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 THE VISION 
 of the 
 TRANS- 
 MISSISSIPPI 
 and Other SteiesVwcS 
 
 HERBERT 
 
 JACKSON 
 
 ADAMS 
 
THE VISION 
 
 of the 
 
 TRANS=MISSISSIPPI 
 
 AND OTHER VERSES 
 
 4* 4* 4* 
 
 BY 
 
 HERBERT JACKSON ADAMS 
 
 it 
 
 # 
 
 THE SHAKESPEARE PRSSS, 
 
 114-116 East 28th Street, 
 
 New York. 
 
 1912. 
 

 Copyrighted, 1912, 
 
 By 
 
 HERBERT J. ADAMS 
 
 (OCLA328870 
 
My father, Andrew J.,— "Jack," with his 
 family and friends — was a cabinet maker. 
 After his early death, in 1868, I used to see 
 in the garret some account books which had 
 been by him solely devoted to copying favor- 
 ite poems, being done in a very neat hand. 
 
 My mother, lately deceased, was Marion 
 Bellows before marriage. She was always 
 fond of the best literature obtainable, from 
 the Bible to works of mere men and women. 
 
 For the above and obvious reasons I am 
 bringing their names into this little book, 
 
 IN MEMORIAM. 
 
 H. J. A. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Page. 
 
 Be Thankful Anyway 7 
 
 At the Edge of Babyland 9 
 
 The Vision of the Trans-Mississippi — Inquiry 11 
 
 The Scene 16 
 
 The Welcome 22 
 
 Justification 33 
 
 The Welcome (Continued) 39 
 
 Dedication 42 
 
 For Bleak Winter — May 44 
 
 Discovery 47 
 
BE THANKFUL ANYWAY 
 
 Join in the dance, 
 Meet Fortune's glance, 
 No more your grief betray; 
 But hail the dame 
 "With fair acclaim, — 
 Be thankful anyway! 
 
 Past grief is dead, 
 
 Lift up your head, 
 
 Despair then cannot stay; 
 The future, now 
 May show you how, — 
 Be thankful anyway! 
 
 If dismal wraith 
 Assail your faith, 
 Be valiant for the fray; 
 Meet glad sunshine 
 With hope divine — 
 Be thankful anyway! 
 
THE VISION OF THE 
 
 Where'er you are 
 
 Mayhap a star 
 
 Still promises you new day; 
 For smiles make room. 
 Thus foiling gloom — 
 Be thankful anyway! 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 AT THE EDGE OF BABYLAND 
 
 Why must you, Willie, from dear father pull away, 
 Consoling him with just your sweet, arch smile? 
 'Tis true you 've come to be a three-year man to-day ; 
 But can't you be my baby yet a little while? 
 
 Bigger every day grows he; 
 
 He'll not long a baby be. 
 
 Because your schoolboy brother, more than twice as old 
 Just loves this little boy "a great, big pile," 
 Must you act his manners with a swagger bold, 
 And think you can't be baby yet a little while? 
 
 Bigger every day grows he; 
 
 He'll not long a baby be. 
 
 Your kindergarten sister calls me "popsy" now and then; 
 So you will have it "popty," just her style; 
 And I can see the time grows ever shorter when 
 You still can be my baby yet a little while. 
 
 Bigger every day grows he; 
 
 He'll not long a baby be. 
 
10 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 The wee ones lately come to help the family grow, — 
 From where? — It must be farther than one mile, — 
 Are still too small to notice me, you know ; 
 So you should be my baby yet a little while. 
 
 Bigger every day grows he; 
 
 He'll not long a baby be. 
 
 Now see! You've had a tumble, romping "just like mad," 
 So brimming full of mischief, though so free from 
 
 guile :— 
 For comfort to papa now comes the weeping lad. 
 And wants to be his baby just a little while. 
 
 Bigger every day grows he; 
 
 He'll not long a baby be. 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 11 
 
 THE VISION OP THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI.* 
 
 (Trans-Mississippi Exposition, — 1898) 
 
 I 
 
 INQUIRY 
 I. 
 
 Was hope of colonist but vain, 
 The hope — when ended royal reign- 
 To then make fast-uniting bond 
 The pledge of brotherhood as fond 
 As met the test on Calvary: — 
 The hope to end men's slavery? 
 
 ' (A part of "The Scene," "The Welcome" and "Dedication" were written 
 r n 1898. In 1909-10 the form of the stanzas of "The Welcome" was changed, 
 and the "Inquiry" and "Justification" entire were inserted.) 
 
 NOTE— In stanzas V and VI of "Inquiry* there are references to certain 
 conditions, with possible remedies, that wer' outlined by the author in 1896 
 and 1906, in Mss. in his possession. 
 
12 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 II. 
 
 What is this West new-destined for? 
 Long must we still vain aims deplore, 
 For that no movement well denned 
 Has come to form in western mind, 
 Whereby it may, soon, once for all, 
 Forever stay the sordid pall, 
 Already dark'ning like a cloud, 
 To e'en our country dim enshroud? 
 Will't give to martyr's cry new ear, 
 Reap full of Independence, dear, 
 To save our hope, posterity, 
 From preying hands' dexterity? 
 Must wonders done for wealth and place, 
 Make it forget what's due its race? 
 When will a better time appear 
 Than this, to make the future clear? 
 
 in. 
 
 If wisdom would advance apace, 
 It must vain past, as dead, efface 
 With fresh intelligence each morn, 
 E'er free from rule that's too well worn: — 
 Such upright wisdom, and unbent, 
 As scorns the stftff, expedient. 
 
 r 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 13 
 
 IV. 
 
 Shall such a wisdom pass abroad, 
 And keenly now unmask each fraud? 
 Shall it, before time waxes late, 
 Swift rectify the social state? 
 Must some be still so surfeit rich 
 That children irk them like an itch ; 
 Or any say they can't afford, 
 When, speaking truth, they're simply bored; 
 Sink marriage to a selfish waste — 
 (Since only offspring prove it chaste) ; 
 So, ego large, on every hand, 
 Refined, lets "cattle" stock the land? 
 Shall social feeling rise in grace 
 To shield those burdened with the race? 
 Shall Benedicts, "the horrid things!" 
 Make women good, shed spurious wings! 
 Those who, with falsely-guarded charms, 
 Drive candid men to easy arms, 
 Who, through ambition, pride or fear, 
 Suppress true feeling, else so dear; 
 Or finding virtue in scarce felt restraints, 
 Claim all the credit of anointed saints. 
 Shall old maids swear themselves to lust? 
 Shall swear they will, and swear they must 
 
U THE VISION OF THE 
 
 Pass their good blood to ages high, 
 Nor, wed or no, on some poor cry? 
 Nor yet look o'er the husband's head 
 To some one else for half-slave bread ; 
 Nor vex the tie till love falls dim, 
 By vaunted wisdom, oft but whim; 
 Fain be the loving, loyal mate, 
 And not a mentor, not a fate ; 
 So each shall boast but parity 
 In Virtue, Hope and Charity? 
 
 V. 
 
 As offspring, multiplying, spread, 
 Shall sovereign hand be on each head 
 To bless, and say with confidence, 
 The earth's his part-inheritance, 
 Allowing none to question, ntal y 
 That no undue congestion shall 
 Bind opportunities, deemed free 
 For worth and need, as best may be? 
 Point avarice out a baneful thing, — 
 By graded tax remove its sting, 
 Though bold, with individual it rides 
 Or slyly in a corporation hides? 
 So that its men may all be men, 
 Like eagle, each, with lofty ken; 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 15 
 
 None money-buzzards, sparrow pecked ; — 
 The State well-noting how 'tis recked, 
 That precedents oft keep their hold, 
 For no good use but that they're old; — 
 Lest it too drink false nations' cup, 
 Whet men to eat each other up? 
 
 VI. 
 
 The sportsman, true, ne'er plays his game 
 With odds to help — not e'en his name; 
 But personal skill and his fair chance, 
 And luck, his fortune do advance. 
 Nor is his effort gauged by size 
 Of goal. There's ever higher prize. 
 Nor sportsmanlike is game of life, 
 Where, selfish, thrown into the strife 
 Are prizes previously won, 
 By luck, or trade, or toil well done, 
 'Gainst him, alone, who stakes his chance 
 On brawn, or brain, and confidence: — 
 Though use of wealth may be condoned, 
 If to the game's advantage loaned, 
 Well short of usury in rate, 
 That surplus winnings may relate 
 To all who play, in severalty, 
 As they show worth, ability. 
 
16 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 THE SCENE 
 
 The potent west-wind fanned my cheek, 
 And, cooling, pressed my brow; 
 Again, again inbreathing it, 
 I felt within me grow 
 Such spirit as in earlier day 
 Stirred valiant heart, and bold, 
 Led dauntless Pike and Fremont 
 Western myst'ries to unfold. 
 
 II. 
 
 Adieu I willing bade 
 Atlantic's commerce teeming strand, 
 And went a plodding course 
 Towards the El Dorado wonderland. 
 Nor rugged mountain checked me, 
 Nor stream, nor sea-wide plain, 
 Till far Mississippi's verdant bank 
 My weary feet could gain. 
 Invited still by prairie breeze, 
 Still westward on to press. 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 17 
 
 I long breathed in its fragrance, 
 
 And would court its winsomeness. 
 
 Yet, straining o'er the landscape vast, 
 
 Beyond the glinting tide, 
 
 My lids, moist-edged, grew wont to fall, 
 
 My tired orbs to hide : 
 
 And yielding to the gloaming's peace, 
 
 On mellow turf I lay, 
 
 And slept on thought of wondrous scenes 
 
 To mark the break of day. 
 
 III. 
 
 The prospect that my waking eyes 
 Had striven, vain, to see, 
 In vision, or as dreamland, now, 
 Deep slumber brought to me: — 
 A seeming boundless empire there, 
 Stretched leagues on leagues away: — 
 Scarce fairer land ne'er He caressed 
 With sunrise's cheering ray. 
 It northward far and farther spread, 
 To where fell blizzards roam, 
 Where sunbeams only parry, weak, 
 The winter's tempest foam. 
 A thousand miles of pasture 
 
18 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 West-flanked the lower stream, 
 
 To where its gulf-bathed border 
 
 Sparkled in my dream. 
 
 Nor was the vision limited 
 
 To fertile prairie plains, 
 
 But soared to yonder Rockies, 
 
 Where frowning mountain chains, 
 
 Guard nature's precious caches, 
 
 That elude, oft seem unreal, 
 
 But found, are fettered in the meshes 
 
 Of men's giant webs of steel. 
 
 Beyond Pacific's desert slope 
 
 My image paused in state, 
 
 Enthroned in evening's ambient glow, 
 
 Where shines the Golden Gate. 
 
 IV. 
 
 My dream had elements sublime, 
 Nigh startling me from sleep, 
 But Morphia bade have patience, 
 Yet within the spell to keep, 
 Till detail of the venture 
 Might be passed before my view, 
 In high-wrought panorama, 
 As if Master artist drew: — 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 19 
 
 V. 
 
 In whisper of the corn leaves, 
 In ten thousand emerald fields; 
 The purl of rushing currents, 
 That broad Platte's bed, constant, yields; 
 With echoed hoof-beats of the buffalo, 
 In herds unnumbered slain ; 
 And rumbling distant thunder 
 That bespeaks the welcome rain : — 
 A murmuring of strange music 
 Takes my fancy's waiting ear. 
 And as the notes grow louder, 
 More distinct, inspiring, near, — 
 Such tones in martial anthem 
 As might quicken from repose 
 The host of fallen heroes 
 That time's records, bright, disclose, — 
 The fresh 'ning wind with joy took up 
 The promise-weighted sound, 
 And fervent invitation bore 
 To all the world around. 
 
20 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 VI. 
 
 Ere time had let me ponder 
 On the full bent of the strains, 
 I saw a goddess presence 
 Move from out the billowy plains. 
 In stately measure led she 
 A resplendent, gallant train, — 
 Nor was it idle, vain procession 
 Did Nebraska entertain: — 
 For each, with fruit of industry, 
 Unsullied, graced her lead — 
 Their burdens fitting, ample, 
 Proved they thrifty fortune heed. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Hard by the yellow water 
 That clear-marks the father tide, 
 Where stands her great-grown city,- 
 Magic yield of civic pride, — 
 Nebraska laid her treasures, 
 Golden ears and honey sweet, 
 And rare, her color album, 
 For the soul of artist meet. 
 Aloft in fair right hand 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 21 
 
 She, smiling, held the jewelled wreath. 
 To crown the sovereign pilgrim 
 Who best offering showed beneath; 
 And waved o 'er all her silver bugle, 
 Bright in noonday sun, 
 Then gave the marchers greeting, 
 And full-welcomed every one. 
 
 VIII. 
 Up briskly wound the caravan ; — 
 Its each division marked a clan, 
 Whose chosen leader to command, 
 Was fair composite of his band. 
 They deigned the goddess due salute, 
 Then waited, brief, all calm and mute, 
 Till words of greeting had been said — 
 While each their champion bared his head, 
 And to her gaze raised hopeful eyes, 
 Which failed not e'en to meet the skies. 
 While man-made instruments discharge 
 Sweet airs to nature's chords enlarge :— 
 So gave each way for eager train, 
 Till all had gathered off the plain. 
 
22 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 THE WELCOME 
 
 1. 
 
 "From southern portal 
 To the North and East and West, 
 First welcomed here, Louisiana comes, 
 And with her brings that ardent, tropic smile, 
 Pure-born, long since, 
 Of New Acadia-chastened breast. 
 Nor shall we soon forget 
 The hard-won battle ground, 
 Where Jackson made his own and raised thy fame. 
 And proved to nations how on New World soil 
 No field of conquest 
 For the tyrant may be found. 
 
 II. 
 
 "Beginning so, this child 
 Of bouyant western mind 
 Continued: Trans-Mississippi's pioneer, — 
 Thou iron-visaged old Missouri! clear 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 23 
 
 We see thee come from out 
 
 Thy years of toil refined. 
 
 If for a commonwealth complete 
 
 We are in quest, 
 We need but look on thy fair countryside, 
 And on thy two great cities guarding thee, 
 
 So forming stately border gates, — 
 
 Then may we rest. 
 
 III. 
 
 "Thou quiet Arkansas, 
 
 Be merry once with us! 
 All know thy boast is not of grain nor gold, 
 But, for thy genial clime, by many sought, 
 
 Thy generous welcome here 
 
 None can nor will discuss. 
 
 Thy native healing waters 
 
 Need not fear the truth; 
 And as thy health-restoring springs do purge, 
 Like magic wake again the languid blood, 
 
 So let our festival 
 
 Awake, renew thy youth. 
 
24 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 IV. 
 
 "Ah, mighty giant, 
 
 What bright badge hast thou? 
 'Sam Houston' said, what more hast need to say, 
 Or need of any common emblem stuff, 
 
 Or laurel, even, still 
 
 To grace thy lustered brow ? 
 
 Redoubt, blood-mortared, 
 
 In the south was dearly laid, — 
 Though fancy-fashioned like an emerald star, — 
 To ever warn away presuming foe. 
 
 Since Alamo has Valor sworn 
 
 By Texas' blade. 
 
 "Draws on Iowa now, 
 
 With steady, bouyant tread: 
 His progress keeps scarce deviating line, 
 And has, since when shrewd Blackhawk's subtle pow< 
 
 Bent to his civil wisdom, 
 
 That leads, is never led. 
 
 Though long has been thy land 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 25 
 
 To warfare's strife unused, 
 r et ready art thou armored in thy peace : — 
 ^he might that's in the wielding of the pen, 
 
 Is by thy school-house fortressed 
 
 Hilltops large infused. 
 
 VI. 
 
 "The sea's refrain, soft-hummed 
 
 By lap of wave on wave, 
 iVith odors rare from bord'ring garden comes: 
 ?or here now strays the maid of fruit and fiow'rs, 
 
 The California, golden-tressed, 
 
 So fair, yet brave ! 
 
 "Who's not amidst thy native bow'rs, 
 
 Thy beauty longed to see, 
 ^or would walk thy shores, and wander in thy dells, 
 3as never heard of thy all-summer skies, 
 
 Thy forests, deep, 
 
 Thy wondrous vale, Yosemite. 
 
 VII. 
 
 "Where bubble forth 
 The Mississippi's natal springs, 
 And ether rare, holds pure his liquid course, 
 
26 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 New-chastened by the falls of Anthony, — 
 
 From thence keen-visioned 
 
 Minnesota off 'ring brings. 
 
 Throbs there with potent life 
 
 Her state's twin-city heart; 
 Its beating quivers down e 'en to the gulf ; 
 Wide o'er the Lakes and Lawrence's isle-tossed flood 
 
 The ocean feels the touch 
 
 Of her great inland mart. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 "Again, in far northwest, 
 
 Columbia lends her name 
 To grace a surging river, wide and deep, 
 (There Irving- writ Astoria hides, eclipsed.) 
 
 Wherefrom our Nimrod, Oregon, 
 
 Takes finny game. 
 
 His catch has made 
 
 Poor sportsmen of us all. 
 Our thanks for dainty, salmon-hued; yet greet 
 We too the patron of that bold-tried ship, 
 
 The ship so swift to round 
 
 The 'Horn' at warfare's call. 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 27 
 
 IX. 
 
 "How dark then seemed the fate 
 
 Of freedom, as he bled! 
 How black the pois'nous hate toward Kansas, here, 
 Ere he, harsh-scarred, eked out a victory, 
 
 So midst that freedom 
 
 Might his sons be born and bred ! 
 
 With all the world he stands 
 
 Abreast in civil state ; 
 With vigilance he guards the sober will : — 
 Art welcome, thou, and these, thy loyal train 
 
 Who now, close-pressing 
 
 With thy banners on thee wait. 
 
 X. 
 
 "Thou dust-flecked traveller 
 
 From out the arid slope, 
 O'er steel-girt way thy boundaries inclose, 
 A million souls have glided toward a flow'ry clime, 
 
 And gazed upon thy plains 
 
 With undeflected hope. 
 
 With hard-transported ores 
 
28 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 And chemicals thou art 
 Now come to claim Nevada's welcome here. 
 If dignity pervades thee as thy sand, 
 
 Thy valor's not for sport, 
 
 Nor mark for humor's dart. 
 
 XL 
 
 4 'To fitting mark 
 
 Our Union's first centennial day, 
 We took unto us one who springs to lead, 
 E 'en bonding his rich mines to back his will, — 
 
 When was his early wisdom 
 
 Mocked by silver spray — 
 
 All o'er. Now bringst thou 
 
 Pictures of the Great Divide, 
 Rare spec 'mens from thy mines, thy parks and streams 
 We greet thee, Colorado, bright and bold, 
 
 And freely in us all 
 
 We pray thou mayst confide. 
 
 "Montana's mighty frame 
 And swinging stride, behold! 
 His presence and his dress prove Fortune's care 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 29 
 
 Yet grieves he, how rich gifts on one bestowed 
 
 Must dim what had been his, 
 
 By look of honors sold. 
 
 We pray the care, confined, 
 
 May ne'er from thee withdraw, 
 Until, — forbid! it cannot also be, 
 That thou, in surfeit of her fostering, 
 
 Forget our Custer's sacrifice 
 
 To valor's law. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 "Thou who, exalted bear'st 
 
 Thy country's father's name, — 
 Of those who late fulfill his glorious hope, — 
 May thou in ages yet to tax thy course, 
 
 In all thy works 
 
 Reflect with truth his fame. 
 
 May land and sea and sound 
 
 Thy fruitful handmaids be, 
 Conditions lending for thy fair intent ; 
 And let thy Ramnier grain by grain dissolve ; 
 
 Ere Washington's great deeds 
 
 Shall cease inspiring thee. 
 
30 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 XIV. 
 
 "Approach full near, 
 
 Thou youth of sterling, sturdy worth, 
 Thy hand in friendship's clasp let all here feel: 
 Thy fame will spread as seed will multiply, 
 
 Till all the world 
 
 Asks tidings of Dakota, North. 
 
 For o'er the round earth's vast 
 
 And, once dividing, main, 
 In business thrift, though oft on waters cast, 
 From off thy wind-waved, shim 'ring, golden fields, 
 
 Full fleets of mammoth ships 
 
 Bear forth thy ample grain. 
 
 XV. 
 
 "Before us stands that stalwart son 
 
 With whom— behold! 
 A fate that strong in separation lies :— 
 Yet dual entry, good, does he propose : 
 
 The rancher's toilsome yield, 
 
 The miner's hard- won gold. 
 
 We welcome South Dakota, 
 
 Neighbor mine so near ! 
 
 
 i 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 31 
 
 His threatened blight from strangers' nuptial griefs 
 Soon turn to bloom ; though young, may he grow wise, 
 
 Until at parting time, 
 
 May he be deemed a seer. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 " 'Wyoming?' — Hark! Thy name 
 
 So wrapped in cadence soft, 
 For thee bespeaking such pastoral charm, 
 Invites us free to lounge in meadows green, 
 
 And gaze in rapture 
 
 Where thy pine tops wave aloft; 
 
 To watch the cow-boy tend 
 
 The herds that pasture there, 
 And list to plaintive bleating of the lamb ; 
 To whip for trout thy writhing mountain streams, 
 
 And chase, with hound and mustang keen, 
 
 The deer and hare. 
 
 XVII. 
 
 "Lies else but sordid gilt 
 Twixt Bitter Root and Snake? 
 Tis lately said that serpent soon may crawl 
 
32 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 Unchecked nigh over thee, fond, hoping Idaho. 
 
 'Twere but impulsive blasphemy 
 
 To say, mistake 
 
 To foil, 'our land has been baptized.' 
 
 Thy fruit and corn 
 Owe not some water rite. Tis water rights 
 Thy bad-lands save. Yet hallowed virtues joined 
 
 Must make thy bright 'ning star 
 
 Our flag adorn. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 "Does Utah now advance, 
 
 With ordered, modest gait: — 
 We gauge his deeds but since he won the star, 
 When sought he, wise, to share our destiny, — 
 
 (Though learned was in legal 
 
 Lore of Church and State, 
 
 Domestic (multiplied) relations, 
 
 High combined) — 
 May we where Salt Lake's templed city stands, 
 A people find imbued with wholesome thought, 
 
 So truth may raise toward Heav 'n 
 
 The candid, fearless mind." 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 
 
 JUSTIFICATION 
 
 I. 
 
 The sceptic who, with candor, cries: — 
 4 'In dreams no order ever lies," 
 May not, direct, be answered now, 
 Though briefly will I venture how, 
 To this point in my coma deep, 
 The dream did not all chaos keep. 
 
 II. 
 
 For many years my hair had shown 
 The signs of age. Age marks his own. 
 In generations I had passed, 
 Things valued I had safe amassed, 
 That needed no strong locks to guard: — 
 Nor had I any such reward, 
 If earned, or no. Howe'er I throve, 
 'Twas not by dint of treasure trove. 
 Full much I'd labored, futilely: — 
 (Why, " Fortune" met it brutally) :— 
 Whose life's not pledged to dollars gain, 
 Must scarce his purse e'en cents contain? 
 
34 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 III. 
 
 Keen senses physical I had ; 
 
 These played me true since but a lad ; 
 
 Keen sensibilities employed, 
 
 Since with my playthings I had toyed. 
 
 And passions — (They are not for here:— * 
 
 Would I could bury them, dear!) 
 
 Yet why? — for passions may exalt 
 
 In good ; or make in good default : — 
 
 Involuntary native force ! — 
 
 Self-guaged for better or for worse. 
 
 IV. 
 
 In precinct politics no place 
 
 Had I. For that I lacked the face, 
 
 Though willing. So, shut kindly out, 
 
 I had not that to fret about. 
 
 Yet much I had to do, in thought, 
 
 On what large public movements sought 
 
 To better man in mind, estate, — 
 
 Great men and measures and their fate :- 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 35 
 
 I followed these well nigh alone, 
 Because no ward work had I done. 
 Yet knew I well statecraft exacts 
 Wise practice in the little acts. 
 
 V. 
 
 A schoolmate, mine, Geography, 
 
 Dressed in his mixed topography; 
 
 His watchful rival, History, 
 
 Whom I e'er held a mystery, 
 
 For ponderous learning that he knew ; 
 
 These studies both my fancy drew. 
 
 And 'twas my pastime to apply, — 
 
 As swiftly, sure, the years went by, — 
 
 What, out of these, my search had gained, 
 
 To tell me what might be attained 
 
 By that unsettled far west land 
 
 Of phases noble, good and grand. 
 
 VI. 
 
 De Soto trailed its eastern shore, 
 
 Then let his river close him o'er; 
 
 And Drake, brave-pledged to empire's hope, 
 
THE VISION OF THE 
 
 Claimed for his queen its western slope ; 
 
 The " bubbler" glimpsed it — young John Law; 
 
 Some of it Astor's agents saw; 
 
 Devout and hardy priests of France 
 
 Did early cast on it fond glance; 
 
 Mount Vernon's hero, ere he slept, 
 
 His hope and forethought on it kept; 
 
 And Lewis sought Missouri's source, 
 
 And by that stream Clarke left his corse; 
 
 Dubuque, and others long to name, — 
 
 Some winners, large, in life's wide game, — 
 
 (Some but for gold cared not a rap.) 
 
 But all helped make my little map. 
 
 VII. 
 
 Some colored patches in a square : — 
 
 Not far to make it well compare, 
 
 If concentrated in the mind, 
 
 With any county one might find 
 
 Whose boundaries are regular, 
 
 Where townships drawn in order are, 
 
 As, Minnesota, Iowa, 
 
 Missouri, then, et cetera: — 
 
 In row on row, with art engrossed, 
 
 the coast." 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 37 
 
 And this, the map, by true intent. 
 Showed land enough for continent ; 
 Though it might be mere "section," e'en. 
 For all its measure could be seen, 
 If catalogued exhibit rare 
 In some far planetary fair. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Enlarging township into state, 
 Recalls me now to close debate : — 
 As each new state's admission came, 
 I stored my mind with date and name. 
 And striking circumstances all. 
 Of territorial curtain-fall. 
 
 IX. 
 Well-ordered waking minds, 'twould seem, 
 May oft suggest the ordered dream; 
 And when one has the names and dates, 
 And clear-drawn map of bounded states. 
 'Tis not so large an enterprise 
 As some good critic might devise. 
 And if what's said is not enough 
 To lend some grace to language rough, 
 There is this added circumstance; 
 
38 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 To wit : that where in this high trance, 
 
 At last my ent'ring dates gave out, 
 
 At once there came to fancy, doubt 
 
 As to procedure. This gave rise, 
 
 In my sub-mental exercise, 
 
 To panic, when I near awoke. 
 
 Now noting, brief, by lanquid eyes, 
 
 The night still deep there in the skies; 
 
 The river's eerie lick and boom 
 
 So plainly saying: "Far from home!'' — 
 
 Doubt not it palled my visioned brain 
 
 That I had suffered some by strain; 
 
 The star-shot blackness in the west, 
 
 Though fleeting glimpsed, gave much unrest. 
 
 Mischances, such, nigh stirred resolve 
 
 That I no more these parts involve. 
 
 If worse led worst I might at least, 
 
 At break of day hie me back east ; 
 
 For in the west could hardly be 
 
 A place for dreaming man like me. 
 
 On this I turned to doze awhile, 
 
 And found the dream unchanged in style. 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 39 
 
 THE WELCOME— (Continued.) 
 
 XIX. 
 
 "That home, mysterious, 
 
 Of ancient, conquering tribes 
 Who, bloody, gained the land that shares thy name, 
 Tis 'Old,' with 'Mexico,' not 'New,' should act 
 
 To spell its fame, so well 
 
 Made out by learned scribes. 
 
 Wilt tell how thy old legends 
 
 Engage the modern way? 
 Do happily now blend with patriots' songs 
 Of Independence won, how Lincoln saved, 
 
 The cries that faint ring down 
 
 From Montezuma's day? 
 
 XX. 
 
 "Thou herald from the 'Neutral strip,' 
 
 E'en as young and fast, 
 What news, swift Oklahoma, dost thou bring? 
 Are satisfied those who, in that short day, 
 
40 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 In myriad multitudes 
 Once swept thy borders past 
 To stake them homes ? For thee 
 What has experience found, 
 If not that Heav 'n-gauged industry rewards 
 That thy sure faith must foil a teasing fame, 
 As if thy land but lends 
 The cyclone practice ground? 
 
 XXL 
 
 "Now, hopeful, glides, 
 
 With new-learned, willing, rhythmic pace, 
 The red man, Loo, erstwhile the white man's ward. 
 United fragments, once of fierce, far-roaming tribes, 
 
 In councils civilized 
 
 At last have found their place. 
 
 Soon come the lasting time, 
 
 When all thy people, brave, 
 Shall clear their view by larger knowledge gained; 
 No more make fruitful land mere hunting ground, 
 
 No longer aliens stay 
 
 Where they their race may save. 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 41 
 
 XXII. 
 
 "Where high and wide-extending plains 
 Meet searing sun, 
 
 And low, in rough-hewn, mile-deep canon swirls 
 
 The Colorado, Arizona dwells. 
 Though trooping last, 
 May not the prize by him be won! 
 Hard-fretted has he borne 
 The scourge of savage foe, 
 
 That ever backward did his progress keep : — 
 
 So, hold him not to promise of great deeds, 
 Till vanquished he 
 The hate-imbued Geronimo." 
 
42 THE VISION OP THE 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 I. 
 
 Nebraska now stood waiting, mute, 
 
 In pensive, wistful pose, 
 
 Till when the pure, inspiring tones 
 
 To lighter bars arose. 
 
 Her mien commending confidence 
 
 'Mongst all who stood about, 
 
 She gathered her soft draperies 
 
 And led the concourse out 
 
 Where still above the yellow stream, 
 
 On bold, broad eminence stood 
 
 A courtly amphitheatre 
 
 Whose bounds spread rood on rood. 
 
 II. 
 
 When peal from out her burnished bugle 
 Stilled again the scene, 
 Her gracious dedicating words 
 Came forth in voice serene: — 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 43 
 
 ''Ye score and more of commonwealths, 
 
 Of the Trans-Mississippi land, 
 
 The thrones now take, provided here, 
 
 For each high-honored band. 
 
 But ere thy many million hearts 
 
 Through thee engage our feast, 
 
 New greetings send ye yonder 
 
 To thy old homes in the East. 
 
 Take council of their wisdom, 
 
 Scorn not wardship of their love, 
 
 So this day in our history, 
 
 Calls blessings from above." 
 
44 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 FOR BLEAK WINTER— MAY. 
 
 Spring to us straying 
 In midwinter's dream, 
 
 Spring instant staying 
 In winter's sunbeam. 
 
 Memory's spring! 
 
 Spring in the fleeting of lengthening day, 
 Spring sends us greeting from far on her way. 
 Wakening spring! 
 
 Spring in the power of snow-melting sun, 
 Spring for an hour when the south winds run. 
 Magical spring! 
 
 Spring from the borders of tropical lands, 
 Spring's advance orders on gulf-gleaming sands. 
 Quickening spring! 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 45 
 
 Spring will not grieve us, 
 
 True part she will play, 
 Spring will soon give us 
 
 For bleak winter, May. 
 
 AVonderful spring! 
 
 Spring in brook water that leaps in its bed, 
 Spring in the patter of raindrops o'erhead. 
 Freshening spring! 
 
 Spring in Resurrection that follows the pall, 
 Spring's soul refection when Easter bells call. 
 Passionate spring! 
 
 Spring's renewed meadows all glist'ning with dew, 
 Spring in fleet shadows when clouds cross the blue. 
 Radiant spring! 
 
 Spring in the flowing of bird-medleys clear, 
 Spring when kine lowing falls anew on the ear. 
 Orchestral spring! 
 
46 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 Spring in her bowers, laced branches her screen, 
 Spring 'midst her flowers and nature's rare green. 
 Redolent spring! 
 
 Spring has not riven us, — 
 
 Live fully the day ! 
 Spring's at last given us 
 
 For bleak winter — May. 
 
 Wonderful spring! 
 
TRANS-MISSISSIPPI. 47 
 
 DISCOVERY. 
 
 If my soul could displace 'neath her bosom 
 Her own, next her heart's very beat, 
 
 I perhaps could learn all the secret, 
 How her nature is so passing sweet. 
 
 In my soul's new abode in her bosom 
 
 I should wish to forever abide, 
 And should long for her to return there, 
 
 And the doors I would keep open wide. 
 
 If her soul in my breast had found shelter, 
 It would read there full many a sign, 
 
 Of how fully her exquisite being 
 
 Had impressed itself true upon mine. 
 
 And to me she might send, in her bosom, 
 A message swift borne by a dove, 
 
 To tell me how lonely she found it, 
 
 Though she found there such wonderful love. 
 
DEC 21 1912 
 
 48 THE VISION OF THE 
 
 And anon while repose stilled those dwellings, 
 Our souls to each other would fly, 
 
 And a compact we'd make that our beings 
 Should no longer each other deny. 
 
 And together we'd dwell in the future, 
 Be co-tenants both in each place, 
 
 Be united in one long, sweet living, 
 Under Heavenly sanction and grace. 
 
 
3477-1*2 
 Lot 69 
 
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