THE 
 
 PASSOVER. 
 
 A POEM. 
 
 Hv J. F, HAR^JEY, 
 
.H4- 
 
 Copyright secured by deposite with 
 Librarian of Congress. 
 
THE ARGUMENT. 
 
 In June, 1881, a brilliant comet appeared in the northeast part 
 of the heavens, and the poem opens with a description of tlie 
 surroundings, and some suggestions of the emotions, wonders 
 and desires, always aroused by such ph nomena. 
 
 The telescope and spectrum are introduced as aids invented 
 by intellect to overcome the loss of some power or quality which 
 it once possessed and had lost, or the development of an in- 
 herent ability in its constitution. 
 
 The speech of Dion is directed to the probability that what 
 man has lost in intellectual power and moral purity by his fall 
 and the knowledge of evih is in a measure compensated by the 
 yet higher development that springs from overcoming evil, and 
 from the energy aroused in our moral nature in asserting its 
 superiority. 
 
 TJie speecli of Shiraz is an assertion of what probably 
 would have been the tendency and powers of the human mind 
 had it never been affected by sin and evil, as is exemplified in 
 his own state and those surrounding him. 
 
 The prayer of Zeno and his discourse is to demonstrate the 
 absolute power of God in the moral and physical world, and that 
 His goodness, wisdom, and mercj' are manifested in every part. 
 It is illustrated by reference to a world and a race of humanity that 
 had never known evil, and an allusion is made also to the earth 
 and its inhabitants; and a suggestion that all their trials and^ 
 misfortunes may result in a higher development and greater 
 glory, than could have been reached by any other process. 
 
 The conclusion of the poem is a paraphrase of the 1st. 2nd 
 and 3rd chapters, of Genesis, in which is given the order of crea- 
 tion, the plans and purpose of its construction, the coming of 
 man, his capacity and education: his career and labors in his 
 first estate, the Garden of Eden— Avhat it was— the origin of 
 woman — the reasoning and causes that brought about the tempta- 
 tion are given — the consequences are noted and woman is 
 vindicated by the redemption of Christ through the prophetic 
 promise made to her. The final part is a desire and willingness 
 to accept the conditions allotted to the human race and trust in 
 the hopes and promises of a future life. 
 
pr((\ud((. 
 
 My preface cannot now reveal, 
 What I may write, I only feel 
 — An impulse, with my being, wrought — 
 — An instinct or an afterthought, — 
 To dimly trace my pathway back, 
 As though uncertain of the track. 
 By whence I came to where I go. 
 And seek the mystery, to know. 
 How soul and reason with their train. 
 Are lost within their own domain. 
 
 And why thus wandering all alone, 
 Still seeking rest and finding none 
 When wrapped within my being's thrall 
 (A part of it, and yet not all,) 
 There is a mental light, divine, 
 A part of the eternal mind 
 That glows in all created parts 
 As ruddy gold in blooming quartz 
 This mind of God a living thought, 
 
 With all creation interwrought 
 In forms of law and holds control 
 Of matter as a living Soul, 
 Has by its word revealed to me 
 My origin and destiny. 
 From whence this revelation came — 
 I know because the seal's the same 
 As that upon my soul impressed. 
 I feel its sanction in my breast. 
 It comes the force of a command 
 In language which I understand. 
 But this relief does not suffice, 
 Again the clouds of doubt arise, — 
 Why thus the sense of being lost, 
 And on the angry billows tost, — 
 
(> 
 
 The good the hght so far away, 
 And darkness mingled with the day. 
 Perfection speaks in all that's wrought, 
 Outside the work of human thought 
 All else created things are free, 
 While sin and evil's over me. 
 
 I heard a voice from far below, 
 Where only feeble instincts glow; 
 I heard the same from all around, 
 Where thought is manifest by sound ; 
 I heard it from another state. 
 As passing through an open gate ; 
 These are the words my senses greet, 
 Put off the sandals from thy feet. 
 Come near the light and ope thine eyes 
 Fear not the learning that makes wise 
 And let thy reason free from chains 
 Assert its right in God's domains 
 Totravelfree and so accord 
 With revelations of his word 
 For light divine and reason's flame 
 Are emanations from the same 
 Just as all lights around the sun 
 By day are blended into one. 
 
 CANTO I. 
 
 Thus as I mused the summer day 
 Of balmy June had passed away. 
 And shade of light with crimson dyes 
 W^as bannered on the azure skies. 
 A tapistry whose border line 
 Was glowing with the hues divine, 
 And fringed the shores that lay be- 
 tween 
 The blue abyss and forest green. 
 
 CANTO II. 
 Again I looked, the screen of light, 
 That day had mantled over night, 
 
Had rolled away and there revealed, 
 
 The wonders day had kept concealed. 
 
 The space of dark eternal blue, 
 
 That seemed so limitless to view ; 
 
 (By faith an attribute of Saul, 
 
 That sees where sight has no control) 
 
 I saw was bounded by a shore, 
 
 That liem'd its borders evermore — 
 
 A realm of mind, spiritual, 
 
 A fitted place for God to dwell, 
 
 A land materialess as elf. 
 
 And uncreated like himself. 
 
 And as I sought by faith to see 
 
 This land of hglit, I felt the thrills 
 
 Of w^andering wdnds of ecstacy, 
 
 That must have blown from ofi its hills. 
 
 For as I watched the wondrous host, 
 
 That gliftered on that starry coast, 
 
 I felt within a keen desire. 
 
 Which mortal life could not inspire — 
 
 A wish to follow in the track ; 
 
 Of spirits, home, returning back 
 
 From Mercy's mission of the age. 
 
 Or from a weary pilgrimage. 
 
 III. 
 
 Again, I watched for orbs on high. 
 In constellations of the sky. 
 Where rankless mass of starry troops 
 Were martialed in fantastic groups ; 
 There chairs and ships and whales 
 
 and hounds 
 Were occupying common bounds; 
 And fish and eagles' forms were blent 
 Aloft in ether element, 
 Capella w^aived his torch of light 
 As leader of the northern night. 
 And all, as by one impulse, roll 
 Around the centre of the whole. 
 
IV. 
 
 Up in this Hrmamentof worlds 
 A foreigner its flag unfurls, 
 Of shapeless form and dubious face, 
 With no credentials of its race. 
 No track behind, no way before. 
 What law controls is hidden lore, 
 'rhe halo flashing as it run. 
 Hung as a shadow from the sun. 
 A wavy gauze of shaded light 
 Trailed on the offing in it's flight. 
 
 Y. 
 
 The learned in science failed to speak 
 
 To 6alm the terrors of the weak ; 
 
 But gravely puzzled watched with awe, 
 
 Phenomena without a law, 
 
 A der«izen without a place, 
 
 A steed unbridled in a race. 
 
 YI. 
 
 From whence it came, to where it goes, 
 No sage can tell, no prophet knows. 
 What law directs its onward course ? 
 What will supplies propelling force ? 
 Tt gives no answer, nor explains 
 Why found on planetary plains. 
 The weak suspicion it a spy, 
 An exile from some other sky, 
 A waif expelled for penal years, 
 Afus^itive from other spheres. 
 With curses lashed through endless 
 
 space. 
 Dispensing horror in its race. 
 
 YII. 
 
 I paused and shuddered at the thought. 
 That God should thus be charged with 
 
 aught. 
 About his works to indicate. 
 
A want of love to thus create, 
 A source of terror and despair, 
 To us, the objects of His care. 
 All space around His goodness fills. 
 His love through every atom thrills, 
 And every creature he has made. 
 Is witness to this truth, displayed 
 On earth, and seas, in skies above. 
 His power is bounded by his love. 
 
 YIII. 
 
 The bird is brooding on her nest, 
 Maternal hope now soothes her rest, 
 Her mate has ceased his roundelay 
 Of amorous songs the livelong day. 
 And on his perch has passed, it seems? 
 From waking joys, to joyous dreams. 
 The fire-fly from his couch of green 
 Mounts up to mingle in the scene 
 And meet the stars, to catch by night 
 The inspiration of their light. 
 And as he rises in the air 
 And breathes the thrilling essence there 
 The joys which in his bosom throng, 
 Burst out in light, instead of song. 
 The wee white blossom at my feet. 
 Is nestled in its clovery sweet, 
 x\nd sipping honey from the dew. 
 As dozing in the darkened view 
 And dreaming in its reverie 
 Of coming kisses of the bees 
 It waits the coming of the dawn 
 To greet the flowerets of the lawn. 
 
 IX. 
 
 Will he who thus has blessed the earth 
 With themes of gladness. and of mirth 
 Train in the skies a wandering scourge 
 ■And through the heaven a monster urge? 
 
 X. 
 With chastened faith in hopes to see 
 Solution of this mystery. 
 
10 
 
 I poised a tube, which science kens 
 Well spaced with achromatic lens, 
 And trained it to that wondrous star 
 (A. strano-er from the realms afar) ; 
 Adjusted well the instrument 
 Thereto attached, with the intent 
 By lines and cosines to discover [over^ 
 The course it leads, the way })assed 
 A deft contrivance Science made, 
 To measure by minutest shade. 
 Both size and distance far in space. 
 And bring the objects from their place, 
 To contact with the thinker's mind, 
 In mathematic thought entwined. 
 Just as the field of heaven in view, 
 Is' painted on the retinue. 
 
 XI. 
 I gazed in wonder looking through 
 The lens, that brought the star in view^ 
 So magnified, that I could see. 
 The atmosphere around it free. 
 Yet still the secret I would know, 
 Was held enveloped by the glow, 
 That veiled in its mysterious light 
 The subtle form from mortal sight, 
 That e'en the telescopic power 
 Stood baffled in its prying hour. 
 
 XII. 
 'Tis midnight now o'er half the world, 
 The pall of darkness is unfurled ; 
 This side 's a tomb, one half is dead, 
 Some sleep in graves, and some in bed, 
 And sleep and death, consorts in time, 
 Keep vigils with their daughter, crime; 
 And sin and crime, and sleep, and death, 
 Hold tyrant sway o'er living breath. 
 
 XIII. 
 Such was the bitterness of soul, 
 I felt, and saw the comet roll. 
 In far off space, it seemed to me, 
 
11 
 
 To hold some human mystery. 
 Some problem yet unsolved, of life, 
 Some key to reconcile tlie strife, 
 Twixt matter and its master, mind, 
 Which here on earth is held combined 
 In such ignoble false alloy 
 That matter niay the mind destroy. 
 Unless some power exists beyond 
 Where mind and matter hoth respond. 
 
 XIY. 
 
 As some poor waif upon the sea. 
 With nothing but a piece of wreck, 
 Betwixt him and eternity. 
 He spies a sail upon his lea. 
 And thinks he almost sees the deck, 
 Where happy thoughtless passengers 
 All full of life and gaiety 
 Are passing to the home of theirs ; 
 Yet onward without slackening sail, 
 The vessel leaves the wretch to wail 
 With no companionship but death, 
 When fate metes out his latest breath. 
 Thus disappointed, looked I on. 
 The star passed down the horizon. 
 
 XY. 
 
 Again 'twas evening and the shields 
 Of light and darkness, thafc revolves 
 Around the earth, had brought the fields 
 Betwixt the two, where one dissolves 
 Into the next, — the border line, 
 Was o'er the earth, with every sign 
 Of passing from fche glare of day 
 To evening shade and twilight gray. 
 I stood upon a mountain crest, 
 Like Tabor, where the Savior stood, 
 And met with spirits of the blest, 
 That claimed a human brotherhood. 
 And there in view of mortal sight. 
 His raiment changed to purest white. 
 
12 
 
 His face so marked with human care, 
 Shone with celestial glory there, 
 The very atmosphere around 
 Was vocal with the heavenly sound 
 Of greeting from the Holy ^Jne 
 "This is my well beloved Son." 
 
 XYI. 
 I stood as though on holy ground, 
 With thrilling memories around, 
 And looked before me, where the clouds, 
 Hung o'er the hills in misty shrouds. 
 Adorned their brow with silver sheen, 
 And robed their sides in forest green. 
 
 And clothed their slopes with harvest 
 
 ears. 
 And washed their dusty feet with tears. 
 There from the founts of dew and rain 
 The stream meandered through the 
 
 plain. 
 And joined the current of the river 
 which poured into the sea forever. 
 There tired ships at anchor lay. 
 On folded wings within the bay ; 
 The busy hive along the shore 
 From out this hold removed the store 
 Of wealth and sweets, from other lands, 
 To hoarded cells, with willing hands. 
 The wealth that ministers to vice. 
 The wealth that buys the sacrifice. 
 
 XYII. 
 
 I looked again out to the west, 
 A scene to thrill the artist's breast. 
 The sea was mirror to the sky, 
 The sky reflected back the blue. 
 There mingling every gorgeous dye 
 Resplendent on the morning dew. 
 A living picture , where the lines 
 Of beauty change to new designs. 
 So evanescent that the mind 
 Lost all conception of the kind 
 
That bad preceded it until 
 
 The subtile essence of the will 
 
 Was blending with the changing scene, 
 
 With such prolixity, I ween. 
 
 The lines dividing w^ere unseen— 
 
 The purple shade to crimson wed 
 
 May be the loving hope that's dead; 
 
 The silver lining of the cloud 
 
 May be the solace from the shroud; 
 
 The azure glowing through the whole 
 
 Be inspiration of the soul. 
 
 To draw the scene would be to try 
 
 To quote a smile, or paint a sigh. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 I took a web of darkened cloth, 
 And on the mount I built a booth, 
 And on the side next to the star 
 I opened a small aperture. 
 A ray of light could then be seen 
 To pass within upon a screen. 
 Across the ray I placed a prism 
 To analyze the gleam of hght, 
 (As doctrines by the catechism, 
 Are separated to the sight.) 
 The border glowed with Iris hues, 
 As on the cloud dissolving views 
 When e'er the promise is renewed, 
 The earth is spared for future good. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 The blossom springing from the bud. 
 And spreading beauties all abroad. 
 With forms and colors so refined, 
 As seems the opposite of mind. 
 Is but the harbinger of fruit, — 
 The van of what is in pursuit. 
 The purpose aimed is yet behind. 
 I watched with care the grand display, 
 From the dispersion of a ray, 
 That colorless had held combined 
 All colors in one ray entwined, 
 
14 
 
 And by the fiat of some cause 
 Each had responded to its laws; 
 And ranlied in order on tlie screen 
 The severed parts of hght were seen — 
 A vision of subhnie halo 
 In magic radiance of the bow. 
 
 XX. 
 
 I looked behind to watch for lines 
 Which Froenhofer marked as signs 
 Of matter from another sphere 
 That here as darkened lines appear. 
 Oh ! miracle ! and can it be. 
 The staff of which a world is made 
 Can join with light and travel free, 
 And on the canvas be portrayed. 
 While this immortal soul of mine 
 Made up of elements divine 
 Is held in thralldom from its birth 
 By gravitation to the earth? 
 
 XXI. 
 
 With care I noted from the chart 
 
 Each line and element apart, 
 
 Some metals of familiar face. 
 
 Some doubtful and seemed out of place. 
 
 Some shades denoting there was sent 
 
 To us an unknown element. 
 
 While thus in wonder I absorb 
 
 The tales these messages afford, 
 
 I noted yet another line, 
 
 Whose shade I could but ill-define. 
 
 At times 'twas deep and swelling wide, 
 
 Again receding as the tide. 
 
 It trembling glowed, then indistinct, 
 
 Then deepened dark as marked with ink, 
 
 I looked askant, 'twas from that star 
 
 The message hailed from out afar. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 That mystic line was throbbing still. 
 And seemed appealing to the will, 
 
15 
 
 As thougli to matter not confined, 
 
 'Twas a sensation from the mind, 
 
 Not animate by laws decree 
 
 Bat intellectual sympathy. 
 
 My soul awoke, where reasons pause, 
 
 To solve a sequence without cause. 
 
 And beat upon its prison bars 
 
 And longed to mingle with the stars. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 As some strong captive on the seas. 
 On slaver's ship, in gyves and chains, 
 A moment's respite, to the breeze, — 
 He looked back to his land again. 
 Where late he reigned an honored king, 
 And willing subjects tributes bring 
 Of love and wealth and honors, all 
 In meek submission to his call 
 There herds of kine and swarms of men 
 Gave wealth and homage to him then 
 And stately lords and gentle dames 
 Enlivened his court with cheerful games. 
 His subjects yielded him their fate 
 His beckon was the law of state 
 But now in chains and ranked a slave 
 His destiny a foreign grave 
 He looked around, no solace there, 
 One only rescue in despair. 
 The scaly monsters of the brine 
 Were better friends than humankind, — 
 One maddening leap, the splashing wave 
 Was his pavilion and his grave. 
 
 XXIY. 
 Such was the agonizing spell 
 My spirit felt within it swell, 
 As it looked back to powers lost, 
 What slavery into sin had cost, — 
 From source above inteUigence, 
 A kindred to omnipotence ; 
 It spurned the reasoning that imputes 
 An evolution from the brutes ; 
 
16 
 
 And felt a consciousness within, 
 That 't was of heavenly origin, 
 And knows it hreathes a living breath 
 That bids defiance unto death. 
 And as Elijah went, it goes, 
 And as Elijah comes, it knows, 
 It has the power of light that flies 
 A spirit wandering in the skies. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 Again I looked, the mystic line. 
 Was moved by sensate power divine, 
 Around above its zone expands 
 In azure lines and circhng bands 
 It filled the space as ether fills. 
 It thrilled the soul as ether thrills. 
 I felt the power of some appeal, 
 I felt? oh, no! I ceased to feel. 
 
 XXYI. 
 
 I woke as from an opiate sleep, 
 A dream of flight from other spheres. 
 How^ long the time I could not keep 
 It might have been one moment's leap- 
 It might have been a hundred years. 
 I felt a moment's throb of pain, 
 (A dim sequence of former strife), 
 A sense of being born again. 
 With memory of a former life. 
 My lungs inhale the blessed air. 
 Such as we breath, on mountains fair. 
 Where no malarial poisons slay 
 No exhalations from decay ; 
 No stinted void of vital breath ; 
 No taint of ailment or of death. 
 
 xxyii. 
 
 I seemed to be within a tent 
 
 A tabernacle in extent. 
 
 With lofty columns to the nave 
 
 Around the richest architrave. 
 
 The floor was set with greenest grass 
 
17 
 
 In which the starry flowers grow, 
 And all congealed in burnished glass, 
 That showed a iirmament below. 
 
 XXYJII. 
 
 Around the walls in amber frames, 
 Were ranged tlie scenic works of art, 
 1 could not tell designs or names, 
 J did not know their counterpart, 
 One picture I could recognize 
 Its history was plain to see — 
 Some artist witness of the skies 
 Had drawn the scene on Calvary 
 And every feature curve and line 
 Had an inspired touch divine 
 Imparted from artist mind 
 Yet glowing there, and every word 
 And scene which on that mount occurred 
 Was to the canvas all transferred. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 Mv soul took in the awful view, 
 With every portrait one by one. 
 What old iParhassus could not do, 
 There on the canvas had been done. 
 I saw the gloating Pharisee. 
 I heard the rabble shout of glee, 
 The clicking hammer on the nail, 
 The soldiers curse, the mourner's wail 
 The thief's appeal the dying prayer, 
 The darkness that eclipsed dispair 
 And through the gloom on eclio thrilled 
 That pronhecy had been fulfilled. 
 Beyond I saw another day 
 The cross a banner in display 
 An open tomb its captive free 
 And heard a shout of victory. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 With happy tears I blessed the Lord, 
 Such evidence these scenes afford, 
 
 Who ever made this tent must be, 
 Of surety some akin to me. 
 
18 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 A bird of Paradise o'er head, 
 A ceiling made with wings outspread, 
 And from its beak by golden bars, 
 Was hung a chandelier of stars. 
 Its light like blessings over all, 
 Diffused no shadows by its fall 
 'Twas softer than the garish day, 
 'Twas brighter than the Lunar ray. 
 Attempered right for each it seems 
 To waking thoughts or quiet dreams. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 Arranged in other parts there stood, 
 A cabinet of costly wood, 
 Where every shelf and drawer was filled, 
 With instruments' for science skilled 
 And each department had its share, 
 Excepting for disease aad war. 
 Another side was stored with books. 
 Or such they seemed to me — their looks, 
 Was something as a scroll or chart. 
 Or drawing which the theme imparts, 
 A universal type of thought, 
 With words and ideas inter wrought. 
 So deft the meaning was conveyed, 
 Without interpretation's aid. 
 Rich furniture was scattered round, 
 In such confusion as abound. 
 In forest scattering of trees. 
 Or in the falling of the leaves 
 Where order would the law deform 
 Which Nature made for beauty's charm. 
 Tables and stands of ebony 
 And chairs of whitest ivory. 
 Sofas and divans and what not. 
 Were scattered round in such a lot 
 As though the inmates of the room 
 Were brieliy absent from their home. 
 
19 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 One end there was the curtain drawn 
 Which looked out on a cultured lawn 
 Grently descending to a rill, 
 That rij3pled from its mother hill; 
 Across the stream a rustic bridge 
 With walk ascending to the ridge 
 Upon which summit stood alone 
 A precious temple built of stone. 
 'Twas less in size, in other count 
 'Twas made from model in the mount, 
 The builder better imderstood, 
 The plan than heathen Hyram could 
 The stone rejected by the one, 
 Was made the head and corner stone. 
 Above was such a halo there. 
 Where incense meets return of prayer 
 I could no safe conclusion draw, 
 Because I darst not lift my eyes. 
 There vvas the bush which Moses saw, 
 And Adam knew in Paradise. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 I heard a song and chant within 
 At first a low and plaintive air, 
 And then a loud but mellow din. 
 And then an anthem pealing there, 
 And then a joyous shout of praise, 
 With flashing lights the windows blaze 
 Then pleading notes of solemn prayer. 
 The temple door was opened wide, 
 And worshipers then side by side, 
 In pairs descend down the hill, 
 And crossed upon the bridge, the rill, 
 And leisurely I saw them come [home. 
 Toward the tent which seemed their 
 What men were they, and where was I, 
 I knew I 'd left the earth behind. 
 And still I knew I did not die 
 I was the same in form and mind. 
 
20 
 
 This is no land beyond the grave. 
 Nor home of souls He died to save, 
 There are no reasons why I should, 
 Yet claim to thus immortal be, 
 These men were surely flesh and blood, 
 And must be some akm to me. 
 And yet the fact was evident 
 These men were not of the descent 
 Of Adam after his disgrace, — 
 On either hand there was no trace, 
 Of weapons for destruction made, 
 No polished spear or petted blade. 
 No shield for warding of disease. 
 No fear of d<^ath to mar their ease, 
 No covert hints could be conceived 
 They doubted God or disbelieved. 
 No marring of the one design. 
 No clashing of conflicting mind. 
 But one harmonious range of laws 
 From object to their primal cause. 
 And still I felt related there. 
 It was a land of hope and prayer 
 A land where aspirations met 
 Their satisfy without regret 
 Where intellect had full control 
 And God was present in the whole 
 I felt with diffidence oppressed 
 The fear of an unbidden guest 
 In mingled hope and deep concern 
 Concealed I waited their return. 
 
 XXXY. 
 They loitered in with quiet air 
 And dropped on sofa, cot, or chair 
 When one exclaimed this day's surprise 
 Of blessings on our enterprise 
 And lessons that have blessed our sight 
 From the Chekinah's hallowed hght 
 Is more significant and clear 
 Than doubtful oracles appear. 
 While on this course that now we run 
 
21 
 
 In coasting round this central sun 
 We surely shall communicate 
 With people of some other state. 
 
 xxxvr. 
 
 Then Dion spoke and said, "For days 
 I've been observant of the rays 
 From a planet of the third degree — 
 I know we have its history — 
 Among our books — I recollect 
 On our last voyage 't was almost wrecked 
 T' was veiled in slavery dark as night 
 And wrapped in crime and moral blight. 
 Ambitious monarchs ruled the state 
 While virtue starved behind the grate, 
 Learning had fled from power in halls 
 To find a home in prison walls. 
 Kelio^ion banished from her seat 
 By superstitions counterfeit. 
 The law of love men ceased to know. 
 This was a thousand years ago. 
 Since then a wondrous change occurred, 
 One half 's now lighted by the word. 
 The word of Life which is the thrill, 
 Of moral strength and mental will, — 
 And trusts which ignorance concealed, 
 That word, and science has revealed, 
 And by the energy of thought. 
 Has penetrated to the source [brought 
 And from their darkened chambers 
 Condensed in matter latent force. 
 And set it free, then made it slave. 
 And to it iron muscles gave. 
 This monster power as Sampson, blind, 
 Was trained by mastery of mind, 
 They chained it fast to loaded cars. 
 They set its wheels on iron bars 
 Away it flew, by day and night. 
 Across a continent its flight 
 Onward up the mountain steep 
 Then over rivers broad and deep, 
 
22 
 
 A servitor of giant mould 
 
 A ticking watch its speed controlled^ 
 
 An avalanche, it stopped at will, 
 
 A slave, it hurried up the hill, 
 
 It took the burdens from the serf 
 
 And banished famine from tne earth, 
 
 ''Old ocean's melancholy waste" 
 Where Chaos marshalled her remains 
 Now feels the energizing haste 
 Of words that cross her slimy plains, 
 On metal nerves, by motor proud, 
 That's wrested from the stormy cloud. 
 Now under seas, now under skies 
 On sentient wire the message flies 
 Then over plains, and through the woods 
 By cities and through solitudes 
 ^.nticipating time, 't will guide 
 The train that 's lagging by its side. 
 On earth such wonders have been 
 By power invisible as thought, [wrought 
 
 Thus Dion lounging on his cot, 
 
 In easy luxury and not 
 
 Addressing language to the crowd, 
 
 But talking to himself aloud. 
 
 This morn on earth I have observed, 
 
 How men by a contrivance swerved. 
 
 Each color from a ray of light, 
 
 And left each spangle pure and bright, 
 
 Then disentengle from the ray 
 
 The elements thus brought away 
 
 From other worlds, as samples take. 
 
 Of substance entering in their make. 
 
 I formed a battery of mind 
 
 In which by circuits I combined 
 
 The nerve the simpathy and will 
 
 Which all our party could instill 
 
 This force refined, with instrument 
 
 Along a ray of light, I sent 
 
 It formed a line of sympathy 
 
23 
 
 By which a soul might come to me. 
 
 I left the instrument in poise 
 
 The hattery working without a noise 
 
 This line to earth is yet complete 
 
 I half expect we yet may greet 
 
 On this our wandering home and star 
 
 From thence a living visitor . 
 
 The language spoke the sense defined, 
 
 With such directness to my mind, 
 
 It seemed from the neglected past. 
 
 Some memories were awoke at last. 
 
 Of sounds familiar to my ear, 
 
 As though they were venacular. 
 
 With doubt and fear I kept concealed, 
 
 Behind a curtain as a shield, 
 
 Each person to my vision clear. 
 
 And all their conversation near. 
 
 XXXYII. 
 They were a goodly company, 
 Two score or more of gentlemen; 
 Some joyous youth with laughing eye. 
 And some were grizzled veteran. 
 For half an hour each as he 'd please, 
 Would throw his coat and take his ease. 
 Some laughed in jest and folly free. 
 Some gravely talked philosophy. 
 Some were discussing works of art. 
 While others took the science part, 
 A few dissented from the creed. 
 On revelation all agreed. 
 And all agreed with hearty chime 
 It surely must be dinner time. 
 They seemed as though from off a tramp 
 Some hunters had returned to camp 
 Or better still to be compared. 
 To ministers who having cared 
 For sacred things at conference 
 In vigils long, and work intense 
 To save the strength that toil impairs 
 They look to cooks as well as prayers. 
 
24 
 
 XXXYIII. 
 
 And here forsooth I must explain 
 My muse refused to do her part 
 Or lend the glamour of her art 
 To light my doubtful way again. 
 
 In truth for an inspired tone 
 For language worthy of my theme 
 I was dependent on the stream 
 That flows from poesy alone. 
 
 It hath not been, and no one knows 
 Where heavenly visions bright and clear 
 And being of another sphere 
 Discribed to men in common prose. 
 
 And can the muse who oft has lent, 
 Her charming numbers to describe, 
 The scenes across the other side, 
 As, viewed from Patmos by me seer, 
 Or as in Dante's dream appear, 
 With common language be content. 
 
 In fancy I have dared invade 
 I'he regions of a distant star 
 And hold familiar converse there 
 With beings of a higher grade. 
 
 And yet so tinged with mortal fear 
 So dim in sight, so w^ak in faith 
 My soul its poverty betrayeth 
 Unworthy of the muse's care 
 
 My contact was with human mind 
 I saw no angels clothed in white 
 No seraphs of celestial light [throng 
 No great white throne, no endless 
 Of the redeemed, with shout and song 
 To lower sphere 1 was confined. 
 
 Oh muse the sister of the nine, 
 That with Beatrice divine. 
 Conducted Dante through the scenes, 
 
Of Paradise, to lift the screens, 
 
 That veiled the secrets of desire, 
 
 And opened up a circle higher, 
 
 Until the soul coald scarce endure. 
 
 The rapture of a clime so pure. 
 
 Oh! wilt thou deign to touch my theme, 
 
 With but a spark of living fire 
 
 Its rank mortality redeem, 
 
 Its lowly numbers to inspire. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 This party of celestial climes, 
 On an excursion round the sun. 
 Their train a comet, and their times, 
 Were dateless as e'er time begun. 
 Gifted with wisdom power and grace 
 Such as to earthly men denied 
 They bore the glories of a place 
 Imputed to the sanctified. 
 These beings of this palace hall 
 Responded to their wardens call 
 And through a door in order went 
 Into a room without the tent. 
 I heard the words of solemn thanks, 
 And then the clatter in their ranks, 
 Of arms they used, such vulgar tools. 
 As students have at boarding schools. 
 The fare not such as Gods' delight. 
 To furnish on Olympian hight. 
 Not sweet ambrosia such as drips. 
 Like honey dew from flowery lips — 
 But dinner such as mortal greed. 
 Suggests when hunger forces need. 
 To thus restore the wasted strain, 
 Of muscle and of tired brain. 
 And from the sordid substance course, 
 Make latent strength a living force. 
 
 XL. 
 
 Thus left alone I looked to see. 
 The instrument and battery, 
 
26 
 
 Described as being made to send, 
 A message to an absent friend, 
 Unto the earth my native place, 
 The land of sin the land of grace. 
 I 'felt that I had breathed the air 
 Electrified by Dion's care 
 And then across the horrid void 
 Had passed with living light alloyed. 
 
 XLI. 
 Just by a silver bell was hung 
 I touched it and its cymbal tongue 
 Bang out to me a fearful call 
 When Dion entered in the hall. 
 He was a tall well favored sage, 
 His head was white but not with age. 
 But was the flowing healthful prime 
 The badge of youth in spite of time 
 His step was light, his genial smile 
 Would banish every thought of guile 
 And e'en the glasses on his nose 
 A joyous youthfulness impose. 
 He rushed as though in sudden freak. 
 He clasped hands he kissed my cheek. 
 Embraced and fondled as in doubt, 
 Which impulse trust, to weep or shoufc. 
 As though far back in other days, 
 We'd played and romped in boyish ways, 
 And neither plenitude of years. 
 Of joyous life, or bitter tears. 
 Had blotted out one memory 
 Of happy days we used to see. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 I met the joy which lit his face, 
 And blessed him for his kind embrace. 
 And begged of him indulgent care, 
 While in a place, I knew not where. 
 
 What Dion Said : 
 
 Forgive my forwardness he said, 
 
 I know the land from whence you fled, 
 
I know the history of your race, 
 
 Its prestige bright and deep disgrace, 
 
 How flesh and blood immortahzed. 
 
 Was by rebelhon sacraficed, 
 
 I know what riches there hath been, 
 
 Thus bartered off for death and sin ; 
 
 A state of happiness and bhss, 
 
 Is squandered in exchange for this. 
 
 The sordid gloom and black intense, 
 
 Of egotistic ignorance. 
 
 And the sweet altars of the vale, 
 
 For weeping worshippers of Baal. 
 
 Though grief and penitential tears, 
 
 Have been their legacy for years. 
 
 And rebels to their father's will. 
 
 With all their crimes I loved them still. 
 
 I love the never ending fight 
 
 Of marshalled heroes for the right 
 
 I love the stern unyielding tread 
 
 That presses to the fountain head 
 
 And joy to see the beacon light 
 
 Gleam through the shadows of the night 
 
 And penetrates the darkest ways 
 
 With augeries of better days. 
 
 The anguish that oppression breeds, 
 
 Is sweetness when the prayer succeds, 
 
 And times of ignorance and gloom 
 
 Is glorified hy martyr's doom 
 
 Just as the hero of the wars, 
 
 Is beautified by ugly scars. 
 
 The saint who never walked amiss 
 
 Who never felt a throb of pain 
 
 Is sure exceeded by the bliss. 
 
 Of him who dies and lives again. 
 
 Who sinned the most, is most forgiven, 
 
 Who suffered most, most longs for 
 
 The rescued only raise the cry [heaven, 
 
 Of higher life and victory. 
 
 It is as though in nature's ways. 
 
 We seek for scenes to love and praise. 
 
1^8 
 
 We pass from off the river side 
 
 To where the plains are spreading wide 
 
 Where grass and trees and blooming 
 
 flowers 
 Are scattered wald, or grouped in bowers 
 And richest fields of golden grain, 
 With fruits diversify the plain, 
 There cheerful towns and happy homes, 
 Are welcome inns for him who roams. 
 With every hint of moral care, 
 And peace and plenty smiling there, 
 This Eden home this healthful air, 
 Where wealth anticipates the prayer, 
 Would surely satisfy the soul. 
 Its reckless waywardness control. 
 And be content in happy ease 
 With heaven to bless and earth to please. 
 But such is not the human mind. 
 It leaves those gentle scenes behind, 
 And turns aw^ay from flowery meads. 
 To where the rugged waste succeeds. 
 Where earthquake with convulsion 
 
 breaks 
 The plains, to hills and mountain peaks ; 
 Where desolation plenty mocks, 
 The starving pine to sterile rocks 
 Clings with it's bony fingers, thin. 
 To brace against the storms and wind. 
 The only luring charm displayed 
 Is fragments by destruction made. 
 'Tis here remorseless winter reigns. 
 When gentle spring has blessed the 
 
 plains. 
 On lonely height in frozen fort. 
 He holds his parliament and court 
 Till lengthened days and summer gleams 
 Shall break the prison bars, of streams. 
 Then as a felon from his cell. 
 The water rushes down the dell, 
 And fleeing from the chains and rack, 
 
29 
 
 It leaps the foaming cateract ; 
 Then down the gorge it grinds the ribs, 
 Of granite safes and breaks the cribs, 
 Where nature in the days of old, 
 Had hoarded up its gems and gold. 
 Still down the hill in merry dances 
 It to the summer plain advances, 
 Until it settles in the pool 
 'Where drooping willows shade the 
 
 school 
 Of finny tribes at rest, which seem 
 In crystal waters of the stream 
 As happy as an angel's dream. 
 There thirsty cattle from the heat, 
 Seek in tbe shady pool retreat, 
 And lave their feet in cooling strand 
 From wearied march on burning sand. 
 Above the miner, as by stealth, 
 Is prospecting for hidden wealth. 
 He fills his bowl with watery sand 
 And by a motion of his hand. 
 Whatever can be made to swirn 
 He whirls in circles o'er the brim. 
 Until his hungry eyes behold 
 The glinting of the yellow gold. 
 The yellow gold, the talisman 
 That has control of human clan, 
 It opens up the granary door 
 With blessing for the starving poor. 
 It builds the ships and lends the force, 
 That speeds the steamer on its course ; 
 It lays the land with iron bars, 
 And runs the train of palace cars ; 
 It pays for wars to slaughter Turks 
 And aids in missionary works. 
 It buys the rope to hang the thief 
 And pays the priest to sooth his grief; 
 It bears the burden of the state 
 And gilds the honors of the great, 
 And e'en the miner as he wrought 
 
30 
 
 Knows golden brains has brighter 
 
 thought 
 To sway the herd of human kind, 
 Than intellectual power of mind. 
 And thus the ways of mortal life 
 Are thronged with an uncertain strife ; 
 The toys that wanton with desire, 
 That tempt the flood and try the fire 
 And both consoles and lacerates. 
 On lapping line of border states; 
 The throbing agony of peace, 
 The bliss of slavery and release, 
 The weary woe of blight within. 
 The love of good, the love of sin. 
 To drink the crimson and the blue. 
 To blend the laurel and the yew; 
 To love the blessings, love the ills. 
 That break the plains in rugged hills 
 And make the mountain crags the millt 
 To grind and crush and ever grind 
 Of all the elements combined 
 The food for body and the mind. 
 
 XLIII. 
 
 Thus Dion spoke. With bated breath 
 I listened to the words he saith. 
 When by the door they had retired 
 The company returned with looks, 
 As though the blessing they desired 
 Had been supplied by careful cooks. 
 They paused in much astonishment. 
 At me a stranger in their tent ; 
 When Dion said with easy grace, 
 And pleasure beaming in his face. 
 My friends of Sir us we have here, 
 A brother from another sphere. 
 Not of our race but still our kin 
 From intellect and origin, 
 For God who annimates the whole 
 Has made of him a living soul. 
 
31 
 
 They rushed to me with happy greeting, 
 And Dion's joy again repeating; 
 Then in a group they gathered round, 
 With smihng glances to each other, 
 Each seemed as though he just had 
 
 found, 
 A lost and well beloved brother. 
 I trembling stood in mute surprise, 
 My tongue was nerveless and my eyes, 
 Were drowning in a flood of tears ; 
 A flow of mingled hopes and fears ; 
 A storm of feeling so intense 
 It fails the power of human sense, 
 To know the wave of ecstacy 
 From overwhelming agony 
 From either tide in terror fly 
 And seeks forgetfulness, to die. 
 I made an effort to be calm, 
 And hold my senses to their place. 
 And spoke with pallid lips and face: 
 Pray, tell me where I am. 
 Is tiiis the land of holy rest? 
 Are these the ransomed and the blest? 
 Who left probation and in tliis, 
 Where saints and angels dwell in bliss? 
 It cannot be that this is — well 
 [know it's not where horrors dwell 
 Where banished from the peace of 
 
 heaven 
 None live, but sinners unforgiven; 
 No other climes than these I know, 
 No other place of joy or woe. 
 
 XLIY. 
 
 Then Shiraz who was standing near, 
 To ease my mind and calm my fear, 
 Spoke in a way that seemed to be. 
 Of thought sublime and drollery, 
 Of men,— he was Hugh Miller's type, 
 When young in years and vigor ripe. 
 
32 
 
 With sad blue eyes and auburn hair, 
 That rested on his forehead fair, 
 A brain that shadowed o'er his frame, 
 The motive power in every aim, 
 The seat of wiU, engine of thought, 
 That seemed with muscle interwought. 
 
 What Shieaz Said: 
 My line of thought and my pursuits, 
 Have been diverse from Dion's plan. 
 He theorizes and disputes ; 
 I take the facts where e'er I can. 
 I search for lessons where I dwell, 
 That God has wrote on rocks, that tell 
 His purpose from the very start. 
 And from the learning they impart, 
 I reason out the grand design. 
 The plans of the infinite mind. 
 And when I see those words of his 
 I know who the designer is. 
 Our friend who has been introduced. 
 Who seems quite lost and so confused, 
 As scarce to know where 'tis we stand, 
 Is yet upon his father's land, 
 Can see his windows, light with joys, 
 Is yet in hearing of his voice. 
 We all are creatures of his will. 
 And made for labor, to fulfill. 
 His plans to perfect throughout space, 
 The rich intentions of his grace. 
 We are not Angels fledged with wings. 
 Nor seraphs who sweet chorus sings ; 
 Who loiter round the golden gate, 
 And meet in councils of the great. 
 We are the toilers of the sea, 
 The soldiers of the border, we 
 Are builders of the navies grand. 
 That sway the seas and aw^e the land 
 From rocky cliffs by plan sublime 
 We pyramid the march of time. 
 
33 
 
 We hew the forest, plow the field, 
 We make the sea her treasure yield. 
 And from the dark and hidden store, 
 We drag to light the precious ore. 
 We search from every secret source, 
 To aggregate untutored force, 
 And train it by disciplined skill, 
 To only mind it's master's will. 
 This comet star on which we ride, 
 Its speed control, its motion guide, 
 Once had an orbit of its own, 
 A semi-satellite alone. 
 'T was free as lazy clouds appear. 
 Loose wandering in the atmosphere; 
 Yet sheathed within its fleecy fold 
 Were arsenals of terror rolled. 
 The sleeping cyclone and the storm 
 Were ambushed in its bosom, warm, 
 One day 'twould send us rain so good 
 The next might be the vengeful flood ; 
 A meteor once apparent friend. 
 And then 'twould bitter curses send. 
 As treacherous savages to-day 
 Would with their victims romp and play 
 To-morrow with destruction dire 
 Would raid the town with knife and fire. 
 We found what metals would attract, 
 Its vicious powers, counteract, 
 And latent hold its untamed force, 
 As salt will tempt the unbridled horse. 
 Thus fettered by the mystic tie, 
 We lashed it to a mountain high. 
 And held it o'er the roaring gorge. 
 In reach of the volcanic forge. 
 For years and years these forces play, 
 Manipulated on each day ; 
 The comet on its centre rolled. 
 And slowly gathered in each fold. 
 The murky mists of cloud and slimes. 
 The nebula of other times. 
 
34 
 
 At places 'twas in strata laid, [made, 
 As though from gathered dust 't was 
 Again 't was stone and adamant, 
 From the volcano stomach sent. 
 Still on it rolled the forges beat 
 And left within the central heat, 
 And still upon the surface spread, 
 The rocks and metals for the bed. 
 On which was laid incumbent soil 
 Composed of fragmentary spoil. 
 And then surrounded it with air 
 The light halo you call the hair 
 That hides the comet's nucleus 
 And stay the gravitating force 
 And leaves it subject unto us. 
 I cannot tell what length of years. 
 To form it as it now appears. 
 Unless as a Geologist, 
 You handled rocks and mica schist, 
 And go with me to where we look, 
 On folded strata as a book, 
 (For God has always wrote on stone. 
 The surest records of his own). 
 And read upon the rocks and slates, 
 His memorandum of their dates. 
 However long ago it's been, 
 I recollect its motion when, 
 It gathered on the latest dribs 
 That covered up its rocky ribs. 
 I saw the plants, the fern, the palm, 
 First smiling on the oozey calm, 
 And after came the perfect flower. 
 And after all the forest tower. 
 'T was as a spinster at the wheel 
 With thread exhausted by the reel ; 
 She took the distaff from the racks 
 And wound it in the fibrous flax, 
 And as she turned it round and round, 
 The fleecy tow was circle bound ; 
 Then deftly shaping it with care, 
 
35 
 
 The naked rods became a sphere, 
 Of comely form, that held within, 
 The ligatures of which to spin 
 The slender thread the cable cord, 
 That holds the anchor to its ward. 
 Or as the worm whose lotted time, 
 'Tis spent in toil to reach its prime, 
 It gives the wealth it hved to save, 
 In making cerements for its grave. 
 Thus around it weaves the silken thread. 
 That holds incased the living dead. 
 And keeps within the callus rind. 
 The embryotic life confined. 
 So in the globe is held the force. 
 That drives the cyclone on its course. 
 Confined within by rocky bands. 
 Its restless impulse shakes the lands. 
 This power so fierce is held at will. 
 And wielded by its master's skill, ' 
 And Jeeters by his lever makes 
 The force propel, or holds the brakes. 
 And by apphances to speed 
 He holds it to the hne decreed 
 And thus our harnessed comet dares 
 To drive its course among the stars, 
 And flies away through dark domains, 
 Where night and silence ever reigns 
 Beyond where curbing forces run, 
 No day, no heat, no life, no sun, 
 The beady stars the only sight. 
 Within this vast expanse of night. 
 Still on we speed to reach the plains 
 Where day and night divide their reigns ; 
 Where rolling worlds their orbits reach ? 
 And each hold sympathy with each ; 
 Where life and light again appears, 
 And time is marked by days and years. 
 Thus on our migratory raid. 
 This solar system we invade ; 
 We come to see what God hath wrought 
 
MB . 
 
 In life in matter and in thought, 
 Since last we viewed this plan of 
 Back in the solitude of years, [spheres 
 To keep recorded histories, 
 Of what are after mysteries. 
 So may our taught philosophy, 
 Keep harmony wdth prophecy, 
 A.nd testimony wrote on stone, 
 Is thus supported by our ow^n. 
 When once within the horizon. 
 That bounds the system round the sun, 
 By aid of faith, by aid of sight, 
 By aid of intellectual light, 
 By aid our instruments afford, 
 We come in contact with each orb. 
 We learn the purpose and design. 
 When laying plummet and the line, 
 Of worlds proposed in given space, 
 To join their comrades in the race, 
 Of life and glory, of the band 
 That come responsive to command 
 We note the forms that matter takes; 
 We note what sympathy it makes; 
 We mark how life at first exists, 
 When dawn of day dissolves the mists. 
 We watched the coming of the soul. 
 That of the world will take control. 
 These wonders of creative w^ord, 
 We are permited to record 
 In sacred books, where e'er we roam, 
 And bear as treasures to our home. 
 Then Shiraz paused and turning said, 
 I must forbear to farther tread 
 Those fields of mystic science where 
 I as a student should not dare. 
 Zeno, the teacher of our class, 
 Of all the things that's come to pass, 
 In reference to material things, 
 Has grasp and prescience such as springs 
 From memory not oft acquired. 
 
37 
 
 And intellect almost inspired. 
 He will instruct you of our race, 
 Its origin and dwelling place, 
 Of our religion as the key, 
 To science and philosophy ; 
 Of what we were in early ways, 
 Of what we are in later days ; 
 How growth evolving from the pod 
 Is simply reaching up to God. 
 
 XLY. 
 
 I turned to Zeno,who was thus addressed, 
 To offer my obedience and respects, 
 When he should stand apart ana thus be 
 known [abashed 
 
 And then I paused and hung my head 
 As by his presence awed, and speechless 
 stood, [power, 
 
 Twas not by trappings that emblazon 
 Or fear inspired by a dreaded fate. 
 Nor by a presence so august and grand. 
 In truth he was in size diminutive, 
 And was clothed only as excites no care, 
 And not pretending vanity or show 
 Still I embarrassed feared to hear his 
 
 speech. 
 He seemed a man beyond all human age. 
 Yet only aged in vvisdom's count of time. 
 Deep lines by thought were graven on 
 
 his brow, [the face. 
 
 Such as great knowledge stamps upon 
 Not in glyphics as on a tablet writ, 
 To be deciphered and by study searched ; 
 But wisdom's emanations, from within. 
 Glowed in the lines which we impute to 
 age, [youth. 
 
 Infusing there the charm of health and 
 One furtive glance across his counte- 
 nance [spent. 
 Reminded me of scenes where oft I'd 
 
88 
 
 Uunconscious hours in delicious 
 
 thought; [floods 
 
 Twas by a shelvy cliff where ancient 
 Had torn away the seals of records past 
 Written coteniporary upon the rocks. 
 Awhile I'd study to interpret signs 
 Historic of ideal ages past; [mist. 
 
 Made in times of sweltering heat and 
 On tepid ocean shore, then turn again. 
 To pleasant scenes upon the surface 
 
 spread ; [spring 
 
 The fragrant flower and the leaf of 
 Waved in the chambers of the noonday 
 
 sun, [sent life 
 
 And joyous prime with sounds of pre- 
 Were reveling on the line of hoary age. 
 Telling in words sublime the living 
 
 truth, 
 Wisdom's age on earth is eternal youth. 
 The Savant spoke, he to me appeared 
 Knowledge incarnate ; in human form 
 His language was articulate and clear. 
 His words animate with inherent power, 
 Such as He used who stood a prisoner 
 
 bound, [to quake. 
 
 And caused the monarch on his throne 
 These lines which I indite from memory, 
 Can only be a faint transalation of 
 The argument without the words he 
 
 used. unseen 
 
 With eye and voice addressed to the 
 Yet ever near he thus invoked the 
 
 throne. 
 
 XLYI. 
 
 Zeno's Peayek. 
 Almighty Father and Creator thou 
 Of all inanamite and material things 
 The boundary and the arc of all that 
 grows, 
 
39 
 
 With life expanding or intelligence, 
 And only grow because Thou has sup- 
 plied 
 The power that nears them up to thee. 
 Another song and peon to thy praise, 
 Is made by rushing winds that sweep 
 
 from off 
 The Libyan sands of ignorance and sin, 
 And stirs the chords of stringed harps 
 
 with notes 
 Of love, as Memnon sang upon the Nile, 
 When morning sun expelled the desert 
 
 air. 
 Each day we live is but another page 
 Another step, a stair to. a new plane, 
 Whose wonders scale the past and 
 
 doubt disolves 
 And faith itself , once so robust and brave, 
 Becomes a shadowy ghost and flees away 
 When full fruition of Thy goodness 
 
 comes. [sun, 
 
 ihis plane of worlds about this glorious 
 Wiiich from creations dawn when first 
 
 began. 
 Their elements from chaos to take 
 
 shape ; 
 Has been to puzzle and confound the 
 
 wise 
 That with supernial vision gathered 
 
 round. 
 And wondered; others wept, and all 
 
 amazed, [rushed in 
 
 When evil through temptations door 
 And seized the fort and for a time 
 
 appeared 
 To thwartBeneficence in forming worlds. 
 But now we see and learn a lesson 
 
 grand 
 And more profound, in mystery exposed 
 Than aught revealed by experience past. 
 
40 
 
 Or augeries of times, by reason's school. 
 Thy providence which underhes it all, 
 And brings to view the purposes beyond^ 
 Has made of failure a sublime result. 
 Sin and evil with their offspring death 
 Hath with Destruction's besom swept 
 
 the earth 
 And made a desolation of the hopes 
 And prospects of the favored human 
 
 race ; 
 Now from the ruin, the debris and the 
 
 wreck 
 Springs a new life, with fruit more 
 
 glorious, [crime. 
 
 Than was the hal-vest wasted by the 
 Another day has dawned. The eastern 
 
 star 
 A wondrous luminary has become. 
 From the chill gloom of night and 
 
 ignorance 
 Has woke the times when the reformer 
 
 rules ; 
 And martyrs march in triumph to a 
 
 throne. [the walls 
 
 Now wars and battles have broke down 
 That fenced their founders and abettors 
 
 in 
 And o'ped the times for peace to hold 
 
 her sway. 
 Gaunt famine starved her mistress 
 
 ignorance, 
 And science has usurped control of fate. 
 The Word revealed has by its right 
 
 become 
 The arbiter of states, the fount of 
 
 thought. 
 Whose streams descend from holy 
 
 mountain tops 
 And nourish valleys with a righteous 
 
 wealth 
 
41 
 
 And send a thrill of vital energy 
 Adown the streams, across the peopled 
 
 vales, 
 And by the shores and on old ocean's 
 
 breast ? 
 Press on oh Lord, thy conquering 
 
 wheels of power 
 And never cea setheir motion day or 
 
 night, 
 And hum and roar in temples, mammon 
 
 built. 
 And built unconsious of the homage 
 
 paid. 
 Or be the flying wheels to skim the 
 
 earth 
 On Iron bands whose herald is the flash 
 Of lightning trained, on wing to carry 
 
 thought ; 
 Or be they splashing on the treacherous 
 
 main. 
 To urge the ship against contrary 
 
 winds 
 To seek the post where heathen dark- 
 ness bides 
 With overtures of God's neglected 
 
 grace. 
 Koll on, thou conquering wheels, thou 
 
 chariots ; 
 Thy coursers are the adjutants of force 
 Which in the hills from days of old 
 
 thou hast 
 Keserved in bond. That human will 
 
 might move, 
 As though of inspiration driven. 
 In its returning passage back to thee. 
 Speed on, oh Lord, the marshalled host 
 
 of mind, 
 The armies that pursue the fleeing bands 
 Of ignorance and crime, whose arsenals, 
 Thy word revealed — whose citadel 
 
42 
 
 Is by the academian grove or college 
 
 where, 
 The serried ranks of war do pitch their 
 
 camp, 
 And train their soldiers for the battle- 
 field. 
 Press on, oh ! Lord, Thy coming van 
 
 of might 
 With burnished arms of industry and 
 
 toil, 
 That hew down hills and fill the foetid 
 
 lake 
 And cleanse the marshes of malarial 
 
 death. 
 That open channels with contagious 
 
 seas 
 And sever continents by ways of peace. 
 Then they shall lay the forest for the 
 
 use of art, 
 And soothe the burning plane with 
 
 moistened cloud 
 And Gihon and Euphrates lave the 
 
 shores 
 Of Eden's garden,lost, and found again. 
 The tiger has no lair, his jungle gone. 
 The serpent's rock is made a place of 
 
 prayer. 
 The Zones exchange exuberance of 
 
 clime. 
 Then famine and her sister pestilence 
 Shall starve — from utter want — and vice 
 
 and crime 
 And lust and hate and war shall die 
 For want of sin on which to feed. 
 The soil is purged from noxious 
 
 elements 
 The air from poisonous vapor free and 
 
 pure 
 The briny ocean concentrates its salts 
 
43 
 
 In secret caves, and waters pure and 
 
 sweet 
 Shall kiss untainted air and fretful seas 
 And teasing winds shall make, 
 An everlasting peace. 
 
 Eesponse. 
 
 Thus I in awe responded to the prayer : 
 Bless, Oh my soul with every nerve of 
 
 thine. 
 The God of Genesis, who created all. 
 The God of Abraham w^hose gift of faith 
 Was compensation for the sting of death. 
 The God of our Messiah who has blest 
 Our race with such a character and life 
 As heaven cannot excel. 
 
 What Zeno Said. 
 Then Zeno said : This day my speech 
 
 shall be 
 Suggested by the throng of facts around. 
 We are now in the full influence of the 
 
 sun. 
 Its light and heat and gravitating force 
 Control and animate each orb and 
 
 world 
 Within the space assigned it by decree. 
 Thus, while in mental reach, we test all 
 
 things 
 Material, and feel the force of laws 
 An impulse of a mind that all controls. 
 There is no God but one. Creator he 
 Of every atom that forms the mass 
 Of every law that permeates the whole 
 Of all affinities that aggregate the parts 
 And forms substantial things to fill 
 
 designs [light 
 
 Of every instinct, feeblest ray of 
 That emanates from off the lamp of 
 
 mind; [thought. 
 
 Of every soul from whence can spring a 
 
44 
 
 That goes to modify or change a law 
 That matter holds and makes a new 
 
 combine, 
 Of things suggestive of a glorious use. 
 These all are parts of one expansive 
 
 whole, 
 Each in accord with each and one 
 
 result, [wrought out. 
 
 One plan and purpose is the sum 
 The wisdom thus so grandly manifest 
 To reason unperverted, would appear 
 As a conclusion sure and no appeal 
 Could shake conviction from the 
 
 truthful mind 
 Were it not the quality of reason 
 Is tainted by the sordid elements 
 Of self; by sin implanted, where it has 
 The fructifying elements to use 
 The vain unthankful swain who sucks 
 
 the soil 
 Of essence, which he claims to cultivate 
 And boasting of his skill, he spreads 
 
 his board 
 With luxuries matured by earth and sun 
 And feasts and gloats while the starving 
 
 poor, 
 Denied their alms, seek from the state 
 That justice which is due ; murmer oft 
 At the untimely rain, the w^ind, the 
 
 cold; 
 That make the seasons to produce the 
 
 fruits. 
 And in the swelling of the stream and 
 
 tide 
 Or winter's exit in the nipping frost 
 On dearth which whets its murderous 
 
 steel 
 Upon the crust of famine's flinty heart. 
 In these he thinks he sees strong 
 
 evidence 
 
45 
 
 Of power conflicting with God's 
 
 providence, 
 In thus repressing pride and vanity. 
 We, as yon, are alhed in hfe to dust ; 
 A spirit chained to material things ; 
 A master and his slave, servants both 
 To a superior mind and destiny. 
 We dwell in other systems of expanse 
 So far remote attraction cannot reach, 
 And hght alone of all the elements 
 Can span the space in thirty moons of 
 
 time. 
 You call it Sirus, the chief of stars 
 In southern skies, that glows with 
 
 ruddy light, 
 Forboding ill when summer solstice 
 
 reigns. 
 You who have only learned to know the 
 
 laws 
 And mechanism of your system here 
 And stand amazed when by toilsome 
 
 search, 
 Their fitness is displayed and think 
 
 forsooth, 
 That wisdom was exhausted with the 
 
 plan, 
 Can scarce me understand when I 
 
 explain 
 The laws of force and matter, where the 
 
 word 
 Became materialized, and thought 
 Assumed consistency in a new form, 
 Diverse in plan but in results the same 
 As other worlds by the same mind 
 
 disposed. 
 We have a central sun the source of 
 
 heat 
 Of light and vital essence and supports 
 By gravitating power eight other worlds 
 
46 
 
 Each (perfect for their use) in size 
 
 excels 
 The orb of Jove which in these genial 
 
 skies [sun. 
 
 Holds court and majesty second to the 
 These no revolvings make around the 
 
 central sire. 
 But four suspended from a different 
 
 side 
 On the same plane hang pendulous in 
 
 space 
 And moves across the centre that 
 
 attracts. 
 Then reverse it comes ; the centre pass 
 
 again, 
 And with retarded force it touches 
 
 where, 
 Its sister world on the. same plane may 
 
 reach, 
 The four thus compassing a circle and 
 In equal space allowed while one 
 
 recedes 
 The mate advances to the point it left ; 
 While on a plane vertical to this 
 Four other worlds on the same plan 
 
 perform 
 Their race at greater distance from the 
 
 sun 
 Thus day and night are made by 
 
 turning round 
 Each on its axis, while the year is, 
 
 made [it came. 
 
 By one advance and back from whence 
 One common atmosphere invests the 
 
 whole ; 
 One climate and one life, adapted each, 
 And one creation all, and one design. 
 
 The history and the records of our race 
 
47 
 
 Point to one common pair on Rhea 
 
 made, 
 The oldest, by tradition, of our worlds; 
 Whose issue spread and peopled all its 
 
 plains. 
 'Twas not so fertile as the fields of earth, 
 Teeming with luxuries grown from 
 
 wrecks, 
 With precious stones, and minerals and 
 
 coal, 
 And virgin soil, the detritus of time, 
 By composition mixed and groimd 
 In awful mills by revolution made. 
 To make new substance for another 
 
 class. 
 But as our race advanced, God's wis- 
 dom shown, 
 Along our w^ay,His will revealed became 
 Our law supreme. Each plan was 
 
 tried to make 
 The soil more liberal of her wonted 
 
 fruits, 
 And temper the asperities of the air. 
 To borrow secret forces from the caves. 
 That kept them hidden to excite the 
 
 search, 
 And when we found the use it would 
 
 apply. 
 To lighten labor and advance our race. 
 The finder was with victor's honors 
 
 crowned. 
 About the length of time it took on 
 
 earth 
 To gather crime enough to cause a 
 
 flood, 
 To wash away the stains of their dis- 
 grace. 
 Our men of widsom who ruled the state, 
 Discovered that the poles of our globe 
 Were in attraction, each one opposite. 
 
48 
 
 Then by decree, to which we all agreed ^ 
 They laid metallic bars from either pole 
 Until they should have met upon a 
 
 plain 
 Near the equator. It was a vast field, 
 A continent in size, high, elevated. 
 An excrescence vast, a volcanic pile, 
 That challenged a reason why it should 
 
 be so. 
 Shiraz has tersely said, our atsmos- 
 
 phere 
 Was troubled with dissentient mighty 
 
 clouds. 
 And vagrant meteors, half satelites, 
 That wandered without orbits in the 
 
 air. 
 Feared as a scourge and armed with 
 
 cyclone force. 
 Thus when the bars were laid from 
 
 either pole 
 To where the roaring forge, by bellow- 
 ing sent, 
 Harsh echoes to the moon, a spire was 
 
 built. 
 With glided spear, that sounded for 
 
 fellowship. 
 In the crude chaos of the upper air. 
 It chanced a meteor that oft had passed 
 From either pole across our Khea's 
 
 breast 
 Robed in dribling clouds, that oft had 
 
 sent 
 Deluge and storm upon its slimy track, 
 Was coursing past, the influence felt 
 It settled in the grasp of vulcan's forge 
 To be conformed to purposes of skill. 
 'Twas years of toil and work of master 
 
 minds 
 To fit it for passage to other globes, 
 By aid of forces as yet unsubdued. 
 
49 
 
 Thus when our world had reached it 
 
 farther point. 
 And paused pendulous before return 
 Just at the place where Saturn next 
 
 would come, 
 The metal line was cut, attraction 
 
 ceased. 
 And gravitation by the coma stayed, 
 And freighted with stores and colonies 
 
 of men, 
 The comet drifted off. And then was 
 
 tried 
 Its cyclone force condemned to serve at 
 
 will; 
 To lift or fall or drive its onward course. 
 Thus poised, and by its matrix left 
 
 behind, 
 It waited on till Saturn hailed in view. 
 And as a ship, by storm cast off from 
 
 shore 
 Ere yet prepared for voyaging on the 
 
 sea, 
 Freighted with" pilgrims whose human 
 
 mind 
 Had long been roaming in the infinite, 
 By inspiration led, faith became 
 The needle pointing by unseen power 
 Where reason failed, the coming world 
 
 it met ; 
 And on its bosom dropped as into port. 
 
 I know the wonder that now fills your 
 mind, 
 
 That staggers credence, and unsupported 
 trust. 
 
 Comes limping on with drooping down- 
 cast eyes. 
 
 And like a beggar asks her empty cup 
 of evidence be filled. 
 
50 
 
 This, leads me to explain how different 
 The moral status of our respective 
 
 spheres, 
 With us the words when spoken from 
 
 the lips, 
 Means absolute verity of intent. 
 No fiction ornaments our realm of 
 
 thought, 
 No fancy scenes from false conception 
 
 drawn. 
 No world of dreams where the truant 
 
 mind 
 Can flee from real things and drink 
 
 delight 
 From imagery which itself creates. 
 No mythology or tales of olden time 
 When men, and Gods, and evil genii 
 
 fought. 
 And conquest made, and bloody victories 
 
 won, 
 Then peace declared. And monarchs sat 
 
 in state, 
 And barred their foes in adamantine 
 
 doors, 
 To hold in durance of enternal pain. 
 Our history gives no clue when human 
 
 hands 
 Would fam have built a tower so high 
 
 that God 
 Might see their folly, and confusion send 
 To blast their plans, disperse them on 
 
 the earth. 
 No tribes or nations have been called to 
 
 build 
 A city wall, so vast, so high, so broad. 
 Not men could scale, nor engines batter 
 
 down. 
 And yet within a single night, a river 
 
 turned , 
 
51 
 
 And vigorous warriors pushing through 
 
 the breach, 
 Surprised their monarch at a revehng 
 
 feast, 
 And made of all their wealth on easy 
 
 prey 
 No rivers down our valleys flowed 
 
 with food 
 To feed a gang of slaves while hewing 
 
 stone, 
 In unpaid labor 'neath a master's scourge 
 To build the Pyramids, to forever tell, 
 The folly of the builders who attempt 
 To made immortal what was doomed to 
 
 death. 
 While thus we boast our state, it in the 
 
 end 
 May prove but folly, when compared 
 
 with what 
 Must yet be demonstrate as mercy fills. 
 The great hiatus made by sin and crime. 
 All ways of men, are foolishness with 
 
 God. 
 When once our comet launched on 
 
 ocean space, 
 We learned to pass to the four worlds 
 
 on plane 
 With Ehea. These are peopled with our 
 
 race. 
 The other four are being still reserved 
 For higher destiny in God's own time. 
 
 I have no date nor a scale of time 
 
 By which I could explain in language 
 
 such 
 That you could know, the years our 
 
 history dates. 
 Our homes were started and forms of life 
 
 defined 
 
52 
 
 While yet your world was swathed in 
 
 mist and heat, 
 And only feeble pulse moved from the 
 
 heart, 
 And darkness, and mystery of deeper 
 
 hue 
 Than darkness, ever was, the eyes 
 
 confused 
 Of lookers on, and ignorance exclaimed, 
 'Twas chaos and confusion smothering 
 
 out 
 In dismal void a shattered wreck of 
 
 plans. 
 Abandoned by the architect to chance. 
 While o'er that fertile mass a spirit 
 
 broods, 
 Penetrating to every atom there, 
 Infinite in wisdom, holding formed. 
 In the dim space between matter and 
 
 mind 
 A picture and a plan, defined in full. 
 Grand and glorious beyond the power 
 
 to praise. 
 That when wrought out and evolved in 
 
 time, 
 The proudest reach of mind exalts 
 
 itself 
 In comprehending what was plain to 
 
 view. 
 OurCosmos was more sparse of life than 
 
 yours. 
 Because life itself had no appointed end. 
 Death with his trident and his spear of 
 
 fate. 
 With horrid frowns of insolence and 
 
 power 
 Such gloomy rounding does his presence 
 
 breed 
 That e'en his smile, so ghastly does 
 
 appear, 
 
53 
 
 The soul with horror shudders at the 
 
 sight, 
 Had not a place for it in all the plan. 
 But life was to be perpetual life, 
 Only when the forces and the elements 
 Of organism by which it lived and grew 
 Might be exhausted, or the growth. 
 Had reached the boundary of its scale, 
 When a transition to another sphere. 
 Re-opened life without the sting of 
 
 death. 
 There was no chaos of exuberant 
 
 thought 
 Permeating matter with its nascent law. 
 Each growth and era of created things 
 Come on without need, its parents die, 
 To furnish food for a succeeding age. 
 There has been no wars to exteminate 
 A noxious race, whose very life ordained 
 
 death. 
 An evil necessary to accomphsh good. 
 What once we learn is over after 
 
 known. 
 What e'er we make it cannot be dis- 
 
 troyed. 
 The monuments we build forever stand. 
 Living as character or the work of mind 
 Wrought into column such as 
 
 Homer built, 
 Or Euclid formed, of more than granite 
 
 strength. 
 Which ages cannot wreck, nor desert 
 
 dust. 
 Lap in dark oblivions gloomy vaults. 
 Our government, if such it may be 
 
 called. 
 Is the concreted wisdom of our race, 
 To lead tbe thought and labor of man- 
 kind. 
 Where it will be in harmony with laws 
 
54 
 
 By revelation sent, or learning was found 
 
 out 
 Where God's beneficence is manifest 
 By his great works and tender care 
 
 for us. 
 Where love of life and hope of higher 
 
 bliss, 
 With reason armed is given unto man, 
 What need there be of penal laws to 
 
 crush 
 Kebelhon, when the crime itself had 
 
 more 
 Of horror in its form, more terrible 
 In its attitude to man, more dread in- 
 spired, 
 Than punishment of body could inflict. 
 One law is all we have to regulate 
 Relations with each other, of all kinds. 
 "To know no self," each is his brother's 
 
 slave, 
 And bound in loving cords to serve 
 
 his will. 
 The highest joy and wishes of his soul 
 That thrill him with ecstacy supreme 
 Is when by thought, or word, or deed, 
 He can impart unto his brother mind, 
 How truthfully he is indeed his slave. 
 Our princes and our potentates in power 
 Are they who serve their fellows most of 
 
 all, 
 And have by labor scaled the sacred 
 
 heights. 
 Where wisdom dwells in zones of 
 
 heavenly light 
 Or grope in darkness of the crude abyss 
 Where brooding spirits animate the cells 
 Of elements with embriotic life 
 Of plans illimitable of upward growth. 
 And by the breath of intellectual force. 
 
55 
 
 And light from reason's lamp and skill 
 
 disclosed, 
 The latent plan springs into life, and 
 
 claims 
 Its seeker and discoverer as its God. 
 Thus do we grow, each day a school of 
 
 mind 
 To reach a station on a higher plane. 
 And muscle with her cunning finger 
 
 trained 
 Builds up the pyramids where her teacher 
 
 stands 
 On tiptoe, reaching for the light above. 
 Our books of which you see a sample 
 
 here 
 Are rank in series as the witness leaves 
 That rnarshall on the forest boue^hs to 
 
 tell 
 With quivering life that spring has 
 
 come again. 
 A record have we, of this earth of yours, 
 From the beginning, when the word of 
 
 God 
 Became the medium whereby the 
 
 thought — 
 The essence of intelligence and life — 
 
 became 
 Materialized in deft forms unseen. 
 And yet appreciable as on the side 
 Of matter 'cross the boundary line 
 
 between. 
 Thus on the history goes as Moses saw, 
 And briefly has transcribed in awful 
 
 words 
 So vast in meaning and in import grand 
 So that the lens of faith might be 
 
 required 
 To reach the thought, and separate in 
 
 stars 
 What first a nebulae to view appears. 
 
56 
 
 Since first we learned the art and power 
 to make. 
 
 A meteor star, no orbit of its own, 
 
 Three others we have formed ; one for 
 each world, 
 
 And for a haven when at rest they each 
 
 Are moored in the indentures of the 
 cone 
 
 About which turns the revolving orb. 
 
 While thus at anchor rest, with smould- 
 ering fires 
 
 How they recuperate their might and 
 power 
 
 From central force, Seismography ex- 
 plains. 
 
 And in the ages, when such tunes occur 
 
 As councils deem it profitable and wise 
 
 Some of our princes and their volunteers 
 
 Who wish to seek and learn of other 
 worlds ; 
 
 Will take a comet from its mother's arms 
 
 With chamber strong and bulging out 
 with force. 
 
 Such as the vicious cyclone wields in 
 flight. 
 
 But now subdued and held by master's 
 skill, 
 
 And made submissive as a courser 
 trained. 
 
 For such a voyage we long prepare, 
 
 Arranging light and warmth, and at- 
 mosphere 
 
 And soil for products, such as comforts 
 give, 
 
 And minister to pleasures that have no 
 sting. 
 
 With instruments of every kind pre- 
 pared 
 
 To deal with light, and its kindred forms 
 
 Of matter how 'er refined, intangible 
 
Or combined with grosser things im- 
 pact. 
 
 To measure distance, or direct our 
 course, 
 
 Or test contending currents in the waves 
 
 Of that one sea, which has no shores, no 
 zones, 
 
 No firmament above, no oozy base 
 
 Where plummit hne though 't were a 
 ray of Hght 
 
 Shot from thehghtning'sbow, with ner- 
 vous speed 
 
 It flew, past ages marked, as the swift 
 train 
 
 Shoots by the poles that prop the swing- 
 ing wire. 
 
 Yet finds no limit to its depth below. 
 
 Ere we had ventured on this our voy- 
 age last 
 
 While making preparation for the start. 
 
 My brother Rapheal, with trained craft 
 of men 
 
 Built us the temple, which you see, and 
 there 
 
 In holy place, inspired, he wrote the 
 name 
 
 Of God, that glows with hallowed sight, 
 the seal 
 
 That we are never lost, and have a guide 
 
 Where wisdom, such as ours, stands at 
 fault. 
 
 Then gathered we our books, much need- 
 ed friends. 
 
 To solace absence, in our long career, 
 
 With scenes and pictures of our distant 
 homes. 
 
 And souvenirs gilt o'er with smiles and 
 tears, 
 
 With prayers and blessings for our safe 
 return, 
 
58 
 
 And kisses sweet, whose memory like 
 
 the lamp 
 That burns in window of the hermit's 
 
 cell, 
 Make giddy brightness of the grim 
 
 within 
 And half redeems the outer world from 
 
 gloom. 
 We parted from our friends and took 
 
 our home 
 Upon this wandering meteor, which has 
 
 no place 
 Among the stars — no orbit of its own, 
 No race, no class, no system of fixed 
 
 laws — 
 A pariah among the worlds in space, 
 A Gypsy denizen, in a state where laws 
 All else control; and yet coerced by 
 
 man. 
 Is fraught with purpose and aimed by 
 
 design 
 To reach with sympathy such intelligen- 
 
 cies 
 As God has planted in created worlds. 
 The area of its plains that pamper life ; 
 Its verdure, climate, with its hills and 
 
 streams, 
 Are something like the queen of the 
 
 Antilles 
 That holds the bay between two con- 
 tinents, 
 Where thermal waters flow as from a 
 
 fount 
 In channels broader than the Amazon, 
 With steady currents 'cross the ocean's 
 
 waste. 
 To warm the frigid climes with tropic 
 
 air, 
 And builds earth's capitol on northern 
 
 isles. 
 
59 
 
 Redeemed by it from winter's reign of 
 
 ice. 
 We have no law to organize our crew ; 
 No autocrat with sovereign power o'er 
 
 all, 
 Each takes the part best fitted to his 
 
 skill, 
 The only punishment is when denied 
 Of doing service to his fellow craft. 
 When all were safely on and farewells 
 
 said. 
 And Jeeters in his castle, and around 
 Were engines, formed for tremendous 
 
 power. 
 With all appliances for controling force, 
 However subtile or refined in shape. 
 Or gross as avalanche from mountain 
 
 hurled. 
 Then by contrivance he cut the cord 
 That by attraction bound it to the 
 
 world 
 And turned the force to driving us apart. 
 We upward rose and caught the flaming 
 
 ray 
 From central sun, that through our at- 
 mosphere, 
 Already light, sent double light afar 
 Across the field beyond to point our 
 
 way. 
 As our old home upon its axis rolled, 
 A thousand cities on its teeming plains 
 Shone bright with torches from electric 
 
 towers. 
 The hills were sparkling o'er with bon- 
 fires' blaze. 
 And mountain top were gilded with the 
 
 glow 
 Of signal torch to answer back our sign. 
 And as it rolled the islands shouted 
 
 cheer. 
 
60 
 
 And weary ships, long absent from their 
 
 homes, 
 Out on the lonesome seas, looked up and 
 
 cheered 
 The voyagers on the uncharted maine. 
 We answered back their words with a 
 
 farewell, 
 And blessed our God who thus had 
 
 bound our hearts 
 To brothers of our race, animate and 
 
 good, 
 A^nd linked in bonds all intellectual 
 
 souls 
 Who trace their kindred from a common 
 
 source. 
 We passed hard by a moon of Saturn's 
 
 train. 
 Which coldly stood a silent sentinel 
 Naked of cloudy sheets, a light by night. 
 And mistress of the tides ; and of weak 
 
 minds 
 A patron to explain the cause of things 
 And satisfy ignorance with itself. 
 Then as we neared our system's bound- 
 ary line 
 We bade a long adieu to kindred worlds. 
 Rhea, Saturn, Ion, Lida, all. 
 
 And ventured out upon eternal space. 
 
 Our course was north by west, for 
 searching out 
 
 A lost fixed star, which in times afore 
 
 Had glowed in heaven's imperion a 
 torch 
 
 That beckoned to its windows and ab- 
 sorbed 
 
 The wondering gaze of watchers on the 
 plains. 
 
 But from some cause it faded in its hue ; 
 
61 
 
 Then with a thin and sicklv glare of 
 
 Hght, 
 Dubious and flickering on the skies 
 
 around, 
 It died from out the firmament of stars. 
 
 Time, speed and space, the only factors 
 
 known 
 In our swift flight, we had no means to 
 
 note, 
 Or by comparing show to minds, kin to 
 Terrestrial things ; the distance we had 
 
 gone, 
 When on our lee appeared a scene so 
 
 grand, 
 So awful, yet benign, that fear and joy 
 Alike appalled, each failed to utter 
 
 speech. 
 It was no luminary emiting light, 
 Nor yet an orb reflecting borrowed rays ; 
 And yet a halo — an ethereal glow 
 Was shed around, an atmosphere of 
 
 soul, 
 Appreciable only to the mind. 
 A pavilion grand; it seemed to rise 
 To heights illimitable and extent the 
 
 same. 
 A curtain with the colors of the bow, 
 Subdued and luscious, shed ecstatic 
 
 Hght 
 As though from glorious wonders held 
 
 within. 
 One glimpse inside, where parted folds 
 
 scarce met, 
 O'erwhelmed the soul with conscious- 
 ness of its 
 Unfitness to behold it more, then back 
 It shrunk in bashfulness, and craved a 
 
 cell 
 As better suited to its low estate. 
 
62f 
 
 Then on we passed it, as a vision bright ^ 
 Perhaps no dream it was, for it may be 
 That Hfe's the dream, and wliat we saw 
 
 might be 
 A mansion in our father's house pre- 
 pared, 
 Where real hfe begins and has no end. 
 We next passed by what seemed a field 
 
 of stars 
 Whose cheerful light was blent in azure 
 
 space 
 Linked in existence; by gregarious law 
 They held sweet concert in the circling 
 
 dauce 
 And joyed in being from other worlds 
 
 apart. 
 Then out upon a horrid gulf we flew 
 A gloom of nothingness, a darkened 
 
 void 
 Our home far back a distant spot ap- 
 peared 
 WithOrion and the Bear but dimly seen, 
 And e'en our instruments failed their 
 
 wonted skill. 
 Still on we speed so lonesome, filled 
 
 with dread. 
 We gathered in our temple oft to watch 
 The name that glowed supernal, with a 
 
 hght 
 To manifest the presence of our God 
 As we hung round the blessed ray we 
 
 felt, 
 As travelers lost in some vast stretch of 
 
 woods 
 In wintry night, and crouching by the 
 
 blaze, 
 They shivering pray for dawning of the 
 
 morn. 
 Still on we drove, till weariness became 
 The languor of a convict in his cell 
 
m 
 
 When days are lost and senses fail to 
 
 think. 
 Then from our watcher in the tower we 
 
 heard 
 A shout to look ahead. There was a 
 
 light 
 Prom smouldering fire that seemed al- 
 most extinct ; 
 A waste of matter from exhausted heat, 
 A sun had failed in elements of life 
 And dieing had withdrawn from planets 
 
 round 
 The force and essence that existence 
 
 takes 
 We checked our way to feel our 
 
 course along. 
 This dismal circle where even matter 
 
 died, 
 For fear of debris, floating in abyss. 
 When by the coma light of our star, 
 Upon our right we saw a silent world 
 As large as earth, in sullen darkness 
 
 swathed. 
 As tideless drift it without motion lay. 
 We turned our glasses upon the waste, 
 
 and saw. 
 Its oceans dry, the waters had retired. 
 Up to the chaos from whence they 
 
 came. 
 And hke the grasping soul of avarice, 
 When death ensues its leaves treasures 
 
 back. 
 There in old channelsof the gulf stream. 
 The crumbling bones of leviation lay, 
 Mixed with the spoils and wrecks of 
 
 gathered wealth 
 Which commerce felched from labor 
 
 and in turn 
 A prey to ocean's piracy became. 
 
64 
 
 And settled down upon this horrid 
 
 waste, 
 There lay the hulk of once a ship of 
 
 war, 
 Still on its deck the implements of deathy 
 And skeletons of men in rank as placed, 
 Upon that awful night when lightning" 
 
 flashed, 
 And cast one fitful glare across the 
 
 deep, 
 When in a moment's time a change oc- 
 curred 
 In elements of water, and it became 
 Mephitis gas,the stifling damp of death. 
 And there that ghostly crew in tattered 
 
 rags, 
 And weapons yet in bony fingers 
 
 clutched, 
 Still kept their guard as though in 
 
 mockery 
 Of life betrayed to services of death. 
 Then up a rocky gorge that once had 
 
 been 
 A channel where a river flowed, hard by 
 An island that between the continent 
 And sea, had spread weaving hills, 
 
 and plains. 
 Still on its slopes and heights there yet 
 
 remained 
 The crumbling fragments of a city vast. 
 Its towers had toppled in the desert 
 
 streets. 
 And ruined walls, were breaching with 
 
 decay; 
 Exposing there — the gathered wealth — 
 
 thus deft 
 Without a watcher, caring for the prize. 
 One vast theatre still contained within, 
 The waiting audience of that fatal time, 
 In pit or boxes ranged as fashion fixed, 
 
65 
 
 In costly robes ; each ghastly form there 
 
 sat 
 With cheekless grins yet in place of 
 
 smiles, 
 With rings and wristlets on their bony 
 
 hands, 
 And glasses hanging over eyeless holes. 
 And there upon the stage the actors yet, 
 Were grouped into the parts the play 
 
 assigned, 
 And leared upon the praisers of their 
 
 gibes 
 As though concluding, death was playing 
 
 farce. 
 No light from factory window gleamed 
 
 on streets ; 
 No hum of wheels or roar of beUowing 
 
 forge. 
 No noise of whistles or of clanging bells 
 Or rattling cars upon the iron rails. 
 Not e'en the lonesome watch-dog's bay 
 
 at night, 
 Or distant footfall on the stony street. 
 Out in the bay where once proud navies 
 
 rode 
 On sparkling waters of the morning sun, 
 Was now a gulf of dusty alkali 
 Where lay the mouldering ships and 
 
 tangled mass. 
 Of chains and anchors and unseemly 
 
 things, 
 A cradle of all horrors death can breed. 
 There up the stream where once the 
 
 foimtains poured 
 The sweet libations from the generous 
 
 hiUs, 
 No waters gushed not e'en enough for 
 
 tears. 
 There towns were charnel houses for 
 
 the dead ; 
 
66 
 
 While fields and farms and rolling hills 
 
 and plains, 
 And far off valleys wide, where once in 
 
 time, 
 CoQverging ways of gathering waters ran 
 To bathe a continent in celestial dew, 
 Was now a rugged waste, a flood of 
 
 dearth 
 Had made destruction more complete 
 
 than when 
 Noachian waters had usurped the earth. 
 We trembling turned from such destruc- 
 tive scenes, 
 Nor dared to trust the impious query 
 
 why? 
 Our God had taken back the joy, the life, 
 Which he in mercy had thought fit to 
 
 give. 
 Not long we tarried in that baleful 
 
 sphere. 
 Where life and matter were reverting 
 
 back 
 From progress to decay, from organism 
 Unto chaos, again to be imbued 
 With new designs from the creative 
 
 word. 
 With speed of fear, as from a dreadful 
 
 plague, 
 We changed our course towards this 
 
 healthful sun, 
 And on a cheerful wave of shimmering 
 
 blue. 
 We spread our banner trailing far be- 
 hind. 
 We crossed the track, w^here slow 
 
 Uranus rolls 
 Its tardy wheels upon its circling way. 
 With awe and pleasure mixed, we 
 
 scanned the plane. 
 
67 
 
 Of Saturn with its girdles wrapped 
 around 
 
 A wierd contrivance, in fantastic shape 
 
 To magnify the skill in blending all 
 
 That's good and beautiful in one design. 
 
 With joyful speed we cleft the ether 
 waves. 
 
 And made inspection of each world we 
 passed, 
 
 To the warm precincts of this glorious 
 sun. 
 
 Again with anxious eye we looked on 
 earth. 
 
 To note what changes had been wrought 
 in years 
 
 By the sweet influence of a life divine, 
 
 Exerted on a fallen human race. 
 
 Though death still raged and crime not 
 yet extinct. 
 
 And Mammon's court had greedy wor- 
 shippers. 
 
 And folly with her cant and sophistries 
 
 Oft counterfeited reasons' voice, and ut- 
 tered doubts 
 
 Of a first Cause, and sneered and mocked 
 at faith. 
 
 Who firmly stood upon a monument 
 
 Built up of old with oracles from God 
 
 In cement fixed by reason's grasping 
 force. 
 
 Yet still the earth was grander and 
 more bright 
 
 In lumination from the forge of thought ; 
 
 With holier atmosphere around her 
 ways 
 
 Than ever yet had blessed her guilty 
 hills. 
 
 A purifying essence had been infused 
 
 Through veins and channels that per- 
 vade the mass, 
 
68 
 
 Of thouglit and impulse in the tide of 
 
 men, 
 As currents in the ocean change the 
 
 cHmes 
 Of contiguous shores. Its fountain was 
 From Him who taught, who loved, who 
 
 worked and wept, 
 About the shores of blessed Gallilee ; 
 Whose sorrows were a source of joy and 
 
 peace; 
 Whose death a heritage of immortal 
 
 life, 
 By the beneficence of His life and 
 
 words, 
 The cruel heart is made a heart of flesh ; 
 The bondsman's chain is broke, the 
 
 slaver's ship 
 No longer marks the seas with serpent 
 
 trail. 
 Liberty walks the earth in broad of day. 
 And burdens lifted from the back of 
 
 toil; 
 The erring are reclaimed by schools and 
 
 prayers; 
 The poor are God's parishioners indeed. 
 And thus, my brother, though your race 
 Has been rebellious, and still bear the 
 
 stain 
 Of crimes so great, forgiveness scarce 
 
 can reach; 
 Yet we feel honored by the love of one 
 For whom so great a savior lived and 
 
 died. 
 
 Then Zeno ceased ; I hung my head in 
 thought 
 
 With thrilling joy diffused in every 
 nerve. 
 
 And bless the Lord that, though man- 
 kind on earth 
 
69 
 
 Had tested every crime within its range, 
 Eebellion, murder and idolatry 
 And glutted malice on the Son of God ; 
 Yet we were man, and man in perfect 
 
 mould, 
 Such as we have in Him who died for 
 
 us 
 
 Of all created things which Grod has 
 
 made. 
 In heaven or earth, the greatest is of all. 
 
 Then Dion came ; with him a youthful 
 
 friend. 
 Who had the glow of health upon his 
 
 cheek 
 And cheerful greeting in his pleasing 
 
 eye, 
 
 And named him Malthus,the historian, 
 
 Who most of all had knowledge of their 
 books. 
 
 They showed me then the treasures of 
 their house. 
 
 Their instruments so deft and wonder- 
 ful, 
 
 I could but feebly understand their use. 
 
 And pictures of their friends, left far 
 behind. 
 
 With scenes of home that waked a gen- 
 tle sigh. 
 
 On these I looked with austere gravity, 
 
 And felt as some rude savage from wes- 
 tern plains. 
 
 When called to visit his "great father's" 
 house. 
 
 They many queries made, and most to 
 know 
 
 Man's penchant to deceive; why it so 
 strong ? 
 
 That he misleads himself with sophis- 
 tries. 
 
70 
 
 And tricks his judgment to a false ver- 
 dict. 
 Upon admitted facts, and laws well 
 
 known, 
 To cheat himself out of his heritage, 
 That God by will had given to his race. 
 No other answer could I give but that 
 Progression was the plane on which we 
 
 moved ; 
 And reason, author of the weapons used 
 Was left without its shield to wage the 
 
 war. 
 With error, vice and willful unbelief. 
 Till friction of the war develops power 
 In him that wins with glories of a crown. 
 Then Malthus smiled as though the an- 
 swer made. 
 Confirmed the folly, he imputed us. 
 And said he next would show to me the 
 
 books 
 That gave a history of this earth of ours. 
 Then from a cabinet, embossed with 
 
 gold. 
 He took two volumes of such wondrous 
 
 make, 
 As I had never seen, and reverently 
 Upon a stand them laid, then seated us 
 And said, these books are from old rec- 
 ords made, 
 The first we know not of its origin, 
 It's copied from the same that Moses 
 
 saw, 
 When in the mount ; The Genesis of 
 
 things. 
 It gives the facts, severely, but the 
 
 facts. 
 Leaves out the law nor does it deign to 
 
 give 
 A reason for the facts, or e'en suggest 
 The purpose for which they are revealed. 
 
71 
 
 But perfect each in all their forms and 
 
 parts 
 As were the stones hewn out in granite 
 
 hills 
 And left in quarries, for the architect. 
 To build a temple grand on Zion's Hill. 
 So are these facts so true and beautiful, 
 Left for the builders of the times to 
 
 come 
 To lay in place ; material prepared, 
 A temple build so perfect in its parts, 
 That when complete intelligence de- 
 clares 
 Its author and its founder is our God. 
 The other book records the facts the 
 
 same, 
 As by a witness of celestial state, 
 Who looking on with .deep concern to 
 
 know 
 The purposes of, the omniscient mind. 
 In laying out a plan for a new world. 
 And in this record thus more freely 
 
 made, 
 He links events with hints and laws 
 
 revealed. 
 This latter volume is by us received. 
 As more adapted to imperfect minds 
 Than are the awful words that wait for 
 
 times 
 To give interpretation of their place. 
 With modest awe I begged him, let me 
 
 read 
 The language of the witness , what he 
 
 saw, 
 Or was revealed to him by light inspir- 
 ed, 
 So I might catch the words of faith and 
 
 trust, 
 With reason's sanction in my very soul. 
 
72 
 
 GENESIS. 
 
 "Before the act was done the actor was 
 The Will to do precedes the thing, was 
 
 done, 
 All laws are emanations from the mind, 
 Matter which cannot think can have no 
 
 will. 
 All acts must have a sequence and a 
 
 cause ; 
 iVnd cause itself is not derivative. 
 And holding law must be intelligence. 
 The word the Logos is from mind alone 
 An impress of infinite mind becomes 
 The Creative power, of the one great 
 
 cause. 
 And thus it was in the beginning then 
 The word became the elementary parts 
 That to vision sermed a chaotic mass. 
 Yet every part imbued with life and law 
 Of him that brooded o'er the vasty deep. 
 And thus the earth was emanate from 
 
 God. 
 And as the builder first in his mind has 
 
 formed. 
 The plan and purpose of his edifice, 
 Then gathers in promiscuous heaps the 
 
 parts, 
 Essential in their place for the design 
 From the cold stone that slumbers at 
 
 the base, 
 To glittering minaret in morning sky. 
 Then from the crude entangled mass 
 
 around. 
 He models forms of beauty and of art, 
 'Till genius, with inventive charms and 
 
 grace, 
 Imbues the whole with joy forever there. 
 Thus was the earth, from dark and 
 
 shapeless void. 
 
73 
 
 Into a globe transformed of solid frame, 
 
 With all around a firmament enthroned. 
 
 Then Holy light — breath of the morn- 
 ing dawn — 
 
 Looked out from heaven its home — the 
 infant cheek 
 
 Of earth it kissed, — when it first im- 
 pulse felt 
 
 To start revolving on its destined way. 
 
 8till for a time old ocean reigned su- 
 preme, 
 
 O'er slimy vale or stony arch below, 
 
 Till solid earth, with stern volcanic 
 force, 
 
 Burst from the cerement of the watery 
 grave. 
 
 And bathed its forhead in the new made 
 air. 
 
 Then came the feeble forms of primal 
 life, 
 
 Prophetic of the grander things to come. 
 
 'Twas life built up on life, till instinct 
 came, 
 
 Presaging yet a higher gift to come. 
 
 Each vital force or shade of mind im- 
 pressed, 
 
 A special gift a new creative act 
 
 For no such essence matter could im- 
 part. 
 
 The laws of life flowed on in lines 
 distinct 
 
 Each unto each a parallel in course 
 
 Progression only in the mind divine 
 
 That formed in series each succeeding 
 tribe, 
 
 Until the ultimate result was reached 
 
 When the progressive attribute divine 
 
 Was stamped upon his last creative act. 
 
 Filled with a "prescience of its destiny 
 
74 
 
 The earth rolled on its orbit round the 
 sun, 
 
 And the sweet pleiades and the morning: 
 star 
 
 With the mild queen of night and me- 
 teors all 
 
 Waked heaven with triumphant shouts 
 of joy 
 
 And this the song of ecstacy they sang 
 
 Oh, blessed orb. The latest and the 
 
 best 
 Of God's creative acts, born of his love 
 In justice weighed in wisdom all con- 
 ceived 
 And holy beauty drawn in every line, 
 Exhaling mercy's odor in its breath. 
 Roll on, fair world, thy precious freight 
 Is the rich gift from inexhaustive wealth, 
 Thy destiny, when the result is reached, 
 To fill the courts of heaven with minis- 
 ters. 
 To magnify the glory of our God 
 And sound the praise of Him that ever 
 lives. 
 
 Then by the process of organic life 
 The ocean's fluid secretes in pearly 
 
 shells. 
 And corals fair, both in hard rock con- 
 densed, 
 A solid base for future continents 
 In strata laid, meet for the workman's 
 
 skill, 
 Who seeks the quarry for the marble 
 
 shaft 
 To stand in wildering colonades around. 
 The temples raised on Zion's holy hill, 
 Or Tadmore sands, or on Ephesian 
 plain. 
 
ib 
 
 Still from the ocean's bed the hills 
 
 arose 
 With sloping sides and starving ribs 
 
 exposed 
 Down to the base where marshy plains 
 
 expand, 
 ank with exuberance of fern and palm 
 To be condensed in carbonaceous beds 
 And stored in rocky vaults, a bank, of 
 
 force, 
 And latent heat, that only intellect 
 In future times can know the secret 
 
 hid, 
 And finish out the purpose of its make. 
 Thus still the wonder grew — what the 
 
 design 
 When in the hills the useful ores were 
 
 hid. 
 The gold, the silver and the precious 
 
 stones. 
 The massive iron and kaolin earth, 
 With latent light in oily fountains 
 
 stilled. 
 Magnetic centres, matrix of the mines, 
 And force electric, a wandering will 
 Untamed and wild, and yet a slave to 
 
 mind. 
 When once the secret of its nature 
 
 known. 
 While all these things were being stored 
 
 away. 
 The tenants of the earth were void of 
 
 thought ; 
 The sensual beast roamed its reedy 
 
 plains 
 To feed the carnivora of the caves. 
 The stalking bird trailed by the sedgy 
 
 pool, 
 And monsters from the dark and tran- 
 
 gles brake, 
 
76 
 
 Swam out in shoals with the receding 
 
 tide; 
 The seas and inlets swarmed with vis- 
 
 cious life, 
 All nature paused and waited for a 
 
 change. 
 Before its coming the prophetic power. 
 Thus fitting up a home for favored 
 
 heirs, 
 Subjected earth to a stupendous scheme. 
 The sweltering mist from tepid waters 
 
 hung 
 In miasmatic curtains round the bays 
 And marshy estuaries ; and up the slopes 
 The slimy soil but meagre substance 
 
 gave 
 To sedgy reeds and fiowerless palms 
 
 that drew 
 Their growth from the dank atmos- 
 phere around. 
 At the dread fiat of Jehovah's will 
 The Artie reservoirs of snow and ice 
 Were piled on hills and over mountain 
 
 peaks, 
 Up to the plains where sauntering 
 
 clouds 
 From batteries masked hurled the hot 
 
 thunderbolt 
 That mocks at stony walls and iron 
 
 siaes. 
 These awful mills, slow gliding to the 
 
 sea. 
 To powder crushed the rocky mass of 
 
 hills 
 And mixed with clay and slime, the 
 
 minerals 
 A compost made, which, as a covering, 
 Was spread from mountain side o'er the 
 
 broad plains, 
 
77 
 
 An unctious soil, rich in the germs of 
 
 hfe. 
 The plains as gardens smiled, and grass 
 
 and flowers. 
 All o'er the pampas glowed in every 
 
 hue — 
 In every form that beauty could sug- 
 gest. 
 As islands in the sea, the stately 
 
 groves. 
 With silver shafts supporting leafy 
 
 clouds. 
 And luscious fruit that back to earth 
 
 returned 
 As manna fell to quench the appetite. 
 Then through the generous mould pre- 
 pared, 
 In pebbly veins the limpid waters run. 
 Till coaxed by sunshine and the tender 
 
 air. 
 It burst in sparkling rills and flowed 
 With laughing comrades from the 
 
 mother hills 
 Along the cool meandering banks of 
 
 green. 
 By sunny isles, where overhanging trees 
 Looked in the mirror for its graceful 
 
 form. 
 Or dallied in the pool where water-fowl 
 Held merry revels without fear of harm. 
 Along these plains the lowing herds of 
 
 kine 
 Koam'd purposeless; the Ukraine steed 
 
 unbroke 
 Throws high his foaming main, defies 
 
 the earth 
 And spurning beaten pathway scours 
 
 the plain. 
 Such were the scenes along Euphrate's 
 
 shores 
 
78 
 
 And by Hidekel's streams that gath- 
 ered rills 
 From pure fountains in Armenian hills, 
 By Pison's channels soon extinct and 
 
 dry 
 That watered once sweet Araby the 
 
 blest 
 To where the Nile its yearly bounty 
 
 gives 
 The taxes gathered from its tropic home 
 A luscious feast on desert tables spread. 
 Low bent the skies on this terrestrial 
 
 scene, 
 And eager throngs intently looking on 
 With whispering voices each to other 
 
 said. 
 "What great creative act will crown the 
 
 prize? 
 What form, what mind, what race of in- 
 tellect? 
 Shall heir this fair domain, this benizon 
 The richest gift from an all-giving hand. 
 The wealth of thought so richly here 
 
 displayed 
 Is worthy of a seraph's tenancy, 
 But what have seraphs what have we to 
 
 do 
 With treasures fashioned of material 
 
 things. 
 So richly spread, so deftly hid, and yet 
 Not all concealed but left for skill to find. 
 Another soft voiced angel said, I fear — 
 Oh no, not fear, I know that wisdom is 
 Unbounded in God's mysterious works, 
 And yet I fear because I do not see. 
 That if this wondrous kingdom is be- 
 stowed 
 On some created soul with mind to 
 grasp 
 
79 
 
 The plenitude of wealth and power con- 
 ferred, 
 Immortal in his make, a monarch 
 
 crowned 
 With only gratitude to hold the scale, 
 Against ambition and pruerient pride, 
 That once marred heaven with rebel- 
 lious war. 
 Another in reflective mood then said 
 
 "It may be so, to finite mind it seems 
 A fearful risk to animate a power, 
 80 near supreme, as only subject to 
 The virtuous reign of gratitude and love. 
 But still we know, that should the crea- 
 ture fall, 
 Almighty wisdom and his love com- 
 bined 
 Can e'en of failure make results more 
 
 grand. 
 Then silence reigned and reverential 
 
 awe, 
 The onlyBegotten, God's creative power 
 The Word, by whom were all things 
 
 made. 
 Without which nothing was — that was 
 
 then made ; 
 The Father thus adressed: "Let us 
 
 make man 
 In our own image, after our likeness ; 
 And let him have dominion at his will 
 Over the fish of the sea and over 
 The fowl of the air, over the cattle. 
 And over every creeping thing that 
 
 Hves." 
 So God created man in his own image, 
 And breathed in his nostrils the breath 
 
 of life . 
 A living soul assumed a house of clay. 
 He gave him deeds to his inheritance. 
 
80 
 
 A royal patent sealed and stamped with 
 
 grace, 
 A kingdom perfect, subject to his Lord, 
 And be the umpire of his own decrees. 
 Thus man was made, the father of a 
 
 race 
 Descending from his loins, to fill the 
 
 earth ; 
 And each his imprint bears in attitude, 
 And has that living soul that ever yearns 
 To back return unto his father's house. 
 
 Where man was first conceived, what 
 
 chamber born, 
 What process of development and 
 
 growth, 
 Is not revealed, 'tis better not to know, 
 Enough is told to insure his origin ; 
 The founder of his race was crowned a 
 
 king, 
 Divine in right, and of untainted blood. 
 'Twas near the centre of the eastern 
 
 lands, 
 Where earth was freshest from its mak- 
 er's hand, 
 And fitted up with fondest care as if 
 Celestial guests were soon expected 
 
 there. 
 The air was pure with life's elixer toned 
 And soothed by wandering winds that 
 
 strolled from off 
 The northern hills in search of tropic 
 
 climes. 
 And met the fleeing gales from torrid 
 
 zones, 
 Made tempered air a breathing luxury. 
 Along those consecrated vales and 
 
 plains 
 The vernal time had come, and trees and 
 
 vines 
 
81 
 
 Were clothed in beauty of the odorous 
 
 flowers ; 
 The grass and herbs sore taxed the 
 
 earth for strength 
 To clothe the sterile parts with darling 
 
 green, 
 x\nd envious brooks to waken new de- 
 
 hght, . 
 
 Drooled softest music on then- pearly 
 
 shoals. 
 The summer shone the yellow harvest 
 
 time ; 
 The earth an alter smoked with incense 
 
 sweet, 
 When Adam came to claim his paradise. 
 
 He was a man, and nothing more than 
 man. 
 
 No Godlike inspiration lit his mind, 
 
 Not even instinct led his dubious way; 
 
 Unlettered and untaught with with la- 
 tent power 
 
 To be developed by a tutors care. 
 
 He gazed astonished on the 'wildering 
 scene, 
 
 The sun the shadows and the purple 
 fruit, 
 
 The sky cerulean, and the chambered 
 clouds , 
 
 That crowned the peaks upon the hori- 
 zon. 
 
 Heard song of birds, the wood thush 
 from the grove. 
 
 Rehearsed his scale of thrilling melodies, 
 
 The ring dove cooed her loving note 
 above, 
 
 The lazy flocks recumbent in the shade. 
 
 The quail repeated parodies of rhyme 
 
 And flickers chaffered o'er the scarlet 
 fruit. 
 
82 
 
 Long, long, he gazed upon the land- 
 scape round. 
 Inhaled the savory odor from the fruit 
 And listened to the happy chime of 
 
 birds 
 And bees and babling brooks and winds, 
 Eolean tuned and rustling through the 
 
 leaves. 
 He felt the velvet carpet on the ground 
 And pulled the leafy bough, and smiled 
 
 with joy 
 As back it swayed, and shadows on the 
 
 green 
 In merry gambols mocked the quivering 
 
 branch. 
 In happy luxury of new made life 
 He breathed the air by inspirations 
 
 deep 
 Still looked and wondered till his unsa- 
 
 tiate eyes 
 Bhnked wearily to sweet forgetfulness. 
 Then gentle sleep on silent wing of 
 
 night 
 An angel from the happy courts of 
 
 peace, 
 Where no contentions are no broils or 
 
 war. 
 No flattering tongues or censor's rasp- 
 ing speech 
 Can mar the bliss of dwellers in that 
 
 land, 
 Came down unseen, and to her girdle 
 
 bow 
 Was hung a casket full of happy dreams, 
 And in her hand she waved a feathery 
 
 wand, 
 Dripping with odor from the mists of 
 
 Lethe. 
 Then stooping down she kissed his 
 
 drooping eyes 
 
83 
 
 And sweet unconsciousness suffused his 
 
 soul. 
 Oil balmy sleep the kindest minister 
 That ever waited on the human race, 
 In Eden's bliss, an interum of rest 
 To give new appetite for hallowed joys 
 And e'en in exile under banishment 
 A bankrupt pauper, this blessing gives 
 Exemption from his loss and forfeiture 
 And chngs bo him in loving sympathy 
 And holds her doors ajar for suffering 
 
 souls 
 To give them taste of Paradise again 
 The morning came, and on the golden 
 
 bars 
 That rested on the orient horizen. 
 In equal lines from central source of 
 
 sight. 
 
 In royal car with heralds of the day 
 Came Asaph, chief of heavenly minis- 
 ters, 
 With his commission from creative 
 
 power 
 To teach and educate the human race. 
 The Angel then, as man appearing, 
 
 stood. 
 And watched the sleeper on his grassy 
 
 couch. 
 No drapery his perfect limbs enclosed. 
 Except the joelous boughs that clust- 
 ered o'er. 
 And of the sleeper thus sohloquized, 
 "And tills the charge my Maker has to 
 
 me 
 Committed as a trust, with will inspired, 
 As for himself to act, to train to build 
 Of this organic structure breathing here 
 A living monument of God's attributes. 
 His wisdom first in planning out a 
 scheme, 
 
84 
 
 So infinite and so remote from view, 
 Only his prescience the result can know. 
 His power in equal measure demon- 
 strate 
 By clothing thought in maternal form 
 And bringing from ideal realms of mind 
 So great a world ; and grander as a field 
 For intellect to test its wondrous skill. 
 And his benificence excelling all 
 In making man and giving him control 
 Of such vast wealth, with the alternate 
 
 power 
 To make himself the nearest friend of 
 
 God, 
 Or blast with failure all his precious 
 
 hopes. 
 And last his mercy (yet to us unseen) 
 In holding in reserve a scheme of love 
 To thwart the failure by a new design. 
 This sleeping form of animated clay 
 Is father of a multitude to come 
 And hold the earth in fealty to God, 
 And its abundance use to honor him. 
 Or it may be, a being less than God 
 Cannot such high estate forbear. 
 Ambitious pride may undermine his will 
 And lead to punishment justly entailed. 
 Of his decendants make a scattered 
 
 troop 
 Of wandering nations — sunk in deepest 
 
 sin. 
 Till sensuous brutes, and thorns and 
 
 weeds 
 His high prerogative on earth defy. 
 But hush those vain suspicions ; here's 
 
 my task, 
 To train these feet to walk in holy 
 
 ways, 
 These hands to lift in prayer, and altars 
 
 build 
 
85 
 
 And skillful work perform — not menial 
 toil— 
 
 And make earth lovely as a psalm of 
 praise. 
 
 These lips and tongue to ever speak the 
 truth 
 
 In words that charm, as music charms 
 the soul. 
 
 That thoughtful brow, to keep it ever 
 pure 
 
 From mark of shame, whenever lifted 
 up, 
 
 The smiles of heaven will play upon its 
 crest. 
 
 As sunshine lingers on the tranquil sea. 
 
 Then Adam woke and saw the angel by 
 
 Whose face was veiled in mist of hal- 
 lowed light, 
 
 And closed his eyes in bashful rever- 
 ence. 
 
 Then by direction, on his bended knees. 
 
 With the first accents of his tongue he 
 thanked 
 
 The Author of his life, and blessings 
 craved 
 
 To meet the wants his body now re- 
 quired, — 
 
 For strength and wisdom to direct his 
 way. 
 
 Then Asaph led him to the flowing 
 stream. 
 
 Which from the fountains in enchanted 
 hills 
 
 In captious speed adown the channel 
 run. 
 
 Or loitered in the pool to sport awhile, 
 
 W^ith dainty sprites the cresses and the 
 fern, 
 
 Then hurrying dowm in ripples on its 
 way. 
 
86 
 
 Then stooping down, the pupil met his 
 
 face 
 Mirrored in the coohng draught he 
 
 took, 
 And Asaph said, ''May his descendants 
 
 ne'er 
 Take draught for quenching thirst 
 
 unless they see 
 Reflections of themselves, approving 
 
 there. 
 Then up the stream and to the left they 
 
 turned, 
 Ascended by a slope, to where a plain 
 In gentle indulations spread afar, 
 Crowned with a generous soil that 
 
 w^ould not bear 
 An evil weed or useless burr or pest. 
 Of insect life or any variance from 
 The growth that met the proper wants 
 
 of man. 
 The fig was reaching out its tempting 
 
 pulp. 
 The vine was purple with the clustered 
 
 cup 
 That dripped libations to the mother 
 
 earth ; 
 The peach was blushing hind its leafy 
 
 fan. 
 And rudy nuts in goblets waived the 
 
 milk 
 That vied with wine in luxury of taste. 
 There on the ground the creeping vine 
 
 assayed. 
 To match the bounties of ambitious 
 
 trees, 
 Lay out their luxuries in straping globes 
 Of mottled green or fragrant yellow 
 
 rind, 
 To quench the thirst or meet the appe- 
 tite. 
 
87 
 
 Not far apart, and yet aloof from all, 
 There grew a tree with stalwart arms 
 
 outspread, 
 And on its boughs was tempting fruit 
 
 displayed, 
 That flashing in the light with Iris hues 
 Concealed the gloomy upas underneath. 
 Then Asaph said to man, of all the 
 
 trees 
 That in this garden grows, they mayest 
 
 eat 
 Except that tree forbid, with gilded 
 
 fruit. 
 For that is evil, because it is forbid ; 
 This tests thy fealty to a righteous 
 
 God. 
 For in the same day thou eatest thereof 
 In sinful dying though shall surely die. 
 The tree that in the garden grows 
 
 amidst 
 Clothed in perenial verdure, its coy 
 
 fruit. 
 Almost concealed, it is the tree of Life. 
 Earth has no kinship to its caste 
 A transplant, it, from nurseries above — 
 iVll allegory of the word that lives. 
 With essence of its phototype infused. 
 The leaves are for the healing of the 
 
 race. 
 The fruit when eaten gives immortal 
 
 life. 
 Then Adam said my Maker and my 
 
 God, 
 To him alone all honors will I bear 
 Wilt thou but teach and lead me 
 
 in His way. 
 Then Asaph said in tender sympathy. 
 The earth is thine and all therein as far 
 As the receding horizon extends. 
 
88 
 
 Thine all the Hora and the beast and 
 bh-ds, 
 
 And fish that swarm the deep, and hid- 
 den things 
 
 That restive lie beneath the earth and 
 wait 
 
 For intellectual skill, and cunning 
 hands, 
 
 To resurect and shape them into forms 
 
 By art contrived or wisdom may sug- 
 gest. 
 
 All these are thime to seek their pur- 
 pose out, 
 
 And be returned with usury to him. 
 
 In working out thine own development. 
 
 In intellectual harmony with God, 
 
 This garden well supplied with gracious 
 gifts. 
 
 Suited to every want without concern ; 
 
 Is but to give thee life sustaining 
 food 
 
 And leave thee free, to elevate thy soul 
 
 By holy prayer and diligence of mind. 
 
 The hidden realms of thought search 
 out. 
 
 So thou mayest enter and be recog- 
 dized 
 
 Among the ministers around his throne. 
 
 Train now thy hand to dress the garden 
 with 
 
 Some new conception of own design. 
 
 Eliminate or increase as thou mayst 
 see 
 
 Will meet the purpose of thy being, 
 here. 
 
 The leaves upon the tree of life are 
 near, 
 
 To heal thy ailments, and make thy 
 toil 
 
 Sweeter than indolence or passive ease. 
 
89 
 
 The fruit is ever ready to secure thy 
 hfe, 
 
 And ever thou beware to evil learn 
 
 When once to know can never be un- 
 learned. 
 
 And thus the day passed on and in the 
 time 
 
 The pupil ate of lucious figs and drank 
 
 The milk of nuts and juice of pulpy 
 grape, 
 
 Then coming darkness ventured on her 
 way 
 
 And lulled the wearied pupil to his rest. 
 
 Again the ruddy morn came from the 
 east, 
 
 (A poem in the word of blythest 
 rhythm) 
 
 And with its rays Asaph returned un- 
 seen 
 
 To watch and wait upon his scholar's 
 course. 
 
 Then Adam rose performed his orisons, 
 
 And bathed himself in the pellucid pool, 
 
 And took his morning meal in thankful- 
 ness; 
 
 Then paused in deepest thought to 
 contemplate 
 
 What place in life his duties to begin. 
 
 Tired with the problem, he observed 
 the bees, 
 
 In humming song they skipped from 
 sweet to sweet, 
 
 Then straight they flew to where a 
 mighty brood 
 
 Of kindred gathered in a common hive ; 
 
 The idle birds that seemed to spend 
 their time 
 
 In glee and song, had each their nest 
 and home. 
 
90 
 
 Wrought in the boughs or hid in cran- 
 nies old, 
 Where love is born and memory paints 
 
 the scenes, 
 That brighter grow, as shadows come 
 
 with age. 
 "Quoth he," ray subjects, these, yet from 
 
 them I learn 
 A lesson sweet, that has a joyful note, 
 That fills a vacant recess in my soul. 
 "Home, home," the sanctifying spot 
 
 where thrives 
 The holiest virtues that imbue the 
 
 heart. 
 And cling around its portals as the vine 
 With dewy pearls and flowery breath 
 
 embalm 
 The sacred air about its vestibule. 
 First will I build my home and altars 
 
 raise — 
 Toil without rest is slavish punishment, 
 No rest can be where no abiding place. 
 Then in his mind in dreamy substance 
 
 wrought 
 Arose the forms of palaces and cot, 
 Which after times has sanctified with 
 
 song. 
 Invention then was swift to make the 
 
 plans. 
 The hand was ready to perform its part. 
 Yet something else must be provided 
 
 for— 
 The tools required by which he might 
 
 coerce, 
 All other things as subject to his will. 
 With purposes maturing in his mind. 
 And grander schemes still looming up 
 
 beyond, 
 He wandered far in searching for a stone 
 
91 
 
 With sharpened edge, for trimming oft" 
 the boughs. 
 
 Two pohshed hints picked from a 
 chalky bed, 
 
 Were smote by each to give the proper 
 shape, 
 
 When from the stroke a spark sprung 
 and gleamed 
 
 As though a spirit from confinement 
 scaped. 
 
 With awe he paused, was all the gifts 
 bestowed 
 
 Charged with a vengeful force repelhng 
 him 
 
 In every effort made to change its form. 
 
 Again the blow, and from the fracture 
 leaped 
 
 The vivid flash, the burning supplement 
 
 To force evolved from motors latent 
 source. 
 
 He pondered long to save the hint ex- 
 pressed, 
 
 Stretched out his thoughts, as eyes 
 search in the dark 
 
 With vain misgiving of the things un- 
 known ; 
 
 Just then his teacher 'erst unseen ap- 
 peared 
 
 Explained the wonder, that the instant 
 fire 
 
 Was nature's agent for dispensing laws. 
 
 And shapeing matter into new designs. 
 
 Then led his pupil up a rocky gorge 
 
 Obscured in shadows from the sunny 
 light, 
 
 By hazy smoke, that from a furnace 
 rose 
 
 In wavey circles to the upper air. 
 
 Then in its throat of red hot flame he 
 poured 
 
92 
 
 Assorted ores with ready flux com- 
 bined ; 
 
 And from the base in viscid currents 
 ran 
 
 Tiie molten mass into the hollow 
 molds. 
 
 The pupil watched, and from the clayey- 
 forms 
 
 He took the hardened bronze in every 
 shape 
 
 That art could wish or usefulness de- 
 vise. 
 
 Thus armed with tools and by his 
 teacher led, 
 
 He smote the earth, the rocks and for- 
 est trees. 
 
 And on the fairest spot in his domain 
 
 In beauty rose the sacred pile of home. 
 
 In quest of treasures to adorn its walls, 
 He rambled to the margin of the river 
 
 wide. 
 Where grew the reed. Papyrus with its 
 
 leaves 
 Of fibre, tough and smooth and glossy 
 
 sheen ; 
 On these in folios or in frame displayed,. 
 He tried his skill with pallet and the 
 
 brush. 
 And mirrored from his mind — whatever 
 
 form 
 By nature there impressed or fancy 
 
 wrought. 
 These labors of his hands; divinely led,. 
 A cheerful pastime were, not menial 
 
 toil 
 That numbs the soul in chilly darkness^ 
 
 and 
 Leaves it alone with vile and sordid 
 
 greed. 
 
93 
 
 A grander project for his labor oped 
 To make a schedule of his property 
 Which Grod had given for inheritance. 
 
 He noted first the inorganic things, 
 The soil, the rocks, the coal and miner- 
 als. 
 The air and water, the heat and light, 
 With laws and qualities that each 
 
 possessed. 
 The solid adamant and minerals 
 That seemed eternal fixed in their 
 
 estate. 
 Were by some motion of their filmy 
 
 parts 
 Changed in organic structure to new 
 
 things. 
 A divine inflatus each atom stirred, 
 And motion gave in its own void, apart 
 From each in ranting speed it swept 
 Across the space where nothingness 
 
 abides, 
 A thousand years, may be, it took to 
 
 reach 
 A new arrangement in a crystal form. 
 
 From forms of matter to organic life 
 He next directed his research and 
 
 thought. 
 All things animate, with life imbued, 
 Were subdivided into kingdoms three. 
 According to position to the earth. 
 The first, the head, was downward and 
 
 the lips 
 Or roots drew substance which ascend- 
 ed 
 And made the growth of its posterior 
 
 part. 
 The next, were those whose form de- 
 veloped , 
 
94 
 
 Lay on a horizontal plan and crawled 
 Or walked or swam or flew in the same 
 
 way. 
 The third, and monarch of them all, 
 
 was he 
 That stood erect and on his shoulders 
 
 hore 
 A temple with divinity impressed. 
 Then in his books with ready pen and 
 
 brush. 
 He noted all of the first class that 
 
 germinate. 
 And reproduce in species of their kind. 
 The mossy cryptogram and the silent 
 
 fern, 
 That fringed the uncouth rocks in 
 
 shady wood. 
 The humble daisy and blue-eyed violet. 
 And crested palm that spurned its 
 
 lowly kin. 
 To giant oak, a column to its roof, 
 Pretentious more of beauty and of 
 
 strength 
 Than Doric pile or Corinthian shaft. 
 And from its sinewy heart and stubborn 
 
 knees, 
 The keel of floating palaces are made 
 That walk the air with staff of tallest 
 
 pine, 
 And parts the e dying waters with its 
 
 strides. 
 With artist skill he drew in colors true. 
 And named them in their order and 
 
 their class. 
 That beauteous host which Flora gave 
 
 the earth 
 To make its saddest haunts to smile 
 
 with joy. 
 From lowly clover and the daffidil. 
 
95 
 
 The red bud of the wood and milk- 
 white thorn, 
 Where revehng bees are humming with 
 
 dehght, 
 Up where the grand magnoha waves 
 Its floral offering to the dainty clouds, 
 In clusters bright as colony of stars 
 That glitter in the azure vault, below 
 Where Orian hangs his glittering belt 
 
 and sword. 
 The humble grass that carpeted the 
 
 lawn, 
 And monocotyledens of the field, 
 The flags and reeds that hung around 
 
 the swale. 
 And snarhng cactus with the starving 
 
 sage,— 
 These all were named each of its kind 
 
 apart. 
 This pleasant task absorbed a score of 
 
 years, 
 If years were worth their counting unto 
 
 him. 
 Whose wealth of time was without 
 
 limit while 
 The tree of life was in his reach to 
 
 touch. 
 His books now grown to ponderous 
 
 tomes in size 
 Were ranged in seried ranks upon his 
 
 shelves ; 
 Each stored with precious knowledge 
 
 learned 
 From source divine, for Asaph and his 
 
 corps 
 Of heavenly mentors yet led his way ; 
 Directed his research, and when his 
 
 mind 
 Was staggered with the weight of 
 
 problems dark, 
 
96 
 
 And danger seemed that human search 
 
 might take 
 Erroneous ways. A teacher near with 
 
 mind 
 Inspired of God, disolved the mist and 
 
 left 
 A sure conviction where a doubt ap- 
 peared. 
 And through the books were sketches 
 
 of his tramps, 
 Adown the stream or up the mountain 
 
 side, 
 Or cross the lonely moor, or by the 
 
 shade 
 And sunny slopes of his own Eden 
 
 home. 
 And on the pages writ was oft a song 
 In measure sweet, when ever human 
 
 words 
 Could catch the inspiration of the 
 
 hymn, 
 That glimmered from the furnace of the 
 
 soul. 
 And with the measure of the words was 
 
 set 
 The music caught from doors ajar of 
 
 heaven. 
 That on the lyre steeped every sense in 
 
 bliss 
 That animates the choir of praise 
 
 above. 
 
 'Twas when a day of holy rest had 
 
 passed, 
 A first day morn was gleaming in the 
 
 east 
 That Asaph said these books are for 
 
 your race, 
 A legacy of wealth to educate 
 
97 
 
 When thou in plentitude of years shall 
 
 take 
 Thy exit hence, to dwell in higher 
 
 courts 
 With thy compears in wisdom and in 
 
 grace. 
 What thou hast done is hut an earnest 
 
 The labor yet before in making out 
 The names of creatures thou hast 
 
 dominion of 
 In ail the earth, the air, and the vast 
 
 sea, 
 And naming them, thou must surely 
 
 know 
 Their forms, and elements, in which 
 
 they live ; 
 Their qualities and instincts so that the 
 
 nan.e 
 May indicate their character and life. 
 So let's prepare, this ordered work to 
 
 do; 
 Eecord and seal the substance of our 
 
 toil. 
 For if it is by inadvertance lost. 
 Five days shall pass and morning of the 
 
 sixth, 
 Each day a thousand years, before thy 
 
 sons 
 Shall cumulate again our labor here. 
 They into classes formed and orders, 
 
 next 
 General species and individuals, each 
 Commencing at the base where feeble 
 
 hfe 
 Almost abort, ill formed, in cell, or sack, 
 Or radiate with connecting segment 
 
 joined. 
 Monsters with Hyra heads, or Acepha- 
 lous 
 
98 
 
 Of brainy marrow all devoid, and yet, 
 Though hideous as misconception's 
 
 faulty work, 
 Each contained the elementary parts 
 That formed a base for highest type of 
 
 life. 
 Then they that dwell in pearly valves 
 
 with gates 
 That holds the lonesome wealth to each 
 
 confined, 
 And after death the undecaying shells 
 Congeals to sturdy rafters for the globe. 
 Then the crustacean and articulate, 
 With forms unique and istinct sharp 
 
 defined, 
 And vertibrates of oviparous kind, 
 Up to the mammel tribe whose tender 
 
 young 
 Draws from the mother its support and 
 
 growth. 
 With cheerful ardour, his exultant task 
 He undertook, his domain searched to 
 
 name 
 The creatures thus committed to his 
 
 care. 
 Not e'en nutritious fruits the garden 
 
 bore. 
 In mellow ripeness and in easy reach. 
 Was half so sweet to hungry palate as 
 Was this rich treat prepared to feast 
 
 the mind. 
 With flying sail adown Euphrata's 
 
 stream, 
 He met the ocean's wave in coming 
 
 tides, 
 And of its voiceles, tenants made 
 
 account. 
 The coral, molusk, and anominae, 
 The huge cetacean and the dolphin 
 
 fleet. 
 
99 
 
 The blear-eyed monster with his speck- 
 led team 
 
 Of nimble pilots hunting for his prey. 
 
 And his congenor with Briarian arms, 
 
 And horny beak with eye of baleful 
 gleam, 
 
 That sulks in ocean caves, its victims 
 draw 
 
 With slimy suction to its demon coil. 
 
 At other times he searched out Pison's 
 vale, 
 
 The sweetest waters of the quaternian 
 band. 
 
 From wooded hills its clear, pure cur- 
 rents ran, 
 
 And richest verdure spread on either 
 side 
 
 Down to the Coromandel coast, where 
 pearls 
 
 Of purest azure tempt the divers toil. 
 
 There ranged the zebra and the wild 
 gazelle, 
 
 The Arabian mare and the lowing herd, 
 
 Whose very trail across the grassy 
 mead 
 
 Betokens wealth that glads the human 
 heart. 
 
 There Bactrian ships that glide the 
 sandy sea, 
 
 And hairless elephant, whose thought- 
 ful eyes 
 
 Looks in the windows of the human 
 soul. 
 
 And all that walked the earth, that 
 crawled, or flew. 
 
 That lived by prey or fit for sacrifice,— 
 
 These all were named in order of their 
 kind. 
 
 This pleasant toil made glad the flight 
 of time ; 
 
100 
 
 Days, months and years were as a 
 
 noonday dream, 
 In covert shade when work made rest 
 
 so sweet. 
 Then at his quiet home with copious 
 
 notes 
 And trusty sketch and memory stored 
 
 with themes, 
 And with advising teachers alway near. 
 He fihed his vacant books with gath- 
 ered spoils, 
 Drawn from research with analyzing 
 
 thought. 
 And as the treasure grew an envious 
 
 pile 
 A supplement to wealth he had re- 
 ceived, 
 A weighty thought oppressive to his 
 
 soul 
 Absorbed his reverie ; and even faith 
 Could scarce fortend the cloudy doubts 
 
 before. 
 For whom this wealth? from whence 
 
 his heirs to come? 
 With patent of their parentage, worthy 
 
 him 
 Whose busy feet should highways make 
 
 o'er hills 
 And plains, through dales or by the 
 
 river side, 
 Or mark the sea in squares there guide 
 
 boards set 
 To point the wandering sailor to his 
 
 port. 
 No worthy object of his love and care 
 To lead and educate in all the love 
 His vigils sought or inspiration learned. 
 And yet he knew, in purpose of his 
 
 make 
 
101 
 
 The plan was laid, development would 
 
 come . 
 
 And hunger for companionship would 
 
 feed 
 On living bread provided by decree, 
 Asaph well knew, by fiat of his make, 
 That he was dual born, in him the 
 
 germ. 
 Of that new life, that was to be to him 
 The better part, a union so concrete 
 That life as circles are, would be com- 
 plete. 
 Thus Adam brooding o'er the mystic 
 
 th PTTie 
 Evoked to'life the scheme of destiny, 
 A.ud felt an incubus from his loins ab- 
 sorb 
 His healthful vigor and disposing 
 
 thought. 
 The teacher watched his pupil day by 
 
 day 
 And foiled his moody thoughts with 
 
 cheerful tales 
 Of tender love and gentle witcheries. 
 To sweet of bhss they taste for real 
 
 things 
 Cannot intoxicate like fantasies. 
 Now came the stillness over Adam's 
 
 soul. 
 Dark and umbrageous as the sleep ol 
 
 death 
 And even dreams with all sensation 
 
 T)?issed 
 His swolen side the angel then explored 
 And found abnormal life in a false 
 
 womb 
 Conceived, and yearning for estate of 
 
 life. 
 Then in the side of the anestheized, 
 
102 
 
 With polished blade a wide incision 
 
 made, 
 Caesarian like, and from the prison took 
 A new born life, the mother of mankind. 
 Then closed the wound with styptics 
 
 bands secure, 
 And left the somnolent to be restored. 
 The babe thus woke to preternatural 
 
 life 
 No aaguish knew, no wailing accents 
 
 pealed, 
 Nor languishment as though from 
 
 dreaded fate 
 Would back return from whence the 
 
 spirit came. 
 The food and sleep, the day, the night, 
 
 and sun 
 And air with perfume vexed from 
 
 breathing flowers 
 And holy status that environed it 
 Diffused a growth and vigor in her 
 
 frame. 
 Ere many days while yet the parent 
 
 slept 
 Her tiny feet had pressed the mossy 
 
 floor, 
 And cunning fingers twisted in his hair. 
 The first of all created men awoke, 
 A thrill of ecstacy jarred his frame, 
 And eyes uncertain, with a doubting 
 
 film. 
 With nervous clasp he felt his wasted 
 
 side. 
 And realized the vision, not of sleep. 
 With joyous arms he laid her to his 
 
 breast, 
 A cherub fair but yet of human mould. 
 And nought forbid him calling her his 
 
 owm. 
 
103 
 
 "Thou art bone of my bone, and flesh of 
 
 my flesh, 
 And ever, ever, will 1 cling to thee 
 God's own best gift, a counterpart of me, 
 Eefined and sublimated from my gross- 
 er parts. 
 This new found bliss engaged his every 
 
 care. 
 All wealth which he as monarch owned, 
 All goods which he as servant held of 
 
 God, 
 The lovely aeries of the sunny field, 
 The flowery pampas and the sylvan 
 
 grove. 
 The mount whose swollen breast con- 
 cealed the ores 
 Of gold and silver mixed with precious 
 
 stone. 
 The flocks and herds upon a thousand 
 
 hills 
 What were they all while yearning love. 
 Was pining for its mate unsatisfied. 
 New dreams of life more glowing and 
 
 refined 
 Than airy baseless visions of the night. 
 When sleep has chained the monitor of 
 
 mind 
 And left the fancy to invent its flight 
 Now bent their iris hues across his 
 
 sight ; 
 In hearty prayer he thanked and 
 
 praised his God 
 Who thus had blessed his lot with ful- 
 
 est joy 
 And pledged to him anew. Alas, alas. 
 The first of frailty is divided love. 
 The task of teacher he assumed with 
 
 zeal, 
 'Twas pleasure sweet to hear her lisp his 
 
 words, 
 
104 
 
 To catch the glowing histre of her eye 
 As with her dimpled hand she pointed 
 
 out 
 The radiant glory of the setting sun 
 And asked to know who set such won- 
 
 ers there. 
 Her childish talk to him were quaint 
 
 conceits 
 Brimming with poesy rich as the wine 
 O'erflo wing from lihatious cup to earth, 
 The solemn moon she said had played 
 
 Bopeep. 
 When e'er the wandering clouds ob- 
 scured its face — 
 And charged the saucy stars had 
 
 winked at her. 
 To such infirmity puerile and weak 
 Does grand philosophy seek to be allied. 
 Then in a book of nemonclature made. 
 He wrote the words, ''Her name is 
 
 Eve," because 
 Of all of human kind hearafter born 
 Of every type of high or low dagree 
 In every clime in every age to come. 
 Condemned by sin and in trangrans- 
 
 gressions yoke 
 Or free and happy in the love God 
 Of all who bear the impress of a soul 
 Of spiritual and immortal essence made 
 She is the mother of them all. 
 
 Oh, Eden fair the Paletine of heaven. 
 The demon spirit lurking round the 
 
 walls 
 Would surely stay his entrance while 
 
 he hears 
 Innocence embodied in childish voice. 
 The tree of life still shed its healing 
 
 leaves. 
 
105 
 
 The fruit of evil waived its charms in 
 
 vain 
 The school of knowledge of the good 
 
 went on 
 By Asaph led inspired by the Allwise. 
 The happy subject of their anxious care 
 Grew day by day in intelectual 
 And moral growth still rising up 
 To that high plane where implicit faith 
 And love to G-od is the supreme result. 
 The daughter Eve had learned to know 
 
 the fruit, 
 And from the juicy pulp sweet nectar 
 
 made, 
 And served the draught in shelly cups 
 
 of pearl, 
 And bread fruit cakes with dripping 
 
 honey smeared. 
 Her daily walk was by the crystal 
 
 stream, 
 Where finny schools would gather as 
 
 she came 
 To take a bounty from her giving 
 
 hands. 
 No creature was so lovely but received 
 A benefaction from her thoughtful care. 
 
 A shady spot there was with vines 
 o'erhead, 
 
 Where oft she sat and wrought in silky 
 floss 
 
 The netted girdle and becoming hood, 
 
 And colored bands to stay her locks 
 aside. 
 
 And rustic frames to border scenes of 
 art, 
 
 With cone or leaf and base of nut com- 
 bined. 
 
 While busy thus with work (or play it 
 was 
 
That kept the restles nerve and muscle 
 
 from 
 Intrusion on the attribute of mind), 
 Her thoughts recured to lessons she 
 
 had learned, 
 How from chaotic void the Lord had 
 
 made 
 The earth so beautiful, in wisdom great 
 Beyond the power to even comprehend^ 
 And with munificence, bespoke to life, 
 A countless myriad to enjoy its bliss. 
 And over all had given them estate 
 Whom last He made, in human form 
 
 erect. 
 With parts and senses, to perceive and 
 
 feel 
 The joy that springs from life in con- 
 tact with 
 Material things, the air the sunshine 
 The satisfying food and quenching 
 
 drink, 
 And half intoxicating draughts of love. 
 Not yet forbid though so intense and 
 
 dear. 
 But grander yet, to us is is given to 
 
 know, 
 'Tis God who made us, and communion 
 
 hold 
 By consanguinity of soul and mind 
 With being of a higher state, and pass, 
 And come through open doors to pala- 
 ces 
 Where no preferments go beyoni its 
 
 bounds. 
 While thus her thoughts in holy cur- 
 rents ran. 
 The sweet musicians of the field and 
 
 wood 
 In tuneful notes their ways of life be- 
 trayed, 
 
107 
 
 As though in song there was a drama 
 
 played. 
 The woodthrush from the tangled brake 
 
 hard by 
 Poured soothmg notes of tender lan- 
 guishing 
 Of love bestowed and love betrayed 
 
 again. 
 Her truant brood returned ingratitude 
 For wasted cares and left their shel- 
 tered home. 
 The dove in cooing to her callow young 
 Inveighed the cruel falcom that had 
 
 slain 
 Her loving mate, and left her prest with 
 
 woe. 
 And so each warbler, in its story song, 
 Touched tender notes still moist with 
 
 dewy tears, 
 That thrilled the minor chords around 
 
 the heart 
 Where tempered sadness seems the 
 
 nearest bliss. 
 The serpent now, more subtle was than 
 
 all, 
 The beasts of the field which the Lord 
 
 had made ; 
 And as the woman sat, with humble 
 
 crawl 
 Crouched at her feet, and to her face he 
 
 prayed 
 With eyes, intended for beseeching air, 
 Yet keen discernment lurking in their 
 
 depths. 
 He thus addressed her, in his gentlest 
 
 tones. 
 Oh! Being fair, of all most beautiful. 
 In grace of form and goodness of thy 
 
 heart, 
 
108 
 
 Wliicli yearns in sympathy for thy sub- 
 ject low, 
 
 Thou hast not learned from Adam or 
 the seer, 
 
 AVho curb thy knowledge to restricted 
 bounds, 
 
 That pleasure, which is the salt of hap- 
 piness, 
 
 To thee's denied as a forbidden feast. 
 
 Know thou the richest draughts of bliss 
 must come 
 
 From evil's source now contraband to 
 thee. 
 
 The love, now scarce excused, thy hus- 
 band bears 
 
 To thee, is infelicity compared 
 
 To that rich fervor jealousy imparts. 
 
 The limpid sips you taste of its o'erflow 
 
 Are not like luscious drafts by passion 
 stained, 
 
 And turned like wine to ruby red, with 
 sparks 
 
 That flash intoxication through the 
 soul. 
 
 Shall the stale walks of wisdom hold 
 thy feet 
 
 In narrow lanes, while pleasure's fields 
 around 
 
 Are rank with fancy's flowers and fruits 
 forbid? 
 
 These all are art's adornments and 
 conceal 
 
 What gross infirmities might mar the 
 plan. 
 
 Knowledge the wit of Gods ; they all 
 do know 
 
 Both good and evil, and can best decide 
 
 The better part, would'st thou forego 
 
 The thrill of joy the pang of grief pro- 
 vide, 
 
109 
 
 And that sweet sadness for another's 
 
 woe, 
 Creation all to which thou art allied, 
 And made of common dust, we all have 
 
 sprung 
 By evolution from the selfsame life. 
 Commends thy grace and claims thy 
 
 sympathy. 
 Our blood and bone, the morrow and 
 
 the flesh, 
 Are warmed and animate by passion's 
 
 heat, 
 We thirst and hunger, thrive on pride 
 
 and lust. 
 Feel Coy and bliss antithesis of pain 
 Without the sting that conscience spear 
 
 inflicts 
 With thy great learning, won from 
 
 source divine 
 And gift of intelect akin to God's, 
 And thou shouldest now evillearn to 
 
 know 
 Thy sway on earth would be supreme 
 
 indeed. 
 Knowest thou that God who has made 
 
 us all. 
 And granted life, by each to be enjoyed, 
 Hast laid on thee the sorest weight to 
 
 bear, 
 Forbid the pleasure which thy flesh 
 
 demands, 
 Denied the knowledge which nature 
 
 craves, 
 Is only testing thy simplicity. 
 And playing on thy want of skill to be 
 A sovereign master of a race of slaves. 
 In other Beings formed and tribes of 
 
 life 
 No contributions of obedience 
 
110 
 
 On them are laid, thattliey should 
 
 service give 
 To him alone, no other lessons learn 
 Than what their teachers may to them 
 
 impart ; 
 It is not so what God has said, "that in 
 The day that thou eatest thereof, dying 
 
 thou shall 
 Surely die." But thou shalt he wise as 
 
 Gods 
 Knowing both good and evil. 
 With indignation moved the woman 
 
 said 
 Advunt thou limbless monster from 
 
 my sight, 
 Thou art no creature which our God 
 
 has blessed. 
 Abortions offspring, without feet, or 
 
 fills. 
 Or wings, to locomote ; thy very breath 
 Is poison with the bags beneath thy 
 
 fangs. 
 And ranker venom of of thy cold blood 
 
 heart 
 The spirit of a wicked fiend within 
 Blinks acid malice from thy baleful 
 
 eyes. 
 My very soul feels horror at thy sight. 
 
 To which the serpent unabashed replied 
 
 I love thy speech, thou art no suckling 
 spawned, 
 
 Thy scorching tongue betrays thy pas- 
 sion's heat. 
 
 And love of fierce encounter in thy soul. 
 
 Beshrew me not, till thou hast learned 
 me more. 
 
 But at thy board, this evening, tell thy 
 lords, 
 
Ill 
 
 On whom thou waitest, how thou hast 
 
 reviled 
 With bitter imprecations, and sharp 
 
 speech 
 A simple worm, which dared to you ad- 
 vise. 
 And take I charge thee their rebuke, 
 
 and words 
 On love, forgiveness, modesty and 
 
 grace, 
 In resignation to thy dreamy bed. 
 Tomorrow at this hour, beneath the 
 
 tree 
 That bears forbidden fruit, I'll meet 
 
 thee there. 
 
 The serpent kept in poise his luring 
 eyes. 
 
 The woman's face was grand, 'twas 
 pitiful, 
 
 'Twas like the northern sky appears at 
 night 
 
 When Borean spirits flash across the 
 field 
 
 In crimson glow then pallid white 
 succeeds 
 
 Then shimmering light in nervous 
 dance expires. 
 
 She glanced beseeching to the vacant 
 sky 
 
 As though for some supporting angel 
 near, 
 
 Eetreating then with trembling doubt- 
 ful step 
 
 She backward moved from the enchant- 
 ed spot 
 
 Till disenthralled, she fled for refuge 
 home. 
 
 There in a sheltered recess closed and 
 barred. 
 
112 
 
 She sought to give her reason chance 
 to act 
 
 And indicate the drifting of her heart. 
 
 What strange new world is this to 
 which I've come, 
 
 Where fear attracts and dread enticing 
 charms, 
 
 That which I love, has a seductive 
 power. 
 
 But yesterday the word of God was 
 sweet 
 
 And love and loyalty the delight of life. 
 
 Then the unwayward paths of duty and 
 
 The lessons of obedience to him 
 
 Were sum and boundary of of my de- 
 sires. 
 
 What strange wierd spell has overcome 
 my life 
 
 Which makes me feel as though a pri- 
 soner, bound 
 
 In solid walls for my confinement sure. 
 
 And as by chance, in rambling round 
 my fort, 
 
 I found a door ajar, and looking out. 
 
 Another world I saw wherein there 
 grew 
 
 In rank profusion fruits forbidden here. 
 
 The air of liberty and passions soil 
 
 Produced the poppy full of opiate 
 dreams, 
 
 And richer vintage from the grape dis- 
 tilled. 
 
 On smoking altars broiled the savory 
 meat, 
 
 And garments rich set off the human 
 form. 
 
 Liberty was law and love ran riot 
 
 With naked cupids as her ministers ; 
 
 There pleasures fields whose flowers ex- 
 haled 
 
Halucinatingmist, which quite obscured 
 
 The toil disease and death, that lay be- 
 yond. 
 
 Oh, cursed serpent had I never knew 
 
 By sensual sight the forbidden scenes 
 
 Which thou hast opened to my fleshly 
 eyes, 
 
 Then had I been at peace. Peace forev- 
 er gone. 
 
 While thus abandoned to that shameful 
 state, 
 
 With conscience chained and baser lust 
 set free, 
 
 She heard the coming step at eventide, 
 
 Of Adam from the labors of the day. 
 
 As was her wont she met him on his 
 way. 
 
 In hopes his cheerful mood and fond 
 caress 
 
 Would break the horrid spell enclosed 
 around. 
 
 With joy he kissed her brow of inno- 
 cense, 
 
 And said, How has my darling passed 
 the time ? 
 
 I must defend from thy reproachful 
 look 
 
 For being absent long. The work this 
 day 
 
 Kas been grand indeed, absorbing- 
 thought. 
 
 I now bethink me, how thy ardent mind 
 
 Of late has thus to such perfection 
 grown, 
 
 And looked beyond the lessons tendered 
 thee 
 
 To that uncertain realm of consequence 
 
 And cause where our poor intellects are 
 lost. 
 
114 
 
 And leads us into utter ruin unless 
 Inspired wisdom lights the dubious 
 
 way. 
 Henceforth thou must be with me, 
 A fellow-worker in the mighty plan. 
 Prescribing us our destined course in 
 
 life. 
 Already have we nomenclature made 
 Of living organisms of all their kinds 
 And marked the use to which they each 
 
 apply. 
 This day with Asaph I have spent 
 
 abroad ; 
 Up in Havilah land, with rocks and ores, 
 Alloting plans and purposes for each. 
 These silent cliffs and gloomy rocky 
 
 gorge 
 Are speaking witnesses of God's de- 
 signs. 
 Yea, prophets are foretelling of the time 
 When earth shall be resplendent with 
 
 their use 
 In other forms. The solid granite and 
 
 the slate 
 Match base and roof in future temples 
 
 reared : 
 And speaking marble, whose cyrstals 
 
 shape 
 Themselves in forms, by coercion from 
 The artist. s mind. And oh, most 
 
 strange of all. 
 We found a vein where heat and light 
 
 itself 
 Was in black armour cased ; and there 
 
 was 
 TheBedlium and Onyx stone and Gold — 
 And the gold of that Havilah land was 
 
 good — 
 In other providential days to come 
 
115 
 
 By hands of our race, wrought out, 
 we'll see 
 
 The earth shall sparkle with embehsh- 
 ments, 
 
 And works of use and art, significant 
 
 Of mental power developed and led out 
 
 By strength inherent and the teacher's 
 care. 
 
 To which the woman said in low, sweet 
 voice. 
 
 Teach me to sympathize in all thy 
 plans. 
 
 And bear me wdth thee to that pure 
 ether where 
 
 Malarial sickness cannot taint the soul : 
 
 For in truth I, do my weakness fear. 
 
 I feel affinity for the tribes below, 
 
 The fondling stark excites my sympa- 
 thy. 
 
 And thrilling song of the sad night- 
 ingale, 
 
 Meets a responsive tremor in my heart. 
 
 The bird thou hast mamed "of Para- 
 dise," 
 
 Which breathes enchanted air of happi- 
 ness, 
 
 And flash their fairy plumage to the 
 sun. 
 
 Are free from all restraint and teacher's 
 care; 
 
 Now me a partner make in thy pur- 
 suits. 
 
 The man replied, To-morrow morn I 
 meet 
 
 With Asaph on the hill-top as the sun 
 
 Comes peering from concealment of the 
 night. 
 
 I wish to know the secret of its course. 
 
 The mechanism by which it moves in 
 time 
 
116 
 
 Of perfect measure, each engagement 
 
 meet 
 According to the season. And how the 
 
 moon, 
 Which seems appointed watcher of the 
 
 night, 
 Doth vary in its coming, and often 
 
 skips. 
 Its wanted place, and travels by the day 
 Obscured m brighter hght. And how 
 
 the stars. 
 In constellations twelve, each in their 
 
 turn 
 Are heralds of the day. When these 
 
 I've found, 
 I shall no more forego the pleasure of 
 Thy sweet society ; this Eden home 
 Shall be the nursery of domestic bliss 
 In rearing scions to our heritage. 
 And oh! the joy I feel to contemplate 
 The bliss extatic, infinite and pure, 
 When the conclusion shall be reached, 
 
 that we 
 Shall be perfected, the final link 
 In that unbroken line of life, that from 
 The lowest form of animated things 
 Extends to God, and heaven and earth 
 Shall be a common ground; and sanc- 
 tified 
 By spiritual control of intellect 
 Subservient to moral rule, just as 
 The qualities of matter, are confined 
 By virtue of their being, to his law. 
 Then evil, which is departure from all 
 
 law, 
 A chaos of disorder, and rebellion 
 Of sensual attributes which refuse 
 Observance to the legal sway, wherein 
 Creation rests in unity of plan. 
 
117 
 
 Thus as they talked they sauntered on 
 the path 
 
 That lay in maizy winding through the 
 grounds. 
 
 Then on a sheltered seat where oft 
 they'd sat 
 
 Their evening repast they partook with 
 thanks. 
 
 Then as they wandered to their shel- 
 tered home, 
 
 The Bulbuls notes came as a shower of 
 sound 
 
 And soothed their senses in its charm- 
 ing rest. 
 
 Then Adam kissed her brow and said 
 good night, 
 
 Let angels guard thee in thy hours of 
 sleep ; 
 
 He to his couch alone for amorous love 
 
 Had not supplanted yet the purer love 
 he felt 
 
 As daughter severed from himself, and 
 yet 
 
 To be a chosen vessel bearing unto him 
 
 An offspring free from taint, or kin to ^ 
 all 
 
 The animated creatures of the earth. 
 
 In realms of thought there is a border 
 
 land 
 Along the shores of Lethe, there the 
 
 sea 
 Of sleep is overhung with atmosphere 
 
 of dreams 
 Whose currents mix withmaunderings 
 
 of the mind 
 While yet it lingers on the silent shore. 
 Thus Eve while on her little couch 
 
 alone 
 
118 
 
 Would strive to hold her thougts by 
 
 reason's helm; 
 The vague uncertain wind from dreamy 
 
 seas 
 And bearing odors from some island 
 
 lost, 
 Tinged with suspicion of forbidden 
 
 sweets 
 Would drift hear heart from where her 
 
 reason held. 
 Before the dawning of the coming morn 
 Adam awoke, as though the time of 
 
 sleep 
 Had rested on him lightly, and the spur 
 Of his appointment urged him to the 
 
 hills 
 To catch the lesson that absorbed his 
 
 thoughts. 
 His partner Eve thus left to work 
 
 alone. 
 The sum of holding life to legal bounds, 
 She too awoke, (and with a stifling sob 
 As though her heart would fain escape 
 
 the day,) 
 Not as she used to rise, with happy 
 
 smile, 
 To meet the cheery morn with glad 
 
 response. 
 But with the faithless mind and heavy 
 
 heart 
 Which indecision breeds before events. 
 Then in the bath she washed the 
 
 trace of tears 
 From off her cheeks, and wiped her 
 
 eyes. 
 From the imperfect visions of the night. 
 Her toilet made by braiding of her hair; 
 With strands of gems adorned her 
 
 shapely neck, 
 
119 
 
 And silken scarf about her bosom 
 twined 
 
 Eich with the smell of the pomgranate 
 rind, 
 
 Her morning greeting to her humble 
 friends 
 
 Gave equal joy no pale of rank between. 
 
 The twittering birds that built then' 
 homes in trees, 
 
 And coveys of the quail and pheasant 
 shy, 
 
 Each claimed a gentle word and boun- 
 teous feast. 
 
 These trifling themes arrested her em- 
 ploy 
 
 From the great sadness on her sunny 
 hpRrt • 
 
 Which rested as the sea, by currents 
 warmed 
 
 Of flowing waters from the Tropic 
 
 Yet on its warm maternal bosom lay 
 The icy berg, intruder from the north. 
 Which drifted chilly ripples to the shore 
 Of vernal isles, where the bland zephyers 
 
 kissed 
 The hawthorne bloom and chased the 
 
 thistle's down. 
 Then with slow step she wandered on 
 
 apace. 
 And often paused, then started on anew; 
 She from her inmost thoughts sohlo- 
 
 quized: 
 Would I were worthier of my mate and 
 
 sire 
 That I could solve the duties of my 
 
 state, , 
 
 Could lay my life in line with reason s 
 
 chart 
 
V20 
 
 And lightly bear the sway of law, and 
 
 feel 
 Beyond its operations is discerned, 
 God's wisdom, founded in his love to us. 
 These mystic themes I do not under- 
 stand. 
 And cogitating only leads to doubt. 
 I do not love to think. This violet 
 Of blue cerulean around its heart. 
 Can smile, and praise, and does not 
 
 have to think. 
 I love the sun aside from mysteries, 
 Its fervent rays make sweet the cooling 
 
 shade, 
 Ifc dies the harebell with the blue of sky. 
 And ripe's the harvest with its yellow 
 
 rays 
 I love the taste of fruit the smell of 
 
 flowers. 
 The crystal nectar quenching to the 
 
 thirst, 
 I quaff as thoughtless as those spotted 
 
 fawns 
 That trail their dam into the purling 
 
 stream. 
 They /do not think their happy looks 
 
 betray. 
 They do not have to think, they shun 
 
 the task. 
 I love our God for all his precious gifts, 
 I love the hberty which I enjoy. 
 Of tasting with the senses his good 
 
 things, 
 Of feeling that his mercy over me 
 Is stronger than the biting force of law. 
 The serpent said that I should meet 
 
 him here. 
 Why should I fear, is not this God's 
 
 domain? 
 Am I not His, has he not given to me 
 
121 
 
 This garden fair? Ah, I bethink me 
 
 now 
 There was a reservation in tlie deed 
 That we should not eat of fruit which 
 
 grew on 
 The tree of knowledge of good and evil. 
 If that be so, how came the serpent 
 
 here 
 With silver tongue belieing God's de- 
 cree ? 
 Doth God permit His enemies around, 
 Spiritual in essence, to assume the form 
 Of stolid brutes, with logic too pro- 
 found, 
 For me, who am in His image made, to 
 Comprehend, or see the subterfuge. 
 I now remember Asapli oft has said, 
 There is but one creative power ; He 
 
 made all, 
 One plan, one common substance from 
 
 himself 
 Transmuted into matter and to mind. 
 Is the prime source of all created 
 
 things. 
 If that be so, how can it be, that one 
 Intelligence in this deceptive form 
 Can be allowed to contravene His plan? 
 I have a doubt, had I not come so far 
 As to be encompassed by the spell, 
 I should return to have this doubt re- 
 moved. 
 The serpent lay encoiled ; his mass of 
 
 flesh. 
 By influence sinister without brain, 
 Did spaak inteligibly from his tongue. 
 The air around delicious was with 
 
 fames, 
 Exhilarating in their rankness from tlie 
 fruit 
 
1-22 * 
 
 That was always ripe upon the tree of 
 
 sm. 
 "I greet thy coming mistress," thus he 
 
 spoke. 
 The gifts to thee are not misapphed ; 
 Thy love of knowledge well becomes 
 
 our queen, 
 Whose wisdom soon will rank among 
 
 the Gods'. 
 The woman to the serpent talked and 
 
 said : 
 I much suspect thy siibtility and guile; 
 Thou art in form symbolical of flesh. 
 Without limbs or parts for use, a type 
 Of that great kingdom animate on earth 
 Which God hath made before our com- 
 ing here. 
 'Tis true we all are made of common 
 
 dust; 
 The food, the drink, the life-sustaining 
 
 air, 
 Are common fountains which we all 
 
 partake. 
 Yet my being was not evolved from 
 
 thine ; 
 T'hou art but organism that life begets. 
 And when thy body unto dust returns. 
 Thy life recedes again to common air. 
 While in our forms God breathed the 
 
 breath of life 
 Undying as himself, and though the 
 
 clay 
 It vivifies, may disintegrate. 
 Yet it renews by virtue of its life ; 
 And if perchance its covering were lost 
 The soul is not dissolved, to God who 
 
 gave. 
 It must return and to Him give account 
 For all its doings in another sphere. 
 
12:5 
 
 The gods you challenge thus as Beings 
 
 wise, 
 Are transient fragments of a fleshy life 
 Subordinate to the fixed laws of earth. 
 The spawnings of illiteracy and igno- 
 rance, 
 Whose utmost stretch of power is where 
 God's mercy will not intervene, unless 
 The law of justice is first satisfied. 
 These gods of yours abide in misty 
 
 caves. 
 Or far off mountain tops, or sylven 
 
 shades, 
 Or be the princess of the outer air, 
 And foster lust in disobedient hearts 
 And work corruption in the sensual 
 
 mind. 
 'Tis said there is a pandemonium vast 
 Where spirits born of passions of the 
 
 flesh 
 Degenerate from immortal entities 
 And wed to sensual lusts of sin and 
 
 time, 
 Death's emmisaries that deal in craft 
 Permitted life as life's abortions are; 
 Demons they are and held apart from 
 
 all 
 The creatures God has blessed, that in 
 
 His plan 
 Extend existences to His own state. 
 We claim no kinship to these gods of 
 
 yours. 
 We are spiritual in origin and destiny — 
 Made by Him to crown creation's act, 
 And bring all qualities that partake of 
 
 mind 
 In every shade of moral attribue. 
 Or thrill emotions that stir the heart 
 From instinct up to high causality ; 
 These all to bring subservient to law 
 
124 
 
 And mark with wisdom all his high de- 
 signs. 
 
 Now, serpent, doth thou not know that 
 God 
 
 On the transgressor will inflict the law 
 
 And penal death will surely follow 
 crime? 
 
 The serpent said, Wherein consists the 
 crime 
 
 Of eating fruit that God himself hath 
 made? 
 
 And learning wisdom by experience, 
 
 Will He such pain inflict upon himself 
 
 As to forego the filling of His plan 
 
 And make a wreck of all this grand es- 
 tate? 
 
 Doth not the tree of life still waive its 
 fruit? 
 
 An antidote prepared for threatened 
 death, 
 
 The woman looked upon the fruit, and 
 it was fair. 
 
 With savory smell suggestive of the 
 taste, 
 
 The appetite was strong, the reason 
 weak. 
 
 And flesh is craven, when left to fend 
 the right. 
 
 While pleasure's palate raged unsatis- 
 fied. 
 
 She put forth her hand, and plucked and 
 ate, 
 
 And took thereof for her partner's use. 
 
 As she returned with heart already sore, 
 
 She met her husband, seeking her with 
 fear 
 
 And anguish, blanched upon his face. 
 
 With downcast eyes she offered him the 
 fruit 
 
 That had already sealed her fate, to die. 
 
125 
 
 Then Adam stood appalled, conviction 
 sure 
 
 Of all the consequences of the crime, 
 
 Both to themselves and all the world to 
 come, 
 
 O'erwhelmed his soul, as by an ava- 
 lanche. 
 
 '^Oh, partner of my life," he said, "thou 
 knowest 
 
 But little of the ravage thou hast made 
 
 Of plans divine for earth, and even 
 marred 
 
 The bliss that dwells in heavenly courts 
 above. 
 
 Because tliQu art my own, and I am 
 thine 
 
 Indissolably bound for life to each. 
 
 To take or not to take is equal death to 
 me, 
 
 I eat this fruit and bide a common fate. 
 
 But let me say from this commanding 
 height 
 
 On which we stand, from which we soon 
 must fall, 
 
 The wail of anguish from our ruined 
 souls 
 
 Shall echo back unto caeation's dawn, 
 
 zVnd roll like moaning seas upon the surf 
 
 On every ear in coming race of man 
 
 Till time's exhausted strength shall 
 cease to bear 
 
 The weight of events and creation dies. 
 
 Around the ashes of our hopes con- 
 sumed 
 
 The hollow pleasure only yet remains 
 
 Of counting up the loss, and realize 
 
 How poor and beggarly we are indeed. 
 
 "Twere folly to expect this crime con- 
 doned, 
 
126 
 
 The law of God and its observance 
 
 stands 
 As the dividing hne between the two, 
 The fleshly kingdom and the spiritual; 
 The one is life, with passion unrestrained 
 By moral law, or obedient will. 
 Without discernment to select the good 
 Or accountability for the bad. 
 It dies by virtue of organic law. 
 The kingdom new for which we were 
 
 destined 
 Is fleshly organism with the breath of 
 
 life. 
 Inspiring it with intellect and will, 
 And linked the creature with celestial 
 
 things. 
 Reason and law alike declare to me, 
 If our carnality predominates, 
 And we rebel in loyalty to God, 
 Death surely comes as attribute of flesh, 
 And we are doomed to die with mortal 
 
 tribes." 
 Then Eve replied: ''Oh, husband, close 
 
 the veil 
 And shield my sight from miseries to 
 
 come 
 Upon our offspring, to death condemned 
 And left in ignorance to grope without 
 A teacher inspired of God to lead. 
 What mercy can be shown! I only plead 
 The serpent's wiles, and my weak frail- 
 ty as 
 A poor defence against this monstrous 
 
 crime. 
 Lest Asaph come, — Let's seek a place 
 
 to hide 
 And aprons make, for now I see and 
 
 know 
 Our spiritual quality is lost -^ 
 
 That once enveloped as a covering, 
 
127 
 
 And we are left in shame and naked- 
 ness. 
 While thus a self-convicted, refugees, 
 And in the evening cool God's minister, 
 Whose loving care had guarded them 
 
 thus far, 
 Walked in the garden and not seeing 
 
 them 
 Called: "Adam, v^here art thou?" And 
 
 Adam said : 
 "I am naked found and have hid my- 
 self." 
 And Asaph said : "Who told thee that 
 
 thou wast 
 Naked, and hast dispoiled thee of thy 
 
 robe 
 Of righteousness which concealed 
 Thy form of flesh, and left thee thus 
 
 exposed? 
 Hast thou eaten of the forbidden fruit?" 
 And Adam said : "The woman thou 
 
 gavest 
 To me did eat, and gave to me to eat, 
 And I partook with her." The woman 
 
 said : 
 "The Serpent beguiled me and I did 
 
 eat." 
 Then Asaph said : "Oh, wretched pair, 
 
 thou art 
 Without excuse ! The ways of life and 
 
 death 
 Were from necessity left to thy choice. 
 To hold alliance with thy creator 
 And claim the living soul from Him 
 
 received. 
 As an immortal essence from himself. 
 Untainted by relationship of blood. 
 Or lineage with the tribes of earth. 
 Was birthright and prerogative of thine. 
 
128 
 
 Yet in thy foolish weakness thou hast 
 
 chose 
 To claim base origin and leave in doubt 
 Thy parentage, and human reason 
 
 might 
 In future times be thus misled to sa3^ 
 Thy intellect is but instinct ripened 
 
 out, 
 Thy statue from sub-perfect scale 
 
 evolved, 
 And thy life is mortal as the beast that 
 
 dies." 
 Then Asaph to the serpent said : "Be- 
 cause 
 Thou hast done this thing, enmity shall 
 
 be 
 Betwixt thee and the woman's seed, 
 
 and it 
 Shall bruise thy head; and thou shalt 
 
 bruise his heel." 
 Then He to the woman said: "Be- 
 cause that 
 Thou hast mocked the law, by taking 
 
 counsel 
 Of thy enemies, I will multiply 
 Thy woes ; in travail deej) shalt thou 
 
 bring forth 
 Thy children, and thy desire shall be to 
 Thy husband, and he shall rule over 
 
 thee." 
 The woman said, while on her bended 
 
 knees: 
 "I thank Thee for my sentence; it is 
 
 Hght 
 Compared with my transgression. I 
 
 will take 
 The yoke, subjective to my husband's 
 
 will; 
 Myself alone in pain and sorrow bear 
 
Children to him/' Till ])romised Sliiloh 
 come 
 
 Of Woman's seed, and not by man 
 begot, 
 
 He shall redeem us. Then shall womaii 
 be 
 
 Vindicated, and her long forbearance. 
 
 Her faith, and patience in her grief, and 
 the 
 
 Sweet charity that baffles wrong, shall 
 be 
 
 The mail and weapons which His sol- 
 dier's bear, 
 
 When thy with us shall overturn the 
 thrones 
 
 And kingdoms of His adversaries and 
 
 The whole earth shall be Immanual's 
 land. 
 
 Nor shall His conquest cease, until the 
 bars 
 
 That held the greedy doors of the un- 
 seen, 
 
 Life's terror and death's secret there 
 enclosed, 
 
 And as those adamantine walls give way 
 
 There shall arise a shout of rescued 
 saints 
 
 That death is swallowed up in victory. 
 
 The woman ceased and Asaph to Adam 
 said : 
 
 Thou must be banished hence, the gar- 
 den trees 
 
 Withhold from thee their volutary fruit, 
 
 By sweat of brow thy food must be 
 supplied. 
 
 The tree of life is barred from thy ac- 
 cess, 
 
 For dust thou art and unto dust shallt 
 thou 
 
 Eeturn again. 
 
180 
 
 Tlien x\dam said : Our sentence is but 
 
 just, 
 I only mourn that our iniquity 
 Should visit the unborn, and ignorance, 
 The quahty of brutes, a legacy 
 Should leave ; my precious books so 
 
 amply filled, 
 ]3y wisdom thou hast learned me, in all 
 
 things 
 Thy admonitions of our duty how 
 To keep our high estate with dignity ; 
 All, all is lost, our bad example here 
 Only survives to plague our progeny. 
 As moaning of a coming storm I hear 
 The roar of passion in conflicting strife 
 In Cimmerian darkness, and see the 
 
 light 
 Of faith in God, though oft submerged 
 
 not yet 
 Extinguished. The sacraficial altar 
 And the epitaph shall mankind keep 
 As fragments of a will almost destroyed 
 Inspiring hope of immortality 
 And peace restored. They glow like 
 
 camp fires left 
 Upon the field, where routed armies lay. 
 To all my hopes and aspirations now 
 I take farewell, assume my menial task 
 Of conflict with defying thorns and 
 
 weeds 
 For bread, from our mother earth, who 
 
 has turned 
 Her face from me, I could not bear 
 This gall of disappointment and the 
 
 frown 
 Of indignation from offended God, 
 Were it not from this calamity is born 
 The angel mercy, sweetest of the train 
 That wait upon the pensioners God, 
 
181 
 
 She with her sisters three, faitli, hope 
 
 and love, 
 Abide with us, though we are banished 
 
 hence. 
 Then Eve with gentle resignation said 
 To Adam, who thus stood with troubled 
 
 brow: 
 Let us depart and pitch our tents 
 
 among 
 The flocks and herds outside the garden 
 
 walls 
 Ere we by murmuring shoud yet pro- 
 voke 
 A sharper sentence, I will take my place 
 A helpmate in the exile, by thy side 
 A slave or partner as thou elect 
 With no weapon armed to maintain my 
 
 right 
 Except my love, God hath endowed me 
 
 with 
 To be my siheld and scimeter, it shall be 
 More potent than the fiercest arms 
 
 when held 
 By martial ranks in battle's stern array. 
 Yea, by my faith I see the coming time 
 When it shall subjugate mankind 
 As doth the sun by its attraction hold 
 By bonds invisible the wayward earth 
 And satisfies submission by its beams. 
 Then as they turned their lonesome way 
 
 to go, 
 Asaph, in pity of their shivering flesh. 
 Made coats of skins, and therewith theui 
 
 clothed, 
 Then Adam said : "Oh, woman, let us 
 
 haste 
 Lest on this holy ground we yet should 
 
 meet 
 Some angel who has known us when 
 
 we sat 
 
132 
 
 in holy livery with the sons of light, 
 And they should see us wearing this 
 Ignoble badge of shame and dying flesh 
 Which we have earned by disobedience, 
 And thus in sadness and contrition deep, 
 With yet four seraphs brightest of the 
 
 train 
 Hovering o'er, the exiles took their 
 
 way. 
 
 So deep absorbed had I become 
 
 In reading of the sacred tome, 
 
 That when I ceased, I could not tell 
 
 What length of time had yet befel. 
 
 I looked around in vain to see 
 
 Some members of the company, 
 
 But all was vacant, lone and still. 
 
 And the stone temple on the hill 
 
 Was silent too in dusky sight 
 
 Of darkened day or lightened night. 
 
 No clouds above, and yet the sky 
 
 Was shimmering with some mystery, 
 
 A soft confusion from afar, 
 
 Like voices from another star. 
 
 Bat where were all the friends I've met. 
 
 Whose greetings lingered with me yet. 
 
 Had they retired to sleep from care ? 
 
 Or were they spirits of the air? 
 
 Were things around me what they seem, 
 
 Or was my journey all a dream? 
 
 The books were there, my heart yet 
 
 thrilled 
 With wondrous lessons they instill'd, 
 And everything to eye and ear 
 As true realities appear. 
 I mounted to the platform where 
 They observations made, and there 
 The battery with a golden line 
 Was painting the home of mine, 
 
13:^ 
 
 As though a train of sympathy 
 Passed on the cable through the sea. 
 I felt the thrill the human heart 
 Will always feel when long apart 
 It back unto the borders come, 
 And catches glimpses of its home. 
 Its crimes I could but disapprove, 
 I knew its grave's unsatisfied. 
 Yet could not feel it wrong t9 love 
 A race for which a Saviour died. 
 I longed to clasp the brave and good 
 That cleaved to right and spurned the 
 
 I blessed the martyrdom of blood 
 
 That reconciled us to His will, 
 
 I longed to see the milHons free 
 
 That had endured the chains so long ; 
 
 I longed to walk by Galilee, 
 
 And hear the sequel of the song 
 
 Of peace on earth, good will to men, 
 
 \s on the plains of Bethlehem 
 
 The chant was heard in joyful chimes, 
 
 And chorus left for after times. 
 
 An instrument was trained hard by 
 
 On the same object in the sky. 
 
 And through the strange assorted lens 
 
 I looked to see what there depends. 
 
 I saw the place from which I'd fled 
 
 As from a land of woe and tears, 
 
 Now moving with the pressing tread 
 
 Of multitudes to brighter years. 
 
 The scheme of glory in its plan. 
 
 Developing since it began. 
 
 Was now so manifest to me 
 
 When its perfections I could see. 
 
 Where all the parts from pole to pole 
 
 Seemed fractions blended in the whole. 
 
 It grandly rolled upon its way. 
 
 And met appointments day by day, 
 
 No minute lost, no second gained. 
 
134 
 
 It swung upon its course ordained 
 
 And held absorbed in its embrace 
 
 The only ham an dwelling place 
 
 With blessings meted for the race 
 
 Where all the good for sin derived 
 
 By love and mercy are supplied. 
 
 And first I saw the ocean wide 
 
 Then mountain top with cloudy side, 
 
 And as I peered with earnest sight, 
 
 I seemed to catch the gleaming light 
 
 Of cities' torches on the plain, 
 
 Or by the margin of the main, 
 
 Where sturdy ships and warehouse tall 
 
 Exchange the burdens of them all. 
 
 I had no consciousness of time, 
 
 Of speed or space or change of clime ; 
 
 I felt desire almost to pain 
 
 To breathe the air of earth again, 
 
 To live the life it lives and die 
 
 In hope of immortality. 
 
 Still as I stood in hope and fear, 
 
 I seemed to feel earth's atmosphere ; 
 
 I pressed the sod, I felt the dew, 
 
 I looked around and then I knew 
 
 This was the hill from which I fled. 
 
 The stars were shining overhead ; 
 
 Far in the north with banners higli 
 
 There was the comet in the sky. 
 
 J. F.H.