@o®®& BY THE AUTHOR North C: ^£j^«^^i^^pi / 1 PIECES OF EIGHT A SEQUENCE OF TWENTY FOUR WAR- SONNETS BY JOHN ARMSTRONG CHALONER Author of "Scorpio" 1). S, BOARD OF TAX APPEALS J DIV.-^ DOCKET^.^^^:^^^ ADMITTED IN EVIDEMOE ,./IAY3l 1932 PET t TIO f lgfl'3 ^ £XHJB1Ti2.~-2- RP5P0N[>ENT'S Faoit indignatia versus. — Juvenal. Righteous wrath runs to rhyme. 'Achilles' wrath to Greece the direful spring, Of woes unnumbered, Heavenly Goddess sing." — Homer's Iliad. (Pope's translation.) Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori. A fine and noble thing for one's country 'tis to die. PALMETTO PRESS Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina TWENTY-FIVE CENTS Nineteen Hundi'ed anil Fourteen Copyright Palmetto Press 1914 DEC 26 1914 ©CI,A8911oS PROIvOOUK TO BRITISH CRITICS. Permit an Anglo-Saxon who has also the following strains in his veins — namely, — Welsh, Scotch, Scotch-Irish, French, Dutch and German, and whose progenitors sailed from Tenby, Wales, in 1710, and landed at Charleston, South Carolina — to unbosom himself upon the European situation. The request is admittedly a strange one, but hardly less so than the causes leading up to its inception. Six years ago the undersigned sent a slim volume of sonnets over here to be reviewed. Circumstances over Avhich he had no control prevented his being able to have same reviewed in America at that time. The London Academy^ by its gifted editor, presented him with a most complimentary notice. This notice will be found further on. The Academy^ August 8, 1908, was good enough to say that: "Keats has told us that they shall be accounted poet-kings who simply say the most heart- easing things. It may well be, therefore, that the author of the present volume of sonnets has no desire to be ranked among the poet-kings. For he certainly does not come to us with heartsease in his hand. On the contrary he prides himself (m the fact that he is a hard and terrible hitter. Indeed, he assures us that he has come to the conclusion that you can put a wicked man "to sleep" with a sonnet in pretty much the same way that a prize-fighter puts his opponent to sleep with a finished blow. * * * "THE DEVIL'S HORSESHOE." 'A fecund sight for a philosopher — Rich as Golconda's mine in lessons rare — That gem-bedizen'd "horse-shoe" at th' Opera, Replete with costly hags and matrons fair! His votaresses doth Mammon there array, His Amazonian Phalanx dread to face! To Mammon there do they their homage pay! Spang'ld with jewels, satins, silks and lace, Crones whose old bosoms in their corsets creak; Beldams whose slightest glance would fright a horse; Ghouls — when they speak one hears the grave-mole squeak Their escorts parvenus of feature course, A rich array of Luxury and Vice! But, spite of them, the music's very nice.' PROLOGUE Here you have a knockout blow with a vengeance. The sonnet as a whole is not one which we can approve from a technical or a sentimental point of view, but it has points. Henley might have plumed himself on the line about the creaking corsets and the last line, a tour de force, in its way reminds us of the withering ironies of Byron. It is only fair to Mr. Chaloner to add that not all his son- nets are concerned with . . . general thumping. Some of them show the tenderer emotions proper to a poet. We like him best, however, in his character as metrical bruiser. He is always on the side of the angels even if he is frequently over vigorous; and his book is well worth possessing. We gather that he has undergone personal troubles of no light or of ordinary nature, and it is pleasant to note that, despite these troubles, he still retains a sane and reasonable outlook upon life, for when he likes he can be quite pleasantly humorous instead of acridly bitter." It is very meet and right that the discoverer — for that is what Lord Alfred Douglas— the then editor of the Academy — undoubtedly was — it is very meet and right that Lord Alfred Douglas — the descendant of that famous Mar- quis of Queensbury who compiled the ndes that formerly guided the mighty right of the peerless John L. Sullivan — of Boston, Massachusetts — the former champion of the world — and now control the dusky member of his formidable suc- cessor Jack Johnson — the terror of 'white hopes' — but only until a second John L. Sullivan shall arise, and put him down and out, for the count — it is very meet and right that the discoverer of the hardest metrical hitter America has as yet turned out, should be the lineal descendant of the Marquis of Queensbury. It is a case of "/yi. hoc s-U/no innces''^ with us. We at once printed the Acadenoifs review in the edition of "Scorpio" sent out for review to the American press; and consequently our work was treated on the strength thereof — with a respect^ — from the vast majority of critics, from ocean to ocean — North and South — which was highly satisfactory. Now, alas, the situation has changed. The very correct and desirable attitude of neutrality — advised and urged by Presi- dent Woodrow Wilson, concerning the European war — has closed the columns of newspapers North as well as South, PROLOGUE iii East as well as West against sonnets as Pro-Allies as the accompanying slim sheaf of sonnets — entitled "Pieces of Eight." "Pieces Of Eight" is the raison d''etre of this book. by that title.f "Pieces Of Eight'' — to be exact, the first eight sonnets comprising that sonnet sequence — was refused publication — al- though offered free — by the New York Herald., the New York American., and the Boston Advertiser. This could not have been owing to their lack of quality — for any one familiar with the rules governing the sonnet can see that they are correct iambi(^ pentameters — and, moreover, the Ameri- can and Advertiser had each voluntarily, and without sug- gestion from us, published some two or more sonnets from our pen — one of each of Avliich is to be found among the ex- tracts from American newspapers further- on. There was, therefore, nothing left for us — if we wanted to tempt fortune again concerning critical opinion on our Avork — but to send it abroad. In closing this lengthy prologue we shall emphasise the fact that nothing but the dire — the awful cataclysm — now unfolding itself on the field of Europe, and our desire to stand by civilization, truth and honour — as shown by regard for a nation's pledged word in a treaty — could have induced us to brave the possible storm of protest at the strength of our denunciations in "Pieces of Eight" and accompanying sonnets — or sullen silence of cold disapproval. As the afore- said extracts from, American criticisms indicate., we aim at the fierceness of Swift when we denounce. How far we fall below the standai-d of fierceness set forever and in all tongues — bar. possibly, only Juvenal. Voltaire and Lord By- ron — by the mighty Dean of St. Patrick's — is for others to judge. t'This sequence originally consisted of eight sonnets; when the title "Pieces Of Eight" would have been appropriate. But on Sep- tember sixteenth the author saw in the Richmond News-Leader the cabled leader from the London Time^ found in Appendix, page 54. This iSO delighted him that he could not feel easy in his mind until he had written sonnets Nine and Ten of this sequence which has since grown to twenty -four strictly war-sonnets; with three sonnets on nature added — by way of contrast — written May fourth, 1914. The book being on the press at the time he did not, however, change its name. — "Pieces Of Eight." PROLOGUE We simply draw attention to the fact that satirical de- nunciation is a legitimate form of literary and poetic expres- sion from the remote days of the Roman Juvenal. And that, as such, we demand, that Miss Nancy predilections against poetic strength of expression be — for the time being — held sternly in obeyance. In conclusion, as a historian of the most technical, and therefore difficult, form of historical composition, namely law — as a law-writer — which branch of legal practice has been honored by the great Blackstone — the Commentator on the Common Law — in the following words, namely : "the learned sages of the law" — as a historian we shall not refrain from hereby thanking God, that Great Britain, France and Eussia are bound by a tripartite agreement — the recent Proto- col of London : by which the peace of all is the peace of one — thereby enabling Great Britain and France to stand off the well meant, but ill-advised and unlearned effort at premature peace, between the belligerents; until Germany and Aus- tria — the provokers of this vast breach of the peace — have, in the now prophetic words of the late lamented Prince Bis- marck, been "Bled to pallor." For Great Britain may stand behind France and Russia, and say: "I cannot make peace until France and Russia — my allies — are satisfied. France wants Alsace and Lorraine returned her, and Russia has wants." France may then stand behind Russia and say: "After I receive back Alsace and Lorraine I cannot with- draw my hand from the plow of Bellona — of the Goddess of War — before my ally Russia is satisfied." And Great Britain, France and Russia will all inevitably and rightly demand, that heroic little Belgium be fully compensated for the dishonest and barbarous rape of her national dignity by German}^ It is a marvellous thing ^ the amalgam- of folly and hypoc- risy which makes up the thinhing cap of alas! hvt too m/iny Oif our oivn countrymen. Here we have the American press ringing the changes for years and years, for decade upon decade, upon "the folly and barbarity of European armaments. Crushing, as they do, the life-blood out of the l)one and sineAv of the European people — the working classes — by onerous taxation." Which PROLOGUE sonorous statemtient is as true as sonoi^us. And yet, when — as we firmly believe — the God of Battles — God, the "Man of War" — together with Jesus Christ — who came to bring "not peace put a sword" — have at last, after forty-four years, brought it to pass, that competitive armaments shall forever cease in Europe, and that the only armed European powers — of the very first class — shall be the allies — Great Britain, France and Russia — we find voices beginning to be raised on this side of the Athmtic for ])eace. and, therefore, for the continuance of the rery thing they have heen so self suffi- ciently sneering at for nearly ffty years — ^''hloated competi- tive armamen tsP^ Fortunately, Russia can \'ery well afford to wash her hands of American public opinion, after the impertinent American "butting-in" concerning Russia's internal govern- ment; concerning regulations governing the Jews. The long standing friendship between Russia and the United States was thereby shattered at a blow, and thereby Russia gained com- plete freedom from obligations of friendship towards America. Therefore there is small danger that Russia will heed the premature proposals for peace now being set on foot on this side — even if American "peace societies" have the bad taste, and assurance to thrust their advice upon a former friend, now grossly affronted by their own government in congress assembled. The premature peace movement Avas started by a certain Roumanian Jew — at a recent meeting in London — attended by a prominent political American Jew : who brought the premature peace microbe across the ocean with him : and set it going in Washington. Let premature peace get no finther— as sin iu-tnality, at least— than the "sooty bosom" — to cite Shakspearo — of a Roumanian Jew. J. A. (\. Richmond. Virginia. September 18, 1014. New York BernUl. Soptember 13, 1914. Herald Bureau, No. 130 Fleet Street. London, September 12, 1914. Here in the centre of the world's diplomacy, so far as the allies are concerned, it is impossible to understand the currency which has been apparently given in America to the thought that an early peace is possible. Tt is only conceivable that the terms in which the allies would consider peacp would be a surrender by thf" Kaiser on terms which the allies would dictate. vl PROLOGUE I gather from talks with the highest diplomatists and from the views of journalists from Russia, England and France that there can be no compromise. This idea is deep rooted. The cause of the alliance is one for common defence. The elemental issue at stake, in the view of the allies, is their destruction or the overthrow of German militarism. I have heard no other suggestion made either by the press or by diplomatists since the war began, but that the war must continue until the Kaiser's power is permanently dissipated. England says there must be an end to it. Russia says there must be an end to it. France says there must be an end to it. There is no "peace at any price" element in any of these countries. The states- man who would make a suggestion of peace now would call down ou his head such a storm of wrath that he would be glad to seek exile Therefore it has been with astonishment that the friends of Oscar S. Straus here read that he has been busy trying to find some basis for peace. Attitude of the Allies. Mr. Straus, when here, had exceptional facilities to ascertain the allies' opinions exactly. As I have stated before, he had a confidential talk with Sir Edward Grey and knew that Great Britain's purpose in going to war was to have restored the law of nations which the Kaiser nullified in regarding treaties as "Scraps of paper" and that Great Britain would not cease to fight so long as the allies held together and could put their armies in the field. This would be the attitude of the allies if Germany had continued her success before Paris, had defeated and routed the allies' aimies, had taken Paris, had driven the Russians out of East Prussia, had in- vaded Russia with every prospect of reaching Petrograd and had rained bombs on London. What folly then to say there is immediate prospect of peace. English statesmen with whom I have talked decline to think of any form of peac " short of the abdication of the Kaiser when Germany is losing on land and is afraid to fight on the sea. In response to the Herald's request for a statement of the views abroad regarding the prospects of peace and what would be the Kaiser's terms in case he won, and what would be the allies' terms in case they won, I can only say in the language of the fighting Irish- man, "We'll talk about dividin' the property after we are dead." But it would seem idle to discuss the question of war settlements v/hen every energy is being exerted by England, France and Russia to keep the war going for one, two or three years, or soi long as is necessary to overcome the Teutons. England has practically raised her first half million men and is now raising a second half million. When that is complete she will begin on her second million and keep it going. It is openly admitted that she must keep a million men in Europe until peace is signed. The colonies already are prepared to quadruple their first offers. Russia has just begun to fight and her army is growing at the rate of one hundred thousand men a day, as distant points send in their quotas. This she will continue indefinitely. As for France, youths who ordinarily would not be called for military duty until this winter are now under training. These soon will make a place for a yet younger line. PROLOGUE vii Expect a Long War. It is a long war these allies are expecting, but they are ready, so that until it is won life will not be worth living. When the bill comes to be paid either Germany, Austria-Hungary or the allies will be the length of a generation in paying it. I write thus fully about the situation in order that America may regain the point of view which has been obscured. Philanthropists, peace advocates and reformed armor-plate makers may get their fingers burned if they meddle with this matter which obviously they do not understand. The deep resolve of the allies is not only branded in it is burned to the bone. German militarism must go. That is a requisite of the restoration of peace from the English, Russian and French point of view. The allies firmly believe that in taking this unalterable stand they are workincf for the end of war. viii PROLOGUE Punch, London, September 2, 1914. THE AVENGERS. (To our Soldiers in the field.) Not this high thought alone shall brace your thews To trampie under heel those vandal hordes Who laugh when blood of mother and babe imbues Thier damned craven swords. But here must be hot passion, white of flame. Pure hate of this unutterable wrong, Sheer wrath for Christendom so sunlv in shame. To make you trebly strong. These smoking hearths of fair and peaceful lands, This reeking trail of deeds abhorred of Hell, They cry aloud for vengeance at your hands. Ruthless and swift and fell. Strike, then — and spare not — for the innocent dead Who lie there, stark beneath the weeping skies. As though you saw your dearest in their stead Butchered before your eyes. On each, without distinction, worst or hest. Fouled 1)]/ a nation's crime, one doom must fall; Be yon> its instrument, and leave the rest To God, the Judge of all. Let it be said of you. when sounds at length Over the final field the victor's strain : — "They struck at infamy with all their strength. And earth is clean again !" O. S. KKHATA. Page I. Sonnet, "The Devil's Horseshoe," line 12, "course" should be "coarse." Page 33, same sonnet, same correction. Page VIIL first verse, last line, "Thier" should be "Their." Page 30. Trilogy should be properly spelled. Sonnet Eight, line fi, "Brother-in-arms" should be "Brothers-in- arms." Sonnet Fourteen, line 10, "England" should be "Britain." Sonnet Twenty-one, last line. Peace-disturbers should be properly spelled. Sonnet Twenty-two, line 3, "shows" should be "shadows." Sonnet Twenty-nine, line 7, "ere" sliould be "e'er." Sonnet Twenty-nine, lines 7 and 8 should be transposed. Sonnet Twenty-nine, line 14, "manliood" should be "manhood." Sonnet Two, page 43, lines 4 and 8, there should be no "i" in PIECES OF EIGHT A SEQUENCE OF TWENTY FOUR WAR-SONNETS Entitled The Swine of the Gadarenes "So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. And he said unto them. Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine; and behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea and perished in the waters." — St. Matthew viii: 31-32. "This effort was frustrated by the steadiness and skill with which the British retirement was conducted, and as on the previous day, losses far in excess of anything suffered by us were inflicted on the enemy, who, in dense formation and in enormous masses, marched forward again and yet again to storm the British lines. "In Landrecies alone, on the 25th, a German infantry brigade advanced In close order into a narrow street, and our machine guns were brought to bear on this target from the end of the town. The head of the column was swept away. A frightful panic ensued, and it is estimated that 800 or 900 dead and wounded Germans were left in this street alone." — Lord Kitchener's statement, "Times-Dispatch," Richmond, Virginia, August 31, 1914. Sonnet One PIG-STICKING. or THE HUNT IS UP. "The Hunt is up! Who'll chase the boar to-day? The Hunt is up! Who'll at pig-sticking play? Tantivy! Tantivy! Away!" — Hunting Song. The swine o' th' Gadarenes are here once more That demon-haunted herd now scour the earth Led by Bill William Two, their great wild boar Their antics 'pon my soul give cause for mirth ! In massed formation do they charge pell Tiiell! Showing less judgment than a herd of swine in massed formation are they sent to Hell— That's where dead Germans go I dare opine. How many wild boars will there soon be left To meet the Cossacks crowding on their rear, While French and English harry right and left With skill and coolness plying wild boar spear? The German Empire now doth hurry on To perish V tW waters of ohlivion! J. A. C, "The Merry Mills," Cobham, Albemarle County, Virginia. September First, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Two THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. THE KAISER t or THE CURSE. Thou treaty-breaking perjured potentate! Blaspheming with thy lips the God of Truth Each time that thou dost dare asseverate That "(jod is on thy side" — thou great uncouth! The fate of Ananias hangs o'er thee rhat sword of Damocles o'er thee suspends And in the end thou shalt flat ruined be When in the reehn^mg thou dost pay amends. Thy mighty ancestor Frederick the Great Turns in his grave at sight of thy foul deed Which makes all true men the name German hate As synonym for bloodshed and for greed. My German hlood dotU curse thee to deep Hell A curse as black as rhyme and reason spell. September First, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Three THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. A GERMAN VERSION OF THE GOOD SAMARITAN, f "Many of the Germans landed after the battle of the British ships were wounded by revolver bullets. It is declared the revolvers were used by German officers to prevent their men surrendering to the British boats, which had put off to save their drowning opponents. Some of the boats lowered to the rescue of the Germans, it is said, were fired on by German cruisers." "The British destroyers exposed themselves to considerable risk in endeavoring to save as many as possible of the German seamen, British officers present vouch for the fact that the German officers were observed firing at their own men in the water with pistols, and that several were shot before their eyes." "Under these peculiar circumstances, a destroyer was actually picking up wounded with boats when she was driven off by the ap- proach of another German cruiser, and had to leave two of her boats containing one officer and nine men behind. It was feared these would be made prisoners, but happily a submarine arrived and brought the British party home." — "Times-Dispatch," August 31, 1914. Thy private-miirdTiniT ruffian officersf Show to what depths a learned race can sink The Calling grand of Arms their action shirs 'Mongst soldiers makes the name of German stink/ Who ever heard in wars of any age — Ancient or modern or since time began — Of oificers on soldiers venting rage — Rage at defeat'^ Not once in Hist'ry's span! And yet your ruffians murdered their oum men When they did flounder in the North Sea cold — Their act did curdle th' ink upon my pen — Lest they be rescued by the Britons bold. Of all the acts of martial infamy — So help me God — this act the King--Pin be! September First, 1914. tOn this occasion it was sailors who were shot — as they swam for their lives — by their officers, who nobly refrained from shooting themselves, however, to avoid the disgrace of capture — as Japanese officers have frequently done. Biit immediately prior to the war, a case of "private-murdering" was on the journalistic tapis in Deutch- land; and even excited some adverse criticism by the tyranny-loving press of that tyranny-ridden country — bar only some liberty-loving socialists therein. An officer and a sergeant between them had mur- dered a private — a very common occurrence in German discipline — strange to say a court-martial gave the murderers two years each in a fortress, instead of acquitting them — as is usually the case. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Pour THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. DISARMAMENT, f Beware the Manes of the Belgae dread I These terrors of all tyrants since old Eome — Beware the ghosts of Liege' heroic dead Beware ths reclc'ning that doth steady come! Beware when France and Russia on thee fall, Supported by the British bull-dogs roused! Call then upon thy friend — on. Turlvey call! Thus Turk and Teuton will be charnel-housed. Then Europe will be freed at one fell swoop From Prussia, Austria, foul morall'd Turk, T.'ien of the Hosts of Sin the crests will droop Dark clouded by defeat and ruin's murk. The Turk from Europe then will sio'ift be driven And fram Teuton hand arms for ever rivenP September First. 1914. tThe heroic spirit displayed by the Belgians in defence of their country and their honour, against the brutal invading Germans, dates from remote antiquity. One of the members of the royal house of the Batavians — the Belgae or Belgians — by name Claudius C'ivilis — In the first century of the Christian era was the only foreigner ever to successfully revolt against the Roman Empire at the height of its glory and power. In the days of the great Roman Emperor Vespa- sian — before becoming EJmperor — while plotting for power — opposing the then Emperor Vitellius — before he fought his way to the purple — this stirring and unique event occurred. So stirring so unique is it that we have inserted from the great Roman Historian Tacitus — Church and Brodribb's translation (Macmillan) a spirited description of the episode — in the appendix. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Five THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. TO THE GEKMAX ARMY OFFICERS, f New York Herald, Friday, September 4, 1914. NEUTRALITY AND OTHER THINGS. If correspondents of English newspapers are really cabling that the United States is getting ready to cast aside its neutrality and get into the European fray — well, all that need be said is that the Herald's often expressed opinion of the irresponsibility of English corresondents finds renewed vindication. The United States government is neutral and is going to stay neutral. The American people are politically neutral and intend to remain so, but this neutrality is not preventing their doing a good deal of thinking nor should it. What are they to think when they are told that Belgian prisoners of war, hound in shackles, have been put to work in the fields of Germany. Mr. Thomas McGuire, of Chicago, just returned from Germany and with many pleasant things to tell of the way the people of that country are meeting the hardships entailed by war, says he witnessed this spectacle. Are not other Americana very likely to see in it a return to the methods of the barbarians whose practice it was to make slaves of their prisoners of war? And what are Americans to think of the testimony borne by Mrs. Herman H. Harjes, one of the most prominent American women in Paris, who as is told in an Associated Press despatch, led in the work of giving relief to Belgian refugees arriving in Paris and who said: "I saw many boys with both their hands cut off to make it im- possible for them, to carry a gun.''' Who were your Mothers? The foul hags of Hell? And who your Fathers? WhoF Fiends incarnate? And do your sisters, prithee, harlot spell? The premise to this sonnet thus I state. How otherwise could ye foul do a thing That's left to negroes wild, and savages? Outrage so ghastly that the world doth ring With your most Hellish Belgian i-avages ! Were justice to be done your Kaiser'd fall He and his Hellish brood would be cut of And your flayed hides ^vould form their funeral pall In coldest frame I write — not lightsome scoff. Ye act like a band of dnmken Malays Who as acts of God rape and arson appraise. Richmond, Virginia, September Fifth, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Six THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. ''UNCLEAN ! UNCLEAN ! " f Scrofulous leperf with a withered arm — Bearing the blight of God upon thy head — With litter of dachshund whelps tliouds't take alarm Bids' t guess the things that hover overhead! How w^oulds't thou like to bow upon the block To which a former lying king went down? A king who kingly honour foul did mock As much as thou — thou cnpfled German clown. Thou Jack-of-all-trades who doth master none Yet doth thy gulls of subjects deep flim-flam, K'en wielding — crown'd jacka,ss — maestro'' s baton Iho'n music thou knows't not "bullsfoof* from "damn"fft Corruj^t of blood as thou art foul of heart To thee and litter history says: '''Depart.'''' September Fifth, 1914. t"A man's physical shortcomings are immune from attaclc accord- ing to the Rules of Poetic War. But when that man — as has William II. — raises the black flag — to all intents and purposes — as his out- rages in Belgium indicate — poetry replies in kind, and also raises the black flag. tMoral. not Asiatic, leprosy, of course is meant. ttfThe life-long study of orchestral conducting is here meant. PIECES OF BIGHT Sonnet Seven THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. "GET OFF!" SAID GENERAL JOFFRE. f The Last Inroad Of The Barbarians To Be Forever Checked, Or History Repeats Itself. One Briton bold two Germans equal be One Frenchmans' equal to two Sourkraut The truth of this full easy is to see Fro' th' way the allies put the Teutons out! These gross Sausage-Eaters surely have no show — Less chance than snowball in fell hottest Hell ! So off of France' fair soil they swift must go Or hlaek disaster shall their sojourn spell! As Cimbri and as Teutons once, of old. By Marius were scattered to their bogs So General Joffre doth '"''have the dead icood''"' cold Upon these raging grunting Teuton hogs!f As Rome did hold these porkers to their fens So th' allies e''er shall herd them in their pens. September Seventh, 1914. tGriinting gross German of the baser Deutch. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Eight THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LA BELLE ALLIANCE. Now by the lips of those ye love, Fair gentlemen of France, Charge for the Golden Lillies! Upon them with the lance! — King Henry of Navarre, in Lord Macaulay's poem. The Lion and the Lilies now once more Range the enchanted fields of fairy France! Eecalling the grim days of Agincourt The plume of mail'd Imight and the war-horse' prance. But now in friendship do these mighty names Brother-in-arms fierce charge the common foe — The Vandal fell who civilization shames The Goth and Hun vile harbingers of woe. And as the tide of battle ebbs and flows A sound is heard that cometh from afar O'er shriek of shrapnel and o'er clash of blows The war-cry of the legions of the Tsar! Between these edges of Fate's dread millstone To ruin and defeat the Goth goes down ! September Ninth, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Nine THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES THE QUEEN OF THE WESTEKN WOELD To THE THREE DOMINANT POWERS OF THE REST OF THE WORLD. Brittania, La Belle France, and Russia vast Columbia thanks thee for thy work to-day- Thanks that ye have the die of battle cast And that your legions gather for the fray In conquering the German Frankenstein — That monster armed by Krupp and backed by Hell — Ye do an act that smacks of the sublime Ye do an act that pleaseth me full well. For had ye not the Teuton ta'en in time That bloody task I might not well forego But would tW Atlantic'^ s looves incarnadine Defending the grand doctrine of Monroe.f I thank thee, sisters fair, for thy fair aid Here's speedy rest in Unter Den Linden^s shade! September Fifteenth, 1914. tGermaiiy was not only unique in being the only European Fower not practically recognizing the Monroe Doctrine, but Germany had the audacity to challenge same. 10 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Ten THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. THE PAECAE. And when ye have the monster on his back Emasculate him in the name of Peace ! Cut deep and strong so he the means may lack To ravish Liberty. Give him surcease. Virility with him is but a snare A pitfall digged amidst the gins of sin In which his lustful soul plumps unware Knows not whereat he is — until — he's in. Shear from him arms by sea and arms by land Of Army and Navy coMrate at one cut! To honest toil he then can turn his hand And burn no more his brutal lust to glut. A glorious crown my sisters hand I thee ! / hail thee the Three Fates — the Sisters Three. September Fifteenth, 1914. PIECES OFEIGHT 11 Sonnet Eleven THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. THE EMPIRE, f or THE GATHERING--CRY.- Thy stalwart sons do gather to thy call : All quarters of the globe give up their toll And on the brutal foe like hull-dogs fall Fiery as race-horse charging for the goal ! Proud am I that my veins do course thy blood Proud am I that my home's beyond the sea — Home o' my Fathers — be it understood — For Columbia's the home that shelters me. Hurrah! For th' Anglo-Saxon and the Celt! Hurrah ! For Scotch — for Irish — and for Welsh ! Ruin to th' foe is by that "Hurrah" spelt ! Hell, Death and brimstone doth that shrapnel helchW The English-spealcing race for aye is one And all who brave it to defeat go down! September Nineteenth, 1014. tThe above sonnet was inspired by the laconic remark to me day before yesterday at my country-seat, in Albemarle county, Vir- ginia, "The Merry Mills," of an Englishman — a member of my office force — the son of a Colonel in the British army, deceased — to-wit: "The Empire's coming to the fronfi well." ttThe variant — to meet the requirements of the "non-conformist conscience" — to that line is as follows — "Death and destruction doth that shrapnel belch!" 12 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Twelve THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES.f To Jews and Gentiles, Bond and Free, And all Other Members and Supporters of Premature- Peace Societies: Greeting! iTe piffling little "squirts" that drape the earth — Limp's maccaroni or spaghetti slim — Your antics 'pon my soul are cause for mirth Your antics make a man of humour grin. Your antics show "w^hat fools these mortals be" Your antics show what cowards can be found In big America — "land of the free" — And how o'er her vasty plains do bounders hound! Tne nation's Fool-Killer will make you rue His gun is cocked and primed and deadly aimed ! His bird-shot doth he now inject in you Whereby your ample buttocks are well maimed. What should I do were there not fools to shoot And lying fakers who the tin horn toot ! September Twenty-first, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT 13 Sonnet Thirteen THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. TO PROFESSOR HUGO MONSTERBURGf Professor of Physchology at Harvard University or GIVE A DOG ENOUGH ROPE AND HE'LL HANG HIMSELF For years I've laughed at thy Psychology With which you fool the youth of Harvard fair Back-number'd dry-as-dust rot-gut it be Enough to make Emanuel Kant blank stare. Your folly too was dashed with knavery — A trickster you as ere made "shell-game" whirl — Who to's low soul doth bow in slaver v Who now doth cringe and now doth big bluff hurl — But that — vile Hessian — thoud'st dare undertake To sow the seeds of discord in my land To start a hate which nought but blood may slake Proves you a Tnotister by all patriots bann'd ! Where'd German-Americans be to-day If American- Americans gave play? September Twenty-second, 1914. tThe Times-Dispatch, September 22, 1914. FOOLISHNESS OF A LEARNED MAN. Professor Hugo Munsterburg, of Harvard, who has already lost the confidence of the American people, if he has not destroyed utterly his usefulness as an instructor of American youth, has just intimated that the people of the United States are a flock of sheep, and incap- able of exercising sensible judgment. Having thus classified us, he is quoted as making the remarkable declaration that, unless they revise their opinions and show a greater neutrality toward the warring nations, 2,500,000 citizens of German descent will punish the country at the polls at the next election. In other words, they are going to vote as Germans, and not as citizens of the country in which they exercise the right of suffrage. 14 PIECES OFBIGHT Sonnet Fourteen THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LIEGE. Hail Liege heroic city of the dead ! Hail tomb of heroes sacred for all time! Until all tombs shall render up their dead Until the Trump of Doom and end of Time. Not since the days of wild Thermopylae Not since, the slaughter wild of that dread pass Did Hist'ry such Barbarian slaughter see As thy dread marksmen forced to come to pass. As Leonidas did check Barbaric tide Which later to annihilation came So Liege the hands o' th' Hell-doomed Kaiser tied Till France and England to the battle came. Horatius at the bridge you stayed the war! Till upon doomed Germania fell the Tsar. September Twenty-second, 1914. PIECES OFEIGHT 15 Sonnet Fifteen. THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LA P^EANCE I. LE CODE NAPOLEON Belle France saint ! Pays de Liberte ! Belle France salut ! L'autel de la Justice ! Pays de ma parente Charlotte de Corday Pour laquelle elle a subi le dernier supplice. Sous le drapeau Franqais la raison regne JVlaniant comme sceptre la logique Latine Sur votre belle race la logique regne supreme Comme decrets du Livre sombre du Destin — commes ces lignes ! L'Anglo-Saxon et nous nous adorons la loi Belle chose — mais a la logique — secondaire ! Comme avocat je dis qa de bonne foi Je dis ga tout franchement — suis-je temeraire? Par moi la Verite frappe comme I'eclair De Dieu ! Ne connaissant ni bornes ni frcntieres. September Twenty-sixth, 1914. 16 PIECE SOFEIGHT Sonnet Sixteen. THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LA FRANCE II. LE REVEILLE L'esprit de la Vieille Garde s'eveille en France L'esprit de la Grande Armee parcoure les rangs Sur les baionettes les rayons joyeuses dansent! On entend le pas de charge et V rataplan! L'epoque de la gloire est arrivee encore Apres des annees sombres de patience dure Patience qui pour recolte a le pouvoir Fonde sur la victoire — la victoire sure! Dans les annees tristes j'ai habite Paris — Les annees tristes de la France isolee — Des lors quelle difference ! Le grand aujourd'hui ! La Grande Bretagne et la Russie allices! Vive la belle France ! Pays de ma jennesse ! Je vous souhaite la gloire^ 'po\ivoh\ rir-hesses! September Twenty-sixth, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT 17 Sonnet Seventeen THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LA FRANCE in. LA REVANCHE Ou L'AIGLE DE LA GUERRE. Sur les rayons mordants des baionettes Les ailes etendues je poiisse des cris de guerre! — Sur mes braves enfants les soldats je guets Sur la tonnerre des canons — des fusils 1' eclair! — L' Empereur me connait bien — me suivi loin ! L' Empereur il m'aimait bien — il nvahne encore! J 'eta is I'oiseau fatal de son destin De tous mes proteges c'est U Empereur que j 'adore. — La France purifiee par les feux de la defaite Se forme pour la charge plus hardis encore Ne connaissant jamais le mot retraite Ne connaissant que les mots Victoire ! La Gloire ! En avant ! La belle France ! En avant et sans peur ! Car entre mes ailes se tient Vesprit de VEmpereur. "The Merry Mills," Cobham, Albemarle County, Virginia, October Fourth, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Eighteen THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. "WAE IS HELL" General Tecumseh Sherman, The Military Incendiarist of Atlanta, Georgia. "I came not to send peace but a sword." — Jesus Christ. War's only Hell when by a Hellyon waged Such as were you — you rank Barbarian. In viewing you we see a savage "staged" A wrinkled, savage, dry old Indian. Such was thy face — a thing to fright a horse! Such was thy soul — a smould'ring petty Hell Such were thy features rude, abrupt and coarse In writing thus we just frank Hist'ry spell. Sans arson war is death upon the field The Field of Honour, and a noble end ! For after all, we all to Death must yield And how more nobly may one one's life spend? "Greater love hath no man" — once was softly saidf By One who for the world bowed down His head. Richmond, Va., September Twenty-seventh, 1914. tGreater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." — Jesus Christ, St. John xv., 13. PIECESOFEIGHT 19 Sonnet Nineteen THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. NEW YORK AMERICAN AND EVENING JOURNAL. And id hoc genus omne who for palpably selfish ends yell for premature-peace in Europe. f Ye pimps and panders of the daily press Pimping your vicious wares e'en day by day Ye make me smile — e'en laugh — I must confess The way ye do your blooming public "play" Flim-flam and buncombe are your stock in trade "Hot-air"-hypocrisy thy longest suit In truth the fact is you're a sorry jade A strumpet inle — a filthy vicious brute. Exceptions to this rule there are of course Exceptions to all rules of course there be But your drole antics cause mirth in a horse Make a grim gelding grin right merrily! Eef orm ye Avicked ! 'Ware the flames of Hell ! The Devil shame and aim the truth to tell. September Twenty-seventh, 1914. tMr. W. R. Hearse — we spell it this way intentionally — since his character acts as funeral casket for his vaulting political hopes — approaches his readers with an olive branch extended in his left hand — to which is attached a stuffed Dove of Peace — this for prema- ture peace in Europe — while in his ugly right hand is clutched — behind his back — the treacherous creese of the Malay — this for war in Mexico, nobly striving to shake off the yoke of Mammon as repre- sented by the Haciendado Ring and other Huertistas. Mr. Hearse we are informed owns rather a large tract of land In Mexico. Eh! What! And also prints a German edition of the Evening Journal. Eh! What! 20 PIECESOF BIGHT Sonnet Twenty THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. PAX EOMANA (The Roman Peace) I. THE ALLIES. We are for peace — the deepest ever seen — The peace that shone in Gibbon's "Golden Age"t The age o' th' mighty Antonines I ween The grandest peace e'er seen upon world's stage! But how, fair reader, was said peace attained? By "Peace-Societies"? / wot not well. For the skilled Roman short sword swiftly stained In rebel's blood did Pax Romana spell! Thus only may the world have peace to-day Thus surely History repeats herself The Heirs o' th' Roman Power must hold sway 0''er wicked nations luhose pursuit is self By th' Allies with Columbia combined The Pax Romana amply is defined. September Twenty-seventh, 1914. V The Author of the "Decline and Fall" said, in effect, that the nearest approach to the "Golden Age" was that of the Roman Em- perors, known as the Antonines. PIECES OF EIGHT 21 Sonnet Twenty-one THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. PAX ROMANA II. THE GREAT QUADRILATERAL or THE POLICE OF THE WORLD. The Allies will suppress Teuton and Hun And hold them suppressed till the crack o' dcjom This is as sure as tho' by Fate t' were spun Or had been uttered in a Rimic rune. Th' Armies and Navies of the allies then Will with Columbia's hold conference And at the Hague will then — ^by stoke of pen — Be signed what's needed for the world's defence. Defence from what? From Teuton-Hun revolt Or villain Turk — that hlot^ on Nature'' s face! Thus Peace policed is by War's thunderbolt — Thus only surely lifts Her smiling face. LTnto this Quadrilateral supreme Must peace-diturbors bow their crests, I ween. September Twenty-seventh, 1914. 22 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Twenty-two THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. PAX ROMANA f in. Eespectfully submitted to The Hague. We mean allies in peace not in dread war — 'Tis after this war's o'er these things will be — Coming events cast shows broad before As Historian said shadows do we see 'I'hen will be made an end of bomb-dropping That coward, murd'rous, fiendish work of Hell 'Which hindeth in a common hloody 'ring The soldier vnth his loife and child as well! Then will be made an end of submarine That human-shark that stabbeth hid frim sight — Then the old days of sea-fights may be seen When ships-of-ivar will leave their fOrts and jight! Machine-gun, two, from war would we discharge Less slaughter then would come on bayonet charge. September Twenty-seventh, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT 23 Sonnet Twenty-three THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LA RUSSIE Salut! Ancienne amie des Etats-Unis — Brave et loyale pour ime centaine d'annees. Par voire bras fort le voleiir est puni — Et la Liberte, la Justice couronnees! Pour les AlJemands c'est une chose sombre — funeste! Pour les Allemands ga porte le grand malheur, Cette "Querelle d'Allemand" maniee de main si leste — Finira pour cux dans une debacle d'^horreur! J 'attends le jour quand vos Cosaques furibonds — Supportes par votre infanterie swperhe — Sautiront sur les Allemands comme tigres — d\in bond! Et les ecraseront a plat ventre sur Vher'he! Vive la Eussie! Pays vaste^ — mysterieux Ou le peuple reveur sont brave comme pieux. The Merry Mills, October Fifth, 1914. 24 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Twenty-four THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. LES BELGES Ou FORT (JOMME LA MORT Nation d'heros ! Des homines fiers, superbes et forts — Qui pour La Patrie versez votre sang comme I'eau Fort pour la Liberte — fort comme la Mort — Salut Beiges heroiques! Salut heros! Quand les Allemands sauvages — ces hommes immondes — Ces ravisseurs d'enfants — ces spadassins ! Quittant leurs deserts et leurs forets profondes — Tachaient d'attaquer la France d'une maniere sous main — Vous aves tomhe sur cette horde Barhare Conmne les Spartiates a hellc Thermopylae! Et I'histoire sonne pour vous cette grande fanfare '"''Flcau de Tyrants! UEpee de Llherte''' — Vive la Belgique ! L'arene heroique de I'Europe — Belle inspiration pour poesie et trope. October Fifth, 1914. PIECESOF EIGHT 25 Sonnet Twenty-five THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. THE BELGIANS or STRONG AS DEATH. Nation of heroes I IVIen proud, superb and strong Who for Liberty like water pour your blood! "Strong as Death for Liberty!" is your war-song. '■''Strong as our faith in Jesus Christ His roodP When the wild Germans — fiendish savages — These ravishers of children and bravos Quitted their deserts bent on ravages And tried to rape fair France hut dodge her blows You fell upon their vast Barbaric horde And piled their carcasses e'en mountain high ! For which Fame's trump doth ye this blast accord '"'' Scourge of all tyrants! Sword of Liberty P'' "Europe's arena for fierce deeds of War!" Shines o'er fair Belgium as her fated star. October Sixth, 1914. 26 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Twenty-six THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. EIJSSIA. Hail ancient friend of the United States Loyal and true for a full century. Fortune — by Victory — thee felicitates By your strong arm the thief we punished see. But for Germany this is a fatal thing Of German hopes it tolls the funeral knell Swift retribution for her crimes doth bring And 02)e8 the jaws af Death and flaimng Hell! God speed the day when your dauntless Cossacks Supported by your foot which none surpass With tiger's syring lay Germans on their hacks And triumphant gaze whilst the life-blood doth pass. May God bless Russia ! Vast — mysterious Nation devout! Brave, dreamy and serious. October Sixth, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT 27 Sonnet Twenty-seven THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. "REVENGE!" or THE EAGLE OF WAR. O'er th' biting beams of the bayonet's gleam With talons distended and wings wide spread O'er my dauntless soldiers exultant / scream Whilst shriek of shrapnel is heard overhead. Napoleon knew me and followed me far Napoleon deep loved me — he loves me yet I flew before him 'neath his fated star Of all my lovers him I ne'er forget ! Fair France purified by defeat i' th' past Noto forms for the charge more dauntless than e^er Now are heard the sweet words: ''''Revenge! And at lastP'' Far blown by bugles o'er th' death-laden air Charge! My fair France, Charge! Charge to victory! For 'twixt my pinions you Napoleon see. October Sixth, 1914. 28 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Twenty-eight THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. PRZEMYSL. Przemysl is a word to conjure with A hoodoo potent hirketh in said word That word doth reek with African voodoo pith For th' Austrian Empire 'tis Th' Avenger's sword. He draws that word and fierce battalions fall ! He waves that word and Army Corps go down ! Its merest whisper doth the world appall — Of Austro-Himgary spells dying groan. A very shibboleth said word stands forth ! An open sesame to fiercest Hell The slogan of the legions of the North A slogan that the Tsar's troops answer well ! Przemysl what the Dyvvyl thou dost mean Calls on Omniscience to solve out I ween. Richmond, Virginia, Sunday, November 15, 1914. PIECES OF EIGHT 29 Sonnet Twenty-nine THE SWINE OF THE GADARENES. FIELD MARSHAL. LORD ROBERTS, DEAD AT THE FRONT, NOVEMBER, 1914. "Old John of Gaunt time honoured Lancaster." — SJiakspeare. Old John of Gaunt was incarnate in thee Thou stark old warrior and soldier fine! With prophet's eye thou didst the future see And foretold Britahvs ijenl line hy line. You saw the cloud that hovered in the East You saw the danger of invasion dire Hence to armed Britain didst thou ere aspire. Hence to warn Britain hast thou never ceased Thy voice did cry in wilderness alone! Thy people slept the sleep of Laish the lostf Now for their folly do they dear atone Now do they train armed millions — ah ! the cost Old hero! Thy wise words are writ in Ijlood! Hereafter armed will he British manhood. Richmond, Virginia, November sixteenth, 1914. iThe Book of Judges, xviii, 7 and 27. 30 PIECESOFEIGHT L'Knvoi A TRIOLOGY OP SONNETS TO NATURE Sonnet Thirty THE SUNSET HOUR* or EVEN-SONG. "The light that never was on land or sea." — Wordsworth. There is an hour in every breathing day When our dark world doth take on fairy hues When tears and blood — our heritasfe of clay — The magic tints of sunset doth suffuse. Then doth the soul refresh herself once more And draw fresh courage for the morrow's fights Then doth the sou? fall har-h on Sacred Lore And ponder on the Future — her delights! The disappointments of the garisli day Are drowned at Even in a flood of light The pangs and stabs when mind and mind give play With thoughts on mundane things, take hurried flight. This sacred hour sets Heaven's Gates ajar And of their radiance sheds the sheen afar. *These sonnets were written shortly before sunset and before twilight, Monday, May 4th, 1914.— J. A. C "The Merry Mills," Cobham, Albemarle county, Virginia. PIECESOFEIGHT 31 Sonnet Thirty-one CASTLES IN SPAIN. "Their dwelling is the light of setting suns." — Wordsworth. Ye fairy Palaces ! Ye Domes and Towers ! Ye glitt'rinof Minarets of crimson stain When round the setting sim cloud on cloud towers Fill me with ecstacy full fraught with pain. The opal-tinted cloud-built cupolas The flying-buttresses of fairy green — Full bosomed, monster cornucopias — Whose gold and purple glorify their sheen ! The airy, fairy, pearly battlements That arm the whole and frown npon the world Whose bejewelled apertures and battle-vents Jut like the spikes of God's own crown impearled ! A feast for eye, for heart, for soul, for mind In each bewitching sunset, man may find. 32 PIECES OF EIGHT Sonnet Thirty-two TWILIGHT. "Thanatopsis." — William Cullen Bryant. The magic witchery of Twilight hour When on a purple wood the Night sinks down When o'er the dying Day doth Darkness lour When on the haunts of Day doth Night frown Swift quicken in the Soul the mystery Of Life, her darksome riddles and her woe Which is from day to day a history Of ceaseless combat with an unseen foe! As o'er the forest dark doth hover Night Poised on her w^ide-spread wings of sable hue So o'er Lifes hopes doth Death poise as a blight Whose coming nearly all will sorely rue. So live that when thy Night doth settle down The Angel comes with smile and not with frown. PIECES OF EIGHT 33 The Academy^ London, August 8, 1908. SCORPIO Sco7-pio. By J. A. Chaloner. (Palmetto Press.) Keats has told us that "they shall be accounted poet-kings who simply say the most heart-easing things?" It may well be, therefore, that the author of the present volume of sonnets has no desire to be ranked among the poet-kings. For he certainly does not come to us with heartsease in his hand. On the contrary he prides himself on the fact that he is a hard and terrible hitter. Indeed, he assures us that he has come to the conclusion that you can put a wicked man "to sleep" with a sonnet in pretty much the same way that a prize- fighter puts his opponent to sleep with a finished blow. And not only does Mr. Chaloner believe in what we may term the sonnetorial fist, but he believes also in whips and scorpions, for the cover of his hook is decorated with an angry-looking seven-thronged scourge, and he dubs the whole effort "Scorpio." So that when we look to the fair page itself we know what to expect. Nor are we disappointed. Mr. Chaloner goes to the opera. Being a good poet, he immediately writes a sonnet about it, the which, how- ever, he calls "The Devil's Horseshoe." We reproduce it for the bene- fit of all whom it may concern: 'A fecund sight for a philosopher — Rich as Golconda's mine in lessons rare — That gem-bedizen'd "horse-shoe" at th" Opera, Replete with costly hags and matrons fair! His votaresses doth Mammon there array. His Amazonian Phalanx dread to face! To Mammon there do thej^ their homage pay! Spang'ld with jewels, satins, silks and lace, Crones whose old bosoms in their corsets creak; Beldams whose slightest glance would fright a horse; Ghouls — when they speak one hears the grave-mole squeak ■ Their escorts parvenus of feature course, A rich array of Luxury and Vice! But, spite of them, the music's very nice.' "Here you have whips, scorpions, and a knockout blow with a vengeance. The sonnet as a whole is not one which we can approve from a technical or sentimental point of view, but it has points. Henley might have plumed himself on that line about the creaking corsets, and the last line, a tour de force, in its way reminds us of the withering ironies of Byron. It is only fair to Mr. Chaloner to add that not all his sonnets are concerned with back-flaying, bosom-sting- ing, or general thumping. Some of them show the tenderer emotions proper to a poet. We like him best, however, in his character as metrical bruiser. He is always on the side of the angels even if he is frequently over vigorous; and his book is well worth possessing. We gather that he has undergone personal troubles of no light or of ordinary nature, and it is pleasant to note that, despite these troubles, he still retains a sane and reasonable outlook upon life, for when he likes he can be quite pleasantly humorous instead of acridly bitter. APPENDIX. HENRY BRINSLEY in "VANITY FAIR." New Yoek, January, 1914. I have been deeply moved recently by some verses of Mr. Jolin Armstrong Chaloner's, who has just published a slender volume of sonnets called "Scorpio. '"t The following lovely little lyric will tell its message without prosaic comment on my part: DEATH. When our appointed sands shall I'un their course, When in life's brief hour-glass none doth remain, T\'Tien death's mysterious river we must cross, The following thoughts may ease the Soid her pain: Death the Angel is of all activity The "open sesame*' to action rare — The quick'ning of a new nativity In a world Avhich is as dreadful as it's fair. The bones do rest, the dust doth rest. They rest. But the Spirit — that Avliioh sprang from God's bright Throne — The Spirit Avhich His breath gives life and zest. The Spirit thro' eternity goes on ! Tomb the portal is to Hell or Paradise — Purgatory is Hell and versa viae. tScorpio T. First published, 1913. PIECES OF EIGHT 35 Boston Daily Advertiser, May 6, 1913. OH! "SCORPIO!" Scorpio, by John Armstrong Chaloner. Palmetto Press, Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Mr. John Armstrong Chaloner has fully explained his purpose in "Scorpio." He only aims "at the strength of Juvenal, the keenness of Voltaire, the fiercensss of Swift and the form of Byron." If that is .so, why should he blush to be: "THE CHALLENGER."t Swinburne, Kipling, the Laureate join'd I'll fight With sharpen'd spears I'll meet them in field, At three to one for I stand for the right And under fair Fortune thus can great odds yield. As maiden knight my shield is purest white, But the bold Boers I'll champion with my pen, For, using a figure for poetic fight, I'll blazon it with the blood of Englishmen. My gifted foes I do not underrate. Their spears are strong their swords are biting keen — "A dare-devil task" the world will estimate "Who is this upstart whom no man hath seen?" Lance couch'd and charging T hurl my hot hurrah "Hell yawns for villains! Fiat Justitia." tWritten at outbreak of Boer war. Mr. Chaloner's prowess is not merely mental, witness his admira- tion for John L. Sullivan in THE APOTHEOSIS, Or The Dead-Game Sport's Lament. O! for a day of Lawrence Sullivan! Just one day of just one hour — nothing more. "Jeff," "Fitz," Ruhlin, Sharkey at four rounds per man, In succession sev'rally would bite the floor! Each into sweet oblivion then would float, Fropell'd by John's strong arm which ne'er did tire. Each in John L. would then his master note — John L. the paragon of "P. R's" empire! For twelve years he fought as man ne'er fought before; As John L. fought, ne'er will man fight again: For with him the love of battle counted more Than what rules now-a-days— the love of gain. John L.! Th' Imperial Roman, now I sing! Great John L. Sullivan, the Prize-Ring King! Mr. William Stone Booth and other pundits contend that Bacon was "Shakespeare." Mr. Chaloner merely calls his own verses "son- nets" (Shakespearian form, practically, exclusively). First published in 1907, "Scorpio" is as good now as it ever was. 36 PIECES OF EIGHT Boston, Mass., Advertiser, December 20, 1913. SCORPIO STILL STINGS. We are sweetly toasted by .lohu Armstroug Chaloner in "Scorpio No. 2."ttt (Palmetto Press): THE TOURNEY. I love an enemy that strikes out bold! To th' Boston Advertiser doff I my bat E'en tho' he lives where one eats beans grown cold Or beans e'en hot as H — 1 — "all's one for that." I love the shock and clamour of the joust ! I love the roar ! I love the battle's din ! As they charge at me from my selle to oustt As I hold firm my pen to keep selle in! 'Midst press o' th' knights o' th' pen I love to ride Where sword meets sword, or spear, or gleaming crest! Where th' good red blood flows in a silent tide Where each grim swordsman doth his d — dest best ! I' th' thick o' th' press o' th' knights I love to be When I feel my snow-white charger under me. it r>y this time Mr. Chaloner must be riding in gore to his stirrups. With his broadsword, or stilletto, or lance, or club, or snickersnee, or shotgun, he is daily as diligent as a book-keeper at his desk. Now that he is paying his militant respects to States and cities as well as persons, there's no end to material. We are gladdened with a promise of "Scorpio No. 3." t Saddle. ttA snow-white piece of paper. fttPublished, 1913. New York American, December 14, 1913. JOHN ARMSTRONG CHALONER'S SONNETS. SCORPIO II. Ml". John Armstrong Chaloner has published a book of sociological and satirical sonnets from which the one printed below is selected. THE SLIT-SKIRT. This fashion is a nasty, sluttish trick, 'Tis nothing less— 'tis simply scandalous ! 'Twould make a pirate blush to th' very quick. Or eke a Turk — Turk pachydermatous! 'Twould make the ghost of Nero yelp with fright! And hie him to the shades of blackest Hell And once got back, shout out — "I've seen a sight That in this company I'm 'shamed to tell !" The vilest days of dark Imperial Rome, The most debauched epochs of the East Kept naked women closely hid at home — In the Slave-Quarter, or, to grace a feast. 'Twas left unto the present century To bare female beauty to the passer-by ! PIECES OF EIGHT 37 The Times-Dispatch, Richmond, Va., October 29, 1914. GHASTLY DETAIDS TELL OF BUTCHERY ON FIGHTING LINE. Rivers Run Red With Blood Through Heaped-Up Piles of Dead. Soldiers Like Demons In An Inferno of Death. No Quarter Is Given and None Is Asked in This "Battle of Bayonets." Gun Fire Is Withering. But Armies Press On, and Country Is Converted Into Veritable Shambles. London, October 28. — The lurid glare of burning bushes, with shadowy figures limned faintly against a background of smoke, work- ing like demons in an inferno of death of their own creation; the spiteful rattle of machine guns, the roar of bursting shells; the impact of driven bayonet against human flesh and bone; the cries of the wounded; shouts of triumph; rivers running red with blood through heaped-up piles of dead — this is the battle of Flanders as London pictures it to-night from the brief but ghastly details telegraphed from the fighting front. "A massacre, not a fight" — "A butchery" — "A shambles." Such are the phrases used over and over by correspondents endeavoring to give an inkling of the events of this bloodiest battle of the war. No quarter is asked, and none is given. It is the "Battle of the Bayonets!" Belgian regiments have been decimated to a third of their former fighting strength; British troops stand grim and dogged in the face of fearful loss; gallant Frenchmen shout with the lust of combat, and, opposed to them in the sublime grandeur of death, the solid ranks of Germans march unswervingly against a withering fire, and literally bestrew the landscape with their corpses. Water Is Streaked and Stained With Blood. There is no pure water for the wounded. The entire available supply is streaked and stained with blood — and there is no one to €ool parched lips and burning brows even with this. There is no chance to bury dead or care for wounded; the ground they He on is harrowed and furrowed over and over by the spraying bullets of mitrailleuses and the tearing fragments of bursting shrapnel. And out of the chaos there looms one fact from which England- at-home may extract some comfort. The Germans seem to be stopped. The 11 o'clock oflacial statement from Paris received here an- nounces that two furious night attacks by Germans on the allied line in the region of Dixmude were repulsed, and that all along the front from Nieuport to Dixmude, the Germans seemed to have lessened their efforts, while the allies, continuing their offensive to the north of Ypres, also have been successful further to the south, making slight progress on the line between Labassee and Lens. Indications from this statement and also from the statement Issued by the French War Office this afternoon are that the Kaiser's 38 PIECES OFBIGHT generals have almost abandoned hope of advancing to Dunkirk and Calais. The correspondent of the Evening News wires that the Germans are falling back, but there is nothing in the other reports from the front to confirm this. Other reports are that the enemy is short of ammunition. And yet they have crossed the river Yser seven times, and seven times have been driven back. The losses were terrible, and at some points bridges across the river were actually formed hy the bodies of dead German soldiers, piled up in the sluggish current. "The Merry Mills,'' Cobham, Virginia. August 6, 1914. To the Editor of the New York "Herald" Sir: If space permits, pardon a law-writer's passing a few remarks upon the present European situation, I might pre- face said remarks hj saying that law is ruled by logic and knows no Eutopia. Therefore, to a law-writer, this world- encircling %oar is nothing short of a profawnd blessing — an act of God in fact — as the insurance policies put it. For the following incontrovertible reason. Nothing short of the pres- ence in Europe of that certain angel, with that certain "flam- ing sword which turned every way" — could have induced the European Powers to reduce the armaments by sea and land which w^ere turning the working man into a helot, and hurry- ing as rich a nation as France to the bogs and fens of bank- ruptcy. Everybody who knew anything knew the above cold, hard, undodgeable non-lie-outable fact. And yet we see tender hearted editors raising their hands to Heaven while the tears course down their brazen cheeks calling upon God to stop what — according to the best available evidence. He Himself has been at pains to set in motion ! Which would a man rather be — worked to death, or shot to death? I^ as a man who has experienced both processes — not to raise the veil higher over my legal afflictions with which the na- tional press rings — I. who am civiliter inoy^uus in New York per a decree of the N. Y, Supreme Court, lo! these many years — do not hesitate to say: ''''Give me death hy hidlet^ In closing, permit me to hazard a prognostication as to the PIECES OF EIGHT 39 duration of the war, its progress, and its outcome — stoutly repudiating all claim to prophecy in the same breath, (1) The war will last more like three j^ears than three months. Some "smart Alecks" once said that the war between the States would pass into history in three months — and how much stronger in ever%j sense is Germany than the gallant but — at that time — sparsely settled and revenue-less South ? (2) France will reverse 1870. She will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes of that act of adventurous folly upon the part of a political upstart, and revert to the days of Jena, Wagram and Austerlitz when German and Austrian were her opponents in vain. She will surprise the world as much as Japan did with Russia! (3) The German fleet will be either captured or sunk by Great Britain and German commerce driven from the sea. Of course, Germany may repeat her naval policy of 1870, and bottle herself up out of harm's way — but I feel confident — as a man with German blood in my veins — of which I am proud — that neither the Kaiser nor the great German people would stand for that. Teuton and Briton will meet in a bat- tle to the death on the Briton's element — the wave — and the Teuton will bravely go down with his ship. (4) If Italy comes into the struggle her socialistic sec- tion will so paralyze the Government that Italy cannot be counted upon for more than half her military strength. She will do her best to keep out for two reasons. First : The King is very much married ; and his charming consort comes pretty near wearing the crown — and, as everyone laiows — she is a Princess of warlike little Montenegro, and her heroic old father is at the front against the Triple Alliance. Second: Italy has always cultivated a warm friendship for England — partly owing to her enormous coast-line, which, of course, necessitates a fleet to defend. Therefore, it pays her to be on terms with the Queen of the Waves, Britannia. Q. E. D. (5) At the end of the war — when Germany shall have been crushed between the upper and nether millstone — be- tween the Colossus of the North and France — and her un- daunted but tottering ally, Austria — a house divided into three warring sections against itself — ^Teuton — Magyar — and 40 PIECES OFEIGHT ^lav — shall have been actually dismembered, then the per- manent peace of the world will dictate the following choice — the refusal of which will mean political annihilation. (A) The restoration of Alsace and Lorraine to France from whom they were stolen by Bismarck at the instigation of Mohke, on the ground that ''Metz is worth two hundred thousand men!" The excuse publicly given was that Louis XIV had seized the bone of contention. But the law recog- nizes the right of squatters to become the legal proprietors of the land upon which they have squatted for twenty years undisturbed — and title undisputed. France squatted on Alsace-Lorraine for something like two centuries, undisputed and undisturbed. (}. E. D. (B) The erection of Hungary into a separate Kingdom under a King chosen by herself. (C) The erection of the Slav Provinces seized from time to time by Austria, into an independent kingdom or Princi- pality, if they do not elect to become part of Servia. (D) Lastly, the more efficient policing of the keeping dow^n of the military forces of Germany than Napoleon Bonaparte succeeded in accomplishing — for that mighty genius was flatly fooled, hood-winked and bamboozled by shrewd and patriotic Germany. He forbade her to have more troops with the colors at one time) than a certain fixed number — fixed by him. Germany gravely acquiesced, and quietly kept the allotted number with the colors just long enough to receive training, and tlien what? Why^ turned them loose and trained as many Tnore raw recindts with the colors in freeisely the same way^ and then turned them, loose and began again ! The result was — in a very^ very few years a trained na- tional force several times larger than she had ever — at any one time — had with the colors — hence Waterloo, and hence that historic '"'•hlacTc-eyey France, Russia and Great Brittain will become the police force of Europe; and Germany and Austria's military estab- lishments will elfectually be kept at a peace footing — to j)ut it ovildly! In conclusion. No one can deprecate pain or suffering, bloodshed or death more than the undersigned. But until the PIECESOFEIGHT 41 Millenium dawns, human nature will as surely remain in- eradicably human nature ''as eggs'' — ineradicably — "is eggs.'' It looks, from the spectacular size of the amazing, Armaged- don-like drama upon which the European curtain is soon to rise — as though the sword, which the Founder of Christianity said He had come to bring — had arrived. And once that sword is sheathed there'll be no more burdensome armaments to meet — except a force sufficient to insure peace^ — the force being the said Policq of Europe. JOHN AKMSTROXG CHALONER. tA portion of above letter was published by the Herald, a few days subsequent to its date. — J. A. C. New York Herald. ASKS FRAYERS FOR ALLIES' SUCCESS RATHER THAN FOR SPEEDY PEACE. DONALD HARPER, AMERICAN LAWYER OF PARIS, SAYS PRES- ENT GENERATION IN BRITAIN AND FRANCE ARE SACRIFICING LIVES FOR FUTURE HUMANITY. New York, Thursday, September 10, 1914. — Donald Harper, an American lawyer resident in Paris, who arrived here a day or so ago and is now at the Holland House, said yesterday that it was useless in these days to pray for peace until German militarism is shattered forever. He said this apropos of the proclamation of President Wilson directing that October 4 be set aside as a day for offering petitions to the Most High that peace be restored in Europe. "I do not profess," said Mr. Harper, "to have any special standing in the courts of heaven. I have no advice to give to those who may pray in the solemn hours of October 4 according to the appeal of our lofty-minded President. I speak reverently, yet I would like to sug- gest that our prayers be a special plea to the Almighty for victory for the allies. "From many years' residence abroad in close touch with people of France and of Great Britain and from recent observation among them, I affirm it as my opinion that they will never agree to peace until the curse of German militarism is a thing of the past. The workins:men of our sister republic and of that other great democracy, Great Britain, have a right to enjoy the fruits of their labor amid veaee and- happiness toithont bein