READINGS fob HIGH SCHOOLS Xafeesibe Series. «J» «J» 5» 4J» «!» & Selections from j| | JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY jj & I ... and . . . ^ l REVEREND ABRAM T. RYAN ! y _____ - I 4j» «|> «8» «j» # # *$•» Vfx «|» ^ # «^» «|* *|» «|> AINSWORTH & COMPANY . . . CHICAGO . . . «?» # # The kakegtde (Classics SferttH. With Portraits, Introductions, Notes, Historical and Biographical Sketclie*. 1. Selections from Plato. Edited by IT. T. Nightingale; boards. 12mo., 154 pages- illustrated, containing "The Pho^do" and " The Apology of Socrates," 20 cents- 2. Selections from Washington. Lincoln, and Bryant. By H. T. Nightingale; en- ameled covers. 62 pages, illustrated, containing five charming selections from Bryant; Washington's Rules of Conduct; The Farewell Address to the American People; and Lincoln's Gettysburg Address; also Lincoln's First Inaugural Address; 15 cents. 3. Selections from Essays by Lord Bacon. 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Full cloth bound, side stamp. 400 pages, containing Macaulay's Essay on Milton, Macaulay's Essay on the Life and Lettersof Addison. Milton's L' Allegro. II Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas. Burke's Speech on Conciliation, 60 cents. 17. Macaulay, Milton, Burke, Macbeth. Full cloth binding, containing same selec- tions as No. 16 and also Shakespeare's Macbeth, from the 20th Century Shake- speare, prepared by C. L. Hooper, 90 cents. 18. Milton's Minor Poems. Containing L' Allegro, II Penseroso, Comus,- and Lyc- idas, 75 pages, enameled covers, cloth back with portrait, an introduction, and notes for use in 5 :hools; reviewed by Miss Peake and Miss Henderson, of the Oshkosh State Normal School, 15 cents. JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY ffibe Xafcestoe Settee of Engltsb IReaoings SELECTIONS FROM THE WRITINGS OF JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY and REVEREND ABRAM J. RYAN Edited with an Introduction and Notes and Questions / \ CHICAGO AINSWORTH & COMPANY 1904 - eceived NOV 21 1904 Copyright tntry 0r XXc, No; , / C2-o c 6~ COPY B. ^ .*« All Rights Reserved Copyright 1904 By AINSWORTH & COMPANY The Poems by Father Ryan included in this volume are used by permission of Mr. P. J. Kenedy, the authorized publisher of Father Ryan's poems. Permission has also been ob- tained to use the copyrighted poems by John Boyle O'Reilly. f 3 H PREFACE John Boyle O'Reilly and Father Abram Ryan For no other reason than convenience this number of " Catholic Authors " includes two names, both admired and loved, though both comparatively little known except to a very narrow circle of readers. A fugitive from tyranny, Mr. O'Reilly reached our shores, receiving from the nation the wel- come that its liberty-loving spirit accords to the oppressed. Grateful for the hospitality shown him, he at once identified himself with all the varied interests of the land of his adoption. His capabilities soon became recognized. Most American in sentiment and aspiration, at the same time true and devoted to the land of his birth; buoyant and brave, observant, sa- gacious, diligent and studious, tenderly religious and home-loving — these are the qualities that have given to his writings their virile and win- ning character. Had a longer career been vouch- safed him, undoubtedly his versatile mind and capacity for work would have made him one of the ablest literary characters of the age. In Father Abram Ryan genius also discovered itself through adverse circumstances, but its 5 ' 6 PREFACE trend was in a different direction. A large vol- ume of poems testifies to his gifted mind. As soon as it appeared, his popularity was achieved. In the publishers' preface to the second edition we read : " These, his poems, have moved mul- titudes. They have thrilled the soldier on the eve of battle, and quickened the martial spirit of a chivalric race; they have soothed the soul- wounds of the suffering; and they have raised the hearts of men in adoration and benediction to the great Father of all." Does not the age stand in need of this eleva- ting influence? Justly and proudly, therefore, do we include the name of Father Ryan among our deserving authors. The Compilers INTRODUCTION John Boyle O'Reilly [1844-1890] "Drive out from Drogheda to Dowth Castle, Soggarth, 1 and see where I was born. It is the love- liest spot in the world. I have not seen it in over twenty-five years, but, O God ! I would like to see it again. See it for me, will you ? " Birthplace Such was John Boyle O'Reilly's request of Rev. Thomas J. Conaty (now the Rt. Rev. Bishop of Los Angeles), on the latter's departure for Europe in 1889. "It cer- tainly is a lovely spot," said Dr. Conaty after his return, " near the historic Boyne water, and within a few miles of the hill of Tara, Ireland's once royal city." Fitting birthplace for the poet, patriot — for him who has been styled " the manly man among manly men " ! Here the young poet spent the first eleven years of his life. The boy was for- Early Life tunate in having parents who were both remarkable for literary culture and talent. William Davis O'Reilly, the father, was a fine scholar and an able educator, having been master of the Fetterville Institution for thirty-five 1 Soggarth — Gaelic for priest. 8 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY years. His mother, Eliza Boyle, was a woman of rare intellectual gifts, combined with a generous, hospitable, kindly heart. John was the second son of a family of five daughters and three sons, and was born June 28, 1844. What schooling he had was received before the age of eleven ; for at that time he entered the printing office of the Argos at Drogheda. Here he remained for about four years, receiving constant advancements, when the death of the proprietor re- leased the young apprentice from his indentures. In 1859, he went to Preston, England, where he se- cured a position in the office of The Guardian, pub- lished in Preston. While in the employ of The Guardian, he received promotions until he found himself in the reporter's chair. Something besides filial obedience impelled him when he left Preston forever, about the end of March, 1863. He had become deeply imbued with the revolutionary principles, then so In the freely adopted by patriotic Irishmen British Army all over the world. He dreamed of making his country free — not merely independent of the British connection, but absolutely free — in short, a republic, and in May, 1863, he went over to Ireland to enlist as a trooper in the Tenth Hussars, as a step towards the accomplish- ment of his designs. The government puts no premium upon open hostility ; it sets no special ban upon secret conspiracy. George Washington would SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY g have been hanged as ruthlessly as Robert Emmet had his scheme of treason failed. In October, 1865, O'Reilly took the Fenian oath in the cause of his country. Already the govern- ment had discovered the rebel movement in the ranks of the army, and was using every means to extinguish the kindling sparks of the threatening outbreak. February, 1866, O'Reilly Arrest and was arrested, and on Wednesday. Trial June 27, 1866, the eve of his twenty- second birthday, his trial by court- martial began. The charge was, " Having at Dub- lin, in January, 1866, come to the knowledge of an intended mutiny in Her Majesty's forces in Ire- land, and not giving information of said intended mutiny to his commanding officer." After a tedious trial, formal sentence- of death was passed upon all the military prisoners, but on the same day it was commuted to a life imprison- ment in the case of O'Reilly and of four others, but the sentence of O'Reilly was afterwards commuted to twenty years' penal servitude. The first step in the execution of the sentence was taken September 3, 1866, in the Royal Square, when in presence of five royal regiments the pris- oner was made to listen to the x . reading of his sentence, stripped of Imprisonment , . .,. .. « , , • his military uniform, clothed in the convict's dress, and escorted to Mount joy prison. IO SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY After a short detention there, O'Reilly was shipped over to England, where he suffered con- finement in various prisons. The silence and soli- tude of prison life were almost unendurable, but he found some solace in his thoughts and in the pages of " The Imitation of Christ," which he was allowed to read. Many of the weary hours he whiled away by moulding into verse some of the thoughts that filled his mind. Scratched on the wall of his prison-cell are three characteristic poems. To the last, " The Irish Soldiers," the following foot-note is appended : " Written on the wall of my cell with a nail, July 17, 1866. Once an English soldier; now an Irish felon; and proud of the ex- change." In the latter part of 1867, sixty-three political prisoners, of whom O'Reilly was one, were trans- ported to Australia. For the first few weeks after his arrival, the chaplain had man- Australia aged to have O'Reilly detailed as an assistant in the prison library. But one day he was called by an .officer, and dis- patched to a settlement about thirty miles along the coast, to begin the dreary life of the convict. He had been a little over a year in the convict settlement, when the long-sought opportunity came of breaking his bonds' forever. After perils of seas and pursuers, and through the help of staunch friends, he landed safe at Philadelphia, SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY ii November 23, 1869, J ust tw0 years after the date of his taking passage on the convict ship Hougou- mont for the Australian penal colony. Not finding favorable opportunities at Philadel- phia, he went to New York. Here, in December, 1869, he delivered a lecture at the Cooper Insti- tute. In it he told of the sufferings America and wrongs endured by himself and his fellow-prisoners, and modestly recounted the incidents of his escape, dwelling with eloquent gratitude upon the part taken in it by the American captains of the Gazelle and Sapphire. Successful as the meeting was and gratifying to the young lecturer, it did not give him promise of securing any material aid for Ireland, nor did it open for him the way to a livelihood. He was ad- vised to go to Boston, and acting upon the sug- gestion, he arrived in that city in 1870, with letters of introduction to two of its prominent citizens. The young stranger soon secured a good position. From this time, he rose steadily in In Boston the esteem of increasing and admir- ing friends, while his pressingly- solicited lectures won for him the immediate regard of audiences of highest culture. Mr. Donahue, then editor and proprietor of the Boston Pilot, recog- nizing the ability of the young man, gave him a temporary engagement as reporter and general writer for the Pilot. I2 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY In 1872, O'Reilly married Miss Mary Murphy, one of Boston's most accomplished young ladies, herself a writer of no mean merit. The ideal home-life with his wife and four daughters was unbroken until his death in August, 1890. O'Reilly's Personality Kindness was the fruit, courtesy the flower, of John Boyle O'Reilly's character. Its seed was that sacrificial seed of which he sings so often and so earnestly. Even when a little child, he was noted for his winning qualities. The same was true of his life in the barracks and in prison. The mag- netism of the boyish soldier won more converts to treason than his fervid eloquence. When his trial was ended, he sent these brave words of comfort to his loved ones : — " I wrote these slips before I Keynote of knew my fate, and I have nothing His Character more to say, only God's holy will be done!" "God's holy will be done ! " That was the keynote of his character, as kindness was the theme of his life. His close friend, Mr. Mosely, writes : — It would hardly appear to some people, but the thing that impressed me in Boyle's character was his manliness, his self-abnegation, his child-like faith in the teachings of his youth, his firm, unshaken conviction, and his beautiful SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY I3 trust and repose in religion, his Church, and his God. With him it was a fixed fact, a never faltering attitude of his mind, and when by his literary associations he was thrown with men who were doubters, agnostics, and dis- believers, his faith was as sublime, his conviction as un- shaken, and his devotion as constant as when he learned the lesson at his mother's knee. It was the rare privilege of O'Reilly to be appre- ciated and loved during his life as few men have ever been loved. The praise he received never spoiled his simple, manly nature. His So it was that such words of frank Popularity praise as the following could be written of him while he was yet among us. The Boston Post's kindly essayist says of him : " He is one whom children would choose for their friend, women for their lover, and men for their hero." " Was the sans peur et sans reproche 1 which has characterized another knight 2 for cen- turies worth more than this ? " asks another admirer. This admiration is not to be wondered at when we read of his universal charity and the myriad kindnesses that filled his days. He loved nature and he loved art, but he better loved mankind. That love was given freest ex- pression to those near him, his wife and little daugh- 1 " Without fear and without reproach." - Bayard, a French warrior of the sixteenth century. 1 4 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY ters. Without entering into the Glimpse of sacredness of his domestic life, it Home Life is enough to say that there he was truly at his best. He was most pa- tient, tender, and considerate. He would read for hours every evening to his little ones from the books which he cherished, and taught them to understand Shakespeare, Milton, Dante, Shelley, Keats, and all the masters of English verse. One summer, when his wife was away at Nantucket, he read the Ara- bian Nights through to his little girls, taking a boy- ish delight in breaking all rules of wise conduct by prolonging the entertainment away into the unhal- lowed hours of morning, and enjoining secrecy on his fellow-culprits. " In twenty years of acquaintance, and more than seven of close personal intimacy," said one who surely must have known him well, " in the abandon of the club or the cafe, I have never heard fall from his lips a word which Integrity might not be spoken in a lady's drawing-room. He was neither a saint nor a prude, but he was a man of clean mind and tongue, and foul language revolted him like the touch of carrion. The life of John Boyle O'Reilly teaches anew the lesson that the man just and firm of purpose can conquer circumstances. The failure of his youthful patriotic dream did not discourage his SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY i 5 brave heart; the degradation of the prison did not contaminate his pure soul; poverty did not debase, nor prosperity destroy his manly independence. He remained throughout all his life a brave, honorable, Christian gentleman, a loyal friend, a generous foe, a lover of God and his fellow-men. O'Reilly's Literary Career During the year 1871, the young journalist's nar- rative poems began to attract a great deal of at- tention. The popular taste is not to be despised. The world loves a story, and it is the bard's chron- icle, from the Tale of Troy down to the latest ballad, that is committed to memory when the loftier flights of the Muse are admired and forgotten. " The Amber Whale" and " The Dukite Songs of the Snake," were received with univer- Southern Seas sal praise, for it was just at this time that authors like Bret Harte, Joaquin Miller, John Hay, Will Carleton, and our poet, were creating a renaissance of natural poetry. In 1873 appeared his first volume of poems, entitled Songs of the Southern Seas. The year 1881 found O'Reilly's place in literature safely assured, and time is but strengthening the honored position he holds among standard Amer- ican authors. His novel, " Moondyne," published in 1880, has since reached its twelfth edition. The storv is r 6 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY founded on his convict experiences in Australia. The work evoked some remarkably Moondyne harsh criticisms from ultra Cath- olics, who objected to what they called its pagan spirit. In reply the author says, " There is not, could not be, an anti-Christian word in ' Moondyne.' If there were, it would not stand one moment." Literary polish is scarcely to be looked for in a book composed from week to week to meet the printers' demand for matter. Often- times the copy was written while the press was waiting — and yet the story abounds with passages of beauty and strength. In April of 1881 he published his second volume of poems, dedicated "To the Memory of Eliza Boyle, my Mother." It contained some of the most finely finished and musical verses Statues in that he ever wrote, among them the Block "The Statues in the Block," his best effort in blank verse. This poem, which gave the volume its name, contains two lines which were the poet's favorite : — ' " When God gives us the clearest sight, He does not touch our eyes with love, but sorrow." The death of Longfellow in 1882 evoked a beau- tiful tribute from O'Reilly. His esteem for Long- fellow was sincere and abiding, and the gentle American poet had always been his warm friend and admirer. SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY z y On June 14, 1882, O'Reilly read his great national poem, "America," at the reunion of the Army of the Republic, at Detroit. In it he America honored as no other poet has done, the pre-eminent virtue of the Amer- ican people, magnanimity in victory. President Grant, who was present on the stage, said, " That is the grandest poem I ever heard." On the occasion of the unveiling of Bartholdi's great statue of Liberty 1 in New York Harbor (1886), O'Reilly wrote for the New York World his poem, " Liberty Enlightening the World." In it he pro- pounds in capital letters the creed of Liberty : — Nature is higher than Progress or Knowledge, Whose need is ninety enslaved for ten; My words shall stand against mart and college : The planet belongs to its living men. In November, 1889, he attended the celebration of the Centenary of the Catholic Hierarchy in America, at St. Mary's Cathedral, From the Baltimore, and was present at the Heights dedication of the American Catho- lic University of Washington, D. C, three days later, He lectured in Washington on November 10, and read his poem, " From the Heights," at the University banquet on the 13th. 1 The colossal statue of " Liberty Enlightening the World," pre- sented by France to the United States. It is the work of the great sculptor Bartholdi. !& SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY His last poem, " The Useless Ones," meaning the poets, was published in the Pilot of February i, 1890 : — " Useless ? Ay, — for measure : Roses die, But their breath gives pleasure — God knows why ! " The following may be found helpful ; it is the expression of reliable critics : — Wendell Phillips — a " Lycidas " — his best work. In Bohemia — his most popular lyric. A Tragedy — his best lyric. The Statues in the Block — his, best attempt at blank verse. Ensign Epps — his best and shortest narrative poem. Jacqueminots — most tender and melodious of all his songs. What is Good? — the theme of his life in verse. Moondyne — his novel. America Pilgrim Fathers )• — unsurpassed patriotic poems. Crispus Attucks THE PILGRIM FATHERS In May, 1889, O'Reilly accepted an invitation to prepare a poem for the dedication of the national monument to the Pilgrim Fathers. The selection of a foreign-born Occasion citizen for this office surprised and offended many New Englanders. But all, even the most doubtful, were moved to ad- miration and praise when they heard the heroic strains which displayed the skill of the poet and the perfect sympathy of the writer with his subject. It was on this occasion that the people named him the poet laureate of New England. " Strange as it may seem," writes Thomas Swift, in the Champlain Educator for June, 1904, " the 'Pilgrims' and Boyle O'Reilly Inspiration were essentially kindred spirits. There is a close analogy between their lots in life, hence it is not to be wondered at that Boyle O'Reilly sang a loftier strain about the Pilgrim Fathers than any other American poet, per- haps, has done." The structure of the poem is worthy of the theme. Its elegant pentameters are arranged in successive rhyme, which tersely express the Structure strong thoughts of the poet. In style, the whole poem is suggestive 19 2 -SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY of the classic simplicity of Goldsmith's " Deserted Village." " The meaning and value of the work of the Pil- grim Fathers to mankind," quoting Meaning again from Thomas Swift, " is and Value summed up in these two mighty verses : — " ' In every land where might holds sway, The Pilgrims' leaven is at work to-day.' And again in these : — " ' The death of nations in their work began ; They sowed the seeds of federated man.' " The poem is rich in historical allusions. It is instinct with a spirit of purest, loftiest patriotism, which must awaken in the heart of every reader the same noble enthusiasm. "It is the crowning work of the Estimates poet's life." — James Jeffrey Roche. " This beautiful poem is an American literary study of exceptionally high merit and great profit." — Charles Swift, in The Cham- plain Educator, 1904. SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 2I THE PILGRIM FATHERS (abridged) One righteous word for Law — the common will ; One living truth of Faith — God regnant still ; One primal test of Freedom — all combined ; One sacred Revolution — change of mind ; One trust unfailing for the night and need — 5 The tyrant-flower shall cast the freedom-seed. So held they firm, the Fathers aye to be, From Home to Holland, Holland to the sea — Pilgrims for manhood, in their little ship, Hope in each heart and prayer on every lip, ' I0 They could not live by king-made codes and creeds ; They chose the path where every footstep bleeds. Protesting, not rebelling ; scorned and banned ; Through pains and prisons harried from the land ; Through double exile, — till at last they stand IS Apart from all, — unique, unworldly, true, Selected grain to sow the earth anew ; A winnowed part — a saving remnant they; Dreamers who work — adventurers who pray ! What vision led them ? Can we test their pray- ers? 20 Who knows they saw no empire in the West? The later Puritans sought land and gold, And all the treasures that the Spaniard told ; What line divides the Pilgrims from the rest? 22 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY We know them by the exile that was theirs ; * 5 Their justice, faith, and fortitude attest; And those long years in Holland, when their band Sought humble living in a stranger's land. They saw their England covered with a weed Of flaunting lordship both in court and creed. 3 ° With helpless hands they watched the error grow, Pride on the top and impotence below; Indulgent nobles, privileged and strong, A haughty crew to whom all rights belong; The bishops arrogant, the courts impure, 3S The rich conspirators against the poor; The peasant scorned, the artisan despised; The all-supporting workers lowest prized. They marked those evils deepen year by year: The pensions grow, the freeholds disappear. 4° Till England meant but monarch, prelate, peer. At last, the Conquest! Now they know the word: The Saxon tenant and the Norman lord! No longer Merrie England: now it meant The payers and the takers of the rent ; 45 And rent exacted not from lands alone All rights and hopes must centre in the throne : Law-tithes for prayer — their souls were not their own! Then twelve slow years in Holland — changing years Strange ways of life — strange voices in their ears ; 5 ° SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 23 The growing children learning foreign speech ; And growing, too, within the heart of each A thought of further exile — of a home In some far land — a home for life and death By their hands built, in equity and faith. S5 And then the preparation — the heart-beat Of wayfarers who may not rest their feet ; Their Pastor's blessing — the farewells of some Who stayed in Leyden. Then the sea's wide blue! "They sailed," writ one, "and as they sailed they knew 6o That they were Pilgrims ! " On the wintry main God flings their lives as farmers scatter grain. His breath propels the winged seed afloat ; His tempests swerve to spare the fragile boat ; Before His prompting terrors disappear; 6 * He points the way while patient seamen steer ; Till port is reached, nor North, nor South, but here ! Here, where the shore was rugged as the waves, Where frozen nature dumb and leafless lay, And no rich meadows bade the Pilgrims stay, 7 ° Was spread the symbol of the life that saves : To conquer first the outer things; to make Their own advantage, unallied, unbound; Their blood the mortar, building from the ground ; 24 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY Here, on this rock, and on this sterile soil, 75 Began the kingdom not of kings, but men : Began the making of the world again. Here struck the seed — the Pilgrims' roofless town, Where equal rights and equal bonds were set, Where all the people equal-f ranchised met ; 8o Where doom was writ of privilege and crown ; Where human breath blew all the idols down; Where crests were nought, where vulture flags were furled, And common men began to own the world ! All praise to others of the vanguard then! 8s To Spain, to France ; to Baltimore and Penn ; To Jesuit, Quaker, — Puritan and Priest ; Their toil be crowned — their honors be increased ! We slight no true devotion, steal no fame From other shrines to gild the Pilgrims' name. 9 ° Give praise to others, early-come or late, For love and labor on our ship of state; But this must stand above all fame and zeal : The Pilgrim Fathers laid the ribs and keel. On their strong lines we base our social health, 95 The man — the home — the town — the common- wealth ! Unconscious builders? Yea: the conscious fail! Design is impotent if Nature frown. No deathless pile has grown from intellect. SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 25 Immortal things have God for architect, I0 ° And men are but the granite He lays down. Unconscious ? Yea ! They thought it might avail To. build a gloomy creed about their lives. To shut out all dissent; but naught survives Of their poor structure; and we know to-day I0 5 Their mission was less pastoral than lay — More Nation-seed than Gospel-seed were they ! On all the story of a life or race, The blessing of a good man leaves its trace. Their Pastor's word at Leyden here sufficed: II0 " But follow me as I have followed Christ! " And, " I believe there is more truth to come ! " O gentle soul, what future age shall sum The sweet incentive of thy tender word! Thy sigh to hear of conquest by the sword: IIS " How happy to convert and not to slay! " When waves of ages have their motive spent, Thy sermon preaches in this Monument, Where Virtue, Courage, Law, and Learning sit ; Calm Faith above them, grasping Holy Writ; I20 White hand upraised o'er beauteous, trusting eyes, And pleading finger pointing to the skies ! The past is theirs, the future ours ; and we Must learn and teach. Oh, may our record be Like theirs, a glory, symbolled in a stone, I2 $ 2 6 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY To speak as this speaks, of our labors done. They had no model ; but they left us one. Severe they were ; but let him cast the stone Who Christ's dear love dare measure with his own. Their strict professions were not cant nor pride I3 ° Who calls them narrow, let his soul be wide! Austere, exclusive — ay, but with their faults. Their golden probity mankind exalts. They never lied in practice, peace, or strife ; They were no hypocrites ; their faith was clear ; J 35 They feared too much some sins men ought to fear ; The lordly arrogance and avarice, And vain frivolity's besotting vice ; The stern enthusiasm of their life Impelled too far, and weighed poor nature down ; J 4° They missed God's smile, perhaps, to watch His - . frown. But he who digs for faults shall resurrect Their manly virtues born of self-respect. How sum their merits ? They were true and brave ; They broke no compact and they owned no slave ; I45 They had no servile order, no dumb throat; They trusted first the universal vote; The first were they to practice and instill The rule of law and not the rule of will; They lived one noble test : who would be freed IS ° Must give up all to follow duty's lead. SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 2? They made no revolution based on blows, But taught one truth that all the planet knows, That all men think of, looking on a throne The people may be trusted with their own! x 55 In every land wherever might holds sway The Pilgrims' leaven is at work to-day. May we, as they did, teach in court and school, There must be classes, but no class shall rule: The sea is sweet, and rots not like the pool. l6 ° Though vast the token of our future glory, Though tongue of man hath told not such a story, Surpassing Plato's dream, More's phantasy, — still we Have no new principles to keep us free. Still must we keep in every stroke and vote l6s The law of conscience that the Pilgrims wrote ; Our seal their secret: Liberty Can Be; The State Is Freedom If The Town Is Free. The death of nations in their work began; They sowed the seed of federated Man. J 7° Dead nations were but robber-holds ; and we The first battalion of Humanity! UNSPOKEN WORDS " Unspoken Words," is another of O'Reilly's Lyrics. In its pathos and beauty Class it gives us a reflective poem of exceeding beauty, and contains a lesson well worth heeding. The message of the poet in this poem is evident. He would teach the duty of speak- Purpose ing kind words. Silence is some- times as cruel as a harsh word. The style, like that of most lyrics, is simple, and the flow of the rhythm musical and easy. But one thought pervades the poem, and it Style culminates in the lines — " But oh, what pain, when at God's own command, - A heart-string thrills with kindness, but is mute." The verse flows smoothly in a pure iambic pen- tameter, which is constructed into Verse four stanzas of eight lines each. The great heart of the sympathetic author would give to all the world love and liberty. 28 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 29 UNSPOKEN WORDS The kindly words that rise within the heart, And thrill it with their sympathetic tone, But die ere spoken, fail to play their part, And claim a merit that is not their own. The kindly word unspoken is a sin, — s A sin that wraps itself in purest guise, And tells the heart that, doubting, looks within, That not in speech, but thought, the virtue lies. But 'tis not so; another heart may thirst For that kind word, as Hagar in the wild — I0 Poor banished Hagar ! — prayed a well might burst From out the sand to save her parching child. And loving eyes that can not see the mind Will watch the expected movement of the lip : Ah! can ye 'let its cutting silence wind IS Around that heart, and scathe it like a whip ? Unspoken words, like treasures in the mine, Are valueless until we give them birth : Like unfound gold their hidden beauties shine, Which God has made to bless and gild the earth. 2 ° How sad 'twould be to see^a master's hand Strike glorious notes upon a voiceless lute ! But oh! what pain when, at God's own command, A heart-string thrills with kindness, but is mute! 3 o SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY Then hide it not, the music of the soul, 25 Dear sympathy, expressed with kindly voice, But let it like a shining river roll To deserts dry, — to hearts that would rejoice. Oh ! let the symphony of kindly words Sound for the poor, the friendless, and the weak; 30 And he will bless you, — he who struck these chords Will strike another when in turn you seek. WENDELL PHILLIPS " The death of Wendell Phillips in February, 1884, was a personal bereavement to O'Reilly, and became the inspiration of a poem so full of tender feeling and noble eulogy as to rank among the best of its kind in the language. He wrote it within six hours. It came fromhis- brain, or rather from his heart, full-formed and perfect." — James Jeffrey Roche. " I heartily thank thee for thy noble verse on Wendell Phillips. It is worthy of the great orator." — John G. Whit tier. " 1 am proud to know the man who wrote it ; he can quit now, his lasting fame is assured. This poem will always shoot above his usual work like the great spire in the Cathedral town." — George W. Cable. Perhaps the most remarkable tribute in its way, paid to O'Reilly's poem on Phillips, was the invi- tation gravely extended to him by the city govern- ment of Boston to write another poem on. the same subject for the memorial services held by the city the following April. This lyric, written in melodious anapestic coup- lets, may be classed with " Lycidas," " In Memo- riam," and other famous elegies. 31 32 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY WENDELL PHILLIPS What shall we mourn? For the prostrate tree that sheltered the young green wood? For the fallen clifT that fronted the sea, and guarded the fields from the flood? For the eagle that died in the tempest, afar from its eyrie's brood? Nay, not for these shall we weep ; for the silver cord must be worn, And the golden fillet shrink back at last, and the dust to its earth return; And tears are never for those who die with their face to the duty done; But we mourn for the fledglings left on the waste, and the fields where the wild waves run. From the midst of the flock he defended, the brave one has gone to his rest; And the tears of the poor he befriended their wealth of affliction attest. From the midst of the people is stricken a symbol they daily saw, Set over against the law books, of a Higher than Human Law ; For his life was a ceaseless protest, and his voice was a prophet's cry SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 33 To be true to the Truth and faithful, though the world were arrayed for the Lie. From the hearing of those who hated, a threatening voice has past; But the lives of those who believe and die are not blown like a leaf on the blast. A sower of infinite seed was he, a woodman that hewed toward the light, Who dared to be traitor to Union when Union was traitor to Right! " Fanatic ! " the insects hissed, till he taught them to understand That the highest crime may be written in the high- est law of 'the land. " Disturber " and " Dreamer " the Philistines cried when he preached an ideal creed, Till they learned that the men who have changed the world with the world have disagreed; That the remnant is right, when the masses are led like sheep to the pen ; For the instinct of equity slumbers till roused by instinctive men. It is not enough to win rights from a king and write them down in a book. New men, new lights; and the father's code the sons may never brook. 34 . SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY What is liberty now were license then: their free- dom our yoke would be; And each new decade must have new men to deter- mine its liberty. Mankind is a marching army, with a broadening front the while: Shall it crowd its bulk on the farm-paths, or clear to the outward file ? Its pioneers are the dreamers who fear neither tongue nor pen Of the human spiders whose silk is wove from the lives of toiling men. Come, brothers, here to the burial ! But weep not, rather rejoice, For his fearless life and his fearless death; for his true, unequalled voice, Like a silver trumpet sounding the note of human right ; For his brave heart always ready to enter the weak one's fight; For his soul unmoved by the mob's wild shout or social sneer's disgrace; For his freeborn spirit that drew no line between class or creed or race. Come, workers ; here was a teacher, and the lesson he taught was good: SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 35 There are no classes or races, but one human brotherhood ; There are no creeds to be outlawed, no colors of skin debarred ; Mankind is one in its rights and wrongs — one right, one hope, one guard. By his life he taught, by his death we learn the great reformer's creed: The right to be free, and the hope to be just, and the guard against selfish greed. And richest of all are the unseen wreaths on his coffin-lid laid down By the toil-stained hands of workmen — their sob, their kiss, and their crown. MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS IN BOHEMIA In 1885, O'Reilly wrote the poem which has had, per- haps, more admirers than any single lyric from his pen, " In Bohemia." He first read it to his brothers of the Papyrus Club, who only anticipated the verdict of all read- ers in accepting it as the national anthem of the boundless realm of Bohemia. A Papyrus president, Col. T. A. Dodge, visited geographical Bohemia a few years ago, and brought home, as a trophy for the club, a beautiful silver salver, on which is engraved in Bohemian and Eng- lish characters the text, " I'd rather live in Bohemia than in any other land." — James Jeffrey Roche. I'd rather live in Bohemia than in any other land ; For only there are the values true, And the laurels gathered in all men's view. The prizes of traffic and the state are won By shrewdness or force or by deeds undone ; But fame is sweeter without the feud, And the wise of Bohemia are never shrewd. Here, pilgrims stream with a faith sublime From every class and clime and time, Aspiring only to be enrolled With the names that are writ in the book of gold ; And each one bears in mind or hand A palm of the dear Bohemian land. 36 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 37 The scholar first, with his book — a youth Aflame with the glory of harvested truth ; A girl with a picture, a man. with a play, A boy with a wolf he has modeled in clay ; A smith with a marvelous hilt and _sword f A player, a king, a plowman, a lord — And the player is king when the door is past. The plowman is crowned, and the lord is last! I'd rather fail in Bohemia than win in another land ; There are no titles inherited there, No hoard or hope for the brainless heir ; No gilded dullard native born To stare at his fellow with leaden scorn : Bohemia has none but adopted sons; Its limits, where Fancy's bright stream runs ; Its honors, not garnered for thrift or trade, But for beauty and truth men's souls have made. To the empty heart in a jeweled breast There is value, maybe, in a purchased crest ; But the thirsty of soul soon learn to know The moistureless froth of the social show ; The vulgar sham of the pompous feast Where the heaviest purse is the highest priest ; The organized charity, scrimped and iced, In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ ; The smile restrained, the respectable cant, When a friend in need is a friend in want ; Where the only aim is to keep afloat, And a brother may drown with a cry in his throat. 38 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY Oh, I long for the glow of a kindly heart and the grasp of a friendly hand, And I'd rather live in Bohemia than in any other land. WHAT IS GOOD? " This little poem was published in the Georgetown (D. C.) College Journal, in October, 1889. It contains in four words the creed by which he lived, the ideal to which he reached : — ' Kindness is the word/ Kindness, always kindness, was his watchword." — James Jeffrey Roche. "What is the real good?" I asked in musing mood. Order, said the law court; Knowledge, said the school ; Truth, said the wise man ; Pleasure, said the fool; Love, said the maiden; Beauty, said the page ; Freedom, said the dreamer; Home, said the sage ; Fame, said the soldier; Equity, said the seer; — Spake my heart full sadly : " The answer is not here." SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 39 Then within my bosom Softly this I heard : " Each heart holds the secret : Kindness is the word." A TRAGEDY In this poem, we think Boyle O'Reilly has touched the high-water mark of his lyrical poetry. " The poem has a value apart from its pathos and its beauty ; for the " lighthouse flame " is very like the heart of the poet, which could not rest long in the pleasant things of life near at hand, but went afar with the ships at sea, to his brother-man on the remotest shore, wherever there was agony under oppression, or struggle for freedom." — Katherine E. Conway. A soft-breasted bird from the sea Fell in love with the light-house flame; And it wheeled round the tower on its airiest wing, And floated and cried like a love-lorn thing; It brooded all day and it fluttered all night, But could win no look from the steadfast light. For the flame had its heart afar, — Afar with the ships at sea; It was thinking of children and waiting wives, And the darkness and danger to sailors' lives; But the bird had its tender bosom pressed On the glass where at last it dashed its breast. The light only flickered, the brighter to glow ; But the bird lay dead on the rocks below. 4 o SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY ENSIGN EPPS, THE COLOR-BEARER " In the Outing Magazine for December, 1885, appeared O'Reilly's best as well as his shortest narrative poem, ' Ensign Epps, the Color-Bearer.' The humble hero of the ' Battle of Flanders ' has been commemorated in prose by some musty chronicler, but his fame will last as long as that of the poet who has embalmed his deed in such noble verse." — James Jeffrey Roche. Ensign Epps, at the battle of Flanders, Sowed a seed of glory and duty That flowers and flames in height and beauty Like a crimson lily with heart of gold, To-day, when the wars of Ghent are old And buried as deep *is their dead commanders. Ensign Epps was the color-bearer, — No matter on which side, Philip or Earl ; Their cause was the shell — his deed was the pearl. Scarce more than a lad, he had been a sharer That day in the wildest work of the field. He was wounded and spent, and the fight was lost ; His comrades were slain, or a scattered host- But stainless and scathless, out of the strife, He had carried his colors safer than life. By the river's brink, without weapon or shield, He faced the victors. The thick-heart mist He dashed from his eyes, and the silk he kissed Ere he held it aloft in the setting sun, SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 4I As proudly as if the fight were won, And he smiled when they ordered him to yield. Ensign Epps, with his broken blade, Cut the silk from the gilded staff, Which he poised like a spear till the charge was made, And hurled at the leader with a laugh. Then round his breast, like the scarf of his love, He tied the colors his heart above, And plunged in his armor into the tide, And there, in his dress of honor, died. Where are the lessons your kinglings teach ? And what is text of your proud commanders? Out of the centuries, heroes reach With the scroll of a deed, with the word of a story, Of one man's truth and of all men's glory, Like Ensign Epps at the battle of Flanders. WHEAT GRAINS As grains from chaff, I sift these worldly rules, Kernels of wisdom, from the husks of schools : I. Benevolence befits the wisest mind; But he who has not studied to be kind, 42 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY Who grants for asking, gives without a rule, Hurts whom he helps, and proves himself a fool. II. The wise man is sincere : but he who tries To be sincere, haphazard, is not wise. III. Knowledge is gold to him who can discern That he who loves to know, must love to learn. IV. Straightforward speech is very certain good ; But he who has not learned its rule is rude. V. Boldness and firmness, these are virtues each, Noble in action, excellent in speech. But who is bold, without considerate skill, Rashly rebels, and has no law but will; While he called firm, illiterate and crass, With mulish stubbornness obstructs the pass. VI. The mean of soul are sure their faults to gloss, And find a secret gain in others' loss. SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY 43 VII. Applause the bold man wins, respect the grave; Some, only being not modest, think they're brave. VIII. The petty wrong-doer may escape unseen ; But what from sight the moon eclipsed shall screen ? Superior minds must err in sight of men, Their eclipse o'er, they rule the world again. IX. Temptation waits for all, and ills will come ; But some go out and ask the devil home. X. " I love God," said the saint. God spake above : " Who loveth me must love those whom I love." " I scourge myself," the hermit cried. God spake : "Kindness is prayer; but not a self-made ache." QUOTATIONS Those we love truly never die. — Love Anchored. The punishment of falsehood is to suspect all truth. A nation's greatness lies in men, not acres. — A Nation's Test. There is no seed so infallible and so fruitful as the seed of human sacrifice. Loss "is an empty cup — an overturned vessel. Defeat in a good contest means a cup that lacks only one or more drops of being completely full. " How shall I a habit break? " As you did that habit make. As you gathered, you must lose ; As you yielded, now refuse. — A Builder's Lesson. A man's higher being is knowing and seeing, Not having and toiling for more ; In the senses and soul is the joy of control, Not in pride or luxurious store. — The Higher Being. 44 SELECTIONS FROM O'REILLY ^ Too late we learn — a man must hold his friend Un judged, accepted, trusted to the end. — A Man and His Friend. The sweet-faced moon reflects on cheerless night The rays of hidden sun to shine to-morrow ; So unseen God' still lets His promised light Through Holy Mary shine upon our sorrow. — Mary. Joys have three stages, Hoping, Having, and Had; The hands of Hope are empty, and the Heart of Having is sad; For the joy we take, in the taking dies ; and the joy we Had is its ghost. Now which is better — the joy unknown, or the joy we have clasped and lost? — The Sorrow of Having. NOTES AND QUESTIONS BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH i. Briefly describe the birthplace of O'Reilly. 2. What is said of his parentage and early life? 3. When and why did he enter the British army? 4. Give an account of his arrest and trial. 5. Relate something of his prison experiences. 6. Why was O'Reilly taken to Australia? 7. Locate Fremantle, Australia, whither O'Reilly was transported. The great white stone prison at Fremantle, is the reason for the town's existence. 8. Recount his escape from Australia. 9. Sketch briefly his life in America. 10. What is said of O'Reilly's wonderful personality? 11. What seemed to be the keynote of his life? • 12. Quote some expressions that indicate the high esteem in which the poet was held. 13. Give Mr. Mosely's estimate of O'Reilly's character. 14. Describe an incident of his home life. 15. Quote the beautiful tribute of praise to O'Reilly's moral integrity. 16. What great lesson may we learn from his life? 17. Which of O'Reilly's poems first attracted attention? 18. Briefly discuss " Moondyne." 19. In which poem do we find the poet's favorite lines? 20. Quote and explain the meaning of these lines. 21. For what occasion did O'Reilly write "America"? " From the Heights " ? 46 NOTES AND QUESTIONS 4? 22. Quote a stanza from his last poem. 23. Give an estimate of his finest works. THE PILGRIM FATHERS 1. Read the poem carefully ; then re-read it the third or fourth time. 2. For what occasion was this poem written? 3. Why is it particularly adapted as a study for American youth ? 4. Relate the history of the Pilgrim Fathers. 5^ What sympathy between poet and theme? Develop the parallel. 6. Quote the lines in which O'Reilly points out the dis- tinction between the Pilgrim Fathers and other New Eng- landers. 7. Which lines describe the chief work of the Pilgrim Fathers ? 8. How does the poet treat the proverbial religious intol- erance of the Pilgrim Fathers ? 9. What is the meaning and value of the work of the Pilgrim Fathers? 10. Develop the striking thought expressed in line 6. 11. What figure in line 17? 12. Why is line 19 particularly strong? 13. Paraphrase the figures in lines 29, 30. 14. Give the particulars of the conquest referred to in line 42. 15. Read the first chapter of " Ivanhoe," and compare it with lines 42-48. 16. Briefly summarize the history alluded to in lines 29-48. 17. What figures in lines 59, 61, 62, 63, 69, 70? 18. Locate Leyden. 4 8 NOTES AND QUESTIONS 19. Line 58. " Their pastor's blessing." This pastor was Rev. John Robinson. 20. Justify the historical allusions in lines 86, 87. 21. What was " Plato's dream "? This is an allusion to Plato's celebrated dialogue, A Republic, or, Concerning What Is Just. To say of Plato's Republic that it is the idea of a perfect commonwealth, is not to give by any means an adequate, or even a just description of it. It is in one sense, to be sure, a dream of social and political perfection, and, so far, its com- mon title is not altogether inapplicable to it; but it bears hardly any resemblance to the things that generally pass under that name; to the figments, for example, of Harrington and Sir Thomas More. — Anthon's Classical Dictionary. 22. What is meant by " More's phantasy " ? Utopia, from the Greek, meaning " not a land," is a term in- vented by Sir Thomas More (1478-1535), and applied by him to an imaginary island which he represented to have been discovered by a companion of Amerigo Vespucci, and as enjoying the utmost per- fection in laws, politics, et£., in contradistinction to the defects of those which then existed elsewhere. The name has now passed into all the languages of Europe to signify a state of ideal perfection. 23. Read Mrs. Heman's " Landing of the Pilgrims," and compare it with O'Reilly's " The Pilgrim Fathers." 24. Describe the versification of " The Pilgrim Fathers." 25. In style, to what famous poem may it be compared? Scan the first six lines. UNSPOKEN WORDS 1. To which class of poetry does " Unspoken Words " be- long? 2. What is its message? 3. Describe the structure of the poem ? 4. Scan the first stanza. NOTES AND QUESTIONS 49 5. Memorize particularly the fifth verse of first stanza. 6. Relate the story of Hagar. 7. Explain the allusion to Hagar in this poem. 8. Discuss the figure in lines 5-8. In lines 15, 16. 9. What similes in lines 17-20? 10. Describe the pen-picture in lines 21, 22. 11. To what instrument is the heart compared in lines 21, 24? 12. What is the music of the soul? 13. Point out the beautiful thought in lines 25-28. 14. Why is this poem peculiarly characteristic of the author ? WENDELL PHILLIPS 1. What was the inspiration of this poem? 2. Who was Wendell Phillips ? Wendell Phillips, born at Boston, Nov. 29, 181 1, was a noted American orator and abolitionist. He was educated at Harvard; was admitted to the bar in 1834; was the leading orator of the abolition- ists from 1837-61; was president of the Anti-Slavery Society from 1865-70. He was also a prominent advocate of penal and labor re- form. — Century Dictionary. 3. State the opinions of some critics as to its merit. 4. To what class of poetry does it belong? 5. Describe its versification. 6. Scan the third stanza. 7. What other great poems are similar to it in theme? 8. Who was the author of " Lycidas " ? Who was the sub- ject of this lamentation? Edward King, son of Sir John King, who was Secretary for Ireland under Queen Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I. 9. Who wrote " In Memoriam " ? Whom did the author mourn? Henry Arthur Hallam. 5 o NOTES AND QUESTIONS io. Who are "Philistines" in this sense of the word? A " Philistine " is a person deficient in liberal culture, without appreciation of the nobler aspirations and sentiments of humanity; one whose scope is limited to selfish and material interests. — {Recent) M. Arnold. As an adjective, the term means uncultured; commonplace. — Webster. ii. Explain how "the men who have changed the world with the world have disagreed." Give examples. 12. Point out the majesty of O'Reilly's friendship for Wendell Phillips, as expressed in the seventh stanza. MISCELLANEOUS SELECTIONS IN BOHEMIA i. What is the meaning of the word Bohemia, as used in the title, " In Bohemia " ? Bohemia is a name for any place where people, especially artists and literary people, lead an unconventional or somewhat irregular life; or, the people collectively who lead such a life. This usage, with that of the adjective Bohemian, in corresponding senses, was introduced from the French, who associated Bohemia with gipsies, by Thackeray. — Stanford Dictionary. 2. Determine the metre and rhyme of " In Bohemia," and scan the first thirteen lines. 3. Read and re-read the poem until you find and recognize the exquisite beauty in O'Reilly's love of the Bohemian, in the above-explained acceptation of the word. 4. Quote the last two lines. 5. Where is geographical Bohemia? 6. Relate its history briefly. NOTES AND QUESTIONS 5I WHAT IS GOOD? i. Which of O'Reilly's poems is the expression of the creed by which he lived? 2. What is the real good according to O'Reilly? 3. Quote the poem, " What is Good ? " A TRAGEDY 1. What is O'Reilly's finest lyric? 2. Quote Katherine E. Conway's criticism. 3. Why has the poem a value apart from its pathos and its beauty? 4. Determine the metre and rhyme. 5. Scan the first six lines. 6. Recite the poem. , ENSIGN EPPS, THE COLOR-BEARER 1. Which is O'Reilly's best narrative poem? 2. Give the history of the battle of Flanders. 3. Where is Flanders? 4. Tell the story of the color-bearer. 5. Describe the versification. 6. Scan the first stanza. WHEAT GRAINS Plant the ten " Wheat Grains " in the fertile soil of your mind; water them with careful thinking; give them the warmth and light of your efforts to develop and expand their rich kernels, until you have ten literary plantlets of say 150 words each. ABRAM J. RYAN INTRODUCTION Abram J. Ryan [1834 or 36-1886] The name of Abram J. Ryan, the Poet-Priest of the South, is familiar to most Americans, par- ticularly to those of his own loved Southland, yet his musical poems are not so widely known as their beauty merits. Father Ryan never dreamed of being ranked as a poet — his productions he called "verses," and objected to any higher title for them, — yet we can not be too grateful to the friends who urged the publication of the works which the author declares were " written at ran- dom — off and on, here, there, anywhere — just when the mood came, with little of study and less of art, and always in a hurry." We can better form an estimate of the poems after knowing something" of the poet, and in this instance, we can in turn judge much of the inner life of the man from his works — for few authors have so stamped their personality upon their com- positions as Rev. Abram Ryan. The place of Father Ryan's birth is a matter of dispute; some claim he was born Early Life in one of the Southern States, others that he came from Ireland. 53 54 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN However that may be, it is certain^ that he received his early education in St. Louis with the Brothers of the Christian Schools. His distinguished ability and deep spirituality were not unremarked by his teachers, who tenderly fostered his evident voca- tion to the priesthood. He completed his studies in the ecclesiastical seminary at Niagara, N.Y., was ordained priest, and began his life as a missionary. Father Ryan's public life may be said to have begun at the outbreak of the Civil War, Public Life when he entered the Confederate army as chaplain. This post he filled until the close of the war, when he was sta- tioned; successively at Nashville and Clarkesville, Tenn., Augusta, Ga., and Mobile, Ala. After act- ing as pastor of St. Mary's Church in Mobile for thirteen years, he obtained a leave of absence from .his Bishop to make a lecture tour of the United States in furtherance of some charitable underta- kings beneficial to the South. Death While occupied with this work, his health, which for years had been fragile, failed utterly, and on the 23d of April, 1886, Father Ryan died in a Franciscan Monastery in Louisville, Ky., where he had retired to make a retreat. Though Father Ryan's literary talents were de- voted to various uses — he was an essayist, a lec- turer, a contributor to magazines — it is our priv- SELECTIONS FROM RYAN 55 ilege to speak of him but as a writer of poems which bear the stamp of true poetic genius. The author's simple preface to his volume of verses is a book of thought in itself. Speaking of himself in the third person, he says, " The poems are incomplete in finish, as the author is; tho' he Author's thinks they are true in tone. His Estimate of feet know more of the humble steps His Work that lead up to the Altar and its Mysteries than of the steps that lead up to Parnassus and the Home of the Muses. And souls were always more to him than songs. But- still, somehow — and he could not tell why — he sometimes tried to sing." Many admirable qualities were undoubtedly Father Ryan's possession, yet three characteristics are apparent to even the casual Marked Char- reader of his verse — love for his acteristics mother, to whom the volume is ded- icated ; love for the " sunny South " and the " Lost Cause " that awakened the tenderest minor strains in the harmony of his verse ; and love for Mary Immaculate. The " Song of the Mystic " is a fitting first num- ber in his poems, a glimpse of his soul which ac- counts for the sadness — real, yet Minor Strains sweet and hopeful sadness — dis- Throughout cernible in everything that came from his pen. 5 6 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN His attention was perhaps called to this mourn- ful strain, else he must have discovered it himself, as one can see in the poem under the simple caption, " Lines — 1875." The refrain — slightly modified in each stanza — is, — " Why does your poetry sound like a sigh ? The waves will not answer you ; neither shall I." The Confederate love of the Poet- His Love for Priest knew no abatement at the the South close of the War, as many of his poems testify; yet a sweet Prov- idence of God mollified his feelings when, during the yellow-fever epidemic, the generosity of the North called forth the admiration of the noble Southerners. To show his appreciation, Father Ryan wrote his fine poem, " Reunited." Many critics find in Father Ryan's style a re- semblance to that of Edgar Allan Poe. In Moran's " Memoir " of the Southern poet, What Critics we find this estimate : " The chief Say of the merits of his poems would seem to Poet-Priest be the simple sublimity of his verses ; the rare and chaste beauty of his conceptions ; the richness and grandeur of his thoughts, and their easy natural flow ; the refined elegance and captivating force of the terms he em- ploys as the medium through which he communi- cates those thoughts, and the weird fancy which throws around them charms peculiarly their own." SELECTIONS FROM RYAN 57 In a sympathetic and appreciative article on the " Poetry of the , South," in the International Monthly, Hamilton Wright Mabie pays a warm tribute of praise to Father Ryan's poems, and our leading critic, Mr. Stedman, considers that Father Ryan's emotional strains will reach a larger circle than more highly finished song. Most Popular The author's published poems num- Poems ber about one hundred and twenty, the most popular of which are, "The Conquered Banner," "Erin's Flag," "The Sword of Robert Lee," " The Rhyme," and " The Song of the Mystic." The last two are his most polished productions. We have selected " In Rome " for study because of its historic value. " In Rome " " In Rome " is a short narrative poem recording the poet's sentiments upon realizing that he was truly in Rome — that Rome of which he had thought and dreamed from boyhood. The stanzas which follow the introductory lines embody quiet reflections on the events of the past, so the narrative is of the class called descriptive. The style is simple, but the figures are Style and varied and beautiful. The poet em- Metre ploys a species of common metre, the alternating single and double rhymes having a pleasing effect. IN ROME At last, the dream of youth Stands fair and bright before me, The sunshine of the home of truth Falls tremulously o'er me. And tower, and spire, and lofty dome s In brightest skies are gleaming; Walk I, to-day, the ways of Rome, Or am I only dreaming? No, 'tis no dream ; my very eyes Gaze on the hill-tops seven ; IO Where crosses rise and kiss the skies, And grandly point to Heaven. Gray ruins loom on ev'ry side, Each stone an age's story; They seem the very ghosts of pride I5 That watch the grave of glory. There Senates sat, whose sceptre sought An empire without limit; There grandeur dreamed its dream and thought That death would never dim it. 2 ° 58 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN 59 There rulers reigned; yon heap of stones Was once their gorgeous palace ; Beside them now, on altar-thrones, The priests lift up the chalice. There legions marched with bucklers bright, 2S And lances lifted o'er them ; While flags, like eagles plumed for flight, Unfurled their wings before them. There poets sang, whose deathless name Is linked to deathless verses ; 3 ° There heroes hushed with shouts of fame Their trampled victim's curses. There marched the warriors back to home, Beneath yon crumbling portal, And placed upon the brow of Rome 35 The proud crown of immortal. There soldiers stood with armor on, In steel-clad ranks and serried, The while their red swords flashed upon The slaves whose rights they buried. 4 ° Here Pagan pride, with sceptre, stood, And fame would not forsake it, Until a simple cross of wood Came from the East to break it. 60 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN That Rome is dead — here is the grave — 45 Dead glory rises never; And countless crosses o'er it wave, And will wave on forever. " Beyond the Tiber gleams a dome," Above the hill-tops seven; 5 ° It arches o'er the world from Rome, And leads the world to Heaven. SONG OF THE MYSTIC I walk down the Valley of Silence — Down the dim, voiceless valley — alone ! And I hear not the fall of a footstep Around me, save God's and my own ; And the hush of my heart is as holy s As hovers where angels have flown! Long ago was I weary of voices Whose music my heart could not win; -i Long ago was I weary of noises That fretted my soul with their din; I0 Long ago was I weary of places Where I met but the human — and sin. I walked in the world with the worldly ; I craved what the world never gave; And I said: " In the world each Ideal, J s That shines like a star on life's wave, Is wrecked on the shores of the Real, And sleeps like a dream in a grave." And still did I pine for the Perfect, And still, found the False with the True ; 20 I sought 'mid the Human for Heaven, But caught a mere glimpse of its Blue: 61 62 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN And I wept when the clouds of the Mortal Veiled even that glimpse from my view. And I toiled on, heart-tired of the Human, 2 s And I moaned 'mid the mazes of men, Till I knelt, long ago, at an altar And I heard a voice call me. Since then I walk down the Valley of Silence That lies far beyond mortal ken. 30 Do you ask what I found in the Valley ? 'Tis my Trysting Place with the Divine. And I fell at the feet of the Holy, And above me a voice said : " Be mine." And there arose from the depths of my spirit 35 An echo, " My heart shall be thine." Do you ask how I live in the Valley? I weep — and I dream — and I pray. But my tears are as sweet as the dewdrops That fall on the roses in May;- 40 And my prayer, like a perfume from censers, Ascendeth to God night and day. In the hush of the Valley of Silence I dream all the songs that I sing; And the music floats down the dim Valley, 4S Till each finds a word for a wing, That to hearts, like the Dove of the Deluge, A message of Peace they may bring. SELECTIONS FROM RYAN 63 But far on the deep there are billows That never shall break on the beach ; so And I have heard songs in the Silence That never shall float into speech; And I have had dreams in the Valley Too lofty for language to reach. And I have seen Thoughts in the Valley ss Ah ! me, how my spirit was stirred ! And they wear holy veils on their faces, Their footsteps can scarcely be heard : They pass through the Valley like Virgins, Too pure for the touch of a word! 6o Do you ask me the place of the Valley, Ye hearts that are harrowed by Care? It lieth afar between mountains, And God and His angels are there : And one is the dark mount of Sorrow, 6 s And one the bright mountain of Prayer. PASSAGES WORTH MEMORIZING Life is a burden — bear it ; Life is a duty — dare it; Life is a thorn-crown — wear it, Though it break your heart in twain; Though the burden crush you down, Close your lips, and hide the pain; First the cross, and then, the crown. Thought. Hearts, that are great are always lone, They never will manifest their best; Their greatest greatness is unknown — Earth knows a little — God, the rest. — A Thought. For ah! the sweet way to God Is up the lonely stream of tears, That flow when bending 'neath His rod And fill the tide of earthly years. — Tears. We laugh when our souls are the saddest, We shroud all our griefs in a smile; Our voices may warble their gladdest And our souls mourn in anguish the while. — Reverie. 6 4 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN 65 There is no fate — God's love Is law beneath each law, And law all laws above Fore'er, without a flaw. — Inevitable. Better than gold is a conscience clear, Though toiling for bread in an humble sphere, Doubly blessed with content and health, Untried by the lusts and cares of wealth. — Better than Gold. It is a touch beyond our ken — And yet a truth that all may read — It is with roses as with men, The sweetest hearts are those that bleed. — A Thought. To forget often means to remember What we had forgotten too long; The fragrance is not the bright flower, The echo is not the sweet song. — Nocturne. The Master sleeps — His pilot guards the bark ; He soon will wake, and at His mighty will The light will shine where all before was dark — The wild waves still remember : " Peace ! be still." — Peace! Be Still. 66 SELECTIONS FROM RYAN For Grief is God's own kiss Upon a soul. Look up ! the sun of bliss Will shine where storm-clouds roll. — Hope. LofC. NOTES AND QUESTIONS i. Father Ryan is known by what familiar title? 2. Give a brief sketch of his life. 3. Are his poems the result of studied and careful labor? 4. What fact proves their popularity? 5. Name some of the best known of Father Ryan's poems*. 6. What are the chief merits of his poetry? 7. Give Jenkins's estimate of Father Ryan's work. 8. To what class of poetry does "In Rome" belong? 9. What ambition of youth is revealed in the first stanza ? 10. Line 3. " Home of truth." Explain. 11. Line 10. What means the "hill-tops seven"? 12. Name the Hills. 13. Line 13. " Gray ruins loom on every side." The arch of Titus, erected by the Senate and Roman people, to his honor, is one of the best preserved monuments of ancient Rome. It is of white marble, and consists of one arcade. In the interior of the arch are two basso-relievos, which, though much injured by time, are the finest known. One of these represents a triumphal march with Jewish captives, and sol- diers bearing the golden table, the golden seven-branched candlestick, and other spoils of the temple of Jerusalem. The Coliseum. This wondrous building was commenced by Flavius Vespasian, a. d. 72, on the site of Nero's lake and garden. It is said to have been finished in five years. Twelve thousand Jews were employed in the building of it. The famous colossal statue of Nero was transported hither (from this it is called the Coliseum). Titus finished it, and dedi- cated it to his father, Vespasian. The Coliseum is of the form of an ellipse. It is four stories high, and is adorned 67 68 NOTES AND QUESTIONS with pillars. The lower columns are of the Doric order, 30 ft. high. In the second tier the columns are of Ionic, 33 ft. high. In the third, Corinthian, 54 ft. high. In the fourth, the pillars are of the composite order, with large windows between them, forty in number. The height of the outward wall is 157 ft.; originally, the building covered nearly six acres. The Coliseum is of interest at the present day be- cause for two centuries the martyrs suffered there. The Arch of Constantine is in Rome, near the " Meta Sudans," the ruins of an ancient fountain. The arch was erected in 312 by the Senate and the Roman people, in honor of Constantine's triumph over Maxentius. It consists of three arcades, remarkable for their size and for their gracefulness. The Forum, the very heart of Rome, the spot round which center so many world-stirring events for a period of a thou- sand years, is now a scene of desolation ; its temples are fallen, its pagan sanctuaries have crumbled into dust; its basilicas, colonnades, rostra, monuments, lie scattered on the ground, which is cumbered with heaps of broken shafts, frag- ments of marble capitals and cornices, and masses of shape- less brick work; only here and there a few shattered porticos are left, helping us to conceive some idea of what this great center of the civic life of ancient Rome was in the flourish- ing days of the empire. (From Chandlery's " Pilgrim Walks in Rome.") When " The Forum " is mentioned, the great " Forum Romanum " is understood, this being the famous one which, from the time of the kings, formed the political center of Rome. Its western end was occupied by the office of the archives, in front of which stood the temples of Con- cord and Vespasian. On its southern side were the temple of Saturn, the Basilica Julia, the temples of Castor and Pollux and of Vesta, and on its northern side the arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia, the Basilica Aemilia, and the temples of Antonius and Faustina and of Romulus. In the middle of the eastern part rose the temple and rostra of Julius Caesar. NOTES AND QUESTIONS 69 The more ancient and famous rostra from which Cicero spoke were at the western end. 14. Explain line 14. 15. Line 15. " Ghosts of pride." Might Napoleon, Alex- ander, Saul, Aman, be so called ? Why ? 16. Give derivation of word " senate." What power had this body in ancient Rome? 17. What figures in lines 17 and 19? 18. Line 18. " Empire without limit." What was the ex- tent of the Roman empire when greatest. 19. Line 21. " There rulers reigned." Kings were the founders and first sovereigns. They were seven in number. Rome then became a Republic, and continued until Augustus made it an empire after the battle of Actium. 20. Lines 21-24. Lanciana gives the following list of pagan edifices in or near the Forum converted into Christian churches : — 1. The Coliseum had many churches and oratories, four dedicated to our Saviour, one to St. James, one to St. Agatha, one to Sts. Abdon and Sennen (the latter at the foot of the Colossus of the Sun), besides other chapels which were in the Amphitheater itself. 2. Church of St. Peter, where now stands Sta. Francesca, called also Sta. Maria Nuova, on the ruins of the temple of Venus. 3. St. Csesarius in Palatio, on the opposite side of the Via Sacra, under the Palatine ; the apse and nave may still be traced. The images of the Byzantine emperors were kept here during their reign. 4. Basilica of Constantine. Nibby here found traces of religious paintings. 5. Templum Sacrae Urbis, and the heroon of Romulus, son of Maxentius, converted into the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian. -o NOTES AND QUESTIONS 6. Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, now the church of St. Lorenzo in Miranda. 7. Temple of Janus Quadrifrons, became the church of St. Dionysius, now destroyed. 8. Hall of the Senate (Curia Romana), now the church of St. Adriano. 9. Offices of the Senate, present church of St. Martina. 10. Mamertine Prison, oratory of St. Peter. 11. Temple of Concord, church of Sts. Sergius and Bac- chus, now destroyed. 12. Temple of Saturn, church of St. Salvatore in aerario. 13. Basilica Julia, church of St. Maria in Foro. 14. Templum divi Augusti, church of St. Maria Antiqua. 21. What effect has the repetition of "deathless" in lines 29, 30? 22. Lines 31 and 32. Probably refer to the cruelty of the Roman conquerors who in their triumphs were heartless to the conquered. 23. Line 35. "The brow of Rome." What figure? 24. Lines 33-36. Why are the warriors said to place an immortal crown upon Rome? Her poets and artists would live for all time, but rather as individuals or geniuses in their particular art. The warrior properly gives renown to his country as a nation. 25. Lines 43, 44. "A simple cross of wood, etc." Allusion to the True Cross brought \>y St. Helen from Jerusalem in 326. In her son Constantine, the first Christian emperor, Pagan pride was broken. A large portion of the True Cross and many other relics of the Passion are preserved in the " Church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem," at the extremity of the Esquiline Hill, built for this purpose by Constantine, and consecrated by Pope Sylvester. 26. Line 49. " Beyond the Tiber gleams a dome." " St. Peter's stands alone in the world, with nothing like to it." Michael Angelo was the architect. One hundred and seventy- NOTES AND QUESTIONS 71 six years were spent in building it, at a cost which shows how Rome honors her apostles. The diameter of the dome is 195 feet; from the pavement of the church to the top of the cross in 434 feet ; from the entrance to the chair of St. Peter is 613 feet. At the transept the width is 450 feet; the nave is 88 feet wide, and 146 feet high; the aisles are 24 feet wide. The fact that the holy water vases are supported by angels six feet high, which, however, appear at first sight to be of the ordinary height of little children, gives some idea of the vastness of the building. The letters around the dome, " Tu Es Petrus," are six feet in length. Read Byron's beau- tiful lines on St. Peter's, in " Childe Harold." 27. Lines 51, 52. These refer to the universal domain of the Church. 19. Milton's Poems. Full cloth bound, revised by MiS9 Clara Doolittle from the text of Edinburgh editiou of 1793, 20 conts. 20. Macaulay's Essay on Milton. 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